Thursday.
Ok, the title from yesterday was just part of a dream that someone had here. Quit racking your brains as to if it came from a movie or a show.
Last night a few of us decided to make a "family dinner" aka we all just wanted to eat each others food. We made a killer rice mixture! Rice, tomato paste, garlic, curry, cayenne pepper, and ground nut butter. SO GOOD! It was like Thai rice.
I rode to work this morning in a taxi that smelled like a tackle box. It was fairly unpleasant to say the least. At least my clothes were not on backwards today...
Today was a productive day (at least for me) at work. Last night we received feedback from the US on our trend presentation, so the first item on our to do list this morning was to review the comments. Overall we got a lot of good feedback, and we are going to test a lot of new stamps. We planned out a schedule for the rest of the time the interns will be here, and as of next week it is going to be crazy!! After we planned the schedule, I met with the design team to give them the feedback, and gave them a plan for the next few days. Then I went back to working on all my projects and let them work on more new designs.
For lunch I went and got my 50 cent rice bowl....yeah, I can eat the same thing every day and not be phased by it one bit. Oh, and today I learned that I am actually eating goat! Yep, goat stew...I guess she forgot to tell me that ingredient the other day.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on some CAD and trying to figure out the worlds most intense spreadsheet. Then I hit a wall and did a little facebook stalking while jamming to some music. When it was time to leave I decided that I wanted a frozen yogurt, so I got my 50 cents ready and went on the hunt. As I was walking up the big hill I spotted not 1, but 3 FanIce bikes!!! THREE! As I approached them I made the mistake of making eye contact with all three of them and this is when the trouble began. Obviously there was only 1 of me, and I would only be buying 1 yogurt...the only question was from who!! So, they all started begging me to buy from them and people were all around and a big bus was pulling up so I just went with the one that was closest to me. Then, the bus was getting closer....when it realized that it was not going to fit. So, everyone just started yelling! Yelling at the bus, yelling at the vendors, yelling to get out of the way, and I was just standing in the middle yelling FOR THE LOVE OF FANICE!!!! Then the bus started to make its way through, so I grabbed my FanIce and peaced out!
Something kind of funny and kind of gross happened on the way home in the taxi...luckily it did not happen to me. There was a rather sweaty woman sitting in the front seat, and as we were driving her sweat was FLYING onto the boy sitting behind her. Ick!
Now we are off to a brainstorming dinner meeting at Elis. We talked her into making guac and plantain chips. YUM!
And once again, some Q and A:
1. I am only seeing world cup action via tv. But the fans here are so funny to watch. When Ghana scored they were screaming, thanking Jesus, yelling that they love their country and dancing in the streets! And we always get to jam to a good song....Wavin' Flag by K'naan. Download it and pretend you are here with me!
2. No worries, little miss oatmeal doesn't read my blog...and I guess oh well if she does.
Peace. Love. Guac and chips.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
I threw your laptop down the laundry shoot...now your parents will never love you!
Wednesday.
Powdered Milk Love.
Do you ever watch The Real World....or I guess any reality tv show, and think, "those people are crazy!" Well, I am starting to realize why some of those people snap! Currently I live in an 8 bedroom, 4 bathroom house with 15 people, a dog, a parrot and multiple other "house guests" (a rat, some lizards, spiders etc.) Point being...the house is packed.
I think that the morning is the most challenging to deal with, because EVERYONE is trying to get read, and make breakfast, and use the bathroom, and get out the door by 7:30. When I first started here, I would escape to the balcony for a little peace and quite, however that has quickly become over crowded.....so now I just try to stay in my room for as long as possible.
I'm not anti-social.....I just need a little peace in the morning!
