Was that a dream?

As of the countdown clock right now, its been 111 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes and 39 seconds and since I've landed in Saskatoon. Wow, time has flown.

I've gone back and read all my posts that I made while I was gone, hmm, at least now I know that I won't be a writer in the future. I knew what I was talking about, but didn't exactly explain some things very good. Like the term "Obruni" it means white person in twi (the local language). That had become like my second name, and other "obruni's" like myself got shouts at us all the time because we stuck just a little bit. Whether it was just walking in the market, walking anywhere for that matter, or riding in a taxi or tro-tro. You have people that openly stare and point at you. I was suprised that I never actually got too sick of it. 

 What do I miss, well, everything, but more specifically:

- FanIce - the best ice cream 40 peswas can buy
- Water Sachets - 500 ml of pure water in a sachet 5 peswas each. I miss buying it on the street and ripping the corner of one open with my teeth
- Tro-tro's - who wouldn't want to sitting in a mini bus type vehicle that sounds like its going to fall apart, squished beside other sweaty people who you know are talking about you because they say obruni, but that's all you understand. Ahh good times.
- Taxi's - Bargining with taxi drivers who, because your an obruni, think that they can jack up the price alot and you won't know any better. I had one guy try and charge me 5 times what it should cost, needless to say I laughed and walked away. 
- The food - the food was so good. Jollaf rice, fufu, yams, lots of chicken and fice, rice, and stew that I didn't ask what was in it.
- Beatrice - My host mother, she was the best. She was always making sure the volunteers that lived with her were always feeling good. She was an awesome cook and she was always good to answer any questions we had about the Ghanaian culture.
- Alberta, Auntie Ama, and Abigal - Alberta was our cook during the week days, and made the best jollaf rice. Auntie Ama, she is Beatrice's sister that lived with her. She didn't speak english, but I wish that I could've had a conversation with her, she seemed awesome. Abigal, Beatrice's adopted daughter, 2 1/2 years old but she was very smart for her age, I miss her running around the house singing at the top of her lungs, even at 6 o'clock in the morning.
- The girls at the orphanage - They are the sweetest, and cutest little girls you will ever meet. Even though they have no possesions to their name, they are still happy. Even on the days when there toy of choice will be a plastic spoon. Even on the days when they all decide to want to run down towards the kitchen, then cry when I try to herd them back the the girls house. I wasn't very happy with them at the time, since I was by myself, but its all worth it when the come running to you and just want a hug and to be held because they're crying. There was one little girl that I wrote about a bit more, she was the 1 1/2 year old that was really tiny and couldn't sit up by herself or walk. The house mother called her my princess. One of my happiest moments ever was during my last week when I was holding her and she was sitting between my legs on the floor, and I let go and she actually sat up by herself for about 10-15 seconds. I was beyond happy for her, I hope she's doing just as good now as she was when I left. I don't think anyone knows just how much I wanted to bring her home with me and just how much I miss her.

As of right now, I'm working full time, but am saving my money to go back, when and for how long isn't decided yet. But there is no question that I'll be back, and that it will be soon. I bet someone when I was there that I was coming back and that it would be before October 1, 2012, I don't plan on losing that bet.

A special treat for you:

My princess is the second to last girl you see that kind of claps her hands.

Oh yeah, since the Roughriders play in the Grey cup in less than 24 hours, GO RIDERS GO!!

I'm Home...

Hey, sorry about the long wait, but I'm finally updating my blog from home.

I left Kumasi on Sunday the 8th in the morning, with a few tears. Got a bus to Accra at 8 am. The bus ride was not to bad, and I got to Accra at about 1pm. Took a taxi to the airport and had a good 4 hour wait till I could even check my luggage. Finally the time came to check my luggage and I made it up to the gate and waited a bit longer. I spent 9 hours in total waiting in the Accra airport, but it turned out not to be to bad.

The flight left only about 10 minutes late, which compared to my trip to Ghana, was nothing. I got to Frankfurt just after 7 am in the morning local time and my flight to Calgary left at about 9:30. It was easy finding the right gate, and I only ended up sitting and waiting in the airport for 1 1/2 hours, which was awesome. The flight to Calgary left on time, and the flight itself seemed to take forever, but we eventually made it to Calgary.

