Week three.
Humidity is not my friend.
Today started off with a nice 6:00 am workout followed by.....a shower! Too bad we were basically out of water and I could hardly rinse the soap off of my body.
Then I went downstairs, and after a series of annoying events, I ended up spilling half a bottle of oil onto the cement floor. Now let me as you, just how do you clean this situation up? Let's just say I was in a bit of a mood for a good part of my morning.
We went to catch a taxi, and ended up taking a tro. It is half the price of the taxi, but you have to make so many stops that it is a little annoying. The guy collecting money in the tro was so funny, with his low rise jeans and mesh tank top..........yep.
So, we got to work and decided that we needed a little inspiration for our trend research. So, what better than to go for a nice long hike in the rain forest. We once again overthrew a trotro and we set off to Kakum national park. The word Kakum actually comes from the call of one of the monekys. If you would like more information on Kakum you will need to google that on your own....as I am not A travel guide here. :-)
So, by far the best part of our visit was doing the canopy walk! It was so fun, and the photos I took do not even do justice to what it was like looking down from so high up. Our guide was funny, because before we walked across, he said that if you get scared, don't look down, and if all else fails, remember that God loves you. Then when we were waiting for the last group to finish, we asked how they were doing and his response was that we might want to pray for them to make it. There was a total of 7 walkways we had to cross over two by two, and some were quite a bit wobbly. We found out that you can rent a tree house and stay the night, so we are hoping to go back and do that.
When we got back to work it was pretty late in the afternoon, so we spent the remainder of the afternoon packing garments for the shipment we have later this week. We were going to work late today because we felt bad being gone for so long, but they told us to go and relax. Sooooo we did!
On the way home we stopped at one of the shops that is down from our house, and after having a nice drumming lesson, and jammin out with a Rasta, I purchased my brother a drum. I picked the one with the best look to it, so hopefully it also has the best sound to it as well.
I made my own food for dinner tonight, not as good as what Eli makes us, but at least it saved me some money.
Today there was a dead puppy in the road all day, and every time I walked past him I just wanted to cry my eyes out. Poor little pup. Speaking of pups, Pepo ate poop at the beach the other day, so he is in deep trouble now and will not be eating my oatmeal for a few days.
Everyone in the house is so sick right now, so I am keeping my distance and hoping that it is nothing I can catch.
I will try to post photos soon!
Peace. Love. Mesh Tank Tops.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Fire Safety Sunday
Last nights dinner was my new favorite meal I think. We had some kind of spinach and tomato stew with yams and plantains. Mmmmmm it was a little spicy and so so good.
The weather today is pretty gloomy. I guess I never thought of Ghana being overcast and cool. It actually feels a bit like Michigan today.
We all went to (or back to) Ellen's church this morning because when you get up at 6:30 everyday, its not too hard to make it to a 9:30 service. I wasn't really in the dancing mood when we got there, so I managed to avoid the dance circle, but later I did end up taking a few laps around the church in the offering conga line. The "sisters" that were new had to go up in front of the church like Katie and I had to last week. But then they asked if all of the Americans would please stay after for a meeting.
I started to get ants in my pants towards the end because it was gloomy outside and there was a firefighter up in front talking about fire safety all in Fante. All I got from that alk was to unplug my appliances when I leave the house, and make sure your kitchen in airy. .....I don't know.
So, finally Mr. Firefighter sat down, but we were once again reminded to stay after for the meeting. It ended up being that they just wanted to welcome us, and they told us they were so happy we came to visit and then they gave us all a pop. The issue with dinks here, is that you have to give the bottles back, so pretty much have to chug drinks around here.
When we got back to the house we were going to go back to Aunti Ginas to finish our batik from Thursday, but the weather turned bad again, so we decided to cancel. However, when we called her the phone was off, so hopefully she will get the message and not be mad at us. We were all getting pretty restless in the house went for a walk and found a great new sitting spot. It is just right across from us on these huge rocks in the ocean. I could seriously just sit there all day looking at the waves hit the rocks. There were huge crabs crawling all over, and when you lick your lips you could taste the salt. After sitting for awhile we came back to the house and hung out until dinner time.
We went to Elis and had some ground nut soup. While we were eating we decided to play a murder mystery game. I was Eve Coli, head cook at the summer resort. It was really funny because we all had to be in character throughout the meal, and all we could talk about was resort issues and killers. Everyone thought that I was a killer, but it ended up that I was not.
In other news...I have not showered in 4 days. Its not like I feel or look clean when I do, so I'm just going to hold off as long as possible.
Peace. Love. Fire safety.
The weather today is pretty gloomy. I guess I never thought of Ghana being overcast and cool. It actually feels a bit like Michigan today.
We all went to (or back to) Ellen's church this morning because when you get up at 6:30 everyday, its not too hard to make it to a 9:30 service. I wasn't really in the dancing mood when we got there, so I managed to avoid the dance circle, but later I did end up taking a few laps around the church in the offering conga line. The "sisters" that were new had to go up in front of the church like Katie and I had to last week. But then they asked if all of the Americans would please stay after for a meeting.
I started to get ants in my pants towards the end because it was gloomy outside and there was a firefighter up in front talking about fire safety all in Fante. All I got from that alk was to unplug my appliances when I leave the house, and make sure your kitchen in airy. .....I don't know.
So, finally Mr. Firefighter sat down, but we were once again reminded to stay after for the meeting. It ended up being that they just wanted to welcome us, and they told us they were so happy we came to visit and then they gave us all a pop. The issue with dinks here, is that you have to give the bottles back, so pretty much have to chug drinks around here.
When we got back to the house we were going to go back to Aunti Ginas to finish our batik from Thursday, but the weather turned bad again, so we decided to cancel. However, when we called her the phone was off, so hopefully she will get the message and not be mad at us. We were all getting pretty restless in the house went for a walk and found a great new sitting spot. It is just right across from us on these huge rocks in the ocean. I could seriously just sit there all day looking at the waves hit the rocks. There were huge crabs crawling all over, and when you lick your lips you could taste the salt. After sitting for awhile we came back to the house and hung out until dinner time.
We went to Elis and had some ground nut soup. While we were eating we decided to play a murder mystery game. I was Eve Coli, head cook at the summer resort. It was really funny because we all had to be in character throughout the meal, and all we could talk about was resort issues and killers. Everyone thought that I was a killer, but it ended up that I was not.
In other news...I have not showered in 4 days. Its not like I feel or look clean when I do, so I'm just going to hold off as long as possible.
Peace. Love. Fire safety.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Lets Go Go in the Trotro!
Those poor trotro drivers didn't know what they were getting themselves into when they picked up the van of Obrunis.
Our morning started out bright and early when we walked to catch a cab at 6:00 am. First we got into a shared taxi that was going to take us to pick up a tro. Then all of a sudden we were pulled over to the side of the road and we were being told to take the trotro that was on the opposite side of the road. So, we paid the driver, and he totally ripped us off and said it was 1 cedi. So, I lost it and yelled at him and counted change in his hand and slammed the door of his car. Soooooo we were not off to a good start.
We piled into the trotro and we were on our way. The goal was to take the tro to a different stop, where we would catch another tro to our destination. On the way to the first stop we picked up and dropped off multiple people, and grabbed a few side of the road treats. When we got to the tro station we talked our driver and his mate into driving us all the way to the village. We had a general idea of where we were headed, but really we had no idea where we were going....and we found out that neither did the tro.
We just kept driving and driving and dodging huge bumps in the road and asking directions to which everyone replied "just keep going that way". Finally it got to the point that I had to pee, so we pulled over and I did my first ever squat in the trees and pee move! Let me tell you..it was interesting. So, 5 hours from our starting point we finally arrived in the small town of Nzulezo, or the village on stilts.