This morning I had the plan to get up at my usual time, but rather than staying in bed to read, I would get up and make my breakfast and then read after. So I go down to the kitchen and turn the hot pot on to boil water for my tea. Then I was going toast some bread in the frying pan. We have a gas stove, and I have only ever had an electric stove, so the task of lighting the stove makes me shudder every time I have to do it. First light of the match....it lit right away, but then the tip of the match went flying off (while on fire) and fell to the floor. Ugh! Second match...went out before it made it to the gas. Third match...(I am mad at this point) success!! Until I don't hold the gas on for long enough, and the stove goes off. Double UGH! Finally, someone just did it for me.
At this point, my water has finished boiling and is sitting in the kettle. I put my bread in the pan, and it is almost instantly toasted, so I am quite focused on not burning the other side. While I am watching my bread, someone asks if I was the one who boiled the water....I say yes I am going to make some tea as soon as this is finished. Apparently this translated into something along the lines of "yeah, I made it, but why don't you just go ahead and use it for yourself," because as I turn around to put my bread on the plate and pour my tea, I look over and see what should be my hot water going into someones bowl. Now....I understand this is just hot water, and it is not something to get upset about, but it was 6:00 in the morning, and I just wanted my breakfast! So, being the non confrontational person I am, I just stood holding my bread with a shocked look on my face as little miss hot oatmeal mixed her bowl, totally unaware. RUDE!
At this point, the kitchen is now full of everyone wanted the stove and hot water and everything under the sun, so we fill up the entire kettle and I wait for water....AGAIN!
Ok, I am done, it just really made me mad.
Now, onto work. The plan for work today was to hold a workshop for the quality control team about measuring standards. The four of us that were going to put it on met this morning to go over the plan, when we decided that we wanted to run through it completely before we held it. (If you are not interested in my school work just skip down to the next section) The plan was to pull a garment and have each of the workers measure 15 different spots. We would then compare the measurements to what the product specifications were. So, we decided that it would be a good idea to see what measurements we got when we did it ourselves. This is when things went crazy. We all found different measurements, none of which matched the specs of what should have been. Finding this out, we decided to cancel the workshop for today, because we knew everyone would end up being confused if we went on with it. Canceling it was not a big deal, because quality control is in this office and we were just going to interrupt their work to have the workshop. We spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out the exact spots being measured by quality control, because we knew it could not be the same ones that we were looking at. Its a mess.
We needed a break from the measuring, because it was getting to a point where we were so overwhelmed that it was no longer a productive meeting. Do you know how we decided to solve this issues? 50 peswa rice and pepper stew!
It solves all problems.
I spent the next part of the afternoon working on about 10 things at once. Then I had to take someone to the trotro station to catch a car to Accra.
I left the office early today so that I could go next door to our neighbors house to batik. Well, I didn't need to batik today, but I thought I should get to know her before I use her house. On the way back to Elmina it started pouring rain! Of course all of the windows were down and the rain came flying in! This was around the same point I noticed that the speedometer was not working.....I watched as the driver manually pulled his window up, and then he proceeded to pull over and pull up the passenger side window as well. Once all the windows were up, we were on our way again. Seeing as this is Ghana, and the weather is naturally steamy, out car fogged up pretty quick. Now, we did not know the speed limit, I was feeling nauseous from lack of air, and the driver was driving with one hand so that he could wipe the fog off the window with his other one. Lovely!
I'm eating powdered milk and cereal for dinner again!
Peace. Love. 50 cent.
Powdered Milk Love.
Do you ever watch The Real World....or I guess any reality tv show, and think, "those people are crazy!" Well, I am starting to realize why some of those people snap! Currently I live in an 8 bedroom, 4 bathroom house with 15 people, a dog, a parrot and multiple other "house guests" (a rat, some lizards, spiders etc.) Point being...the house is packed.
I think that the morning is the most challenging to deal with, because EVERYONE is trying to get read, and make breakfast, and use the bathroom, and get out the door by 7:30. When I first started here, I would escape to the balcony for a little peace and quite, however that has quickly become over crowded.....so now I just try to stay in my room for as long as possible.
