Today, I woke up to Mary asking us if we wanted lunch, again. (It's so annoying.) I couldn't fall back asleep so I did my laundry.
Soon afterwards, I went to the senior match, which was also in La Bodi. When I got there, the game had already began, and our team was playing well. I saw all the U12s
so I went over to talk with them. Just as there were telling me about how they were going to play a game after the seniors, a brawl had broken out. It was fans of the other team (or that's what I was told), who had attacked the linesman. Then other fights between the other teams' fans began. All the refs lefts, so we won again by forfeit. It was really funny because again, everyone started to run all over the place, and started to yell and scream. By the time the fighting had died down, all our fans, were siting in the middle of the field. I was riding a bike around the pitch, and the other kids were playing a mini game. (I also met the 2 new American volunteers, Mike and Tony from New Hampshire. They seem chill.)
We decided to leave the new feild, and go to our home field. We sat and chilled at the office for a few hours. I brought my iPod speakers, which they thought were cool.
From here I went to eat dinner with Jasmine for her going away. It was so sad when she left. J-les was my best friend here, and even though we fought a lot and annoyed each other so much (as a joke), we became really close. Her goodbye was also sad because I also said bye to Fynn, who was going away this week. (Of course, Jasmine hadn't started really packing until about 8:15 when she was supposed to leave the house at 7:30- so typically J- Les!!)
After Jasmine left :(, I went to a lounge named Venus. I didn't stay long.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Crazy Host, U 10 tournament and Clubbing
Saturday November 21th
Today I was woken up at 7:30 by Mary asking if I'll "take" aka have lunch. I was so pissed because she clearly could have waited to ask me that later in the day, so I yelled at her to go away. As I was falling back to sleep, I was reawaken by Mary wailing and crying histerically. I got out of bed to see what was wrong. My house mates and I were asking what was wrong and she kept telling some strange story, which I didn't understand. (Gertrude, our host had yelled at her for something). Then Getrude called the 3 volunteers, Jessye, Jasmine and myself, into the living room, and had a serious conversation with us.
Yesterday when Jasmine returned from the hospital, she realized some money and her phone were missing. She looked for her things for hours, but did not find them, so she told Gertrude. Gertrude started yelling at us about the situation, and started to put the blame on all three of us volunteers. What pissed me off, was that she insisted that it was not a Ghanaian, and wouldn't even think to blame them. When the "police" came to the house, they only checked Jasmine's/ Jessye's room. They didn't check my room, Mary's room, Gertrude's room or Gertrude's son's room. I would have been pissed if they went through my stuff, but the police should have checked all the rooms. Instead they kept blaming the volunteers. It could have easily been me or Jessye who stole Jasmine's things, but it also could have been one of many other people who live/ work in the house, and it pissed me off how they kept putting the blame on us, primarily Jessye.
After she yelled at us, and the police "checked" the house, I left. I went to the U 10 tournament near where I lived. This was cool, because I got to chill with the kids all day, and watch them play soccer. They were all taking pictures and stealing my iPod to listen to music. One of the kids Malik kept replaying the 1 Ghanaian song on my phone, and wouldn't stop singing it. The goalie, Joseph kept playing the same Akon song on my iPod, and Edom took the strangest pictures of a cartoon book. These kids are honestly the funniest people I have ever met, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I go. Then Alexandra came to the field to watch the game. The other day I told all the kids she was Chinese, so they all bowed to her when she walked to our team, and then they all wanted to do Karate with me. She then told the kids about how she didn't believe in God and explained evolution to them. Charlie, who was also there got really upset, because for them religion is teh only thing that gives them hope. I thought it was interesting to hear what the kids have to say about Religion.
I was like in between the view points of the kids and Alexandra. I the proposed a question for them. Who will go to heaven, a person who doesn't believe in God but saves other people, or a beliver who kills. Most of them said the killer, and 1 or 2 said neither. When Alexandra left, they all came up to me and asked if she was joking.
Well, after this converstaion they all wanted me to come to Church. I went home to get dressed quickly and then met them at Church with Henriette. The service was very different than what I am used to. It was a lot of preaching and quoting scripture. It was a mass just for the kids and adults on the soccer teams, so there were people there from ages 8-35.
They did a lot singing and praying aloud. Like most Catholics, I pray quietly, usually in my head, so when I was not screaming and speaking in tongues, the boys were asking why I wasn't praying. There was one point where they played music, and everyone got up from their chairs, started to sing songs and were dancing around the room. That was pretty cool; they all got so into the songs, and all seemed so happy. Seeing them so happy, and seeing them with hope in their eyes, made me smile and see that they have something to live and strive for.
After the mass, the kids walked me to the taxi, and I promised them to teach them about Santa and Christmas carols.
From the church I headed to Champs, a sports bar in a hotel. I couldn't find it, so a hooker came over to help me find the club. She told me she wanted me inside her, and that I should take her inside the club. I said I would come later. (To get in the club there was a huge bouncer name Cyborg-- honestly the strongest man ever.)
In the bar, I met a few other volunteers: Jessye, Louise, Justin, Julie, Andy and Jasmine. I also made friends with a German guy who randomly sat at our table, named Christian. It was kareokee night, so we were all singing along with the people who were singing. Then Jessye, Christian, Jasmine, Louise and I went up and sang "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry; we were awful.
We stayed there for another 2 hours, just singing to kareokee and then dancing to local Ghanaian music. I was primarily dancing with Louise.
After Champs was closing, I wanted to go home, but Jasmine wanted to stay out later, so I did because it was her last night. Jessye, J-les, Louise and I went with a guy Jasmine met to a club named Tantra. We all got inside for free, and were on the dance flotor for a while. I was with Louise the whole time...
As we got home, the sun was rising. I went into Jasmine's room, and stayed in Jessye's old bed (Jessye moved out today).
Today I was woken up at 7:30 by Mary asking if I'll "take" aka have lunch. I was so pissed because she clearly could have waited to ask me that later in the day, so I yelled at her to go away. As I was falling back to sleep, I was reawaken by Mary wailing and crying histerically. I got out of bed to see what was wrong. My house mates and I were asking what was wrong and she kept telling some strange story, which I didn't understand. (Gertrude, our host had yelled at her for something). Then Getrude called the 3 volunteers, Jessye, Jasmine and myself, into the living room, and had a serious conversation with us.
Yesterday when Jasmine returned from the hospital, she realized some money and her phone were missing. She looked for her things for hours, but did not find them, so she told Gertrude. Gertrude started yelling at us about the situation, and started to put the blame on all three of us volunteers. What pissed me off, was that she insisted that it was not a Ghanaian, and wouldn't even think to blame them. When the "police" came to the house, they only checked Jasmine's/ Jessye's room. They didn't check my room, Mary's room, Gertrude's room or Gertrude's son's room. I would have been pissed if they went through my stuff, but the police should have checked all the rooms. Instead they kept blaming the volunteers. It could have easily been me or Jessye who stole Jasmine's things, but it also could have been one of many other people who live/ work in the house, and it pissed me off how they kept putting the blame on us, primarily Jessye.
After she yelled at us, and the police "checked" the house, I left. I went to the U 10 tournament near where I lived. This was cool, because I got to chill with the kids all day, and watch them play soccer. They were all taking pictures and stealing my iPod to listen to music. One of the kids Malik kept replaying the 1 Ghanaian song on my phone, and wouldn't stop singing it. The goalie, Joseph kept playing the same Akon song on my iPod, and Edom took the strangest pictures of a cartoon book. These kids are honestly the funniest people I have ever met, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I go. Then Alexandra came to the field to watch the game. The other day I told all the kids she was Chinese, so they all bowed to her when she walked to our team, and then they all wanted to do Karate with me. She then told the kids about how she didn't believe in God and explained evolution to them. Charlie, who was also there got really upset, because for them religion is teh only thing that gives them hope. I thought it was interesting to hear what the kids have to say about Religion.
I was like in between the view points of the kids and Alexandra. I the proposed a question for them. Who will go to heaven, a person who doesn't believe in God but saves other people, or a beliver who kills. Most of them said the killer, and 1 or 2 said neither. When Alexandra left, they all came up to me and asked if she was joking.
Well, after this converstaion they all wanted me to come to Church. I went home to get dressed quickly and then met them at Church with Henriette. The service was very different than what I am used to. It was a lot of preaching and quoting scripture. It was a mass just for the kids and adults on the soccer teams, so there were people there from ages 8-35.
They did a lot singing and praying aloud. Like most Catholics, I pray quietly, usually in my head, so when I was not screaming and speaking in tongues, the boys were asking why I wasn't praying. There was one point where they played music, and everyone got up from their chairs, started to sing songs and were dancing around the room. That was pretty cool; they all got so into the songs, and all seemed so happy. Seeing them so happy, and seeing them with hope in their eyes, made me smile and see that they have something to live and strive for.
After the mass, the kids walked me to the taxi, and I promised them to teach them about Santa and Christmas carols.
From the church I headed to Champs, a sports bar in a hotel. I couldn't find it, so a hooker came over to help me find the club. She told me she wanted me inside her, and that I should take her inside the club. I said I would come later. (To get in the club there was a huge bouncer name Cyborg-- honestly the strongest man ever.)
In the bar, I met a few other volunteers: Jessye, Louise, Justin, Julie, Andy and Jasmine. I also made friends with a German guy who randomly sat at our table, named Christian. It was kareokee night, so we were all singing along with the people who were singing. Then Jessye, Christian, Jasmine, Louise and I went up and sang "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry; we were awful.
We stayed there for another 2 hours, just singing to kareokee and then dancing to local Ghanaian music. I was primarily dancing with Louise.
After Champs was closing, I wanted to go home, but Jasmine wanted to stay out later, so I did because it was her last night. Jessye, J-les, Louise and I went with a guy Jasmine met to a club named Tantra. We all got inside for free, and were on the dance flotor for a while. I was with Louise the whole time...
As we got home, the sun was rising. I went into Jasmine's room, and stayed in Jessye's old bed (Jessye moved out today).
Friday November 20th
Today senior training was pretty dull because I had no one to talk to. Charlie is always busy with training, and I was trying to help out, but there wasn't much for me to do. Instead, I went to exchange money, and when I returned to the field I raced kids and played soccer with them at their recess.
I then headed to Melting Moments to confirm the Thanksgiving meal. From the restaurant I walked home, played with the kids and ate lunch.
After my time at home I returned to the field for U 12 training. Today I brought my football back as well as wiffle ball bat and some balls. As the team was warming up/ as they were playing a mtach I played the American sports with the younger kids! It's cool to teach them the new sports, because the kids seem to like to learn new things.
After practice I stayed at the field for a while, and chilled with the kids, but I couldn't stay long because I had to go home to greet Jasmine, who was returning from the hospital. We decided to take her out to diner and go to the movies with her, to give her something new to do rather then sit in a bed. We got to the mall to eat diner, but she decided to go home because she was tired. We stayed, ate dinner and went to see "2012". It was an alright movie, but we thought it was cool when they said that Africa survived. at the end of the film.
I then headed to Melting Moments to confirm the Thanksgiving meal. From the restaurant I walked home, played with the kids and ate lunch.
After my time at home I returned to the field for U 12 training. Today I brought my football back as well as wiffle ball bat and some balls. As the team was warming up/ as they were playing a mtach I played the American sports with the younger kids! It's cool to teach them the new sports, because the kids seem to like to learn new things.
After practice I stayed at the field for a while, and chilled with the kids, but I couldn't stay long because I had to go home to greet Jasmine, who was returning from the hospital. We decided to take her out to diner and go to the movies with her, to give her something new to do rather then sit in a bed. We got to the mall to eat diner, but she decided to go home because she was tired. We stayed, ate dinner and went to see "2012". It was an alright movie, but we thought it was cool when they said that Africa survived. at the end of the film.
Friday, November 20, 2009
November 17th- 19th
Nothing too new happened these past three days, so I will just write a short synopsis of the days.
Tuesday November 17th
We had senior training in the morning, and I refed a game they played. Then I returned to the art center with Laura to finish my shopping. We new what we wanted so our trip was extremely quick. Afterwards, I ate lunch with Laura and Matt at Celsbridge, and then planned Thanksgiving at another restaurant called Melting Moments.
For U 12 training, the team played a match. I was put in charge of one of the teams. We were winning for the first half, and then in the second half we played horribly, and lost. I also had a huge fight with the ref, because he was aweful.
Next I went to quiz night. I thought I had won for sure, but I was off by 1 question. I got many of the answers correct, but I got Michael Jackson's death wrong. I said June 26th and it was June 25th.
Finally, a group of us visited Jasmine in the hospital.
Wednesday November 18th
Today there was no senior training in the morning, so I went to Oxford street to buy a duffle bag. I ended up spending an hour or so there talking with a man I know who sells things there, and his sick mother.
After Oxford street, I went to the field for the senior match. Before the game, I met up with the team. Like at the start of all games/ practices, they began praying, but today was cool because they prayed in song! They sang for a good 30 minutes, dancing and just having fun while doing so.
They should have clearly won the game, but the goalie (who was the second string goalie- I don't know why the coach didn't put the other goalie in after the first goal) let in 2 goals, which should have been saved.
At the end of the match, I headed to the side of the field where the U 12s were training, and I helped out with that for a short while.
Later that night, we went to Duplex, a sports bar to watch the France vs. Ireland soccer match (go France!!), and then to Reggae Night at La Bodi Beach like I did last week. It was cool because more people came this week. I just hung out with the other volunteers, talkled to some new people aka rasta men who were high, and danced with Evelyn again. I had a lot of fun with Lauren, doing our Ernie and Bert impressions, and Laura taking pictures by the sea.
Thursday November 19th
Today was Chris's last day.
We had no senir training because they had a match the day before, so I slept a little later. Then we both went to school training, but the headmistress wouldn't let us take the kids out because we were supposed to be there at 10 not 11. (This change was implemented on Tuesday, and we weren't informed of it- how were we supposed to know??)
