TravelBlog » WhereIsErika

WhereIsErika - Erika Seidenbusch

Hi! My name is Erika, I'm 18 years old, and this is my travel blog (woo!). I will be using it to keep you informed on the happenings of my travels, beginning with Guatemala in February, Germany in March, and Ghana from April-June. Apparently I have a thing with countries that start with a G.. but I swear that's a coincidence. I'm a recent high school graduate, putting university on hold for a year to work, and of course, travel.

It will be my second time going to Guatemala, as a volunteer with the Guatemala Stove Project (www.guatemalastoveproject.org). I have been a part of this organization (and it has been a part of me) for over a year, and through it I have had the opportunity to organize fundraising events, raise awareness, and see the impact made first-hand, in the rural Mayan highlands of Guatemala. This year, with a different group of volunteers and new sights to see, I can barely contain my excitement!

On March 26th, I will be flying solo to Germany for a week en route to West Africa, and staying with relatives in Berlin. Ever since I was little I've wanted to go to Germany and discover my roots. It's why I spell my name with a k and not a c. It's why we have little wooden men burning incense at Christmas. It's where my mom grew up, and so much more. If only my german wasn't so dreadful...

On April 3rd, I will leave from Frankfurt straight onto Accra, Ghana, for 10 weeks. I will be learning Twi (one of the local indigenous languages) and conducting research for an internship with Global Crossroad. I also hope to meet up with my awesome penpal and go sightseeing.

Stay tuned for more!

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing" - Helen Keller

Guatemala
February 7th 2009 -» February 21st 2009 Germany
March 26th 2009 -» April 2nd 2009 Ghana
April 3rd 2009 -» June 15th 2009

Private Message Subscribe 1 Forum Posts Blog Map

Trips Guestbook Search Blogs First Entry Latest Entry

Joined on: January 16th 2009
Last Login: December 25th 2009

Blog Entries: 23
Photos: 127
Recommended by 1

TB Code: [blogger=107010]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by WhereIsErika, order by Date newest first.

By WhereIsErika
July 1st 2009

Some day I'll return to Mama Africa Africa » Ghana

Grace and Yaw

Happy Canada Day! My "I'm home safe and sound" entry is long overdue, as I've been home since the 16th of June, heh. My first thoughts after stepping off the plane were I can't believe this is my home, just knowing that so many people spend their whole lives trying to get out of Ghana for the kind of opportunity we take for granted. After an emotional reunion with my parents (I have parents), I marvelled at the orderliness of the traffic but missed the vendors selling chips, chocolate, apples, water, and anything and everything else as they dart between the [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
June 2nd 2009

Soo, I almost got detained, almost went to Togo and.. Africa » Ghana

Long road to Aboaba

finally got around to do doing the agriculture research portion of my internship! I've been busy, and I'll begin with what I did the day after my "day in the life," saturday before last. (by the way, I'm in a really hi-tech internet café in Accra and I'm going to take my time and enjoy this air conditioning) I met Richard around 6:30 am in Kasoa, and it's really because of his sweet connections that I got to do my research at all. His cousin had a cash crop farm a few hours away in a village called Aboaba, so he [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
May 22nd 2009

A day in the life Africa » Ghana

Good Morning

Hey, so I've decided to do a typical-day type entry because I've realized that whenever I blog I go on about whatever happened on the weekend and don't say a whole lot about what I do during the week. The vague (and perhaps cliché) concept of "volunteering in an orphanage" has become my life, so here's a look at what happened on Friday. (before I get to that, I should mention that on thursday I DID buy a new camera, from a guy on a sidewalk in Accra.. kind of depressing to see all the used cameras (some still with pictures [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
May 20th 2009

Notes from beyond the half-way point Africa » Ghana

It's been 1290379357098374 years since I've written an entry, and I'm sorry this one won't have visuals despite the 200+ pictures I took since you last heard from me because the other night in Accra my wallet and camera were stolen. I don't even care about the wallet, but the fact that I've lost 7 weeks of travel photos (and videos!) from 2 continents just really breaks my heart. I've been in Ghana for 6 weeks and have 4 weeks left... but I'm not ready to leave any time soon. Flipping through my written journal, I've got 31 pages of unblogged [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
April 29th 2009

Sickness and Poverty... but that's just us Africa » Ghana

Gizelle

This entry will be the condensed version of my 11-page written journal entry, ok? haha Echo, the boy with cerebral palsy that I'm working with has shown some real improvements already... he never used to be able to lie on his stomach and push himself up but now he can, and he's a lot more lively than he was before. It's really cool, and I'm not the only one to notice. Yaw on the other hand, took a bit of a turn recently but is doing ok now. The other day there was a teacher from Canada visiting, who had matched [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
April 21st 2009

Living it up with the Locals and some Refugees too Africa » Ghana

Me, a Ghanaian Queen?

Hello again, This past weekend I had a ton of fun. Friday night we invited the volunteers who don't live at the hostel (some have host families) over for a movie night, but because the outlets in our rooms haven't been working for a few days (that means no fans- gah) we turned out kitchen into a cozy theatre. We made tea and attempted popcorn on our little gas stove but that was a bit of a disaster, haha. On saturday I ventured out on my own to Tema, to meet the penpal I have been in contact with since the [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
April 17th 2009

He will buy a BMW so she "will Be My Wife" Africa » Ghana

Maadwo! (good evening in Twi) just a note - I wrote this entry on friday but am publishing it on Sunday and will make another entry from what I did this weekend/week soon enough. The other day I was at the market getting some food because even though we get fed through the program, dinner is often our only real meal. I got stuff to make sandwiches and other snacks and also bought some plantains.. but it turns out that when eaten raw, they are definitely not bananas... learned that the hard way (eugh), haha. It's been a while since I [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
April 8th 2009

I live in Africa now! Africa » Ghana

Hello everyone! Getting to do this entry was quite a feat! I have to take a tro-tro (passenger van) from Odipong Ofakour where I now live to the nearby city of Kasoa to an internet cafe that has been down for the past couple of days, and with a break in the electricity being out me and a few other girls made our way out here. After waiting about an hour for a spot, I got on but with a snail's pace connection. But all is well! Ghana is hot and humid but I'm getting used to it, and the other [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
April 2nd 2009

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my! Europe » Germany » District of Berlin » Berlin

Elephant Gate at the Zoo

Hiiiiii. This entry is going to cover today and yesterday.. then I have to go pack because in about 5 hours I'm heading back to the airport, making my way to Frankfurt and then getting to Accra, Ghana around 5:30 pm tomorrow! I am really excited, but mostly just relieved that I will be able to speak English again, haha. Yesterday was the first day of the trip that I got to sleep in! I had my breakfast at lunch time and then my Onkel Reini and Tante Christa and I made our way to the Berlin Zoo! It was really [View Full Entry]

By WhereIsErika
March 31st 2009

And the German adventures continue... Europe » Germany » District of Berlin » Berlin

Perks of the German National Bank

Hallo! I've been very busy over the past couple of days and almost too tired to stay up and write an entry... but here goes! Yesterday my Onkel Reini, Tante Christa and great-cousin Stephan wanted to give me a tour of the greener parts of Berlin. We took a short drive to a park that had a big hill and a great view of the city. There was a guy paragliding off the hill and some other people with a remote-control airplane. It was nice but we didn't stay long. After that, we went to a ritzy neighborhood with multi-millionaire homes. [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » WhereIsErika

WhereIsErika | Erika Seidenbusch | Travel Blog

WhereIsErika - Erika Seidenbusch

Blogs & Travel Journals