Crazy Normal

Sorry for the delay. It was another one of those weeks where not much went on and I'm also busy with school lately. Things are winding down as far as class goes. Anyways...enjoy my posts from the past twoish weeks. I also apologize for the serious lack in pictures. You can check out my Facebook if you're dying to see all of my pictures from Ghana.

Oct. 1

Back to class today. I spent most of my time updating this blog, to be honest. It took a really long time to upload the pictures. 

I received two package notices yesterday, so I made it my goal to get them today. The first package was at the post office on campus, so that was easy enough to get. It just had some medicine and a card from my mom. The second package was at the Accra North Post Office. I had no idea where that was, so I had to ask. It’s in a really busy part of Accra called Cirlce. Luckily, Krista also had packages that ended up there, so we embarked on the adventure together.

We took a 40-minute tro-tro ride to Circle. That place is crawling with people. There’s hardly any room to hear yourself think. Neither Krista nor I had ever been to Circle, so we obviously had no clue where the post office was. The first two people we asked weren’t even aware that a post office existed, which was slightly discouraging. We finally found someone who could help. He walked us most of the way there. When we got there, we had to figure out what line to stand in and when it was finally my turn, I had to give them my I.D. and write down all kinds of my personal information. Then, he went to find my package, which took a long time. For a little while I was beginning to wonder if it got lost somewhere. He found it eventually and then I had to open it in front of them and tell them what was inside. After they decided that my package was safe, I had to fill out more paperwork and then pay to take the package out with me. It was all totally worth it because there were all sorts of goodies in it. My parents rock.

Oct. 2

Today was pretty uneventful. I went to my classes and then had dinner at Roland’s.  We ate chicken curry with rice and fruit.  After dinner, I was able to Skype with my parents for a little bit.

I’m finding that I’m getting pretty homesick recently. I don’t know why…maybe it’s just that we’re nearing the halfway point in the semester.

Oct. 3

Class again. We didn’t have Peoples & Culture today, so I was able to go back to the dorm and bring my clothes to the laundry. I also got to Skype with my parents again before they left for work.

During my break between classes, I went to get lunch. A man was at the same stand as me with his little boy. The kid must’ve been about two—He was really cute. Anyways, the dad noticed me smiling at the little boy and then offered the kid to me. I was a little bit taken aback, but I laughed and said no. He smiled, so I hope he was joking…

I tweaked something in my back on Sunday, so it has been really sore the past few days. I’m not upset about it though because it got me out of dance class today. I got to sit and watch, which was really amusing. After dance, the group ate at Tickles for dinner. The place was really crowded. Freshmen are just now moving into the dorms. I don’t quite understand why that is. I guess they have a different semester schedule than everyone else. I’m not a huge fan of it because now our dorm is even noisier than usual and people are everywhere. Oh well.

Oct. 4

Back to Adenkrebi today. On the way there, our tro-tro driver ran over some pineapple a lady was selling on the street. There was a lot of yelling and all kinds of people came to take sides. It took a while to get things sorted out. I don’t even know how they sorted things out or what was even said because it was all in Twi, but it was entertaining to watch.

My internship/volunteering changed slightly. We no longer go to the school,t . We will be painting the kindergarten classroom, though.  The main thing is that we are no longer under the supervision of the teachers because there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do at the school. Daniel now supervises us.

We get to spend more time with the people in the community of Adenkrebi. Today, we were taken around to about 8 different families and spoke with them about education and the relationship between the school and the community. It was really cool. We talked with the mothers of a lot of kids that go to the school, so we got some really interesting responses.

The 3^rd and final Calvin group is at their home stay in Adenkrebi, so we also got to hang out with them.

Oct. 5

We went to game day at the school today. It was slightly different today because there was an organized community soccer game. The whole town came out to play and watch. The men from the town played against the teachers of the school and the Calvin boys. They brought out a sound system for announcing and even had referees. It was a lot of fun to watch. About halfway through the second game, it started to downpour, so we got to run back to Daniel’s in the rain! After eating lunch with the group, we headed back to Calvin.

Oct. 6

I woke up to running water in my dorm room this morning. My roommate was filling our buckets up at 7am. I literally jumped out of bed and into the shower. What a great way to start my Saturday. After my shower, I did devotions and some homework. I also went to breakfast at the café that sells oatmeal again. Love that stuff.

I tried to Skype with my family after breakfast, but Skype was not cooperating today. Gotta love Ghanaian internet.

Later, the girls went out to Osu for the night. It was fun, but it started raining, which put a damper on things, so we came back to campus.

Oct. 7

Today was a day of homework and relaxation. I have a midterm in my Twi language class this week that is probably going to kick my butt, so I tried to start studying.

The group that was at their home stay came back this afternoon, so everything is back to normal group-wise.

It is Stacia’s birthday today, so we went out to eat at a Chinese place and then went to get smoothies.

Oct. 8

Monday. Good thing Mondays are they best day for class. I don’t mind the subjects, so I don’t hate going. It’s also our shortest class day—which is really nice.

Anna, Krista, and I went to the Mall to go to the grocery store. We’re in charge of dinner at Roland’s tomorrow, so we had to get the food. We decided to buy stuff to make burgers, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. It’s going to be delicious.