Instead, I went to the art center yet again (I really didn't want to go) because Chris wanted to but a drum and a few soccer jersey's. I have to be honest, he was the worst bargainer I have ever seen. And it was just funny to see a guy with a Swedish accent trying to be serious. I even told him some people I know could get what he wanted for more than 20$, but he said no. What can I tell you, Swedes are strange people. No, he's pretty chill, and he was a cool guy that I got to meet and hang out while I was in Ghana. It will be strange without Chris because he was a fellow coach and my roommate and we spent a lot of time together.
After the art center, we headed back to U 12 training. Today I brought my football with me, so I started playing with it. For the first 20 minutes of practice, while the team was warming up, I was tossing the ball around, and "tackling" a group of the U 10s; they seemed to really like it!
Later that night, Chris packed, and went to the airport. Then instead of going out, I went to bed early.
Tuesday November 17th
We had senior training in the morning, and I refed a game they played. Then I returned to the art center with Laura to finish my shopping. We new what we wanted so our trip was extremely quick. Afterwards, I ate lunch with Laura and Matt at Celsbridge, and then planned Thanksgiving at another restaurant called Melting Moments.
For U 12 training, the team played a match. I was put in charge of one of the teams. We were winning for the first half, and then in the second half we played horribly, and lost. I also had a huge fight with the ref, because he was aweful.
Next I went to quiz night. I thought I had won for sure, but I was off by 1 question. I got many of the answers correct, but I got Michael Jackson's death wrong. I said June 26th and it was June 25th.
Finally, a group of us visited Jasmine in the hospital.
Wednesday November 18th
Today there was no senior training in the morning, so I went to Oxford street to buy a duffle bag. I ended up spending an hour or so there talking with a man I know who sells things there, and his sick mother.
After Oxford street, I went to the field for the senior match. Before the game, I met up with the team. Like at the start of all games/ practices, they began praying, but today was cool because they prayed in song! They sang for a good 30 minutes, dancing and just having fun while doing so.
They should have clearly won the game, but the goalie (who was the second string goalie- I don't know why the coach didn't put the other goalie in after the first goal) let in 2 goals, which should have been saved.
At the end of the match, I headed to the side of the field where the U 12s were training, and I helped out with that for a short while.
Later that night, we went to Duplex, a sports bar to watch the France vs. Ireland soccer match (go France!!), and then to Reggae Night at La Bodi Beach like I did last week. It was cool because more people came this week. I just hung out with the other volunteers, talkled to some new people aka rasta men who were high, and danced with Evelyn again. I had a lot of fun with Lauren, doing our Ernie and Bert impressions, and Laura taking pictures by the sea.
Thursday November 19th
Today was Chris's last day.
We had no senir training because they had a match the day before, so I slept a little later. Then we both went to school training, but the headmistress wouldn't let us take the kids out because we were supposed to be there at 10 not 11. (This change was implemented on Tuesday, and we weren't informed of it- how were we supposed to know??)
Instead, I went to the art center yet again (I really didn't want to go) because Chris wanted to but a drum and a few soccer jersey's. I have to be honest, he was the worst bargainer I have ever seen. And it was just funny to see a guy with a Swedish accent trying to be serious. I even told him some people I know could get what he wanted for more than 20$, but he said no. What can I tell you, Swedes are strange people. No, he's pretty chill, and he was a cool guy that I got to meet and hang out while I was in Ghana. It will be strange without Chris because he was a fellow coach and my roommate and we spent a lot of time together.
After the art center, we headed back to U 12 training. Today I brought my football with me, so I started playing with it. For the first 20 minutes of practice, while the team was warming up, I was tossing the ball around, and "tackling" a group of the U 10s; they seemed to really like it!
Later that night, Chris packed, and went to the airport. Then instead of going out, I went to bed early.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Art Market- 2nd time around
Today we didn't have senior training, so I slept in a few hours. However, at 11, we had school training, so I had to get to the pitch at 10:45.
Chris took charge of the school practice, so I didn't do much. He made them do some drills, and compete in some races- like dribling the ball around cones.
After the practice was completed, we met up with Matt and Laura, and headed to the art market. We entered the market and were swarmed by people. We did a lot of bargaining, and bought our souveniers. After our shopping was completed, 3 different groups of men took us to their shops and gave us free drum lessons. We continued walking around the market; I bought something small from eveyone, because of course I feel bad for them. I also stopped to talk to like all of them, and even the people I didn't buy stuff from seemed to like me. They were explaining how their rasta beliefs are as followed; the world is like a mirror- if you are good it it, it will treat you well, and if you are bad to it, it will treat you badly. They said that's how they act wth people. For example, if a person is rude to them, and ignores them, they will be really rude and mean to that person. But if you stop to talk to them, they will be nice. Personally, I think most of the rastas are kind of crazy, and only want money, but I did get a few free gifts, which doesn't seem to happen a lot. (My favorite guy was Jamanlove)
Then we went back to U 10 training. For practice today we had a mini tournament. I was in charge of 2 teams. My first team, Team USA, lost, but my second team, Team Romans, won the whole tournament. When they won, the entire team and I went nuts, dancing and singing like we just won the world cup, even though it was a silly practice tournament.
When I returned home, we found out Jasmine was really sick with malaria.
We also saw "Inglorious Basterds," which was really funny. And then I spoke with Brennan on the phone!! It was cool to talk to someone from home!
Chris took charge of the school practice, so I didn't do much. He made them do some drills, and compete in some races- like dribling the ball around cones.
After the practice was completed, we met up with Matt and Laura, and headed to the art market. We entered the market and were swarmed by people. We did a lot of bargaining, and bought our souveniers. After our shopping was completed, 3 different groups of men took us to their shops and gave us free drum lessons. We continued walking around the market; I bought something small from eveyone, because of course I feel bad for them. I also stopped to talk to like all of them, and even the people I didn't buy stuff from seemed to like me. They were explaining how their rasta beliefs are as followed; the world is like a mirror- if you are good it it, it will treat you well, and if you are bad to it, it will treat you badly. They said that's how they act wth people. For example, if a person is rude to them, and ignores them, they will be really rude and mean to that person. But if you stop to talk to them, they will be nice. Personally, I think most of the rastas are kind of crazy, and only want money, but I did get a few free gifts, which doesn't seem to happen a lot. (My favorite guy was Jamanlove)
Then we went back to U 10 training. For practice today we had a mini tournament. I was in charge of 2 teams. My first team, Team USA, lost, but my second team, Team Romans, won the whole tournament. When they won, the entire team and I went nuts, dancing and singing like we just won the world cup, even though it was a silly practice tournament.
When I returned home, we found out Jasmine was really sick with malaria.
We also saw "Inglorious Basterds," which was really funny. And then I spoke with Brennan on the phone!! It was cool to talk to someone from home!
Insane Soccer Game
Sunday November 15th
Today I woke up tp exchange money and check bus times for my trip I have been planning to Bolgatanga, a city in northern Ghana. Well, neither goals were accomplished because all the banks as well as the bus station were closed. (I then decided not to go to the north because it would be way to big of a deal). Instead I went to the field and met Emmanual, and sat and chatted with him for a while.
Afterwards. I headed to a soccer game th senior team was playing in. Unlike most of the games we play, it was an away game, so we had to go to La Bone, a different section of Accra. This match was honestly one of the craziest things I have ever seen.
For the first 70 minutes it was fairly normal, but with around 20 minutes of play left the insanity began. One of the players kicked the ball out of bounds. Instead of getting the ball back to play with it, one of the opponent's fans stole the ball and ran away with it. (For some reason our team had to supply the ball, and stealing it was an act of revenge for the other team.) Well, then players and fans from our team stared chasing that theif. Soon afterwards, everyone stormed the pitch and massive arguemnts began. Then, a man with a machete came from somewhere and started threatening and hit our players. A huge brawl broke out to disarm the man. The man was soon subdued, but the arguements continued. At this point the fighting was primarily based around the other team and the ref. The ref said that the game would not continue unless they gave the ball back to our team. The other team said that our team had the ball back already, and that we were hiding it. The ref checked our bags, found no ball, and after several more shouting matches, declared that our team had won.
The players were dancing and celebrating, and going crazy themselves; you would have thought they won the championship.
We walked back our headquarters, which wasn't too far, singing and celebrating all the way there. Now, here is my favorite part of the story. It turns out that we actually had the ball, and we cheated in order to win. I thought it was screwed up that we cheated (especially how they were claiming how God had united them to win), but they did attack us with a sword, and allow the situation to get out of hand.
It was honestly the craziest, funniest event that I have experienced this year so far.
Today I woke up tp exchange money and check bus times for my trip I have been planning to Bolgatanga, a city in northern Ghana. Well, neither goals were accomplished because all the banks as well as the bus station were closed. (I then decided not to go to the north because it would be way to big of a deal). Instead I went to the field and met Emmanual, and sat and chatted with him for a while.
Afterwards. I headed to a soccer game th senior team was playing in. Unlike most of the games we play, it was an away game, so we had to go to La Bone, a different section of Accra. This match was honestly one of the craziest things I have ever seen.
For the first 70 minutes it was fairly normal, but with around 20 minutes of play left the insanity began. One of the players kicked the ball out of bounds. Instead of getting the ball back to play with it, one of the opponent's fans stole the ball and ran away with it. (For some reason our team had to supply the ball, and stealing it was an act of revenge for the other team.) Well, then players and fans from our team stared chasing that theif. Soon afterwards, everyone stormed the pitch and massive arguemnts began. Then, a man with a machete came from somewhere and started threatening and hit our players. A huge brawl broke out to disarm the man. The man was soon subdued, but the arguements continued. At this point the fighting was primarily based around the other team and the ref. The ref said that the game would not continue unless they gave the ball back to our team. The other team said that our team had the ball back already, and that we were hiding it. The ref checked our bags, found no ball, and after several more shouting matches, declared that our team had won.
The players were dancing and celebrating, and going crazy themselves; you would have thought they won the championship.
We walked back our headquarters, which wasn't too far, singing and celebrating all the way there. Now, here is my favorite part of the story. It turns out that we actually had the ball, and we cheated in order to win. I thought it was screwed up that we cheated (especially how they were claiming how God had united them to win), but they did attack us with a sword, and allow the situation to get out of hand.
It was honestly the craziest, funniest event that I have experienced this year so far.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Cape Coast
Saturday November 14th
Our first destination today was Kakum National Park. We were told that if we wanted to see monkey's and animals we would have to arrive at the park early, so we left the hotel at half past five. (As I left my room, there were literally 10,000 bugs hovering around the lights- not relavent, but extremely gross).
We got to the park and decided to do a canopy walk. The canopy walk consists of walking both through the jungle, and above the jungle, via rope bridge that are connected to trees 40+ meters high. We ended up seeing no animals, but it was really awesome to walk that high above th jungle, and have a 360 degree view of truly breathe-taking nature.
We returned the the hotel and ate breakfast. After the meal, Chris, Henriette, Flourianne and I were heading back to the room, and we saw 2 crocodiles in a pond within the hotel grounds. I had my bread from the other day, so we were throughing pieces of bread near the crocs. This caused fished to start nibbling on the bread, and then the crocs. would eat the fish. We were really amused by them!
After watching the reptiles, we decided to head into the city of Cape Coast. In the city we visted the slave castle. This was fascinating. We took a tour through the castle and visited all the slave dungeons. It was absolutely horrifing what the slaves had to go through. My words and my pictures cannot describe the horrific and cruel treatment those people had to endure. The guide was telling us how 200 men had to live in one room for 3 months, and as I was standing in the room, I looked around, and doubted how the room could hold 75 people, let alone 200.
After the tour of the castle, we walked around the fortress, near a fishing dock, which was cool. I saw really cool looking ships, and a lot of children swimming in the ocean; it had a really cool vibe to it. We also saw these kids doing flips and jumping over one another like 6 feet in the air. That was also incredible.
After a couple of hours on Cape Coast, we headed back to Accra.
On the bus ride back, I sat next to Laura, and we listened to the greatest music together. She has the best taste in music. Whatever song I chose from my Ipod she love, and all teh songs she chose were amazing. Some of the artist included Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift- music for 13 year old girls!! It was amazing!! We finally returned to Accra, and I went home and went to bed.
Our first destination today was Kakum National Park. We were told that if we wanted to see monkey's and animals we would have to arrive at the park early, so we left the hotel at half past five. (As I left my room, there were literally 10,000 bugs hovering around the lights- not relavent, but extremely gross).
We got to the park and decided to do a canopy walk. The canopy walk consists of walking both through the jungle, and above the jungle, via rope bridge that are connected to trees 40+ meters high. We ended up seeing no animals, but it was really awesome to walk that high above th jungle, and have a 360 degree view of truly breathe-taking nature.
We returned the the hotel and ate breakfast. After the meal, Chris, Henriette, Flourianne and I were heading back to the room, and we saw 2 crocodiles in a pond within the hotel grounds. I had my bread from the other day, so we were throughing pieces of bread near the crocs. This caused fished to start nibbling on the bread, and then the crocs. would eat the fish. We were really amused by them!
After watching the reptiles, we decided to head into the city of Cape Coast. In the city we visted the slave castle. This was fascinating. We took a tour through the castle and visited all the slave dungeons. It was absolutely horrifing what the slaves had to go through. My words and my pictures cannot describe the horrific and cruel treatment those people had to endure. The guide was telling us how 200 men had to live in one room for 3 months, and as I was standing in the room, I looked around, and doubted how the room could hold 75 people, let alone 200.
After the tour of the castle, we walked around the fortress, near a fishing dock, which was cool. I saw really cool looking ships, and a lot of children swimming in the ocean; it had a really cool vibe to it. We also saw these kids doing flips and jumping over one another like 6 feet in the air. That was also incredible.
After a couple of hours on Cape Coast, we headed back to Accra.