I'm not anti-social.....I just need a little peace in the morning!
This morning I had the plan to get up at my usual time, but rather than staying in bed to read, I would get up and make my breakfast and then read after. So I go down to the kitchen and turn the hot pot on to boil water for my tea. Then I was going toast some bread in the frying pan. We have a gas stove, and I have only ever had an electric stove, so the task of lighting the stove makes me shudder every time I have to do it. First light of the match....it lit right away, but then the tip of the match went flying off (while on fire) and fell to the floor. Ugh! Second match...went out before it made it to the gas. Third match...(I am mad at this point) success!! Until I don't hold the gas on for long enough, and the stove goes off. Double UGH! Finally, someone just did it for me.
At this point, my water has finished boiling and is sitting in the kettle. I put my bread in the pan, and it is almost instantly toasted, so I am quite focused on not burning the other side. While I am watching my bread, someone asks if I was the one who boiled the water....I say yes I am going to make some tea as soon as this is finished. Apparently this translated into something along the lines of "yeah, I made it, but why don't you just go ahead and use it for yourself," because as I turn around to put my bread on the plate and pour my tea, I look over and see what should be my hot water going into someones bowl. Now....I understand this is just hot water, and it is not something to get upset about, but it was 6:00 in the morning, and I just wanted my breakfast! So, being the non confrontational person I am, I just stood holding my bread with a shocked look on my face as little miss hot oatmeal mixed her bowl, totally unaware. RUDE!
At this point, the kitchen is now full of everyone wanted the stove and hot water and everything under the sun, so we fill up the entire kettle and I wait for water....AGAIN!
Ok, I am done, it just really made me mad.
Now, onto work. The plan for work today was to hold a workshop for the quality control team about measuring standards. The four of us that were going to put it on met this morning to go over the plan, when we decided that we wanted to run through it completely before we held it. (If you are not interested in my school work just skip down to the next section) The plan was to pull a garment and have each of the workers measure 15 different spots. We would then compare the measurements to what the product specifications were. So, we decided that it would be a good idea to see what measurements we got when we did it ourselves. This is when things went crazy. We all found different measurements, none of which matched the specs of what should have been. Finding this out, we decided to cancel the workshop for today, because we knew everyone would end up being confused if we went on with it. Canceling it was not a big deal, because quality control is in this office and we were just going to interrupt their work to have the workshop. We spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out the exact spots being measured by quality control, because we knew it could not be the same ones that we were looking at. Its a mess.
We needed a break from the measuring, because it was getting to a point where we were so overwhelmed that it was no longer a productive meeting. Do you know how we decided to solve this issues? 50 peswa rice and pepper stew!
It solves all problems.
I spent the next part of the afternoon working on about 10 things at once. Then I had to take someone to the trotro station to catch a car to Accra.
I left the office early today so that I could go next door to our neighbors house to batik. Well, I didn't need to batik today, but I thought I should get to know her before I use her house. On the way back to Elmina it started pouring rain! Of course all of the windows were down and the rain came flying in! This was around the same point I noticed that the speedometer was not working.....I watched as the driver manually pulled his window up, and then he proceeded to pull over and pull up the passenger side window as well. Once all the windows were up, we were on our way again. Seeing as this is Ghana, and the weather is naturally steamy, out car fogged up pretty quick. Now, we did not know the speed limit, I was feeling nauseous from lack of air, and the driver was driving with one hand so that he could wipe the fog off the window with his other one. Lovely!
I'm eating powdered milk and cereal for dinner again!
Peace. Love. 50 cent.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Ice cold powder milk......
Tuesday.
I knew it would be an interesting day when I got into the taxi and noticed that my dress was on backwards.....oh brother.
Work went by so slow today. Seriously I think I was half asleep the first part of the day. I continued working on the stamp library and I prepared some stencils to test out new batik prints. Oh, I also scheduled some site visits for the other interns to go on in the afternoon.