When we got back from shopping, I tried to get some studying in for my Twi midterm that’s on Wednesday. I have a feeling it’s going to be challenging. We also had Bible study, which was really good.

The water was on again last night. We’ve been a bit spoiled this week—we’ve had it 3 times in the past week! It’s been lovely, but I don’t want to get too used to it just in case it turns off for an extended period of time again.

Oct. 9

Tuesday. Which means I have to endure the nightmare that is political science class again. I will say it was slightly more interesting today. I think it was because he talked about healthcare, which I’m interested in but it wasn’t that great of a lecture, so I was disappointed. I also found out that I have to give a presentation next week. Awesome. I have a decent sized paper due in that class coming up pretty soon as well. I’m starting to feel stressed because my classes really are winding down and I have to think about my final papers and stuff. I don’t like it. I do like the idea of classes ending, though.  I think after tomorrow I only have three weeks of actual class. Yikes!

My Twi midterm is tomorrow. This language makes no sense to me. I’ll just do my best, but at this point I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Our dinner at Roland’s was a success! The burgers were delicious.

Oct. 10

Today was the longest day of my life. I woke up early to get some more studying in for my Twi exam. After I got ready, I walked to the place that makes oatmeal to sit and study some more. Then I went to class. The Internet wasn’t working—the worst. I couldn’t really focus on the literature lecture because I was thinking about Twi. After Lit, we had a guy come in and tell us about music in Ghana. He’s a British guy that’s been living in Ghana for about 40 years. Based on some of the stories he told, I’m 100% positive he was the most amazing hippie ever. He’s lived the craziest life. His lecture was fascinating. Then we had a 2 and a half hour break before our Twi exam. I tried to study, but by that time I just wanted to get the thing over with. Luckily, the Internet was working again by that time, so I had a way to try and distract myself from how nervous I was. Our professor finally showed up and passed out a less than one page test—a quiz, if you will. That was our midterm. I did okay I think. We’ll see when I get it back next week. I wish I hadn’t stressed out so much.

After Twi we had drumming and dance. Drumming was a lot of fun because our instructor let us play with different kinds of instruments. I got to play a bell-like instrument, a shaker thing, and a different type of drum. It was pretty cool. And then there was dance class. I know I say this every time…but I honestly think that I sweat more than ever this week. Did you know your knees could sweat? Welp. They can.
I got to take a bucket shower afterwards. Bucket showers are actually pretty refreshing—better than nothing.

I ate dinner and then went back to my room to try and read the rest of the book assigned for this week in literature. I laid down on my bed to read and the next thing I knew it was 5am. Woops.

Oct. 11

We had water this morning. Hallelujah.

Anyways…what a day. Today, we went into Accra with Daniel to buy paint for the kindergarten classroom that we’re painting tomorrow. It literally took us all day. The traffic was crazy, we were in the car for so long and it was really hot. I know I’m in Africa and that it’s hot here, but I’m telling you right now—it was really hot today. When we finally got to the paint place, they didn’t have everything we needed, so we searched the entire street for everything. It took quite awhile, but we managed to get everything we needed and Daniel even got us FanIce, which was really nice of him.

There aren’t many positives to sitting in traffic, but here in Ghana there is one. Whenever traffic is stopped, people run onto the street to try and sell stuff. You could buy anything you wanted right from your car. It’s awesome. Most of the time people are selling food and water, but I’ve seen people selling tables, light bulbs, plastic chairs, huge maps of Ghana—really anything you could dream of. I love it. I think it’s one of my favorite things here. I really wish people in the U.S. would do it. We spent a fair amount of time in traffic today, so I was able to buy myself 2 waters. I guess I like it because I just feel really awesome when I buy something from the car.

We got to Adenkrebi at about 5pm. At this moment, I am completely exhausted. I did manage to get my literature homework done for the week, but now I just really want to sleep.

Tomorrow, we paint!

Oct. 12

We got quite a bit of painting done today! We managed to get the 1^st and 2^nd coats onto the walls and even start stenciling and painting numbers and the alphabet on some of the walls. It was a lot of fun. I was painting the side of the room where the breeze was coming in, so I ended up with paint speckles all over myself. My face, arms, hands, legs, etc. were completely covered in peach colored paint flecks. Hayley told me they looked a lot like inverse freckles.

The way back to campus today was an adventure. It took us forever to find a tro-tro from Adenkrebi. We eventually found one, but we had to ride it in the opposite direction we were going for awhile before it turned around to head back toward the University. And then we got to Madina. It was 100 times harder to find a tro-tro from Madina to the University. I don’t know why. We looked all over the place. When we finally found and boarded one, a policeman came and made everyone get out. Everyone was talking in a local language, so I don’t understand why we had to do this, but what matters is that we no longer had a tro-tro. We walked for a little bit longer and ended up flagging one down. It was just a confusing and exhausting afternoon of travel. But we’re back on campus now, so all is well.

My Friday night is dedicated to researching for my presentation that I have to give on Tuesday for my political science class. What fun.

Adenkrebi Home Stay

I just spent the past week living in the village of Adenkrebi. It's a long post, so get comfortable. Enjoy! 

:)

Sept 23

Before leaving for my home stay, I was able to Skype with my family for a bit. It was really nice to talk to them. After that, I cleaned my room and got ready to leave.