On the bus ride back, I sat next to Laura, and we listened to the greatest music together. She has the best taste in music. Whatever song I chose from my Ipod she love, and all teh songs she chose were amazing. Some of the artist included Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift- music for 13 year old girls!! It was amazing!! We finally returned to Accra, and I went home and went to bed.
Alex's Last Day and Going to Cape Coast
Friday November 13th
Today was Alex's last day in Ghana, and Henriette's last day coaching the soccer team (she is now teaching at the school I live at), so it was a sad senior training. I didn't do much; instead I just talked with Alex and Henriette. When practice finished I needed to go home to pack for Cape Coast, so I sad my good-byes, and headed off. Alex is really cool and funny, and it will be sad and strange not to see him on the soccer field everyday.
I got home, packed quickly and met the rest of the group at the tro-tro station. The group consisted of myself, Chris, Henriette, Jasmine, Laura, Lauren, Flourianne and Matt.We hopped into a tro, and 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Cape Coast. We had to wait for Lauren's friend, so we went to a local pub to sit for a while. This place only served alcohol; we had to force them to give us water, and they were no sodas, juices or snacks avaliable. I was really hungry so I walked around the city looking for food. We couldn't find any restaurants so I bought a loaf of bread, and had a lady cut up 3 pineapples for me.
We got back to the pub, and I shared my snacks with the rest of the group. Then Matt, Laura and I made up our own language, which consists of taking compound words and switching the order in which they are said. For example pineapple is appled pine and water melon is meloned water. Even though it sounds ridiculous, it was really funny and we did it with everything!
Lauren's friend finally arrived, so we headed in a taxo to the hotel aka botel.??
We got to the hotel, ate dinner, watched traditional African dances and played a card game called "Set" that Matt introduced. Then we went to sleep.
Today was Alex's last day in Ghana, and Henriette's last day coaching the soccer team (she is now teaching at the school I live at), so it was a sad senior training. I didn't do much; instead I just talked with Alex and Henriette. When practice finished I needed to go home to pack for Cape Coast, so I sad my good-byes, and headed off. Alex is really cool and funny, and it will be sad and strange not to see him on the soccer field everyday.
I got home, packed quickly and met the rest of the group at the tro-tro station. The group consisted of myself, Chris, Henriette, Jasmine, Laura, Lauren, Flourianne and Matt.We hopped into a tro, and 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Cape Coast. We had to wait for Lauren's friend, so we went to a local pub to sit for a while. This place only served alcohol; we had to force them to give us water, and they were no sodas, juices or snacks avaliable. I was really hungry so I walked around the city looking for food. We couldn't find any restaurants so I bought a loaf of bread, and had a lady cut up 3 pineapples for me.
We got back to the pub, and I shared my snacks with the rest of the group. Then Matt, Laura and I made up our own language, which consists of taking compound words and switching the order in which they are said. For example pineapple is appled pine and water melon is meloned water. Even though it sounds ridiculous, it was really funny and we did it with everything!
Lauren's friend finally arrived, so we headed in a taxo to the hotel aka botel.??
We got to the hotel, ate dinner, watched traditional African dances and played a card game called "Set" that Matt introduced. Then we went to sleep.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Thursday November 12th
Thursday November 12th
I started my day off with senior training like I do most days. However, today I arrived at the field early, so I talked to Edom, one of the kids I am friends with. I flipped through the pages of his school notebook, and stopped at a section titled "Pollution." I thouht it was extremely ironic that he had a whole page written about not litering and burning trash, when literally, 150 meters from the school there is a huge garbage dump, which is burnt daily. At senior training, I helped out with a drill or two, but didn't do more than usual. We had school training after senior practice, so we needed to go to the school to pick up the kids. As I was walking with Malik back to the pitch, he handed me a rolled up piece of paper. I opened it, and saw it said "I love you" painted in black and green. It was really so nice, and I was kind of shocked. (He didn't explain why this was for me, but instead just repeated "I love you. I think it was because I bought him medicine yesterday.) I was shocked because he didn't seem that sweet of a kid, and never looks happy. But it was a really nice note, and it made my day!
It was Alex's last day of school training, so he held a competition, and he bought the winners Fan Ice.
While we walked back to the school with the kids, Malik wanted to walk next to me. He didn't really talk, but just wanted me to stand next to him. I said that he has to smile more, because he does not smile at all. Whenever I said this, he would always start to laugh, which was good to see from him.
I had lunch at Sunrise 2 Go with Alex, Chris, Henriette, Jasmine, Laura and Matt. It was a really good meal! It was kind of a going away meal for Alex, because he was leaving Saturday, and we all wouldn't be there for his last night.
Then I went back to the field for U 12 training. I was put in charge of a shooting drill. I let Tomo, a new Japanese volunteer, who only comes to the soccer placement once or twice a week, help out, so he could feel included. It was good, because the kids were working hard today, and not fooling around.
When the practice was over I needed to have a talk with Rama, the head of the football club, Charlie and Richard about the other day. I didn't really care too much any more , but I guess it is a big deal.
Emmanual, Malik and Joseph walked us back to the taxi, which was cool of them to do. The kids here are honestly awesome, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I leave.
I started my day off with senior training like I do most days. However, today I arrived at the field early, so I talked to Edom, one of the kids I am friends with. I flipped through the pages of his school notebook, and stopped at a section titled "Pollution." I thouht it was extremely ironic that he had a whole page written about not litering and burning trash, when literally, 150 meters from the school there is a huge garbage dump, which is burnt daily. At senior training, I helped out with a drill or two, but didn't do more than usual. We had school training after senior practice, so we needed to go to the school to pick up the kids. As I was walking with Malik back to the pitch, he handed me a rolled up piece of paper. I opened it, and saw it said "I love you" painted in black and green. It was really so nice, and I was kind of shocked. (He didn't explain why this was for me, but instead just repeated "I love you. I think it was because I bought him medicine yesterday.) I was shocked because he didn't seem that sweet of a kid, and never looks happy. But it was a really nice note, and it made my day!
It was Alex's last day of school training, so he held a competition, and he bought the winners Fan Ice.
While we walked back to the school with the kids, Malik wanted to walk next to me. He didn't really talk, but just wanted me to stand next to him. I said that he has to smile more, because he does not smile at all. Whenever I said this, he would always start to laugh, which was good to see from him.
I had lunch at Sunrise 2 Go with Alex, Chris, Henriette, Jasmine, Laura and Matt. It was a really good meal! It was kind of a going away meal for Alex, because he was leaving Saturday, and we all wouldn't be there for his last night.
Then I went back to the field for U 12 training. I was put in charge of a shooting drill. I let Tomo, a new Japanese volunteer, who only comes to the soccer placement once or twice a week, help out, so he could feel included. It was good, because the kids were working hard today, and not fooling around.
When the practice was over I needed to have a talk with Rama, the head of the football club, Charlie and Richard about the other day. I didn't really care too much any more , but I guess it is a big deal.
Emmanual, Malik and Joseph walked us back to the taxi, which was cool of them to do. The kids here are honestly awesome, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I leave.
Reggae Night
Wednesday November 11th
Today I was still upset about my really crappy day yesterday and the whole incident with Richard, the U 12 coach.
Instead of the senior team practicing, they played a friendly match. This was nice because I left early to walk around with Henriette. We went to the post office because Henriette needed to pick up a package, and I needed to drop off post cards. One of the players of the senior team told us that we needed to go to Accra post office. When we arrived at the building, we were told it was the wrong office, and that we needed to head to Circle post office. Even though it was the wrong place, and was out of the way, it was cool to see a new part of the city, and to walk through a crazy market place.
Then we headed to Circle. This is a huge center in the city of Accra. It is really confusing and complex, and we were being told the wrong information by all the pedestrians we asked. Even worse, you can only cross the street in one, so every time we needed to go to the other side of the street, we had to walk through the hectic markets. We finally did everything we needed to do at the post office and Circle, so we returned back to the field.
By this time senior training was finished. I went to the soccer team's "office," and hung out with some of the players. We watched a Chinese martial arts movie, and I ate lunch with the kids. I had a local dish called Kenkey. It is corn smashed up into a ball, which people dip into a pine nut, spicey soup, usually with fish. It was actually not too bad, but I didn't finish it, so the kids were happy to eat my food. I also talked with one kid, Edom, and I found out he really likes ancient Greece. He let me see a history book he had, and was telling me all about the myths! (Even in Ghana, the Greeks are loved!!!)
I also took one of the players, Malik, to the pharmacy to buy him medicine because he was feeling ill. It was really cool, just chilling with the kids.
At U 12 training, Richard wouldn't talk to me. Finally after training, he called me over, and told me that he didn't send Emmanual over to me to get money, and he was disappointed that I would make something like this up. I just said it was a miscommunication; I didn't want to start any problems because I have to come back here every day.
Right after practice, I went to dinner at Melting Moments with Chris, Henriette, Alex, Jesse, Anna, Alexandra, Lauren, Flourianne, Jasmine, Laura and Matt. Matt is Laura's friend who works/ lives in the orphanage where Laura works. He is not with Projects Abroad, he just came by himself to work there for 2 weeks. He is from Seattle, and was really cool.
After dinner, Jasmine, Laura, Flourianna and I met Andy and went to "Reggae Night" at La Bodi beach. The beach was fool of Rastas offering everyone/ smoking a lot of weed. I was kept being offered, which I thought was funny. I told them I was a professional soccer player so I couldn't smoke; they all believed me! Laura, Jasmine and I all had fake names when the Rastas came over to harrass us and sell us weed. At first Jasmine and I were Julia and Zoookc, but then we transformed into new people. Jasmine was Ellen from Degenerous, Laura was Oprah from Winfrey and I was Montel from Williams. It was really funny because they all kept saying they new where these places were(apparently Degenerous is in Jamaica!). I also danced with a girl named Evelyn. She was honestly the funniest person I've ever met. Whenever the waves came near us she would run away and scream "it's coming." She taught me how to dance the correct way to Reggae music. It was a really fun and funny night, but we didn't stay out too late because we had work the next day.
Today I was still upset about my really crappy day yesterday and the whole incident with Richard, the U 12 coach.
Instead of the senior team practicing, they played a friendly match. This was nice because I left early to walk around with Henriette. We went to the post office because Henriette needed to pick up a package, and I needed to drop off post cards. One of the players of the senior team told us that we needed to go to Accra post office. When we arrived at the building, we were told it was the wrong office, and that we needed to head to Circle post office. Even though it was the wrong place, and was out of the way, it was cool to see a new part of the city, and to walk through a crazy market place.
Then we headed to Circle. This is a huge center in the city of Accra. It is really confusing and complex, and we were being told the wrong information by all the pedestrians we asked. Even worse, you can only cross the street in one, so every time we needed to go to the other side of the street, we had to walk through the hectic markets. We finally did everything we needed to do at the post office and Circle, so we returned back to the field.
By this time senior training was finished. I went to the soccer team's "office," and hung out with some of the players. We watched a Chinese martial arts movie, and I ate lunch with the kids. I had a local dish called Kenkey. It is corn smashed up into a ball, which people dip into a pine nut, spicey soup, usually with fish. It was actually not too bad, but I didn't finish it, so the kids were happy to eat my food. I also talked with one kid, Edom, and I found out he really likes ancient Greece. He let me see a history book he had, and was telling me all about the myths! (Even in Ghana, the Greeks are loved!!!)
I also took one of the players, Malik, to the pharmacy to buy him medicine because he was feeling ill. It was really cool, just chilling with the kids.
At U 12 training, Richard wouldn't talk to me. Finally after training, he called me over, and told me that he didn't send Emmanual over to me to get money, and he was disappointed that I would make something like this up. I just said it was a miscommunication; I didn't want to start any problems because I have to come back here every day.
Right after practice, I went to dinner at Melting Moments with Chris, Henriette, Alex, Jesse, Anna, Alexandra, Lauren, Flourianne, Jasmine, Laura and Matt. Matt is Laura's friend who works/ lives in the orphanage where Laura works. He is not with Projects Abroad, he just came by himself to work there for 2 weeks. He is from Seattle, and was really cool.
After dinner, Jasmine, Laura, Flourianna and I met Andy and went to "Reggae Night" at La Bodi beach. The beach was fool of Rastas offering everyone/ smoking a lot of weed. I was kept being offered, which I thought was funny. I told them I was a professional soccer player so I couldn't smoke; they all believed me! Laura, Jasmine and I all had fake names when the Rastas came over to harrass us and sell us weed. At first Jasmine and I were Julia and Zoookc, but then we transformed into new people. Jasmine was Ellen from Degenerous, Laura was Oprah from Winfrey and I was Montel from Williams. It was really funny because they all kept saying they new where these places were(apparently Degenerous is in Jamaica!). I also danced with a girl named Evelyn. She was honestly the funniest person I've ever met. Whenever the waves came near us she would run away and scream "it's coming." She taught me how to dance the correct way to Reggae music. It was a really fun and funny night, but we didn't stay out too late because we had work the next day.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Not My Greatest Day
Tuesday November 10th
Today was not my greatest day here in Ghana. It started off with senior training. I didn't really want to play, for a couple of reasons, but I did nonetheless. (My toe hurts a lot, and I wanted to do fittness training with the players like we usually do on Tuesdays.) Well, I played extremely poorly; it was really embarrassing for myself (I thought), and I felt like an idiot. To make matters worse, one of the players, Sappho, kept kicking at my ankles. Then he came over to me, and had to balls to tell me I was using my body. First of all, it is legal to use your body to push another player in soccer. (Ask anyone who knows how I play-- I don't pull people's shirts or hold them.) Secondly, he was literally grabbing my arms, pulling my shirt and wrapping his arms around my waist, so the fact he said I was using my body pissed me off so much.
