Remainder of Week Five, Trip to Ada, and Week Six

The weeks are just flying by, I still feel like I got here a week or two ago!
Last week was fairly low key until the weekend. Friday night we had a few friends over for a dance party. It was a lot of fun and Sonny was happily the DJ for us!
Saturday morning my roommates and I went to the town of Ada. The taxi and trotro rides felt long, brutal, a little confusing, and when we got into town I was a little sketched out by where we were and was not in the best mood. Luckily before too long we were on a boat on our way to the beach resort.
The beach resort was absolutely beautiful. It is located very close to where the gigantic river meets the ocean, so there was water on all sides of us. We spent the night in little huts. The huts had only sand as flooring and grass as roofing, but luckily it didn’t rain and the huts did the job.
I enjoyed a few water side walks with my roommates. I liked walking down on the river side until it meet the ocean and walking back on the ocean side. We had fun collecting seashells, there were tons of really beautiful ones on the beach. There was a dead whale washed up on the beach that we were told was killed by the local fishermen because it was eating the fish. It was sad and it smelled bad, but in a way it was cool to see. There were also lots of dead jellyfish and other fish on the beach, we don’t know why there were so many. If there wasn’t so many dead things and trash washed up, the beach would have been a perfect and absolutely gorgeous tropical paradise. It was still pretty darn nice!
On one of our beach walks we meet a rastifarian guy. He lives on the beach close to the resort. He was a really funny guy. After we had dinner he came and joined our table and sang some Bob Marley songs for us. After he was done singing he taught me the basics on how to play a drum. I’ve wanted to learn how to play one for a long time, it was really fun! He wanted us to buy some of the jewelry that he made. I would have if I had brought enough money with me, he had some really cool stuff.
Sunday I was starting to feel a little under the weather, but the trotro rides went pretty quickly and we were back in Accra soon enough.
Tuesday was a national holiday celebrating Kwame Nkrumah's 100th birthday, so most people didn’t have work or school. I traveled by myself out of town via trotro for the first time, to meet my family friend’s friend. I was scared that I would get lost but luckily I made it there safely without any problems. I got to John and Martha’s home a little less than two hours. They are very kind people and were very happy to have me over for the day. Martha made fufu in a light soup for an early dinner. Fufu, along with gari and banku, is made from casava flour which is a main staple here in Ghana. I only stayed for a few hours because I don’t feel comfortable traveling alone at night.
On my way home I started to feel a little sick. I’ve had flu like symptoms since then, which are the same symptoms for malaria, which made me worry a lot. Even though I have been taking my malaria medication it is still possible to get a type that the medication doesn’t protect against. I have been sleeping about 15 hours a day the last couple days, which was very much necessary. Thank goodness I am feeling much better today which means I probably don’t have to worry that it is malaria!
It has been a while since my last post because of my sickness and because the internet hasn’t been working lately. Today I will go to lecture and buy some food on my way home. I don’t have plans for the rest of the week yet apart from starting to write my essays and going to my internships.
I have been going to the orphanage a couple times a week for three hour shifts. When I go there I usually just play with the babies and help out the orphanage mom when she needs help. The kids are always very excited to see me. It is mostly fun to go, but sometimes they can be quite the handful. It is hard to see children with out parents. I can hardly imagine what it would be like growing up in their shoes, it makes me so grateful that I have such a good family. I am happy that I have the opportunity to make a little difference in these children's lives.
My other internship started last week. It is for an NGO called FightAIDS Ghana. On Tuesday I meet William who the person that I will be interning. He showed me the office and introduced me to the other NGO staff. They are in need of more computers, so if you have a used one that you would like to donate please let me know, shipping is free. Last Thursday he took me and the two other american interns to the school that his step father runs. We went in each of the classrooms and meet the children that we will be teaching. The children range from first grade to twleth grade. I was suppost to start teaching today but I didn’t go because I don’t want to get all the kids sick, so it will have to happen another time. I think that it will hard for me to go into the classrooms alone and teach them about HIV, wish me luck!
I hope all is well with you!
~Lauren

Week Five Already?!?!

