more for your enjoyment.

so this is lake bosumtwi. i went as a chaperone (sorta) with addae and her school.
the lake is really pretty. we went again on another day, a public holiday for ghana and it was like spring break cancun for ghanaians. i was pretty amazed. loud music, women in barely any clothes, men, and lots of boooze.

more deaf children. can't get enough of them.

yep, ghana is dirty.

these billboards were alllll over ghana. pretty awesome huh.

soooo, if anyone knows me, they know that i'm obsessed with bacon. and here, makes me think twice about eating pork in ghana. but i'm in accra again... getting my teeth checked (yea, peace corps gives you unwaxed floss... seriously, why even make unwaxed floss anymore, its horrible.) but anyways, i just had a bacon sandwich... mmmm, effen delicious!!!

a little something something.

they wanted to see my tongue ring so they kept sticking out their tongues. hehe.

 

yea, ghana is a dirty trash pile at the beach, and little boys like to play in it... actually i think he was probably pooping. 

the beach here is nasssty! and yes, they allow their children to poop on it!

 

bye bye ghana.

yes, i was mesmerized by him

a moment between president obama and president mills.  

the three coolest asians in ghana. 

Yea cause we are VIP... and youre just a... P.

Barack Barack, Barack Obama… com mek wi talk about Barack Obama. -Black Rasta

it really is "com mek wi talk about barack obama" so no, i haven't forgotten how to spell or talk.

So Barack made his appearance in Ghana couple of days ago, and although it was only for a day, and there was no personal meet and greet with the big man like when President Bush came a year or so ago, it was still pretty DAMN awesome. 

yeaaaahhhh boyeeeeee!!! VIP!

I went down to Accra the day before the big scheduled event just to make sure that I would be there in time; didn’t want to risk having my tro-tro break down and miss the Prez.  So before I even talk about Obama, I want to talk about how AMAZING Accra is.  I haven’t been to Accra since landing in Ghana because Accra scares me, anytime I hear stories of Accra it always involves robbery… by gun point, using machetes, or being dragged.  Thus, I’ve stayed away… but I couldn’t miss this big event, so I stuffed all my money in my bra and off I went.  So I guess Accra is just like any big main city in a developing country, but Accra is basically America.  I walked into this place called Koalas, which is a grocery store, but I was just in amazement of all the things that they possessed inside… I literally stood with my mouth open drooling at their deli/meat department, their cheese aisle, and their bakery!!  They have a coffee shop, casinos, night clubs, teppanyaki! a mall with a movie theatre, hot dog stands (unfortunately they didn’t have bacon wrapped hotdogs, I think if they did I would’ve died, literally.) and probably a million other things that I would consider amazing that you would just laugh at me about.   

 

So Obamaaaaa!! We were to be at the US Embassy at 2 pm so we could get tickets to the event.  [It was pretty cool because it was like a huge PCV reunion… seeing people from my group that I haven’t seen since training and meeting other volunteers.] Like most things in Ghana, there was a bunch of waiting; waiting to get our tickets, waiting in the bus outside the airport gates, waiting to go through the metal detectors, waiting for the big mans arrival, but seriously all the waiting, TOTALLY worth it. [Can I just add that everyone on Obama’s staff is ridiculously handsome… sure its probably their suit, seriousness, and the fact that they are secret service or something, but dammmmn.  I can just imagine their pick up line… want to see air force one?]  He finally arrived via helicopter and was put into a limo where he and the family made their debut!!  And that’s not even the awesome part, in his speech he gave shout outs to peace corps volunteers!!

 

"I want to recognize our Peace Corps Volunteers who are here… you know Ghana, Ghana was the very first nation to host young people from the Peace Corps and for decades our two nations have formed vital partnerships & lasting friendships because of this program. So all of you in the Peace Corps you are doing an outstanding job & we're proud of you…”

 

“Young people of Africa… serve like these Peace Corps people, serve in communities, and harvest your energy & education to renew & build connections between the world.” -Barack Obama, July 11, 2009

 

Again, not even the awesome part… I got to see Obama and Michelle up close and personal!  [And yes, he is so much more handsome in person and she is ridiculously beautiful as well!]  I was too busy trying to get pictures that I didn’t even try to shake their hands, but I did try to get his attention by giving him the shaka… both unsuccessful because I was shaking so much that all the pictures are blurry and because I don’t think he saw my shaka. ): Oh wells, it was still a pretty damn awesome day and like my mom said my excitement for the year… unless going home for two weeks can upstage this?!  but then again, i've matured and become a two beer queer... training for nothing... so i guess we shouldn't get our hopes up.

making their appearance, while dancers dance around them.

twi word of the day: mE ko mE shay OBAMAAA!! (i go to see obama!)