Apparently Kentwood, MI is a sister city with Adenkrebi. A student from Adenkrebi went to study abroad in Michigan and found this out and decided that the relationship should be more intentional. Some people at Calvin found out about the relationship and decided to use Adenkrebi as their “home away from home” for Calvin students studying in Ghana. The community agreed and Daniel houses us on behalf of the community because his house can accommodate the most people.

Daniel came and picked us up at our dorm around 4pm. We made it back to his house in Adenkrebi around 5. We went over what we’ll be doing while we’re here and got settled into our rooms. We’re really living quite comfortably here. Daniel and his family live in a really nice house with running water, electricity and several bedrooms. I’m rooming with Krista for the week and we have our own bathroom attached to our room. It’s awesome.

The evening was spent entertaining Daniel’s three daughters, Christabel (8), Dorthea (5), and Dromi (18 months). The two oldest wanted us to tell them stories, so a couple of the others told them some Disney princess stories and then the girls made up some stories for us to hear. They have an unbelievable amount of energy. I have a feeling they are going to wear me out by the end of the week. Good thing they’re cute.

Sept. 24

This morning I woke up at 6:30am to the sound of the rooster crowing outside. Not cool. I slept really well other than that.

Me and my class!

For breakfast we ate eggs with peppers and onions as well as bread and hot chocolate. It was delicious. After breakfast we had a quick lesson in the language of Ga and were told to get ready to go to the school. We visited the same school that I intern at, which was pretty fun. The kids are starting to know me by name. We went around and visited each classroom and even sang a song for one of the classes. After that we were separated into different classrooms to teach. Paola and I taught a lower middle school Religion lesson. We talked about the basics of the Trinity and what it meant to be a Christian. After class, we played games and took pictures with the kids. When it was time for us to leave, a herd of kids insisted on walking us back to Daniel’s house even though they were supposed to be in class.

We ate Red Red for lunch. I think it was my favorite version of Red Red I’ve had here because it wasn’t spicy at all. We also had plantains. After each meal that we get here, we are served bananas—the best bananas ever. We went to greet one of the elders after lunch. It’s customary to do so because they want to know everyone that enters their community. We were given a time to rest when we got back, so well all took naps.  I wish that was something people in the U.S. did. Sometimes, we just need rest! It was a lovely nap.

Pounding FuFu

After we woke up, we were taken around to the different houses in the village to meet people and observe how they prepare dinner. We got to help one women make palm nut soup! We also helped another lady pound FuFu. At one house, we even got to see a chameleon. It changed from green to brown when we put it on the ground in the dirt. We tried to get it to turn purple by setting it on Krista’s skirt, but I think that purple must be a difficult color to change into, so it just stayed a brownish color.

We had yams and stew for dinner. We didn’t get bananas afterwards, which was sad. We each got our own coconuts instead.

I had a lot of fun tonight. I think I’m really going to enjoy this home stay and this village.

Sept. 25

We learned how to farm this morning. After a breakfast of bread and chocolate spread, we were taken to the fields to pick beans and peppers, weed a cassava field, help clear a different field of sticks and then learn how to plant cassava. It was so much fun! It was really hot and sunny today, so we sweat quite a bit, but I still enjoyed it. We got to chop things with machetes.

When we got back to the house, we washed ourselves off right away. We were a well-earned mix of dirt and sweat. Krista and I both took a nap before eating lunch. Lunch today was groundnut soup. Groundnuts are peanuts. Don’t be fooled, this soup does not taste like peanuts. Although they are used to make it, they also add in things like fish and hot peppers. Not my favorite. We ate it with rice and then had fresh pineapple for dessert.

After lunch we had a lot of down time. I slept some more. I don’t know why I’m so tired all the time. I think it might have something to do with the heat. After we all woke up, we went to the living room and found that Hannah Montana was on TV. It was weird to get so excited over that show, but it was nice to see something familiar.

We observed palm wine tapping later on. The original settlers of Adenkrebi were palm tree harvesters. They relied on palm trees for almost everything—building houses, making food, making baskets, etc. We got to see part of the process of making palm wine. The men working were heating the inside of the tree up through a hole they had cut into it using a burning stick and tubes to blow the flames up into the tree. This allows the liquid to flow down and into a jug placed under the tree. It was pretty interesting to watch. I think we get to try it after the entire process is finished.

For dinner we ate fried yams and stew. It sort of like eating French fries but in huge cubes dipped in a tomato and vegetable sauce. After dinner, we played cards for a while. I went to bed early because we have to be up and ready by 5:30am for a hike to catch the sunrise.

Sept. 26

It was an early morning! We had to be up and ready by 5:30am, which wasn’t much of an issue because the rooster (we named him Rodger) started crowing outside my window around 3:50am. We hiked for about a half an hour to a place that overlooked Accra. It was pretty cloudy, so we didn’t get to really watch the sunrise, but it was still really pretty.

I slept for another hour after we got back and then we ate breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on yet another hike. We hiked to a waterfall and then climbed down it. It was crazy. I’ve never rock climbed before, but I got to do it today without any rope or anything! It was hard at times, but I had fun. The big rocks and the waterfall at the end were beautiful. Most of the climbing was through the forest/jungle, which was another really awesome part about it. The trees here are amazing. After the hike I showered immediately because I was really sweaty and hot. The cold shower felt really good.

