long time friend.

sorry for the delay, the two months after returning from america have been rough. every sickness/emotion that one person could have in their entire life i've had in two months. but don't you worry... i'm still alive. somehow. (:

Mephloquin, mice, and scorpion king:
So you all know that I’ve had a mouse problem for some time, but lately its been annoying. I know where it hides out, but don’t know what to do with it. Do I kill it? How will I kill it? But what happens if it jumps at me again and I get rabies? So, since I have no idea what to do and keep forgetting to buy the stupid mouse trap, I guess it will just be my annoying unwanted company until I figure out something.
Then one night, I saw a massive scorpion in my room. At first I thought I was hallucinating. you see, I take mephaloquin (its malaria medication) and it causes you to intense and crazy dreams. Which, I didn’t have at first, but now I’m having. If I haven’t seen/talked to you in the past couple of years that has all changed because I have done so within the past month due to this medication. Anyways, back to the story, so I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to pee, and then with my flashlight I see a HUGE scorpion behind my shelves. I didn’t know what to do and had to pee bad so I just left to pee, and when I returned it was gone. (thus why I believed I was hallucinating) so I just went back to sleep… actually I think I took out my “where there is no doctor book” and looked up scorpion bites, when I realized it wasn’t a huge risk to my life, I went back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up, looked behind the shelf and saw nothing… that’s when I really thought I was going crazy. But luckily, when the night creeped around, it appeared and reassured me that I’m not crazy. I didn’t know what to do with it, like the mouse… so I poked at it a bit with a stick, and it went back into hiding. I played this game with it for about a week… poke it and hide. I was going to leave it for my friend to come and see, but good thing I didn’t because he didn’t end up coming. So one night, I was reaching for my toothbrush and something started to crawl on my arm. Of course, I screamed like a little girl (it was a dirty small cockaroach) and then the people outside asked if I was okay. I told them yea… and was like, well, I do have this scorpion inside my room. They were like scorpion?! And I was like, yeaaa! And so the lady came in with a broom and smashed it! it was pretty awesome, and I’m quite jealous that I never had the guts to do it.
So, scorpion down, mice still around… I guess we can’t have it all.

huge? i tend to exaggerate at times. especially when it comes to critters. that could potentially kill me.

Galla Galla Galla!!:
So my neighbor and I have been planning a football gala for sometime now, and yesterday it finally came! Of course like most things in Ghana, the event was suppose to start at 9 am, but we didn’t start until 10:30. But other than that, I think the event was pretty damn successful. We had education on HIV/AIDS and tourism during the halftimes and breaks of the games, the grand finale was a speaker who was living with HIV. Voluntary testing and counseling was also available at the event, they said they tested 200+ people which I was happy about because people kept telling me that no one would come because of the stigmatization that goes along with HIV. We just went to check with the district health services and found out that out of all the people they tested that day there were no positives, so thats a good sign, but still plenty education needs to be done to make sure that it is kept that way.

Motivation:
I’ve grown to HATE this word. Every time I went to the District Assembly to meet with the Cultural Officer to discuss the football gala with him, he kept telling me that I needed to motivate him. So I asked him one day what his job description was, and he said it was dealing with cultural events in the district, which includes anything dealing with kente, adinkra, woodcarving, etc, which includes tourism. This event was basically helping him do his job. Plus, all he does is sit on his ass all day and do nothing… and all the jobs we had for him to do, NONE got done. (causing much stress the day before, scrambling to find buses and security for the event) Then, after I paid the health worker for doing the testing at the event, she said it was too small (it was $15, which may seem small to you, but farmers who slave all day in the fields make $5 a day and I make $7 so I should’ve told her to shove it) and that I should add more to it. When I told her thats what the Head Nurse told me the fee would be, she demanded I give her toffee. So I just looked at her and walked away. Ugh, I can’t stand it sometimes. Everyone always asking asking asking for money. For toffee. For my bag. For my tshirt. For anything really. Kids I’m a little bit more understanding, but man, adults… especially the more educated one… I just can’t handle.

Peace and Unity:
I also started a club at the senior high school in the town next to mines (I wanted to do it in my town, but it was a Seventh Day Adventist SHS, and the headmaster told me I couldn't because I wasn't "one of them") Anyways, I haven't been able to meet with them weekly because of all the event drama, but I finally got to meet with them the other week. At first I thought it was going to be bad… when I first came to the school no one was there, and a teacher I ran into asked me if I reminded the students, kind of implying that if I didn’t they weren’t going to show up. I asked one of the girls who was standing around to look for the president, but when she returned, she told me he left for home. I was a bit disappointed, but thought I would hang out for a bit to see if anyone would show. Then a girl came in, and said that they were having classes or cadet, but said that she would go around telling them I have arrived and that they would be in shortly. And shortly, they started to come! The last week that we met we did the tangled arm spider web, and it was a complete failure. Half because they didn’t really understand my instructions, and half because I don’t think they are given enough freedom to make their decisions/problem solving. So when given a task where they have to make decision to help them get out of something, they are a bit confused. Its quite sad, everything is about memorization and you wouldn’t dare think about questioning or thinking for yourself. But this week, we tried again, and it was some what successful. I was sooo happy. Then we went to talk about capital for the company and splitting them up in different departments, like human resources, public relations, finance, production, and marketing. They've decided that they want to start a bead business, so once they've sold their stock and got money, we are going to buy beads, produce them, and start selling. sooo, anyone interested in beads? holla.