After such a horrible morning session, I returned home for a quick shower, because I was bleeding and full of dirt. I hurried to clean myself, and went to a restuarant called Melting Moments, which was amazing! (On my way there I saw Fynn, the man in charge of the volunteers, and I said something to him about another volunteer here being nervous about her job (literally all I said)(The girl was Jasmine, who is my good friend here).Well, That was the wrong thing to say- Jasmine was upset with me and later on Fynn said I shouldn't have gotten involved- literally all I said was she was nervous. I was trying to be nice and helpful, but I get in trouble instead.) (That being said, Jasmine wasn't really that mad at me, and Fynn told me in a really nice way, so they weren't that upset, but still I thought I was being nice.)
After lunch I went with Henriette and the boys I went with on Sunday, Joseph and Emmanual to the market Cantamentu to buy them shoes. (Emmanual is my favorite kid here; he is honestly the nicest person and so cool. Like I would adopt him as my brother if I could.) Well, the market was much more crowded than it was on Sunday. It was really awesome to see a local market where the people actually go to to buy their necessaties. We got to the sneaker store, and Joseph tried on a pair of shoes, and a small piece ripped off. It wasn't his fault, the piece was already falling off, so when he went to put the shoe on it just slipped off. Well, these people were over-charging us, so we left to go to another show store. At the other store I bought a pair of cleats for a kid named Adam not here. The other shoe people had followed us, and told us that we had to buy the shoes because we broke them. Henriette was yelling at him a little bit, but I realized that there was no point in arguing with him. I payed the money and bought those shoes for Joseph. (They were a nice pair of shoes, so he was happy, but I think he felt embarrassed that these grown men were blaming him.)
We left the market, and went to U 12 training. At training the kids were really fooling around, and not taking it seriously. I actually had to kick some kids out of practice.
Also, I was looking through my pictures, and I thought they all were deleted. (They weren't but I didn't figure this out until later tonight, so I was really upset by this news.)
After practice I decided to buy myself a drink, and when I went to the store I saw 9 or 10 of the kids I trained there, so I decided to buy them all drinks. Well, I did something wrong in buying kids drinks. Apparently the coach was hungry and wanted food. We were told this buy Emmanual as we were walking away from the pitch. I was going to go back and buy him something, but we actually decided to buy him something big to eat tomorrow as my apology (I did feel really bad). (Emmanual said he wasn't that upset, so I didn't see the need to rush). We hung around the teams at the office for another 5 minutes, and then we left. Well, as we were walking back to the taxis, Emmanual ran to us and said the coach was angry and wanted money for food. A full grown man was mad that I did not buy him a juice box, so sent a kid to take money from me for food, there is something wrong with this picture. Well, I gave Emmanual 2 cedis to give to Richard, and went home. I was really, really pissed off already today just because of little things, this thing got me so much more angry.
I got home at around 6:50. Everyone was telling me I wasn't going to be ready for Quiz Night, and that I needed to hurry up. Of course I was the first one to go, and since I was already fumming, I was mad when my house-mates weren't ready to go, until 20 minutes after we were planning to leave.
At Quiz night I talked with a lot of volunteers, had pizza and did the quiz. I was having a good time. (This is when Fynn pulled me over to talk with me about Jasmine, which wasn't too bad.) Then Charlie made an off hand remark (not meant as an insult, but it came off like it), how him and I were rubbish at soccer. Like, did I need this. I try really hard whenever I play, which isn;t too often, and just because I played poorly one day and can't juggle, I apparently suck at soccer.
Today was not my greatest day here in Ghana. It started off with senior training. I didn't really want to play, for a couple of reasons, but I did nonetheless. (My toe hurts a lot, and I wanted to do fittness training with the players like we usually do on Tuesdays.) Well, I played extremely poorly; it was really embarrassing for myself (I thought), and I felt like an idiot. To make matters worse, one of the players, Sappho, kept kicking at my ankles. Then he came over to me, and had to balls to tell me I was using my body. First of all, it is legal to use your body to push another player in soccer. (Ask anyone who knows how I play-- I don't pull people's shirts or hold them.) Secondly, he was literally grabbing my arms, pulling my shirt and wrapping his arms around my waist, so the fact he said I was using my body pissed me off so much.
After such a horrible morning session, I returned home for a quick shower, because I was bleeding and full of dirt. I hurried to clean myself, and went to a restuarant called Melting Moments, which was amazing! (On my way there I saw Fynn, the man in charge of the volunteers, and I said something to him about another volunteer here being nervous about her job (literally all I said)(The girl was Jasmine, who is my good friend here).Well, That was the wrong thing to say- Jasmine was upset with me and later on Fynn said I shouldn't have gotten involved- literally all I said was she was nervous. I was trying to be nice and helpful, but I get in trouble instead.) (That being said, Jasmine wasn't really that mad at me, and Fynn told me in a really nice way, so they weren't that upset, but still I thought I was being nice.)
After lunch I went with Henriette and the boys I went with on Sunday, Joseph and Emmanual to the market Cantamentu to buy them shoes. (Emmanual is my favorite kid here; he is honestly the nicest person and so cool. Like I would adopt him as my brother if I could.) Well, the market was much more crowded than it was on Sunday. It was really awesome to see a local market where the people actually go to to buy their necessaties. We got to the sneaker store, and Joseph tried on a pair of shoes, and a small piece ripped off. It wasn't his fault, the piece was already falling off, so when he went to put the shoe on it just slipped off. Well, these people were over-charging us, so we left to go to another show store. At the other store I bought a pair of cleats for a kid named Adam not here. The other shoe people had followed us, and told us that we had to buy the shoes because we broke them. Henriette was yelling at him a little bit, but I realized that there was no point in arguing with him. I payed the money and bought those shoes for Joseph. (They were a nice pair of shoes, so he was happy, but I think he felt embarrassed that these grown men were blaming him.)
We left the market, and went to U 12 training. At training the kids were really fooling around, and not taking it seriously. I actually had to kick some kids out of practice.
Also, I was looking through my pictures, and I thought they all were deleted. (They weren't but I didn't figure this out until later tonight, so I was really upset by this news.)
After practice I decided to buy myself a drink, and when I went to the store I saw 9 or 10 of the kids I trained there, so I decided to buy them all drinks. Well, I did something wrong in buying kids drinks. Apparently the coach was hungry and wanted food. We were told this buy Emmanual as we were walking away from the pitch. I was going to go back and buy him something, but we actually decided to buy him something big to eat tomorrow as my apology (I did feel really bad). (Emmanual said he wasn't that upset, so I didn't see the need to rush). We hung around the teams at the office for another 5 minutes, and then we left. Well, as we were walking back to the taxis, Emmanual ran to us and said the coach was angry and wanted money for food. A full grown man was mad that I did not buy him a juice box, so sent a kid to take money from me for food, there is something wrong with this picture. Well, I gave Emmanual 2 cedis to give to Richard, and went home. I was really, really pissed off already today just because of little things, this thing got me so much more angry.
I got home at around 6:50. Everyone was telling me I wasn't going to be ready for Quiz Night, and that I needed to hurry up. Of course I was the first one to go, and since I was already fumming, I was mad when my house-mates weren't ready to go, until 20 minutes after we were planning to leave.
At Quiz night I talked with a lot of volunteers, had pizza and did the quiz. I was having a good time. (This is when Fynn pulled me over to talk with me about Jasmine, which wasn't too bad.) Then Charlie made an off hand remark (not meant as an insult, but it came off like it), how him and I were rubbish at soccer. Like, did I need this. I try really hard whenever I play, which isn;t too often, and just because I played poorly one day and can't juggle, I apparently suck at soccer.
Movies
Monday November 9th
We had school training at 11:00 in the morning today. As usual, the kids were nuts, but it was worse because the only two volunteers at practice were me and Chris.
We set up a few shooting drills, and let them play a match. I had to be goalie for five minutes, and one of the kids kicked my big toe, and it might be broken, so that kind of sucks.
Then I went home, played with the kids at the nursey for a while, and ate lunch. Next I came to U 10 training. We set up a few drills, and I was put in charge of a mini game. One of the teams was down 2 players, so I stepped in, and played around with the kids. Even though I wasn't really playing for real, I still had a lot of fun.
When I got home, I went to take a shower. However, since this morning our area, La Bodi claimed a water shortage, meaning we have no running water. Mama, our host mom, says it could last from a day to months. Well, I had to shower using buckets, which I didn't mind. However, once I started the "shower", the electricity turned off and I was stuck taking a deformed shower in the dark. Literally 5 minutes after I got out of the shower the electricity turned back on.
We then went to the movies at the Accra Mall. The theater was actually really nice. It had popcorn and all the American features of cinemas. We saw the Michael Jackson film, "This Is It." I really liked it. The concert looked like it was going to be amazing. We were dancing in our seats to the music; I really thought it was good, even though it was extremely sad as well.
We had school training at 11:00 in the morning today. As usual, the kids were nuts, but it was worse because the only two volunteers at practice were me and Chris.
We set up a few shooting drills, and let them play a match. I had to be goalie for five minutes, and one of the kids kicked my big toe, and it might be broken, so that kind of sucks.
Then I went home, played with the kids at the nursey for a while, and ate lunch. Next I came to U 10 training. We set up a few drills, and I was put in charge of a mini game. One of the teams was down 2 players, so I stepped in, and played around with the kids. Even though I wasn't really playing for real, I still had a lot of fun.
When I got home, I went to take a shower. However, since this morning our area, La Bodi claimed a water shortage, meaning we have no running water. Mama, our host mom, says it could last from a day to months. Well, I had to shower using buckets, which I didn't mind. However, once I started the "shower", the electricity turned off and I was stuck taking a deformed shower in the dark. Literally 5 minutes after I got out of the shower the electricity turned back on.
We then went to the movies at the Accra Mall. The theater was actually really nice. It had popcorn and all the American features of cinemas. We saw the Michael Jackson film, "This Is It." I really liked it. The concert looked like it was going to be amazing. We were dancing in our seats to the music; I really thought it was good, even though it was extremely sad as well.
Leaving Wli Falls, and Accra Markets
Sunday November 8th
I woke up at around 6 because I needed to pick up the black stars. I thought they would look like the stars on the Ghanaian flag. Instead, they turned out terrible. One was alright, but the other two were horrible. One was giant, and mis-shapen, and the other one looked like a deformed star-fish.
At around 7, we hopped on to a tro-tro heading back to Accra. About an hour and a half into the trip the tro broke down. We had to get out a push it down the road for maintence; it was really African to me, pushing a broken down car through a small village and market place.
On the tro I sat next to Alexandra. We played some game about random knowledge and facts. We are both really competative, but I won in the end. She was kind of upset, but she was funny about it. Then we listened to Disney songs.
I got home, said goodbye to Tim, my roommate because he was leaving today, and went to the soccer game the senior team was playing. I didn't really stay long. Instead I went to buy some kids soccer jerseys. We went to Circle, a crazy area, with so many people busling around, and then we headed to Cantamentu. This was a new area of Accra for me. It seemed more developed than the other areas of Accra I have seen. This market was much less crowded, but I think this is the case because it was Sunday evening. It was cool because we saw a skating rink, where people were putting on a show, and hundreds of chickens, guinea fowl and pigeons being sold in cages.
Afterwards, I went back to their nieghborhood for a while. I met the kids's parents, and hung out with a lot of Ghanaian people. We are told that it is not safe to be out alone after dark, but it was really cool to see how busy the barracks were at night, and to see all the people mingling.
Then I went home, and fell asleep.
I bought what we needed, and I headed back t
I woke up at around 6 because I needed to pick up the black stars. I thought they would look like the stars on the Ghanaian flag. Instead, they turned out terrible. One was alright, but the other two were horrible. One was giant, and mis-shapen, and the other one looked like a deformed star-fish.
At around 7, we hopped on to a tro-tro heading back to Accra. About an hour and a half into the trip the tro broke down. We had to get out a push it down the road for maintence; it was really African to me, pushing a broken down car through a small village and market place.
On the tro I sat next to Alexandra. We played some game about random knowledge and facts. We are both really competative, but I won in the end. She was kind of upset, but she was funny about it. Then we listened to Disney songs.
I got home, said goodbye to Tim, my roommate because he was leaving today, and went to the soccer game the senior team was playing. I didn't really stay long. Instead I went to buy some kids soccer jerseys. We went to Circle, a crazy area, with so many people busling around, and then we headed to Cantamentu. This was a new area of Accra for me. It seemed more developed than the other areas of Accra I have seen. This market was much less crowded, but I think this is the case because it was Sunday evening. It was cool because we saw a skating rink, where people were putting on a show, and hundreds of chickens, guinea fowl and pigeons being sold in cages.
Afterwards, I went back to their nieghborhood for a while. I met the kids's parents, and hung out with a lot of Ghanaian people. We are told that it is not safe to be out alone after dark, but it was really cool to see how busy the barracks were at night, and to see all the people mingling.
Then I went home, and fell asleep.
I bought what we needed, and I headed back t
Monday, November 9, 2009
Wli Falls
We woke up at around 8 to eat breakfast and begin our journey through the jungle to see Vli Falls. In order to get to the water falls, we had to hike though forested areas, climb up mountains and trek for hours. The first part of the hike was on flat lands(this lasted for a mile or two). This part was cool because we saw hundreds of butterflies flying and dancing around, many with extravagent, vivid colors. We saw saw two of them mating, which was really strange and violent.
Then the much harder part began. At times it felt as if we were walking directly verticle. At some places, the foot pathes were barely 2 feet wide, so it was as if we were walking through bushes and around trees. The bracnhes would smack us if the faces, the vines would tangle our arms and legs; we also walked through mosquito nests, which was absolutely gross.
Despite the fact that the walk waas ardious, it was well worth it. The variety of trees, leaves and plants we saw were incredible, and the views were unbelievable. I actually felt like I was in a movie; it was so surreal to be in such a beautiful, exotic jungle.
