Togo!
motobikes are the taxi's. I rode so many "motobikes." And it's a French speaking country, but luckily I found some English speaking people. So wonderful.
So I got across the border and I hoped on a motobike to a egg stand where I got an egg sandwich and milo! SO good, and then planned my next move. money change. that was an adventure, because there wasn't a fixed price on the money, the bank I went to wasn't taking American dollars right then, so I had to use the black market. a couple of people would fight over, and pull up the price a little, finally I got a price, and then found later that the banks (if they would've taken) were higher that day. bummer!
So I sat with the guy that had English and helped me get my money, and just took in the city of Lome, capital of togo. Near the beach with music blaring and motobikes swarming the roads. It was so relaxing. Wow, off the the markets where I got some shoes and shirt and a linen shirt. I wish I had bought more linen. Barganing in French is not that easy. Lots of smiles and laughs and facial expressions. I'm going to try to find Linen in Ghana, but I havne't been to successful. After the markets, I decided to check out a movie, in French and the movie theater was so dark that it was difficult to see with the distance to the movie. I didn't stay long.
Off to the hotel. chez Alice, and wandered and found a voodoo festival going on. Some ladies were on the side and watching and I was invited to join them, that was super exciting even though I couldn't understand what they were saying or laughing about. SO, I also couldn't fully understand what was going on in the festival, but they allowed me to take pictures, which most people don't allow people to take pictures of people. (that's a confusing statement but I hope in makes sense).
Stayed under the mosquito net and away in the morning. Off to Kpalime, in a minivan. Went to see a waterfall and just relaxing in a nice hotel. they turned on teh English channel for me, so nice of them. a motocyclist was my tour guide for the day so that was nice, because he knew where everything was and gave me some insite to the culture as well.
the next day, I think was the most exciting as I went on a Butterfly tour. the guide knew how to catch butterflies but didn't know much about them. He knew more about the natural medicine and also the natural paints from the natural environment.
orange-came cutting the bark of a certain tree
black-from a white sap of a tree mixed with orange and some water
red- smooshing a bright green leaf
blue- smooshing a green leaf, boiling it in some water.
I ate rice and chicken all over, one of the most common dishes for international persons.
this is short but I am also rushed! I will see most of you in a few weeks!!!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
"It's feeling like Christmas"
I heard a Ghanaian say "It's feeling like Christmas" as the outside weather was feeling more dry and hot here in Ghana. It was so foreign to me to have this feel like Christmas at all. But it's coming right around the corner. We have one week left of classes and then a month of exams. My exams are fairly spread out with about one exam a week. I will have time to do some traveling. Hopefully I'll get to Togo and Benin next weekend with a group of people. They speak French there, so it will be interesting.
It has been such a long time since I have written a blog so I'll update a bit of what has been going on here.
Politics are a daily topic with the US elections at a close, and the elections for Ghana are right around the corner, everyone is involved. I walk around and hear "Obama" chanted towards me. I smile and wave; and I can see everyone is looking to the US to see how the next four years will go.
I was in class just yesterday, and I experienced a great spontaneity of the work and learning as a student in Ghana, as I was elected to give a presentation on a topic I know nothing about next Monday. And I was informed that some of the information will probably be on the final exam. Everyone speaks English here, however, most people cannot understand me when I speak and especially when I speak fast, so the presentation should be interesting. I had almost traveled this weekend, good thing I didn't!
I have just started trying to cook Ghanaian local foods. It's becoming costly, because what I spend 6$ on, I can get at the local market for under 1$. I had hoped to being back some of the foods to the States. We'll see how that goes. I just secured a Banku making event with a classmate. Banku is a staple food here in Ghana, made out of cassava and sometimes mixed with corn. It has a sour taste and more slimy texture. It is supposed to be eaten with one's hands and usually with soups. The first time I ate it was in the first couple weeks in Ghana and I didn't like it and haven't had it since, so here is for round two!