Nzulezo is on the fresh water lake of Amansuri. The entire village is above the water and there is one central walkway with about 24 houses. The people of this village are mostly farmers and have to take a boat when they go to work.
When we arrived, you have to first pay at the information building and then take a conoe out to the village. Our drivers had already agreed to take us back, but they were so mad that we thought maybe they would leave us behind. This was not even an option for us, because when we were driving into the village, there were NO cars for miles. So, I had a brilliant idea to basically kidnap our drivers. I asked them if we were to pay for them, would they like to join us in seeing the village. Somehow by the grace of God, the agreed to our plan, and we all got into our canoes and paddled off to the village.
I don't know if we were all slap happy, or if we were getting sun stroke, but we were feeling a little loopy by the time we were on the water, so when the main boat man started to hum, we decided to bust out in full Disney movie songs. You name it, we sang it. We were starting to wonder if we were somehow being a little disrespectful, but then all of the guys started naming song requests and said that in the 10 years they have been working there, we were the most happy and energetic group they have ever known. So, we kept the songs going until the village was in site, then we shut up.
We pull in, and walked the main road of the village and learned a little bit about he history. Then we had a little rest and before we knew it we were back in the boat paddling away. It is crazy to think that anytime the people in the village need something, that they have to take a boat one hour to dry land. And once they get there, it is still quite a walk to get to a store. Needless to say, the women of the village had the most toned arms you will ever see. At one point our canoe passed another canoe of Obrunis, so we all shouted OBRUNI OBRUNI WHAT IS YOUR NAME!!
When we made it back to dry land, we quickly got back into the car, so that we could make it back to the house at a reasonable time. The ride back was just as bumpy, and dirty, and sweaty as before. Lucky for the drivers we were able to pick up people along the way, so they made some more money. We were all exhausted, and hungry, and my water was becoming less and less as we went on. For a while we played our favorite game, "what do you wish you were eating right now" but that was not helping with the hunger pains. When we got back to the middle stopping point we had to pick up a lot of people, because we were now back on the tros regular route, so some people and a tv piled into the van, and then the vendors swarmed the tro. This was the most overwhelming part of the trip, because you are sitting in a hot van, feeling like a complete grease ball and tons of people are all around the windows trying to get you to buy everything from toilet paper, to spring rolls. It is actually a good system, because you can do all of your shopping without going to the store. Of course the only thing I wanted was not being offered to us. But as we passed through a smaller village, someone was selling plantain chips, so I grabbed a bag to hold me over until dinner. Mmmm they are so good! Mom, you need to figure out how to make them before I get home.
Finally, after another 5 hour drive we made it to the house. We thanked our driver and gave him a generous amount of money, and then he gave us his phone number for our next trip. So, by that action I am guessing that he didn't mind our kidnapping too much. :-)
This morning it was storming, so we have just been hanging around the house, and tonight we are going to have dinner with some people who are here from France.
Oh, and Michael I found those shakers you wanted, and I had the shop owner give me a lesson on proper technique.
Peace. Love. Trotro jacking.
Our morning started out bright and early when we walked to catch a cab at 6:00 am. First we got into a shared taxi that was going to take us to pick up a tro. Then all of a sudden we were pulled over to the side of the road and we were being told to take the trotro that was on the opposite side of the road. So, we paid the driver, and he totally ripped us off and said it was 1 cedi. So, I lost it and yelled at him and counted change in his hand and slammed the door of his car. Soooooo we were not off to a good start.
We piled into the trotro and we were on our way. The goal was to take the tro to a different stop, where we would catch another tro to our destination. On the way to the first stop we picked up and dropped off multiple people, and grabbed a few side of the road treats. When we got to the tro station we talked our driver and his mate into driving us all the way to the village. We had a general idea of where we were headed, but really we had no idea where we were going....and we found out that neither did the tro.
We just kept driving and driving and dodging huge bumps in the road and asking directions to which everyone replied "just keep going that way". Finally it got to the point that I had to pee, so we pulled over and I did my first ever squat in the trees and pee move! Let me tell you..it was interesting. So, 5 hours from our starting point we finally arrived in the small town of Nzulezo, or the village on stilts.
Nzulezo is on the fresh water lake of Amansuri. The entire village is above the water and there is one central walkway with about 24 houses. The people of this village are mostly farmers and have to take a boat when they go to work.
When we arrived, you have to first pay at the information building and then take a conoe out to the village. Our drivers had already agreed to take us back, but they were so mad that we thought maybe they would leave us behind. This was not even an option for us, because when we were driving into the village, there were NO cars for miles. So, I had a brilliant idea to basically kidnap our drivers. I asked them if we were to pay for them, would they like to join us in seeing the village. Somehow by the grace of God, the agreed to our plan, and we all got into our canoes and paddled off to the village.
I don't know if we were all slap happy, or if we were getting sun stroke, but we were feeling a little loopy by the time we were on the water, so when the main boat man started to hum, we decided to bust out in full Disney movie songs. You name it, we sang it. We were starting to wonder if we were somehow being a little disrespectful, but then all of the guys started naming song requests and said that in the 10 years they have been working there, we were the most happy and energetic group they have ever known. So, we kept the songs going until the village was in site, then we shut up.
We pull in, and walked the main road of the village and learned a little bit about he history. Then we had a little rest and before we knew it we were back in the boat paddling away. It is crazy to think that anytime the people in the village need something, that they have to take a boat one hour to dry land. And once they get there, it is still quite a walk to get to a store. Needless to say, the women of the village had the most toned arms you will ever see. At one point our canoe passed another canoe of Obrunis, so we all shouted OBRUNI OBRUNI WHAT IS YOUR NAME!!
When we made it back to dry land, we quickly got back into the car, so that we could make it back to the house at a reasonable time. The ride back was just as bumpy, and dirty, and sweaty as before. Lucky for the drivers we were able to pick up people along the way, so they made some more money. We were all exhausted, and hungry, and my water was becoming less and less as we went on. For a while we played our favorite game, "what do you wish you were eating right now" but that was not helping with the hunger pains. When we got back to the middle stopping point we had to pick up a lot of people, because we were now back on the tros regular route, so some people and a tv piled into the van, and then the vendors swarmed the tro. This was the most overwhelming part of the trip, because you are sitting in a hot van, feeling like a complete grease ball and tons of people are all around the windows trying to get you to buy everything from toilet paper, to spring rolls. It is actually a good system, because you can do all of your shopping without going to the store. Of course the only thing I wanted was not being offered to us. But as we passed through a smaller village, someone was selling plantain chips, so I grabbed a bag to hold me over until dinner. Mmmm they are so good! Mom, you need to figure out how to make them before I get home.
Finally, after another 5 hour drive we made it to the house. We thanked our driver and gave him a generous amount of money, and then he gave us his phone number for our next trip. So, by that action I am guessing that he didn't mind our kidnapping too much. :-)
This morning it was storming, so we have just been hanging around the house, and tonight we are going to have dinner with some people who are here from France.
Oh, and Michael I found those shakers you wanted, and I had the shop owner give me a lesson on proper technique.
Peace. Love. Trotro jacking.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Death Cab for Cutie
Yesterday after the huge storm the weather cooled off quite a bit, and once the sun went down it was actually quite comfortable. I mean, I still had on a sleeveless dress, but our night guard was in a winter jacket and a hat....so, he thought it was cold. We had all of the windows open and turned the fan on for bed and it was sooooo nice and cold in our room! I slept so well!
Today, we had a typical taxi ride to the office, but todays cab driver had the looooooongest nails that I have ever seen in my life. I was so distracted by them the entire ride. Gah! It made me want to vom a little.
