We Will Remember Them

Well I feel like I should update this since I have gone on a little trip. I am currently sitting in the Ottawa airport waiting to board my flight back home.  I've only been here for 3 nights, but they were memorable. This trip came up quickly compared to my other ones that I had booked and planned for a long time.

I've wanted to come to Ottawa for the rememberance day service for a few years now. Whether I've ever actually said that out loud or not is a different story. But after the events in October, the 2 Canadian solders killed on home soil that kind of decided it for me. I had to be here.

I wasn't sure where I should stay, I didn't really want to stay in a hostel but hotels are expensive. After deciding on a hotel, my wicked awesome family gave me my birthday present which was to pay for my hotel stay. I can truthfully say it is definitely the thought that counts and not the fact that they just gave me money.

I got here on Sunday afternoon and after staying in the airport for a bit (I've said before, landing is starting to not agree with me, which sucks) I took a taxi to my hotel. I didn't do to much that night, although I did plan out my next day.

Monday I woke up and was out of my room by 9:30 am and headed to Parliament Hill. Went through security there and went on the free tour that they have. That was actually really awesome. I then walked to the Canadian War Museum and spent probably 2 hours there. That was also super interesting.

On the way back I stopped at the National War Memorial. Even then, a day before rememberance day, it was still powerful to be there.

On November 11th I was up at 7:15 am and at the War Memorial by 8:15 am.i know, it's a shocker that I am up that early willingly. Is a good thing I was there at that time though as it filled up fast. It was warm-ish though which is good news. I'm not sure what security usually, but the cops, RCMP and military were all over the place. I saw some snipers on the roof-tops around, police dogs and the like.

When the service actually started, I was right across the street from where the PM, Governor General, the Silver Cross Mother and Princess Anne got out. The moment of silence was powerful and the speech by the Governor General was particularly memorable.

I could go on for longer, but this is not as great to type out on my phone, so I'll just finish it up soon.

When they cleared the War Memorial and let us go up and place our poppies on the tomb of the unknown soldier is something I'll not soon forget. Out of the 50,000 people that were there, I'm thinking 95% of them stayed to put there poppies on the tomb.  It was incredible.

I went to the War Memorial the next day to see if anything was there still. The poppies are still lying there, along with the wreaths, letters, flowers and notes of rememberance.  One letter in particular caught my made me tear up.

See You Later Toronto

That week went by fast that's for sure. And was it ever fun. After sleeping a lot on day one of being here, I was pretty busy the rest of the week.

First was the Blue Jays Game on Sunday. They lost but it was still awesome to be in the SkyDome.  Next day I went shopping at the Eaton Centre which was sweet.

The day after was the Royal Ontario Museum. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I spent all day there and probably could've gone back.

Wednesday was the Hockey Hall of Fame.  That was the other highlight of my trip. I got there at 11am and left 10 minutes before they closed. It was awesome.

Thursday I did the CN Tower. I'm not afraid of heights, but that was a little scary. I spent the extra money and went up the other elevator to the higher level (sky pod they called it). It was fantastic. I also stopped at the aquarium that is right beside the CN Tower because I had heard good things about it. It was surprisingly good to, a little expensive though.

Friday I really didn't have many plans so I went back to the Eaton Centre and did some shopping.

That's pretty much it. It will be nice to get home and eat good food as I've been living off of Tim Hortons and Subway for the last week. My flight leaves at 6:40 PM tonight so I have a little time to waste before I leave.

Toronto

Well, I said I'd travel again. And here I am, not Ghana, but it's something. Just flew into Toronto this morning and will be here for a week. Why here?  It's easy, Hockey Hall of Fame.  My flight this morning was good, if you leave out the part where I had to run to the gate, then yeah, it was good.

I was thinking on the flight over here that I have been on quite a few flights in total, so I wanted list them:

Saskatoon to Toronto
Toronto to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Rome

Paris to Toronto
Toronto to Saskatoon

Saskatoon to Calgary
Calgary to Frankfurt
Frankfort to Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa to Accra

Accra to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Calgary
Calgary to Saskatoon

Saskatoon to Calgary
Calgary to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Accra

Accra to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Toronto
Toronto to Saskatoon

Saskatoon to Toronto
..... And next Saturday will be Toronto back to Saskatoon

That's 19, soon to be 20. Wow. And yes, I did have to go back and count.  And after all those flights, I'm liking the landings less and less. Taking off and the flights themselves are fine. But whatever, as long as I get there in one piece we're all good.

It was super weird taking a taxi and not haggling over the price, not fearing for your life, and actually wearing a seat belt. I kinda missed it. But it was easier than I thought to get a taxi, they were waiting right where your walk out of the doors of the airport.

