Blogs from Ho, Volta, Ghana, Africa - page 5

I was expecting to start the day off at Hohoe Hospital doing HIV Counseling but the head of teh unit was ill so I have to go back next week. I went to Christ with no lesson plan which is an adventure in itself. We read a book together and worked on writing letters to America. When we got to Christ Rachel and Patience were so excited to see me. Sistofe again thanked us for buying her shoes. After placement I ate lunch and climbed Mt. Afadjato with British Rebecca. The mountain is about 20 minutes past WLI Waterfalls. It is the tallest mountain in West Africa. We met with our guide and set out for a 45 minute climb. The climb was much more brutal than I anticipated. It was pretty much a straight ascent. ... read more

Woke up today at 7:30 for breakfast. We sat around most of the morning and decided to skip teh mountain climb. We walked to the town closest to PML and visited Jahwill's friend Zacki Devine, a rasta. He lives by the river surrounded by palm trees with his rasta wife and rasta son, Zacki. We pretty much sat around there all afternoon. They gave us fresh pineapple (delicious!) and Zacki taught us an African board bgame that I'm planning on buying to bring home. They treated Rebecca's bug bites with REAL aloe vera plants and gave us fresh avocadoes when we left. I've noticed at most places we've visited that if the women do visit with guests at all it is for a very short period of time. They continually work. I also noticed that although ... read more

Woke up and went to Christ. I taught the oldest class. We talked about vowels, addition, and subtraction. I was so surprised to see that although the kids are 8 and 9 years old, they still count with their fingers and toes. We colored and I showed them a picture of my house. No matter how hard I tried to explain I don't think they understood the concept of snow. I got two packages today which was actually really exciting. One included a baseball and two baseball gloves so we played catch for a long time in the afternoon. I went to the market with Emily in the afternoon and bought some fabric. Even though everything is super cheap here it's weird how fast you can run out of money. I stayed in at night (here ... read more

Woke up and went to Christ. I was really excited to go. Easy day there and it went really fast. We sang a song that goes, "1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Pouding fufu near the door. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Lunch is ready don't be late." Makes absolutely no sense and doesn't rhyme, but I love it. Where in America would you hear a song about pounding fufu? It's really cute, especially since they have no idea what they are saying. I got another package today (thanks Mom!) which was sooo exciting, especially since it wasn't expected. For lunch I tried banku for the first time. It was awful and it tasted like an Asian delicacy I once had in America. It's kind of like a sticky rice/jello texture with absolutely no taste but a ... read more

Woke up super early to a rooster crowing a million times. It was so close to our room I literally thought the rooster was inside. I fell back asleep on the porch for a few hours. Played with Ayi in the ocean again today and a woman named Joyce of Africa came back. She is FABULOUS and old, but doesn't like the sun because she says it makes her appear too old looking. She also loves to be gawdy because you've "only got so much time to be gawdy." Weather was complete sun today. One unexpected thing I love: bucket showers. It's oddly refreshing to shower outside. I also forgot to mention that yesterday a cop let me carry around his AK47!!! I jokingly asked if I could hold it and he responded, "Okay!" Wow. We ... read more