This morning we spent most of our time sketching out designs for the batik workshop that we had in the afternoon. We took a while figuring out sizes and shapes and then we traced them onto the ash foam. Nick and I were trying to figure out the best way to turn one large piece of foam into six smaller ones, so when we noticed a hack saw in the corner, we decided that we would give it a try. I had a flashback to the movie The Edge, where they give the inexperienced guy a knife and he cuts a huge slash in his leg....have no fear, we had cutting success.
We then carved our designs into our smaller pieces. I made a mommy and a baby bird. Speaking of mommy, I FINALLY skpyed my mom today! Yay for Prggy! She was looking good sporting her work out gear! :-)
In the afternoon a taxi came to the office and picked all 7 of us up for the batik workshop. We drove a little outside Cape Coast to Aunti Ginas house, where we learned the basics of batik. Did you know that the word batik comes from Java, meaning "to write with wax". In our case we were not doing so much writing as we were stamping. For the design that I was making I first made a wax stamp of the smaller birds onto the solid white cloth. Then I put it into a vat of blue dye. I wanted to use more of n aqua color, but due to lack of powder, it ended up more of a blue.
Once we applied the first color we had to hang them up to dry before we could apply the next layer of wax. However, as soon as we all had our cloth hanging, it started to down pour! This put us in a bit of a pickle. So, good 'ol Auntie gina invited us into her house to sit while it rained. Once the rain stopped we went back out to the porch to continue batiking. However, due to lack of day light we have to go back on Sunday to finish.
While we were waiting around, we played with some baby chicks they had at the house. Ooooo they are just sooooooo soft and cute! I wanted to take it home with me!
We had to walk a little ways to get a cab, and thankfully Auntie Gina came with us to do some negotiating. We had to settle on paying each taxi 5 cedi to take us back to our town...even though we were closer than work, and that ride only runs about 80 peswas.
So, our drivers were not happy that they had to drive "out of the way" and then we had to give him directions to where we live. So, we told hime to head back to Elmina and he took a "short cut" through the University campus. When we finally came out the other side we ended up on a road that I recognized. Then, we told the driver that our road was coming up, so he pulled over, and we said no, no its down the road, so he started driving down the wrong side of the road, like into on coming traffic!! We were like get over on the other side, and he just kept driving. So as headlights were shining into our car, and the silhouette of Jesus was being cast onto the roof from the Jesus sticker on the back window, I didn't know whether to be horrified or feel comforted. I think that my body went with the first option tho. But, in the end we made it back.
I think I am going to be traveling this weekend, so I will not post tomorrow.
Peace. Love. Jesus sticker.
Today, we had a typical taxi ride to the office, but todays cab driver had the looooooongest nails that I have ever seen in my life. I was so distracted by them the entire ride. Gah! It made me want to vom a little.
This morning we spent most of our time sketching out designs for the batik workshop that we had in the afternoon. We took a while figuring out sizes and shapes and then we traced them onto the ash foam. Nick and I were trying to figure out the best way to turn one large piece of foam into six smaller ones, so when we noticed a hack saw in the corner, we decided that we would give it a try. I had a flashback to the movie The Edge, where they give the inexperienced guy a knife and he cuts a huge slash in his leg....have no fear, we had cutting success.
We then carved our designs into our smaller pieces. I made a mommy and a baby bird. Speaking of mommy, I FINALLY skpyed my mom today! Yay for Prggy! She was looking good sporting her work out gear! :-)
In the afternoon a taxi came to the office and picked all 7 of us up for the batik workshop. We drove a little outside Cape Coast to Aunti Ginas house, where we learned the basics of batik. Did you know that the word batik comes from Java, meaning "to write with wax". In our case we were not doing so much writing as we were stamping. For the design that I was making I first made a wax stamp of the smaller birds onto the solid white cloth. Then I put it into a vat of blue dye. I wanted to use more of n aqua color, but due to lack of powder, it ended up more of a blue.
Once we applied the first color we had to hang them up to dry before we could apply the next layer of wax. However, as soon as we all had our cloth hanging, it started to down pour! This put us in a bit of a pickle. So, good 'ol Auntie gina invited us into her house to sit while it rained. Once the rain stopped we went back out to the porch to continue batiking. However, due to lack of day light we have to go back on Sunday to finish.
While we were waiting around, we played with some baby chicks they had at the house. Ooooo they are just sooooooo soft and cute! I wanted to take it home with me!
We had to walk a little ways to get a cab, and thankfully Auntie Gina came with us to do some negotiating. We had to settle on paying each taxi 5 cedi to take us back to our town...even though we were closer than work, and that ride only runs about 80 peswas.
So, our drivers were not happy that they had to drive "out of the way" and then we had to give him directions to where we live. So, we told hime to head back to Elmina and he took a "short cut" through the University campus. When we finally came out the other side we ended up on a road that I recognized. Then, we told the driver that our road was coming up, so he pulled over, and we said no, no its down the road, so he started driving down the wrong side of the road, like into on coming traffic!! We were like get over on the other side, and he just kept driving. So as headlights were shining into our car, and the silhouette of Jesus was being cast onto the roof from the Jesus sticker on the back window, I didn't know whether to be horrified or feel comforted. I think that my body went with the first option tho. But, in the end we made it back.
I think I am going to be traveling this weekend, so I will not post tomorrow.
Peace. Love. Jesus sticker.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Shut those goats up!
Wednesday.
Yesterday at dinner I have a very traditional dish on Banku. It is boiled, fermented corn dough with okro stew. It is not to be chewed, and is eaten with your RIGHT hand. I did not mind the texture of the dough ball, but I did not really feel like I was enjoying my food, because I was just swallowing it. I fell like I was a little kid trying to gag down something disgusting that my parents were trying to feed me. The dish is very filling, probably because you are swallowing chunks of dough, that are expanding in your stomach....I did not finish the entire glob.
We finally had power last night, so I was able to enjoy sleeping with the fan. The fan in my room is like industrial strength, and blocks out all sounds, roosters, goats, calls to worship, and the alarm clock I have right next to my head. I was the only one who made it to the gym this morning, but that was ok, because I had my choice of equipment to use.
Catching a taxi is so easy to do in the morning now that there are so many of us. It is nice because we fill the entire taxi, and then it can not make any stops along the way, so we get to work a lot faster.
Because of our day off yesterday, it feels like a Monday, and it seemed like we had so much to do at work! I spent the first part of my morning in a meeting with Maria, discussing the 2011 designs that will be used, dropped, or created. All of you quilters out there will be thrilled to know that Global Mamas will be producing fat quarters as of January 2011! Bad news for Olive Veenstra....the dog hat has been dropped. However, we have a few other tricks up our sleeves for the pups :-) I feel that I can not really talk about the new products on here, because what if someone else is reading this and takes our ideas....so rude.
So, after my meeting with Maria, I met with the design interns to fill them in on what they would be designing for this coming season. We had a few patterns to fix, and some other projects to finish, so the morning seemed to be a little crazy. Then we started out trend forecasting. For those of you who do not know what that means, it is when designers figure out colors, patterns, textures, shapes, etc. for their collection. We gather anything that inspires us, and some how throw it all into a presentation that wows the mamas! In the middle of our research, a HUGE storm blew in, and the power went out. surprise, surprise. So, we used that time to gather some inspiration from a few magazines we had.....all the while thinking about how we hoped that the bread lady found a dry place to stay during the storm, and that she would still make it to the office.
Have no fear, the bread lady made it in, with fresh, dry bread.
On our ride home today, we got the taxi driver who drove Katie when she threw up out his window. He was actually rather excited to see her, and asked if she was feeling better.