My plans for this week so far are, Hockey Hall of Fame, CN Tower and maybe a Jays game if I can make it. Past that, I haven't really decided yet. I have one full day dedicated to the HHOF because that's what I'm going to need. And that's also the reason I'm going to go alone as most people that I would go with would be way to fast. I'm gonna need a long time with no one rushing me.

I think I may actually update this thing this week while in here. So stay tuned.

"There are no foreign lands...

It is the traveller only who is foreign"  - Robert Louis Stevenson

Ok, I was going start this off with some strange philosophical question, but then stopped myself because no, that's just not me. I'm more, how would you say, sarcastic.

Enough of the rambling... This one is another, "I'm not sure why I started this, but I'm going to continue with it anyway" blog. Although its probably pointless, methinks nobody reads this anyway, or cares either. But oh well, I do enjoy the occasional post about nothing.  I usually begin these types of blogs with  reading most of my previous posts, and saying to myself that my grammar will be better this time around. Which it usually isn't. I've never been good with words, give me numbers, and I'm your person. They laugh at me at work because I can remember a lot of numbers, and I know pi to about 60 digits. But that is easier than having to write an essay or something like that. Which makes me wonder about my thought process in starting this blog-y thing in the first place?

Now onto the actual travel part of the blog... drum roll please.... I have plans to go.... nowhere. Well not yet anyway. Wow, that's boring. But certain things get in the way like needing money, and needing a job to get that money. But I'm starting to get that travel bug again, which can only be good. At least from my point of view. I think its hearing that people are going on winter vacations, or just came back from a vacation, or are in Hawaii at the moment. Its not fair, I wanna leave too. Although I do have a good job that I do enjoy, so that's good. But what I would give to like, win the lottery or something and just travel. In the past day, I have changed the background on my computer at work to Adwoa (my princess), looked at most of my Ghana pictures (under the guise of looking for my Adwoa picture), read a lot of my emails back an forth to people back home (from when I was in Kumasi), and read quite a few of my posts here. Yikes.

Funny thing though, in the past few weeks, I have noticed, and tried to stop myself (with very little success I might add), that I have apparently started to speak with a British accent for some reason. Don't ask me why or how, I don't talk to anyone from Britain or anything, but I'll be saying something and realize after that what I have said came out with an accent. Its gotten to a point where other people have noticed to, not just me. Maybe its to much Monty Python, but I just don't think that's possible.

I seem to get to a point in every post when I know its not long enough, but I don't know what else to do. And that point is right now. Can you have an entire post of just rambling about nothing, because that what this seems to be. On second thought, how about some travel tips? Ok... that's what your going to get.

-don't get to worked up while travelling/in airports, it doesn't help much and all you do is stress yourself out
-if the guy beside you on the plane seems too friendly when you first meet, he probably is too friendly, stay away from him. This doesn't include everyone mind you, but from past experience, it does happen
-just because you are somewhere new, doesn't mean it is unsafe/scary
-learn some of the local language while travelling, the locals are usually happy about it
-while sitting on a bus, travelling for 6 hours in Ghana, don't sit at the front, you can see everything that the driver almost hits, its best to sit near the back, and pretend its all good
-while in a taxi in Kumasi, do sit in the front seat, this coming from someone who is an introvert/shy, you get to talk to some awesome taxi drivers and...I don't know... its just better
-be careful taking taxi's at night, don't do it by yourself and if possible, avoid the ones that will travel way over the speed limit, with no headlights, passing other vehicles in the pouring rain while travelling up a hill...not that that's happened to me or anything.
-enjoy the looks you'll get when you get back home and tell people what you did, only to have them tell you your crazy
-If you go to get into a taxi at night time, and just as the light turns on as you open the door, you see 3 cockroaches (like those big ones they used to have on Fear Factor) crawl back under the seat, don't mention it to the others getting in the taxi, ignorance is bliss
-enjoy being called "obruni", you'll miss it when you get back home
-when you get back, don't act better than everyone else, but still be very grateful for what we have here
-don't be afraid to haggle with taxi drivers, catch a tro-tro by yourself, or haggle for the right price when buying pretty much anything
-eat new food
-pay attention to what they tell you at the health clinic before you go, but at the same time, use your head. There was a list of quite a few things NOT to do when travelling to abroad, and when I got back, I had done most of the things on the list (what foods to eat/what foods to avoid, where to eat, etc)
-buying food off of the side of the road can sometimes backfire, but you can get some of the best tasting food there from the friendliest people
-do not take pictures of people without their permission
-enjoy making some of your stories sound way more unsafe then they actually were, its can make people think you're even more crazy
-do some site seeing, don't be afraid to sleep in a tent, alone, in the jungle, 10 minutes away from anyone else, and the closest thing to you is the warthogs and antelope you can hear right outside your tent
-you need to be able to sleep anywhere, they will be some long journeys and to make them pass faster, you have to be able to sleep on the bus, sitting up, squished beside people you don't know.
-get comfy shoes or sandles, your feet will thank you
-and most of all, enjoy every minute of the trip, even the bad times, it makes the good so much better.

