Sunday, May 29, 2011
Day 9 May 29, 2011
Today I knew was going to be an exciting and long day since we were having the ground braking ceremony for Mount Crest University. So we all woke up early to get ready, and we all looked super cute in our handmade dresses!! We ate breakfast around like 8 so we could be ready when people started to arrive. I was planning on sleeping in unitl like 7 to get ready, however the party seter upers had other plans. They thought that setting everything up outside our window at 6 am was a great idea. So I woke up to metal banging around and people scurrying out fixing up the house. They had been painting up the house and getting everything in order while we were gone and it looked nice! So after breakfast we had free time until the presentation started (which no one know when that would be). So I started to read our textbook, that is due tomorrow lol. I got about 4 chapters done and I feel that I know enough for my research project that we are working on all this week. So we all just sat around with this loud music playing until about noonish. Then we all got together and took our seats and sat in the sun for about an hour or more until the ceremony started. I swear I thought I was melting. The ceremony took about 4 hours of different people talking, and presenting things. I started to drift off at points just becuase it was soooo long. The only thing keeping me awake was that I was video taping part for Connie becuase she was on stage sitting with the very important people. Afterwards we got to meet some of the children who came and they were super nice. They all wanted us to be their friends and wanted to take pictures with us too. By this time we were all super hungry because we haven't had anything to eat since 8 am that morning! We had rice with red sauce again for the veggies. I may come back with malnutrition from just eating rice for dinner :( luckily I have lots of bars to eat thanks to my mom! After dinner we had more free time so some girls wanted to go into town but because we are having a week full of research starting tomorrow we all decided it would be for the best to stay in. Maybe after this hell week we will go celebrate being done! So for our research project I am not sure how much anyone knows about it because I didnt really know much about it before coming here. So I am working in the maternal health group with marissa and caitlin and we will be doing in field observations (watching the people in town), interviews/focus groups (more then 1 person intervies), and surverys to assess the maternal health of the town. That is what we will be doing all this week and after we gather all the data we will analyze it and I will write a paper on it. It wont be too bad, but this week is the week were we have the most school work to get done. Well if I dont update tomorrow it may be becuase 1. I am too tired form research or 2. Nothing fun happened to blog about lol. Either way I hear there are bad storms in MI so stay safe! Love and miss you all!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Days 6,7, and 8
Day 6 May 26, 2011
Today we got up early and went to the mall for a little (got some chocolate booze) before we started on our 4 hour drive to the national park. The drive there was sooo long and I was sitting in the back of the bus so while everyone else slept I felt every single bump and thought that perhaps the bus was going to break a few times. On the long drive to the coast it was cool to see how the housing changed along the way and how people lived differently. By the time we got to cape coast it was about 4 in the afternoon (maybe later) and we went straight to the slave castle. It was sad going, but it was something that I was also looking forward to. It reminded me a lot of the concentration camps I saw in Poland, except this is a castle right on the beach. Surrounding the castle was so pretty with palm trees and pretty beaches (kind of Ill explain in a little). So after the slave castle we went to lunch at a super nice hotel. It was right on the water and it was picture perfect. Everyone enjoyed the time to relax and have a nice drink. After dinner we were all walking along the beach and decided to put out feet into the ocean, and to my suprise it was so warm! A funny thing happened on the beach as well, when we were taking pictures a huge wave come up and soaked us all! It was so funny, and, fun. After dinner we went to our hotel which has a croccidle pond! The rooms were nice with AC and a shower!!!!!! YES A REAL SHOWER!!!! and boy was that the best thing ever! We all stayed up a little and went to the hotel bar and it was nice to have more of a relaxing night!
Day 7 May 26, 2011
Today we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and saw some croccidles! It was so sweet! they look so preastoric and awesome. Then we went into the national forest and hicked up to where the rope bridges are. I dont think I have ever been as sweaty as I was after that short little hike in the jungle, but it was so worth it!! The canopy brides were sweet and amazing!!!!!!! I seriously cannot tell you how cool they were I took like a million pictures and will just have to explain it in person. On the way back we passed an ostrich farm so we decided to stop. It was the most skatchy place I have ever been to, but at the same time aweosme. The farm had 10 ostrichs and we got to feed them!!! It was so cool I took tons of pictures too. Next, we went back to the hotel to changes into our suites because we were going to go swimming at a different hotel (one that was on the beach). I didn't so swimming or anything but I read a book by the pool which was nice and relaxing. For dinner we went to a restraunt and we hired a traditional african dance company to come dance for us. It was the best dancing I have seen so far and I took some video of it to show people. I guess this is nothign compaired to what we will see later when we meet some high up chief! So Im looking forward to that. This was our last day on our mini vacation and tomorrow we leave for Accra and then home.