Tomorrow I am taking my first Batik class! Yay, finally I will have a post that relates to the title of this blog! Today, we the designers got a large piece of ash foam that we are going to carve out designs on tonight, so that we can have our own unique stamps for the workshop tomorrow. I'm thinking......birds. :-)
A few things I would like the clear up.
Sorry that I do not respond to your comments, but for whatever reason, I can not comment on my blackberry, so I will try to address comments in my blog post from now on. Oh, like maybe a little Q&A section at the end.
So, in response to recent comments:
Next time I post photos I WILL have house photos and Pepo :-)
All of the garments shown in the photo of the store are one of a kind! It is so cool in there.
I will be taking drumming lessons, every Tuesday, so Michael tell me what size the drum you want should be so that I can be on the look out.
I LOVE that you all include your own peace. love. comments.
And who do the List Family comments come from? I am so confused.
peace. love. banku.
Yesterday at dinner I have a very traditional dish on Banku. It is boiled, fermented corn dough with okro stew. It is not to be chewed, and is eaten with your RIGHT hand. I did not mind the texture of the dough ball, but I did not really feel like I was enjoying my food, because I was just swallowing it. I fell like I was a little kid trying to gag down something disgusting that my parents were trying to feed me. The dish is very filling, probably because you are swallowing chunks of dough, that are expanding in your stomach....I did not finish the entire glob.
We finally had power last night, so I was able to enjoy sleeping with the fan. The fan in my room is like industrial strength, and blocks out all sounds, roosters, goats, calls to worship, and the alarm clock I have right next to my head. I was the only one who made it to the gym this morning, but that was ok, because I had my choice of equipment to use.
Catching a taxi is so easy to do in the morning now that there are so many of us. It is nice because we fill the entire taxi, and then it can not make any stops along the way, so we get to work a lot faster.
Because of our day off yesterday, it feels like a Monday, and it seemed like we had so much to do at work! I spent the first part of my morning in a meeting with Maria, discussing the 2011 designs that will be used, dropped, or created. All of you quilters out there will be thrilled to know that Global Mamas will be producing fat quarters as of January 2011! Bad news for Olive Veenstra....the dog hat has been dropped. However, we have a few other tricks up our sleeves for the pups :-) I feel that I can not really talk about the new products on here, because what if someone else is reading this and takes our ideas....so rude.
So, after my meeting with Maria, I met with the design interns to fill them in on what they would be designing for this coming season. We had a few patterns to fix, and some other projects to finish, so the morning seemed to be a little crazy. Then we started out trend forecasting. For those of you who do not know what that means, it is when designers figure out colors, patterns, textures, shapes, etc. for their collection. We gather anything that inspires us, and some how throw it all into a presentation that wows the mamas! In the middle of our research, a HUGE storm blew in, and the power went out. surprise, surprise. So, we used that time to gather some inspiration from a few magazines we had.....all the while thinking about how we hoped that the bread lady found a dry place to stay during the storm, and that she would still make it to the office.
Have no fear, the bread lady made it in, with fresh, dry bread.
On our ride home today, we got the taxi driver who drove Katie when she threw up out his window. He was actually rather excited to see her, and asked if she was feeling better.
Tomorrow I am taking my first Batik class! Yay, finally I will have a post that relates to the title of this blog! Today, we the designers got a large piece of ash foam that we are going to carve out designs on tonight, so that we can have our own unique stamps for the workshop tomorrow. I'm thinking......birds. :-)
A few things I would like the clear up.
Sorry that I do not respond to your comments, but for whatever reason, I can not comment on my blackberry, so I will try to address comments in my blog post from now on. Oh, like maybe a little Q&A section at the end.
So, in response to recent comments:
Next time I post photos I WILL have house photos and Pepo :-)
All of the garments shown in the photo of the store are one of a kind! It is so cool in there.
I will be taking drumming lessons, every Tuesday, so Michael tell me what size the drum you want should be so that I can be on the look out.
I LOVE that you all include your own peace. love. comments.
And who do the List Family comments come from? I am so confused.
peace. love. banku.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A photo Update!
Because today is a national holiday, I did not have to go to work.
So, to keep my readers interested....here are a few photos!
So, to keep my readers interested....here are a few photos!
This is the Global Mamas store in Accra
peace. love. clinique.
This is the street I work on.
This is across from where I work.
Typical around Cape Coast.
This photo sums up my weekend.
This little guy came in with the fish net.
peace. love. Global Mamas.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Taxi Sam
Week 2.
It's hot!
First things first. There is some confusion on my oatmeal recipe. I do cook the oats, peanut butter and brown sugar. It is basically like a no-bake cookie without the chocolate. I am just excited because I normally do not like oatmeal. So, put it all in a bowl and add hot water to the consistency you prefer.
The power went out again last night, but it was hotter than the night before so I woke up drenched in my own sweat. Lovely. I woke up early and went to the gym for a nice morning workout. When I got back to the house the power was back on, so I made my oatmeal and sat one the porch with Pepo patiently waiting to get the final spoonful.
I had taxi success again this morning, and I was able to get my car full of new interns to the office in record time. The office is packed with everyone crammed in here trying to cool off. Because there was a new group of interns, there was another tour around the city. Katie and I went along again, because we were still a little turned around. The "short" tour ended up lasting 4 hours, and we all ended up with a sun burn.
When we came back we had lunch, some ate goat, some ate red red, I had my fiber one bar. The red red made a disturbing reappearance later in the afternoon. The groups first Welcome to Ghana. The rest of the afternoon was spent talking with the interns about their summer assignments, and doing an emergency re-pattern of a dress. The dress is going to be sent out next week, but we just found the problem last week. So, after talking with the U.S. Office, we decided it would be better to re-do the dress. We spent the last part of the day working on fitting until the power went out and we decided to grab a taxi home.
It was about 5:30 and that's when taxis start getting harder to get, so we were power walking to the stop. When we got there Sam, the taxi man was there as always. He remembers my name every time and puts me right into a cab. But today because we were a little late, he was our driver and even dropped us off right at the house. I said Sam, can you drop us at the Elmina Beach Resort Junction? And he was like...You aren't going home? So I was like well yeah, but we can just walk....but he took us right there.
Side note. Katie aka revenge of the red red, threw up out the window of her taxi on the way home. If they got mad at me for "slamming" the door, then I wonder what they thought about that.
When we got back to the house, the power was out again, but we had our first group Fante lesson with Ellen our house girl...or maybe its house woman. Or maybe I should really just call here Ellen. Yes, from now on it is only Ellen. Today we learned our numbers.
One: ekor
Two: ebien
Three: ebaasa
Four: anan
Five: enum
Six: esia
Seven: essoun
Eight: awctwe
Nine: akron
Ten: edu.
Say those ten times a day.
Ok, I just tried to make mt oatmeal dry and it was foul. I had to add cold water to it.
Cook your oats.
Peace. Love. Fante
It's hot!
First things first. There is some confusion on my oatmeal recipe. I do cook the oats, peanut butter and brown sugar. It is basically like a no-bake cookie without the chocolate. I am just excited because I normally do not like oatmeal. So, put it all in a bowl and add hot water to the consistency you prefer.
The power went out again last night, but it was hotter than the night before so I woke up drenched in my own sweat. Lovely. I woke up early and went to the gym for a nice morning workout. When I got back to the house the power was back on, so I made my oatmeal and sat one the porch with Pepo patiently waiting to get the final spoonful.
I had taxi success again this morning, and I was able to get my car full of new interns to the office in record time. The office is packed with everyone crammed in here trying to cool off. Because there was a new group of interns, there was another tour around the city. Katie and I went along again, because we were still a little turned around. The "short" tour ended up lasting 4 hours, and we all ended up with a sun burn.
