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Marisa Fowler Joined: May 6th 2008
Logged in: January 25th 2011
Logged in: January 25th 2011
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Travel Blog Posts
Hans Botel Cottage
Since I last wrote in my blog, there has been a lot that’s been happening here in Ghana. I think I last left on our trip to Wli waterfalls. Wehheelll, since then we had more of the school work, more Sunday church trips and an amazing trip to Cape Coast with the girls. The girls consist of Sister Lucy, Sister Susanne, Sister Lindsey and Sister Emily. Yes, we are referred to as Sister so now I always call them that! So I managed to successfully ask for permission from Madame (mine and Lucy’s host mother/head mistress) for all of us to go away to Accra and Cape Coast on the weekend from Thursday afternoon to Monday afternoon. I think I managed to soften the blow by saying we would meet up with two of her sons, ... read more
Bloody yanks
So, it's been a little bit of a busy week... well, I think so because I am extremely exhausted. We have 3 new people in Aflao now. So after Lucy, Anna and I, there is now Lyndsey and Emily from America and Susanne from Switzerland. Unfortunately, Emily has been in hospital for the past few days. She got sick less than a week after arriving here and her sister, Lyndsey is also sick but not to the extent that Emily is. At first, the doctors thought that it was malaria and we were shown this via test results. But we were all sceptical and luckily the girls traveled to Accra where they were told it was actually a stomach infection. Sooo, we are hoping they will be back soon because we bought the soccer team a ... read more
MSA Donation Sorting
So... it's been a tough weekend in my world. Not a whole lot to tell you about since my last entry, but gee whiz. This weekend SUCKED HUGE BALLS. Apologies to my family, I don't mean that sentence in too rude a way. You know when things just keep getting worse and worse. Well, that was me this weekend. For this weekend, Lucy and I decided to go travel to Ho again, the capital of the Volta Region so that we could venture to Kalpaka Resource Reserve where you can see water buffalo, monkeys, many a bird a some other creatures. We also thought we would give Chances Hotel a crack too because the ‘Bradt’ guide to Ghana gave it huge props about the atmosphere and the good western food and it was also place under ... read more
Dancing in the sand...
So it’s been a pretty exciting week. I am doing more teaching in the Grade 4 and 5 English classes and the kids are starting to ace the tests which makes me pretty proud. I sat in on the sex education class and was a bit disappointed in many ways. I gave them a test, 13 questions and most averaged at 4 1/2. So I was bummed. I gave them same test to do over the weekend so they could do their own research and only 6 of them handed it in out of about 20. Hopefully, when Lucy takes over the class, she can give them the same test and see if they improve. Soooo, what else? Weehheelll, Lucy and I got up at 5:30am on Friday to do our washing. And what do I ... read more
The right wing...
So, we all know that I have my own problems even speaking English but now I have been lumped into some of the older classes (between 10-14 years old) to teach correct pronunciation and reading. I'm Australian. We speak Australian slang! So I find myself accentuating the BE in because instead of 'coz'! But the kids are at least listening to me, the white lady (yo-vu). Today I gave them a test on the passage that we read yesterday and about half the class got between 0-4 out of 10 and the rest were about 5-8 out of 10. It wasn't a hard test but a lot of the kids don't actually have the text book. In the class of 24, 4 of them have the text book so they have to memorise it in the ... read more
What 36 hours of travel does to you...
So, its 13 days since I arrived. And of course, I was bound to get ill at some stage! But let me just tell you, this was the a case of Bali Belly times 10 or so in one night. I'm sure you don't want to know details, but I will tell you anyway, because it was kind of funny! So, Jordan calls me at about 7pm and I wasn't really in the mood to talk because my stomach was just feeling horrible. So i quickly get off the phone and try to sleep by my guts were just calling out to the world of it's pain. I tried to ignore it a bit more and drifted in and out of sleep when at about 11:30pm, I encountered the most intense pain in my chest. The ... read more
So, it's day number 5 here in Aflao. It's been very very interesting so far. I guess it started on the plane, when I sat next to a Ghanaian. He asked me where I was going in Ghana and I told him to Denu in the Volta Region. He laughed... a lot. This was a sign of things to come for me! He said that I was going very far out and that it is not a very good place for a young girl. I thought, well, fan-bloody-tastic. But this is one of the reasons why I wanted to go in the first place. He also said that it was very cold in the area. He was very wrong on that one, he gave me a whooolle lotta hope. But more to come on the weather ... read more
So, I am in Dubai right now on a four hour stopover. I just endured an 8 hour flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, a 3 1/2 hour stopover and then a 7 hour flight from KL to Dubai then this stop over. My ankles have swollen to the size of a large elm tree trunk.... and to make matters worse, my throat is swollen and my medication is in my checked luggage! I'm surviving on the tastes of Lemon/mint Riccolla lollies because I couldn't find strepsils anywhere! So theres my first whinge for the trip. But I am super excited to get to Ghana, it's just a matter of getting through this next 8 hour flight. And I am worried about how hot it is going to be! I mean stinking hot, 38 degrees Celsius ... read more
It's a regular Tuesday night, I've just had a nice warm shower and I'm watching Foxtel (Pay TV) and got my bitchy fill, in watching 'Australia's Next Top Model'... and inside, I am freaking out! I'm 24 and I'm going to Ghana for 3 months. Yeah, I am used to leaving my family... But only for 1 month stints and even then, I manage to see my sister in New York so it ends up only being 2 weeks away from family. I can't help but think, here I am, relishing in all my luxuries and being able to chill out with my family and then here are these kids that I'm about to meet that have never known a family other than the fellow children that were left behind or abandoned. Sounds a little dramatic ... read more