I got to Calgary after 11 am local time and actually had to pass through customs. The lineup was really long and I figured I wouldn't make my flight to Saskatoon just because I had good luck like that. But the line went really fast and I made it through pretty quick. I had to pick up my luggage and re-check it. It was a good thing for me just so I could see that my stuff actually made it at least to Calgary. It did, and I re-checked my luggage and went to find my gate. I found it and after a quick call home, I sat and waited for about 1 hour before my flight left. Time does not go by very fast when you sit and watch the clock, but the flight eventually left on time.

After the 9 hour flight to Calgary, the flight to Saskatoon felt like absolutly nothing. We landed and because of some other plane in our way, or something like that, we sat on the runway for like 10-15 mins. I actually don't know how long it was for, but it seemed to take longer than my whole trip from Ghana. Probably just because I could see the terminal and knew I was so close to seeing everyone.

We eventually got off the plane and finally seen everyone. It was great to see everyone after 3 months of only phone calls. I had an apple that my Mom brought for me, because I hadn't had one in 3 months and it tasted great. It was about 2:30 pm, when I arrived and after relaxing for a while we went for supper at the Great Buffet of China. There was so much food and although I didn't have very much, it all tasted amazing.

We left Saskatoon and I figured I would crash, because I had been suprisingly not that tired. Well, I made it maybe 5 minutes out of Saskatoon when I fell asleep, and didn't wake up til we turned up the street back home.

Its so nice to be home, but at the same time I miss Ghana so much. When I was still in Kumasi half of me want to leave and go back home. But half of me did not want to leave at all. So it was tough to leave, but once I eventually got going, I was excited to go back home. But now that I'm back home, I want to go back and see my girls. It was really hard to leave them.

Thats about it.

Possibly last post from Ghana

I'm still not sure if I'll get back here to do another post, so this may be the last one. I fly out of Accra on Sunday night at 10:10 pm. And arrive back home in Saskatoon at 2:30 pm on Monday. As long as my flights all go according to plan, and its not like the trip I had to get here.

This whole week has been, its my last...I told everyone I'd be doin that, and I am. Tonight is my last Projects Abroad meeting, I'm really going to miss those guys.

I can't believe it took me this long to remember that you can listen to the radio over the internet. Just on Sunday I found Mix 101.5 website and was listening to that. I never though I'd be happy to hear the Northern Lights Casino commercial.

I'm really going to miss the girls at the orphanage. I was holding one of the little ones yesterday, and asked her if I could bring her home with me. Well, she can't talk and wouldn't be able to speak english anyway, but it sure sounded like she said "yes". She is just over 1 1/2 years old but is really small and can't sit up or talk or feed herself, but, like the house mothers at the orphanage say, she's my princess, lol. I'm definatly going to miss her. Hey, anyone at home wanna adopt a kid, she'd be great. lol. You can't blame someone for trying. In fact I know 11 lovely girls just dying to be adopted.

Alright, that's it for now, I have to leave to go to the meeting. I'm not sure if I'll update this again before I leave. But I will update again when I get back home for sure.

One Week More...

Wow, only one more week here. Time flies.

In the past week I've had 3 different marriage proposals and in total 4 guys that love me (the one guy didn't want to marry me, he just loved me, lol). Yeah, that's more then usual. Its like they all know I'm leaving. All of them from random people on the street. Two of them were in the market, one was just this morning from some guy painting the neighbours house, and the other walked up to the window of the tro-tro I was sitting in. I won't miss that to much.

Stickin around Kumasi for the weekend. I need to get some shopping done that I put off for a long time. I knew I was going to do that. Oh well.

Not much else new around here, I haven't heard any news about the little baby that I blogged about in my last post. I'm still not sure if she is really in the hospital or not. I do know for sure that the other one passed away. I'm still holding out hope that the little baby didn't.

Well, got to go now. I will be back here at least once maybe 2 more times before I leave. And when I get back home I will be sure to put pictures up.

Not everything is sunshine and flowers...

