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?!

i guess i'm just lazy.

I’m a creature of convenience.  I think somehow being raised in America, I got it ingrained in me to be a creature of convenience.  (We are after all the country of 30 minute meals, microwave dinners, fast food, drive thru starbucks, those machines that clean your floors, etc.) Everything that we ne

ed is usually available and if its not, then it won’t be too far away.  But here, things are quite the opposite… most things are not available, and if it is, its far away.

 

Maybe its not so much as convenience as it is me being lazy.  I am the girl that will call my mom from upstairs to tell her I have something important to say only to tell her that I want the remote controller that’s on the other couch and I’m too lazy to stand up myself to get it.  (this is a joke, I’m sure I probably did something to that sort during my years at home, but that is an over exaggeration.  I’m not that lazy… or spoiled, despite what you may think.)

 

Like if I want to wash my clothes, its not as simple as gathering the dirty clothes and putting it in a washing machine and dryer.  Here if I want to wash my clothes, I have to sit a

nd hand wash every piece of clothing… not to mention how hard it is to hand wash towels… I end up sweaty, wet, and soapy by the end of the two hour session.  So while I realize that laundry in America takes a while too… but you can do things in the mean while when the machine is doing your work.  ie, you can watch television, you can eat your lunch, you can go grocery shopping.  It’s just convenient to throw things in and let it be until it beeps.  I realize for those of you that have to use a laundry mat, its not as simple, but I’m sure its still better than having to hand wash all your clothes. 

 

If I want water to drink, bathe, and cook with, its not as convenient as turning on a facet.  More thought has to be put into what you’ll be doing for the week… I sometimes plan my meals around how much water I have left.  If I use too much water to cook/wash dishes with, I won’t have any water to bathe with.  And I guess for some reason, bathing has more clout than preparing my own meals.  (I think this is the first time that food has come second to something in my life!)  So if I do run ou

t of water, I either need to a.) find a lady or small girl to fetch water for me and pay her. Or b.) fetch water myself (which I had to do the other week… not an easy task and not something I want to do again) or c.) wait for the rain.  Either way, I miss running water.  I’m actually almost out, and scrambling now because my water lady has disappeared and it hasn’t rained hard in days… I avoided this situation by staying at a friends house, but now I need to figure it out before I have to bathe with water sachets. /: 

 

The next thing is something I will appreciate more i

n America, but the convenience of having restrooms almost every where you go!  Every time I leave my house I try to make sure I’ve pissed or pooped because I know that if I leave the house, my only other options are trekking back to the house, using the public restrooms (which aren’t bad, but no toilet paper or doors.), or finding a hidden place and pooping in a plastic bag.  

 

Also, the convenience of having every food almost imaginable at your fingertips, or just a short drive away, or made in 5 minutes, or ready for you when you come home.  I’m actually the luckier bunch of volunteers because I live nearby a huge city and can get most things that I wouldn’t be able to get if I had lived somewhere more remote… but its not like I have a food court of everything I could want; korean, pizza, taco bell, subway, hawaiian, sushi, curry!  So if I want food, I have to walk a while and a journey that should’ve took me at top 15 minutes ends up being a 30 minute journey… stopping to greet strangers that want to talk to the foreign person.  At least in America when you get stopped by people, its usually friends and a pleasant interruption on your quest for food.  I also miss the convenience of having microwave pizza, cup a noodle, microwave bacon… or just having your awesome mom or dad preparing a dinner.

 

But like most things in life, its probably a good thing… it’ll make me less lazy and appreciate all the things that came so easily before.  Plus, you adapt, you live, and you learn… and somehow, as much as I might complain, I love it.   

 

Twi Phrase of the Day: enye easy koraa (its not easy at all)

This is a popular phrase here in Ghana… every time I talk to Ghanaians, they are like, here in Ghana things are not easy atalllll!

I was helping a man with his term paper and he was like “its not easyo!” in response to how long he had to stay up and all the work that hes been putting into getting it done.

 

Adinkra Symbol of the Day:

 

DENKYEM

"crocodile"

symbol of adaptability

The crocodile lives in the water, yet breathes the air, demonstrating an ability to adapt to circumstances.

 

lesson learned and pictures because my mom doesn't like to read.

