Ghana

Last entry

jamba2323 — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:43:00 GMT

I'm now in beautiful sunny northern California, listening to the birds chirp in the redwood trees in my backyard. It's so unbelievably grounding to be back home with family in the fantastic environment I grew up in. CA will always be in my heart!! Right now, though, I am missing Ghana, the kids and my teammates.

As for this trip, it's time to close the journal with one final entry. As promised (mostly to myself)- I wanted to write my musings and observations about race and social differences between Ghana and the US. This will be a long entry, and you'll see how my Chinese-American and Berkeley educational upbringing kick in.

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April 29, 2008 (as noted in my journal)

Tory and I are sitting in the back of Jeff's classroom. It's our favorite class to teach, Class 3. He's finishing up a lesson on Natural Science, the subject of the day is "Community." I'm taking notes as he writes on the chalkboard - I'd like a Ghanaian education too!:)

The community, Jeff tells his kids, is like a family. There is the Chief, the Assembly + women, then the elders and Priests. Parallel to that is the (Ghanaian) family head: father, then mother, then elder brothers/sisters and younger siblings.

Ideally, the leaders ensure peace and harmony within the members of the community. Why should we (Ghanaians) be nice to foreigners? Who are foreigners? Your art teachers, Tory and Tina, are foreigners. We should be nice to foreigners so that when we go to their countries, they will be nice to us- treat others as you want to be treated, as it says in the Bible. (Here I almost choked thinking about how cold the US can be to immigrants, specifically remembering racist remarks/actions done against my parents and even myself...a natural US citizen.)

We should also be nice to foreigners because they enhance the development of our country. (There have been Chinese, from China, working and living in Ghana. I've seen handfuls of Chinese men here and there, working with Ghanaian men in construction jobs along the road. I find out later that the Chinese come to design and oversee road construction. All the major roads and turnarounds were directed by the Chinese.)

Who is the chief of Labadi? (Labadi is the town this school is in.) Xhi Kpobec Tete Tsuru III. We need to work hand in hand, together, to have development.

BOOM BOOM BOOM* The sound of drums signifies breaktime, and Natural Science class is over. As the kids rush out to play in the courtyard, I'm left feeling sad that Jeff is wrongly mistaken about his concept of the world. It would be an ideal and beautiful picture to have the rest of the world countries treat foreign visitors/immigrants as generously and warmly as the Ghanaians treat their visitors. For any Ghanaian wanting to visit or relocate to the US, I would definitely give them a cultural lesson for preparation.

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In fact, once when I was on a tro-tro, a radio announcer was stating the international peace ratings for different countries. The US came in 97, the UK around 76, and Ghana was 47. I was not surprised that the US was so low, and I wonder then, which country is no. 1 in peace.

Ghana is described in travel guides to be a most warm and hospital, generous and welcoming place. I found this true throughout my travels. Whether in the villages or the city, the Ghanaians gave respect to foreigners. It was expected for you to be polite and greet people with "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon"- especially amongst friends. They looked out for each other. If someone was in need of help, you'd generally be able to find a willing stranger to lend a hand.

In regards to Ghanaians respecting foreigners, even though they'd call out "Obroni!", "Blofonyo!" to us (White person!) it was not said with malice. How contrary it'd be if we were to shout out "White person!", "Black person!", etc. in the US or the UK. With this in mind, you can see how my fellow volunteers and I would wince inside each time they singled us out. It took some adjusting to really realize that they were just stating a fact. Almost like..."green dress!" or "straight hair!" At the first village I stayed in, Frank our host said we could say "Obibini" back to the Ghanaian. "Obibini" means "black person." Are you SURE we can say that? Definitely! he said. It's just stating a fact. Wow! I love how there is no negative racial implication behind such an exchange.

Personally, I hate being singled out. Even though I adjusted to "Blofoyno!", "Obroni!" (I kind of miss hearing that now?!)it still grated on me that I was a foreigner. To make it worse, because I'm Chinese, I would get "China/China Woman/Chinese/Japo(n)" <Wince> I think my hyper sensitivity to not wanting to be different comes from experiences where being different was bad, even hurtful. I hope I'm less sensitive now, and able to embrace being Chinese- American.

Being Chinese there was also beneficial to the kids/teachers. They wanted to learn Chinese, so I taught them the handful of characters I knew. They loved it! And actually, their accent is quite good, as the dialects there have many intonations as well. Being of a Chinese-American background came in handy on a personal level as well. As I was adjusting and learning about the Ghanaian culture, I realized there were many commonalities between my Chinese culture and theirs. It seems that both are more intuitive and indirect in ways of communicating, and the communal mindset and respect for hierachal society is there. Also, the types of food weren't so out of my league, for as the saying goes, Chinese people eat everything. Mostly. I once ordered the Ghanaian dish of light soup (a delicious tomator based broth) with fish. The fish (tilapia) came out whole, lying in my bowl. Great! I started digging in. My UK friends looked in horror. A whole fish, with the head and tail...! Ah, but you see, Chinese people also eat the fish eyes (not I personally) and at this, they were shocked even more. I asked the Ghanaian cookes if fish eyes are eaten in Ghana, and they said, some people eat them. So boiled yams, boiled plantains, whole fish, and other Ghanaian foods were really quite easy to adjust to for me.

Lastly, I will write about skin color. I was delighted to hear my Ghanaian friends remark how being black was beautiful. When Tory was leaving, Derrick, the school director, said she couldn't go back just yet because she wasn't dark enough. Of course we were surprised to hear that, and told him she couldn't get much darker due to the pigments in her skin. He understood, but already the value for dark, black skin had been stated. Wow! This blows my mind because from my college days of discussion on race and ethnicity, on the social "system" of the US, etc. it was pretty much defined that dark skin worked against you in the US. A fact that I absolutely hate. (Actually, in China/Taiwan, it is the same- royalty had whiter skin, working class had dark skin.) And I was raised with to be politically correct in my awareness of when to use the word "black" for describing things. And so it was a breath of fresh air to see my Ghanaian friends be proud of who they were.

I think this pretty much wraps up my thoughts. Not all, but most. If I've written something contrary to what you think, I'm open to hearing it. EG- if I wrote something wrong about Ghana, let me know!

Thanks for being a part of my trip...

~T :)

Ghana -> NY-> CA

jamba2323 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:06:00 GMT

I'm back in New York now; landed in JFK airport on Sunday afternoon. My kind and gracious friend EH and roommate EL patiently circled the airport for 45 minutes while waiting for me to meet them. EL prepared a delicious salmon and salad dinner, which I ate despite my weak stomach.