So, I was by myself in the childrens home for a couple of weeks, which was alright. But last Thursday I actually got help, which was a good thing because what was only 6 girls that I helped take care of when I first got here, was 12 on Friday as we got another new baby. The new baby didn't look very healthy at all, she was smaller than the one month old babies we have. I was worrying about her all weekend. When I got to work on Monday and what was 12 girls was now 10. There was one girl that had a bigger head than normal, and she had only been there for a couple of weeks, who wasn't there. And the new baby that arrived on Friday wasn't there either. So I asked where they were, and the house mother told me that they were both in the hospital. Then I got word from on of the other volunteers in the boys house that the house mother that she was with told her that the one girl with the bigger head actually passed away on Sunday.

I believe that the one girl actually did pass away, although I don't really want to. I'm not sure about the new baby though. She could be in the hospital, that's what I'm hoping for anyway. I really do hope that she's just in the hospital, but the way she looked on Friday and the fact that even though the house mother told me that the one girl was in the hospital and she isn't, well, I'm don't exactly have the best confindence. But I could always be wrong, and I hope I am.

So, yeah, I haven't had the best week, and I only have 7 days left with the girls, I don't want to leave them. I only have 1 1/2 weeks left here as well, and I want to stay. Although I miss the food from home, as well as some other things. So at the same time that I don't want to leave, I can't wait to go home, its weird.

Only 3 weeks to go...

Well this weekend I decided to stick around Kumasi and not do any travelling. There was a group of volunteers that went to Mole, I'm glad I already went as there is a whole bunch in the group going this weekend, and another group going next weekend as well. When I went there was only 5 of us so it was easy to get around, I wouldn't really want to go in such a big group.

Its 3 weeks today that I leave. Wow, that's crazy. Time really flies. I really should start buying stuff to bring home. I don't want to leave it to the last week and have to rush.

Some of the stuff that is here you wouldn't expect to be in Africa. You hear Celine Dion music all the time. I've heard some Backstreet Boys while walking though the market. I've seen some jerseys as well. I've seen Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnisota Vikings, Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns. And even weirder, an Oshawa Generals of the OHL. And I didn't see this one, but one of the volunteers from Montreal seen a Timbits jersey that some kid was wearing in the market.

I've kinda run out of things to write about, you can't really explain completely what its like here. I think everyone should make a trip out here. Ok, maybe that's not possible, but if the chance comes up to do something like this. Don't think twice about it. I've never once felt unsafe here. The people are so friendly, even when you ask for directions they will gladly tell you where to go. And lots will even walk you to where you're going just to make sure you get there.

That's about it for now. I'll be back here at some point this week. I'm not sure when though.

Awesome Weekend

So last time I said I'd probably stay home during the weekend, yeah, I didn't. I went down to just outside of Takoradi again, this time to a place called Green Turtle Lodge. Well, that's waht is was going to be. Until we got their at 9:30 on friday night and found out there was no room. So we went back down the road, which was really bad by the way, and went to Safari Beach. We got there at about 10 at night and they did have rooms, so we stayed there.

On Saturday morning we found out their was absolutly nobody else staying their, it was only the 4 of us that came. It was awesome. So Saturday was spent on the beach. Then at supper time we walked the 5-10 minute walk down the beach to the Green Turtle Lodge and had supper their because it was cheaper. Then sat on the beach and they had a bonfire. At about 9:30 we walked back to Safari Beach and slept.

We woke up and took a taxi to Takoradi and then caught a tro back to Kumasi. The tro-tro ride to Takoradi on Friday took 7 1/2 hours. Then one on Friday back to Kumasi took only 4 1/2 hours. Yeah, Friday wasn't that fun of trip and it took us nearly 12 hours in 1 tro and 2 different taxis. In between taxi rides is when it started pouring rain so we got a little soaked. But it was a fun weekend and I enjoyed lying in bed and watching the ocean through the open doors of the room. We didn't really want to come back.

That's about it. I only have 1 month left and I kinda don't want to leave. But I guess.

Back in Cape Coast

Well, I finally made it back to Cape Coast and didn't get sick that time. We left on Friday and took a tro-tro for the 4 hour ride. We just caught the end of the Ghana-Uraguay game, Ghana should've won, but its too bad. We got up on Saturday morning and made it to Kakum National Park and did the canopy walk. That was so awesome and a lot of fun.

We went back to the hotel and had lunch and went to Elmina Castle and seen that. It was sad to hear about what happened to the people who went through there. I'm definatly glad I made it out there.

It was overall an awesome trip and I'm really glad I made it back there. On Sunday we went to the beach and I actually got kinda sunburnt for the first time. But its not peeling yet and hopefully won't.