The other day I realized the importance of greeting in Ghana. So when you first come to Ghana our trainers would emphasize how important it is to greet others (including random strangers), because it is like you are acknowledging their presence. So when I first came, I would do it because… well, I was new and I wanted to make sure that I made friends in my community. But after a while, greeting every person you walk pass got pretty tiresome… so then I would just try to avoid contact or seem like I was in a hurry. (but seriously, who is ever in a hurry in Ghana?! There is no where to hurry to, nothing to hurry for) Even when you do these things, people will stop you and be like, “oh, why won’t you greet me?!” so then you have to back track, and greet them. So for the most part, I just greet everyone while I am walking to stop them from thinking I’m some rude small girl who won’t greet them. Yes, people actually call me small girl here, they’ll be like “small girl, come here.”

So also here, people tend to call out to you, in the streets while you are walking. They’ll either hiss, make a kissing noise, yell obroni, call you sweetie, or whatever else to get your attention. Most times its males, (who probably want to get my attention so they can tell me that they want to marry me… which by the way, if I had a dime for all the times I’ve been asked I would still have more money than if I had bet a million dollars in vegas on hard six and won.) (so its females as well, but they usually aren't as annoying as the males), so I just ignore them like I’m a deaf girl and continue on my journey. Anyways, the point of my story is… as I was walking to my tro tro station a boy called out to me and wanted me to talk to him, I kind of just waved and tried to board my tro. Then his friend grabbed my arm and was like, my friend wants to talk to you, why won’t you greet him. So I gave in, and went over to the boy. I greeted him, exchanged a few words and then went back to board the tro. Then the tro tried to leave the station, but the tro kind of died, so we all needed to get out and board another tro.

***By the way, chaos is how I would explain my tro tro station. If I get there at the wrong time, I wait like what seems like hours in the sun, in a line (which doesn’t even matter because once the car comes people from the back of the line run to the tro and try to get on), and then somehow still have to fight my way onto the tro. Most times, I just try to fight a little and then give up… I’m not nearly as big as those Ghanaians that I’m up against. Then, I continue to wait again, hoping that one will come soon. Sometimes when I’m lucky, there will be a Ghanaian that will help me fight my way on… sometimes I feel bad because they will be small boys waiting in line and don’t have a chance of fighting so end up waiting for the next tro.

So as people are getting off the tro, the ones that are still in line start running to the new tro, while the ones getting off are running as well to get their place in the tro. I was in the back seat of the tro, last person to get out, so I kind of ran a bit, but knew that my efforts were useless and I was going to have to wait again. But thankfully, since I greeted the boy, who turned out to be the driver, his mate saved me the front seat! He was kind of like, see, good thing you greeted me… ha, and lesson learned, greet everyone, including the annoying males.

so here is a picture of how some people get their water... from bore holes. i get my water for a well or from the rain, so i hope it rains hard soon! the man pumping is the assemblyman... i think he really likes pumping because one day we were talking and he was telling me how people don't let him pump water because hes an assemblyman. so even if he tried, they would push him away and pump it for him. they call him honorable. hehe. but hes a hardworking man... very respected, for good reason.

shaaabammmm, shaaabammmm! look at those awesome signs... hard ass work to put them up, but they look so niiiice!

yesss, ntonso is so sophisticated with waste bins!! haha. 

my neighbor's town deals with kente and they just had a visitor centre built, so they had a grand opening celebration.  here is some queen mother lady getting down!

the queen mother of the ashanti region... and her entourage!  i think it must be pretty nice to be held like that.  

check out all that blingggg!!! 

thought this was pretty damn cool... they kids here amaze me with the toys that they come up with... so i don't know if you can tell, but the boy tied a flying bug to his string and was flying it around... it was pretty damn awesome.

here it is up close and personal... pretty awesome huh. yep, kids here are creative with what they got!

***just kidding mom, i know you love to read. (: and those kids aren't really ugly... it was joke, i think they are adorable, especially the small girl!

Twi Word of The Day: kyea me. (greet me)

shoutout: to my awesome brother! not telling which one... oooooh the mystery. ha. so excited... its better than a chanel bag... or a burberry cookie!!  and to my other awesome brother, for just being amazing. (:

everyone loves pictures.

signboard preview... pretty nice huh! i was quite happy with the way it turned out!

some of the deaf kids. lovely crazy bunch.

spots have the best art work on their walls.

here is bobble... actually, i decided to name her lola. shes small, and crazy, and to be honest, i can't believe i still have her... everytime i come home, i'm like... why i do have a cat?! but at least no mouse anymore! like denise said, dogs fo lyph!

here is the amazing easter spread!! check out all that food!! not going to lie, i helped make some of it... haha, actually they only let me chop the onions (oh yea, i got to mash the potatoes, heh, god, i'm awesome ha)... i was dealing with pros, i didn't want to mess up the fabulousity!

some of the ugly kids that i have to live with.