When we came back we had lunch, some ate goat, some ate red red, I had my fiber one bar. The red red made a disturbing reappearance later in the afternoon. The groups first Welcome to Ghana. The rest of the afternoon was spent talking with the interns about their summer assignments, and doing an emergency re-pattern of a dress. The dress is going to be sent out next week, but we just found the problem last week. So, after talking with the U.S. Office, we decided it would be better to re-do the dress. We spent the last part of the day working on fitting until the power went out and we decided to grab a taxi home.
It was about 5:30 and that's when taxis start getting harder to get, so we were power walking to the stop. When we got there Sam, the taxi man was there as always. He remembers my name every time and puts me right into a cab. But today because we were a little late, he was our driver and even dropped us off right at the house. I said Sam, can you drop us at the Elmina Beach Resort Junction? And he was like...You aren't going home? So I was like well yeah, but we can just walk....but he took us right there.
Side note. Katie aka revenge of the red red, threw up out the window of her taxi on the way home. If they got mad at me for "slamming" the door, then I wonder what they thought about that.
When we got back to the house, the power was out again, but we had our first group Fante lesson with Ellen our house girl...or maybe its house woman. Or maybe I should really just call here Ellen. Yes, from now on it is only Ellen. Today we learned our numbers.
One: ekor
Two: ebien
Three: ebaasa
Four: anan
Five: enum
Six: esia
Seven: essoun
Eight: awctwe
Nine: akron
Ten: edu.
Say those ten times a day.
Ok, I just tried to make mt oatmeal dry and it was foul. I had to add cold water to it.
Cook your oats.
Peace. Love. Fante
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Shout to the Lord!!!
I bring you this post via pool side from the beautiful Elmina Beach Resort! I just talked them into giving me a 4 month all access pass to the resort for 20 cedis. That might be the best 20 cedi I spend on this entire trip. I not have access to the internet room, the gym, showers, and the pool overlooking the ocean. Hopefully now I can upload some photos.
The power never came back on last night, so it was a sticky night to say the least. I got up around 6 and made my new favorite oatmeal mixture and went out onto the balcony to read for a while. Then Ellen, the house girl asked if Katie and I wanted to come to church with her, so we thought why not! So we walked over the river and through the...brush and found ourselves at the Methodist Church of Ghana. We sat down in the middle of all the rows, and everything was in Fante, so all that I could really understand was Jesus Christ and Amen. Then all of a sudden the organ started and they started to sing Holy Holy, so Katie and I sung along in English. The people still kept coming and the music still kept playing, and I knew I was in trouble when I saw someone walk in with a cooler! So, more singing went on and then it was time for the offering. I walked up to put some money into the bucket and suddenly I was in the middle of a dance circle. No joke! So, I'm shuffling around trying to find a way out, but every time I turn, someone is nodding their head at me and grooving to the music. So, awkwardly I danced around for a few minutes and then I was able to make it to my chair.
Then it was time for the pastor to begin, and everything was done in Fante once again, so I spent a few minutes admiring all of the clothing in the room. I absolutely loved it, every man, woman, and child was dressed in their Sunday best. Some more traditionally and some modernly, but everyone just looked so good! After the pastor finished, they did a quick five minute re-cap in English just for us. Then, they called Katie and I up in front of the entire church and had us introduce ourselves, and tell how long we would be staying, and why we were here.....Totally did not see that one coming. When we went back to our seats, I think there were a few announcements, at which time I was making faces at all of the children staring at me, and then it was time for the second offering. This time we were ready to get our groove on. So we got into what can only be described as a conga line, and took a few laps around the church. Finally, we were free o leave.
At this point, I was starving and in great need of water. But when we got back to the house Ellen said that we had to go to a funeral. We were like huh? But, not wanting to be rude we said ok, and went to a funeral. The woman who lives next door to us lost her husband last month. They are Muslim, so he was buried right away. Today was the funeral at the home, so there were people everywhere. We went up to a room, shook everyones hand and then sat. Then we were handed a bag of food and a drink, and we went back to the house. It was interesting.
Five new volunteers came today, so the house already feels different. It will be fun to have more people around. Tonight we are all going to Eli's for dinner and get to know you time.
Back to work tomorrow.
Peace. Love. Dance circle.
The power never came back on last night, so it was a sticky night to say the least. I got up around 6 and made my new favorite oatmeal mixture and went out onto the balcony to read for a while. Then Ellen, the house girl asked if Katie and I wanted to come to church with her, so we thought why not! So we walked over the river and through the...brush and found ourselves at the Methodist Church of Ghana. We sat down in the middle of all the rows, and everything was in Fante, so all that I could really understand was Jesus Christ and Amen. Then all of a sudden the organ started and they started to sing Holy Holy, so Katie and I sung along in English. The people still kept coming and the music still kept playing, and I knew I was in trouble when I saw someone walk in with a cooler! So, more singing went on and then it was time for the offering. I walked up to put some money into the bucket and suddenly I was in the middle of a dance circle. No joke! So, I'm shuffling around trying to find a way out, but every time I turn, someone is nodding their head at me and grooving to the music. So, awkwardly I danced around for a few minutes and then I was able to make it to my chair.
Then it was time for the pastor to begin, and everything was done in Fante once again, so I spent a few minutes admiring all of the clothing in the room. I absolutely loved it, every man, woman, and child was dressed in their Sunday best. Some more traditionally and some modernly, but everyone just looked so good! After the pastor finished, they did a quick five minute re-cap in English just for us. Then, they called Katie and I up in front of the entire church and had us introduce ourselves, and tell how long we would be staying, and why we were here.....Totally did not see that one coming. When we went back to our seats, I think there were a few announcements, at which time I was making faces at all of the children staring at me, and then it was time for the second offering. This time we were ready to get our groove on. So we got into what can only be described as a conga line, and took a few laps around the church. Finally, we were free o leave.
At this point, I was starving and in great need of water. But when we got back to the house Ellen said that we had to go to a funeral. We were like huh? But, not wanting to be rude we said ok, and went to a funeral. The woman who lives next door to us lost her husband last month. They are Muslim, so he was buried right away. Today was the funeral at the home, so there were people everywhere. We went up to a room, shook everyones hand and then sat. Then we were handed a bag of food and a drink, and we went back to the house. It was interesting.
Five new volunteers came today, so the house already feels different. It will be fun to have more people around. Tonight we are all going to Eli's for dinner and get to know you time.
Back to work tomorrow.
Peace. Love. Dance circle.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Life's a Beach
Day five.
I slept! I pulled my headband down over my eyes to make it really dark and I slpt through the night.
I feel that I need to talk about my new favorite food. Oatmeal, brown sugar and ground nut butter (aka peanut butter) is the greatest food on earth. Seriously it is like having a treat for breakfast! Try it 4 scoops of instant oats, one scoop of brown sugar and one scoop of Aunti Liz's ground nut butter. Mmmm mmm good!
So, thank you to whoever said the good weather prayer, because today was perfect! We hired a private taxi to take us (katie, Pepo, Maria, and meself) to the beach that is literally in the middle of nowhere. We only had to pay 1 cedi and we had the entire beach to ourselves, plus beach chairs and three hammocks strung between the coconut trees. I just re-read that sentence and yes...it really is true.
So my day pretty much looked like this. Swim in ocean, sit in chair, swim in ocean, sit in chaor, re-apply sun lotion, lay in hammock, read, stare into the ocean, read a little more, swim in ocean, have Pepo knock me over, sit in chair, go home.