I don't think I'm doing anything this weekend. Just sticken around here, but I'm not completely sure yet. My times almost up on the internet and I have to go the meeting right now. I'll be back at some point.

Almost July 1st!

I wish I was in Canada, only for tomorrow though. Roughrider season starts, NHL free agent frenzy starts (I think its the day for free agents in the NBA as well, with Lebron, Bosh, Wade and others it should be fun) and obviously its Canada Day. I definatly have to come to the internet tomorrow to catch up on everything, but with a 6 hour time change, yeah, their might not be to much to catch up on yet.

At the childrens home we have 2 new girls. The one showed up on Thursday and is less than 2 weeks old. And I went into the room today to see her, and she's multiplied, there is a new little one that I think looks younger than the first one. Their both really small and super cute though.

This week is the first one by myself at the childrens home, as Kate left for England on Monday morning. I wasn't really looking forward to it by myself. But its pretty good so far. The girls were all sitting on their potties when I got their this morning, and when they seen me, they all started giggling. It was awesome and makes it all worth it. Their is one girl who is about a year and a half old, but is really tiny and can't walk or sit up by herself. I actually had her laughing yesterday and today, I've only been able to do that one before. It was great.

I think the plan is to go to Cape Coast this weekend. Since the last time I went, yeah, I slept pretty much all day Saturday. Hopefully this one turns out better.

Not much else, I'll try to figure out if I can put up some videos on here at some point. I'll at least try for some pictures anyway.

Wow, its so pretty

Hey, check out the new design. I figured I'd change things around.

Nothing much here, I'm stickin around here for the weekend. It will be good after all the travelling I've been doing. I'll get to sleep in, ok, maybe till only 8:30.

Its was funny, the other night I was telling Beatrice, my host mom, about the weather in Canada, and how it gets to -30 and -40. She was suprised that we still go outside when its that cold. Then again, she was suprised when I told her the other day that we go outside when its 0 degrees outside.

I'm hoping the weather isn't that cold when I get back home. I think I might freeze if its 20 *C.

No pictures again, sorry, but I should be back here this weekend hopefully and will hopefully have some pictures.

Only 1 1/2 months left, wow, it will be weird to go back home. It feels like before I came here, I couldn't believe being in Ghana, Africa. I couldn't imagine it at all. Now I can't believe I'm half done, time really flies and I know I will miss this place lots.

Thats about it for now.

Hey

Just a couple of things I've seen while I've been here:

-Pittsburgh Penguins Jersey
-Anaheim Mighty Ducks Jersey (yeah, it was an older one)
-Steve Yzerman Detroit Red Wings Jersey
-Chris Chelio Chicago Blackhawks Jersey
-Hockey Hall of Fame Hat (I think)
-Several NBA jerseys (Jordan, Iverson, I'm not sure who else)

Don't hate me too much, as that's all I have for you right now, maybe more later this week.

Weekend on the Beach

So this weekend we went to Axim Beach, 2 hours away from Cape Coast. It was a relaxing weekend of not doing to much. We sat on the beach for lots of the weekend and watched some soccer. Yeah, that's right, I watched soccer. It was not to bad, but I don't think I can take to much of it. Ghana played Australia and tied 1-1, and they now sit at the top of their group.

I just realize I've been here for almost 1 1/2 months already. Wow, it has definatly flown by. Its weird, I miss home, but at the same time I don't want to leave. But I think I've figured out I couldn't live anywhere else but Saskatchewan. I definatly want to travel more, and even for a couple months like right now. But I don't think I could move anywhere else perminetly, I miss home to much.

At the same time as I miss home, its funny how quickly Kumasi has become like a second home. When I'm travelling for the weekend or even just out for the day, Kumasi and the house where I live is called home. When we came back from 4 day weekend last week to Mole, after the long day of travel, we arrived in Kumasi, and I could tell without looking at the signs that we were back in Kumasi. It just feels comfortable, and I can tell I'm definatly going to miss it.

Not much else right now, my camera battery died while uploading pictures/videos. I'll eventually get some up of the elephants in Mole and the other stuff, I promise.

Mole National Park

Rider Pride in front of some baboonsOne of the Elephants we seen

One of the Monkeys that stole some food

The view from sitting in the Restaurant

In front of the oldest Mosque in Ghana, and one of the oldest in West Africa.