For the majority of the climb, I walked along side Alexandra and Lauren. I talked to Alexandra about her year she studied in UVA, her current studies, and her trips to various countries as weel as other topics. She is very smart, and nice, but is also histerical, and crazy (in a good way). Lauren told me about a charity event she did called the Mongal Rally. She said she drove from London to Mongolia, through Europe and Central Asia. It is honestly one of the coolest things ever!
We finally got to the upper falls, and it was amazing. The water was so powerful and clear. It was cool because we were the only people there, so we had the water to ourselves. We went swimming under the falls, but the water was so strong that it stung our backs and pushed us away. I stayed in the water for a while, just letting it fall on my body. It was so relaxing and awesome, at the same time.
On our way back we learned that the mountain we were climbing was part of Togo, which is cool to know.
The hike back was extremely hard because we were all tired, but we walked quickly. At the local village I asked a man to carve me 3 black stars for me. He said I should come back and pick them up tomorrow. (I chose a black star because that is on the center of the Ghanaian flag.)
When we got back, I played a game called Mao with Georgina, Alexandra, Laura and Dan. It was really fun to play, but very hard to explain. (When I get back I really want to play it- it's a lot of fun!!)
It was also cool to hang out with these people. They are really nice. Georgina crushed us all at the game, but since I was new, I wasn't too upset.
Later we played spoons, cheats, and some Danish game, which was like spoons with teams. I one all the games of spoons and the Danish game (my partner was Alexandra).
It is also important to mention, that Alexandra said that if I was an animal, I would be a black lab. Other people back at home had said I am a pony, so this disproves that statement.
I stayed up for a long time in the room talking with Andy for a while, but mainly Dan. Andy is nice, but I think he is actually crazy. Dan is really cool. He is from England and on a gap year as well. We talked about school, history and science for a while (he asked about the Civil War, and we were trying to name the Periodic table), and then he told me his histerical stories about him and his twin brother back at home. They reminded me kind of "The Hangover".
Then the much harder part began. At times it felt as if we were walking directly verticle. At some places, the foot pathes were barely 2 feet wide, so it was as if we were walking through bushes and around trees. The bracnhes would smack us if the faces, the vines would tangle our arms and legs; we also walked through mosquito nests, which was absolutely gross.
Despite the fact that the walk waas ardious, it was well worth it. The variety of trees, leaves and plants we saw were incredible, and the views were unbelievable. I actually felt like I was in a movie; it was so surreal to be in such a beautiful, exotic jungle.
For the majority of the climb, I walked along side Alexandra and Lauren. I talked to Alexandra about her year she studied in UVA, her current studies, and her trips to various countries as weel as other topics. She is very smart, and nice, but is also histerical, and crazy (in a good way). Lauren told me about a charity event she did called the Mongal Rally. She said she drove from London to Mongolia, through Europe and Central Asia. It is honestly one of the coolest things ever!
We finally got to the upper falls, and it was amazing. The water was so powerful and clear. It was cool because we were the only people there, so we had the water to ourselves. We went swimming under the falls, but the water was so strong that it stung our backs and pushed us away. I stayed in the water for a while, just letting it fall on my body. It was so relaxing and awesome, at the same time.
On our way back we learned that the mountain we were climbing was part of Togo, which is cool to know.
The hike back was extremely hard because we were all tired, but we walked quickly. At the local village I asked a man to carve me 3 black stars for me. He said I should come back and pick them up tomorrow. (I chose a black star because that is on the center of the Ghanaian flag.)
When we got back, I played a game called Mao with Georgina, Alexandra, Laura and Dan. It was really fun to play, but very hard to explain. (When I get back I really want to play it- it's a lot of fun!!)
It was also cool to hang out with these people. They are really nice. Georgina crushed us all at the game, but since I was new, I wasn't too upset.
Later we played spoons, cheats, and some Danish game, which was like spoons with teams. I one all the games of spoons and the Danish game (my partner was Alexandra).
It is also important to mention, that Alexandra said that if I was an animal, I would be a black lab. Other people back at home had said I am a pony, so this disproves that statement.
I stayed up for a long time in the room talking with Andy for a while, but mainly Dan. Andy is nice, but I think he is actually crazy. Dan is really cool. He is from England and on a gap year as well. We talked about school, history and science for a while (he asked about the Civil War, and we were trying to name the Periodic table), and then he told me his histerical stories about him and his twin brother back at home. They reminded me kind of "The Hangover".
Going to Vli Falls
Friday November 6th
As usual, Fridays are the day I go away. However, before I left for Vli Falls, a region in the Eastern Volta region of Ghana, I went for a run and helped out with senior training. Today at senior training, I played in a mini- match. I actually played pretty well, so I was happy about that!
Like a I said before, the place where I decided to go this weekend was to a water falls in the east of Ghana. The people who were coming this weekend were all people I did not know really well, with the exception of Jasmine and Henriette. The people included Lauren, my old house mate, Alexandra, Georgina, Andy, Dan, Flourianne, a new French girl, and Laura, Jasmine's friend who came yesterday.
They were all really cool, and it was nice getting to know new people!
To get to the falls, we went to the tro-tro station in downtown Accra. We walked around for a good hour looking for the tros which were heading to our destination. They told us that all the tros to Hohoe, were full. We continued walking around this hude, confusing station until tro that would privately take us directly to our lodge.
We got in the tro to start our 5 hour journey.
Driving through the country side was pretty amazing. I saw small villages, consisting of mud and straw huts. It also rained for a while, so we saw how the small, dirt side roads were all floaded. The scenary was also incredible. The ominous, grey clouds, combined with the green grass and bushes, with mountains in the background was picturesque. Every once in a while we would drive by a massive tree, standing more than 30 feet high, with huge, twisted branches; these were honestly so cool!
We got to out destination at around 9:00, and then we went to sleep.
As usual, Fridays are the day I go away. However, before I left for Vli Falls, a region in the Eastern Volta region of Ghana, I went for a run and helped out with senior training. Today at senior training, I played in a mini- match. I actually played pretty well, so I was happy about that!
Like a I said before, the place where I decided to go this weekend was to a water falls in the east of Ghana. The people who were coming this weekend were all people I did not know really well, with the exception of Jasmine and Henriette. The people included Lauren, my old house mate, Alexandra, Georgina, Andy, Dan, Flourianne, a new French girl, and Laura, Jasmine's friend who came yesterday.
They were all really cool, and it was nice getting to know new people!
To get to the falls, we went to the tro-tro station in downtown Accra. We walked around for a good hour looking for the tros which were heading to our destination. They told us that all the tros to Hohoe, were full. We continued walking around this hude, confusing station until tro that would privately take us directly to our lodge.
We got in the tro to start our 5 hour journey.
Driving through the country side was pretty amazing. I saw small villages, consisting of mud and straw huts. It also rained for a while, so we saw how the small, dirt side roads were all floaded. The scenary was also incredible. The ominous, grey clouds, combined with the green grass and bushes, with mountains in the background was picturesque. Every once in a while we would drive by a massive tree, standing more than 30 feet high, with huge, twisted branches; these were honestly so cool!
We got to out destination at around 9:00, and then we went to sleep.
Thursday November 5th
I've been wanting to go running and get into shape while I am here, and today I began that endeavor. I went to the field stretched, and ran around the pitch about 10 times, which is a distance between 1.5- 2 miles. It is not very long distance, but I ran it in a decent time, and I am just begining my training.
A short while after my run, I helped out with senior training. Straight after senior training, we had school training. The kids were really wild, so we let them play a game and do penalty shots to keep them under control. After all practices we hand out water to the kids thinking they are thirsty. Well, today one of the kids decided he wanted to take a shower with the water. He got naked, and started spraying himself with the water. I didn't realize what was happening until all the other kids were pointing and laughing. I was about to get made at the kids for not getting dressed, but when I saw the naked kid, Samual, I started laughing; it was pretty histerical. Henriette and Chris also found this funny, but Alex was extremely upset.
Then I returned back to the house to rest, but when I walked into the school yard, a lot of kids ran up to me, and started pulling on my shirt. Instead of resting I played with them for an hour or two.
At around 4:00 o'clock I headed back to the pitch for U 12 training. Chris and I talked about how the kids mainly do possesion games, so I asked Richard if they could do a shooting drill. He said yes, and put me in charge. It was a very simple drill, but the kids were happy to do it because it was something new.
I've been wanting to go running and get into shape while I am here, and today I began that endeavor. I went to the field stretched, and ran around the pitch about 10 times, which is a distance between 1.5- 2 miles. It is not very long distance, but I ran it in a decent time, and I am just begining my training.
A short while after my run, I helped out with senior training. Straight after senior training, we had school training. The kids were really wild, so we let them play a game and do penalty shots to keep them under control. After all practices we hand out water to the kids thinking they are thirsty. Well, today one of the kids decided he wanted to take a shower with the water. He got naked, and started spraying himself with the water. I didn't realize what was happening until all the other kids were pointing and laughing. I was about to get made at the kids for not getting dressed, but when I saw the naked kid, Samual, I started laughing; it was pretty histerical. Henriette and Chris also found this funny, but Alex was extremely upset.
Then I returned back to the house to rest, but when I walked into the school yard, a lot of kids ran up to me, and started pulling on my shirt. Instead of resting I played with them for an hour or two.
At around 4:00 o'clock I headed back to the pitch for U 12 training. Chris and I talked about how the kids mainly do possesion games, so I asked Richard if they could do a shooting drill. He said yes, and put me in charge. It was a very simple drill, but the kids were happy to do it because it was something new.
La Palm and Racing the Kids
Senior training was my first activity today. I helped out with a few drills, and I also mastered the Ghanian hand-shake/ hi-5 they use here in Ghana! When I get back I'm going to do it with everyone, and everyone is just going to look at me strangely.
Once practice finished, Alex took me and Chris to La Palm, a 5 Star hotel where Project Abroad Volunteers go every Wednesday to swim at the pool. Jesse and Anna were already at the pool, as well as two people I had not met before: Taylor and Kelly. Both these girls were from the US, Oklahoma and New Jersey, respectively. I talked to the about TV and stuff which was happening back at home. It was nice talking to people from home, but it made me a little bit home sick.
After several hours at the pool, the soccer volunteers headed back to the field for U 12 training. At practice I took half the team and set up a crossing drill, which I always did while playing on the Regis soccer team.
When practice was finished, a few of the kids challeneged me to a race from one goal post to the other. They all thought they would crush me because I am white, so when I beat them, they were honestly astonished; they didn't believe how a white guy could beat them. It was actually really funny.
Once practice finished, Alex took me and Chris to La Palm, a 5 Star hotel where Project Abroad Volunteers go every Wednesday to swim at the pool. Jesse and Anna were already at the pool, as well as two people I had not met before: Taylor and Kelly. Both these girls were from the US, Oklahoma and New Jersey, respectively. I talked to the about TV and stuff which was happening back at home. It was nice talking to people from home, but it made me a little bit home sick.
After several hours at the pool, the soccer volunteers headed back to the field for U 12 training. At practice I took half the team and set up a crossing drill, which I always did while playing on the Regis soccer team.
When practice was finished, a few of the kids challeneged me to a race from one goal post to the other. They all thought they would crush me because I am white, so when I beat them, they were honestly astonished; they didn't believe how a white guy could beat them. It was actually really funny.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Art Center
Tuesday November 3rd
As usual, I started my day off with senior training. As the players were warming uo, Chris played Alex and myself in a competition on who could score from fatherest away. Alex and I won, so Chris had to buy us "FanIce," this incredible vanilla flavored ice cream that comes in a plastic bag. To eat it, you must bite off a corner and drink it; it's absolutely amazing!! After this, Henriette, Alex, Chris and I set up the physical fitness training for the seniors. We used a few things which I used to do at track. It was really hard, and you could see the seniors were getting really exhausted. We made them do push-ups, sit-ups, plank positions, jump while holding 15 pound rocks, and instead of a break, they ran 200m. After the practice was completed, Kofi, the coach, bought them all Tampico, the best juice ever! The men were so happy they were getting juice; they were screaming and yelling with excitement like kids would do. It was pretty funny actually. Then they prayed as they always do after practice. (All the teams pary both before and after practice) It is a really nice tradition. Today was a longer prayer because they recited many prayers aloud, as well as sang songs. That was pretty cool.
When senior training ended, I went with Alex, Jasmine and Chris to the Art Center. On the way we passed Independent Square, and the national soccer stadium.
The Art Center was a crazy market place, where people sold all sorts of trinkets: Masks, carvings, Animal skins, drums, leather goods, bags, jewelery, clothes and a lot more. So many people came up to me and hassled with me. They would force you to "look in my shop, don't buy." My favorite line was "window shopping is free... come look." One man said, "come for only 30 seconds," and since I was coming from practice, I had my stop-watch around my neck, so I was fooling around with him that I was in his store for too long!
It was really chaotic, but at the same time exciting and a great experience.
When we finished with the market, I returned home to drop off my bags. When I got back I talked with Tim and Mike for a while. Then I went to U 12 training.
Today the U 12s weren't as good as usual. They all kept fighting and complaining about one another, so I told them I would make them run if they kept acting like this. After training I came home, and went to sleep.
As usual, I started my day off with senior training. As the players were warming uo, Chris played Alex and myself in a competition on who could score from fatherest away. Alex and I won, so Chris had to buy us "FanIce," this incredible vanilla flavored ice cream that comes in a plastic bag. To eat it, you must bite off a corner and drink it; it's absolutely amazing!! After this, Henriette, Alex, Chris and I set up the physical fitness training for the seniors. We used a few things which I used to do at track. It was really hard, and you could see the seniors were getting really exhausted. We made them do push-ups, sit-ups, plank positions, jump while holding 15 pound rocks, and instead of a break, they ran 200m. After the practice was completed, Kofi, the coach, bought them all Tampico, the best juice ever! The men were so happy they were getting juice; they were screaming and yelling with excitement like kids would do. It was pretty funny actually. Then they prayed as they always do after practice. (All the teams pary both before and after practice) It is a really nice tradition. Today was a longer prayer because they recited many prayers aloud, as well as sang songs. That was pretty cool.
