My half of the Room 015 in ISH 2...I hate sleeping under that stupid net!
My first Ghanaian meal...Jollof Rice with Chicken and (no lie) "Shitter Sauce"Sunday, October 26, 2008
Pictures
Well, I thought it was about time that I uploaded some pictures from Ghana, so here we go...
My half of the Room 015 in ISH 2...I hate sleeping under that stupid net!
My first Ghanaian meal...Jollof Rice with Chicken and (no lie) "Shitter Sauce"
My half of the Room 015 in ISH 2...I hate sleeping under that stupid net!
My first Ghanaian meal...Jollof Rice with Chicken and (no lie) "Shitter Sauce"
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Let's Go State...
Forgot one thing...#3 Penn State @ #9 Ohio State tonight at 8 p.m. EST on ABC! Even if you're not a Penn State fan, let along a college football fan, watch the game and try to enjoy it for me. I know that tomorrow morning, irregardless of the outcome, I will feel the most homesick yet during my trip. So much rides on this game; Big Ten title (most likely), Penn State's chance at an undefeated season, Joe Paterno's future with Penn State, etc. After last weeks thumping of Michigan (first time Penn State has beat the Wolverines in 9 match-ups over a 12 year span), I know that the Nittany Lions have it in them, but they are going to have to lay it all on the field tonight if they want to win in Columbus and break a three decade losing streak at the Horseshoe. Aunt Lynn, you know I love you, but "Go to Hell Buckeyes!"
Let's Go State!
Check out the pre-game coverage at - http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=213
Let's Go State!
Check out the pre-game coverage at - http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=213
Update
My apologies for the lack of posts the past few weeks. This is only the second time I've been on the Internet in the past week and a half. Last weekend, there were black outs throughout Accra that lasted several hours at a time and the networks at the Internet Cafes were all down. Last Saturday (18.10.08 - I'm getting used to the European style of writing the date), the power was out from 1 p.m. to almost 8:30 p.m. Not having a fan during the hottest part of the day was a bit intense. When the sun went down, I had to go buy some candles to burn in my room so I wasn't in complete darkness. It made me think back to my world cultures class senior year when Mr. Pegg showed us a picture of Africa at "night" to see the lack of lights in comparison to the rest of the world. I distinctly remember Kyle Perez saying, "it's the Dark Continent," and knowing Kyle, we all interpreted what he meant differently, but he was right. I can't remember a time when the power was out in the U.S. for more than an hour or two, let alone 8! But the power outages were just the beginning to my Internet hiatus.
On Monday, I traveled two hours north of Accra to Asamankese with Selorm John, the son of Mr. Evans Agyei, the gentleman that my grandparents met this past summer at their conference. We were going to visit Mr. Evans at his home. We left around 6 a.m. to avoid some of the early morning traffic in Accra (but we still sat in traffic for about 30 minutes before getting out of the city limits). The scenery on the drive was beautiful, which helped take my mind off the incredibly uncomfortable position I was stuck in on the tro-tro. I thought a 30 minute tro-tro ride in Accra was bad...2 hours is much worse! Anyways, Selorm and I had a nice discussion on the way up about our lives and plans for the future. Selorm in enrolled in an accounting program in Accra that is overseen by Oxford. He's in his third year and plans to go to either Britain or the U.S. for his master's degree. Once we arrived in Asamankese, we walked abut a mile down a dirt road to the Golden Child Complex School, Mr. Evans primary school. There, I was greeted by Mr. Evans, his wife, the faculty, and the student's of the school. After receiving a tour of the facilities, which included going to all of the classrooms to take pictures of the children, Selorm and I left the school to go to the family's orange orchard. They own about 20 acres of farmland outside the village. We walked around there for awhile as Selorm pointed out different things about the agricultural practices they used. We picked some of the oranges to bring back to Accra with us. After leaving the orchard, we went back to the school and had a late lunch (around 2 p.m.). Immediately after lunch, a photographer who was a family friend of Mr. Agyei arrived and dressed me as a traditional African chief with a kente cloth robe, sandals, jewelry; the whole nine yards. He took several photos of me with his camera and my own. I've got to admit, I clean up pretty well as an African chief; unfortunately, my "lack of pigmentation" didn't contrast very well with the white robe. But Selorm said, "you could be fooled for an African chief with that black robe on..." (long, awkward pause), "if you weren't so white!" We shared a laugh and then went inside to enjoy a cool refreshing glass of pineapple and ginseng juice, made from the fruit at the family's farm. After classes ended for the day, several of the children gathered around while waiting for the bus to ask me questions, vice versa. They asked me things like my favorite color, food, football (soccer) team, if I had any brothers and sisters, questions about the