New Year... Elmina/Cape Coast/Kakum ... Making Jollof

OK so Happy New Year (a bit late but o well), this new year started off with me getting sick (AGAIN - what is this all about?) and was in bed/puking for 3 days with a 102 fever. However, New Years Eve a bunch of us got "dressed up" and when to Afro (a club in the area of Accra called Nima). It was a very different New Years than I have ever experienced but then again I am in a very different place than anywhere I have ever been! So that brought us to the 4th (Monday) and honestly it was a sad day - Nora had to move out of the house to go live at the Orphanage that she volunteers at. It was very odd sleeping in the room without her, and we have decided we miss each other and needed a sleepover party and a trip together very soon! Tuesday was Asante's birthday, I made him take his first sick day (I think ever) and we spent the day doing what he wanted - isn't that what you are to do on your birthday? I guess in Ghana that is not the common birthday practice, and no one had even remembered his birthday since his dad had passed away :( so we had Waakye for breakfast then went and spent the day at the beach, and then WENT OUT TO PIZZA for dinner - ok pizza in Ghana is expensive and a special thing, not like in NYC! Wednesday night Nora came back over for a sleepover because we were to wake VERY early (4:30am) on Thursday to go to Elmina and Cape Coast.

We first went to Elmina to "Elmina Castle" which is actually a more important, historically, place where slaves were kept then "shipped" than Cape Coast Castle. There were 400 females and 600 males kept in the Elmina Castle, and in the female dungeon you smell this aroma that you HAVE to ask the guide what it is - he tells you it is the smell of urine, poop, and the blood from their periods that had been absorbed into the floor - when you are in the dungeon you actually feel the spirits of those who were kept there. Outside the female's dungeon is a courtyard that whenever the Governor wanted would call all the females to congregate there for him to choose one he wanted to rape; at that point the "chosen" woman would have water poured on her to cleanse her then be lead up stairs that went directly into his bedroom. Looking up the stairs, then later on the tour, looking down

them I couldn't help but to get teary for the women who had to walk those stairs. That is just one example of how horrific and extremely emotional walking around the castle with the guide. It is so, I can't even come up with a word to describe it, but that such a beautiful piece of architecture could be used for such a disgusting thing. However, our guide Kofi, was amazing and answered any questions Nora or I had (the other people on the tour were not very talk-ative, except the two Ghanaian guys who were trying to get Nora and I to marry them because we are white. I have too many pictures of the castle to include in this posting so I will be happy to share them all when I get back.

Also while in Elmina we went to the fish market (you can actually see it from the castle). I needed to take the time after the castle to journal because it was so emotional for me. Nora went to walk around the market, took some cool pictures and met a group of ladies who gave us fish hahaha! After that, and before getting on a tro-tro to Cape Coast to stay the night at the Sammo Guesthouse we also went to the Dutch Cemetery, which I really had not much desire to see, but we went none-the-less. The next morning we woke up at 6:30 and were out picking a tro-tro to the market in Cape Coast to then pick another tro-tro to Kakum National Park for us to do a canopy walk in the rainforest. This was SOOOOOO cool and worth the 5 cedi each!

It was absolutely beautiful, very different than the zip-line in Costa Rica, but still cool! You will see from the pictures all that I would need to tell you about it... In Cape Coast "city" we went to the castle, and forgot to take pictures because we were just SO tired at that point, and didn't do the tour for 10 cedi because we already did Elmina and its like the same thing - SHHHH don't tell the Obamas! So we left and went home Friday late afternoon. This past weekend was pretty relaxed - nothing special really, just planning the trip up to the top of Ghana, then through Burkina Faso then into Mali and then back to Ghana (leaving February 15th to return by the end of the month - don't worry I am not traveling alone, Asante is coming hahahaha). And now we are at today!

However, I have forgotten to tell you about my Jollof cooking lesson from Asante while babysitting little Sean. Basically Jollof is a type of rice that we eat in Ghana and it is made with a various number of spices and such - if you are nice when I get back I'll make it for you. But, I was able to make it the right way on my first time - granted I did have help from a professional! He was VERY serious about the cooking, while you can tell from the picture, I couldn't stop laughing or sweating - hello this is Africa people!

Till later - the African Cup just started so there are a million it seems (when there is no fan its really very hard!)

Continued from the 24th....

So Kokobrite... robbed and moved campsites, to the left is a picture of the "new" place, didn't think it would be good to include the other one. So basically it was camping on the beach and utter ridiculous! We ate coconuts, which we cut open with machetes, and Nora taught a Ghanaian how to floss while Asante taught Nora and me how to brush our teeth with a twig (pictures below or maybe to the side!) There is not much to report about this adventure but the pictures serve as the best way to explain.