When senior training ended, I went with Alex, Jasmine and Chris to the Art Center. On the way we passed Independent Square, and the national soccer stadium.
The Art Center was a crazy market place, where people sold all sorts of trinkets: Masks, carvings, Animal skins, drums, leather goods, bags, jewelery, clothes and a lot more. So many people came up to me and hassled with me. They would force you to "look in my shop, don't buy." My favorite line was "window shopping is free... come look." One man said, "come for only 30 seconds," and since I was coming from practice, I had my stop-watch around my neck, so I was fooling around with him that I was in his store for too long!
It was really chaotic, but at the same time exciting and a great experience.
When we finished with the market, I returned home to drop off my bags. When I got back I talked with Tim and Mike for a while. Then I went to U 12 training.
Today the U 12s weren't as good as usual. They all kept fighting and complaining about one another, so I told them I would make them run if they kept acting like this. After training I came home, and went to sleep.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Ordinary Monday
Monday November 2nd
Today was a typical monday. We had no senior training because they had a game yesterday, school training at noon and U 10 training in the evening.
Even though I say nothing really exciting happened, living in Ghana, and just walking around is pretty extraordinary. My blog cannot even begin to describe half of the unique and amazing things that happen here. Just walking through the prison barracks, or driving in the tro- tros are interesting, one of a kind experiences. You see the open sewyers filled with garbage and chickens, or 20 people cramped into a 10 person tro. I just want people to know that even though I sometimes will not write a lot for a peticular day, hundreds of tiny, little things happen to me that are truly incredible.
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For lunch I went to a local chicken and rice place, which was really great. Afterwards, we headed to U 10 training. Richard, the head coach for U 10s and U 12s, put me in charge for a while, so I ran a few technique drills, and then refereed a match. These kids are honestly crazy, but they are so funny. I love playing around with them. We pretend fight with each other, and I tickle and chase a lot of them. Our favorite form of play is squirting water on to another. (Water here doesn't come in bottles, it comes in plastic bags, and to drink it you must bite of the end of one of the corners. It is also very easy to spray other kids with!) Then I took my camera out, and as usual the kids went nuts! They are really funny, happy kids, and I really have a lot of fun hanging out and being with them.
Then we went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep.
Today was a typical monday. We had no senior training because they had a game yesterday, school training at noon and U 10 training in the evening.
Even though I say nothing really exciting happened, living in Ghana, and just walking around is pretty extraordinary. My blog cannot even begin to describe half of the unique and amazing things that happen here. Just walking through the prison barracks, or driving in the tro- tros are interesting, one of a kind experiences. You see the open sewyers filled with garbage and chickens, or 20 people cramped into a 10 person tro. I just want people to know that even though I sometimes will not write a lot for a peticular day, hundreds of tiny, little things happen to me that are truly incredible.
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For lunch I went to a local chicken and rice place, which was really great. Afterwards, we headed to U 10 training. Richard, the head coach for U 10s and U 12s, put me in charge for a while, so I ran a few technique drills, and then refereed a match. These kids are honestly crazy, but they are so funny. I love playing around with them. We pretend fight with each other, and I tickle and chase a lot of them. Our favorite form of play is squirting water on to another. (Water here doesn't come in bottles, it comes in plastic bags, and to drink it you must bite of the end of one of the corners. It is also very easy to spray other kids with!) Then I took my camera out, and as usual the kids went nuts! They are really funny, happy kids, and I really have a lot of fun hanging out and being with them.
Then we went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep.
Last Day in Ada Foah
Today I woke up at around 10 and went to the beach. I was already realy tan, and I didn't want to get burnt so I stayed in the shade reading. I also talked with the other volunteers quite a bit. Justine is 18 years old on a gap year, fromColorado, who seems pretty chill. I was talking to him about movies and tv shows we both watch. He also said he might want to come up to the north of the country with me nest weekend. I also chatted with Katherine, who wants to work in the fashion industry. I told her about what my parents do.
They all seem really nice.
At about 3 we left the island and headed back to Accra. We got home ate around 7ish.
They all seem really nice.
At about 3 we left the island and headed back to Accra. We got home ate around 7ish.
Halloween in Ada Foah
Saturday October 31st
Today I woke up at around 10 and went straight to the beach. I brought and frisbee and a football so I tossed those around with some of the other kids. We went swimming in the river, which had an extremely strong current and could carry me away if I went to far into the river. We also walked to ther other side of the island, to see were the river meets the sea. (The island was very small so the walk to the other end was about 5 minutes.) it was a really beautiful island, apart for some trash on the sea-side beach. It was covered with palm trees, and the near white sand was spotted with dazzling shells and hundreds of crabs shuffeling around. The views out to the sea, and around the river were also spectacular.
In the early afternoon 5 more people came. 4 of them were Project Abroad volunteers. A guy named Justin, and 3 girls, Julia, Sophie and Kristen. They also brought they Ghanian friend Edwin.
Later in the day we went to a sugar cane rum distillery. We took a tour of how they distill the alcohol. It was extremely funny because it is all done outdoors, meaning leaves and bugs would fly into the alcohol as it was being made.
All the other volunteers tried it, and were forcing me to do the same. Good things I did not because some people, who get drunk on a regular basis were drunk after 1 or 2 shots.
After the tour we came back to the "hotel" and ate dinner. The "hotel we stayed atw was really nice. We lived in small huts with no electricity, had a tiny restuarant and the rooms were only a minute or so to the beach.
After dinner we went to the beach for a bonfire. This is where our Halloween "celebrations" began. One of the volunteers played and drum, and sing as we sat around the fire. He was extremely histerical because he was singing about getting high, and he was definately stoned himself.
I also had the greatest costume ever. I was reptile man because my shirt had a small dragon on it, the cover of my book was a dragon, I found a piece of wood early today that looked like a crocodile, and I had 2 necklaces with reptiles: one was a turtle, the other was a crocodile. I was also an Egyptian for a while. I also brought candy to share with people, as well as balloons. I only wanted to blow up the orane and black balloons for Halloween, but we started using them all. We filled the balloons with sand and water, named them, and also made structures and shapes oyt of them. We decided to play catch with the sand balloons, which was not good because they kept breaking. We also played frisbee in the dark for a while, but that also was not the best idea because we could not see it.
Then Jesse, Anna and I went swimming in the river. That was a lot of fun, and the water was so nice. By the time we got out, most people had went to sleep, so Jesse, Anna, Chris and myself stayed up till 3:30 talking, listening to music and playing "truth or dare!".
Chris and Anna said it was their best Halloween ever, so I was happy about that. (It was there only one ever, but I actually had a lot of fun!!)
Today I woke up at around 10 and went straight to the beach. I brought and frisbee and a football so I tossed those around with some of the other kids. We went swimming in the river, which had an extremely strong current and could carry me away if I went to far into the river. We also walked to ther other side of the island, to see were the river meets the sea. (The island was very small so the walk to the other end was about 5 minutes.) it was a really beautiful island, apart for some trash on the sea-side beach. It was covered with palm trees, and the near white sand was spotted with dazzling shells and hundreds of crabs shuffeling around. The views out to the sea, and around the river were also spectacular.
In the early afternoon 5 more people came. 4 of them were Project Abroad volunteers. A guy named Justin, and 3 girls, Julia, Sophie and Kristen. They also brought they Ghanian friend Edwin.
Later in the day we went to a sugar cane rum distillery. We took a tour of how they distill the alcohol. It was extremely funny because it is all done outdoors, meaning leaves and bugs would fly into the alcohol as it was being made.
All the other volunteers tried it, and were forcing me to do the same. Good things I did not because some people, who get drunk on a regular basis were drunk after 1 or 2 shots.
After the tour we came back to the "hotel" and ate dinner. The "hotel we stayed atw was really nice. We lived in small huts with no electricity, had a tiny restuarant and the rooms were only a minute or so to the beach.
After dinner we went to the beach for a bonfire. This is where our Halloween "celebrations" began. One of the volunteers played and drum, and sing as we sat around the fire. He was extremely histerical because he was singing about getting high, and he was definately stoned himself.
I also had the greatest costume ever. I was reptile man because my shirt had a small dragon on it, the cover of my book was a dragon, I found a piece of wood early today that looked like a crocodile, and I had 2 necklaces with reptiles: one was a turtle, the other was a crocodile. I was also an Egyptian for a while. I also brought candy to share with people, as well as balloons. I only wanted to blow up the orane and black balloons for Halloween, but we started using them all. We filled the balloons with sand and water, named them, and also made structures and shapes oyt of them. We decided to play catch with the sand balloons, which was not good because they kept breaking. We also played frisbee in the dark for a while, but that also was not the best idea because we could not see it.
Then Jesse, Anna and I went swimming in the river. That was a lot of fun, and the water was so nice. By the time we got out, most people had went to sleep, so Jesse, Anna, Chris and myself stayed up till 3:30 talking, listening to music and playing "truth or dare!".
Chris and Anna said it was their best Halloween ever, so I was happy about that. (It was there only one ever, but I actually had a lot of fun!!)
Going to Ada Foah
Friday October 30th
On most weekends the volunteers decide to travel, so I decided to go with a group of them to an island on the eastern coast of Ghana called Ada Foah. However, before we left I went to senior training in the morning, where I did nothing.
We went home and packed, and ate lunch right before we decided to leave. We were eating lunch at about 1:40, and of course Jasmine hadn't packed. We needed to leave out house by 2:00 to get to the tro on time, but Jasmine, being Jasmine, was in her own little world.
We finally left the house, and met up with the other people we were traveling with. The group consisted of 6 people: myself, Jasmine, Alex, Chris, Jesse and Anna. The tro-tro station we needed to get to was in central Ghana, called Tudu. There were hundreds of people in this market- like station, busling around chaotically, and dozens of people with baskets on the heads selling all types of snacks and refreshments.
The tro was pretty crowded, and that fact that I am very fidgety did not help. After about a 2 and a half hour ride we got off at the last stop, which happened to be the wrong stop, so we were lost in the middle of Africa at night. Luckily a man helped us out and directed us to the port. We arrived at the port and took a 20 minutes boat ride to the island.
Even though it was pretty dark when we arrived, I could see it was a really beautiful and peaceful island. We ate dinner and I went to bed early.
On most weekends the volunteers decide to travel, so I decided to go with a group of them to an island on the eastern coast of Ghana called Ada Foah. However, before we left I went to senior training in the morning, where I did nothing.
We went home and packed, and ate lunch right before we decided to leave. We were eating lunch at about 1:40, and of course Jasmine hadn't packed. We needed to leave out house by 2:00 to get to the tro on time, but Jasmine, being Jasmine, was in her own little world.
We finally left the house, and met up with the other people we were traveling with. The group consisted of 6 people: myself, Jasmine, Alex, Chris, Jesse and Anna. The tro-tro station we needed to get to was in central Ghana, called Tudu. There were hundreds of people in this market- like station, busling around chaotically, and dozens of people with baskets on the heads selling all types of snacks and refreshments.
The tro was pretty crowded, and that fact that I am very fidgety did not help. After about a 2 and a half hour ride we got off at the last stop, which happened to be the wrong stop, so we were lost in the middle of Africa at night. Luckily a man helped us out and directed us to the port. We arrived at the port and took a 20 minutes boat ride to the island.
Even though it was pretty dark when we arrived, I could see it was a really beautiful and peaceful island. We ate dinner and I went to bed early.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Professional Day and Ryan's
Thursday October 29th
Today I had to wake up at 6:15 because we are now forced to start senior training 2 hours earlier. Morning training with the seniors was boring. I did not do much at all.
After training, I went back home. The school where I live had professional day, where the kids dress up as things they want to be when they are older. Some kids had normal dreams like to become nurses, policemen, lawyers, soccer players and doctors, but others had the wierdest aspirations. My favorite one were bus driver, butler and "pregnant." Some kids also dressed up in traditional African robes which was cool.
They were no classes today, so the kids were just playing and fooling around all day. When I enetered the school yard, I saw people playing African Drums and kids dancing around them. Some girls pulled me over to the circle and made me dance with them. They wanted me to do all these African moves, and I tried, but they all kept laughing at me. Then a group of 3rd graders pulled me to their class room, and wanted me to teach them American dance moves; I taught them all the corny ones! They also all started singing random songs for me, like "London Bridge is Falling Down", "Humpdy- Dumpdy", "Mary had a Little Lamb", and the Scooby Doo theme song( they didn't know that song very well- it consisted of them shooting "Scooby Dooby Doo where are you!! It was so funny!) Then I took out my camera to take pictures, which was a huge mistake because they all swarmed me. They all wanted to take all the pictures as well as been in every picture, so they were pushing and yelling so much. Even though they were literally crawling on me and suffacating me, it was really fun. I also went to visit the nursery where I visit every day, and took some pictures with them.
Then a really nice teacher named Mike started talking with me.He asked me about American and told me about Ghanaian Culture; he even invited me to his village one weekend. He took me upstairs to his 5th grade class where I took more pictures. The kids were drumming and banging on the desks, so I danced with them and taught them to Stomp the Quad in Africa.
After a few hours I went back to the fielf for U 12 training. I ran a few drills, like normal. I talked with the kids, but besides that nothing exciting happened.
Thursdays are the day all the volunteers go to Ryan's Irish pub with mostly Westerners. This was a lot of fun. I met a few more volunteers and got a chance to talked to a lot of people. I played fooseball with Kelly- we were team Asia!!! I also met a girl who lived next to Northwestern, who was in love with the school, which made me happy!!
Jasmine also was crazy as usually!! She kept wanting to go clubbing, and then she lost the key!! This was a lot of fun!!
Today I had to wake up at 6:15 because we are now forced to start senior training 2 hours earlier. Morning training with the seniors was boring. I did not do much at all.