This past week has not been super eventful, but still has been a lot of fun!
On Wednesday my roommates and I went to the weekly reggae concert on the beach. We sat and had a drink, went dancing, then we decided to go for a night swim in the ocean. I love living near the ocean!
Friday was Ramadan, a big Muslim holiday celebrating the end of the fast. In Ghana most of the northern population is muslim, and the south is mostly Christian, and there are few people of other religions. People here tend to be very religious, but still get along with each other well. I have found that it is best to avoid conversations having to do with religion with locals, as people tend to try talking me into following their religion. Accra (where I live) is in the south so the majority of the population is Christian but there are also a lot of muslims here because it is the capital. Friday night I went out with my roommates Gina and Ada and their group of muslims friends to celebrate. Ramadan is a very big deal to muslims so there were a lot of people out celebrating. We went out to a popular dance club. Our new muslim friends are very nice guys and did a great job at keeping all the overly outgoing men away from us, which I appreciated very much!
On Saturday we went to campus to watch the soccer tournament. It was a lot of fun to watch them. Many of them didn't have proper gear such as shin guards and cleats but they still are so good! The little boys team could probably beat a US college team! We also watched the basketball tournament for awhile. It was a little weird seeing so many tall Ghanaians because Ghanaians tend to be really short.
My roommates and I have been having a lot of fun doing a little decorating throughout the house. It is starting to look really homely and nice. We have been doing a lot of cooking and watching Sex and The City. I am really grateful that I get along with my roommates so well! We are always hanging out and talking about our experiences which has made the culture change so easy for me!
My classes are starting to get more serious, so tonight I will be doing schoolwork.
I am looking forward to another week in Ghana. This week I will hopefully start my internship at the clinic. My roommates and I are planning on getting out of the city for the weekend, I'm excited for some adventures!
Love, Laur (my new nickname, thanks to my roommates)

First Day at the Orphanage and Trip to Cape Coast!

On Friday I went to work at the orphanage for the first time. It is very nice as far as orphanages go. I spent most of my time with the babies (0-4 years old). As soon as I stepped into the play pin and sat down to play with one, about five others came and sat on my lab or hugged my arm. They are darling and well taken care of, but defiantly need additional one-on-one time! I played with the kids for awhile and then held the youngest while a coworker gave the rest their daily baths. Maxwell, the baby I was holding, is a tiny little baby and is extremely cute, but has medical problem that the doctor can’t figure out. He had a swollen liver, often gets fevers, and has some difficulty breathing. I feel for him and hope the doctor figures it out soon! After I held him awhile he fell asleep in my arms. I put Maxwell to bed and then went around meeting all of my coworkers.
The orphanage is owned by a lady from Italy who has been living here the last five years. She seems nice and is very grateful that I will be helping out. Issac is the gate answer and helps watch and play with the babies. He is a cool guy and I think that he will become a friend. I failed at remembering the rest of the names but hopefully I will figure them out soon. A few of the staff members are around my age which I am really happy about! All of the staff are locals except for one other foreign volunteer who I haven’t meet yet.
After my shift was over Issac walked me home so that I wouldn’t get lost and so I would be safe because it was starting to get dark. I learned that he plays football (not the American type) for the university and he invited me to his game this week. My roommates and I are excited to go see a local game. Football is veeeery popular here!
When I got home I was quite tired so I ate dinner and went straight to bed. I woke up very early to get ready for a weekend trip to Cape Coast. It is relatively close to Accra, but it takes about two hours to get there because as far as I know freeways don’t really exist here.
Our first stop when we arrived in town was Elmina Castle (picture above). It is where slaves were held before they were sent out to ships during the slave trade. I found the place both fascinating and very sad. It is ridiculous how people could do things so extremely horrible to other people. We learned that the conditions were so harsh for the slaves that from the time they captured to the time they were boarded onto ships only 40% survived, and only half of those survived the voyage on the ship. It was good to see the place, but it broke my heart to know what happened there.
Lunch was our next stop. We went to a restaurant that is located on a little swamp. While we were waiting for our meal we observed about a hundred little yellow birds making their nests, along with a few crocodiles swimming around! We went to the canopy walk in Kakum National Park next. We walked through the rainforest to a long viewing bridge that was held up by the tallest trees. It was really cool to see the rainforest from above. We couldn’t spot any animals but saw lots of pretty butterflies and way too many ants! It is similar to the rainforest that I saw in Mexico a few years ago.
There was a big festival going on in Cape Coast this weekend so it was a little crazy getting around the place. At one point we had to go to the bank, so we went downtown and had to walk through lots of people to get there. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I love how everyone dances here! That night we went to an outdoor concert. There were tons of people there and it was a lot of fun! Most of the lyrics were in Twi but it was good music to dance to! The next day we went sight seeing a little more and went to the beach for awhile, then made our way home. It was a wonderful weekend and I found Cape Coast to be a really awesome city!
This week will be filled mostly with school and internships. Hopefully I will have time to update my blog again sometime in the near future.
Cheers,
Lauren