Then I was so excited because my custom hoodie came in today! It is so cool, its orange and pink and white. Perfect for the beach.
Again, I lost track of time and took a late lunch. I went to the market because I was having a serious cereal craving. I had a rather small selection, so I went with Honey Flakes, because there was a very happy little bear on the front of the box. Then I broke down and purchased some powder milk....I will let you know my thoughts on that tomorrow.
On my way back to the office I scored a frozen yogurt! So good!
After lunch some of the designers were at a site visit, so I met with the remaining design team to plan the workshop we are giving tomorrow. There have been some issues with measuring, and we decided that the best way to solve the problem is to work hands on with the quality control team. It will be a short workshop, but I think it is better to have multiple short workshops than to overwhelm the workers with too much information.
Later in the afternoon I decided that I wanted a snack, and discovered what I will now eat for lunch everyday. For 50 peswas (less than 50 cents) I got a huge bowl of rice and some tomato pepper stew. Now, I will not lie to you...I thought about this food choice for a long time. First, I was concerned because it was legit street food. Then, I kept thinking of people saying how you should only eat street food that you see being cooked, and is served to you hot. This was sitting on the table, and God only knows when it was made. But, I was really hungry, so I went for it. Good thing I did, because it was so good and spicy! Yum!
At the end of the day I had a meeting with Maria to talk about the progress of the projects. During our very formal meeting...the office was a mad house. There were people coming in and out, and phones ringing, and people calling people telling them if they call back again we will track them and have them arrested...it was quite the afternoon.
It is now time to try the powdered milk...update tomorrow
Peace. Love. Tuesday.
I knew it would be an interesting day when I got into the taxi and noticed that my dress was on backwards.....oh brother.
Work went by so slow today. Seriously I think I was half asleep the first part of the day. I continued working on the stamp library and I prepared some stencils to test out new batik prints. Oh, I also scheduled some site visits for the other interns to go on in the afternoon.
Then I was so excited because my custom hoodie came in today! It is so cool, its orange and pink and white. Perfect for the beach.
Again, I lost track of time and took a late lunch. I went to the market because I was having a serious cereal craving. I had a rather small selection, so I went with Honey Flakes, because there was a very happy little bear on the front of the box. Then I broke down and purchased some powder milk....I will let you know my thoughts on that tomorrow.
On my way back to the office I scored a frozen yogurt! So good!
After lunch some of the designers were at a site visit, so I met with the remaining design team to plan the workshop we are giving tomorrow. There have been some issues with measuring, and we decided that the best way to solve the problem is to work hands on with the quality control team. It will be a short workshop, but I think it is better to have multiple short workshops than to overwhelm the workers with too much information.
Later in the afternoon I decided that I wanted a snack, and discovered what I will now eat for lunch everyday. For 50 peswas (less than 50 cents) I got a huge bowl of rice and some tomato pepper stew. Now, I will not lie to you...I thought about this food choice for a long time. First, I was concerned because it was legit street food. Then, I kept thinking of people saying how you should only eat street food that you see being cooked, and is served to you hot. This was sitting on the table, and God only knows when it was made. But, I was really hungry, so I went for it. Good thing I did, because it was so good and spicy! Yum!
At the end of the day I had a meeting with Maria to talk about the progress of the projects. During our very formal meeting...the office was a mad house. There were people coming in and out, and phones ringing, and people calling people telling them if they call back again we will track them and have them arrested...it was quite the afternoon.
It is now time to try the powdered milk...update tomorrow
Peace. Love. Tuesday.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Monday.....back to oatmeal
Week Five.
Time is flying by!
I was soooo tired this morning. My alarm went off, and all I wanted to do was sleep. However, once I wake up, I do not usually fall back asleep, so I just stayed in my bed for an hour and started my new book. Then I forced myself to get up and get on with my day.