So I guess I will skip the funeral stuff -- rather depressing, if you want to see the pictures and hear about it I am more than happy to do so when I get back. So now I think we are "up to date" and in the "present."

Christmas is rather different here. Since there is not as much money in Ghana as in the U.S. Christmas is not as commercialized here - no lights, gifts are VERY VERY rare (ok non-existent really)., obviously no snow, didn't hear songs on the radio, no Santas anywhere, no movies (Christmas Story, White Christmas, Babes in Toyland, Christmas Carol, etc), it was rather sad and made me homesick. Ironic being Jewish and MISSING Christmas!

I must be honest everyone... I have strep throat and am cutting this blog entry short as I still have a fever, it's down from 101.8 (yesterday) and is only in the 100's but I must go back to bed. I am going to try my very best to update this blog on the regular now so be excited. Till I am feeling better... Dokodoko (that's duck in Ga - and a big joke with a video to go with)

It's the beginning of a new day in Africa...

HOT DAMN! My bad it has been like 2 months since have last been to the internet cafe...SORRY!!!!! Well so let me fill in about as much as I can (considering the internet is so reliable and fast - sarcasm). So I have taken a few trips thus far, attended 2 funerals, planning at least 2 weekend trips for January, and have begun to plan my 1 1/2 to 2 week trip to Senegal and the Gambia.

The most recent trip I took was to the Volta Region of Ghana. It is the lush area with waterfalls, lots of trees, a monkey sanctuary, the highest point in Ghana (Mt. Afajaro, didn't get to climb it though because ran out of time) and is just overall very beautiful. I went with my roommate Nora, host brother Papanii and boyfriend Asante. We left our house on Friday at about 5am to take a tro-tro to Accra where we then took another tro-tro to the town of Hohoe in the Volta Region, this took about 5 hours (6am to 10:30/11am). Once arrived we looked for a place to stay (our reservations were not possible) after being like WE HAVE NO PLACE TO STAY, thank gosh for Nora's wandering, she met a guy who then let us stay in his house in one of the rooms.

After we found our lodging we then went to the Wli Waterfall (you can see a small picture above that was a view from the walk to the waterfall). On the way we saw all the trees that have many of the things we eat in Africa: plaintain tree, groundnut tree, palmnut tree, yams, coco plant, mango tree and others that I forget, we all know me and nature are not like peanut butter and jelly. So we arrived at the waterfall and Nora and I took turns swimming so my camera didn't get wet and then die :(. It was actually so surreal, like a lot of what I have seen and experienced here. (The main reason I haven't updated in so long is that I have been LIVING the experience instead of just writing about it, but I will share everything with you all when I return, promise). So I will share some of the pictures we/I took at the waterfall... the one on the left is Papanii, Asante and myself almost under the fall (or whatever you call the area where the water coming from the fall hits the water below), the middle picture is of the actual Wli Waterfall and the picture on the right is Papanii and Asante being ridiculous.

The main reason we went to the Volta that weekend was there was a festival in Hohoe celebrating the merging of two tribes in the area, basically it is a celebration of their unity and all the chiefs come together and it is just really cool. Sadly though (and ironically) Nora had her camera stolen at a festival about TOGETHERNESS AND PEACE! (OH Ghana!) The picture to the left is of the Left Handed Chief who is known as the best dancer, he eventually jumped on the sides of the thrown he is on and danced on there (it was like dancing

on two balance beams that are next to each other with about a foot/two feet of space between them). I have included a variety of pictures of the festival.

On Sunday we left the Volta to return home. I think it can be understood that when you have been running around and having a busy weekend in 90 to 100 degree weather the ride home is very tiring and feels SO much longer than the way there. But we made the most of our ride and had a photo-shoot session...

The Trip before going to the Volta was a day trip to James Town in Accra. This is where one of the forts built by the British was located that first housed slaves and then was turned into a prison and was used as a prison till 2007. It was here that Kwame (the man who gained Ghana its independence was kept, because he was speaking out of turn - there was no freedom of speech when the British were still ruling over Ghana); his cell (pictured below or to the left) was completely dark with NO light EVER, not even during the day, the window was covered by cement. It was a very eerie experience, you could feel the souls of the people who were there at one time or another.

(Pictures: left - Kwame's prison cell, middle - Papanii "coming out" of the Fort, right - Papanii and me trying to see if there is still water coming from the showers that the prisoners used)

I also will share a story about a guy I have met in Ghana who had to stay in the James Town Fort or shall I say prison. So the man's name is Godfred and he was walking with a friend who was going to Germany to see his wife in about two weeks time. This guy had a "good" amount of weed on his person and the cops were going to arrest him, but Godfred said it was his so his friend would still be able to go to Germany. The wife was then to send money to release him, however the "friend" took the money and went to Germany anyway; leaving Godfred in the prison for 5 to 6 months! Unfortunately this is not something that is surprising to happen in Ghana. Sometimes, actually often, people will, backstab a friend if it will help him/herself make it a bit easier.