So from the pictures you can tell we went to Mole National Park this weekend and seen alot of wildlife. It was a great trip. We had monkeys, baboons, and warthogs around our hotel. We went on a canoe safari, and a jeep safari and on the jeep safari we seen about 10 elephants, it was awesome, because you hear stories about people who go up to Mole for a week and don't see any elephants.

While we were at the hotel, there were monkeys that jump up on the tables and steal some of the food you have. After we seen a few monkeys, a baboon came. They are bigger than monkeys and alot scarier. And their not that scared of obrunies, so they'll come and steal anything just to see what it is.

The first night we were their we slept in tents, on a wooden platform. There were 2 to a tent, and after we went to bed, Fiona, who was in my tent, decided to go to the dorm, where one of the other volunteers was sleeping. So I was left to get back to sleep, in a tent, outside in the middle of knowhere in the African wilderness. I did get some sleep that night. I could here animals walking around, and eating right beside my tent all night.

We went on a canoe safari the first night we were their, and didn't see anything, but it was still pretty cool. In the morning we went on the jeep safari where we seen the elephants. It was 2 different times, the first time there was about 5, and 4 of them ran off, but one stayed around for a little bit. The second time they were in the watering hole we walked to.

We swam in the pool at the hotel for most of the afternoon. I only got a little bit burnt. During the afternoon, it was the Ghana vs. Serbia match at the World Cup and Ghana won 1-0, I didn't really watch it, but you could tell what was happening based on the huge crowd watching the match.

We left on the Monday at 4 o'clock in the morning and took a 4 hour bus ride to Tamale. Then waited a while and took a 8 hour bus ride back to Kumasi. It was a long day and we didn't get back until 8 o'clock that night.

One of the bus companies that we took to Tamale and back is called STC. Half way around the world, and I take an STC bus on the weekend. I found that hilarious.

I did have more stuff to write about, but my time is almost up on here. And I have a lot of videos, but it wouldn't let me post them for some reason. I may be here tomorrow, hopefully with the videos, I'm not 100% sure yet.

Just a Quick Update

Hey all, just a quick note, I'm headed out to Mole National Park tomorrow morning and not coming back until Monday. Hopefully we'll see some elephants or something good.

We went to one of the schools today, one of the volunteers teaches there and is leaving on Monday, so she had her kids put on a little play with singing and dancing. It was great, then after, we all got up and danced a bit, there were so many kids, it was crazy. I may post the video later.

Thats it for now. Hopefully have some good pictures next week when I come back from Mole.

At the Lake

This weekend we went to Lake Bosomtwe, a 45 minute tro-tro ride from Kumasi, Well we left Friday after work and came back Saturday afternoon. As you can tell from the pictures, it is really beautiful. We didn't go swimming, but walked into the water for a second and it was really warm.

Ya, that was the spider that was on the bed in the other room at the guest house. When we first got into the rooms, the other 2 volunteers were in a different house than Fiona and I. We had just got into our room and we heard a noise from the other house, so we ran over and seen a huge spider on the wall. After some discussion we got the guy who works at the guest house and he brought 2 other guys with him, they weren't really needed. He eventually just chased the spider out of the room. So Fiona and I just went back to our room, we weren't there for very long when we heard more noise, so we ran back over and they had another spider on their bed. We didn't know what to do with it, so we tried to kill it but missed and in ran away. We had to look for it because it ran under the bed, it took probably 5-10 minutes to find it again. The only way to reach it this time was with a coat hanger, so I tried to hit it again, and it ran away again, it took a long time to find it again. We had to move the bed out from against the wall, as we did, Fiona didn't know we were moving it and she screamed, then the rest of us screamed because we thought she seen the spider, but she didn't.

We eventually found it and decided to call in the other guys again, they came and actually killed it, after a small chase to the other side of the room.

So we went back to bed, and after a quick sweep of the room for spiders, we went to sleep. At about 5 o'clock in the morning Fiona and I woke up to a loud screeching sound coming from above us. It kept going on, so we jumped out of bed and turned on the light, but it had already left. I think it must have been a bat because the guy from the guest house said he's had to chase some out of the rooms before. And their's nothing else I know of the makes that kind of screeching sound. It sounded like it was trying to get up through the roof. Needless to say, we didn't go back to sleep that night, which made for a really long day.