I am continuously learning about the food crops in Ghana which gives me the importance of staple crops in Ghana and West Africa. We have to do research projects either on a specific crop disease or on specifics of a crop or local environmental practices and I've found it isn't an easy gather of information. Since Ghana is a developing country much research hasn't been conducted and financial support for more research is also lacking. Much research must be manually conducted and is not an easy internet source search. Professors and students alike are noting the importance of research in the development of Ghana and all of Africa. It's amazing to see the impact these students are making now and the projected impact each will make in the future.
Back to a weekend of relaxation and studying.
It has been such a long time since I have written a blog so I'll update a bit of what has been going on here.
Politics are a daily topic with the US elections at a close, and the elections for Ghana are right around the corner, everyone is involved. I walk around and hear "Obama" chanted towards me. I smile and wave; and I can see everyone is looking to the US to see how the next four years will go.
I was in class just yesterday, and I experienced a great spontaneity of the work and learning as a student in Ghana, as I was elected to give a presentation on a topic I know nothing about next Monday. And I was informed that some of the information will probably be on the final exam. Everyone speaks English here, however, most people cannot understand me when I speak and especially when I speak fast, so the presentation should be interesting. I had almost traveled this weekend, good thing I didn't!
I have just started trying to cook Ghanaian local foods. It's becoming costly, because what I spend 6$ on, I can get at the local market for under 1$. I had hoped to being back some of the foods to the States. We'll see how that goes. I just secured a Banku making event with a classmate. Banku is a staple food here in Ghana, made out of cassava and sometimes mixed with corn. It has a sour taste and more slimy texture. It is supposed to be eaten with one's hands and usually with soups. The first time I ate it was in the first couple weeks in Ghana and I didn't like it and haven't had it since, so here is for round two!
I am continuously learning about the food crops in Ghana which gives me the importance of staple crops in Ghana and West Africa. We have to do research projects either on a specific crop disease or on specifics of a crop or local environmental practices and I've found it isn't an easy gather of information. Since Ghana is a developing country much research hasn't been conducted and financial support for more research is also lacking. Much research must be manually conducted and is not an easy internet source search. Professors and students alike are noting the importance of research in the development of Ghana and all of Africa. It's amazing to see the impact these students are making now and the projected impact each will make in the future.
Back to a weekend of relaxation and studying.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tro-Tro’s and Mountain Biking
The public transportation around here is quite impressive. Everywhere we have gone so far is accessible by tro-tro’s. Each one is a 12 seat van with fold down seats to make it a 15 seat van for maximum usage. The “Drivar” is on the left side (even though Ghana was colonized by the British) and the “Mate” is next to the sliding door, hanging out the window yelling and using locally known hand motions to where the tro-tro is going.
The accessibility of the tro-tro system is exemplified on a journey for mountain biking.
Derek, a student also in ISEP, and I set aside 5 hours to hop on a tro-tro to a destination about 45-60 minutes away, go mountain biking for two hours or so and get back for an appointment. As Ghanaian time has it, we started out late, but once we were at the tro-tro station we got on our tro-tro headed to Madina. We each paid 35 peswas (about 35 cents). The traveling is a bit rough as the tro-tro is a stop and go ride along with the unfinished roads. Once we arrived, we bought a tro-tro ticket, price of 1.80 cedis (1 cedi ~ 1 US$), to Abore which would take us to the mountain biking shop.
People are selling items, most commonly food and phone cards, on the road. If there are many items, they are carried on the seller’s head. Derek purchased 4 juice boxes, the tro-tro filled up in about 7 minutes or so and we were off. Now, tro-tro’s are a great mode of transportation but each journey may be an exercise on your bladder. This was one of those times for me. Yet, I still chose to drink a strawberry juice box, very sugary, but I guess, not like the orange that tasted like cough syrup.