It's really nice to be back. I am having dejavue of when I first moved to New York- the excited feelings of exploring the city and seeing everything through new eyes. I have to get used to non white (anglo-saxon) and black faces. The multicultural aspect of the city is fantastic and my mind is adjusting to it.

It's nice to not be singled out as an outsider while walking down the streets. No more shouts of "Obroni!" or "Blofonyo", yet I do find myself missing Africa and the people. My American accent is back, though on Sunday I must have sounded a bit different. I'm glad I have movie clips of my UK and Ghanaian friends on my camera- I can still capture the accents.

Before I left, I was terribly ill. My stomach was going haywire, was up all night at the loo (the term an ode to my UK friends) and was feverish. My flight was canceled on Saturday, and just as well, as I spent the day in the hospital hooked up to an IV that dripped antibiotics and fluids into me. I was discharged 6 hours later, feeling much better but stomach still acting up. The lab test said I had 1+ malaria parasites in my blood, but my NY doctor who I visited yesterday, said I might not have malaria. Whatever it was, I'm glad it's gone. My lab test will come back soon.

Am off to Ca to visit family and from there will type the thoughts I haven't been able to put down yet.

Till then!

Gallery: Villages

jamba2323 — Sun, 1 Jun 2008 22:38:00 GMT

Village visits

Week 7- Some random facts and thoughts

jamba2323 — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:59:00 GMT

I have one more week left. 6 days to be exact. I'm finally enjoying living here, and will really miss it. I'm sure I won't know exactly and to what extent I'll miss people and the environment/Ghana, but it's been a really, really great and unique experience. I know I'll come back and visit again...so thankful to have made lifetime friendships with some of the locals here.

Last night, 7 new volunteers came. None from America, all from the UK. There's a new girl, who's ethnic background is Bangledeshi, in my room. I guess we are the Asian room of the house. Haha. Its so interesting to be the weathered/experienced volunteer and seeing the "newbies" (as they are called) arrive and adjust. I remember when we were all very pale and burning (not I though) in the beginning of our stay. This girl is a bit shy, and has never flown out of the UK before. I think Africa will be a crazy and interesting experience for her!

Speaking of daily living, when I was on the tro-tro one day, I thought it'd be funny to list to you what I've endured/experienced/adjusted to lifestyle wise. Here then, is a candid look at how I've been living:

1. Developed heat rash (very itchy) for the first couple of weeks.

2. Amazingly, had tiny sweat bubbles trapped in the pores of my arms and legs. It's so weird- others got it too...you can literally squeeze the bubbles and pop them.

3. Cut my hair short (was going to shave it) out of frustration with sweating on my pillow at night.

4. Drawn water out of a community well (and charged for it!)

5. Taken many bucket baths and carried many buckets of water.

6. Washed my clothes in buckets

7. Shared a toilet that we don't flush unless utterly necessary (to save water)

8. Had my mosquito net fall on my face many times

9. Slept with mosquitos in my net at night (truly torturous) and of course was eaten during the night. Extremely frustrating!!!

10. Swept the floor of my room with the Ghanaian reed broom- a really great broom I think! It's a bundle of reeds tied at one end, which you fan apart in a twisting motion when using. Then just twist the reeds back together to make the bundle again.

11. Sweated on and was physically stuck to people on a daily basis- in taxis or trotros.

12. Used toothpaste in lieu of pimple cream. This works for those of you interested.

13. Pee'd in a toilet shed- toilet made up of a concrete floor with rectangular cut outs.

14. Pee'd in nature, outside of the shed.

15. Carefully peeled apart napkins and tissue paper to prolong toilet paper supply.

16. Went to the hospital for fevers.

17. Took Immodium tablets (at the village I took it to prevent my having to use the shed too much. The idea came from the 2 other girls, Becca and Anna. Haha)

18. Sweated nonstop and realized the extent of which I could smell. No matter your race, you will smell when sweating profusely under the African sun.

19. Smelled the sewage from the open wide gutters along the streets on a daily basis.

20. Ate snacks from the plethora of walking vendors- plantain chips (yum!), spiced tofu kebabs on a stick (could this be influence from the Chinese community here?), many meat pies (the buttery crusts taste like chicken curry pastries from the Chinese bakeries at home), drank coconut juice from a coconut (the vendors use a machete to hack open the coconuts, then cut it open for you to eat the insides), eaten mangos with the skin on it (Ghanaian style), watermelon, oranges, pineapple, cacoa fruit (with cacoa beans in the middle, which we don't actually eat), Fan Ice (frozen yogurt in plastic pouches, drank water daily from plastic water sachets, eaten boiled corn from the roadside...and more

21. Slept in a thatched hut (on beach), in my uncomfortable bunk under my moquito net (with boards pushing into my back, creating bruises), slept on the floor with a thin mattress in the village, slept comfortably in the botel with thick foam mattress, as well as a nice mattress in my friend Linda's house.

22. Had flies swarm about me while on the sweaty, challenging hike to Umbrella Rock at the Boti Falls.

23. Lived in my flip-flops (surprisingly!) and had them turn a reddish/peach color due to the red dirt.

24. Had a terrible phelgmy cough for the first several weeks. I hated it, my cough would wake me up at night and was exacerbated by the extremeley dusty road conditions.

I'm sure there's more but I can't think of anything else.

I have yet to journal my thoughts on race and America/Ghana...that will come at a different time.

Thanks for reading this long list. Hope it was interesting, see you at my next entry!

2 nights in the village /bday

jamba2323 — Fri, 23 May 2008 06:23:00 GMT

I just got back from spending 2 nights at a village about 3 hours away. It was along journey there, and a longer journey back. I had some qualms about going to the village, though initially was quite excited about it. My qualms came after some teammates came back from the first village trip. I have a very sensitive nose and after hearing their description of the bathroom and village smells, I didn't feel so keen on going anymore. But I still decided to go.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been sick the whole time. The day of travel was hot and I'm sure I must have been a bit dehydrated. I remember looking at the woman selling apples on her head, wishing I could buy an apple. But I wanted to save money and had a waterbottle with me. During my time here I've been craving fresh fruits and vegetables!! I didn't really want to drink much water as I knew we had a long road trip ahead. By the time we reached the village, I wasn't feeling very well. That night I think I started getting a fever, and was feeling pretty weak and dizzy. I took some Advil and went to sleep early. The next morning, I dragged myself up at 6am (thanks to the help of the ever constant sounds of bleating goats and crowing roosters) made a visit to the toilet shed (more details on that later) and took a bucket of water to wipe my arms and legs. We had some activities set for us that day- teaching at the nearby school, then after lunch go fishing, then make pottery.