U.S., etc. My favorite was one little girl who asked me to show them a dance from the U.S. I just started laughing; I had no idea what to teach them. Then it hit me...the Macarena (or however you spell it). I showed it to them and the kids were rolling on the ground laughing, especially during the last move, "hip-gyrating." But it was only a matter of minutes before all the kids were doing it. I grabbed a few last-minute pictures before Selorm and I left to head back to Accra. It was an exhausting day, but very rewarding! Mr. Agyei told me before I left how he was trying to establish a sponsorship with a school in the U.S. during his visit this past summer, but had not been successful. He asked for my help in establishing both a "pen pal" program with an elementary school back home and possibly setting up some sort of financial assistance program for the school. The school was ranked #1 in it's district this past year based off of nation-wide exams taken by the children. Mr. Agyei hopes to be ranked #1 in the region in the upcoming years but the school is running low on funds. They've been working on constructing a second floor for the school for the past six years to increase the number of classrooms, to cut down on the student-teacher ratio per classroom. Some of these classrooms had 60 students in them and they were comparable to size of most classrooms in the U.S. After being here in Ghana for about 2.5 months, I've realized that this is the sort of "development funding" that the country needs more than anything. These kids are the future of Ghana; the future of Africa! Mr. Evans is a very hard-working, caring, Christian man who is sincerely interested in the well-being of the children at the school; he even allows some of the poorest, orphaned children live with his family and allows them to go to school for free. In fact, nearly half of the children that go to the school don't have to pay the school fees, but Mr. Evans said that the school won't be able to financially afford this much longer. Hopefully, with my connections with the Danville school board and my grandmother's connection to the CSIU I will be able to allocate some funds for Mr. Evans' school!
That aside, I can now quickly go over the events of the past few days, which have kept me away from the Internet. Tuesday started out like any other Tuesday, lecture at 11:30 followed by lunch. However, on my way to the political science department, I fell in another ditch! I know that sounds clumsy, falling in a ditch in the middle of the day, but this was a very poorly constructed ditch. I saw it as I was walking along and when I went to step over it, the cement reinforcement on the one side came loose and it threw me off balance. My right leg fell all the way down to the bottom of the 3-4 foot deep ditch and I landed on my ankle funny. The pain shot up my leg into my abdomen, I could have sworn that I had broken my ankle (and some swearing I did). It was one of the most painful injuries in my life. I feebly limped to the ATM to take out some money, which was fortunately nearby, so that I could pay for my second visit to the Nyaho Clinic in the past week! Well, long story short, my ankle wasn't fractured...at least according to the clinic's x-ray machine that has to be from the 60's. The doctor said that I had stretched the ligament in my ankle and also sprained my foot. After prescribing me some pain pills and anti-inflammatory ointment he sent me on my way (after racking up nearly a 50 cedi tab) but told me that I should use crutches for the next 10-14 days. Unfortunately, as I later found out from the pharmacy, the clinic was fresh out of crutches and told me that I would have to go to another clinic to buy them. Just great! (On a side note to Eric Yale: I really wish you could see the condition of the pharmacies here. I'll divulge you with that information when I get home in December) Thankfully the cab driver knew where the other clinic was because I had never heard/seen of it before. I bought the crutches for 50 cedis...such a rip-off! Makes me appreciate insurance a bit more now. Most of my medical expenses will be reimbursed by HTH Worldwide Health Insurance, but only from approved hospitals/clinics; this place isn't one of them. Thankfully, the guy who sold them to me said that I can sell them back to him for a "reduced rate." I'm hoping to get maybe 25 cedis back. Anyways, I've been pretty immobile since then. I only get out to the Night Market for food/drinks and now today to the Internet Cafe. The pain medicine is helping and the swelling has gone down some, although my foot still looks a bit deformed (especially with the bruising...I'm thinking of submitting a sample of the color, a sort of purplish-blueish-yellowish-black, to Crayola; I'm suggesting the name "Bruise Blue"). I can put a little weight on it now without it hurting, which greatly helps in showering. I'll probably be on the crutches for another 5 days or so, but for now, it takes a lot of energy to get anywhere. Yesterday, I went to get something to drink/eat around 1 p.m. and when I returned to my room my shirt was, no exaggeration, completely soaked with sweat. I only went about 150 yards total. That's African heat for you! The temperature here is only getting hotter. At night, I sleep in just my boxers with the fan on high power and I still sweat up a storm.