We arrive in Abore and every taxi driver looks our way to see if we need a ride to where we are going. We say we are walking and go on our way up to where the shop in. The mountain bike shop had Swiss founders, but quite a while ago, so the bikes were a bit old, and really heavy. We received a fold out map of pictures of where we were supposed to go. (But some pictures were taken at times of construction where there is no more construction.) We did have the option of a guide but turned it down for the sake of price and taking our own time.
We start out in the streets of this town, with kids shouting “Obruni, Obruni” means foreigner, more specifically “white person.” (It’s not derogatory, at least from the kids.) We traverse down this huge hill, only to remember that we will have to come right back up the hill. Following the picture map already proved tedious, but the local people continued to help us, pointing us in the direction we needed.
Once in the bush, we had tall plants on either side for a good part of the ride, in a trail that wasn’t more than a foot wide. We went passed people harvesting fruits and another group harvesting crabs. We traveled through private farms of cassava, cocoa, cocoa yams, plantains and bananas, orange, and other citrus. At one time we had to cross through a gate-that wasn’t on the map, a families front yard, and another time we passed about 2 feet away from the back of someone’s home. A couple times we took the wrong way at a fork in the paths. (By this time we gave up being back in time for the appointment.) We passed through streams on the path (Ghana just came out of the rainy season.) and I think the most soothing and majestic point was when we past under a canopy of bamboo trees. Four large (10 X 10 ft) pods of bamboo came together at about 25 feet high to produce a canopy above the trail. I marveled at the beauty of the place for a long time, until an ant crawled up my shorts to bite me at my underwear line! I just laughed at the wonderful reminder of Africa, if the Bamboo wasn’t enough.
Through the trails we traversed, and it was just a blessed site to see a landmark we remembered! We zoomed ahead and I took out a tall cassava plant! Whoops! They are resilient and it flung back into place. We entered back into the city and came to the big hill we so wanted to forget. We tried, but gave in and walked our bikes back up the hill. Through the people on the streets and the roads we got back to the shop 2 hours and 18 minutes after we had started. We talked with the owner a little, paid our 11.20 cedis, and started walking back to the tro-tro station, but not five minutes on the road we were picked up by a tro-tro headed to Madina. And we arrived only 20 minutes back at the campus to make it to the appointment!
The accessibility of the tro-tro system is exemplified on a journey for mountain biking.
Derek, a student also in ISEP, and I set aside 5 hours to hop on a tro-tro to a destination about 45-60 minutes away, go mountain biking for two hours or so and get back for an appointment. As Ghanaian time has it, we started out late, but once we were at the tro-tro station we got on our tro-tro headed to Madina. We each paid 35 peswas (about 35 cents). The traveling is a bit rough as the tro-tro is a stop and go ride along with the unfinished roads. Once we arrived, we bought a tro-tro ticket, price of 1.80 cedis (1 cedi ~ 1 US$), to Abore which would take us to the mountain biking shop.
People are selling items, most commonly food and phone cards, on the road. If there are many items, they are carried on the seller’s head. Derek purchased 4 juice boxes, the tro-tro filled up in about 7 minutes or so and we were off. Now, tro-tro’s are a great mode of transportation but each journey may be an exercise on your bladder. This was one of those times for me. Yet, I still chose to drink a strawberry juice box, very sugary, but I guess, not like the orange that tasted like cough syrup.
We arrive in Abore and every taxi driver looks our way to see if we need a ride to where we are going. We say we are walking and go on our way up to where the shop in. The mountain bike shop had Swiss founders, but quite a while ago, so the bikes were a bit old, and really heavy. We received a fold out map of pictures of where we were supposed to go. (But some pictures were taken at times of construction where there is no more construction.) We did have the option of a guide but turned it down for the sake of price and taking our own time.
We start out in the streets of this town, with kids shouting “Obruni, Obruni” means foreigner, more specifically “white person.” (It’s not derogatory, at least from the kids.) We traverse down this huge hill, only to remember that we will have to come right back up the hill. Following the picture map already proved tedious, but the local people continued to help us, pointing us in the direction we needed.