While walking to school with my 5 other teammates, I felt really out of it and tired. A headache was starting to set in and I knew I didn't have the stamina to teach a class of 50 kids. My teammate Anna kindly walked me back to the house, bought me a Sprite and I took a nap until lunch. We ate boiled yams with cacoa leaf stew (pretty good tasting) and walked 20 minutes to the river. The river was a yellow/brown color, and everyone but Anna and I went to swim in it. I know I've been paranoid about this, and I still am- but I didn't want to chance getting worms (from swimming in still fresh water) so I refrained from jumping in. The current was rather strong, and some of the comments the boys made were hilarious. "See you in Equatorial Guinea!" Jack yelled as the current pulled him downstream. Jack, Doug, Ben and Becca had a good time struggling upstream and climbing trees that were planted in the water near the banks. Our 2 Ghanaian hosts, Ampouf and Frank were the ones who were actually fishing. They caught 2 small fish (wow!) with their very simple branch poles (cut with a machete) and live grasshopper bait. Jack boasted about being able to kill a fish and very poorly just hurt the fish after whacking it against the bucket. Eck. Well, there was fish for part of dinner...

Pottery- went on another small hike so Frank and Ampouf could dig up clay in the forest. Frank brought back the clay and mixed water with it, while pounding it with a heavy pole (much like making the local dish of Fufu.) We each took a lump of clay and made anything we wanted. I tried making a small container- didn't take it back with me though.

That night there was a HUGE football (soccer) game on- Manchester United vs. Chelsea. (Yes I've gotten quite educated on the soccer culture now.) Everyone but me and Becca went to the nearby town of Oda to watch the game at a pub. There was a storm brewing, with lightening flashing through the skies. Africa has a really splendid sky, and terrific storms. You know the rain is coming when the wind suddenly picks up in intensity, in huge sweeping gulfs. Then the rain comes pelting down, very hard, for about 30-60 minutes. Thankfully, I had already visited the toilet shed before the rain hit.

The toilet shed- my polite way of saying the **** shed, as everyone else calls it. It's a dilapidated wooden structure that looks like it will fall on itself any moment. There's a key to the shed (surprisingly) Upon nearing it, one can smell a bit of bathroom mixed with cleaning agent. The sound of flies buzzing inside is also there. Once inside, it's surprisingly clean. The floor is concrete with two rectangular holes cut out, about the size of your computer keyboard. You have to position yourself well in order not to splash yourself- I was a bit unsuccessful and also complained about peeing on my foot. The flies seem to be the most in the afternoons. That is also the time it seems to smell more- most likely due to the afternoon heat. I went in once during the afternoon, and could NOT enter the shed. I could already hear the buzzing of what seems to be billions of flies, enough that makes you think of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or flies on a dead body. Gah! I even opened the door so some could fly out- and they did, but not enough. I decided to chance peeing in the brush nearby, and found it surprisingly much nicer than going in the shed. After that, Becca and I would cover each other while one of us went to the bathroom in the brush. I really really did not enjoy going to the shed, and it wasn't even attached to the house so it was definitely a mini walk to even pee. Is it a wonder I was dehydrated from not wanting to pee so much in the village?

That night during the storm, I got a rather severe fever as my teeth were chattering and I was FREEZING. I felt very weak, had a headache and wanted to cry. Took Advil for the 3rd time that day and went to sleep. Had a sound sleep and dreamt of watermelon, pineapple and mangos. I'm definitely going to eat fruit when I come back!

Came back from the village a day early with Anna and our staff, Mikey. Spent 4 hours in the hospital waiting and getting a check up. The doctor said I might have a mild case of malaria-though I think that's a common diagnosis they give to people. I might not have malaria, I already feel so much better, but I will eat all the medicine prescribed.

For those who've wished me a birthday greeting, thank you so much :) And if you were wondering how I spent it, this is how- traveling back from the village and going to the hospital. Hahahaha. What a day. Some pluses though- Frank our village host bought me 3 mangos for my birthday (a really fantastic and sweet gift) and I was able to shower properly upon returning to the compound. Yay!!! To be clean is such a luxury.

Signing off until next time,

Week 5: Drumming Lessons

jamba2323 — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:29:00 GMT

Tonight I just had my 4th drumming lesson. I'm FINALLY understanding the drum language and the ways the beats and different drums talk to each other. I'm taking 1, maybe 2 djembe drums home. Definitely brought an extra luggage to carry back African art.

I got a kick out of tonight's lesson because of the neighborhood boys who joined in. They were ages 4-9 years, and while they were initially rude to me last week, I decided to be bold in befriending them. They, and other locals around get a kick out of an Asian face here. Anyhow, as I was drumming with the teacher and my friend, the little boys starte banging the rhythms on tin cans and even a random phone receiver. One of them started dancing and moving around, it was really great! I could tell some of them were a natural for dancing and drumming.

I'll try to put up a picture of them for this blog. I've been having problems loading up pictures as it takes FOREVER and doesn't always work. I might even put up pictures online after I'm back in New York.

After being here for a little more than a month, I'm finally used to life here and starting to enjoy it. Of course I only have 3.5 more weeks left to really enjoy it and I'm sure I'll miss it a bit and be sad to leave. Yet I still look forward to coming back, and will most likely be ready to come back once the time arrives. Next week I'll be in the village placement with my friend Becka- this means we'll be living in a village, not the compound, with an African couple in their house. We'll be doing daily life activities there- digging yams, helping at the orphanage, learning basket weaving, and eating whatever they cook. Sounds quite exciting minus the bathroom bit. I'm really not looking forward to the bathroom, some of my fellow volunteers who've been to the village placement said the only unpleasant part was the bathroom scenario. Eeek!!

Must upload pictures now, hope they work!

~T :)

Gallery: Travel expeditions

jamba2323 — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:48:00 GMT

Small trips throughout Ghana

Past the halfway mark!

jamba2323 — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:41:00 GMT

It is now the start of week 5. Hooray!!! :)Is it bad that I'm still counting down the weeks? My good friends/roommatse Tory and Chantelle are leaving this week. The room will be very quiet now. I'll miss them...but one good thing is I'll have the fan to myself! :)

Have had alot of thoughts and muses on different things while traveling on the trotros or even while walking down the street. Wish I had a computer hooked to my brain to output everything.