Then we went to Eli's for dinner....her food is so good! We had taken a look at the menu and made a special request for mac and cheese. Now before you say something like "sarah, that's not living in the culture or something like that, let me just say that I have eaten something "cultural" every night. So, I was served the most wonderful mac and cheese with a nice glass of fresh pineapple ginger juice. Mmmmm.
Then the power went out.
So, we sat eating in the dark. In Livonia, when the power goes out we sit in the livingroom until its time for bed, here life goes on. Somehow the music is still on and everyone is just having a good time. We tried to stay at dinner as long as possible, but there was a cricket jumping all over me and Maria was being eaten alive by the bugs, so we returned to our pitch black house.
Hopefully the power will come on at some point so that I can turn the fan on in my room.
Peace. Love. Hammocks.
I slept! I pulled my headband down over my eyes to make it really dark and I slpt through the night.
I feel that I need to talk about my new favorite food. Oatmeal, brown sugar and ground nut butter (aka peanut butter) is the greatest food on earth. Seriously it is like having a treat for breakfast! Try it 4 scoops of instant oats, one scoop of brown sugar and one scoop of Aunti Liz's ground nut butter. Mmmm mmm good!
So, thank you to whoever said the good weather prayer, because today was perfect! We hired a private taxi to take us (katie, Pepo, Maria, and meself) to the beach that is literally in the middle of nowhere. We only had to pay 1 cedi and we had the entire beach to ourselves, plus beach chairs and three hammocks strung between the coconut trees. I just re-read that sentence and yes...it really is true.
So my day pretty much looked like this. Swim in ocean, sit in chair, swim in ocean, sit in chaor, re-apply sun lotion, lay in hammock, read, stare into the ocean, read a little more, swim in ocean, have Pepo knock me over, sit in chair, go home.
Then we went to Eli's for dinner....her food is so good! We had taken a look at the menu and made a special request for mac and cheese. Now before you say something like "sarah, that's not living in the culture or something like that, let me just say that I have eaten something "cultural" every night. So, I was served the most wonderful mac and cheese with a nice glass of fresh pineapple ginger juice. Mmmmm.
Then the power went out.
So, we sat eating in the dark. In Livonia, when the power goes out we sit in the livingroom until its time for bed, here life goes on. Somehow the music is still on and everyone is just having a good time. We tried to stay at dinner as long as possible, but there was a cricket jumping all over me and Maria was being eaten alive by the bugs, so we returned to our pitch black house.
Hopefully the power will come on at some point so that I can turn the fan on in my room.
Peace. Love. Hammocks.
Friday, May 21, 2010
T.G.I.F.
Day four.
Another sleepless night for me. I don't understand why, I go to my room because I am exhausted and then suddenly no sleep.
This morning I got up and made my quick cooking oats that I got from the market yesterday and I added a little brown sugar to them...yum. Why needs Quaker oats when you have oats in a can that is completely written in a different language that I can not understand.
Katie and I had to grab our own cab to work today, which just thinking of made me want to vomit. There are all these hand singles that you have to do, then ask if it is a shared taxi, then agree on the price before you get in, then tell them the drop off location, and pay attention to where you are going and then tell them again where to drop you. Ahh its so exhausting at 7:30 in the morning. But have no fear...for 80 paswas (less then 80 cents) we made it to our drop off destination.When I got out of the car I shut the door like I normally do, but apparently in Ghana that is slamming the door and he yelled at me. "You slam my door!" Uh sorry? That was after he was already mad at me for not speaking the language. However we took a wrong turn once we got dropped off and ended up making a big circle around the city. So everyone laughed when we showed up half an hour later. We have a theory that if we get lost we just head toward the ocean or the castle and then we can find out way.
So, when we finally got to work we finished making the directions to the measurement guide we started yesterday. Once we were finished with those we had to send the photos of our fitting to the U.S. Office for their input Then we looked at a suggestion sheet sent over from the Accra office about what items were not selling well, so we pulled all of the items that had fit issues and luckY for me I am the fit size so I tried on every dress, we took notes on the fit and them compared the measurements to the size chart. Basically, we just need to re-pattern some things.
Then the bread lady came today, so for 1 cedi we got an entire loaf of fresh wheat bread. Then at lunch time Katie and I ventured out to find the fruit woman. Once again we had success, and NO mom I did not get any fruit. So, after my lunch of water, a fiber one and a few digestives we went back to work.
Maria, the office manager and I sat down and figured out what all of the interns will be doing for the summer and what needs to be done each week. During mid June there will be 14 interns, so it is a lot to arrange.
When it was time to leave Katie and I walked to the area where we can pick up a taxi to our town. We got in the car and had to wait 30 minutes until it was full, so we got home a little later than we expected. But when we got back to the house we went on a search for ground nut butter. We walked to the Shell station and hit the mother load!!!!!!! The Shell store has everything I will need to make it through my homesick phases. I'm taking,chocolate bars, gum, Dorritos, peanut butter, you name it they have it. But I just got some crackers and peanut butter for now. I'm saving the good stuff for a really really low point. On our way back to the house we had some followers take interest in us. So, we have decided that we have a code for when people ask our names when we are in an uncomfortable situation we say our name is Wendy. So....we said our name was Wendy, and hopefully that is the last time we will be "cornered" on our way home from the Shell.
When we got back we went to dinner and took the dog with us. Tonight we had some kind od veggie mix with a grain. Then there was a piece of meat on the plate that slightly resembled a rawhide dog chew, so I just pushed it to the side. Then PePo (the dog) got to eat the rest of my food.
Tomorrow we hope to go to the beach, so pray we have good weather!
Peace. Love. Pepo.
Another sleepless night for me. I don't understand why, I go to my room because I am exhausted and then suddenly no sleep.
This morning I got up and made my quick cooking oats that I got from the market yesterday and I added a little brown sugar to them...yum. Why needs Quaker oats when you have oats in a can that is completely written in a different language that I can not understand.
Katie and I had to grab our own cab to work today, which just thinking of made me want to vomit. There are all these hand singles that you have to do, then ask if it is a shared taxi, then agree on the price before you get in, then tell them the drop off location, and pay attention to where you are going and then tell them again where to drop you. Ahh its so exhausting at 7:30 in the morning. But have no fear...for 80 paswas (less then 80 cents) we made it to our drop off destination.When I got out of the car I shut the door like I normally do, but apparently in Ghana that is slamming the door and he yelled at me. "You slam my door!" Uh sorry? That was after he was already mad at me for not speaking the language. However we took a wrong turn once we got dropped off and ended up making a big circle around the city. So everyone laughed when we showed up half an hour later. We have a theory that if we get lost we just head toward the ocean or the castle and then we can find out way.
So, when we finally got to work we finished making the directions to the measurement guide we started yesterday. Once we were finished with those we had to send the photos of our fitting to the U.S. Office for their input Then we looked at a suggestion sheet sent over from the Accra office about what items were not selling well, so we pulled all of the items that had fit issues and luckY for me I am the fit size so I tried on every dress, we took notes on the fit and them compared the measurements to the size chart. Basically, we just need to re-pattern some things.
Then the bread lady came today, so for 1 cedi we got an entire loaf of fresh wheat bread. Then at lunch time Katie and I ventured out to find the fruit woman. Once again we had success, and NO mom I did not get any fruit. So, after my lunch of water, a fiber one and a few digestives we went back to work.
Maria, the office manager and I sat down and figured out what all of the interns will be doing for the summer and what needs to be done each week. During mid June there will be 14 interns, so it is a lot to arrange.