To make matters worse, on Wednesday evening, I got really sick! I threw up a couple times, felt feverish, and the following morning I had a terrible headache accompanied by light-headedness. At that point in time, my ankle was a second-thought to me as I was trying to figure out what could be wrong with me. I thought it could be my malaria resurfacing (thankfully it wasn't and I am fully recovered from the malaria, by the way. Don't want anybody to still be in suspense from my last post). I rested the whole day Thursday, drank lots of water, and started to take my Ciproflaxin (which is normally to treat Traveller's Diarrhea, even thought I wasn't experiencing any diarrhea) to try and kill whatever bug might have been in me. I still don't know exactly what caused it, but I'm feeling better now, although I haven't fully regained my appetite. I'm keeping a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't re-surface. The last thing I want is another expensive visit to the doctor, but I may not have a choice if I feel like I did on Wednesday night/Thursday morning again. I'm hoping that it was just food poisoning from my dinner Wednesday night, which did taste a little funny as I was eating it. Please, everybody just pray that it doesn't come back again! Thanks!
Well, that's all for now. I've got to head back to the hostel soon. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the Internet more often in the coming days to report my condition. I don't want anybody to be worried about me though. Trust me, my mom is doing enough of that for everybody. There are a lot of people that stop in and check on me and I am truly feeling much better, so I don't think it is going to be a problem. All of these experiences, while not entirely appealing, have taught me a lot about myself and make me appreciate my normally good-health and "luxurious" amenities (by comparison) that I take for granted back home.
On Monday, I traveled two hours north of Accra to Asamankese with Selorm John, the son of Mr. Evans Agyei, the gentleman that my grandparents met this past summer at their conference. We were going to visit Mr. Evans at his home. We left around 6 a.m. to avoid some of the early morning traffic in Accra (but we still sat in traffic for about 30 minutes before getting out of the city limits). The scenery on the drive was beautiful, which helped take my mind off the incredibly uncomfortable position I was stuck in on the tro-tro. I thought a 30 minute tro-tro ride in Accra was bad...2 hours is much worse! Anyways, Selorm and I had a nice discussion on the way up about our lives and plans for the future. Selorm in enrolled in an accounting program in Accra that is overseen by Oxford. He's in his third year and plans to go to either Britain or the U.S. for his master's degree. Once we arrived in Asamankese, we walked abut a mile down a dirt road to the Golden Child Complex School, Mr. Evans primary school. There, I was greeted by Mr. Evans, his wife, the faculty, and the student's of the school. After receiving a tour of the facilities, which included going to all of the classrooms to take pictures of the children, Selorm and I left the school to go to the family's orange orchard. They own about 20 acres of farmland outside the village. We walked around there for awhile as Selorm pointed out different things about the agricultural practices they used. We picked some of the oranges to bring back to Accra with us. After leaving the orchard, we went back to the school and had a late lunch (around 2 p.m.). Immediately after lunch, a photographer who was a family friend of Mr. Agyei arrived and dressed me as a traditional African chief with a kente cloth robe, sandals, jewelry; the whole nine yards. He took several photos of me with his camera and my own. I've got to admit, I clean up pretty well as an African chief; unfortunately, my "lack of pigmentation" didn't contrast very well with the white robe. But Selorm said, "you could be fooled for an African chief with that black robe on..." (long, awkward pause), "if you weren't so white!" We shared a laugh and then went inside to enjoy a cool refreshing glass of pineapple and ginseng juice, made from the fruit at the family's farm. After classes ended for the day, several of the children gathered around while waiting for the bus to ask me questions, vice versa. They asked me things like my favorite color, food, football (soccer) team, if I had any brothers and sisters, questions about the U.S., etc. My favorite was one little girl who asked me to show them a dance from the U.S. I just started laughing; I had no idea what to teach them. Then it hit me...the Macarena (or however you spell it). I showed it to them and the kids were rolling on the ground laughing, especially during the last move, "hip-gyrating." But it was only a matter of minutes before all the kids were doing it. I grabbed a few last-minute pictures before Selorm and I left to head back to Accra. It was an exhausting day, but very rewarding! Mr. Agyei told me before I left how he was trying to establish a sponsorship with a school in the U.S. during his visit this past summer, but had not been successful. He asked for my help in establishing both a "pen pal" program with an elementary school back home and possibly setting up some sort of financial assistance program for the school. The school was ranked #1 in it's district this past year based off of nation-wide exams taken by the children. Mr. Agyei hopes to be ranked #1 in the region in the upcoming years but the school is running low on funds. They've been working on constructing a second floor for the school for the past six years to increase the number of classrooms, to cut down on the student-teacher ratio per classroom. Some of these classrooms had 60 students in them and they were comparable to size of most classrooms in the U.S. After being here in Ghana for about 2.5 months, I've realized that this is the sort of "development funding" that the country needs more than anything. These kids are the future of Ghana; the future of Africa! Mr. Evans is a very hard-working, caring, Christian man who is sincerely interested in the well-being of the children at the school; he even allows some of the poorest, orphaned children live with his family and allows them to go to school for free. In fact, nearly half of the children that go to the school don't have to pay the school fees, but Mr. Evans said that the school won't be able to financially afford this much longer. Hopefully, with my connections with the Danville school board and my grandmother's connection to the CSIU I will be able to allocate some funds for Mr. Evans' school!