Snapshot #1: On classroom discipline and being a Crayon Nazi:

Yes, I've turned into a crayon nazi. There comes a point when the nice Tina becomes a disciplinarian. You should hear me in the classroom- "Sit down NOW! I do NOT want to see any hands in this box other than the ones in front of me. What is this hand doing here? Go sit down." We're actually allowed to hit the kids with this reed stick, but the kids know we won't do it and so push our buttons and try to get away with things. I know I'm not being too harsh with them because they behave quite nicely when their regular teacher passes colors (crayons/markers) out to them in rows. When I or Tory/Phil do it, we get mobbed by kids on the other side of the room.

I was getting extremeley frustrated today- 50+ kids talking to each other and not listening to you. I'm learning alot about the different age groups and how much they can take and what they need. The younger classes definitely need more direction and limits. I don't think they can handle markers because caps always end up missing. Am thinking of how to better organize the supplies for the next group of volunteers.

Snapshot #2: On insects and crawling critters:

Thankfully, we've not encountered many horrible insects. we've had a couple cockroaches in the room (Tory, Phil and Chantelle asked the New Yorker to kill it as they don't have them in the UK.) The only bothersome insects are mosquitos and flies. We do have rodents as well, but that's nothing new for me to live with either. Though it was quite a shock to find out after brushing my teeth that my toothbrush had pieces missing from it! Glad I brought 2 toothbrushes.

Snapshot #3: On being Chinese, and race in general:

This one's a lengthy topic to write about. Have been quite aware of race/perceptions/stereotypes and breaking them since college. On a general note- have been used to hearing "Japo" or "Chinese" while in Ghana. I remember in Mexico they coined "Japones" for all East Asians, and here it is no different. There's this one boy in school who loves to come up to me and say "Chinese-American" and leave.

The kids and teachers get a kick out of learning Chinese. I've taught them the few written phrases I know- simple stuff like person, day, big, small, how are you, etc. They're eager to practice with me, and love when I try to speak Ga or Twi to them.

I've also seen a handful of Chinese or East Asian folk around here. Some of them were travelers, others looked like residents of Ghana. Either way, they also get my attention as much as I capture other people's attention. It's quite funny, when I'm with my teammates and we see another Asian, we all look to each other with the same acknowledging look and laugh. (Look, an Asian!)

Will write about my thoughts on being black in Ghana and in America another time.

Snapshot #4: Just say NO:

I'm getting much better at saying no to people and being firm in my answers. Usually I feel a bit bad, thinking that I'm coming off in a mean way. After having my limits pushed in many ways- the kids always wanting something and not listening to me, the market folks pulling me into their shops, trying to persuade me or guilt trip me into buying something, having your arms pulled by local men or getting trapped in talking to them and hearing their unwanted advances is enough to make me step up with being firm in boundary/limit setting. For those who know me well, you're probably thinking- finally!! I'm sure this will help me once I return to NY and start teaching. Hahaha.

Overheard #1: On local noises:

Ever notice how different cultures will make a certain type of noise or have a certain type of saying? For Chinese people, we say "Aiya!" as an exclamation phrase. I've picked up "Oye vey!" from my Jewish friends, etc. etc. Here in Ghana, there's alot of non-verbal ways to get someone's attention. People make hissing noises with their mouths, or kissing noises to both men and women. Or they will snap their fingers quickly at you. For exclamation responses, you'll hear "OOOH!!" or "EHHHH!" Quite fun to hear when a football (soccer) match is on. I hear alot of similar laughs or surprised facial/vocal reactions in the different areas I've visited.

Week 4: On daily living and more snapshots

jamba2323 — Wed, 7 May 2008 02:12:00 GMT

Hi guys :)

It's not week 4, my half-way mark. I must confess, I've been counting down the weeks to come back. This might be surprising to hear, and it's kind of disappointing to me to realize this, but I think it's for various reasons:

1. Getting sick

2. Being the only American on the team (now they've lovingly started quoting American Pie around me. "One day at band camp...like, Oh. My. Gosh." whenever I walk up. Get a new movie!!)

3. Being in a new location without a familiar face for the first time ever.

4. Adjusting to 2 different cultures- UK/European, and Ghanaian. Interestingly, much easier to understand the Ghanaians than the Europeans- less verbal talk and more body language.

When people ask if I'm having fun here, I answer that I am surviving. Bc really, it is a day-to-day adjustment, still. It's gotten easier now, and THANK GOD I am feeling much better physically, so I think this next month will be alot smoother. I know I'm learning alot, and I DO appreciate and treasure this experience, though I've not had much time for hindsight appreciation as again, everyday has its own adventures in just living.

Speaking of adventures, here's a couple snapshots. Some are totally ridiculous.

Snapshot #1: We went away last weekend to a Botel. Not Motel or Hotel, but Botel. Not sure what it stands for- maybe bed and breakfast? Slept in the cheapest lodging- 12 of us guys and girls stayed in a room that had 12 beds dorm style. It was fine until the morning we were leaving and one of the girls had the bright idea to take the pillow cover and sheets off her bed. You'd think she was penniless or something! Actually, it's because our sheets and pillow cases at the compound aren't that great, and it's come to this type of desperation. This of course, snowballed other people in with her and some pillowcases and sheets went into their bags. I debated whether I should have said something or not, but I didn't...and of course the manager of the Botel discovered the missing sheets and called our staffer James who was with us. REALLY felt bad for James- he was disgraced by our teammates' actions and now Gap Sports has a bad name there. Long process of searching through everyone's bags, then apologizing (the staff were MAD, and rightly so.) It must put a bad taste for foreigners in their mouths. :P Great...perpetuating a chasm.

Snapshot #2: Over the weekend we also went to El Mina Castle (Portugese built) which in time started housing slaves for exporting to Europe. It was really intense being there. We had a very thorough tour and stood in the cell rooms where the slaves slept. It smelled quite awful in there, and I couldn't imagine being one of the 150 women sleeping on hard rock floor with little ventilation. I'm sure I would have willed myself to die like many of them did.

Snapshot #3: Kakum National Park- Only a little bit of Ghana's natural rainforest is left. At this park, we walked in the canopy walk amongst the treetops. Funded by Canadians, built by an American. I've done something similar in Vancouver, so I wasn't scared but it was really challenging for some teammates!