Pictures

Here are some pictures of some of the kids I work with. (3 different kids)

Nothing much new here. It rained for a while last night, but the power never actually went out, which is lucky. I watched the Ghana Black Stars (soccer/football national team) play Holland in an international friendly game before the World Cup last night. Holland won 4-1. And I forgot how boring soccer really is to watch.

Thats really all I have right now, sorry about the short entry, but I added the pictures to make you all happy. I'm not sure when I'll get here again, it might not be til Sunday.

It's Me Again

This weekend I didn't do to much. Yesterday we went to a hotel and swam in the pool there, it was great. While I was swimming, I thought I recognized some of the songs that they had playing, but not quite. The "The Gambler" came on, ya, they had Kenny Rogers playing. It eventually turned into Dolly Parton, Shania Twain then James Blunt. But no Celine Dion, which was suprising, you hear her everywhere.

If you listen closely, you can hear it.

I've talked about the drivers here, but not about how you get around. There are taxi's everywhere, but there are 2 different types of taxi's. Line (or share) taxi's and drop taxi's. Share taxi's drive around to the different junctions around town. They don't leave one juction until their taxi is completely filled up with 4 people. But the price is fixed and is relatively cheap. (20 - 40 pesewas) (1 Ghana Cedi is equal to about $.73 CAD, pesewas = cents). Drop taxi's are more expensive (3-7 Cedi's depending on how far you go) but drop you off exactly where you want to go, and don't pick up anyone else. So when there is a whole bunch of us wanting to go somewhere we sometimes find a drop taxi and get taken exactly where we want to go. Sometimes there are six of us, so we all just squeeze into one taxi, its a tight squeeze, and these Hjelte hips don't help any, but we make it.

Or you can take a tro-tro, which is the cheapest, but most uncomfortable. They are almost like a line taxi, but with a lot more people and you can get dropped off wherever you tell them to stop, and can get picked up anywhere you see one. But they do drive from juction to junction. And they are the cheapest (usually 20 - 30 pesewas).

When I go to work I catch a line taxi, just a short walk from where I live, to the next juction, then walk down the street for maybe 10 minutes to work. It usualy takes me 20 minutes about to get to work in total.

Well, I tried to post some pictures, but apparently it didn't work, oh well, maybe next time.

Hello

From the beach in Cape Coast, at the restaurant where we had lunch. It was really windy that day.

This is from the rooftop restaurant in Cape Coast from the guest house we stayed at for the weekend.

This is the trip back from Kakum, it was beautiful.

There's nothing really new here. A few of us went to the Golden Tulip yesterday for lunch. Its a hotel where you can get western style food. I had chicken nuggets and fries, it was awesome.

I haven't really said to much about the childrens home. Well, I'm working in the girls house, there are about 8 little girls we take care of with a few older ones who don't go to school for some reason. One of the little girls is over 1 year old, but is much smaller than she should be, and she can't walk or sit up by herself. I've gotten a little bit attached to her. On Monday I actually made her laugh, which I hadn't been able to do before. And I haven't been able to do since then.

Not to much else around here, I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend, I might just stay around here and go to the pool and culture centre. I don't know yet.

I'm back...

First of all, I left the USB cable that plugs my camera into the computer at home so no pictures today, sooo sorry, try not to hate my to much.

But its not like their was anything really interesting, even though I went to the Cape Coast this weekend (more on that later). We caught a tro-tro (think old minibus with like 25 people crammed into it, yeah, its fun) and left at about 3:30 on friday for our 4 hour journey to the Cape Coast. The ride was suprisingly not that bad, even though it poured rain for a while and we had water coming in through the roof. Once we got there, we caught a taxi to our hotel and pretty much went right to sleep.

Saturday the plan was for me and Brigette to get up early in the morning and go out to Kakum National Park and to the canopy walk there. Well we did catch a taxi out their, but one I got out their I started feeling sick, so I stayed at the restaurant while Brigette did the canopy walk. We then took out taxi back home, and I slept for pretty much the rest of the day from 1 o'clock in the after noon. While the others went to one of the castles there and then to the beach and out for supper. I had no energy to do anything.