Day 8 May 27, 2011
Today we got up at the hotel after another amazing nights sleep, packed up, and ate breakfast. After breakfast, the lady who owns the hotel diecided it was time to feed the crocs and we headed out onto an island to go see them. When we came upon one I swear he was about 6 feet long, and we got to pet him!!!!!!!!!!! I TOUCHED A CROCK TODAY!!! It was super scary and I almost chicked out, but I ended up doing it! After this we left the hotel and headed on home. The drive was long agian, but this time not as annoying becuase I wasnt in the back the whole time which was nice. Once we got to Accra we had time to do some shopping!!! I went to the jewlery store and got my mom something nice and something for myself as well. What I got myself was expensive, but so worth it! I wanted something nice that I could get here and keep for the rest of my life and that is what I got. After that I picked up my dress that was made for me from Mercy and it is amazing! It looks soooo good and I am just in love with it. Tomorrow we are having a huge ceremony with 400 people at the house for the Mount Crest sod breaking ceremony. Pretty much its a lot of important people who are coming to celebrate the opening of the college, and all the girls are wearing their african inspired dresses so that will be fun. After Mercys we ate luch at this good middle eastern place which had amazing veggie food. It has been hard here not being able to ate uncooked veggie. I am craving a salad and a shower! We also went to an art place and I picked up all 12 of my postscards!! So be looking in the mail beucase once I find a postoffice ill send them out! The last place we went to was this super cool fair trade place. It was seriously sweet and I loved it! I only got a few things but we are going back our last day here and I am going to pick up a few more things. After Accra we started the drive home. It normally takes about 2 hours, but traffic was super bad and it took like 3.5-4 hours! We got here ate dinner and now I am trying this then going to bed. We have a big day tomorrow with the sod breaking ceremony which I will post about tomorrow! MISS YOU JAMES!!! xoxoxo!
Today we got up early and went to the mall for a little (got some chocolate booze) before we started on our 4 hour drive to the national park. The drive there was sooo long and I was sitting in the back of the bus so while everyone else slept I felt every single bump and thought that perhaps the bus was going to break a few times. On the long drive to the coast it was cool to see how the housing changed along the way and how people lived differently. By the time we got to cape coast it was about 4 in the afternoon (maybe later) and we went straight to the slave castle. It was sad going, but it was something that I was also looking forward to. It reminded me a lot of the concentration camps I saw in Poland, except this is a castle right on the beach. Surrounding the castle was so pretty with palm trees and pretty beaches (kind of Ill explain in a little). So after the slave castle we went to lunch at a super nice hotel. It was right on the water and it was picture perfect. Everyone enjoyed the time to relax and have a nice drink. After dinner we were all walking along the beach and decided to put out feet into the ocean, and to my suprise it was so warm! A funny thing happened on the beach as well, when we were taking pictures a huge wave come up and soaked us all! It was so funny, and, fun. After dinner we went to our hotel which has a croccidle pond! The rooms were nice with AC and a shower!!!!!! YES A REAL SHOWER!!!! and boy was that the best thing ever! We all stayed up a little and went to the hotel bar and it was nice to have more of a relaxing night!
Day 7 May 26, 2011
Today we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and saw some croccidles! It was so sweet! they look so preastoric and awesome. Then we went into the national forest and hicked up to where the rope bridges are. I dont think I have ever been as sweaty as I was after that short little hike in the jungle, but it was so worth it!! The canopy brides were sweet and amazing!!!!!!! I seriously cannot tell you how cool they were I took like a million pictures and will just have to explain it in person. On the way back we passed an ostrich farm so we decided to stop. It was the most skatchy place I have ever been to, but at the same time aweosme. The farm had 10 ostrichs and we got to feed them!!! It was so cool I took tons of pictures too. Next, we went back to the hotel to changes into our suites because we were going to go swimming at a different hotel (one that was on the beach). I didn't so swimming or anything but I read a book by the pool which was nice and relaxing. For dinner we went to a restraunt and we hired a traditional african dance company to come dance for us. It was the best dancing I have seen so far and I took some video of it to show people. I guess this is nothign compaired to what we will see later when we meet some high up chief! So Im looking forward to that. This was our last day on our mini vacation and tomorrow we leave for Accra and then home.