Since our before lunch activities were pretty draining, we got to have the afternoon to ourselves. We ate lunch and then took naps. After that we sort of just hung out until dinner and after dinner, we watched a movie. Oh yeah, we also tried palm wine last night. The other girls thought it tasted like sausage, which is weird. I just thought it tasted bad.

Sept. 27

We got up early this morning to go fetch water and then carry it on our heads back to the village. What an adventure! It’s a good 20-25 minute walk to the river down a pretty steep road. We had to go down into the river and fill our containers and then walk it back to the village up hill...on our heads. It was so much fun, but also really hard. I did okay (I attribute that my several years of doing showmanship back when I showed horses), but I certainly wasn’t able to keep all of the water in the container. The people here go and fetch water 4 times every day. I can’t even imagine.

After we came back and recuperated for a minute, we had to leave to go greet the chief of the village. We sat in this meeting room that had his stool and everything in it. Stools are a big deal here. Chiefs are “stooled” in the same way that people are sworn into an office. They symbolize power or something like that. In order to greet the chief, you must shake his hand with your right while grasping your right wrist with your left hand. I’m glad they told us that ahead of time. Anyways, we had to tell him our names and he told us we were welcome and then we left. It was a rather short visit.

Later, Daniel took us to a research center that specializes in herbal medicine. They research plants and things like that. It was pretty interesting. After that we went to a university near Adenkrebi. It was called Ashesi University. It sort of made me homesick because it looked so much like a university in the U.S. The campus was beautiful.

We ate a late lunch and then all took naps afterwards. I felt like I had been awake for forever. In the evening, we tried to go find some FanChoco, but failed. I think I’m going through some withdrawals.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you! I’m sad that there is no phone or Internet service here. Know that I’m thinking of you today!L

Sept. 28

I fell asleep to the sound of rain last night. Not just any rain…it was more of a torrential downpour, but it was wonderful. We were told to be ready by 5:30am to go for another walk, but it was still raining when we got up, so Atabba (our guide for the week) didn’t come to the house, but we decided to go for a walk anyways.

I slept for another hour when we finished our walk and then ate breakfast. After breakfast we went to the school to participate in game day. Luckily, the rain cleared and the sun came out. I’ve never played so many rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose in my life. I also spent quite a bit of my time trying to break up a fight between two little girls.

After spending about 3 hours at game day, we came back to Daniel’s for lunch. It was then that we were informed that we were going crab hunting immediately after lunch. Atabba took us into the bush near the place we got water yesterday. Before he showed us where the crabs were, he wanted to show us the flowers around the place. They were so pretty. There were several different kinds, but I was only able to get decent pictures of a few of them. I kept thinking of my how much my grandparents would have loved to see them, so here are a few pictures.

After looking at the flowers, we got down to business. Atabba showed us how to hunt for a crab first. Basically, you find a crab hole and then you use a machete to make the hole a bit bigger so you can stick your entire arm into the hole and fish the crab out. Sounds easy enough, right?

I was feeling a bit brave, so I volunteered to go first. Atabba found the hole for me and dug with the machete to make sure a crab was actually down there and then he let me take things from there. Once I got down by the hole, I realized how scared I was. It’s kind of unsettling because you go into it blind. You can’t see what you’re doing, so you just hope that the crab doesn’t decide to get mad and assault you with its pinchers.  It took me awhile to actually get the courage to submerge my entire right arm into the hole to get this crab. Once I found him, I grabbed him and basically threw him out of the hole and then picked him up and threw him in the bucket. I’ve never had so much fun in my life. I wish my family had been there to see it. I was so proud of our group. We all successfully hunted our own crab. On our way back, it started to rain again. We really didn’t care because we were covered in mud anyways and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. 

It’s a really good thing Daniel’s house has running water, because we were all really dirty and needed showers right away. After we were all cleaned up, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean together and then ate dinner. We had non-spicy stir-fry. Best meal we’ve had here. It tasted like something my family would make at home.

After dinner, Atabba took us snail hunting! We went around 8:30pm with a bunch of his friends. The sun sets around 6:30 here, so it was really dark. Snail hunting isn’t quite as exciting as crab hunting (as you can probably imagine—they’re not very exciting animals), but it was a fun experience. In order to hunt a snail, you must walk around in the bush with a flashlight until you find one. When you find a snail, you pick it up and put in a bag. I wasn’t very good at spotting them, so I only managed to find 2. One of which was a baby snail that you can’t really use for food. The other one was big, so I was proud of myself. They’re pretty cool looking, but I’m not so sure how I feel about eating them.

While we were out and about at night, we went to a spot that overlooked Accra. We got some pictures and then headed back to Daniel’s to go to bed.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating our crabs and snails tomorrow at some point. Here’s to being adventurous!  

Sept. 29

We were allowed to sleep in today! We ate breakfast at 8am and were supposed to go learn how to uproot cassava, but it’s pouring again, so we didn’t go. We were hoping that the weather would clear up so that we could go and get the cassava, but it never did. But Atabba, being the great person that he is, went and got it in the rain for us because today is the day we learned how to make FuFu.

First, we peeled the cassava and washed it. When we finished that, we peeled some plantains and chopped them up. We put the cassava and plantains together and then boiled them.