Sunday I woke up feeling a lot better so we went to a restaurant on the beach for some lunch and then took the tro-tro back to Kumasi. Another 4 hour jouney, and it rained again, but I didn't get wet this time.

On the drive back from the Cape Coast I realized their are definatly a few thing I miss from home,
-the wide open prairies, there are to many trees here, its way to closed in for my liking
-apples, that was pretty much the only thing I wanted to eat when I wasn't feeling good, but their really hard to find.
-Saskatchewan Roads, ya that's right, the roads here are not that good, the best way I can describe the highways is they all mostly like the St. Louis (Hagen) highway was before they turned it pretty much into a gravel road. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, it will be good for a section, but then you'll have to slow down, almost stop for all the pot holes.
-Hockey/Football- Ya, that's right, it sucks to be missing the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even though training camp hasn't started yet for the Riders, I already miss it.

What will I miss when I leave here,
-being called "obruni" everywhere and having all the kids wave at you when you walk down the streets. It still puts a smile on my face, and hopefully I don't get sick of it, I haven't yet.
-being able to buy almost anything from the side of the road, even when you are sitting in a taxi/tro-tro
-FanIce/FanYogo-Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt that you can buy in the store or on the side of the road in little packages. Its almost always frozen or at least cold and sooo good. I've have one almost every day for the past week

I'm pretty sure I seen somebody on a motorbike, wearing a Chicago Blackhawks touque. I thought I was going crazy, maybe I am.

Thats pretty much it for today, sorry about the no pictures, but I should be back here for an update on Wednesday, and I'll have pictures then.

Again

Well I'm here again so might as well do another update.

Today was another day at the Childrens Home and well, we got through it, it wasn't to bad. I don't think I've talked about how many taxi's there are yet, their everywhere. Well maybe its like that in other big city's, but in Saskatchewan, ya, not so much. And they honk at everything. There are a couple different reason's to honk, they honk if a pedestrian is going to be in their way, they honk instead of using any mirrors when changing lanes or turning, they honk at people on the sidewalk to see if they actually need the taxi, they honk if they see someone in another car that they know. And the honking we're all used to, they honk if someone cuts them off, or is about to. So its never quiet while your walking.

The power was off yesterday for a while, so we went up to the roof and sat their, you could tell what side of the city had power, because it was like a line of where you could see street lamps and all the lights, and the half of the city I was in was completely dark. Then the rest of the city lost power and it was completely dark. But it eventually came back on.

That's about it for today.

It Poured Rain Yesterday

It poured rain yesterday for maybe 30 minutes and last night I was even a little cold, but it was a nice break from the heat. This is at the Kumasi Childrens Home.

One Week

"It's been one week since you looked at me,

Threw your arms into the air

and said your crazy"

Extra points for knowing the song...

Ok. So it hasn't been one week since I left, but its been one week since I've been here thanks to the flight delays. I have a few pictures for here, hopefully they will show up

The sunset a couple of nights ago from the rooftop of the building next to our house. (still in our yard though)

The sunset another night.

Yeah, I had to make my room feel more like home, and now it does.

So, on the weekend I just stayed here in Kumasi and did not to much, went to the internet cafe on Saturday (as you can tell by my post) then went to the market on Sunday. It was a good weekend to rest. This next weekend a few of us are planning to go to the Cape Coast which I am definatly looking forward to.

Not much new at the Childrens Home, we had a new girl arrive, she's 2 years old and a cutie. I'm thinking I'll stay in the girls house.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my last post, but the drivers here are crazy, and you have to really pay attention when you are walking around becuase they can be coming from anywhere, how there aren't more car accidents here I'll never know.

When we came to the internet cafe today, I almost knew where I was going, because you have to walk through the market and up some streets, but if I had to I think I could find my way around. I'm definatly feeling more comfortable making my way around here.

But some of the stuff I'm missing back home...I can't believe the Flyers came back from 3-0 down to beat Boston. I figured something like this would happen, its the first time since 1975 I think when the Islanders did it, and I just happen to be out of the country and in Africa. And I'm really suprised the Habs beat the Pens.

Anyway, its not like you came here to read about things that you can read about anywhere else back home, so I'll stop talking about it now, but I had to ramble on about it somewhere, not that many people around here care about the Stanley Cup playoffs, but I do know one of them, the only other Canadian I've met so far.