Wow, that was a longer post than I was planning. And just the same as I end a lot of my posts on here... That's all I got for you now, and I'll probably be back at some point. Probably the next time I get the travel bug, and maybe this time I'll actually go somewhere. That'd be awesome.

In a World Like This...

Hey all,

You didn't think I'd post here again so fast did you? Ok, maybe not so fast, but compared to my last update, I'm speedy. Well, neither did I. But here I am. I first want to say how cool it is that I am apparently getting people who read my blog from all over the world. That's awesome.Over half my views from this past month have been from overseas. So hello everyone!!

Now onto what I really wanted to say...it's that I have the travel bug again. I've been in one place far too long. Not that I don't like it here. But I need to go and see something. What? I don't know, but I do know that while I'm still going back to Ghana at some point, I want to see more of the world. Now I know your thinking "are you nuts?", and sometimes I think I am, but I still want to travel. I've always wanted to travel, my first love was Italy simply because I liked pasta, and that came from Italy as far as I was concerned. And also I wanted to go there because I loved learning about Ancient Rome when I got older. I did make it there in 2005 on a school trip and loved every minute of it. Then came the decision to go to Africa. I had always wanted to go there long before I told anyone my intentions. I remember watching those World Vision shows that they had on TV for hours, even though they tended to repeat after a while, when I was not even 10 years old yet. Then I got it in my head that I needed to go and do something, so I picked up and left.

And yeah, it was a little nerve-racking the first time around. Before that, the furthest I had travelled completely by myself was only 4 hours away from my parents to Moose Jaw, and even then I had my Grandparents close by. But that didn't stop me from flying half way around the world by myself to Africa. And while I do believe people back here were worried when I missed that one flight and they didn't know where I was because they didn't know when my connecting flight was, I was perfectly fine. I wasn't to worried. I figured out it's just easier not to worry yourself to much, I won't help and just get you worked up. Although I do remember that first phone call to my Dad, almost six days after I had seen him last, that was completely awesome.

Anyway back to my original point, I need to travel. But it won't be anytime this year, there is this thing called a job that gets in the way. Although I will admit working in insurance actually pretty good. I enjoy it, surprisingly. But I still need to travel, I want to see the world. And it will happen, just like I told everyone that I was going to Ghana in the first place, and just like when I told everyone I was going back, they're likely not going to believe me. It's ok, I've come to expect that. But I figure I might as well do it while I'm young and not tied to anything. I figure that I should do what my auntie and I discussed a while ago, that when I go to the airport next time, only tell my parents that I'm going for a few weeks. But just as I get through security, yell back to them that I'm actually leaving for a year and then run like h*ll. We figured it would be hilarious to see there reactions to it.

I don't know what else to tell you, I doubt anybody even cares at this point anyway. But just wait and see, once I have the time and money, I'm outta here...again. Just don't tell the parents.

Its Been a While

My last post I said I'd update this place again at some point, and I don't want to make a liar out of myself so I'm updating again. Its been a year and a half since I've been home. And I can honestly say I miss Ghana as much now as I did the day after I got back. I can't believe its been that long, wow, time flies when your, well, working I guess. Since I've been back I've moved out and am currently working 2 jobs. I never thought I'd have 2 jobs at once, but its not too bad actually. Although they couldn't be at more different places. I am going to miss my 4:30am shift when I go full time at the other place. I'll miss all my old guy regulars who come in for coffee, there so nice, and for the most part, not to creepy.

I have good news about one of the kids at the childrens home, I was on facebook a while back (I think about a month ago or so) and came across a picture of my princess that I hadn't seen before. If you don't remember my princess, Adwoa, was the one little girl during my first stay at the childrens home that I got really attached to, and honestly looked and bringing her here with me. Well, this picture was taken about 2 months before I went back to Ghana the second time, and she looked so big and healthy, it was awesome. Auntie Esther, the house mother at the girls house had told me she went with her mother, but I wasn't sure how much I believed her because I had known her to not tell the truth on something like that, and the first time I asked her about Adwoa she said she didn't know who I was talking about. But the picture that I seen proves that Adwoa was doing very fine only 2 months before I went back, which means that she likely did go with her mother and and not what I feared most. If you ask my mom, I'm sure she'll tell you how happy I was when I saw that picture. I believe my words were that that picture didn't just make my day it made my whole life. That picture is still the background on my cell phone.