Day 8 May 27, 2011
Today we got up at the hotel after another amazing nights sleep, packed up, and ate breakfast. After breakfast, the lady who owns the hotel diecided it was time to feed the crocs and we headed out onto an island to go see them. When we came upon one I swear he was about 6 feet long, and we got to pet him!!!!!!!!!!! I TOUCHED A CROCK TODAY!!! It was super scary and I almost chicked out, but I ended up doing it! After this we left the hotel and headed on home. The drive was long agian, but this time not as annoying becuase I wasnt in the back the whole time which was nice. Once we got to Accra we had time to do some shopping!!! I went to the jewlery store and got my mom something nice and something for myself as well. What I got myself was expensive, but so worth it! I wanted something nice that I could get here and keep for the rest of my life and that is what I got. After that I picked up my dress that was made for me from Mercy and it is amazing! It looks soooo good and I am just in love with it. Tomorrow we are having a huge ceremony with 400 people at the house for the Mount Crest sod breaking ceremony. Pretty much its a lot of important people who are coming to celebrate the opening of the college, and all the girls are wearing their african inspired dresses so that will be fun. After Mercys we ate luch at this good middle eastern place which had amazing veggie food. It has been hard here not being able to ate uncooked veggie. I am craving a salad and a shower! We also went to an art place and I picked up all 12 of my postscards!! So be looking in the mail beucase once I find a postoffice ill send them out! The last place we went to was this super cool fair trade place. It was seriously sweet and I loved it! I only got a few things but we are going back our last day here and I am going to pick up a few more things. After Accra we started the drive home. It normally takes about 2 hours, but traffic was super bad and it took like 3.5-4 hours! We got here ate dinner and now I am trying this then going to bed. We have a big day tomorrow with the sod breaking ceremony which I will post about tomorrow! MISS YOU JAMES!!! xoxoxo!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Days 4 and 5
Day 4 May 24, 2011
Today started off great by my alarm not going off :( We were rushed to get ready because we had to be on the bus early to go into Accra to have 4 lectures today. Breakfast was just ok this morning I had fresh pineapple and bread with jelly which was good just not very filling. Then we took a 2 hour bus drive into the city and went to the Registered Nurses Guest House to have the lectures. This was the place where students stayed last year, and when peaking in to see a room I am glad that we are in as nice of a house as we are.....even if there is no consistant running water. The lectures were good the first one was about nutrition, but the level was pretty elementry and stuff that I already know mostly. The main difference is that in Ghana there are only 3 food groups carbs, proteins, and protective foods. The next lecutre was about water and water sanitation, which was kind of sad. It is so weird to me that even though the house we are staying in is a nice house with hooked up running water that it can just be turned off! It is so weird to think of....also it is weird to think that all water is isnt clean. At home if you have a cut or something what would you normally do? Wash it out with water or something; if you did that here you would just be asking for trouble. This lecture was also good, but by the middle I was getting so tired and the air was shut off becuase they lost power so needless to say I started to get very sleepy. For lunch we ran to the mall and ate in the food court. I had pizzza inn which was yummy! And I even met other MSU students who were on study abroad for social work. After a short lunch of like 20 min we ran back to have the last two of our lectures. The third one lecture was my most favorite. The lady was an RN who is the minister of family healht in Ghana. She talked about maternal and child health(main maternal) and the problems that Ghana faces. She was such a great speaker and she seemed to really care about the health of the people in Ghana. The fourth and final speaker spoke about traditional healing in Ghana. He talked about how people believe in witches and that no matter what the education level of someone from Ghana most eveyone will say that they have meet or seen a witch. Also, he talked about herbal medicine which is something I liked. His lecture was the right amount of time because by this time I had way to much school and was getting so tired, The plan was to then go to the mall to get the internet situation fixed becuase I got the modem for my laptop and sim card for it with 1 GB of like useage or whatever on it but I cannot get it to work on my laptop. I did get a sim card with phone mintues on it to call that when I put it in the modem it works with the internet. Why the other one doesn't work is unknown to me but its annoying. There has been lots of problems with the