That's about it for now.

Finally...

Well it's been 5 days since I've gotten to here and this is the first time I've been able to post anything, sorry about that.

Instead of it taking me 1 day to arrive in Accra it took me 2 days due to the volcano. But it was nothing a stop over in Ethiopia didn't fix. Instead of one six hour flight from Frankfurt to Accra, it took one seven hour flight and another six hour flight. And it ended up being 1 hour of sleep in about 34 hours, but I finally got sleep on the flight out of Frankfurt. But I finally got here.

I was picked up at the airport by one of the Projects Abroad staff and went to the office in Accra, after introducing me to some of the people that work there, he showed me where I would sleep for the night and even though it was only 2 o'clock in the afternoon, I didn't do much else that day except sleep. I was woken up to eat supper, then went back to sleep. They woke me up again at 3:30am to board a bus to Kumasi. The bus left at about 4:30 but it was airconditioned so it wasn't to bad.

After finally arriving in Kumasi after the 4 1/2 hour bus ride, I met some the staff in Kumasi and they took me to my host home where I would be for the next 3 months. Usually they start orientation right then (it was about 9am) but the bus ride made me a little sick so I slept some more. Then I was introduced to the city of Kumasi, and went to the market, I believe it is the biggest open air market in Ghana, its crazy busy there. Anthony (he works for Projects Abroad in Kumasi) took me around and I bought a phone, exchanged some money and showed me where some different things were.

Wednesdays are meeting nights for all the volunteers for Projects Abroad in Kumasi, so straight from the market we went there and met the other volunteers. There was only 1 other Canadian, and he was happy when I said I like hockey. After that we caught a taxi back to my host house and went to sleep.

The next morning was my first day at the Kumasi Childrens Home with the kids. The kids are definatly cuties. I can definatly see how I'm going to get attached to them. There are 3 different houses, 2 boys houses and 1 girls. I'm not sure where I'll pick to stay for my time there. It will be hard to choose as the kids are all so cute.

On my second day at the childrens home I had to find my way back to my back to my house alone because the other volunteer that is at the house and also works at the childrens home had left in the morning for the weekend. I was only a little bit of an adventure. But I found a taxi and got back to my house.

The Kids, oh their so cute. When you walk down the street they all shout at you "obruni" (means white)and they all want to touch your hand, ask you your name, and how you are doing. Since there are not many of us Obruni's around so you attract alot of attention and stares when you walk around and even when you are just riding in the taxi.

Thats all I can think of right now, but I know sure there's lots more so I'll do another blog hopefully sometime soon.

I miss you all.

In Germany

So I am not even in Ghana yet and its been exciting. The flight to Calagry was good, to bad the one to Germany was delayed. So I missed my connecting flight and I should be arrivinig in Accra about now, but I am not. I get to Accra at about 1 in the afternoon tommorrow, with a short stop over in Etheopia (ya, I probably spelt that wrong). Well, my time is running out on this thing, I will update more later.

PS. I have had 1 hour of sleep in the past 26 hours or so. Its been fun

First Post

Hello,

As of right now it is 136 hours til I leave on my adventure to Ghana for 3 months. Its funny sometimes it seems like it came up way to fast, and other times it seems like time can't move fast enough and I just want to go.

For those of you that don't know I am going to Ghana for 3 months, through Projects Abroad. I'll be living in the second largest city of Kumasi working at an orphanage there. My hope for this blog is that I can update is as often as possible, how often that is, I have no idea. Hopefully I can add pictures as well, but who knows if I'll be able to do that. I leave on May 9th, which is Mothers Day, (sorry Mom) which I didn't plan on purpose. I return on August 9th, which is just in time to see the Michael Buble concert on August 14th. I made sure when I booked my trip that I would be back in time to see the concert, but while I'm away I'm missing the end of the 2nd round and the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which really sucks. I'm also missing the beginning of the CFL season, but I'm going to be back for the Labour Day Classic and the last half of the season along with the playoffs, but I made sure to bring some Roughrider stuff with me while I'm away. Ya, I know, priorities. Oh, and I'll miss Fathers Day (sorry Dad), and some birthdays.

That's about it for now, I'm not sure if I'll blog again before I leave. If I don't, I will miss everyone and I will see you all when I get back.