Easter, Bobble, and Trash.

So whats happening in Ghana?

Ho Ho Ho Easter: So since PC administration does a pretty good job of “ruining” all the holidays that we’ve had in Ghana, we were finally happy that this holiday was PC ruining free! (I say “ruining” because the circumstances for them ruining our holidays couldn’t be helped, like they needed to help people set up bank accounts on thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Years we had standfast for our security in case there were any riots due to the election results.) So about 20 of us got together in the city of Ho, where my dear friend Ping is working. She is working with Village Exchange Ghana (look them up online!) and they have this beautiful house for volunteers that come to help, but since all of the volunteers were gone, we had the house to ourselves! The Easter dinner that was prepared was AMAZING! (and I’m not just saying that because all I have to eat at my site is the food I prepare, which is coming along, and Ghanaian food, but I don’t think I’ve eaten that good since… America?!) Although we slaved away in the kitchen for most of the day, it was so worth all the blood, sweat and tears because the spread consisted of baked chicken breasts (yes, they have this in ghana, expensive, but available), garlic mashed potatoes (with real potatoes, it was good but I think I need aunty jos recipe), salad, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry jam! Not to mention the yummy brownies we had for dessert. There was even skyy vodka. (: HEAVEN.


Bobble: So the tragedy that was Junji disappearing some how ended with me getting a kitten. /: So I’ve been having a mouse problem in my room for a while now, I bought a rat trap but somehow it disappeared (I think one of the boys took it) and I haven’t gotten around to buying another one. It hasn’t been so bad, but lately, the mouse has been waking me up in the middle of the night by making my dishes fall to the ground. It has also been eating my bread and bananas. (and for some reason I can’t seem to think its okay to eat bread/bananas that have been shared with a mouse… maybe I haven’t lived in Africa long enough. Bugs okay, mice somehow not okay yet.) So I decided to invest in something better than a mouse trap, a cat! I’m not a huge cat person at all, but this kitten is cute… so I think I can become a cat person. As long as I don’t end up like one of those cat spinster ladies, please don’t let me become one of those. Anyways, the name I gave this cat is Bobble. Well because I don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy. (I’m like the worse person at naming things... one time I told chimmy what I would name my daughter if I had one and he told me that if I gave her that name she would hate me and be single for the rest of her life; I mean in middle school I seriously thought the name abcde was totally acceptable for my future daughter. Ha. But then again, you probably did too.) Jess who gave it to me (who also doesn’t know much about cats) think it’s a girl, but when I did some investigating I questioned her by saying “isn’t that a penis?” Either way, it has a huge head, like a bobble head. But it’s a pretty kitten somehow. Not sure if I’m really sold on this whole cat thing, but at least I won’t feel so bad when I leave the cat alone for a couple of days. (Don’t worry, I’m still secretly hoping deep down inside that junji will just appear back at the house one day.)
Sidenote: Cats make strange purring sounds, makes me nervous.
PS. If anyone can give me tips on cats, that would be lovely. I tried to make a litter box, but cat poop smells so bad!! How do I get rid of that smell? It also likes to rub against my leg/foot… can I create something so that it will use that instead of me? Please help.

Wastebins and Signboards: So Ntonso has been fortunate enough to get wastebins and signboards from NCRC through the European Union. The wastebins are 23 in total, and will be spread across the community… which will hopefully help with the abundance of litter on the street. Been going to the schools to educate the kiddies about the new waste baskets. Which reminds me how crazy sad that kids don’t know what tourist attraction is in their own town. So at the beginning when we are introducing ourselves, the assemblyman asked the children, so what textile is Ntonso known for? And then kids say, kente, pottery, wood carving, kente, everything but adinkra! Finally after like 5 minutes of guessing someone finally comes up with adinkra. I find that a bit sad because nearly everyone in the community is doing something dealing with adinkra and the streets are filled with shops selling cloth with adinkra on them. I guess I should give them a little leeway since kente is done in the community as well, but still kind of crazy. Anyways, there will be six signboards that will be placed in the city and roads that will help attract tourist to our community. We’ve been meeting with the artist, so I’m really excited to see how these signboards turn out… will be even more excited when I’m in a tro passing the signboards. (: There is going to be a meeting this week with the district assembly and director of Ghana tourist board, so this should be good! Especially since I’m hearing rumors that FM24 is pulling out of their contract. I just hope that they pay Mavis for the three months that they haven’t paid her for.

