Since I'm about to head to Italy tomorrow (and, crazily, back to the States one month from today), I share with you some pictures of adorable African orphan children to tide you over until I get around to posting about the rest of my time in Ghana. Here's the link to week 1; weeks 2 and 3 are the same with the appropriate number replacement:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Becca.Constantine/GhanaWeek1#
Enjoy!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Day 8 - From Obruni to Yevu
Saturday, March 19 – Day 8
I’m in the Volta region! I’m also mildly sunburned on both forearms except for the bracelet spot on my left wrist. This means I got sunburned in a period of approximately two hours after sweating off all the sunscreen I had applied in the intense late-morning heat.
Emily decided this morning to join Tamar and I on our journey northeast to the Volta region. (Ghana has ten regions, somewhat like American states.) We took a taxi up to Odumase-Krobo for nine cedies. That’s six dollars for three people to go 45 minutes and he was already overcharging us at that rate. Everything is directional here; the cab was also carrying another woman headed the same way. [Note from the future: Everything being directional means that all you needed to know to get to another town or city was what direction it was. To go to Madina or Accra by trotro, you simply stood on the appropriate side of the road (i.e., the side on which traffic was headed towards the city) and waited for a trotro, any trotro, going that way.]
The cab driver dropped us off at Cedi’s Bead Factory, half a mile down a dirt track from the (paved) main road, where we were immediately approached by a very friendly man who guided us through everything about the place. He showed us the primary ways they create all the beads – all handmade – in the factory and showed us around the outdoor facilities including the main bead-making area in which five others were working and the blazing-hot outdoor kiln. Afterwards, he took us to the little bead store filled with beautiful handmade crafts. I got myself a wonderful bracelet for 2 cedis which alternates beads fired from tiny pieces of broken-bottle glass with beads which are fired, painted, then re-fired. I also liked the colorful beads made by pouring powders of different colors into a small mould. I got Mom a bead-strung clay bowl; the clay was also shaped and fired there. I enjoy how much is handmade here.
We continued on to another market on the road north to Kpong, where I picked up my first two (of at least ten, I anticipate [note from the future: more]) yards of gorgeous fabrics. They’re all colorful and beautifully printed. We then took a long tro ride from Kpong to Ho. When the trotro guy tried to overcharge us five cedis per person for the hour-plus ride because we’re white so must have money (we ended up paying a still-inflated four cedis each), the man in front of us offered the comfort that God does not favor people who do such things. Religion does seem to have a good place in that man’s life.
We reached our final destination of Ho mid-afternoon. Tamar’s former project medical director, Eric from Projects Abroad (another international volunteer program), met us at the Ho trotro station in the taxi he drives when he’s not working at Projects Abroad. He took us to the hotel room he had booked for us then drove us out to visit Tamar’s host family from her first month here in Ghana. Spending time with their healthy 8-month-old boy playing with his assortment of toys made me miss our orphanage kids with their minimal-toy, maximal-creativity jubilation.
From there, we continued on to dinner, where I tried the traditional Ghanaian meal of banku with grilled tilapia. The tilapia, served whole and eaten by hand (to facilitate bone-avoidance) was delicious. I also enjoyed the banku, a bread-dough-like ball from which large chunks are broken off, dipped in a spicy salsa-like sauce, and swallowed whole. Apparently, swallowing the large chunks whole keeps it in your stomach for digestion longer, extending the time for which you feel full. I also tried some of Emily’s kenke, another traditional meal similar to banku but made with only corn rather than corn and cassava. Emily likes kenke but can’t stand banku. Indeed, many volunteers dislike banku. I enjoyed the new eating style and experience. It was fun.
We’re now in the outdoor back area of a local bar with a couple of Tamar’s Projects Abroad friends and Eric. There’s a monkey sitting on the fence about ten feet away. A monkey. This, friends, is Africa.
[Note from the future: Later in the evening, one of the bar guys leashed the monkey to a tree. Emily decided to try to pet it. She was unsuccessful: the monkey punched her. Yes, Emily has been in a bar fight with a monkey in Africa. I share this anecdote to validate my behavior with regards to the chicken incident of my final morning.]
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Springtime in Paris
Bonjour world!