internet working and phones working (only 2 program phones work) and with getting minutes on the sim cards. Everyone has been asking to borrow my laptop and use the internet which I have let them because I feel bad, but I think that is chainging starting today because I cant get the internet to work. I think I went thought 20 cedis worth of phone mintues on internet in 3 days! that is just crazy and I cant afford to do that anymore. That is why I have no internet today and why this will be posted tomorrow.....if everything works out. Anyways, since we didnt go to the mall after the last lecture we went to dinner at a chinese place which was so good! It tasted just like chinese food would at home and it was something that I was not expecting at all. Dinner here takes min of 2 hours and I swear we were there for like 3. While there I even got stuck in the bathroom for like 5 mins and had a little freak out. We just got back to the house now and we finally have some water so I am going to take a shower and go to bed. Miss and love you all! Oh and I almost forgot I saw a dog today that looked like cheese! :) They all have her same body, the short legs, long back, curley tail, and huge ears that stand up (none have jacked up front legs however), but most are spotted. Today I saw one of Dollys color and body type...it made me miss home a little where there is running water, clean water, my family/friends, and animals :( 4 weeks here may be a little harder then I thought. Ill try to post this tomorrow and James Ill try to check my email as sson as I can becuase it takes forever to load. LOVE YOU!!!! XOXO!
Day 5 May 25, 2011
Today was a much different day then what we have had before, we didn't go into Accra which was nice! We got up around 8 and ate egg toast and I made ice coffee! I am so happy to have found out how to make ice coffee becuase hot coffee here is just plan too hot. We had lecture in the morning with Edith. She is the funniest perston and kind of has the image of a grandma. She talked about maternal health and health care in Ghana. We then had lunch which had meat in it so I cut up some avocado and had fried platane chips with it. It was soo good kind of like chips with guac. Then we were supposed to go to the botanical gardens but it started to rain so we had another lecture about finance in health care which was boring to say the least. The guy we are staying with felt bad that the plans got swithced to he gave us wine to have with our lecture. :) After the boring lecture we went to the gardens which I will just have to show you pictures because words dont do it justic. It was so pretty and relaxing I loved it. On the way home we stopped in a neighboring village and they greeted us formally and had traditional dancing and drumming and we all got to dance along with them! it was the coolest thing ever! Some of this stuff I will just have to explain in person and show you pictures becuase I cant even begin to describe it well. Afterwards we came back to the house ate dinner, drank wine, packed for the weekend and hang out. Miss you all and love you! and FYI I wont have my computer this weekend becuase we are going to the Cape Coast BUT I will call you mom and james hopefully tomorrow!!! :)
Today started off great by my alarm not going off :( We were rushed to get ready because we had to be on the bus early to go into Accra to have 4 lectures today. Breakfast was just ok this morning I had fresh pineapple and bread with jelly which was good just not very filling. Then we took a 2 hour bus drive into the city and went to the Registered Nurses Guest House to have the lectures. This was the place where students stayed last year, and when peaking in to see a room I am glad that we are in as nice of a house as we are.....even if there is no consistant running water. The lectures were good the first one was about nutrition, but the level was pretty elementry and stuff that I already know mostly. The main difference is that in Ghana there are only 3 food groups carbs, proteins, and protective foods. The next lecutre was about water and water sanitation, which was kind of sad. It is so weird to me that even though the house we are staying in is a nice house with hooked up running water that it can just be turned off! It is so weird to think of....also it is weird to think that all water is isnt clean. At home if you have a cut or something what would you normally do? Wash it out with water or something; if you did that here you would just be asking for trouble. This lecture was also good, but by the middle I was getting so tired and the air was shut off becuase they lost power so needless to say I started to get very sleepy. For lunch we ran to the mall and ate in the food court. I had pizzza inn which was yummy! And I even met other MSU students who were on study abroad for social work. After a short lunch of like 20 min we ran back to have the last two of our lectures. The third one lecture was my most favorite. The lady was an RN who is the minister of family healht in Ghana. She talked about maternal and child health(main maternal) and