Travels!

Alright, wow, I have a lot to say. First I would like to say that all is well and I'm having a really, really good time traveling.

The first place I went was Busua. Its a tiny town right outside of Takoradi. A whole lot of the AFSers were there. It was so good to just hang out with them again. Pretty much we just read, played cards, and swam.  Oh and also we tried to learn to surf. It was so much fun but extremely hard. After much practice I could actually stand up on my board! Wahoo! I got this massive bruise from it though :( We stayed in an adorable hotel and the owner made us free pancakes in the morning! They were so good!

The Surf Shop

This was a really perfect start to my holiday because I just relaxed and got to catch up with everyone.

At night the Ghanaians drummed, sang, and danced around a campfire on the beach.

Next Camille, Acadia(another American AFSer), and I went to Green Turtle Lodge in Akwidaa. We slept in a tent on the beach. It was a really touristy place, so we ate good food that night. It was really nice to just have a girls night. We talked about Ghana and how homesickness is treating us. I just cannot tell you how good it is to be around my dear AFSers again.

After green turtle lodge we went to Takoradi, spent the night, and left for Elmina in the morning. Here it was just me and Camille. We went to the Elmina Castle. This was a castle used for trade and also held many slaves during the slave trade. It was a really, really interesting place. It really made me think. Anyway we spent two nights in Elmina.

Next on our list was Cape Coast but instead we went to Accra. Camille has had these awful bites on her legs and they really were giving her pain. We were worried they were infected so we went from Elmina to the hospital in Accra. Since we were in Accra, we went to a beach just outside of it called Kokrobite. Here we met up with other AFSers again and just spent time on the beach and way way too much time shopping for souvenirs.

Dorm in Kokrobite

 Ok so I know its just a quick update but just know in doing good. I hope all of you had a great Easter!

Study Tour

Alright so I went on a study tour with my AFS group and it was AMAZING! The study tour was in the Volta region so we stayed in Ho. The hotel was like a 10 minute walk from my home! Anyway I cannot tell you how amazing it was to see the other AFSers! It was so exciting!

Ok so the first place we went was Wli falls. It was really fun to come with my AFS group. It had rained just before we arrived so there was a lot of water and all these bats were flying overhead while we swam. We didn't stay long but I am super glad I got to come again!

The next day we went to Mt. Paradise and hiked down to a river valley. No one knew quite what to expect but when we got there it was really beautiful. There was a fall and a pool of water at the bottom. We didn't bring our swim suits but a few of us swam anyways.

After that we went to Monkey Sanctuary. This was also amazing. All we did was walk the the tree line and then they were like everywhere! We would just hold up a banana and they would open it and eat it. They were so cute. Some of them even had babies clinging on their bellies!

Then on Sunday my school went on an outing to Grotto. Its like a catholic place of worship. There was this huge Mary statue. Then we walked around to smaller statues. Each one was a stage of the cross and had a prayer that went with it. Then we sat for a long mass. and I mean long. It was just over 5 hours.  

Ok so back to normal life. At church on Sunday was pastors appreciation day. See the offering!

Alright I also wanted to mention that I've past the half way point of my adventure. I think that the second half will be pretty different from the first because I am now done with school! I was only signed up for one term of school, which is now over. Whoots!

At the end of next week I leave for the cental region. I'm going to be traveling around the south of Ghana for two weeks with one of the AFSers from Belgium. I am so excited! Sorry for all the sideways pictures! Thanks for reading!

Sleepover at OLA!

This weekend I slept over at OLA from Thursday to Monday. I am so glad I got to have this experience. There were good but there were also bads in this experience.

Where I slept

Dining hall food

Let me first give you a feel for the school. After classes lets out the ladies immediately change into their house dresses. These are different colored check uniforms. The 1st years wear brown (brownies), second years wear green (greenies), third purple (purlies), and 4th years pink(pinkies). They keep the same color all four years though. I wore one of Esthers checks for the weekend.

Another thing thats sets a tone on the campus is that the upperclassmen are allowed to tell the underclassmen  what to do and punish them if they don't. Because of the house dresses' colors, its easy to see who the underclassmen are. The upperclassmen often would stop a brownie or greenie to have them wash their dishes or get them something for them. If they didn't or if they do it wrong then they can punish them. Punishment can be anything from making them go in every dorm and go a dance to kneel on the ground or close to anything else. This was something that was hard for me to see. I saw this happen a bit during school hours but seeing it happen around me all weekend really wore on me and I'm not even an underclassmen. They think of it as a stage in your life. They think that if you can survive your first and second year then you have the privilege of benefiting from it your last two years. Another thing I don't agree with is caning. Teachers will cane a student if they are late to class or if they sleep in class. This is another thing that they think nothing of but makes me more than cringe.

One more thing about OLA is that the ladies here have there own little terms for certain things. For example toilet is cabo. If you say cabo anywhere besides OLA they will have no idea what your talking about. They have a whole lot of these terms which where pretty fun to learn.

Chores

ANYWAY every night we went to chapel. Chapel at night is completely run by the pinkies so its like an hour of worship songs and a whole lot of dancing. I wish I could tell you how much energy was in the chapel. It was just amazing. They sung and danced with their whole being. No one was afraid or embarrassed. It was pretty amazing!