While we waited for those things to boil, we ate a snack. Nancy (the nanny/cook at the house) gave us Gari. It’s like a ground up maize that you mix with sugar, water, and peanuts. I liked it, but no one else really did.

After our snack, we went back into the kitchen to start pounding the cassava and plantains. Cassava is naturally super starchy. It’s kind of sticky when you eat it by itself. So, when you pound it, it turns really doughy/gooey/sticky/slimy. After we pounded, we ate our lunch. FuFu is usually eaten with a stew as a dip. Our stew was groundnut stew with fish and a crab. Yes, each bowl of FuFu came with one of the crabs we caught yesterday. They still looked very much like themselves, just not alive. Here, you eat the entire crab. You are not given handi-wipes, garlic butter, and a tool to crack open the crab legs. (I think they’re too small to successfully be cracked open anyways.). You just take off a leg and eat it—shell and all.  The only thing you leave behind is it’s head. I was able to eat the legs. I couldn’t eat the pinchers or the body. I opened it up and then saw the crab’s innards and decided that was enough. I will say, once you get over the crunchiness, the legs aren’t that bad. I do have a problem eating FuFu. The texture is just weird to me, but every Ghanaian I’ve ever talked to raves about it. It’s Atabba’s favorite thing to eat. The groundnut stew was okay. It was spicy, but so is everything you eat here. Ghanaians love their hot peppers.

We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Krista napped while I picked up where I left off in my quest to read through the Bible. For dinner, we ate fried sweet potatoes and fish stew.

A few of my dance partners.
Notice the MSU T-shirt in the middle!

The village got together later in the evening for drumming and dance, so we joined in. The kids from the school were there and they showed us a bunch of dancing and clapping games. Most of these games are played by standing in a circle, clapping your hands while one person at a time goes into the middle to show off your best moves.

Here, you are given a couple names. When you are born you are given the name that represents the day you were born. Later, you are given your “actual” name. In one of the games we played, each day of the week was called out and when your day was mentioned, you went to the middle and danced. I was born on a Friday, so my day name is Afia. 

After dancing, Daniel surprised us with FanIce—the vanilla version of FanChoco. It’s really good. I would like it better if it was chocolate, but I will say that the texture of FanIce is better. It’s more like soft serve ice cream rather than a fudgecicle.

Sept. 30

It was our last day in Adenkrebi! We went to the Methodist church that’s about a 10-minute walk from Daniel’s house. It was a cement slab that had a tin roof, but no walls. It was quite nice. The first part of the service was a bible study followed by some hymns. After the hymns, the party started. People hauled out the drums and started dancing and singing like crazy. We were pulled to the front to join in on the dancing. After the party died down, a guest pastor gave a sermon. It was spoken in Ga, but she paraphrased it in English for us once in a while. After the sermon, the offering was taken. The offering plate is at the front and when you want to put money in it, you must dance your way there.

After church, we ate lunch. We ate chicken and rice, but after we finished Atabba brought us our snails. He cooked them and put them on kabobs with green peppers and onions. When cooked and sliced, snails look a lot like mushrooms. Their texture is about what I had expected—pretty chewy/rubbery. They weren’t bad. I just had to not think about what I was eating and I was fine.

When we finished eating we had to go and say goodbye to the chief. So we went. We sat in his meeting room again and he served us some sodas. We talked about the things we did during the week and he asked us some questions about what we thought. When we were done, we went back to Daniel’s to load up the car with our luggage and headed back to campus.

Upon my arrival, I received a package, 5 cards, and two notices telling me that I have packages to pick up at the post office. What a nice thing to come back to! I seriously made my day. I was homesick quite a bit while in Adenkrebi, so this was just what I needed. J I got some Jif peanut butter, granola bars, the best gummy bears, fluoride rinse (thanks, Mom), clothes, and pictures of my family to put in my dorm room. I can’t wait to go and get the other packages tomorrow.

I can’t believe we’re getting into October. I only have 5 more weeks of classes before my final exams!

A Good Week.

Sept. 17

Back to classes today. The good news is that I only had one class today. After my class in the morning, I spent most of the day at the Institute so I could take advantage of the free Internet. I got quite a bit of homework, blogging, and Facebooking done.

In the evening, we decided to try a new place on campus. We heard that they served burgers. So we walked all the way to the other side of campus (which is an incredibly long walk) to Tyme Out. Long story short, they don’t serve burgers—even though the sign outside says they do. They serve really expensive Chinese food. Disappointed, we walked to another place not far away. The thing I wanted was finished. (Here, when you run out of something, you say “it’s finished”.) Feeling even more let down, I walked all the way back to my dorm to get my usual of kabobs and fries at Tickles. In an effort to make the night better, a few of us decided to watch a Harry Potter movie before bed.

Sept. 18

Tuesdays are long. To start off my day, I have to sit through a 3-hour long Political Science class. It’s not really my thing, so it’s pretty hard to listen. The professor is also a little intimidating. After that class, I have two more hour and a half long classes. In short, classes on Tuesdays are draining.

On the bright side, we have dinner at Roland’s on Tuesday evenings. I always look forward to those. We take turns cooking and it’s usually really good. It’s also usually American-ish since we eat Ghanaian food every other day of the week. Tonight we ate pizza and brownies.