the problems that Ghana faces. She was such a great speaker and she seemed to really care about the health of the people in Ghana. The fourth and final speaker spoke about traditional healing in Ghana. He talked about how people believe in witches and that no matter what the education level of someone from Ghana most eveyone will say that they have meet or seen a witch. Also, he talked about herbal medicine which is something I liked. His lecture was the right amount of time because by this time I had way to much school and was getting so tired, The plan was to then go to the mall to get the internet situation fixed becuase I got the modem for my laptop and sim card for it with 1 GB of like useage or whatever on it but I cannot get it to work on my laptop. I did get a sim card with phone mintues on it to call that when I put it in the modem it works with the internet. Why the other one doesn't work is unknown to me but its annoying. There has been lots of problems with the internet working and phones working (only 2 program phones work) and with getting minutes on the sim cards. Everyone has been asking to borrow my laptop and use the internet which I have let them because I feel bad, but I think that is chainging starting today because I cant get the internet to work. I think I went thought 20 cedis worth of phone mintues on internet in 3 days! that is just crazy and I cant afford to do that anymore. That is why I have no internet today and why this will be posted tomorrow.....if everything works out. Anyways, since we didnt go to the mall after the last lecture we went to dinner at a chinese place which was so good! It tasted just like chinese food would at home and it was something that I was not expecting at all. Dinner here takes min of 2 hours and I swear we were there for like 3. While there I even got stuck in the bathroom for like 5 mins and had a little freak out. We just got back to the house now and we finally have some water so I am going to take a shower and go to bed. Miss and love you all! Oh and I almost forgot I saw a dog today that looked like cheese! :) They all have her same body, the short legs, long back, curley tail, and huge ears that stand up (none have jacked up front legs however), but most are spotted. Today I saw one of Dollys color and body type...it made me miss home a little where there is running water, clean water, my family/friends, and animals :( 4 weeks here may be a little harder then I thought. Ill try to post this tomorrow and James Ill try to check my email as sson as I can becuase it takes forever to load. LOVE YOU!!!! XOXO!
Day 5 May 25, 2011
Today was a much different day then what we have had before, we didn't go into Accra which was nice! We got up around 8 and ate egg toast and I made ice coffee! I am so happy to have found out how to make ice coffee becuase hot coffee here is just plan too hot. We had lecture in the morning with Edith. She is the funniest perston and kind of has the image of a grandma. She talked about maternal health and health care in Ghana. We then had lunch which had meat in it so I cut up some avocado and had fried platane chips with it. It was soo good kind of like chips with guac. Then we were supposed to go to the botanical gardens but it started to rain so we had another lecture about finance in health care which was boring to say the least. The guy we are staying with felt bad that the plans got swithced to he gave us wine to have with our lecture. :) After the boring lecture we went to the gardens which I will just have to show you pictures because words dont do it justic. It was so pretty and relaxing I loved it. On the way home we stopped in a neighboring village and they greeted us formally and had traditional dancing and drumming and we all got to dance along with them! it was the coolest thing ever! Some of this stuff I will just have to explain in person and show you pictures becuase I cant even begin to describe it well. Afterwards we came back to the house ate dinner, drank wine, packed for the weekend and hang out. Miss you all and love you! and FYI I wont have my computer this weekend becuase we are going to the Cape Coast BUT I will call you mom and james hopefully tomorrow!!! :)
and our water is still not on...they just filled up the tanks and they are now empty.....i miss water lol
Monday, May 23, 2011
Day 3 May 22, 2011
Day 3 May 22, 2011