When it was time to leave Katie and I walked to the area where we can pick up a taxi to our town. We got in the car and had to wait 30 minutes until it was full, so we got home a little later than we expected. But when we got back to the house we went on a search for ground nut butter. We walked to the Shell station and hit the mother load!!!!!!! The Shell store has everything I will need to make it through my homesick phases. I'm taking,chocolate bars, gum, Dorritos, peanut butter, you name it they have it. But I just got some crackers and peanut butter for now. I'm saving the good stuff for a really really low point. On our way back to the house we had some followers take interest in us. So, we have decided that we have a code for when people ask our names when we are in an uncomfortable situation we say our name is Wendy. So....we said our name was Wendy, and hopefully that is the last time we will be "cornered" on our way home from the Shell.
When we got back we went to dinner and took the dog with us. Tonight we had some kind od veggie mix with a grain. Then there was a piece of meat on the plate that slightly resembled a rawhide dog chew, so I just pushed it to the side. Then PePo (the dog) got to eat the rest of my food.
Tomorrow we hope to go to the beach, so pray we have good weather!
Peace. Love. Pepo.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
I should have packed an umbrella
Day Three.
I slept like crap last night. I could not fall asleep and it felt like the night would never end. It rained part of the night, so it was extra extra humid in my room. Then right one schedule, it started to rain as we were walking to grab a ride to work. Then is started to rain harder and harder, then someone finally picked us up.
The morning at work went by pretty fast. Katie and I worked on some measurements for dog hats...people love their dogs! Once we finished those the patterns were sent off with one of the seamstresses and they should be done tomorrow. There is a fairly quick turn around time here, and the shirt we patterned yesterday was finished when we got in this morning. Then Katie and I stared working on a sizing sheet for all of the garments to make sure the measurements are consistent. We had to re measure the garments and compare the size differences to what had been recorded before. Then after seeing the difference in measurements we also made a "how to measure" guide.
After school was out a few kids came in to try on the shirt that we patterned yesterday, and one little girl was so funny, and she would not smile at all. I have photos, but due to the worlds slowest internet connection I do not know if I will have the time or patience to upload them.
I ventured to the market today to get some food items. I ended up with tea, oatmeal and a pack of Digestives. Obviously I had to get those in honor of the Wednesday morning quilting peeps. So tomorrow I will atteMpt to light the stove and make some oatmeal. For dinner I had some "red red". Honestly it was dark outside so I am not entirely sure of what it was, but it was something along the lines of beans and fried plantain. It was really good, but they give you sooooooo much food and I can never eat all of it, so then I feel bad for not taking it with me.
I'm happy tomorrow is Friday, and we are hoping it is sunny this weekend so that we can go to the beach.
Peace. Love. Red red.
I slept like crap last night. I could not fall asleep and it felt like the night would never end. It rained part of the night, so it was extra extra humid in my room. Then right one schedule, it started to rain as we were walking to grab a ride to work. Then is started to rain harder and harder, then someone finally picked us up.
The morning at work went by pretty fast. Katie and I worked on some measurements for dog hats...people love their dogs! Once we finished those the patterns were sent off with one of the seamstresses and they should be done tomorrow. There is a fairly quick turn around time here, and the shirt we patterned yesterday was finished when we got in this morning. Then Katie and I stared working on a sizing sheet for all of the garments to make sure the measurements are consistent. We had to re measure the garments and compare the size differences to what had been recorded before. Then after seeing the difference in measurements we also made a "how to measure" guide.
After school was out a few kids came in to try on the shirt that we patterned yesterday, and one little girl was so funny, and she would not smile at all. I have photos, but due to the worlds slowest internet connection I do not know if I will have the time or patience to upload them.
I ventured to the market today to get some food items. I ended up with tea, oatmeal and a pack of Digestives. Obviously I had to get those in honor of the Wednesday morning quilting peeps. So tomorrow I will atteMpt to light the stove and make some oatmeal. For dinner I had some "red red". Honestly it was dark outside so I am not entirely sure of what it was, but it was something along the lines of beans and fried plantain. It was really good, but they give you sooooooo much food and I can never eat all of it, so then I feel bad for not taking it with me.
I'm happy tomorrow is Friday, and we are hoping it is sunny this weekend so that we can go to the beach.
Peace. Love. Red red.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Attention all shoppers, its bonus time!
Well, I just typed this entire thing and lost it. So here we go again.
Day Two, first day of work.
Today was my first day of work. We left the house at 7:30 and walked a little ways to grab a ride. The ride to work is about 20 minutes, but you drive along the ocean for most of it. All of the workers come in around 8:00, and everyone got right to work unpacking the bag of supplies I brought over. I was in the other room and heard some commotion, so I looked over and the women had found the Clinique bags. Side note...a few months ago my mom was getting some makeup and told the sales woman that I was coming here and that I was going to take some of my bags over. So, she took my moms number and ended up giving us thirty-some bags!! So, I told the women that story and I said the bags were for them. They were SO excited! Thank you Clinique,
Once the bag madness was over, George the go to direction guy at the office, gave Katie (another volunteer) and I a tour around Cape Coast. I felt much better about the town after we walked all over. However, there was one area of the market where I wish to never return...the meat section. Those of you that know me fairly well, know how I feel about meat. So as I walked past the meat balls, I wanted to vom! And when I say meat balls, I'm not talking about the Swedish ones you get while shopping at IKEA...I'm talking about cow chunks on a platter.
Once we made it back to the office Katie and I had to draft a new pattern for a shirt that was not fitting right. So we went into the extra room and patterned away the afternoon. The goal is for someone to sew it tonight and tomorrow we will do some fittings. When we went back into the main office we found that the power had gone out, so we looked through binders of past work for some ideas. When the power did not return, we went back back to the house. To catch a cab home we had to walk up a hill and then back down a hill and wait for a car to fill.
When we got back to the house a few of us went to another market, because someone needed food for their soup. So we took a short cut, and by the time we got there it was fairly empty and almost closed. There were some kids playing "Who can get closest to the Obruni pronounced oh-brew-knee" they were being really funny to us. This market also had its fill of odd meats, and "stinky fish" as they called it.
So, by the time dinner came around, I was anti-meat.
Peace. Love. Meat Balls
Day Two, first day of work.
Today was my first day of work. We left the house at 7:30 and walked a little ways to grab a ride. The ride to work is about 20 minutes, but you drive along the ocean for most of it. All of the workers come in around 8:00, and everyone got right to work unpacking the bag of supplies I brought over. I was in the other room and heard some commotion, so I looked over and the women had found the Clinique bags. Side note...a few months ago my mom was getting some makeup and told the sales woman that I was coming here and that I was going to take some of my bags over. So, she took my moms number and ended up giving us thirty-some bags!! So, I told the women that story and I said the bags were for them. They were SO excited! Thank you Clinique,
Once the bag madness was over, George the go to direction guy at the office, gave Katie (another volunteer) and I a tour around Cape Coast. I felt much better about the town after we walked all over. However, there was one area of the market where I wish to never return...the meat section. Those of you that know me fairly well, know how I feel about meat. So as I walked past the meat balls, I wanted to vom! And when I say meat balls, I'm not talking about the Swedish ones you get while shopping at IKEA...I'm talking about cow chunks on a platter.
Once we made it back to the office Katie and I had to draft a new pattern for a shirt that was not fitting right. So we went into the extra room and patterned away the afternoon. The goal is for someone to sew it tonight and tomorrow we will do some fittings. When we went back into the main office we found that the power had gone out, so we looked through binders of past work for some ideas. When the power did not return, we went back back to the house. To catch a cab home we had to walk up a hill and then back down a hill and wait for a car to fill.
When we got back to the house a few of us went to another market, because someone needed food for their soup. So we took a short cut, and by the time we got there it was fairly empty and almost closed. There were some kids playing "Who can get closest to the Obruni pronounced oh-brew-knee" they were being really funny to us. This market also had its fill of odd meats, and "stinky fish" as they called it.