Snapshot #4: Today's adventure. This morning heading to school the tro-tro Phil and I were on got a flat tire. Walked up to the main road on the muddy path and got a taxi to school. Was of course, late. Had 54 kids in the room (thankfully not 70!) Decided to do a picture alphabet and have them draw in their own composition books. Unfortunately I don't know how to best distribute the colors (crayons, markers, etc.) to them so put the bin of colors on the desk. Told them to use them but PUT THEM BACK when finished. You can just imagine the mad dash to the desk. It was insane! No amount of yelling could help. So I gave in and used the Ghanaian method of retaining order- taking the long reed stick and wacking it across the blackboard. The kids all got silent, but only for a little. They calmed down and VERY QUIETLY (!!) focused on their work after getting a fistful of colors. Thankfully the teacher helped maintain order at the end, and most of the colors were put back in the bin.

On the way home, Phil and I encountered a crazy Ghanaian man. And I mean he must have been mentally not there. He was wearing a floppy hat, a flourescent yellow worker's vest, and no pants. Just green briefs. Yes, I've retained all these visuals from my brief glance at him. I asked Phil- why is he not wearing any pants? as we both walked towards him. She had no clue, and as he was passing us, I side-stepped to avoid him. Unfortunatly he went straight towards her, grabbed her and demanded her water bottle. It happened very fast bc when I turned around, he was already walking away. She was fine, it was more funny than scary- to be accosted by a pantless man, mugged for water!

Will be ending this long entry now.

Thanks for reading, agh, homesick!

Week 3- Teaching

jamba2323 — Fri, 2 May 2008 21:33:00 GMT

Hi everyone.

Well, things in Ghana are as good as they can be. At the moment there's running water (hooray!!), TP (yes!) and power.

I went to teach this morning by myself for the first time. We teach at a private school, and the kids all wear uniforms. This morning I wasn't feeling so great, and thankfully the kids were super helpful. I had a class of 11 yr. olds, about 22 kids total. Was expecting 70 kids- now that the school year has officially started, class sizes are 50-70! AH!

The kids are so hungry to learn. It's amazing. Makes me think about American kids and how many complain about school and ditch, etc. After our art lesson was done, they asked me to teach them more subjects. Their regular teacher was out for the day, so I gave in an on the fly went through a science lesson on the digestive system. Drew the digestive system on the board and asked them to help label and describe it. Takes me back to my high school freshman bio days. One of the kids even got cardstock paper to have me draw the digestive system large-scale for them to learn from. Gave me his science took too. So now I have homework for the weekend, haha!

I'm enjoying teaching and having a classroom of kids. I don't mind spending time to lesson plan, cuz it sure beats winging it the day of!

Keeping this entry short. Uploading pictures whenever I can, sorry the albums are huge! Wish I could insert pictures into the blog, but don't know how to or if it's possible.

~T :)

Gallery: Week 2

jamba2323 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:53:00 GMT

Week 2 in Ghana

Start of week 3- picts. from Week 1 & 2 up.

jamba2323 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:33:00 GMT

Ugh, I'm sick. Been sick for almost a week now. Feels miserable. I wake myself (and probably my roommates as well) during the night when I get coughing fits. I've bought more cough syrup from the pharmacy and hope it works fast. Really want to sleep but dragged myself to wood-carving yet again. (It's Monday.) I told Seth I would go and help him out as we don't teach today.

Some interesting experiences over the past few days.

Snapshot #1: Most of the team went to Cocoloka Beach in Ada Foah over the weekend. It was a really nice place, the waves were SUPER high and the current SUPER strong. We all got dashed around, at the mercy of the waves. Staying in the grass hut was nice but since I was sick, I wasn't living it up. At nights we had a kersone lamp lit. The inside of the hut was small- housed a full-sized bed in the middle. Thankfully, was a comfortable foam mattress (almost like a memory foam mattress!) Shared the hut with Chantelle.

Snapshot #2: On busride back, we passed through the countryside. Saw large red mounds of termite castles. Ok, they are probably called anthills (but for termites I think.) Seriously, a couple feet high. Like large sandcastles. Sketched it in my journal.

Snapshot #3: Cut my hair last night. No, not shaved. Decided to just shear it, haha. Would have shaved it if the cut looked bad. My friends here thought I was crazy. Little do they know...All I had was a pair of kiddie paper scissors, a dim flourescent light in the back veranda, and a warped mirror. Awesome. It still came out fine, luckily. Everyone was amazed. I'm sure I resemble a muppet though.

Snapshot #4: Traveling on my own to Seth's woodcarving site. An hour to commute, must transfer tro-tros. Rather like traveling by myself. Not sure why, but none of the locals paid me any attention for the first time. Is it cuz I got browner? Is it my muppet hairstyle? Or is it cuz my white friends weren't with me. There is a Chinese community in Ghana. They might have assumed I was a local. That'd be funny!

Snapshot #5: Having to pee outside...if you don't like bathroom talk, don't read. But for those of you who're curious, cuz you know you are, here's the dealio. Once arriving at Seth's, I had to go to the bathroom. Glad I brought a roll of TP with me too (for blowing my nose actually.) He asked me if I had to urinate or...and I said- yes, pee! There are 2 types of bathrooms, for #1 and #2. He took me to a space near the art shops in the area, and literally it was a concrete floor slab surrounded by 3 concrete walls. No door but a long concrete wall covered 2 urinal spaces as the shared 4th wall. No drain but a small (mouse-hole) at the bottom of one of the walls. Definitely suited for a guy, but not a girl?! There was a local guy around the corner, doing construction. There was no WAY I was going to pee without a door and with a guy around the corner! I decided to hold it, apologized to Seth and hoped that if I didn't drink anymore water that morning, I'd get dehydrated and my body would use up my pee for hydration. Then I wouldnt have to go anymore.

No such luck. About an hour later, Seth asked if he could take me to the communal toilet. He figured it'd be more private. I consented and followed him along the riverside at the back. Due to the heavy rain yesterday, the frogs were out in full loud croaks. It was cool! We ended up at a similar urinal as before, but there was a more maze-like entrance, so even though there wasn't a door, the view would be blocked. Eccck. It wasn't the dryest urinal floor...but I decided I might as well go for it. I don't know who would be an expert at this, but there was NO way you could go without getting splashed. Yeah, you're squirming. I had to live it! Ugh. Thank God for the TP roll in my bag. Nowhere to toss the trash. Seth said to throw it in the gutter (ie. the river or the line of garbage bordering it.) I felt bad to just throw it as litter, so stuck it into a plastic bag on the ground.

Yes, I have showered by now.

Well, here it is, folks. The hard parts of traveling outside a 1st world-nation. At least my heat-rash is gone, the water was working when I got back, and the internet works. Am uploading more pictures as I type.

