I am really bad at blogging....

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So I am really bad at blogging so that is why the previous entries have been by Emily. 😊 The time in Ghana is flying by it is crazy. I am can't believe that it is already the 15th! We took a trip this weekend and got to see a little bit more of the country. It was really great! Emily, Marisa (our favorite australian), Lucy(England), Me, and Susanne (from Switzerland) all headed out of Aflao and we traveled to Cape Coast and we stopped in Accra (the capital), Kakum National Park, and Hans Botel Cottage. Accra is really a neat place. It is hard for me to grasp how large it really is though because it seems really spread out. It is always nice to get to be in the city for a little while. Kakum National Park is home to the canopy walk. It is a suspended walkway that is as wide as one board and suspended over the rainforest tree tops. I have a big fear of heights where as Emily on the other hand could not wait to walk the canopy. Marisa (another volunteer) also has a slight fear of heights so we went last. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but the board swayed alot and I would fall into the nets connected to the boards. The nets came up to about my shoulders. It was really safe and constructed well and the view was beautiful but I sometimes have trouble standing on ladders so it was a bit challenging for me. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad I did it. We spent a night at Hans Botel Cottage and it was great. It is known for the restaurant that is perched along the bank of a small bank filled with nile crocodiles. It was really cool. In addition to the crocodiles we stayed in a really cute cottage that had enough room for all five of us. It only cost us each 30$ and it had a real shower and a real toilet! Again these are not rare in Ghana but the family we are staying with does not have them. We also went to Cape Coast and Elmina. Elminia is where one of the largest slave castle is. The castle was the place in which the largest numbers of Ghanains were enslaved and then sold to slave traders. I have never felt the way that I felt when we visited the castle. It was built in the fourteen hundreds by the portugese. It was really different to see history right in front of me. To hear the stories of the horrors that occured at this castle was unimaginable. It was different because all of the other times I had heard about slavery it was always in the context of what happened after people were stolen from Africa. I had never really heard the story of what happened before the slave ships. It is hard to understand how people could treat other people as terribly as they have throughout history all over the world.
After visiting the castle we went back into Cape Coast with Madam Hulede's (headmistress of the school) sons. One of them is finishing up his bachelors degree in computer science at the university in cape coast. The other son is a teacher in Cape Coast and he is about to start his master's degree. It was really nice to hang out with them some and meet more of the Hulede family. We are back in Aflao now and slowly getting back into the grove of everything. Oh! I forgot we also got Togo visa's. We are only like 20 minutes from the border and have been to the border many times but now we can finally go in! So on Sunday we are going to take a day trip into Togo! I am really excited. Ok sorry this is so scattered but I have been teaching and playing with kids all day so I am a little scattered. 😊 We missed the kids so much while we were gone. It has been nice getting to see them all again. They are my favorite thing about here. I am running out of time so I am going to close here. Emily will probably want to add more to this later. Love you all!

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