Once in the bush, we had tall plants on either side for a good part of the ride, in a trail that wasn’t more than a foot wide. We went passed people harvesting fruits and another group harvesting crabs. We traveled through private farms of cassava, cocoa, cocoa yams, plantains and bananas, orange, and other citrus. At one time we had to cross through a gate-that wasn’t on the map, a families front yard, and another time we passed about 2 feet away from the back of someone’s home. A couple times we took the wrong way at a fork in the paths. (By this time we gave up being back in time for the appointment.) We passed through streams on the path (Ghana just came out of the rainy season.) and I think the most soothing and majestic point was when we past under a canopy of bamboo trees. Four large (10 X 10 ft) pods of bamboo came together at about 25 feet high to produce a canopy above the trail. I marveled at the beauty of the place for a long time, until an ant crawled up my shorts to bite me at my underwear line! I just laughed at the wonderful reminder of Africa, if the Bamboo wasn’t enough.
Through the trails we traversed, and it was just a blessed site to see a landmark we remembered! We zoomed ahead and I took out a tall cassava plant! Whoops! They are resilient and it flung back into place. We entered back into the city and came to the big hill we so wanted to forget. We tried, but gave in and walked our bikes back up the hill. Through the people on the streets and the roads we got back to the shop 2 hours and 18 minutes after we had started. We talked with the owner a little, paid our 11.20 cedis, and started walking back to the tro-tro station, but not five minutes on the road we were picked up by a tro-tro headed to Madina. And we arrived only 20 minutes back at the campus to make it to the appointment!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
A Month in Ghana
I arrived in Ghana looking ahead to a semester full of cultural differences, clashes, confusion, and just new experiences all around. I've been here just over a month and I have to say that I have experienced probably more than I bargained for. (This is just a recap blog since it has been a month since I arrived so I hope to expand on some of the points in later blogs.)
On the plane ride from Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana I sat with a man who grew up in Ghana but now lives in Oklahoma and sends money back to his family who still remains in Ghana (this is a very common practice). One of the things that we talked about was that most Ghanaian men want to marry an American woman to get the easy American citizenship. At the end of the conversations we exchanged email addresses and he told me to email him how many marriage proposals I receive when I'm here. I have had a couple marriage proposals and more conversations eluding to getting married.
I am apart of a organization called ISEP (International Student Exchange Program) with a group of about 30 persons from all over the US. ISEP has been very helpful with many things and for the first week here we were bused and guided to all the places we needed before we were to start classes and begin searching and learning on our own.
Ghanaian people have proven to be very helpful, to a fault at times, and always selling something for anyone to buy. I have gone to the markets a few times now and the first couple times we were so bombarded with people trying to sell us bracelets and paintings and carvings and shirts and footballs (soccer balls) and phone cards and fabric, whew...it's really a lot to look at. And I think they can tell who is a new Obruni (is what they call a foreigner or white person), and who has fresh money in the country for many people try to sell us many things. Recent trips to the market have been less obtrusive as I have become more accustomed to the ways of the market.
In most of my classes I am the only Obruni in the room which is nice in the way that many of my classmates have adopted me and helped me with the things I have needed for the day and semester. Also in classes it is not uncommon for the Professor to be up to a half an hour late in an hour lecture or an hour late in a two hour lecture. Since the semester is more settled in many classes start close to the time but there are some incidences of late professors.
Mainly, I am taking classes associated with the agriculture systems here in Ghana. The senior students (whom my classes are with) have experimental projects. Most of these projects are at the research farm and I have been able to go and assist and be a part of that community of people at the farm. It has been wonderful to work in the soil and around people learning about crops and desiring to better the agriculture systems of Ghana.