Today we got up super early to get ready, eat breakfast, and go into Accra to meet the Vice President.....sadly however we drove about 2 hours into the city to only be disappointed that the Vice President could not longer see us. After this we drove all the way back (another 2 hours) to go to a few medical places. On the way back for lunch it was amazing we had fresh mangos, avocados, and pb and js. It was soo good and was nice to have more fresh fruit. The first place we went to was to meet the district health management team in Akropong. The guy was great and explained how health care is run in Ghana and how the different levels of hospitals are set up. After this we went to see the plant medicine place and saw how Ghana is trying to implement traditional herbal medicines into their health care. We got to see the finished products, how they derived the finished products, and we even could buy some! I got some tea that is supposted to decrease stress. :) Next we went to the distric hospital which was great to see. It was sad seeing the people in there in compareson to what we have back in the states, but this is why I came here. I came here to see how things are different; to see what is socially acceptable. I think that seeing all these different experiences will help me to become a better nurse and to be a more socially acceptable person in general. After walking around the hospital and seeing the maternal and child wards we left the hospital with most of the girls in shock. I am not sure what they expected, but it was for sure a western view of what a hospital shoud be and not what is availabe. When we got back to the house we had free time so I went for a walk with Dayna, Marissa, and Sam. It was nice to walk around the farm to some and we went to the top of the hill to get an amazing view of the area. We were going to walk down the road, but then decided that our lives were more precious then walking around down the road. Dinner was rice with palm oil with this tomato sauce which was soo good, and after we had the rest of the freh fruit that we baough int he market. At night we also talked about how everyone felt after seeing the hospital which was good, but at the same time it is hard to listen to people who I find annoying lol. After dinner we played euchre (?), and finished off the night with some Spier wine from the Cape Coast. This white wine was sooo good!!! We have to get up early tomorrow to go to the city to have 4 lectures, which will be a long day and since we still have no water no shower tonight :( miss and love you all!!! :)
P.S. Jacquelene, James and John there are stray dogs here that have the same exact body type as cheese!!! I haven't found one of the same color, but I am looking and once found Ill take a picture! Ill also try to post pictures sometime :)
Today we got up super early to get ready, eat breakfast, and go into Accra to meet the Vice President.....sadly however we drove about 2 hours into the city to only be disappointed that the Vice President could not longer see us. After this we drove all the way back (another 2 hours) to go to a few medical places. On the way back for lunch it was amazing we had fresh mangos, avocados, and pb and js. It was soo good and was nice to have more fresh fruit. The first place we went to was to meet the district health management team in Akropong. The guy was great and explained how health care is run in Ghana and how the different levels of hospitals are set up. After this we went to see the plant medicine place and saw how Ghana is trying to implement traditional herbal medicines into their health care. We got to see the finished products, how they derived the finished products, and we even could buy some! I got some tea that is supposted to decrease stress. :) Next we went to the distric hospital which was great to see. It was sad seeing the people in there in compareson to what we have back in the states, but this is why I came here. I came here to see how things are different; to see what is socially acceptable. I think that seeing all these different experiences will help me to become a better nurse and to be a more socially acceptable person in general. After walking around the hospital and seeing the maternal and child wards we left the hospital with most of the girls in shock. I am not sure what they expected, but it was for sure a western view of what a hospital shoud be and not what is availabe. When we got back to the house we had free time so I went for a walk with Dayna, Marissa, and Sam. It was nice to walk around the farm to some and we went to the top of the hill to get an amazing view of the area. We were going to walk down the road, but then decided that our lives were more precious then walking around down the road. Dinner was rice with palm oil with this tomato sauce which was soo good, and after we had the rest of the freh fruit that we baough int he market. At night we also talked about how everyone felt after seeing the hospital which was good, but at the same time it is hard to listen to people who I find annoying lol. After dinner we played euchre (?), and finished off the night with some Spier wine from the Cape Coast. This white wine was sooo good!!! We have to get up early tomorrow to go to the city to have 4 lectures, which will be a long day and since we still have no water no shower tonight :( miss and love you all!!! :)
P.S. Jacquelene, James and John there are stray dogs here that have the same exact body type as cheese!!! I haven't found one of the same color, but I am looking and once found Ill take a picture! Ill also try to post pictures sometime :)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Days 1 and 2
Day 1-May 21, 2011