***more obama pictures to come once the internet gets faster.

in case you were wondering...

typical shoutouts with strangers...

ghanaian: hello!
me: hello.
ghanaian: what are you, japan... china?
me: i'm american.
ghanaian: i've never seen such a short american before.
me: i've never seen such an ugly person before.


just kidding, i don't say the last part... i just say uhhh, thanks.

then yesterday i was talking with a teacher...

teacher: so what are you? chinese? japanese?
me: i'm asian-american.
teacher: so can you speak china? or japan?
me: i can speak a little japanese.
teacher: i can speak some too.
me: really... lets hear what you can say.
teacher: chingchongchong.
me: haha... uh, thats not japanese.
teacher: so there is this story that is being passed around... and the way you people get your names is by throwing a dish on the ground and listening to the sound. thats how you get your names.
me: haha, what... ive never heard such a thing.
teacher: yeah, just like how we have our day names and then our surnames... you guys throw things on the floor and listen to the sound to name your baby.
me: haahah. so i think when you have a baby you should throw a milo can on the floor and listen carefully and name the child that.
teacher: noooo... thats your tradition, not ours.

yeaaaa, fulfilling mission number 2 of peace corps... teaching host nationals about the culture of americans. or asian americans... i get yelled at in the streets... ching chong chong! alllll the time... i tried to tell the teacher that saying ching chong chong to us is very offense, like the equivalent to the middle finger... but i'm pretty sure i'll still get ching chong chong.

i'm contemplating asking my counterpart to be relocated. i think i can pretty much handle a lot of things, but my house SUCKS BALLS! i seriously wake up every morning wishing i was not living at my house.

okay, miss you all... counting down the dayyyyyssssss!!!
bacon wrapped hot dogs here i commmeeee!!!
xoxo.

good and the bad. at least no ugly.

So good news, bad news…

Good news: Guess who is officially (I say officially because I’ve been saying this for about three months, but now I have ticket confirmation!) coming home in September for a good 20 days?! Hell to the YEAH!!! (btw, its me that’s coming home in case anyone was confused.) Ahhhh, I’m like so excited… every time I think about how close September is I almost want to poop my pants!  Then every time I start to think about all the amazing food, liquor, and people I will get to see and eat my head starts to feel like its going to explode.

Bad news:  Lola is back.  /:  After a long day of traveling back to Ntonso, I’m walking past my neighbors house and she stops me to say that my cat is at her house.  (I kinda knew that it was there, but hoped that they would just take the cat in as their own as they have like 15 others… guess that didn’t work out so well.)  So now the cat is back, still annoying and loud as when it first left… maybe there is hope for me as a mother after all.  (in the sense that my children will return to me given that someone else doesn’t want them. Joke.)

 Good news: Right now we are in the rainy season.  I love the rain here in Ghana... the air is cool, everyone is in hiding so its quiet and peaceful, I get my water, when we are lucky there is some crazy lightning that strikes down, but mostly because it gives me a reason to heat up water and take a nice hot bath and I don’t go to sleep sweating.  (double score if I don’t sweat while eating)  Nothing usually gets accomplished when it rains (because apparently Ghanaians melt in the rain) but well, somehow its okay.  At least they don’t have depression right?!

Good news:  I can chop lola now!! 

Bad news:  The rain brings mosquitos paaaaa!! (pa=plenty)

Good news:  The girl that come to visit me during her Vision Quest is still in Ghana, and didn’t die (or get the shits) from my cooking or from chopping in town.  Apparently they’ve already had 3 or so people terminate their service and return to America.  (we actually made really gooood stir fry one night, and I’ve been craving it every night since then. And also banana pancakes… soooo YUM!)  

Bad news: my vision quester said I sometimes talked funny to her.  So here, we talk Ghanaian English… and it sounds retarded as hell, and I don’t like talking to Ghanaians in Ghanaian English, but I guess sometimes I can’t help it.  It is even stupider when Americans talk to other Americans in Ghanaian English.  I think I’ve started talking to my gma and gpa in Ghanaian English… but I’m going to justify that by saying the connection is really bad at times and well, they’re a bit hard of hearing.

Good news:  So Peace Corps gives you this amazing book called where there is no doctor, and basically if you feel like something is wrong with you, you look up your symptoms and try to figure out what you have.  I recently determined that I had giardia /: and I cured it, and now I think that I can definitely go back to America and become a doctor. 

Good news: i lied when i said ALL my pictures got delete... just all my cool fun pictures got deleted, booo. ): 

this is elimina castle, one of the slave castles that were built by the portugese. it was first used as a trade settlement but then it got used to traffic slaves.

here is a room that they had to live in before getting sent away. those three small windows were the only source of light they had.

so here is what it looks like with the light turned on... but of course back then, there was no lights.

the door of no return... no explanation need. ):

 Twi word of the day:  ko bra y (go and come)

Adinkra Symbol of the day:

SESA WORUBAN

"I change or transform my life"

symbol of life transformation

This symbol combines two separate adinkra symbols, the "Morning Star" which can mean a new start to the day, placed inside the wheel, representing rotation or independent movement.

 

Shout Out: dustin for helping me, you da best! And to my favorite two people in the world… my mama and dada!!!

my life is a big blurrrr.

So whats happening?

Nothing much to be honest. Somehow, things are happening, I’m going places, doing things, but I lose track of things and events and looking back on yesterday I can’t seem to remember what I’ve done. (and no, its not because I was drunk and in an obliteration of the days past although that would make more sense as to why I can’t remember anything.)