So, by the time dinner came around, I was anti-meat.
Peace. Love. Meat Balls
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Full Day #1
This morning was spent in Accra, changing money over and checking out the Global Mamas store. The store is really nice and it has tons of merchandise in it. I was happy to be able to go into the store and see the finished goods, because there is no longer a store in Cape Coast, this site is strictly production now.
The second part of my morning was spent waiting for my ride to show up. Once it got to Accra, it was packed full of bolts of fabric, and unfortunately all of my bags plus a random mattress needed to be added to the pile. The drive to Cape Coast took about three hours, and I needed to pee the entire way. Then to my surprise, once we were about 1.5 hours from Cape Coast, we stared picking up people off the street. So the van was now fully loaded with people, babies, luggage,fabric, a mattress, and, bags of water, bread, frozen yogurt. Along the way I also picked up four boyfriends.
Slowly, but surely we started to lose our extra riders, and a long and sweaty three hours later we made it to cape coast. This city is much different than Accra, and has a more relaxed feel to it. There is not as much traffic, and it sits on the beautiful ocean. (I can hear the ocean right now from my room) So, once we got to cape coast we went right to the Global Mamas office to drop off the fabric. Then two other Global Mamas workers got into the now half empty van, and we went to the volunteer house to drop off our bags.
The house is about 20 minutes from the office, and right next to the ocean. I was assigned to live in a room on the second floor and one other person will be living in the room with me. Once we dropped our bags off, we went to the local "chop bar" to eat dinner. We had ground nut soup, and something that reminded me of a grilled cheese. While eating my dinner, I watched a chicken die.....and I am guessing that will be my dinner tomorrow. GAH!
After dinner I came back to the house and took a quick convent style shower. Cold water has never felt so good!!
Tomorrow is my first day of work, and I have no idea what to expect!
Peace. Love. Cape coast
The second part of my morning was spent waiting for my ride to show up. Once it got to Accra, it was packed full of bolts of fabric, and unfortunately all of my bags plus a random mattress needed to be added to the pile. The drive to Cape Coast took about three hours, and I needed to pee the entire way. Then to my surprise, once we were about 1.5 hours from Cape Coast, we stared picking up people off the street. So the van was now fully loaded with people, babies, luggage,fabric, a mattress, and, bags of water, bread, frozen yogurt. Along the way I also picked up four boyfriends.
Slowly, but surely we started to lose our extra riders, and a long and sweaty three hours later we made it to cape coast. This city is much different than Accra, and has a more relaxed feel to it. There is not as much traffic, and it sits on the beautiful ocean. (I can hear the ocean right now from my room) So, once we got to cape coast we went right to the Global Mamas office to drop off the fabric. Then two other Global Mamas workers got into the now half empty van, and we went to the volunteer house to drop off our bags.
The house is about 20 minutes from the office, and right next to the ocean. I was assigned to live in a room on the second floor and one other person will be living in the room with me. Once we dropped our bags off, we went to the local "chop bar" to eat dinner. We had ground nut soup, and something that reminded me of a grilled cheese. While eating my dinner, I watched a chicken die.....and I am guessing that will be my dinner tomorrow. GAH!
After dinner I came back to the house and took a quick convent style shower. Cold water has never felt so good!!
Tomorrow is my first day of work, and I have no idea what to expect!
Peace. Love. Cape coast
Monday, May 17, 2010
Akwaba
Welcome to Ghana! I have arrived! Thankfully last night my flight was only delayed and not completely canceled. I of course did not sleep at all on the plane from Detroit to Amsterdam so I was beyond tired when we finally arrived. Luckily, our connector flight to Ghana was equally delayed and we were in time to catch it. Unlucky for me, I had to go through security again while I was there and for some reason had to have a full body search done. I of course was super awkward about it and giggled and wiggled the entire time. I'm sure the security tape would be a good one to watch my reaction on. GAH!! But, again on the bright side, the flight was about half full, so I got a three person row all to myself and was able to fall asleep (in my preferred fetal position). Both flights had minor turbulence, which could be compared to driving on Haggerty road in Livonia, so all in all it was stress free flying.
Wait, I just have to do a special line about how good the food is on KLM flights! Seriously, delish!
At the moment I am less than thrilled with Verizon, because I just tried to sign into Skype and it is telling me that I can only use it in the US....shame on you Verizon! (Right about now you should all be able to hear my mom shriek WHAT! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!)
Tonight I am staying in Accra at someones house, and tomorrow I will hitch a ride with a band to Cape Coast.
Let the adventure begin!
Peace. Love. Accra.
Wait, I just have to do a special line about how good the food is on KLM flights! Seriously, delish!
At the moment I am less than thrilled with Verizon, because I just tried to sign into Skype and it is telling me that I can only use it in the US....shame on you Verizon! (Right about now you should all be able to hear my mom shriek WHAT! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!)
Tonight I am staying in Accra at someones house, and tomorrow I will hitch a ride with a band to Cape Coast.
Let the adventure begin!
Peace. Love. Accra.
There she BLOWS
Well...I write you this post from the beautiful Detroit airport gate 40. My caramel macchiatto has given me a full caffeine burst and apparently the Island volcano is having a very large ash burst of its own...right at this moment. So rather than boarding our flight, I am sitting next to a very frustrated man who seems to be calling everyone he knows to tell them the problem. He also smells a bit, so that's no good.
On a more pleasant note...God bless the woman who checked my bags at the airport. I wish that I could tell you that I am going on this trip with only my backpack, but I must confess that I look somewhat like a packing DIVA with a total of 4 (yes I said 4) bags with me. However, in my defense. 1 and a half bags are full of supplies for Global Mamas. Mainly about 1000 zippers and about 10 pounds of metal rings for baby slings. So, once I tried to pack all the zippers and such I found that there was no room for my items.....long story short I had to check 2 bags that were both well overweight. I started to panic when I found out that there would be a 150 fee per bag for being overweight. So at the airport I made my mom come in to grab what I thought I would need to leave behind (aka my fiber one bars!) But when I put my bags on the scale and found they were overweigh, the woman asked what I was doing and let the weight issue slide. Bless her heart.
Then we made it through security in record time and thought we were well on our way. I guess we were wrong. But I would rather be sitting in the airport than to be on the flights that have to turn back now.
Hopefully we will be on our way soon.
Peace. Love. Ash Cloud
On a more pleasant note...God bless the woman who checked my bags at the airport. I wish that I could tell you that I am going on this trip with only my backpack, but I must confess that I look somewhat like a packing DIVA with a total of 4 (yes I said 4) bags with me. However, in my defense. 1 and a half bags are full of supplies for Global Mamas. Mainly about 1000 zippers and about 10 pounds of metal rings for baby slings. So, once I tried to pack all the zippers and such I found that there was no room for my items.....long story short I had to check 2 bags that were both well overweight. I started to panic when I found out that there would be a 150 fee per bag for being overweight. So at the airport I made my mom come in to grab what I thought I would need to leave behind (aka my fiber one bars!) But when I put my bags on the scale and found they were overweigh, the woman asked what I was doing and let the weight issue slide. Bless her heart.
Then we made it through security in record time and thought we were well on our way. I guess we were wrong. But I would rather be sitting in the airport than to be on the flights that have to turn back now.
Hopefully we will be on our way soon.
Peace. Love. Ash Cloud
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
One Week!
At this time next week, I will be spending my first night in Ghana.
So, incase you have not pulled out your map of the world to see where I will be.....look no further, I have saved you the trouble.
So, incase you have not pulled out your map of the world to see where I will be.....look no further, I have saved you the trouble.
I will fly 14 hours....
And the majority of my time will be spent in Cape Coast.
peace. love. maps.
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