After dinner I walked to the pharmacy to get some medication. My eyelid is still pretty swollen, so I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for it. The nice lady behind to counter sold me some ointment for 1 cedi…which is the equivalent of .50 cents. Can’t beat the prices here!

Sept.19

Today was pretty good as far as Wednesdays go. I didn’t have one of my classes today, so it gave me a really long break in the middle of my day, which was nice. I got a bit of homework done in that time. With some people gone on their home stay, class is a lot less overwhelming. Our classroom is really small and with everyone there, it’s really crowded. So this week I feel like I can breathe when I’m in class, which is kind of refreshing.

Tonight we had African Drumming and Dance. Our dance instructor picked it up a notch. We were jumping and singing and flailing our heads up and down. It was crazy, but pretty fun. By the end, I was drenched in sweat. I went back to my room hoping for water so that I could shower, but it wasn’t there—as I expected. Good thing the water was on in our floor kitchen so that I could at least take a bucket shower.

Sept. 20

I am one step closer to achieving Ghanaian status after today. I traveled all the way to Adenkrebi all by myself. The other girls that I usually go to the school with are on their home stay right now, so I was left to fend for myself. I got a tro-tro from the first stop to Madina. They said they would go to Madina Station, which is where I’m supposed to go, but they didn’t. So I had to walk to find Madina Station. I found it without much of a problem; I just had an older man following me trying to talk me into marrying him. So that was fun. When I managed to find the mass of tro-tros that make up Madina Station, the people were really helpful. They showed me where I needed to go. One guy basically put me in the tro-tro I needed, which was heading to Aburi. Once I got to Aburi, I found a very eager taxi driver who was more than willing to take me to Adenkrebi. I don’t know if I can even call it a taxi. It was more like the skeleton of a taxi…the interior of the car almost didn’t exist. I mean it had seats, but that’s about as far as it went. It made it to Adenkrebi, so it all worked out.

When we pulled up to the school, a man by the name of Atta found me and told me that I was to go to Daniel’s house first. So I did. I got to see all the people who are there for their home stay before they left for their activity for the day. After visiting for a bit, I went back to the school

At the school, I observed a science class and graded an English spelling test. After that, I spent the rest of my time chatting with one of the teachers that I hadn’t met yet. After our conversation, we ate yams and stew then I went back to Daniel’s. I was informed at the end of the school day that there would be no school the next day, so there would be no reason for me to stay over night. I stayed to eat dinner with the Calvin group and then embarked on my journey back to campus. I made it without a problem. I’m really proud of myself. J

Sept. 21

I had nowhere to be today, so I got to sleep in. Sleeping in here means I woke up at 7:45. I went to bed last night at like 9:15, so I got a good night’s rest. Krista didn’t have her internship today either, so we went to breakfast at our favorite café on campus. We had oatmeal porridge. Best oatmeal I’ve ever had.

Oatmeal with Milk and Sugar

My water was on for a bit, so I took a quick shower. After that, I found an army of what looked like termites on our nightstand. So…I sprayed them with my bug spray and then pulled the nightstand out onto my balcony. I didn’t know what else to do.

The rest of the day, I’m hoping to get all of next weeks homework finished. I have to get it done before I leave for my home stay on Sunday. Wish me luck!

Sept. 22

Obviously enjoying the oatmeal

Today was a really good day. Krista, Josh and I went to get oatmeal for breakfast again. That stuff is seriously so good. After that, we decided to go to Osu for the day to do some shopping. I went a little crazy. Osu is the home of Global Mamas—I think I’ve talked about this store before, but it’s the best. I want to buy everything in that store. Then there are the street vendors. I’ve gotten a little bit better at bartering, so I think my newfound confidence made me want to buy more things. I don’t regret it, I got a lot of my Christmas/souvenir shopping done. I still have more to get, but it felt good to check some things of my list. Also, I just love shopping in general, so I enjoyed buying things all day.

While we were shopping we made a few other stops. We got the most delicious smoothies ever, we found a grocery store that has all things American, and we found a coffee shop that has actual coffee and pastries (I got a chocolate chip muffin—yum.) Later on, the others in our group met us for dinner. I had an actual cheeseburger. So good.

After dinner we walked to this pub that’s pretty quite so we could sit and talk. Since a large portion of the group is gone on their home stay, we decided it would be good to hang out as a smaller group to try and get to know each other better. So that was fun. On the way home we managed to snag a taxi back to campus for really cheap, which was just a lovely way to end an even lovelier day.

I leave for my home stay tomorrow. No internet for me for an entire week!

Extra: This is how people eat oranges. They just slice the top off and you squeeze the juice out! 

Odwira

We spent some time in Akropong this past week. It was lovely. Enjoy some entries from the past few days. :)

Sept. 11

I only had to go to one class today because we’re heading to Akropong for the rest of the week. Unfortunately that one class happened to be political science. Akropong is my favorite place. We’re visiting this week because a local festival is going on—the Odwira festival.

Akrofi Christaller

We’re staying at the Seminary again. It’s called Akrofi Christaller Institute. When we arrived, we got to settle into our rooms. The beds are super comfortable and the water always works. Everything works—the toilet, the sink, and the shower. And that’s not all! We also eat really well here. Tonight we had spaghetti.