It’s already the end of week three and I’m beginning to think that the remainder of these four months is going to go very quickly. These last couple weeks have been wonderful. Now that I am over my original sense of being overwhelmed with the drastically new culture, I’ve started to notice things that didn’t at first. I was told before I left that I would be called “auburine” (the Twi word for foreigner/white person) a lot and I would get really annoyed with it. During the first week or two there was so much new stuff going on that I didn’t even notice anyone call me that... until this one time I noticed a child calling me by that word and ever since then I have noticed people saying that word everywhere I go! Us white girls sure stick out a lot here!
I have started to get better at ignoring people trying to sell me things, taxi drivers, beggars, and men trying to get my number. Dealing with these things didn’t come very easily to me at first because I have never been around them in such great amounts, and the people here tend to be very persistent when they want something. A couple days ago a man in his 50s or 60s asked me for my number (what the heck was he thinking?!) some how I managed to strongly and effectively say NO without being totally mean, which I feel is quite the accomplishment! There have been other times in which I have not handled such occasions of saying no so smoothly, as you all know how bad I can be at lying. One time I said “No you can’t have my number... I don’t have a phone” right after talking on my cell phone - not the smoothest let down! But I am starting to form effective strategies of both ignoring, rejecting and just being friends with the male population, I might even start wearing my fake wedding ring ;) The aggressiveness of the men and the reservedness of the women are just part of the culture here.
I found out this week that I will be doing two internships while I am here. One will be at an orphanage and one at a clinic. I met all the people that work at the orphanage on Wednesday and will start work this afternoon. It is a very nice orphanage that helps children from 1 to 13 years old. All of the orphans have been physically abused and many have diseases such as HIV or hepatitis A. I am excited to help improve the lives of these children! I brought stickers, pins, and frisbees with me from the states and I think that the kids will have a lot of fun playing with them! I will probably work at the orphanage about eight hours a week and the clinic about 10 hours a week. I am also very excited to work at the clinic! I hope that I will be a lot of help to people there and that I will learn a lot to advance my learning to become a nurse.
Classes started last week. My roommates and I have all the same classes and we are the only people in them. I am taking Ghana Today, Sociology and Development of Ghana, and a Service Learning class. They are all only once a week so I don’t have any class on Monday, Tuesday, or Friday!
I have been starting to get accustomed to the weather. It is currently in the middle of Ghana's “rainy” season. The temperature has ranged from the 70s to the upper 90s. Accra is near the ocean,so it is always very humid here. When I first arrived I though it was much too hot (it was in the 90s) but recently I have found myself starting to dislike air conditioning because it is too cold! It has been cloudy here more often than it has been sunny, but often the sun will break through. I’m starting to get pretty tan already! The locals tend to laugh at me when I wear sunglasses, and they say that "it’s hardly sunny at all"... but it i really bright! I am nervous for the heat and intense sun that will come in the following months! It has only rained three times since I arrived here, but each time it was in extreme amounts, the biggest rain drops that I have ever seen!
When my roommates and I have spare time we often enjoy playing card games, cooking, going out to a club, or going to the beach. We have only been to the beach once so far but it was really nice and as it gets hotter I’m sure we will go very often!
Last week me and Emily went with Molly to meet with Lila, the person that she is interning with. Lila has some connections in the radio business and she interviewed us on the radio! It was awesome and I feel like a celebrity ;) Lila then took us to a place to get lunch. We got waakye (picture above), which is the favorite traditional meal I have had here so far. It was a huge bowl of food in which we all ate from. It contained noodles, beans, goat meat, fish, eggs, fried plantain, and some ground up spicy peppers. It was so much food that we couldn’t come close to finishing it, and it was super cheap. The other epic meals I have had recently include fufu with groundnut soup (one of the most popular and loved foods of Ghana), a meat pie (basically a calzone), and wonderful fried rice with chicken and cabbage that cost about $1.50. I liked all of these meals and they were super cheap!
Doing laundry by hand is quite the chore and I avoid doing it for long as possible. Not many people have washers here because they use too much water. Yesterday I did laundry for the second time since I arrived here. It was necessary because I was running out of wearable clothing, but it was dreaded. It took me almost two hours to wash rinse and hang it all up, but hopefully I will find ways to improve upon my techniques next time.
The house is very nice but we have some serious bug problems. There are little ants everywhere, if food is left unattended for twenty minutes I guarantee that there will be a thick trail of little black specks crawling onto to a plate fully covered by the little insects. There have also been three cockroaches spotted in the house. We managed to end one of their lives but the others live on, hopefully never entering my room!
So far I have been loving it here! The culture change is heavy but I have begun to make new friends and think that I will love every bit of my time spent here! I have so many things that I want to share but they will have to wait until another time. This weekend George will be taking us on an excursion to Cape Coast, I am very excited!