The house is jam packed in the morning, with everyone trying to get ready and get breakfast and ahhh every single room and chair is full. I use to have the balcony to myself, but they caught onto that, and now it is the first spot to fill up.
On the way to work I had a little friend in the front seat with me. This little one was about 5 years old, and was so darn cute in his green school uniform with his backpack and lunch bag. I really need to find a school where I can hang out with the little ones for awhile.
This morning I was in a little bit of a mood (surprise, surprise) so I set my work station up in the main office, rather than in the design room. I just needed my peace. I spent the entire day working on the stamp library. Currently, there is no organized way of knowing what stamps have been used, and what colors they were sampled in, so my OCD has taken over, and is now getting everything in order.
I took a late lunch, because I was so wrapped up in my project that I did not know lunch time had passed. I went down to the market and ended up finding a really cool fabric store! I think they will be getting a nice chunk of money from me, because I was in love with all of the wild prints. I think you have to at least buy 1 yard, but it was a really good price, and it felt like a nice quality! The store was mostly raw material, but there were a few pre made garments. I ended up getting a dress for 75% off of the original price, so I could not pass it up. It has a very African feel to it, but I think I can pull it off once I get back to the states.
Today I was walking down the street next to a goat, when suddenly he stopped, sneezed and then poop shot out of his butt. Then he sneezed again and more poop. It was so funny to me at the time, so of course I laughed at it.
When we got back to the house there were two new volunteers. One is a designer, and one is working in Accra, but wanted to see Cape Coast.
Good news, Pepo is fine. He just has a little bacteria infection.
And now...the ever so popular Q & A section.
1. Yes, I am sure that I am OK from the monkey bite.
2. At this point I have read:
- The year of living like Jesus
- Made from Scratch
- The Irresistible Revolution
- A Case for Christ
.......and I am currently reading Something Borrowed.
peace. love. I could really go for some popcorn right now.
Time is flying by!
I was soooo tired this morning. My alarm went off, and all I wanted to do was sleep. However, once I wake up, I do not usually fall back asleep, so I just stayed in my bed for an hour and started my new book. Then I forced myself to get up and get on with my day.
The house is jam packed in the morning, with everyone trying to get ready and get breakfast and ahhh every single room and chair is full. I use to have the balcony to myself, but they caught onto that, and now it is the first spot to fill up.
On the way to work I had a little friend in the front seat with me. This little one was about 5 years old, and was so darn cute in his green school uniform with his backpack and lunch bag. I really need to find a school where I can hang out with the little ones for awhile.
This morning I was in a little bit of a mood (surprise, surprise) so I set my work station up in the main office, rather than in the design room. I just needed my peace. I spent the entire day working on the stamp library. Currently, there is no organized way of knowing what stamps have been used, and what colors they were sampled in, so my OCD has taken over, and is now getting everything in order.
I took a late lunch, because I was so wrapped up in my project that I did not know lunch time had passed. I went down to the market and ended up finding a really cool fabric store! I think they will be getting a nice chunk of money from me, because I was in love with all of the wild prints. I think you have to at least buy 1 yard, but it was a really good price, and it felt like a nice quality! The store was mostly raw material, but there were a few pre made garments. I ended up getting a dress for 75% off of the original price, so I could not pass it up. It has a very African feel to it, but I think I can pull it off once I get back to the states.
Today I was walking down the street next to a goat, when suddenly he stopped, sneezed and then poop shot out of his butt. Then he sneezed again and more poop. It was so funny to me at the time, so of course I laughed at it.
When we got back to the house there were two new volunteers. One is a designer, and one is working in Accra, but wanted to see Cape Coast.
Good news, Pepo is fine. He just has a little bacteria infection.
And now...the ever so popular Q & A section.
1. Yes, I am sure that I am OK from the monkey bite.
2. At this point I have read:
- The year of living like Jesus
- Made from Scratch
- The Irresistible Revolution
- A Case for Christ
.......and I am currently reading Something Borrowed.
peace. love. I could really go for some popcorn right now.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
No more monkey business
Well my faithful readers....I am back from my weekend at busua beach. I think I should live there.