the cultural officer and the district chief executive talking to the players before the start of the match.

visual aids and lovely peace corps volunteers that came to help that day.

the speaker that we had for the event... he did an AMAAAZING job. more people were asking about being tested after he finished his speech... been living with HIV for 5 years now.

three generations of volunteers with mama major. and nana.

twi word of the day: mEhu wo kyea. (its been a long time)


***more pictures to come of the galla galla galla!!!

no longer clean. ):

so in the spirt of being back to the dirtyness that is ghana. i've decided to express them in pictures.

haha, sorry, this is just a mockery of jessica simpsons twit picture. and for those of you that don't get it... sorry. there is one thing that i know about whats going on in america that you dont! whoohoo. point poop. but, i guess since its whats going on with jessica... it doesn't really count much. minus point poop.

and here is my N A S T Y latrine. if youre wondering what those white spots are on the inside of the toilet... well, they are maggots. yup, i barf nearly every time i have to go near this disgusting thing. oh wells. worse things could happen?!

also, people have been commenting on how fat i've become. here in ghana, if you are fat, you are happy. when i first got back to my site, my friends were like... you mustve had a good time with your husband... you've become fat! 

then today, my supervisor was like, i don't even need to ask you how you are anymore... i can tell by just looking at you that you are happy. (so basically he said i'm really fat.) 

i hope i just never get k-fed happy. cause that boy B L E W U P. like fat albert status. 

okay, a serious entry to come... this one is just for shits and giggles. (:

xoxo.

no longer in detox.

going on hiatus... see you suckas sooooon!!!






just kidding dad. (:

I play with sick orphan children in my free time, what do you do?

Yes, true fact.

Julie and I decided to go to upper west to visit friends, play with hippos, find gifts and drink pito. Mostly everything on our to do list was unsuccessful; hippos don’t like to play in the rainy season, gifts were no where to be found (sorry folks back home, looks like your gift will just be me!!), and the pito was absolutely disgusting. So we decided that we didn’t travel 8+ hours for nothing, and went to our friend Adams site to eat his spam (yes, his parents sent him spam! And hes not even from Hawaii, but I guess thats what happens when everyone is broke… I even saw spam being advertised in an US Weekly magazine… damn… but sad story, we didn’t eat his spam.) and visit the clinic that houses sick orphaned children to spend time with them. Now, I’m not really a person who likes to touch dirty things (including beings) but these kids were just adorable. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

look, even the fob with the hat is special.

this is daniel, hes absolutely an adorable child... i have this awesome video of him saying ANYOUNGGG!!!

this bad ass is kwame. he has tb of the bones.

Also, I’ve started doing vacation classes with the children in my community. I somehow go tricked into doing it, but so far its been good and I really enjoy it. It’s a bit hard at times because the children that come to the classes are in different grades, but somehow it works out. The kids are really adorable… I’ve been having to travel a bunch lately so I have the classes whenever I’m at home, but as soon as the kids see that I’m back in town, they’re all like… will we have class tomorrow?! Sucks that I’ll be gone for three weeks.

Mmm, what else… So I went back to Kukurantumi to see the new trainees swear-in as volunteers! I didn’t really want to go at first, but I’m so glad I did… mostly because I got to visit my homestay family! I absolutely miss them oh so much. It was really cool because I got to meet the volunteer that stayed with Major the year before me as well as the one that was currently staying with her… and then she invited us all over for dinner. It was fufu with goat and fish, and it was absolutely delicious! Its weird that I like fufu, but I guess since I don’t get it ever when I’m in Ntonso its like a treat to have it.

Anyways, my countdown is now three weeks! Sooo excited. Not looking forward to basically traveling for two days just to make it to America, but it’ll be so worth it… as long as I get some delicious Mexican food and a margarita. Mmmm, yes, can’t effen wait!!

id be the worst housewife... i don't cook, i don't clean... but what i'm really good at is making other people do it for me!!! hahaha. we even enlisted the small boy to kill all my rodents, sweep my floor, and wash my tablecloth. gotta love free child labor!

apparently in the upper west, they like to cook their tasty meat in cement bags... mmm, delicious! extra flavor!

Twi word of the day: me di fufuo (I eat fufu)

OMG, don't you love him?!

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.