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.