The other trip I have taken was to the Art Gallery near La (between my house in Nungua and Accra). As it is known I love art, and it was really nice to go to see what a gallery is like in another country. I will include some images of the art I saw...

Before THAT I went to Kokobrite, to the west of Accra towards Cape Coast (the next trip that I am going on with Nora on the weekend of January 7th, we will go to Elmina on Thursday to another festival, then Kakum National park on Friday to do a canopy walk (not as cool as the zip-line Jill but should still be cool) then Saturday Papanii may meet us in Cape Coast and we will do the castles and the place were the slaves were kept right before they were "shipped" to wherever, known as the point of no return). OK back to Kokobrite... let me first say this was my first multiple-day trip in Ghana. So it was Nora, Papanii, Joe, Martin and myself (of course) and we were to camp on the beach... SO COOL! Well so we settled in and pitched our tents, went to find dinner and begin our fun exciting weekend of camping on the nice beach. And since Papanii had told us "there are a lot of white people there," (this is a rarity and actually feel odd when I do see white people hahahaha) "because it's nice and white people like nice things" OH Papanii... I then replied "Well doesn't everyone like nice things?" TOUCHE my friend! Well, there were a lot of white people there actually. So that night we returned to our tents, the boys in theirs and Nora and me in ours.

Around 3:30am I woke-up and was like omg my phone is gone and our tent "door" was unzipped! I tried to wake Nora up but she was not getting what I was saying...I couldn't go to sleep and I put all our valuables in my sleeping sac and moved our bags from the door and used mine as a "pillow" so i could keep it safe (or so I thought). Around 4am a guy with a knife opened the tent and grabbed my bag, I screamed so loud I ended up loosing my voice for almost 2 weeks! The guy ran and the guys came running out of their tent, I am hysterical and say we just got robbed! The guys got so upset Papanii ran one way Joe the other and Martin starts to run in a third and Nora and I say if you go we will seriously just go nuts! Obviously none of us went back to sleep, Papanii was SOOOOOOOOOOOO mad that someone took my bag and then went with me to see if maybe the guy (or guys maybe) threw out anything from my bag around the area; all I was really upset about was my Journal was in the bag and my special green sunglasses (seen on the girl in the last post). That day we changed our location of our tents.

MORE TO COME TOMORROW (HOPEFULLY THE CAFE IS OPEN TOMORROW ON X-MAS DAY - MISS YOU ANGEL) THE CAFE HAS DOOR OPEN AND I AM GETTING EATEN ALIVE!!!!

OH GHANA

OH GHANA is what we say when something ridiculous happens or something gets messed up,so we say this a lot, and I am saying it with regards to the last attempt at posting, which didn't post, a prime example of when to use the Oh Ghana expression.

So anywayyyyy... So let me try and catch up. I have been teaching now for almost a month, I have two classes, Jr High 1 and Jr High 2, I teach them English, Social Studies and Library (reading time). The Love school is my new Monday to Friday place I am teaching at, I must be

at school by 7:30 and teach till 3pm. I wake up every weekday at 5:30am right before the sun comes up. It is better to get up early and do things before it gets too hot. This is so the case (getting up early) that I think I sleep late on Saturday and Sunday when I wake up at 7am! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ironic fact: it is about 96 degrees on

average during the day so when it is night and about 75-77 degrees I am FREEZING wearing pants and a long-sleeve tshirt.

Since I wrote last I went to Labadi beach and saw crazy stuff! Hope the beach pictures worked, but Labadi is known as Pleasure Beach, even though "Labadi" means bad...

Teaching is really cool, the students had to come around, but I love teaching the Jr High 2 students,

and the Jr High 1 class is slowly coming around. The headmaster is an ass but his daughter Harriet is super cute! I will try to remember to bring my camera to school next week and take pictures of my class; it isn't likely that the pictures would even load though since Ghana's internet is slower than the internet

used in the early 80's!

What else, o yea Ghana is a petting-zoo with goats, chickens, ducks, all wandering around... in fact a goat followed me home the other day. Dogs and cats also walk around here randomly, no leash, no rabies shots or collars. It is great when a dog or cat runs by or a chicken and scares the crap out of you! The men here are also like animals, calling out marriage proposals and screaming "obruni" which is "white girl" and cat-calling

(kissing noises or tssssssss sounds) it is super great, yea side note sarcasm is non-existent in Ghana.