Yes, it's true, my plan to post daily has been sidetracked slightly. After 10 lovely, mostly internet-free (other than AmeriCorps-position-related emailing) days with my mom in Barcelona, I'm here in beautiful Paris. Internet at the hostel, like most things in Paris, is not free. This has encouraged people to resort to other measures (mostly wine and good conversation) for evening entertainment. We spend our days out in the sun, wandering parks and busy streets, or sheltered in the magnificent shade of the Louvre or some other wonder. I spent four hours inside the Louvre yesterday, during which my love of Michelangelo's work was reaffirmed. (His 'Captive Slave' sculpture is on display there.) It made me even more excited for Rome & Florence.
There'll be time for more travel stories later (mostly lots more on Ghana), but I'll share three highlights now so you too can soak in culture from your home or office (not that you would ever read this at work, of course):
1. Watching Rafael Nadal, the top-ranked tennis player in the world right now, overtake international #6 David Ferrer in the finals of the Barcelona Open. Both players are from Spain, but Rafa was more of a hometown favorite as judged by the posters and cheering of the crowd. I enjoy that tennis spectators use a slow clap to encourage players in break-point situations.
2. Making new friends on a free 3-1/2 hour tour of Paris offered through all the local hostels and spending the entire rest of the day taking photos of and in front of monuments of stunning grandeur (e.g., the Eiffel Tower, Paris' Arc de Triomphe). (Note: Most of our pictures were far less lopsided than this one; many involved jumping.)
3. Meeting about ten English-speaking individuals or pairs at the hostel after an entire day of near-silence not knowing anyone or being even close to passably speaking the language (reading: yes; comprehending: sometimes; speaking: no) and spending five or so hours sitting around in the common area playing card games and such. Extroverts love such happenings, in general.
Okay, I'm off to read the book I picked up at the Barcelona hostel (after leaving the one I had finished, I chose one of the few English options on the multi-lingual 'library' shelf) then get some sleep before an early train to Lyon in the morning.
Upcoming plan: Lyon then a month in Italy with Dad. Back in the States on June 9th.
Hope life is fantastic!
Yes, it's true, my plan to post daily has been sidetracked slightly. After 10 lovely, mostly internet-free (other than AmeriCorps-position-related emailing) days with my mom in Barcelona, I'm here in beautiful Paris. Internet at the hostel, like most things in Paris, is not free. This has encouraged people to resort to other measures (mostly wine and good conversation) for evening entertainment. We spend our days out in the sun, wandering parks and busy streets, or sheltered in the magnificent shade of the Louvre or some other wonder. I spent four hours inside the Louvre yesterday, during which my love of Michelangelo's work was reaffirmed. (His 'Captive Slave' sculpture is on display there.) It made me even more excited for Rome & Florence.
There'll be time for more travel stories later (mostly lots more on Ghana), but I'll share three highlights now so you too can soak in culture from your home or office (not that you would ever read this at work, of course):
1. Watching Rafael Nadal, the top-ranked tennis player in the world right now, overtake international #6 David Ferrer in the finals of the Barcelona Open. Both players are from Spain, but Rafa was more of a hometown favorite as judged by the posters and cheering of the crowd. I enjoy that tennis spectators use a slow clap to encourage players in break-point situations.
2. Making new friends on a free 3-1/2 hour tour of Paris offered through all the local hostels and spending the entire rest of the day taking photos of and in front of monuments of stunning grandeur (e.g., the Eiffel Tower, Paris' Arc de Triomphe). (Note: Most of our pictures were far less lopsided than this one; many involved jumping.)
3. Meeting about ten English-speaking individuals or pairs at the hostel after an entire day of near-silence not knowing anyone or being even close to passably speaking the language (reading: yes; comprehending: sometimes; speaking: no) and spending five or so hours sitting around in the common area playing card games and such. Extroverts love such happenings, in general.
Okay, I'm off to read the book I picked up at the Barcelona hostel (after leaving the one I had finished, I chose one of the few English options on the multi-lingual 'library' shelf) then get some sleep before an early train to Lyon in the morning.
Upcoming plan: Lyon then a month in Italy with Dad. Back in the States on June 9th.
Hope life is fantastic!
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