I'm still planning on going back, it will happen for sure, but this 2 jobs thing has kinda slowed down the plans for that. But I will. After I came back the first time, everyone asked if I liked it and if I would ever go back. Now they all skip right to the question "when are you going back". Because they know it will happen. I said in one of my previous posts how different it was coming back home the second time compared to the first time, and I can still say it was totally different. I was talking to someone during Christmas who had been to Jamaica recently and they said how some people here don't realize how lucky they are unless the travel somewhere else and see for themselves what really goes on. And its totally true, I really had a hard time coming back the first time with some of the people who live here and act entitled to everything, when back where I had been where some kids dinner would be 1 cup of this milk/porridge stuff and that all they got. If that spilled on themselves when they ate/drank it, well, then didn't get anymore. And then the would lay there because they couldn't literally walk or talk or do anything unless someone helped them even though they were 4 years old. It was really frustrating. But coming back the second time, I don't know if I was used to it, or if I knew what to expect more, but it wasn't as tough. That doesn't mean I didn't want to leave Ghana the second time, definitely not.

But onto happier notes, I still miss FanIce, FanYogo, riding in tro-tros, taxis, and almost getting hit by many vehicles. Especially semi-trucks, those are fun when they come up behind you and drive probably 4-5 feet away from you at 50 kph, that's usually when they honk too. Or when you get yelled "Obruni" at by random people on the street and they ask you something in Twi and then laugh like crazy when you can answer them in Twi. I miss fufu, groundnut soup, jollof rice, plantain chips and yams. And the fish that you get with your meal that still has everything too it, including head and its eyes. I miss the bugs, lizards and huge frogs that make a cool sound when you step on them (accidentally I might add). I miss the cockroaches that would crawl underneath my bed when I was trying to sleep, and killing them with about 15 whacks of my sandal. I miss the spider that was always on the wall of the shower and that one time it had a friend spider that was way bigger. Sleeping under mosquito nets, bug spray, sunscreen, water sachets, getting marriage proposals, annoying chickens, constant 30 degree heat, and walking around town by yourself where you don't know anybody, don't speak the language and stick out like a sore thumb but yet still feel at home.

At Christmas two years ago, we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church, and at that service was a couple, from here, who had lived in Ghana, for 2 years I believe. They came up to me at the end and asked how I was in twi, I was so shocked I couldn't really answer. We talked for a while and it was awesome. Just as I was leaving, I was walked beside the husband who was waiting for his wife, and told him Merry Christmas in Twi, the look on his face was fantastic. I don't think he expected to hear that.

Ok, I'll stop writing now. I had written a whole other paragraph but deleted it because I decided it didn't need to be here. I may come back to blog again some time, but I really don't know.

One Month Gone

It has been just under one month since I left Kumasi. I can't really believe that. Where did that month go? I said I'd update this thing a couple of weeks ago, but yeah, clearly that didn't happen. Coming back home the second time is actually alot different than coming home the first time. When I got back last year I was so pumped to see everyone and get the food that I was craving. This time, I was excited to see everyone again, but it was definatly different. I didn't have a list of food that I wanted to eat when I got back, like I did last time. Last year when I came back I had almost my entire first week of meals planned out of food that I wanted. This year I was asked what I wanted to eat for my first supper back and I didn't really care that much. All I know is that I didn't want rice.

I can't really say why it is so different this time. Maybe its because I knew more what to expect coming back this year. It was the same going to Ghana a second time, it was easier to get into a routine the second time. And coming back the second time is a lot easier.

What was really nice coming back this time was that a week after I got back my parents had their 25th anniversary celebration type thing, so the house was full for a couple of days. I saw people that I haven't seen in a long time.

One story that I don't think I've told on here before (forgive me if I have) happened at one of our wednesday night meetings. One of the volunteers that was there at the time was from New Zealand. Quite often we would have quiz nights, the team who lost in the last quiz had to be the "Quiz Master" for the next quiz. The guy from New Zealand was the quiz master on this particular night. After about 30 questions, 2 teams were still tied for first. The team I was on, and another one. So the quiz master had to make up extra questions to break the tie. One of the questions was, Where is the Rugby World Cup being held this year? So naturally I said, loudly, that nobody cares about rugby. Which in most other situations would just slide by. Well not so much this time, at the time I was the only volunteer from North America. And what I also didn't know, but could've helped at the time, was that rugby in New Zealand is the same as hockey is here in Canada. Basically their nuts about it. The look I got from the guy from New Zealand was quite hilarious.

And actally, I have watched more rugby since I've been home than I have in my entire life. Its actually pretty good to watch. Just a day after I got back, Canada played New Zealand in the world cup. So naturally I had to watch it. Canada lost, by a lot. But to put it in perspective, the commentator said that New Zealand playing Canada in rugby is basically the same as what would happen if Canada played New Zealand in hockey.

Ok, I don't know what else to tell you. I really enjoy being home, no matter how much I say I miss Ghana, which I do, tons.

Stay tuned, I'll probably update this place again at some point in time.