After training, I went back home. The school where I live had professional day, where the kids dress up as things they want to be when they are older. Some kids had normal dreams like to become nurses, policemen, lawyers, soccer players and doctors, but others had the wierdest aspirations. My favorite one were bus driver, butler and "pregnant." Some kids also dressed up in traditional African robes which was cool.
They were no classes today, so the kids were just playing and fooling around all day. When I enetered the school yard, I saw people playing African Drums and kids dancing around them. Some girls pulled me over to the circle and made me dance with them. They wanted me to do all these African moves, and I tried, but they all kept laughing at me. Then a group of 3rd graders pulled me to their class room, and wanted me to teach them American dance moves; I taught them all the corny ones! They also all started singing random songs for me, like "London Bridge is Falling Down", "Humpdy- Dumpdy", "Mary had a Little Lamb", and the Scooby Doo theme song( they didn't know that song very well- it consisted of them shooting "Scooby Dooby Doo where are you!! It was so funny!) Then I took out my camera to take pictures, which was a huge mistake because they all swarmed me. They all wanted to take all the pictures as well as been in every picture, so they were pushing and yelling so much. Even though they were literally crawling on me and suffacating me, it was really fun. I also went to visit the nursery where I visit every day, and took some pictures with them.
Then a really nice teacher named Mike started talking with me.He asked me about American and told me about Ghanaian Culture; he even invited me to his village one weekend. He took me upstairs to his 5th grade class where I took more pictures. The kids were drumming and banging on the desks, so I danced with them and taught them to Stomp the Quad in Africa.
After a few hours I went back to the fielf for U 12 training. I ran a few drills, like normal. I talked with the kids, but besides that nothing exciting happened.
Thursdays are the day all the volunteers go to Ryan's Irish pub with mostly Westerners. This was a lot of fun. I met a few more volunteers and got a chance to talked to a lot of people. I played fooseball with Kelly- we were team Asia!!! I also met a girl who lived next to Northwestern, who was in love with the school, which made me happy!!
Jasmine also was crazy as usually!! She kept wanting to go clubbing, and then she lost the key!! This was a lot of fun!!
3rd day of Work and Accra Mall and Mamma Mia's
Wednesday October 28th
Today we had senior training in the morning at 9 a.m.. For the first half of the practice I played in a possesion game and scrimmage with them. I felt like I was playing much better, so I was happy. For the second half of practice, I played with Izekial and Rapheal. They were clmbing on top of me; they also had a fascination with my stop watch, so I made them race each other in order to show them how fast they were.
After training Chris and I went to Accra Mall. We went because I needed to buy post cards, and Chris wanted to eat a Hamburger. It was nice, but very small. Also, my post cards were extremely expensive.
Driving to and from the mall we saw dozens of people walking in the road at stop lights selling all types of things, including toys, flags, sponges, brooms, drinks, fruits, candies, towels, literally everything imaginable. I even bought a hat from one of these men.
After the mall we went back home for lunch. Most of the Ghanian food I have eaten is really good ( I like coco yam leaves, red-red, yams and the chicken), but today we had banku and soup. The banku is a maize/ corn sticky ball which I do not mind, but the soup was full of fish and was really gross.
In the afternoon we went back to the pitch for U 12 training. After practice I came back to the house, got ready and went to Mamma Mia's a pizza place for dinner. There I met a lot of volunteers. Alexandra from England who studied at UVA for a year and Emma who lived in New York, also from England. I sat next to 2 Singaporean girls, who were really nice, Perry and Kelly. I talked with them a lot, and told them my love of Asians and taking an excessive amount of pictures.
It was nice to get to know the other volunteers.
Today we had senior training in the morning at 9 a.m.. For the first half of the practice I played in a possesion game and scrimmage with them. I felt like I was playing much better, so I was happy. For the second half of practice, I played with Izekial and Rapheal. They were clmbing on top of me; they also had a fascination with my stop watch, so I made them race each other in order to show them how fast they were.
After training Chris and I went to Accra Mall. We went because I needed to buy post cards, and Chris wanted to eat a Hamburger. It was nice, but very small. Also, my post cards were extremely expensive.
Driving to and from the mall we saw dozens of people walking in the road at stop lights selling all types of things, including toys, flags, sponges, brooms, drinks, fruits, candies, towels, literally everything imaginable. I even bought a hat from one of these men.
After the mall we went back home for lunch. Most of the Ghanian food I have eaten is really good ( I like coco yam leaves, red-red, yams and the chicken), but today we had banku and soup. The banku is a maize/ corn sticky ball which I do not mind, but the soup was full of fish and was really gross.
In the afternoon we went back to the pitch for U 12 training. After practice I came back to the house, got ready and went to Mamma Mia's a pizza place for dinner. There I met a lot of volunteers. Alexandra from England who studied at UVA for a year and Emma who lived in New York, also from England. I sat next to 2 Singaporean girls, who were really nice, Perry and Kelly. I talked with them a lot, and told them my love of Asians and taking an excessive amount of pictures.
It was nice to get to know the other volunteers.
2nd dayof Work and Quiz Night
Tuesday October 27th
I started my day by working with the senior team. These players are between 20 and 30years old, and arereally great players. They have great technique and are vey quick with the ball. Tuesday is the fitness day, so they did a lot of running and excercise. I even made them do some of the plyo- metric moves we did for track; thanks Ms. Chua!! AFter fitnnes they played a possession/ keep away game. Since today was the fitness day, many players did not show up, so they needed an extra player. I was the only volunteer with sneakers so I played.
I played well, but I am not in good shape, so the combanation of that and their great technique made me feel out played. But even though they did out play me, I still had fun kicking the ball around!
After training I returned home, and went to the nursery. I sat and played with theyoungest kids there, who were about 1 and a half years old. They are so cute, and all of the came and hugged me. They tried to talk to me, even though they couldn't really speak, which was funny. Also, they were fascinated by my beardI made funny faces for them. Some of them would luagh and imitate me, while others ran away.
I took a quick nap, and went back to training where I helped out the U 12 training.
After work, we went to the Projects Abroad headquarters for Quiz Night. It is just a get together with al the volunteers every Tuesday, where we mingle, do a quiz and eat pizza. Fynn sets it up. Fynn is in charge of the volunteers in Accra. He is really nice, hard working guy. I get to see him quite often because he comes to my house to check on Tim, who had malaria, and on Jasmine who is scared of every little thing. (Jasmine is honestly one of the funniest people I have ever met. All we do is annoy each other and called one another names, but we are always joking)
When Quiz Night finished we went to a bar called Celsbridge, and I met a few mor volunteers.
I started my day by working with the senior team. These players are between 20 and 30years old, and arereally great players. They have great technique and are vey quick with the ball. Tuesday is the fitness day, so they did a lot of running and excercise. I even made them do some of the plyo- metric moves we did for track; thanks Ms. Chua!! AFter fitnnes they played a possession/ keep away game. Since today was the fitness day, many players did not show up, so they needed an extra player. I was the only volunteer with sneakers so I played.
I played well, but I am not in good shape, so the combanation of that and their great technique made me feel out played. But even though they did out play me, I still had fun kicking the ball around!
After training I returned home, and went to the nursery. I sat and played with theyoungest kids there, who were about 1 and a half years old. They are so cute, and all of the came and hugged me. They tried to talk to me, even though they couldn't really speak, which was funny. Also, they were fascinated by my beardI made funny faces for them. Some of them would luagh and imitate me, while others ran away.
I took a quick nap, and went back to training where I helped out the U 12 training.
After work, we went to the Projects Abroad headquarters for Quiz Night. It is just a get together with al the volunteers every Tuesday, where we mingle, do a quiz and eat pizza. Fynn sets it up. Fynn is in charge of the volunteers in Accra. He is really nice, hard working guy. I get to see him quite often because he comes to my house to check on Tim, who had malaria, and on Jasmine who is scared of every little thing. (Jasmine is honestly one of the funniest people I have ever met. All we do is annoy each other and called one another names, but we are always joking)
When Quiz Night finished we went to a bar called Celsbridge, and I met a few mor volunteers.
1st Day of Work
Monday October 26th
Today was my 1st day of work. First I helped train a schoool team with 9-11 year old kids. Alex, another volunteer, who has been here for a whil was in charge, and since there were not many kids, I did not do much. Instead, I saw another kid, alone, off to the side of the group, so I went over to talk to him. I asked why he wasn't playing with the team. He didn't answer me, but he began kicking me the ball, so I played with him for a while. Henriette, another soccer volunteer for Denmark, told me this kid was mute and partly deaf. The kids from the school didn't want to play with Raphael, the kid's name, and wouldn't let him even kick the ball around with me. He was really sad, but whenever he kicked the ball he always laughed and smiled. After the practice was finished, the kids were all spraying water on one another, and they included Raphael; he was so happy!
After practice, which eneded at noon, I went back to my home. I got back and the 5 year olds all had recess. They all came over to me and started hugging me. I sat down with them and played with them for a hwile. They started singing Christmas songs for me. Even better, they asked if I was coming back tomorrow, and Wednesday, and Thursday, etc. and kept saying the days of the week in an endless circle, which inspired them to sing a song about the days of the week. I decided to show the kids my turtle pictures, which wasn't the greatest idea. They all jumped and fell on top of each other as the pushed near me to see the camera. They would sream "stop covering me" when 6 kids were on top of them; even though 2 or 3 cried at this, most of the kids thought it was histerical that there were being crushed and luaghed. (The kids here are honestly the funniest/ craziest people I have ever met).
After playing with the kids I took a nap. Then I went back to the field for a 2nd session at 4. It was the U 10 team. There were really good for their ages compared to the u 10 back at home. (They probably played like 13 year olds, when most were 8 or 9) I meet a lot of kids, and refed a mini game.
After practice they stretched and played a game called Banana/ Plantane, where the kids jump left or right depending on what the coach says. It was just a really simple game, but of course since they are crazy children, it was histerical. Most of the kids are really open and cool, and all ask if they "can be my friend". There is a really cute little kid named Izekial (4 or 5)who climbs on top of all the volunteers. He is probably the volunteers favorite kid, but he realizes this, so whenever he does something bad, he doesn't get in trouble.
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The soccer program I work with is called Cantoments, and is located in the prison barracks in Osu, a suburb of Accra. I work with my roommate Chris, Alex, a 18 year olf form England on a gap year, Henriette, a 20 year old girl also on a gap year (the schooling system in Denmark is different than in the US, so that is why she is older than the other "gap yearers"), and Charlie. Charlie is in charge of the entire soccer Academy; he is from England as well, and is staying here for 9 months.
To get to work we take a tro- tro, which is a minibus, from my home in La Bodi, to Dankwe circle. The tros are really crazy, and hectic. At night dozens of people push and shove to get on this tros which can only fit 13 people. Sometimes the fighting gets intense. In my opinion the tros aren't actually even buses. I think they are all small delivery trucks where people just add seats.
Today was my 1st day of work. First I helped train a schoool team with 9-11 year old kids. Alex, another volunteer, who has been here for a whil was in charge, and since there were not many kids, I did not do much. Instead, I saw another kid, alone, off to the side of the group, so I went over to talk to him. I asked why he wasn't playing with the team. He didn't answer me, but he began kicking me the ball, so I played with him for a while. Henriette, another soccer volunteer for Denmark, told me this kid was mute and partly deaf. The kids from the school didn't want to play with Raphael, the kid's name, and wouldn't let him even kick the ball around with me. He was really sad, but whenever he kicked the ball he always laughed and smiled. After the practice was finished, the kids were all spraying water on one another, and they included Raphael; he was so happy!
After practice, which eneded at noon, I went back to my home. I got back and the 5 year olds all had recess. They all came over to me and started hugging me. I sat down with them and played with them for a hwile. They started singing Christmas songs for me. Even better, they asked if I was coming back tomorrow, and Wednesday, and Thursday, etc. and kept saying the days of the week in an endless circle, which inspired them to sing a song about the days of the week. I decided to show the kids my turtle pictures, which wasn't the greatest idea. They all jumped and fell on top of each other as the pushed near me to see the camera. They would sream "stop covering me" when 6 kids were on top of them; even though 2 or 3 cried at this, most of the kids thought it was histerical that there were being crushed and luaghed. (The kids here are honestly the funniest/ craziest people I have ever met).
After playing with the kids I took a nap. Then I went back to the field for a 2nd session at 4. It was the U 10 team. There were really good for their ages compared to the u 10 back at home. (They probably played like 13 year olds, when most were 8 or 9) I meet a lot of kids, and refed a mini game.
After practice they stretched and played a game called Banana/ Plantane, where the kids jump left or right depending on what the coach says. It was just a really simple game, but of course since they are crazy children, it was histerical. Most of the kids are really open and cool, and all ask if they "can be my friend". There is a really cute little kid named Izekial (4 or 5)who climbs on top of all the volunteers. He is probably the volunteers favorite kid, but he realizes this, so whenever he does something bad, he doesn't get in trouble.
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The soccer program I work with is called Cantoments, and is located in the prison barracks in Osu, a suburb of Accra. I work with my roommate Chris, Alex, a 18 year olf form England on a gap year, Henriette, a 20 year old girl also on a gap year (the schooling system in Denmark is different than in the US, so that is why she is older than the other "gap yearers"), and Charlie. Charlie is in charge of the entire soccer Academy; he is from England as well, and is staying here for 9 months.
To get to work we take a tro- tro, which is a minibus, from my home in La Bodi, to Dankwe circle. The tros are really crazy, and hectic. At night dozens of people push and shove to get on this tros which can only fit 13 people. Sometimes the fighting gets intense. In my opinion the tros aren't actually even buses. I think they are all small delivery trucks where people just add seats.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday 24th- Sunday 25th of October
Volunteers do not usually work on weekends. Most travel around the country, but since I just arrived, I didn't have time to plan a trip.