After chapel is prep. which is like a study time. So we went to the classroom and studied. I think prep was about two hours long. After prep is bedtime! Bedtime was so much fun! It was like girls night! The ladies at OLA love to laugh and just have fun.

The dorm

On Sunday I went to my first mass. It was interesting. Standing, sitting, kneeling, standing again. It was cool to see everyone in their chapel cloth.

I actually really enjoyed my experience at the boarding house. Its a whole lot different than school at OLA. I'm so thankful I got to experience it and hangout with Esther more!

Oh and its been brought to my attention that my grammar is not wonderful. I'll try to slow down a bit but I'm sorry if it doesn't get any better.

Independance Day!

Alright I ended up not staying at OLA this weekend because they had something like a midterm break and the day students go to go home from Thursday until Monday! So Esther came home! So now I'm staying over at the boarding house from tomorrow till Sunday.

We went swimming! A hotel in Ho has a pool that's pretty cheap so there we went. I met a guy from New York and two men from the UK there.

On the 6th of March we went to a square where all the schools had a marching performance/competition. Each region has its own square and performance. They showed the one in Accra on TV and it was huge! In Accra the president is there and the military marches along with some schools. I went to the one here in Ho and it was really neat to see. First I would like to say that it was extremely hot on this particular morning so I was like sweating like crazy. Anyway about the actual thing. They had speeches, marching, and bands playing. They march different from us. They march with there arms and legs straight. When I showed the family how Americans march they thought it was rather funny. Anyways OLA's cadets got first place! Pictures next week!

All is well!

Last weekend I went to a culture program. I got to see some of the high schools perform plays. OLA wasn't there but It was really, really cool to see. In most of the plays they wore traditional Ghanaian dress!

Florance and me washing our clothes!

Tomorrow I am going to sleep over in the boarding house with Esther! I am going to stay there until Sunday. I am really excited to get a taste of boarding school life at OLA. Also this weekend is the 6th of March which is Ghana's independence day. I'll tell you more about how they celebrate it after I experience it.

 Its been over a month now that I've been with my host family!

Alright I have a picture of me in my uniform for you! I tries to pick one where you could see my whole uniform but the girls in my class got a little picture happy so most of the pictures have like 15 to 20 people in them and my uniform is not so easy to see.

At church every week I dance! People are always dancing in their seats but there is one time where you can go up front and dance in a circle. First the little girls go, then little boys, then ladies, and finally men. Its a whole lot of fun. The leader dances and everyone else does the same moves. Ill get a picture of me dancing soon!

Every weekend My school (OLA) has a thing called entertainment. They have groups from the school preform and everyone dances. The boarding school kids get really excited about it every week and even some of the day students go. Well last weekend was gospel rock themed and a group of girls from my class decided to perform. I said "Why not?" and also decided to. We rehearsed throughout the week. And by Saturday the girls were so excited.






Also on Saturday was a visiting day at OLA so my family visited Esther at the boarding house. Twice a month they have visiting days. So I stayed with Ester until entertainment at night. Seeing all the ladies in their dorms so different from when they are at school. I got to eat with them and go to chapel with them. I'm really glad i got to experience it a bit. I think one weekend I'm going to spend the night! Anyway this next picture is of us preforming for the school. We are on a little stage thing in front of over 1000 people. All through the day on campus people would come up to me and say " I heard you're preforming tonight!" AHHHH! That made me nervous. I had a blast though.

 On wednesday I went to the falls in Wli! An AFS group was going and they asked if I wanted to tag along! I'm like "YES!!!" It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I felt like I won a Survivor reward challenge or something. It was so tall and we got to swim under it! Around the top were tons of bats. I took a bajillion pictures!

More updates:

I started cooking more in the home! They usually don't like me to do too much work, but now I started to cook and wash dishes. The picture to the side is of me making Banku. Which actually requires a great deal of arm muscle. I have no arm muscle. Below is a picture of the kitchen. Standing to the left of me is Mama. She was so proud of me for chopping carrots and green beans!

I no longer am eating fish. I actually don't how much fish I was eating before but I know Florance was slipping a little in my pot. If I saw it I couldn't eat it, but I'm sure I ate some I didn't know about. The thought of this made me feel dirty so I decided no more fish. Not even a bit slipped in.






Florance said I should post this picture of my bed instead of the last one because my sheet were messed up on the last one haha. Anyway I share a room with Florance so this is me and her beds.

Oh and one more thing! I hadn't been exercising which has been making me super antsy. And the food we eat here isa starchy makes me feel really full so I started working out a little in my room. So I don't come back obolo (fat)!

Alright Its 9:30 and I want to be home by 10:00 so I'm leaving you. I hope you like the pictures!

Pictures!

I have pictures of home for you!

Some of the people that live in the home.

My bed

 What they cook on

 Some of the people that live in the home. Florance is taking the picture.

 Outside my home

 My home!

I know these are kind of random and some are flipped wrong bu the cafe is about to close and its taking forever to upload.