That aside, I can now quickly go over the events of the past few days, which have kept me away from the Internet. Tuesday started out like any other Tuesday, lecture at 11:30 followed by lunch. However, on my way to the political science department, I fell in another ditch! I know that sounds clumsy, falling in a ditch in the middle of the day, but this was a very poorly constructed ditch. I saw it as I was walking along and when I went to step over it, the cement reinforcement on the one side came loose and it threw me off balance. My right leg fell all the way down to the bottom of the 3-4 foot deep ditch and I landed on my ankle funny. The pain shot up my leg into my abdomen, I could have sworn that I had broken my ankle (and some swearing I did). It was one of the most painful injuries in my life. I feebly limped to the ATM to take out some money, which was fortunately nearby, so that I could pay for my second visit to the Nyaho Clinic in the past week! Well, long story short, my ankle wasn't fractured...at least according to the clinic's x-ray machine that has to be from the 60's. The doctor said that I had stretched the ligament in my ankle and also sprained my foot. After prescribing me some pain pills and anti-inflammatory ointment he sent me on my way (after racking up nearly a 50 cedi tab) but told me that I should use crutches for the next 10-14 days. Unfortunately, as I later found out from the pharmacy, the clinic was fresh out of crutches and told me that I would have to go to another clinic to buy them. Just great! (On a side note to Eric Yale: I really wish you could see the condition of the pharmacies here. I'll divulge you with that information when I get home in December) Thankfully the cab driver knew where the other clinic was because I had never heard/seen of it before. I bought the crutches for 50 cedis...such a rip-off! Makes me appreciate insurance a bit more now. Most of my medical expenses will be reimbursed by HTH Worldwide Health Insurance, but only from approved hospitals/clinics; this place isn't one of them. Thankfully, the guy who sold them to me said that I can sell them back to him for a "reduced rate." I'm hoping to get maybe 25 cedis back. Anyways, I've been pretty immobile since then. I only get out to the Night Market for food/drinks and now today to the Internet Cafe. The pain medicine is helping and the swelling has gone down some, although my foot still looks a bit deformed (especially with the bruising...I'm thinking of submitting a sample of the color, a sort of purplish-blueish-yellowish-black, to Crayola; I'm suggesting the name "Bruise Blue"). I can put a little weight on it now without it hurting, which greatly helps in showering. I'll probably be on the crutches for another 5 days or so, but for now, it takes a lot of energy to get anywhere. Yesterday, I went to get something to drink/eat around 1 p.m. and when I returned to my room my shirt was, no exaggeration, completely soaked with sweat. I only went about 150 yards total. That's African heat for you! The temperature here is only getting hotter. At night, I sleep in just my boxers with the fan on high power and I still sweat up a storm.
To make matters worse, on Wednesday evening, I got really sick! I threw up a couple times, felt feverish, and the following morning I had a terrible headache accompanied by light-headedness. At that point in time, my ankle was a second-thought to me as I was trying to figure out what could be wrong with me. I thought it could be my malaria resurfacing (thankfully it wasn't and I am fully recovered from the malaria, by the way. Don't want anybody to still be in suspense from my last post). I rested the whole day Thursday, drank lots of water, and started to take my Ciproflaxin (which is normally to treat Traveller's Diarrhea, even thought I wasn't experiencing any diarrhea) to try and kill whatever bug might have been in me. I still don't know exactly what caused it, but I'm feeling better now, although I haven't fully regained my appetite. I'm keeping a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't re-surface. The last thing I want is another expensive visit to the doctor, but I may not have a choice if I feel like I did on Wednesday night/Thursday morning again. I'm hoping that it was just food poisoning from my dinner Wednesday night, which did taste a little funny as I was eating it. Please, everybody just pray that it doesn't come back again! Thanks!