I miss you guys, and even...NYC. You know you're homesick when you walk through the streets of home in your head.

A few thoughts

jamba2323 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:40:00 GMT

Darn, I wrote some stuff but it got deleted.

Another hour before we leave for our weekend away.

Am really appreciating what I'm learning about the African culture here. It is such a rich and deep culture. Everyone has Ghanaian and African pride, yet they are not exclusive with themselves. They are quite generous and open in teaching others and welcoming foreigners.

I'm in awe of all the beautiful cloth patterns here as well. Some girls on the team have purchased cloth and had skirts tailor made for them. I went to visit Linda this morning, and she has hooked me up with her tailor friend (yeah!) to make me a dress with this great fabric she bought. :) About $10 to make total.

Being here in Ghana, there is music constantly on. From someone's radio, in the internet cafe, or in the cars. It's funny, I feel like I am still in the States as the music is from North America- the latest hit songs are on the radio here. I also hear contemporary Ghanaian songs which are really fun. I want to get a CD before I leave.

People love to dance here. We went to Osu, this city the other week for a night out. Some guys were dancing with each other on the street. It wasn't anything weird, you could tell they truly enjoyed dancing. I love it!

Alright, more thoughts later.

Have a great weekend! Have added more photos. Don't feel like you have to look through them all.

love,

Week 2

jamba2323 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:28:00 GMT

Hi everyone. I know you all are busy with life, and this is another thing to check. I'm here for 7 more weeks, and seeing how much I've written already, there's many more entries to follow. Thanks for coming on the ride with me! :)

It's now week 2. I'm a bit sick with just a throat cold/cough. Ok, for some reason it's an accelerated cold- woke up the other day feeling weak and with a throaty cough. I think the extreme dusty conditions have to do something with it, along with sweating all the time at night and having a cool morning breeze come into the room when we wake up. Luckily, I've made good friens with some of the locals around here. My friend Ofa, who is a taxi driver/car shop owner hangs out at Linda's shop (across our street) alot. He is such a good guy. I told him that Tory and I both had coughs, but I wanted to get cough medicine for Tory first bc she came to Africa sick, and her cough has gotten progressively worse. Ofa immediately went to the pharmacy for us and got us some British made cough-syrup.

That was actually yesterday. As I noted before, was weak the whole day and just wanted to sleep. I didn't skip my placement though (some people here have been missing their placements due to oversleeping ?!?! or not feeling well.) I went to teach, but just assisted rather than lead like previous times, and took a short nap after lunch. Then dragged myself to woodcarving (very much worth it) which entailed travel via 2 crowded tro-tros and of course, walking under the hot sun.

Woodcarving- love it. I wish I could just be a woodcarver in Africa for the rest of my life. Seth our teacher is amazing. He's like an older brother/uncle type figure, very patient and was getting quite a kick out of my knowledge/skills of the tools. It was so funny, at the start we had to chop our own log of wood with a machete. When I started doing it, Seth was wowed and asked if I had ever farmed before. Lol!! Noooo but my great grandfather was one...I told him I liked using tools and my hands for making things.

As usual, there's alot to write about...first, thanks so much EL and TPH for the letters and EL- my camera cord!!! :D I've taped up your letters above my bunk. Makes me think of kids when they go to camp and their parents send them letters, haha. But I've never had that experience before.

Onto some other details.

Frustration #1: Biggest common complaints are about the lack of water (no flushing toilets), lack of paper (napkins are not part of our meals, and TP seems to run out quickly at the compound), lack of power (this makes charging cell phone and camera difficult. Oh and affects the availability of our fan in the room!) We've compensated by drawing water up from the well is our compound well doesn't work (I've yet to experience this, but really want to try out the community well!) Also have bought individual rolls of TP (so coveted!) at stores.

We are dirty 99% of the time. It's hard to be clean here. It's so dusty and everyone sweats on each other (crammed in the tro-tro's) or bumping into one another...we all have layers of dirt that gets under our nails when rubbing our skin. I can tolerate this. I'm not sure how much I can tolerate sleeping on a sweaty, sour pillow (sorry, just keeping it real)- have been joking bout shaving my head so I can alleviate this problem. Everyone sweats at night here. I really might just shave my head. Why not...it'll grow out in um 7 weeks. Haha. I'll just look like a monkey. If I do it, I'll definitely post up pictures.

Frustration #2: The communication barrier between me and my colleagues! AHHH. Again, it is hard being the only American here. It's not terrible, but today I was getting annoyed. How can they expect me to follow up on their quick conversations in all their different accents perfectly? Half the time I'm just trying to catch what they're saying, and I have to ask questions and repeat myself. Most of them have been good at being patient and explaining to me all the different UK phrases and slang. But geez louise! Tonight I repeated something I thought they said, and they were like- how'd you get that? I said- Put yourself in my shoes for a minute! If you were the only British person in like...the Southern US, I'd like to see how you understand what they're saying. (They said they understood me perfectly, but I've definitely slowed down my speech here.)

Frustration #3: Really don't understand the dynamics between Ghanaian men and foreign women, or maybe it's women in general. I've talked to a former volunteer, Catelyn, who has been traveling around Ghana after her placement, and is now visiting the compound again. She's learned alot from her time here, but is still befuddled by what guys mean when they say "...ok, we're friends." then a bit later in the conversation, they ask "Do you want to marry me?" Tory and I have been great at attracting random guys we can't seem to walk away from without them getting offended (though we are polite when saying we can't give them our personal info.) I just don't know what they expect, and if it's the norm. (Not sure if I wrote about this stuff before, sorry if it's a repeat!)

Well I should go, have written alot and some of the guys are waiting for me. Thankfully I'm walking back with them. It's night here, and while I definitely feel SAFE in Ghana, I don't want to put up with unwanted attention on the street.

This weekend we're going away to an Eastern part of Ghana. Forget what it's called, but sounds amazing. We'll be in huts on a beach. Apparently it's pretty African (definitely don't want to go to a touristy place.) John our staff said we'll most likely be the only "blofo-nyo" or "obroni"- fair skinned folks.

Will write more later, bye!

Photos from Week 1 uploaded (incomplete album)

jamba2323 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:08:00 GMT

Hi! Due to lack of time, will say that some picts, ok, 99 pictures to be exact, have been uploaded. Had a funky time trying to get captions on them, so they aren't all with descriptions.

Must leave now, ran out of money to write a proper blog.

