From PTA meetings to Hot Dogs in Accra to a little place called Wli Waterfall

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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 new leather ball and they want to show Emily, the soccer playing volunteer, their skills. So fingers crossed they are all good shortly.

So, we had the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting on Friday 27th. There was a huge turnout which we were pretty stoked about. I think the main drawcard was the fact that there were white people to meet and that we came with gifts. Usually the meeting will only draw about 5 parents but this time there were 50+ parents and they all wanted to shake our hands. It went from about 8:30am till 1pm so the kids were dying for us to come out and play with them. They kept peering behind the wall to see us and wave. All in all, the meeting went well and the parents were very vocal and wanted to better this school in as many ways as possible seeing as there were a bunch of strangers who wanted to help.

Then on Saturday, Lucy and I travelled to Accra for the weekend and Monday so that I could extend my Visa for another 7 weeks. However, they hold onto passports for 2 weeks soooo now we have to go back on 14/7/08 (my big brothers birthday) to pick it up. But I think we will travel to Cape Coast before we go pick it up, maybe on the way home. So anyway, Accra was great. Bought some more paintings from this great artist, Ras B. Ate an amazing hot dog at Frankies, burger at Chicken Inn and then pasta at Frankies again... ahhh the food. Also went shopping at the foreign supermarkets which are amazingly overpriced, but you know, when you want nutella, you want nutella. We also decided to take a trip to the beach but couldn't actually get to it. There was a long wall that seperates people from the beach. So we walked back, relaxed for a bit then decided to head over to the African Cultural Centre, which is a market where people can sell African goods to tourists. It was intense.... The sellers were just harrassing us so much and getting angry when we said no thank you. Pretty much abusing us for not buying anything from them! But when you get harassed that much, you generally don't buy their stuff!

From there we walked all the way to Osu Castle.... not so much a castle, but it is the place where the president resides and were government business occurs. He is building another place closer in the city. We couldn't see much because the soldiers manning the error said we had to go back. So we walked all the way back around and all the way back to the hotel which actually is a huge distance. We also managed to come across a big store of African artifacts that was fairly cheap and they leave you alone to browse. So we will go there instead of the market to buy our gifts. Not much else happened then, we met Susanne and had dinner and watched the Final Germany vs. Spain soccer match. Monday, did visa stuff for Ghana and Togo, travelled back home and passed out.

On Tuesday (1st July), we traveled with Promise's church group to Wli waterfall. We were in the most rickety of buses and it just so happened that we sat opposite the back door which was barely joined on at the lock was a makeshift metal stick that you had to move onto the side of the bus wall to make sure it didn't fly open! And this was a school bus we were using!!!! It took over 4 hours to get there (should of taken only 3 at the most). But when we got there, it was amazing. Beautiful green mountains. It took 45 mins to walk through the forest to the waterfall. The reverend also showed us different trees with cassava, paw paw and cocoa which is Ghana's main export. We also cross the Wli stream 9 times. When you get to the falls, it is just wonderful. However, it was absolutely jam packed because it was Ghana Republic day so everyone wanted to be there. But we had a bit of a dip into the water, just legs, and my gosh it was cold. The spray from the falls was also pretty strong so it was hard not to get your camera wet!

The travel home.... well... that was interesting. I could have smashed my fist into the drivers face! It took 7 HOURS to get home! First he kept stopping, like 3 times, about 20 mins each time because he wanted to buy things. Which didn't make sense because we are paying him to drive, not to shop! Then the bus broke down for almost 2 hours and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no phone service! But at least we got home safe.

So now I am buggered. I have had 3 nights of hardly any sleep because this stupid little mouse in our case keeps harassing me and waking me up! It even undid my backpack slightly to see if I had food in there. I hate killing mice, but I think it has to be done!!

This weekend, staying in Aflao and chilling out. probably won't have much, will just report the soccer match I guess...

I just skim read this entry. Wow... I told this story in the most boring of ways...

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Photos

Bloody yanks
No no, I like my Americans...
Emily on the right, Lyndsey in the middle. And I am sure I spellt Lyndseys name wrong...

The PTA Meeting
The goods from donations at my work, McMillan Shakespeare Australia (ahh, shameless plug) and some additions from Lucy, Emily and Lyndsey.

Smile for the press
With Mrs Hulede and the goods after the newspapers took their photos.

Lucy in the sky with Marisa
Sometimes we can look presentable. In my case, only just!

Assei aka Big Belly
I'm taking her home

Big Belly posing as... The Fly
Especially when she looks like this!!!!

Basic 5 Boys
Just a snippet of my class 5 English class....

Abigaillllll
She is just too cute... She's always spaced out and thinks she's in trouble when I call out her name... I'm pretty sure she will grow up to be an African version of a bimbo.

Farmer Marisa
I can plant things... sort of.

The little Mango tree
The little Mango tree that we planted which Lucy called the Future tree. This will provide a fair bit of shade for the children and produce fruit for the school. It will take 2 years until it is fully grown.

Batman
Those little brown dots are actually bats!

Wli Waterfall
Wli waterfall... It is huge. And the water is actually pretty cold despite the blistering heat of the air.

Making faces at Wli
Susanne, the new comer from Switzerland, me and Lucy.
Yes, I understand I look terrible.

Girlies
Susanne, Jennifer, Anna and Sister Lucia.
Jennifer is Anna's host sister.