Today we landed and Ghana and what a day it has been. From the moment we went of the plane we hit the ground running. Connie picked us up from the airport and we started off by going to the mall. This got switched around and we were supposed to do this the second day, but our bus driver couldnt be here so we did it the first. The mall was just like an american mall with clothing stores, phone stores, and a food court. I however spent my whole time in the Vodofone and MTN store trying to get minutes for my phone and a broadband thing from the internet. But once I got my minutes the phones were all dead....hince why I didnt get to call people until later. After the mall we went tothe dress maker who sized us and is going to make dresses for us! It was so cool to see all the fabrics and to pick out what I wanted my dress to look like! I love it! After that we went to this jewlery store and loved all the silver jewlery there. I loved this little silver braclet but it was kind of expensive to I am waiting to go back to see if I really want it. By this time we were starving and ate some local ice cream, chocolate and coconut!!! Sooo good! We were all still hungry to we went to eat at a little place in Accra and ate local food. I had red red which had no meat with fried plantanes which was sooo good! After that we went to an outdoor market which was overwhleming to say the least. I got John and my dad a gift and got myself a braclet but couldnt even start to process what I wanted to get for everone else. Dont worry tho I will get you all something :) We went to another local place to eat and got cheese pizza! Who would have thought that I would have come all this way to eat pizza! As we were eating Connie got a call that our host family had dinner prepared for us so we quickly ate and drove back to our house. The ride took over two hours!!!! In Ghana as soon as the sun sets it is pretty much black out. There are little lights and no street lights what so ever, so our driver got lost on the drive, and there was tons of traffic! I was also not expecting this at all! I naped some of the way becuase I had a bad headache which seemed to be better by the time we got to the house. The house is a nice big house that is located on a farm. We got welcomed by everyone (the man who owns the house is a laywer who is starting the Mount Creast College here and a doctor named Sam. They have about 4 girls who are helping with our stay who are in training for hospitality business). They made us some more local food which was also sooo good! I had rice with this red tomato sauce on it which was a fantastic way to end the night. After dinner I tried to take a shower but showering with 15 people in 2 bathrooms is kind of hard. I waited my turnand then the water ran out :( I was up until well after 1 waiting to shower. Once I finally did it was nice to get the grime of over 24 hours of travel off me and I slept like a baby :)
Day 2 May 22, 2011
Today was much more relaxing then the prvious day. We woke up around 9 to get ready and eat breakfast. Breakfast consisted of bread with jelly and scrambled fried egg with green pepers and onions and of course coffee! What a great way to start a day with a relaxing morning. We were supposted to go to church today and be introduced to the community but that fell through. Once thing I have learned here is that everything is on Ghana time which means things dont necessarly start when they are suppose to and you just have to be flexable with whatever happens that day. After breakfast we walked around the farm we are staying at. He has corn, coconuts, coco beans, plantanes, and other veggies. We got to get down a coconut to drink the milk and we even sucked on the seeds of the coco bean! We also got great pictures with the farm in the background. Next, We tired to have a little bit of lecture, but things got stopped because the local chief was ready to greet us. So we packed up and went into town! The town we are in is a cute little town and much more my style then Accra. When meeting the chief it was a big todo and was super cool to see everyone dressed up for the ceremony. After the first 15 mintues the ceremony got boring, becuase I dont know much Twi. At th end coke was passed out and we started to wake up from all the sugar. Local children started to come into the meeting area and we gave them the rest of our cokes. They were all super cute and loved them!! After this we left to go back to the house to eat lunch. We had red red which they made me a veg one. I liked the one from the previous day better but it was still good. After we broke up into our groups and talked about our topics (I am in maternal health). We then met as a group to discuss more about the classes we are taking here and the formality of it all. Dinner was Fufu and fish soup....needless to say I didnt eat any of it. Fufu is slimy and doesn't taste like much. I came back to my room and had a energy bar (Thanks mom!!!). Then the best thing happened....THE INTERNET STARTED TO WORK!!! YAY!!!! Tomorrow we are getting up early to have a police escort to meet the vice president! I hope that everyone is well! MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!