Will post more photos later. Week 1 photos still not all uploaded. Yes...I take pictures like a maniac!

love,

Gallery: 1st Week in Ghana

jamba2323 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:53:00 GMT

1st week

First day of teaching/woodworking

jamba2323 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:36:00 GMT

Helllooo friends :)

Just read your comments. You guys make me laugh. Am sitting at the same internet cafe with several other teammates,enjoying the AC. The cafe is a close walk from the compound so I'msure to be updating alot. This blasted keyboard is rather sticky so you might have to decipher my writing.

Not sure where to start. Every day is such a full day. It's only the 4th day that I've been here, and already I've been swept wholly into another world. Our insanely stuffy nights have been alleviated with the smart purchase of a fan by Phil(ippa.) I'm geting more used to my mosquito net. My roommates are quite easy to live with and I enjoy hanging out with them. I feel very much the clueless American (can I have the excuse that I was raised Chinese...?) maybe...? It's apparent when I'm conversing with the UK kids, and the little I know about the UK is from my work experience at Chorion (lol!) and hearing stories from friends who've been there. It's really quite interesting, the cultural difference between us in just the jargon. You know when you can bond with someone through humor, by making jokes? Totally not understood here. Hahahaha! Awkward...but we're learning. I want to pick up some UK knowledge, but am also kind of fighting to keep my US/CA accent (why do you still want to sound like a valley girl, Tina?) instead of picking up the UK phrases I hear about me. Folks here are from England, Scotland and France. I need to start writing the different vocabulary I'm learning- from my friends and their home countries, as well as the local Ghanaian words.

Better write bout the first day of school, as that's how I titled this entry. Think I'll write it in snapshots.

Snapshot 1: Me, Tory and Phil have been working pretty well together in coming up with impromptu lesson plans for the kids. Taught the 4-6 yr. olds today. Decided to do an "animal" theme for them- had them think of their favorite animal, make the noises, and draw them. There were about 30+ kids, and quite surprisingly, I got most if not all my Crayons back (had passed them out for coloring.) They are SO FUNNY. I think it's rare for them to see a non-white person, so they definitely remembered my name, and would just randomly call it to get my attention. Then I'd look up and they'd say- "Chinese-American!" It's quite confusing for folks here to understand that I'm Chinese and American, but I say I'm American...then I add- Well, Chinese-American.

Snapshot 2: Went to the woodcarver, Seth today. Amazingly humble, gentle and patient man. Woodcarving is a trade in his family. I'm so excited to learn this craft!! I am more familiar with using chisels than Tory or Phil, so I let them experiment with them first. We were inducted to woodcarving by practicing on chipping away the first layer of wood on this carving he's working on. Our own assignment is to make a mask for our moms. Haha. :) He's very thoughtful! I took photos, but still can't put pictures up yet. He also gave us the option to come an additional afternoon to help him sand and oil his sculptures. YEAH!! I'm so there...even if it means taking the tro-tro (very crowded public small bus/van) the 1.5 hours there...

Snapshot3: The tro-tro. Oh boy. I've been taking taxis most of the time. It's more expensive than the tro-tro but a very direct commute. The tro-tro we took today from Seth's work area (which is under these great trees off the side of the highway, hahaha) took forEVER to take us home. We had to take 2 tro-tros and transfer in-between, then a taxi. It was SO HOT and there were alot of stops, I swear 2 years passed in that couple hours. We were very much disheveled when disembarking.

Snapshot 4: Lady on tro-tro w/baby in sling on back started feeding her kid. None of the men even batted an eye, and she didn't think anything of it. How different it'd be in the States!

Snapshot 5: Meals at the compound- a mixture of Western, and African. The Western still cooked with an African twist(how can it not?) Many teammates seem to lack the spirit of adventure in trying out new foods. Some choose not to eat or just eat crackers. I'm glad Tory and Chantelle are open to trying things and even enjoy it. Example: Mashed yams and gravy. It was more like mashed sweet potato (was white colored) but the texture was quite sticky and not fluffy. I liked it...lol.

Drat, my time is about up at the cafe.

Will quickly end with Snapshot 5:

Yesterday, Tory and I were harassed by a pair of Rastifarian vendors. We were in conversation with them for about an hour or so. Not sure how to say it but they completely offended Tory with their speech, and we left really annoyed. It's kind of like the interaction you'll have with a vendor who won't leave you alone, and wants to persuade you to buy things by saying stuff like "you'd really make my day if you bought something." And then they get mad when you don't, even though you told them you weren't going to promise to buy anything.

Oh no, must sign off!

Til next time~ Thanks for reading. It's long, I know. Miss you guys.

First Entry in Ghana

jamba2323 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:39:00 GMT

Hi everyone! I begin this entry with a slight headache from having the hot noon sun beating on my head from a mid-day walk.

It's very hot here. It's humid, hot and you sweat as if you're a human fountain. It's now day 2 and my first chance to sit at an internet cafe. The cafe is up the street, around the corner from our compound. It's about a 3-5 minute stroll (though one loses track of how long it takes to go anywhere with the heat and unpaved roads slowing your walk.) It's quite the opposite of New York, which I am SO glad for. Everyone here is very chilled out and relaxed. Africa is a very relational country not run by scheduled time. One learns to be patient here. One also learns to be friendly in rejecting vendors, and unwanted attention (i.e. from guys.)

Our staff has been super friendly and helpful. There are 2 local Ghanaian boys (in their early 20's) James and John who are very hands on with us. They've planned a nice variety of social things our team (25 of us) can do. Yesterday, we went to a beach hotel/resort. Yes, you read right. I felt like I was on vacation. It was a modern Western based resort with a pool (haven't swam in ages!) and by the beach. The beach itself was not one I wanted to swim in (though usually I wouldn't hestitate to ride the waves.) When I was knee-deep in water, I realized what looked like seaweed was actually black plastic bags. There was so much trash in the ocean, you could see bags floating through the waves in the distance as they crashed. Cloth, bags and other things were also washed ashore.

Side note* (I've been taking pictures, but forgot my connecting cable at home. EL to mail to me. Will try to use a teammate's special USB/memory card device and upload later.)

My 11 hour flight was a direct, and rather quick seeming plane ride. I sat by a nice Ghanaian gentleman who I conversed with just a little. I was super tired and slept for most of the ride. Ghana is 4 hours ahead of NYC. When I arrived at Accra, it was aobut 8am but I felt pretty good.

I met EG's cousin, Victor, a local Ghanaian who lives in Accra. He was so nice and thoughtful! EG- your family is great. He had brought me a cell phone with an already loaded SIM card (for international calls) so that I could call EG and my family to notify them of my arrival.