Here’s a history lesson for you: The Odwira festival began a really long time ago. A group of people called the Ashantis had a deity called Odosu that they brought to war with them. When they attacked the kingdom of Akuapem (this includes Akropong), the Ashantis lost and the people of Akuapem stole Odosu. Now, in order for the deity to be of use to the people, they have to do special things for it. The Odwira festival celebrates Oduosu.

The Odwira festival also is a time of cleansing and a time to awaken the ancestors to prepare for the New Year. The people of Akuapem have a 9-month calendar and Odwira marks the end of the year. Tomorrow is essentially New Years Eve!

Six weeks prior to the festival, the ancestors are granted a time of rest. During that time, there is a curfew in the town along with a ban on noise making, dying (that’s right…you are not allowed to die during the 6 week time period leading up to the festival. If you do, you can’t be buried until the 6 weeks are up), as well as a ban on eating new yams. After the 6 weeks are up, the ancestors are awakened, noise can be made, you can die, and you can eat new yams.

Tonight we witnessed the bringing in of the ancestors and the Odwira into the palace. Obviously, you can’t see the ancestors. Ancestors are people that have passed away. But not anyone can be an ancestor. You had to have lived a good life in order to become one. Once you are an ancestor, you act as a mediator between your people and God.

At this ceremony, there is a lot of drumming and dancing. The king is also brought in to sit on his throne under an umbrella. It’s really fascinating stuff.

Sept. 12

I slept like a champion last night. It was wonderful. We also ate a really yummy breakfast of porridge, hot chocolate, toast, and fruit.

Today is the day before New Years here. Traditionally, it’s a day of mourning those that have passed away during the year. Mourning is a lot different here than at home. We walked around visiting people today and they are either sitting around in a circle talking, or there is drumming and dancing. Everyone wears red and black when they are mourning. When we would walk into a new place, we would have to greet every person in the room by shaking their hands. You also must do this counter-clockwise. Another thing to remember is that you may not cross your legs in the presence of an elder because it’s considered disrespectful.

At one place, they offered us some Schnapps to drink as a gesture of hospitality. I learned that you can either drink some, or you can pour it on the ground. By pouring it on the ground, you are offering the drink to the ancestors, which is respectful.

This evening, we went out to get some FanChoco and popcorn. While we’re here, we’ve been sharing our personal testimonies with each other—one person shares each night. We usually do it on Sunday evenings after our group Bible study, but in order to fit everyone in, we’re doing them while we’re here as well. It’s been really awesome. When you’re in a group like this, you spend a lot of time together. It’s good to know where each person is coming from so you can learn to love him or her better.

Sept. 13

Possessed Carrier in the street

Happy New Year! Today is a day of feasting. It is also the day that the ancestors are ceremoniously fed. This afternoon we went to watch the feeding of the ancestors. Talk about interesting. A person from each important house (usually a female) is chosen to take the food to the sacred feeding area. It’s a big deal. They put white powder all over their bodies and parade through the streets. It is believed that when the procession happens, that the ancestors possess the carriers. So, other officials lead these carriers down the street because they can’t really walk on their own. They’re stumbling and running into things—it really looks like they’ve had a few too many sips of the Schnapps. But, who am I to say? I’m an outsider that was just observing. Honestly, I don’t fully understand the culture; so I cant really pose any judgment. Something could be happening that I just can’t see through my Western lens.

This evening, there was a dance party in the streets so we joined in for a while. It was a lot of fun. There are about 5 songs that they play non-stop here in Ghana. The crowd favorite is called Chuck my Money. There is also a dance called the Azonto that everyone knows. Several people have tried to teach me, including the kids at Adenkrebi School. Let’s just say I’m still learning.

After dancing, we played a game together as a group and then I showered (!) and went to bed.

Sept. 14

There was a huge gathering at the city center today. First, there was a parade of all the local chiefs. They were all dressed in colorful fabrics and even carried through the streets. At the end of the parade, the Chiefs were taken to the city center to sit and wait for the paramount chief to arrive. Everyone in town comes out to watch this. I didn’t have a very good seat, so I don’t know everything that happened. I was also surrounded by school children that were climbing all over me to see what was going on. Luckily one of the girls kept me updated. There were street performers, some speeches in Twi that I couldn’t understand, and the President of Ghana even showed up and talked for a bit. The entire event lasted about 5 hours.

Also, we had actual ice cream for desert after dinner. Oh my gosh. I could’ve cried I was so excited.

Sept. 15

We went for a hike at a place called Krobo today. We stopped at a bead-making place on the way there. It was pretty cool to learn the bead making process and also visit the gift shop. :)

On the way to the mountain, we were told, “it’s not a very steep climb”. Well, I think I could’ve used some rope and a pickaxe. (I’m exaggerating a bit, but really…it was super steep) It was a 3-hour climb through the bush to get to the top. We climbed through tall grass, over more than a few large rocks, and then through some jungle. I felt like an explorer. It was really cool once we got to the top. The view was incredible. The way down was crazier than the way up. I was on my butt for about 75% of the way because it was easier to slide/I fell down a lot. The group of 3 girls I was with on the way down also got lost for a bit. We figured it out, but I was a little concerned for a minute. By the time we were done I was covered in dirt, sweat, small cuts, bruises, and rashes. Kristi sprained her ankle and Anna cut her finger so bad she needed stitches. We looked pretty rough, but we also had a really good time in spite of the injuries.