Well, that's all for now. I've got to head back to the hostel soon. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the Internet more often in the coming days to report my condition. I don't want anybody to be worried about me though. Trust me, my mom is doing enough of that for everybody. There are a lot of people that stop in and check on me and I am truly feeling much better, so I don't think it is going to be a problem. All of these experiences, while not entirely appealing, have taught me a lot about myself and make me appreciate my normally good-health and "luxurious" amenities (by comparison) that I take for granted back home.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Alliance Francais and Volta Region
Last Thursday, several of us went to Alliance Francais to watch a musical performance by Duende Aire from Spain. They played eight or nine songs that were Latin-like, although they claimed that their music was a blend of multiple genres. An international student from Brazil sang with the band for three of the songs. They were amazing! Their second to last song was "A Night in Tunisia," which my high school jazz band played my senior year. Duende Aire's rendition was much better of course. I purchased their CD after the concert and I will be sure to share it with jazz/latin music lovers when I get home. Speaking of being home, I just realized the other day that I have less than nine weeks left here in Ghana. I'm already past the halfway point. Kind of depressing to think about, but it also makes me look forward to my first home-cooked meal when I get home. Of all the things that I miss right now though, Penn State football is by far on the top of my list. 7-0! I would have never believed that we would be this good at the beginning of the season. Not to jinx them, but as long as we can beat Ohio State, which is not going to be an easy task at all, I think we have the ability to go undefeated! By the way, if you're reading this Butto, Penn State is now ranked #3 in the nation...where is LSU? Oh, there they are...#13. Took me awhile to get that far down on the list. Anyways, back to last Thursday. After the concert was over, we all headed down to Osu (the "ritzy" part of Accra) to go to Bywell's, an outdoor bar. I wasn't feeling too well, so I only stayed for a little bit and came back and went to bed.
Friday morning, we left for the Volta region around 9 a.m. On the way, we stopped at a research center for traditional herbal medicines. One of the spokespersons for the center gave us an hour long lecture on traditional herbal medicine in Ghana and worldwide. Being the argumentative conservative skeptic that I am, I questioned the guy and debated with him about herbal medicine's effectiveness and the impacts it had on society's mentality toward orthodox medicine. He didn't seem to be offended by my comments/questions and actually seemed to agree with me on some of my points. He gave us a tour of the facilities before we left. Next, we went to the Aburi Botanical Gardens. Not really much to say about this. We saw a lot of cool flowers, trees, plants, etc. and took pictures. There was one tree there that is believed to be over 600 years old. I thought that was worth noting. We ate lunch there and then traveled to the Cedi Bead Village. There, we were taught the process for making traditional African beads, using recycled glass. Our guide seemed very informative, but was very difficult to understand, so I only picked up a little of what he was saying. We (and I guess I forgot to mention it up to this point..."we" is our Penn State group) stopped by the gift shop and I bought a couple bracelets and necklaces as gifts for some people back home. The rest of the day Friday was spent driving to Ho, where our hotel was.
Saturday morning, we woke up early and drove about an hour northward to the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. There, we got to feed wild Mona monkeys that live on the outskirts of the village. The local people regard the monkeys as sacred and so the monkeys are accustomed to humans feeding them. We would hold out an unpeeled banana and they would come and peel it and take the fruit to eat. Once one monkey started to eat the bananas, the rest of the group, which consists of between 65 and 70 monkeys, were soon all around us. There were monkeys everywhere. I got a couple pictures of the monkeys themselves, but I was disappointed because I wasn't able to get a picture taken of myself feeding any of them. Oh well, I'll always have the memory. Later, we drove another two hours northward to the Wli waterfall. We had about a 45 minute hike back to the falls. It was incredible! The Wli waterfall is the highest waterfall in Ghana (and amongst the tallest in all of West Africa). It was so powerful that it made a mist that felt like it was pouring rain. It was difficult to take pictures without getting my camera soaked, but I did manage to get this one incredible picture. After taking some photos, I changed into my bathing suit and went swimming as close to the waterfall as I could get. The mist was so powerful that it stung when it hit your skin. The rocks were also covered in algae so they were really slippery and I didn't want to risk falling on them by getting too close to the base of the falls. Anyways, it started to rain while we were at the falls, which is where we were supposed to eat lunch, so we had to hike back down for lunch. That was all for Saturday because we had a three hour ride back to our hotel. We had a lecture at our hotel from Prof. Dodoo Saturday night. The activities of the day were pretty exhausting so I went to bed pretty early, but some people went swimming in the hotel swimming pool.