The first day seemed almost endless in time. I was the last to arrive at the compound (what we call our place of stay.) It has big gates in front, and is quite a nice structure. There were 24 other teammates- all from the UK. They seemed to have a shared comraderie already (later I found out most of them were on the same flight) and I kidded to myself that I could have stepped into some reality TV show. Haha.

My room is shared with 3 other girls- Phil(lippa), Tory (Victoria) and Chantelle. Thank the Lord...Chantelle is a physical therapist. She has helped me iron out some of the knots in my back. I hope when I come back to NY my back will be completely healed. The dull throbbing pain is a daily constant, but luckily doesn't prevent me from interacting with others. It's sore when I carry a heavy bag. Back to the room- I'm on the top bunk. I'm rather glad that my bed at home is a lofted one, I'm quite fine with the set up. Putting up the mosquito net was interesting, having never used one before. I just taped it up to the ceiling so it draped over my bed. The nights are SO hot and stuffy in our room. The screens are broken so we keep the windows and door closed to keep bugs out. Felt like sleeping in a hot, unbearably stuffy (for lack of better words) elevator. Or to be morbid, kind of a coffin. I laid there with the hard planks of wood pushed into my back, wishing I had a razor to shave my head bald. It's a bit like NY in the summer if you don't have AC. Which, EL and I have lived through haha. When I finally slept, I woke up 2x feeling like I was suffocating. Dreaming/half awake, lifted up the mosquito net thinking I'd have fresh air outside. Quite ridiculous really, when the net is all breatheable mesh anyway! Finally told myself I wouldn't die due to lack of oxygen, and went back to sleep.

We have 3 cooks (women)- Dura, Peace and...don't remember the other name. I'm having a hard time catching what everyone's saying around me- it's either a British or Scottish accent, or a Ghanaian one. I'm interested in meeting the local folks and hope to draw them or accumulate their stories. When I see the cooks I try to make it a point to greet them. I think as the only Asian on the team, I am quite easy to spot and remember. :) Everyone else is either Anglo-saxon or African. There is one other minority on the team, Chantelle, who is half white-English and half Ghanaian. She, along with some other girls are really cool to hang out with. And luckily, she is also just a year older than me. Everyone else is 18-20! Guess that is to be expected when the program is called "Gap Year"/"Gap Sports" - most of the kids are taking their gap year break between high school graduation and 1st year of college. I kind of feel like a camp counselor, haha.

I'm kind of tired from the heat and zoning out a bit. This entry is so long, what else to say...a few more main points:

- Adjustment to the environment/style of living- I'm doing just fine. In fact, it's a rather nice familiar setting. I've been to other developing countries before, so the general built environment- housing, shops, unfinished structures and roads are not new. Even in our compound, for toilets we can only flush if we REALLY have to. Water is scarce in Ghana, and we use buckets of water to flush into the toilet. All this stuff is fine. I kind of like it, the slowing down of life in all litle ways. People have been taking bucket showers, and wearing DEET as the trip perfume/cologne.

- On tanning: The sun seems to be strong all througout the day. I've turned a shade darker just from yesterday. Today I've definitely gotten darker. Who knows how tan I'll get by the time I'm home! Haha.

- Started practicing my drawing today. There's a store across the street, called Linda's store, run by...Linda. She's a wonderfully friendly and big-hearted woman with 2 young boys. People like to lounge at her shop bc she has a table and chairs. I did a line drawing of her little boy, Mikey, and then a pretty yucky colored drawing of her shop. I'm reminded that art collects curious onlookers everywhere- no matter which country you're in. I'm always a bit embarrassed when people want to look cuz I feel they'd be disappointed. Hoping to get over that imaginged expectation and just do my stuff.

- Ghana is a very religious country (Christian) and when I mean religious (I go to church...) I mean gospel jargon is everywhere and incorporated into the names of companies and shops. There are Christian bumper stickers everywhere. Even hair salons will have names like "God's Word Salon" or something to that degree.

- Been learning more UK jargon. Feel like the cultural differences between America and UK are slowing me down in bonding with folks. Or maybe the fact that I make them stop and explain terms will connect us more. Haha. Who knows. Not sure if I'll come back with an accent or not, but it's so funny. In the meantime I'm accutely aware of how CA valley-girl I sound!

Alright, that's enough for this entry. Hopeing to post pictures next time. Miss ya!

Night before departure

jamba2323 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:29:00 GMT

I have amazing friends and family. You know who you are. I've seen you and talked with you. Received from you, been blessed by you. Thank you.

It's 4:31am and I don't plan on sleeping (just yet) so I can wrap up a few more things. So far this blog has been talking about trip planning and prep, all of which is still taking place in NY.

It's finally hitting me that I'm leaving and going to enter a new world. I'm getting excited. I go with an open mind, and open hand...to experience and learn. And hopefully, this blog will soon be describing new and awesome things.

Brain's getting tired, time to sign off.

See you in Africa. :)

2 weeks to take off

jamba2323 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:20:00 GMT

Well, this journal is inching along in excitement. For now, my dear diary has some interesting tidbits re: trip planning.

- Been corresponding with two other girls in the Arts/Design placement. (Sidenote- out of the 25 folks going, I'm the only American. Everyone else is from the UK! I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only Asian on the team either :) The three of us have been talking about what art materials to bring. It'll be neat to see what kind of materials are UK specific, and which are US specific.

I went to Costco yesterday hoping to get a large pack of gluesticks, those great Sandy Lion sticker packs (girls know what I'm talking about!) and disposable cameras. Amazingly, nothing was available. I walked away with some Crayola crayon packs. Actually would't be susprised if they melted over there! Haha.

- Have gotten my 2nd round of shots. I still hate needles, and the shots still hurt. I have a couple more next week, along with a general physical.

- Ordered a bunch of random things from EMS- like rehydration packs, the candle lantern ML was talking about, portable water pump, etc. Interesting how the bulk of what I'm taking is not clothes or art supplies, but medicines, vitamins, and general health items. Wow!

- Have started packing. Yes, I am an organizational freak. I enjoy packing, and doing so helps me spatially plan and see what else I need or don't need.

- Been very fortunate to have my Ghanaian friend (EG) to talk to and EH who's been to Ghana for a semester abroad. All very great informative insights and trips.

- Lastly, have my Visa (yeah!) and now waiting for God to give me a suletter. I know it's totally last minute, but I actually got a post from someone today. I hope she's the one!!

That's it...signing off til next time.