The length between the longest and shortest days is only 35 minutes. Ghana is located very near the equator and so once the sun sets it becomes dark quickly. Also, the southern part of Ghana, where I am staying, is very tropical, where the northern region is much more desert like. Right now we are coming out of the rainy season and many trees have gone to flower. It is very beautiful.
My living conditions include a two person bedroom with a screened porch and a shared bathroom. It is located on the outskirts of campus with security and a courtyard. A couple of lizard families live in the courtyard and as curious creatures they can come in close proximity with a human but will quickly run away to hide under a bush or down some holes into the sewer system. The alpha male has orange, gray, and black stripes.
Religion here, either Christianity, Islam, or Traditional is a part of most peoples lives. I have attended one church that is located near campus, Legon Interdenominational Church. The main part of the service is in English but a lot of the worship is spoken in their native language. (As a group we are all taking a course in Twi, a common native language.) Also, every time I have gone to church there has been a different speaker for the day, and every service has been different. They welcomed us with open arms and it has been nice to return.
I will hopefully elaborate or more in the future!
3 months left to explore!
Kara
On the plane ride from Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana I sat with a man who grew up in Ghana but now lives in Oklahoma and sends money back to his family who still remains in Ghana (this is a very common practice). One of the things that we talked about was that most Ghanaian men want to marry an American woman to get the easy American citizenship. At the end of the conversations we exchanged email addresses and he told me to email him how many marriage proposals I receive when I'm here. I have had a couple marriage proposals and more conversations eluding to getting married.
I am apart of a organization called ISEP (International Student Exchange Program) with a group of about 30 persons from all over the US. ISEP has been very helpful with many things and for the first week here we were bused and guided to all the places we needed before we were to start classes and begin searching and learning on our own.
Ghanaian people have proven to be very helpful, to a fault at times, and always selling something for anyone to buy. I have gone to the markets a few times now and the first couple times we were so bombarded with people trying to sell us bracelets and paintings and carvings and shirts and footballs (soccer balls) and phone cards and fabric, whew...it's really a lot to look at. And I think they can tell who is a new Obruni (is what they call a foreigner or white person), and who has fresh money in the country for many people try to sell us many things. Recent trips to the market have been less obtrusive as I have become more accustomed to the ways of the market.
In most of my classes I am the only Obruni in the room which is nice in the way that many of my classmates have adopted me and helped me with the things I have needed for the day and semester. Also in classes it is not uncommon for the Professor to be up to a half an hour late in an hour lecture or an hour late in a two hour lecture. Since the semester is more settled in many classes start close to the time but there are some incidences of late professors.
Mainly, I am taking classes associated with the agriculture systems here in Ghana. The senior students (whom my classes are with) have experimental projects. Most of these projects are at the research farm and I have been able to go and assist and be a part of that community of people at the farm. It has been wonderful to work in the soil and around people learning about crops and desiring to better the agriculture systems of Ghana.
The length between the longest and shortest days is only 35 minutes. Ghana is located very near the equator and so once the sun sets it becomes dark quickly. Also, the southern part of Ghana, where I am staying, is very tropical, where the northern region is much more desert like. Right now we are coming out of the rainy season and many trees have gone to flower. It is very beautiful.
My living conditions include a two person bedroom with a screened porch and a shared bathroom. It is located on the outskirts of campus with security and a courtyard. A couple of lizard families live in the courtyard and as curious creatures they can come in close proximity with a human but will quickly run away to hide under a bush or down some holes into the sewer system. The alpha male has orange, gray, and black stripes.
Religion here, either Christianity, Islam, or Traditional is a part of most peoples lives. I have attended one church that is located near campus, Legon Interdenominational Church. The main part of the service is in English but a lot of the worship is spoken in their native language. (As a group we are all taking a course in Twi, a common native language.) Also, every time I have gone to church there has been a different speaker for the day, and every service has been different. They welcomed us with open arms and it has been nice to return.
I will hopefully elaborate or more in the future!
3 months left to explore!
Kara
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