Sept. 16

Post-Hike

I woke up with a swollen eyelid. Awesome. I think it’s from getting hit in the face with several plants while hiking yesterday. I’m going to see if my allergy meds will make the swelling go down.

Today I am thankful for technology. I was able to Skype my parents today for about 2 hours. It was really good to talk to them I was also able to message a bunch of my friends back home. It hard to keep in touch sometimes when I have limited access to the Internet, so today was great.

I also did quite a bit of homework. I wasn’t very productive when we were in Akropong, so I needed the day to catch up.

The first group of 6 left for their home stays today as well. My roommate is one of those people, so I am alone in my room this week. I head to my home stay next week!

Missing home today. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I really appreciate it.

Adenkrebi and Football

Sept. 6

Adenkrebi School

It’s Thursday, which means that we go to our internships/volunteering locations. It was my first day actually going to the school in Adenkrebi. To get there, we had to take a short tro-tro to Madina Station. Madina Station is a massive sea of tro-tros. You could get a ride to wherever you wanted there. It’s also a chaotic, yet functioning mess of people. They’re everywhere—trying to sell things, buy things, find tro-tro, wanting to help you find the tro-tro you need, etc. After a minute of being overwhelmed by and in awe of the craziness, a nice man helped us find a tro-tro that went to our next stop, Aburi. It’s about an hour and half ride to Aburi and from there we got a taxi to drive us up the bumpy mountain road to the school.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by screams of excitement from the lower elementary kids. We went down to the main office and met Fortunate, one of the teachers. He gave us a brief tour. The school is quite small. The largest class has ten students on a good day. After our tour, we were taken back to the main office to meet some of the other teachers. The entire staff at Adenkrebi School is male. Apparently women don’t like traveling on the crazy roads to get there. We were then separated into different classrooms

I went to the Phase 1 room, which is basically sixth grade. The teacher asked me to pray for the class and then each student practiced their English by telling me there name, age, favorite game, and favorite food. The local language in the village is Ga, so a lot of the kids haven’t learned English. After that, I introduced myself and then the teacher told me that I was in charge and he left the room. Welp. I’m not a teacher, so I was a little scared. I decided that since I am not qualified to teach anything, that we would play games. A lot of the girls had the same favorite game, so I asked them to teach me. It’s called Ompe. There is a lot of jumping and clapping and flailing of legs. The students thought my attempts at playing were hilarious. Apparently I’m pretty bad. Oh well. We went back and fourth sharing games for about an hour.  I showed them Duck, Duck, Goose, Red Light Green Light, and Simon Says

Grass-Cutter 

After that it was break time. The kids went off to their homes to get lunch and we went to the main office to chat with the teachers. They asked us a lot of questions about America and ourselves. Someone also brought in a freshly slain grass-cutter. It’s a bush animal (a wild animal) that looks like an oversized hamster with a tail. Apparently, the meat is really expensive. I couldn’t help but be amused by scene—A big, dead hamster on the floor of the school’s main office with a bunch of people poking and prodding at it. Only in Ghana.

We ate lunch after all of that. It was Kenke. It’s a doughy ball that you eat with you hands by dipping pieces of the dough in a stew. The stew we had was spicy with sardines, onions, and tomatoes. I didn’t eat a lot…spicy foods are just not my thing, neither are sardines. After lunch, we visited Daniel, our contact person in Adenkrebi. Usually, we would sleep at Daniel’s, but since we were done so early at the school, we decided to go back to campus.

Sept. 7

It was activities day at the school. It rained really hard all morning, so it delayed our game playing. During the delay, we sang songs. I recognized most of the hymns they sang, so it was really fun to sing a long. After they sang all of their songs, they asked us to share ours. We taught them Father Abraham and This Little Light of Mine. They loved it. When we were done singing it was still raining, so we showed them how to play Heads Up, Seven Up.

Cooked Grass-Cutter

By the time that we were done with that, it was time for break. After break the rain stopped and the sun came out. Just in time for games. The kids played soccer, volleyball, net-ball (an all girls game of handball), and a variety of clapping and dancing games. I joined in on the clapping and dancing games at first since I learned Ompe the day before. I think I’ve improved because they didn’t really laugh at me and I won a few rounds. I also joined in on a volleyball game. After a while, the kids dispersed to their home and we ate lunch. Lunch happened to be the grass-cutter we met the day before, along with some stew. It was really good. After we ate, we went back to campus.

Later at night a girl named Mavis who works at the night market took us out on the town to show us around. It was cool. We got to meet a lot of new people.

Sept. 8

My desk has become the final resting place for several ants. I have no idea where they are coming from. I’ve cleared it off, killed the ants and then sprayed it with my bug spray and somehow, new ants find their way there. I’m hoping eventually they learn that if the go there, they die.

Pretty good seats, eh?

Anyways, today we went to the Ghana vs. Malawi soccer match at the Stadium in Accra. It was a good time. Vendors sold popcorn, so I was all over that. FanChoco was also sold, so I got some of that too.  The fans are crazy, they have a non-stop dance party during the game and the longest human wave ever happened. The wave went around the stadium 4 times. Ghana won and some people from our group even made it on TV.

After the game, I did homework and then watched Shawshank Redemption. I had never seen before, and it was really good. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch it .

I also got to shower before bed. Nothing could be better.