Cape Coast: Took a little vacation to the coast, got to see the slave castles, walk on one of the four canopy walks in the world (totally as scary as it looks), played with some crocks, feds some ostriches, got to swim in a pool, had amazing food and PORK!, and spend quality time with my favorite people. I would love to elaborate more and show you some pictures to go along with it, but some idiot deleted all her pictures trying to make space for more… so if I continue talking about it, I might just get crazy mad at myself and need to drink a beer. Speaking of beer, the visitor centre just got beer at the snack bar! Score!

NTMT: The NTMT has been meeting regularly and getting things done! Its absolutely amazing! I was quite scared when the assemblyman was voted chairman, but so far its working out quite well. He wants to see the project go well, and since he has connections with the district assembly we are working closely with them in hopes of getting some funds to build a demonstration center. Also, the other new members have been coming and contributing greatly to ideas and other things. I’m so happy. We’ve also started talks about doing a Kwabre District football gala. So basically they want to invite the craft towns in Kwabre to put on a gala while doing hiv/aids education and some tourism awareness.

ANYOUNG!!: So I’m not sure if any of you guys are Arrested Development fans, but since coming to Ghana I’ve become quite a fan of shows I’ve never even heard about in America… Arrested Development being one. Every time before when I would hear Arrested Development I would think of the song Mr. Wendall. Do you all remember them? Anyways, cool song, used to remind me of my brother, you know, wendall instead of kendyl?! (Haha, okay whatever, I was young and lamer.) anyways, in Arrested Development there is this Korean kid who only says ANYOUNG!! Haha. So anyways, since I got my uber cool phone number back, I still get all these annoying calls from Ghanaians. Which I have now decided that I’ll say hello at first just to make sure its not someone important that I know and if I don’t know them than after hello its just ANYOUNG! ANYOUNG!! ANYOUNG!!! Until they hang up and decide to never bother me again. Its absolutely great!

Kumasi Zoo: Took my favorite little kids to the Kumasi Zoo, which was totally not worth the 5 cedis I had to pay to get in, but it was still fun. I mean, they didn’t even have any elephants, or giraffes, or zebras! I mean, whats a zoo without those animals?! But there was once chimpanzee that totally made my day. He was absolutely adorable, so much that I decided to name him Pete. I hope to visit him again soon, if I can bypass the guards and sneak in that is.

Lola: So I think I lost my cat. My track records with animals so far hasn’t been good at all. (can you imagine what a great parent I will become?! Ha) But it was a pretty annoying cat, so in a way, I think its better that its lost. I mean, I was planning on chopping it and making cat kebab, so good thing she escaped. (oh yea, did I mention that the kitten pooped in my pot and the people at my house thought it was the funniest thing ever, and then it decided to poop in their pot and the lady thought that 5am was a great time to yell at me to tell me so) I wonder what pet I should get next? A goat? Grasscutter? Duck? Mmm, I wonder how many animals I will go through before my time here in Ghana is up. Maybe I should try growing some plants instead. Although while I was in Japan, I tried that… it died. /:

Okay and that’s that! Oh yea, 70 new peace corps volunteers are coming to Ghana in June. I get to host one at my site for like 5 days… can’t wait to scare the bejeezers out of her. Hehe. (: WELCOME TO GHANA! Haha.

Twi Word of The Day: me ru Efi (I can’t remember)

Adinkra Symbol of the Day:

OSRAM NE NSOROMMA
"The Moon and the Star"
symbol of love, faithfulness, harmony
This symbol reflects the harmony that exists in the bonding between a man and a woman.
Proverb: "Kyekye pe aware." (The North Star has a deep love for marriage. She is always in the sky waiting for the return of the moon, her husband.)

Shoutout: creators of earplugs!!! They are effen amazing. The first night I used them I slept in until 7:30, a Ghana miracle!! The other day I slept in AIR CONDITION, slept in until 10:30… amaaazing!

who reads now days anyways?!

i know nobody really likes reading, although if you were stuck alone without a television and constant internet access you might, but since i know none of you people are dealing with that, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. enjoi. (:

crazy girls dancing. i have to upload a video sometime of them singing while making fart sounds with their armpits, its pretty amazing.

so took me and some of my little children to the kumasi zoo, which, they shouldn't even call a zoo because they don't have the main zoo animals that people go to the zoo for! ie. no elephants, no giraffes, no zebras... but plenty monkeys!

the only reason the zoo was worth the 5 cedis. ): this chimp was absolutely amaaaazing. i wanted to feed him bananas but the sign said not to, and i guess since i was with children i should follow the rules.

the long never ending dirt path that we had to walk to get out of the butterfly sanctuary, sadly no cars came by for us to hitch rides with. ):

an awesome tree at the bobiri butterfly sanctuary, where i saw maybe like two butterflies... but did learn a big deal about all the different trees growing and their medicinal purposes. i paid extra attention to what the guide was saying just for you denise! so apparently this tree, you cut off the bark and boil it and drink it to help with stomach problems.

she apparently likes my non-existing kitten as much as i did.

so my place is a mess, but letting in these little critters makes it even worse... but somehow it puts a smile on my face, so i deal.

*like my cool brass giraffe candle stick holders?!