The trotro ride was an adventure as always. I need to just accept that when a driver tells us that he knows where we are going that it is a lie. We drove for quite awhile and took a few wrong turns in the jungle before we finally found the Alaska hotel. For less than 15 US dollars each we were able to stay two nights in really sweet huts.
When we got to the beach it was already dark outside, despite our early start and we were all starving! After we put out stuff in our rooms we went out to the sitting area to order some food. The woman who runs the hotel is wild. She reminds me of the voodoo woman from pirates of the Caribbean. Wild clothes, shells in her hair....she is funny. However, she was also very nice and gave us discounts on all of our food for being students and volunteers. So, once again I had French Toast. This time it was French toast how I imagine it to be. Cinnamon, sugar and an added twist of lemon and syrup that tasted like honey! Yummm.
After dinner we had a huge fire on the beach. The built what looked like a fire tower, and it burned down. Then we just sat on the beach and watched the stars for awhile. We as a group have come to call moments like that an "oh africa moment" where you stop and think...ohhh I'm in Africa right now.
Then I had to pee before bed, so I walked over to the communal toilet and tried to pee while 5 lizards watched me on the walls. To add to the animal interaction for the evening Pepo slept on top of my head all night. What a spoiled dog.
Saturday.
Shockingly I was able to sleep in a little, most likely because there was not a rooster screaming out my window. We all met back at the beach for breakfast. I had REAL coffee....it was perfect. So we all sat on the beach and enjoyed our hot coffee with milk and sugar. Then I decided that I was hungry, so I went up to the bar to order.
Now, don't freak out at what I am about to say.....there are monkeys here, and on my way back to the table I think I got a little too close for the monkeys comfort and he jumped onto my leg and bit me. I SAID DON'T FREAK OUT! I got all of my shots before I came here, and I washed it and sanitized it right after it happened. Its fine.....red cross just might never take my blood again. Really, its fine.
After the attack (yes using the word attack is a little drams I know) I enjoyed my wonderful breakfast, of fried eggs, toast, and potatoes. Soo good.
After breakfast we just sat around, because it started to rain. But then we decided that we could still swim in the rain, so the kind lady from before gave us some body boards to use on the waves. Obviously next to the surfers we looked really cool.....but it was so fun, and the waves were so good for using the body boards. I think I will become a professional body boarder. I really think it could work out.....
For dinner we went down to the Black Star Surf Shop/internet cafe/restaurant. We picked this particular spot to eat because there was a wide selection of food, now I am aware that that exact reason can be used to not pick a spot to eat, but today it all sounded so good! I ordered a burrito, and it was the perfect food to settle all American cravings. Seriously, watch out Qdoba, Ghana knows how to make a burrito. Right after dinner it was time for the US vs. England game, so the surf shop pulled a tv out from nowhere and we all gathered around to watch the game...on the beach. There were the Global Mamas interns,two people from Spain, some peace corps guys,surfers from all over,a french man, some Canadians, a family from London, a man from Israel, and tons of excited kids from the village.
The majority was cheering on England, however the match was called at US 1 England 1, so I guess everyone was happy.
When the match ended they started a huge fire on the beach and turned some music on. All of the kids were dancing around, and were seriously such good dancers. We all hung out on the beach until the fire burned out. All the kids were hanging around until everyone was gone. We all kept thinking....do their parents wonder where they are. Isn't it a little odd that 5 year olds are hanging at the beach at 11 at night.
Sunday.
I was the first one up today, but I enjoyed my alone time on the beach with my coffee and book. When a few more people got up we ordered breakfast. I thought I was getting an egg sandwich, however that somehow translated to a grilled cheese. It was soooooo good though. There was onion and avocado on it.....mmmmm. Towards the end of breakfast one of our little kid friends came to hang out with us, and score some chocolate chip pancakes.