So far I have not traveled THAT much, went to a beach in the Eastern Region called Prampram - it was gross men were just squatting and pooping all over the beach... I did not go swimming!

Also this past weekend I went to a place North of Accra called Aburi, pretty and very different than where I live in Nungua. I had gone to Aburi to see a tribal festival but my new roommate, Nora, and I missed it... o well! So we walked around and saw a different view of the area, it was seeing the real town, not anything a tourist would see. (Overall I am not really seeing the "tourist"

Ghana but rather have seen the real and truthful Ghana. I won't get into it in the blog about all that I have learned but basically it has been making me really think about going to grad school for some

sort of international type of work...I know I was at

GW and did Art History IRONIC!) When I get to travel and even just talking with the people here and with my new friends I can't help but to get upset at the mistreatment of the Ghanaian people and the corruption of the government. But back to Aburi... after leaving Nora and I headed back home on the tro-tro (a broken down old old OLD OLD mini-van) to Accra, went to Makola market to get fabric to take to the seamstresses to make clothing and such... if anyone wants African clothing send me your measurements!

But on a positive note, my host brother is super chill, and he has taken me as his sister and I have met his friends who are all super chill too and watch out for me while I am here (Mom be happy - you too Nana). Two of them (Joe and Martin) took me to a football game this past Sunday, Accra won, and it was my second football game I have ever seen (first was Ghana versus Brazil in the Under 20 tournament - whatever that means!) I hope to add pictures of the game as well. The stadium and the rules are sooooooooo different from at home, people smoke in the stadiums, don't sell alcohol, the people carry the food and water on their heads in buckets (different buckets from the ones I use to shower with - yea remember no running water, that even means no water to flush a toilet with).

Upcoming plans are a funeral next weekend on Thursday or Friday, camping the rest of the weekend at Coco Betei on the beach with new friends (no I have no ex-pat friends just Ghanaians hahaha). Jeez waiting on these pictures to upload is costing me way too many cedis!!!

P.S. When I get chances I will continue to upload more pictures

Oh Ghana!

Whatever Man... but internet sucks

So today is Thursday here... o hell I can't do crappy 1980's P ill update tomorrow from school... that I wake up at 5:30AM to get there on time hahahaha you all know that is a joke if still was in NY but I am being legit... tomorrow with better internet update and HOPE PICTURES THAT UPLOAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arrival (and the next 2 days)

So after arriving in Ghana on the 1st of October I must say it is really different from the U.S., of course I got stopped going through customs (they wanted to know what shaving cream was and what I do with it, they laughed when I told them it is used to shave your legs). Once at my new home I met Dorine (mother) who is so cute but speaks about no English (trying to explain being a lactard was rather difficult). I didn't meet other family members really except her grandson who is afraid of white girls and her son David who was wasted drunk at the time. All good though, nice people for sure.

It wasn't too hard of a time change adjustment; it is more of an adjustment to not having running water, random blackouts (today we had one for about 5 hours - not fun in a house without a fan in 95 degree weather), and the constant marriage proposals. But after showering with a bucket (using water that had been collected during the rainy season or "tanks" aka barrells) I went to the beach for orientation (SO CLOSE TO THE ATLANTIC IT IS INSANE!) and then I was off to Accra with my program coordinator Evans.

I saw Black Star Square, which is the memorial to the first President of Ghana (Nkrumah) who is also the man who helped the country gain its independance on March 6, 1957. (I cannot upload pictures now but will do so as soon as I can). We also drove past where the Black Stars play football, and I cannot wait to go to a game! My day ended with the coolest thing, meeting the Rastafarians and them teaching me drums! MAD COOL! And to make drum lessons ever cooler one of the dudes was wearing a Yankee hat, and the other had insane dreads and offered to give me some (no worries mom I said I was good for now, but thanks). Seriously thinking of going back and taking more lessons (as you will be able to see from the video I most def need more lessons!) and you can see video below (hopefully and NOT hopefully)

In the early evening I went with my roommate, Emma, from Australia, to the Accra Mall to get Soy Milk :). It was rather western type of mall but unless I need more soy milk I don't think I will be going again (too expensive). Everyone tends to go to sleep early so that was the end of the day basically, after having Banku for dinner (mashed rice ball with stew that has fish, chicken and beef - beef here is the skin of the cow not what we call beef and it is GROSS)

***

Today I finally got to unpack and settle in, came to Osu to use the internet and try to have contact with people. I took the tro-tros which are like the Ghanian version of buses but they are minivans and guys scream out where the final destination is and you have to know where you are going, for an easily confused girl it was a very funny scene; let's hope I find my way back home!

My minutes at the internet are almost up so till the next trip to Osu this is all for now!