That’s about all. Exciting life huh. Okay, hope all is well and wonderful at wherever you maybe!

Twi Word of The Day: Dayie! (good night)

Adinkra Symbol of The Day:



Shoutout: Creator of bacon bits… it really is like magic fairy dust to any bad meal you prepare! (not that I prepare any bad meals anymore… but if I did, shazam! Bad meal no more!)

ps. internet won't let me upload pictures, so you'll have to wait. want to return home before it gets too dark... since someone stole my flashlight phone today. ): yep, that means that my super awesome number of 0241333333 now belongs to some retarded ghanaian that steals! UGH!

Anasi

this is the crazy huge ass spider that i have to deal with at times. /: its scary. harmless i believe, but scary!! especially when i'm searching for things in the dark and it just happens to be where i'm searching!!

Football vs. Football

So I had the opportunity of attending a football match here in Ghana. After the game I got to thinking about which football game I liked better... American or European. I guess I can’t really compare them that much because my knowledge/liking of football only happened in the past year, (thank you eastside and colt brennan? Ha) but I will anyways.


Although I know everyone thinks football (which I will now refer to as soccer because I’m getting confused as I type, which probably means you will get even more confused.) is the most boring sport to watch… but since I grew up play soccer, I didn’t find it all that boring at all. I have secretly dreamed about attending soccer matches in Europe or someplace where the fans are as crazy about soccer as Americas are about their football teams.

So how was the game? Well… like most of you are probably thinking… it was not a total disappointment, but it didn’t live up to the hype I created for it. The whole field was blocked off with a hockey shield about 10 feet high (so no rushing the field after victories or streaking across the field butt naked), there was no one selling rip off beer/margaritas, there was no roasted corn ): and no newspapers to rip and throw when a goal was scored (of course right, such a waste of good toilet paper!). But, the fans didn’t let me down. They were still as crazy as I remembered them being on television.

I guess I can blame the disappointment of my experience on the performance of team. They just didn’t seem into the game, thus making it boring. The Black Stars scored a goal in the first minute and eleven seconds of the game… so I thought it was going to be good… but it wasn’t. Even when I talked to my Ghanaian friends the next day about the game, they were disappointed with how the Black Stars played. But I guess, at the end of the day, a win is a win… and since it was a world cup qualifier match, we’ll take the win… boring or not.

In conclusion, I think I'll pick American football over Ghanaian football. I'm pretty sure I'm picking it because although American football has roasted corn, beer, and newspaper confetti, no matter how boring a game is... the people that you go to the game with are what make it fun. basically its because you guys aren't here. ):


Here is a picture of the cops trying to regulate a fight of some sort. So apparently, Ghanaians don’t like it when you stand… like when they are almost scoring a goal and you stand cause you are excited, yea, Ghanaians don’t like that. So when people were standing they had the bright idea of throwing water at them, which the people that got water thrown on them didn’t appreciate so of course they threw water back with water bottles. Anyways, the cops saw this and tried to step in.

Here is the Benin mascot? Maybe their juju mascot? I don’t know what he is… since they are the Benin squirrels. But he was interesting looking… danced the whole game, had a huge ass, and went home a humbly defeated man. I got a video of him dancing… maybe I’ll upload it sometime when I have fast internet.

here is the stadium. They just remodeled it... it was nice. see that glass protectant thing? but look, they have clappers!!

Twi Word of the Day: yente so! (I won't reduce the price)

which reminds me... so do you think i should feel bad when ghanaians try to rip me off and then don't really know their math too well so i end up ripping them off. sometimes i feel like saying something, cause i am a "business" volunteer, but then again... serves them right for trying to rip us off!

Adinkra Symbol of the Day:

(if the internet won't allow me to post, just picture the target logo and you got the adinkra hene!)

Adinkra Hene
"chief of adinkra symbols"

greatness, charisma, leadership

This symbol is said to have played an inspiring role in the designing of other symbols. it signifies the importance of playing a leadership role.

ATTENTION ATTENTION!!!

my really cool awesome friend in ghana named adam aka. ah-dumb! is doing a xylophone project in the upper west region in ghana. he has made a video to help promote the project, soooo be a kind kind person and take a looksie!

http://www.vimeo.com/3515667

just saw some britney videos... heck yes to her comeback!!! i knew she could do it!!!