Today we landed and Ghana and what a day it has been. From the moment we went of the plane we hit the ground running. Connie picked us up from the airport and we started off by going to the mall. This got switched around and we were supposed to do this the second day, but our bus driver couldnt be here so we did it the first. The mall was just like an american mall with clothing stores, phone stores, and a food court. I however spent my whole time in the Vodofone and MTN store trying to get minutes for my phone and a broadband thing from the internet. But once I got my minutes the phones were all dead....hince why I didnt get to call people until later. After the mall we went tothe dress maker who sized us and is going to make dresses for us! It was so cool to see all the fabrics and to pick out what I wanted my dress to look like! I love it! After that we went to this jewlery store and loved all the silver jewlery there. I loved this little silver braclet but it was kind of expensive to I am waiting to go back to see if I really want it. By this time we were starving and ate some local ice cream, chocolate and coconut!!! Sooo good! We were all still hungry to we went to eat at a little place in Accra and ate local food. I had red red which had no meat with fried plantanes which was sooo good! After that we went to an outdoor market which was overwhleming to say the least. I got John and my dad a gift and got myself a braclet but couldnt even start to process what I wanted to get for everone else. Dont worry tho I will get you all something :) We went to another local place to eat and got cheese pizza! Who would have thought that I would have come all this way to eat pizza! As we were eating Connie got a call that our host family had dinner prepared for us so we quickly ate and drove back to our house. The ride took over two hours!!!! In Ghana as soon as the sun sets it is pretty much black out. There are little lights and no street lights what so ever, so our driver got lost on the drive, and there was tons of traffic! I was also not expecting this at all! I naped some of the way becuase I had a bad headache which seemed to be better by the time we got to the house. The house is a nice big house that is located on a farm. We got welcomed by everyone (the man who owns the house is a laywer who is starting the Mount Creast College here and a doctor named Sam. They have about 4 girls who are helping with our stay who are in training for hospitality business). They made us some more local food which was also sooo good! I had rice with this red tomato sauce on it which was a fantastic way to end the night. After dinner I tried to take a shower but showering with 15 people in 2 bathrooms is kind of hard. I waited my turnand then the water ran out :( I was up until well after 1 waiting to shower. Once I finally did it was nice to get the grime of over 24 hours of travel off me and I slept like a baby :)
Day 2 May 22, 2011
Today was much more relaxing then the prvious day. We woke up around 9 to get ready and eat breakfast. Breakfast consisted of bread with jelly and scrambled fried egg with green pepers and onions and of course coffee! What a great way to start a day with a relaxing morning. We were supposted to go to church today and be introduced to the community but that fell through. Once thing I have learned here is that everything is on Ghana time which means things dont necessarly start when they are suppose to and you just have to be flexable with whatever happens that day. After breakfast we walked around the farm we are staying at. He has corn, coconuts, coco beans, plantanes, and other veggies. We got to get down a coconut to drink the milk and we even sucked on the seeds of the coco bean! We also got great pictures with the farm in the background. Next, We tired to have a little bit of lecture, but things got stopped because the local chief was ready to greet us. So we packed up and went into town! The town we are in is a cute little town and much more my style then Accra. When meeting the chief it was a big todo and was super cool to see everyone dressed up for the ceremony. After the first 15 mintues the ceremony got boring, becuase I dont know much Twi. At th end coke was passed out and we started to wake up from all the sugar. Local children started to come into the meeting area and we gave them the rest of our cokes. They were all super cute and loved them!! After this we left to go back to the house to eat lunch. We had red red which they made me a veg one. I liked the one from the previous day better but it was still good. After we broke up into our groups and talked about our topics (I am in maternal health). We then met as a group to discuss more about the classes we are taking here and the formality of it all. Dinner was Fufu and fish soup....needless to say I didnt eat any of it. Fufu is slimy and doesn't taste like much. I came back to my room and had a energy bar (Thanks mom!!!). Then the best thing happened....THE INTERNET STARTED TO WORK!!! YAY!!!! Tomorrow we are getting up early to have a police escort to meet the vice president! I hope that everyone is well! MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Day 1- Predeparture
Hey guys so a lot of people asked me to do this so here it is! A blog all about my trip over to Ghana. I finally finished packing my bags after a late night trip to Walmart to pick up one last thing. James, John, and my dad will be driving me to the airport, and my mom wont be able to come because she has to work. We will be getting one last breakfast together before I take off. It was nice today getting lunch with Aunt Jackie, Danny, Aunt Janet, John and James at this really good place called Recipes in Troy. After that it was lunch with Dad at Troy Deli, and finally finishing up with dinner at Shogun. Grandpa didn't come with us to dinner, but I did get to see him before I left. Also, today James got me a netbook!!!! Its super cute with plaid pink on the cover, and will be super nice to have over in Ghana instead of my huge laptop. He's the best! :) Ill let everyone know once I arrive to Ghana which will be Saturday morning. I'll miss you all!!! (especially James, Mom, Dad, Jacquelene, John (in no particular order lol), Cheese, Harley, Oliver, and Bingo Butt!!!!) xoxo!
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