We met this particular kid through one of the guys from England. He met this little boy on the beach and found out that he was deaf. They were pretty much inseparable the rest of the weekend. He was so cute, and he loved playing with peop and just hanging out with all of us. We all wanted him to come back with us.
After breakfast we came back to our part of the beach, but it was really cold and windy, so I grabbed a hammock and did a little reading. For lunch we decided to go back to the surf shop, because the food was just that good! When we walked up almost everyone from the night before were there as well. The British family was leaving for the next stop on their adventure, and all the little kids were so sad to see the younger guy leave.
After lunch the Ghana game was on, and I started to watch it, but honestly I had no idea what was happening, so I went in the waves. When we finished body boarding it was time to go, so we all got back into the trotro and headed home. :-(
Pepo and Maria did not come back with us because Pepo is still ill and he needs a blood test. Poor little pup.
One final story from the weekend. I would like to talk about the characters that were staying at the Alaska. Other than the pirates of the Caribbean voodoo woman, there was an French surfer who was the poster child for what too many drugs can do for you. He was best friends with some of the monkeys.... Then there was a German couple who lived in a semi truck, and looked freakishly alike. Late at night there were some guys that looked like they were old school punks from London, and then the most mysterious of all.....the old men with the young African women. We could not figure out their story. We decided that it was most likely creepy, so we did not try too hard to figure it out. It was quite a colorful bunch.
This weekend will be in my top five favorite Ghana moments.
Peace. Love. Monkey bites.
The trotro ride was an adventure as always. I need to just accept that when a driver tells us that he knows where we are going that it is a lie. We drove for quite awhile and took a few wrong turns in the jungle before we finally found the Alaska hotel. For less than 15 US dollars each we were able to stay two nights in really sweet huts.
When we got to the beach it was already dark outside, despite our early start and we were all starving! After we put out stuff in our rooms we went out to the sitting area to order some food. The woman who runs the hotel is wild. She reminds me of the voodoo woman from pirates of the Caribbean. Wild clothes, shells in her hair....she is funny. However, she was also very nice and gave us discounts on all of our food for being students and volunteers. So, once again I had French Toast. This time it was French toast how I imagine it to be. Cinnamon, sugar and an added twist of lemon and syrup that tasted like honey! Yummm.
After dinner we had a huge fire on the beach. The built what looked like a fire tower, and it burned down. Then we just sat on the beach and watched the stars for awhile. We as a group have come to call moments like that an "oh africa moment" where you stop and think...ohhh I'm in Africa right now.
Then I had to pee before bed, so I walked over to the communal toilet and tried to pee while 5 lizards watched me on the walls. To add to the animal interaction for the evening Pepo slept on top of my head all night. What a spoiled dog.
Saturday.
Shockingly I was able to sleep in a little, most likely because there was not a rooster screaming out my window. We all met back at the beach for breakfast. I had REAL coffee....it was perfect. So we all sat on the beach and enjoyed our hot coffee with milk and sugar. Then I decided that I was hungry, so I went up to the bar to order.
Now, don't freak out at what I am about to say.....there are monkeys here, and on my way back to the table I think I got a little too close for the monkeys comfort and he jumped onto my leg and bit me. I SAID DON'T FREAK OUT! I got all of my shots before I came here, and I washed it and sanitized it right after it happened. Its fine.....red cross just might never take my blood again. Really, its fine.
After the attack (yes using the word attack is a little drams I know) I enjoyed my wonderful breakfast, of fried eggs, toast, and potatoes. Soo good.
After breakfast we just sat around, because it started to rain. But then we decided that we could still swim in the rain, so the kind lady from before gave us some body boards to use on the waves. Obviously next to the surfers we looked really cool.....but it was so fun, and the waves were so good for using the body boards. I think I will become a professional body boarder. I really think it could work out.....