Instead I stayed in Accra. I didn't do a lot this weekend. Besides watching a couple of soccer games of the kids I am going to coach, I stayed in and around my house. Both my roomates stayed as well, so it was a nice time to get to know them.
One of the hi-lights of the weekends was watching "The Little Mermaid" and a Nigerian movie with Jasmine and Mary. The African film was awful, but at the same time so funny. I was about a princess who falls in love with a commoner and her crazy mother's reactions.
(Mary is a 13 year old girl, who lives at the house I am living at. She is nice, but really shy, and I feel bad that she is alone for a lot of the day. Mary cleans and cooks on the weekends. Mable is a lady who comes to clean and cook on weekdays.
On Sunday night 3 other girls who live in the same house returned from their weekend trips. Elsa was a girl from France, but I did not speak to her much. Lauren is from Scotland, and seemed really nice. Finally, Jesse is an American from the Boston area, who is taking a gap semester. She had been in Accra for 3 months, knows all the locals and is really friendly. I talked to her the most. She seems really chill.
Instead I stayed in Accra. I didn't do a lot this weekend. Besides watching a couple of soccer games of the kids I am going to coach, I stayed in and around my house. Both my roomates stayed as well, so it was a nice time to get to know them.
One of the hi-lights of the weekends was watching "The Little Mermaid" and a Nigerian movie with Jasmine and Mary. The African film was awful, but at the same time so funny. I was about a princess who falls in love with a commoner and her crazy mother's reactions.
(Mary is a 13 year old girl, who lives at the house I am living at. She is nice, but really shy, and I feel bad that she is alone for a lot of the day. Mary cleans and cooks on the weekends. Mable is a lady who comes to clean and cook on weekdays.
On Sunday night 3 other girls who live in the same house returned from their weekend trips. Elsa was a girl from France, but I did not speak to her much. Lauren is from Scotland, and seemed really nice. Finally, Jesse is an American from the Boston area, who is taking a gap semester. She had been in Accra for 3 months, knows all the locals and is really friendly. I talked to her the most. She seems really chill.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
First day in Accra
Last night I aarived in Ghana's capitol city Accra. I'm here coaching soccer to kids, and hopefully I'll get to play on a team as well. Today was my induction for Projects Abroad. Fynn took me and a new girl, Jasmine on a tour of Accra. he told us everything we needed to know about Projects Abroad and how to get around in Accra. (he explained about the crazy Tro-tros or mini buses and the line taxis- they are insane ways of getting around a city)
We walked around the city for a while and ate a Ghanian meal for lunch. Afterwards, I went to my work place to watch a match. I had not met any of the players yest, so I played with some of the little kids instead of watching the game.
Afterwards, I went back to my house. The place I am living is part of a school, and houses many volunteers. (Today I woke up to dozens of little kids singing "Oh Come Ole Faithful: they sounded so happy!!!) My 2 roomates are Chris, from Sweden and Tim from England. Jasmine and Chris are both on gap years as well. (Jasmine lives in the same place as well).
After dinner, we went to the Pharmacy to buy Tim medicine since he has Malaria. Afterwards, we sat around and talked, before we went to sleep.
We walked around the city for a while and ate a Ghanian meal for lunch. Afterwards, I went to my work place to watch a match. I had not met any of the players yest, so I played with some of the little kids instead of watching the game.
Afterwards, I went back to my house. The place I am living is part of a school, and houses many volunteers. (Today I woke up to dozens of little kids singing "Oh Come Ole Faithful: they sounded so happy!!!) My 2 roomates are Chris, from Sweden and Tim from England. Jasmine and Chris are both on gap years as well. (Jasmine lives in the same place as well).
After dinner, we went to the Pharmacy to buy Tim medicine since he has Malaria. Afterwards, we sat around and talked, before we went to sleep.
London
Before going to Ghana, I visted London. I did this for a few reasons. The first was because I was supposed to visit 2 univeristies, which I never did. I was also meeting my sister who was in India for 6 weeks. Finally, my flight to Accra was from London.
I really loved London. It was such a beautiful, cool city, with a lot of things to do. While we were there, we did a lot of touristy things, but it seems like a cool place to live.
Some of the things we did were as follows:
Big Ben, Petti Coat Lane Market, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Regent Street, Soho, Oxford Street, Central 3 department store, Wax Museum, Archeology Museum, Hyde Park, saw the Lion King, Picadily Circus, Leister Circle, Covent Garden, saw a Chelsea soccer game, went to a Jack the Ripper haunted house (since I'm missing Halloween), and did a bunch of other cool, interesting British thing, like I ate fish and chips.
I really loved London. It was such a beautiful, cool city, with a lot of things to do. While we were there, we did a lot of touristy things, but it seems like a cool place to live.
Some of the things we did were as follows:
Big Ben, Petti Coat Lane Market, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Regent Street, Soho, Oxford Street, Central 3 department store, Wax Museum, Archeology Museum, Hyde Park, saw the Lion King, Picadily Circus, Leister Circle, Covent Garden, saw a Chelsea soccer game, went to a Jack the Ripper haunted house (since I'm missing Halloween), and did a bunch of other cool, interesting British thing, like I ate fish and chips.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
More Greece
I also did a few other interesting while I was in Greece.
One day, I went to the new Acropolis museum. It was a really beautiful, modern building that exhibited the ancient artwork in a really nice way. The really cool thing was that the museum was built over an old Byzantine city. The floors were all glass, so as I walked through the museum, I could look down and see this ancient city. Another extraordinary feature about the museum was that it had a beautiful view of the Acropolis and Parthenon. I was extremely proud of the way the Greeks built this museum. Later that week we went to a Greek national team soccer game—Greece vs. Luxembourg. The game was exciting and was really important for the Greeks to win. In the end, the Greeks won 2-1. There was a really exciting and chaotic atmosphere at the game and I was happy I had that opportunity.
My time in my house in Greece was really relaxing and nice. I watched many movies, wrote post cards, saw my family and had a really relaxing time before I went to London and Ghana.
One day, I went to the new Acropolis museum. It was a really beautiful, modern building that exhibited the ancient artwork in a really nice way. The really cool thing was that the museum was built over an old Byzantine city. The floors were all glass, so as I walked through the museum, I could look down and see this ancient city. Another extraordinary feature about the museum was that it had a beautiful view of the Acropolis and Parthenon. I was extremely proud of the way the Greeks built this museum. Later that week we went to a Greek national team soccer game—Greece vs. Luxembourg. The game was exciting and was really important for the Greeks to win. In the end, the Greeks won 2-1. There was a really exciting and chaotic atmosphere at the game and I was happy I had that opportunity.
My time in my house in Greece was really relaxing and nice. I watched many movies, wrote post cards, saw my family and had a really relaxing time before I went to London and Ghana.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Videos
I posted about 50 videos from my trip so far. They are from my work with turtles in Crete and the Middle East.
Turtle 1
Here is one of a few videos of a baby turtle walking towards the sea after hatchling from its egg.
Turtle 2
Here is one of a few videos of a baby turtle walking towards the sea after hatchling from its egg.
Turtle 3
Here is one of a few videos of a baby turtle walking towards the sea after hatchling from its egg.
Turtle 5
Here is one of a few videos of a baby turtle walking towards the sea after hatchling from its egg.
Coolest Dog
I had morning survey one morning and a dog started to follow us. I was kind of bored so I took a video of him.
Me Swimming
This is a video of me swimming in really rough waves... it's kind of sad I took this video but whatever.
(Before) Hitch Hiking
Me and Mckenna had to hitch hike to get back to Chania. It was both our first times hitch hiking so I took a video.
Samaria Gorge 1
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 2
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 3
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 4
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 5
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 6
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
Samaria Gorge 7
Today Christina, Katarina and I went to the Samaria Gorge. I decided to take videos throughout the gorge.
"Bungy" Jumping- Total Fail
I traveled hours to go "bungy" jumping and they guy told me to it was closed and to come back next year.
Everyone in my tent
My tent was huge, so we decided to see if we could fit everyone in it; we did that easily.
Another Turtle
Here is the last turtle I saw. He almost died, but Tanja found him and he made it to the sea!!!
Movie Night 1
Here is the Archelon tent beginning the Movie Night. M.N. was amazing not only because "Knights of Bloodsteel" was such an FLOTR but also because Christopher Lloyd is in it.
Lebanese Restaurant
This is me in a Lebanese restaurant. It was really busy and loud but really good.
Saudi Arabian Market Place
This is a video of a Saudi market place. Islamic prayers are heard in the background.
Demetrios Store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 1
Here is the first floor of the Demetrios Store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Demetrios Store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2
Here is the second floor of the Demetrios Store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah Airport
This was the Jeddah Airport at like 5:00 in the morning; it was the most hectic and one of the most funny things I've ever seen.
Greek Church near Jordan River
Here is a Greek Church near the Jordan River. There is a box of bones, and it says it is of the bones of John the Baptist
Dancing in the Store in Jordan
This is us dancing in the store in Jordan. We are listening to our favorite song-- we listened to that song actually 20 times in 2 days.
Back to Greece
For the next 10 days I'll be in Greece.
For the most part I just stay in my house, updating my blog, and adding pictures and videos. I am also watching a lot of movies and reading, playing soccer and running. I'm trying to relax before I have to go back to work. A few days a go I went to the beach, last night we went to Athens and ate in the shadows of the Acropolis.
For the most part I just stay in my house, updating my blog, and adding pictures and videos. I am also watching a lot of movies and reading, playing soccer and running. I'm trying to relax before I have to go back to work. A few days a go I went to the beach, last night we went to Athens and ate in the shadows of the Acropolis.
Jordan
Jordan- Day 1
Today we arrived in Jordan, our last stop in the Middle East. The head of the a Demetrios store here, Ramez, picked us up and took us to see the sites. The first was Petra.As seen in such films like Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade and Transformers 2, the Al Khzneh temple in Petra is an incredible structure. It is so old, yet at the same time so well preserved, huge and magnificent. However, there were hundreds of other thinsg to see in the ancient city of Petra besides this temple. There were other temples, tombs carved into the walls, a Roman amphi-theater and much more. (We took a horse and carriage to traverse through the passages through the mountains to arrive at the picturesque ruins. Turning the corner and seeing for the first time this temple was truly mesmorizing. Afterwards, we rode camels to see the remaining ruins and structures deeper into the city.
After seeing the dead city, we headed back to our hotel. We drove through deserts and mountain ranges, both beautiful in their own right. While drving through the country I saw many children playing soccer in the streets and many people working the farms and fields. It was a drastice change from my previous destination, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was an immensly rich nation, with beautiful manshion and many developed areas. Jordan on the other hand was much poorer, had less developed and seemed as if it relied on agriculture much more than its neighbor to the south.
Before we got to the hotel, we stopped to take pictures in front of the Black Sea with the sun setting behind it. We then went to the hotel where Ramez's family was waiting for us to give my dad and uncle flowers. (They were extremely happy that they had finally visited Jordan.) We then went to our room or an hour and watched the IOC choose the next host city for the 2016 Olympics; I was happy with the decision. ( I mention this because I always follow this kind of stuff). We then went to dinner where we were introduced to a man who works at the Greek Embassy. He also brought his son and his son's two friends so I could eat with them.
I went to eat with them in an American sport themed restaurant. Ironic how I'm half way around the world, and I am forced to eat in an American bar with pictures of football and baseball surrounding me. The kids, Joseph, Steven and Omar were good kids, but a but eccentric aka they were kind of strange.
After dinner we walked around the hotel grounds, going down to the Dead Sea and then I went to sleep.
Jordan- Day 2
I woke up at around 10:00 and decided to go swimming in the Dead Sea with my uncle. Before entering the water, we covered ourselves in mud, which is supposedly good for the skin.
The water was so amazing. It is so salty, 8.6 times saltier than most other seas, that people float immediately. In the deeper parts of the water, I tried to touch my feet to the ground and walk, but it was impossible because of the salt. After swimming in the Deas Sea for 2o minutes, we ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel and went to swimming somewhere else. This time we (actually it was just me who swam) in the Jordan River. Before swimming in the river, we took a tour of the area. We saw the place where Jesus was baptized, a Greek church where John the Baptist's bones are at rest and many other ancient structures and holy sites. There were Churches from all types of Christian sects (Catholic, Russian, Greek, Armenian), some dating back 1500 years. An important thing to mention is that the place where Jesus was baptized is now dried up because of dams and controling of the river.
After the tour we walked to the river, where I was able to go swim. The river seperates Jordan from the West Bank and Israel, and while in the river, if I took 3 more steps to the west I would have been in Israel, that is how close it is.
After our excursion to the Jordan River, we went to Mnt Nebo, the place where Moses showed the Israelites to the promised land and where he supposedly died. This was cool as well. There were ancient church and religious monuments, and we could also see Israel in the distance at the peak of the mountain.
The next stop was a Greek church, (St. George's Church). I do not know why we went there, but it had really beautiful art inside. On the floor of the church there was ancient mosaic map of the region. It was pretty big in its current form, but a man told us that in its original state it was 24 by 8 meters in size, spanning from Syria to Egypt and beyond.
This was the last sight- seeing destination, so we drove back to Amman and went to our hotel. From the hotel we went to the Demetrios store. Ramez went so far to make a grand entrance for my father that he made a huge poster of my fathers face, a sign that said "Welcome Boss" and fireworks all outside the store. Inside the store there were flowers, decorations, cake, pastries and many people, including members of the press, photographer and many of Ramez's friends; he was acting like my father was a celebrity, it ws pretty funny. We took a lot of pictures and danced and sang to Arabic and Greek music.
After the mini-party, we went to dinner with members of the Greek Embassy. We were several minutes late, and the consulate left because he did not want to wait for us. (It was kind of obnoxious) Since he left, we went to visit him at the embassy the next morning, which was cool.
Jordan was an amazing country, where I was able to experience incredible history and see extraordinary sites.
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