lprice4
Loren Price Joined: December 27th 2008
Logged in: December 25th 2009
Logged in: December 25th 2009
Travel Blog Posts
All of our crap
So this morning we took a train into London from Selby. Hannah unfortunately couldn't come with us because she has a final to study for, but she hooked us up with everything we needed and gave us great directions. On the train we sat by this older man who was going to London for a meeting and was really friendly. He talked with us about Ghana and what all we had done and we just chatted it up with him. We got to London and he helped us with our bags which was a huge help. There is a little bit to talk about when it comes to our bags. When you are in Africa for almost 5 months, you require a lot of crap plus you end up accumulating a lot more. I personally have ... read more
So today was nice because we were able to finally sleep in!!! I slept in a soft comfy bed all cuddled up in a thick duvet and it was awesome. We woke up pretty early still just because the sun came up so early so I headed downstairs with Bethany and we helped ourselves to breakfast like Hannah's mom told us to the night before. We were beyond thrilled to find bagels and fruit and juice, and hot chocolate. Something other than an egg sandwich for breakfast was just shocking!! We hung around until around 11 when Hannah started waking up and we got ready to go sightsee a little bit. It was raining a little on and off, but thats England in the spring for you. We walked around Selby (Hannah's hometown) and I was ... read more
So I am not going to get too much into the emotions about leaving Ghana. It was absolutely the hardest thing I have done in a long time and saying bye to the amazing friends was so upseting. One of my good friends Nanake knows people at the airport so he brought me and I got the VIP treatment and was able to hang out with Edem until the very last second before I had to go through immigration. I really appreciated all that Nanake did because I was an emotional mess and we had some issues with over weight luggage and he handled it all for me. Ghana became my home, it still hasn't hit me that I'm not there. I just feel like I am taking another weekend trip and in a few days ... read more
So yesterday was my last day at the school. It's been a rough week of "lasts." Last time I'll eat at my favorite restaurant, last time I'll go to the market, last time I'll go to Osu, etc. I'm trying not to think about going home too much because it just makes me so sad. I can't believe how quickly this semester went by. I look back on all the trips I've taken and all the friends I've made and I'm just not ready for it to all end. Anyways, before I get too sentimental, I want to talk about the last day at the school. We (me and Bethany) have been getting school supplies from all of our amazing friends and family (and some people we don't even know!! Thanks so much John's mom!!!!) and ... read more
I would first like to thank everyone for all the amazing school supplies that you have sent!! First, Jarod Leleux and the school board for donating some MUCH needed textbooks. Now when we teach we can actually have a lesson plan!! Bethany has been working with the teachers at GCP and showing them the basics of teaching like how to write a lesson plan and how to use a textbook and the supplementals like end of chapter questions and stuff. I feel like the kids are able to get a little more of a quality education now. And I would also like to thank my sister Tanya and John's mom for sending pens and pencils! And Matt Maddex and his amazing Communication Studies 2063 classes for the boxes with the tons of school supplies. We were ... read more
see, not many cars!
So the past 2 weeks I spent backpacking through Burkina Faso and Mali with 3 American friends that I have met here, Jessica, Berkley, and Max. We left the Monday morning after Easter Sunday and decided to take the most direct route to Burkina Faso as possible, which we discovered on the way home that was the best decision we made the whole trip. So Monday morning we departed the STC bus station at 9 am for Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou (pronounced Waga-doo-goo). The bus ride is supposed to take about 24 hours to get completely through Ghana and half way through Burkina, so we knew it was going to be an adventure. Between breakdowns and rainstorms, it took us a little closer to 27 hours. Luckily I brought along some benadril so I took one ... read more
The “bus” to Koro wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. It was more of… I wouldn’t even know what to compare it to because we don’t have anything like it in the US. It’s a little bigger than a short school bus, and the seats are very similar, but go all the way across so they fit like 5 or 6 people in each row. And of course no AC. I was sitting next to an older woman and he husband and she didn’t know and English and I don’t know any French, so we had a very exciting conversation with a lot of pantomime. It’s a good thing I was always good at charades. Unfortunately she didn’t like all the dust from the road if I left the window open, and I didn’t like how ... read more
Dogon statue
In the morning we woke up for breakfast and met up with Souleman to head to the Dogon country. We took a horse cart which literally was a horse pulling a flat piece of wood on wheels that we all sat on. As we were driving out of Bankass and through other villages little kids would run out of their houses screaming and waving at us as we were driving. I felt like we were in some sort of parade. It took us about 2 hours to get from Bankass to the first village Kani-Kombole. So Souleman was our guide and he is Dogon, so that was nice because he knows the traditions and the religious aspects of Dogon life, plus he knows the language which is extremely important. He mainly speaks Dogon and French, but ... read more
camel caravan
The next morning Souleman had arranged for a vehicle to pick us up and bring us to Mopti. Once again it was an incredibly hot and crammed van on a terrible bumpy road, but we were getting pretty used to this by this point. While we were sitting there, Berkley and Jess talked with some guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who owned a 4x4 that he takes out to Timbuktu. Normally this would seem like a sketchy situation, but its pretty much how it works in Mali. There aren’t many transportation options like busses or trotros, its really just “I know a guy who knows a guy…” Once we got to Mopti and stopped by an ATM we got to the “station” where there were 4x4s to Timbuktu. The guidebook had warned ... read more
The rest of this entry will be pretty abbreviated just because it was a slow journey back to Ghana and would get really really frustrating a lot of times and I am still trying to block out the bad memories. Plus we did a lot and I’m just getting tired of typing so much! So the next day we went left Timbuktu for another LOVELY ride in a 4x4 back to Mopti. Our driver was a lot better this time so we didn’t get stuck in the sand as much. We got to Sevare in about 9 hours and said bye to Jacob and headed to an internet café to email our families and tell them we got back alive. We went to a hotel and decided to try to save a few dollars and sleep ... read more