For dinner we went down to the Black Star Surf Shop/internet cafe/restaurant. We picked this particular spot to eat because there was a wide selection of food, now I am aware that that exact reason can be used to not pick a spot to eat, but today it all sounded so good! I ordered a burrito, and it was the perfect food to settle all American cravings. Seriously, watch out Qdoba, Ghana knows how to make a burrito. Right after dinner it was time for the US vs. England game, so the surf shop pulled a tv out from nowhere and we all gathered around to watch the game...on the beach. There were the Global Mamas interns,two people from Spain, some peace corps guys,surfers from all over,a french man, some Canadians, a family from London, a man from Israel, and tons of excited kids from the village.
The majority was cheering on England, however the match was called at US 1 England 1, so I guess everyone was happy.
When the match ended they started a huge fire on the beach and turned some music on. All of the kids were dancing around, and were seriously such good dancers. We all hung out on the beach until the fire burned out. All the kids were hanging around until everyone was gone. We all kept thinking....do their parents wonder where they are. Isn't it a little odd that 5 year olds are hanging at the beach at 11 at night.
Sunday.
I was the first one up today, but I enjoyed my alone time on the beach with my coffee and book. When a few more people got up we ordered breakfast. I thought I was getting an egg sandwich, however that somehow translated to a grilled cheese. It was soooooo good though. There was onion and avocado on it.....mmmmm. Towards the end of breakfast one of our little kid friends came to hang out with us, and score some chocolate chip pancakes.
We met this particular kid through one of the guys from England. He met this little boy on the beach and found out that he was deaf. They were pretty much inseparable the rest of the weekend. He was so cute, and he loved playing with peop and just hanging out with all of us. We all wanted him to come back with us.
After breakfast we came back to our part of the beach, but it was really cold and windy, so I grabbed a hammock and did a little reading. For lunch we decided to go back to the surf shop, because the food was just that good! When we walked up almost everyone from the night before were there as well. The British family was leaving for the next stop on their adventure, and all the little kids were so sad to see the younger guy leave.
After lunch the Ghana game was on, and I started to watch it, but honestly I had no idea what was happening, so I went in the waves. When we finished body boarding it was time to go, so we all got back into the trotro and headed home. :-(
Pepo and Maria did not come back with us because Pepo is still ill and he needs a blood test. Poor little pup.
One final story from the weekend. I would like to talk about the characters that were staying at the Alaska. Other than the pirates of the Caribbean voodoo woman, there was an French surfer who was the poster child for what too many drugs can do for you. He was best friends with some of the monkeys.... Then there was a German couple who lived in a semi truck, and looked freakishly alike. Late at night there were some guys that looked like they were old school punks from London, and then the most mysterious of all.....the old men with the young African women. We could not figure out their story. We decided that it was most likely creepy, so we did not try too hard to figure it out. It was quite a colorful bunch.
This weekend will be in my top five favorite Ghana moments.
Peace. Love. Monkey bites.
Friday, June 11, 2010
FRIDAY!
Another week down!
I bring you this post from the back seat of a trotro. Window seat to be exact. 10 Obruniss and 1 dog.
Work pretty much sucked today. It was stressful, and frustrating. I feel that I have a different work ethic than most of the others, and I am not use to having to told someone's hand to get a project done. Oh the joy of being in a leadership position.
After an annoying morning, we took a half day in honor of Pepo, and now we are off for a weekend at the beach.
I won't be blogging until Sunday night.
Peace. Love. Pepo.
I bring you this post from the back seat of a trotro. Window seat to be exact. 10 Obruniss and 1 dog.
Work pretty much sucked today. It was stressful, and frustrating. I feel that I have a different work ethic than most of the others, and I am not use to having to told someone's hand to get a project done. Oh the joy of being in a leadership position.
After an annoying morning, we took a half day in honor of Pepo, and now we are off for a weekend at the beach.
I won't be blogging until Sunday night.
Peace. Love. Pepo.
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