On Sunday, we woke up around 7 a.m. and left for Akosombo. There, we boarded a "cruise boat" (more like a three story pontoon boat) and went for a 5.5 hour tour of Lake Volta (the largest man made lake in the world). The lake used to be a river that has filled up a large valley after the construction of the Akosombo Dam, which generates much of Ghana's electricity. There isn't really much to note about the boat ride other than we saw some beautiful landscape scenery. It was very relaxing as well. After the tour was over, we left to come back to campus. We arrived back at campus around 7:30 p.m. and I was in bed about an hour later. Little did I know, but I was in for quite a surprise the following morning.
Monday morning, I woke up around 6 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. I felt terrible! I had been sick throughout much of the weekend, but I tried to not let it get to me. Well, it finally caught up to me Monday morning. I decided I would head to the doctor to get everything checked out. I had a pretty nasty bug bite on my arm as well that looked like a spider bite that I wanted to get checked out. I took a taxi to the Nyaho Clinic in Accra for 5 cedis. Then I had to fill out some paperwork for registration to the clinic, which cost me 8 cedis. The consultation fee with the general physician was 20 cedis. When I finally got to see the doctor, after about 2 hours of waiting, he asked me what my symptoms were. I told him: light-headed, occasional nausea, fever, and some joint pain in my fingers, knees, and hips, all of which flared up mostly in the evenings and early morning. He didn't even need the blood test to confirm the diagnosis: malaria. He sent me to get blood work done to verify that it wasn't anything else. The lab fees cost me 17 cedis. When the results came back, my white blood count was normal so the doctor knew it wasn't another type of infection. Although my malaria test came back negative, he said that the test isn't very conclusive, especially because I'm on doxycicline, which is actually an antibiotic that treats a wide array of malaria strains, but apparently not this one. He said that the doxycicline was probably killing some of the malaria, but not all of it, which is why I was exhibiting the symptoms. He prescribed me two other malaria treatments, which cost me 13 cedis, and sent me on my way. With the taxi ride back, another 5 cedis, my total expenditures came to about 68 cedis; pretty expensive to get malaria diagnosed and treated. But, I guess it beats the alternative.
Well, all that said, I'm not feeling 100% right now and I need to head back to my room to study for a test that I have later this afternoon. I've taken an exam with the flu before, but this will be the first time with malaria. I'll just have to wait and see how that turns out. At least I'll have somewhat of an excuse if I don't do well!
Friday morning, we left for the Volta region around 9 a.m. On the way, we stopped at a research center for traditional herbal medicines. One of the spokespersons for the center gave us an hour long lecture on traditional herbal medicine in Ghana and worldwide. Being the argumentative conservative skeptic that I am, I questioned the guy and debated with him about herbal medicine's effectiveness and the impacts it had on society's mentality toward orthodox medicine. He didn't seem to be offended by my comments/questions and actually seemed to agree with me on some of my points. He gave us a tour of the facilities before we left. Next, we went to the Aburi Botanical Gardens. Not really much to say about this. We saw a lot of cool flowers, trees, plants, etc. and took pictures. There was one tree there that is believed to be over 600 years old. I thought that was worth noting. We ate lunch there and then traveled to the Cedi Bead Village. There, we were taught the process for making traditional African beads, using recycled glass. Our guide seemed very informative, but was very difficult to understand, so I only picked up a little of what he was saying. We (and I guess I forgot to mention it up to this point..."we" is our Penn State group) stopped by the gift shop and I bought a couple bracelets and necklaces as gifts for some people back home. The rest of the day Friday was spent driving to Ho, where our hotel was.
Saturday morning, we woke up early and drove about an hour northward to the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. There, we got to feed wild Mona monkeys that live on the outskirts of the village. The local people regard the monkeys as sacred and so the monkeys are accustomed to humans feeding them. We would hold out an unpeeled banana and they would come and peel it and take the fruit to eat. Once one monkey started to eat the bananas, the rest of the group, which consists of between 65 and 70 monkeys, were soon all around us. There were monkeys everywhere. I got a couple pictures of the monkeys themselves, but I was disappointed because I wasn't able to get a picture taken of myself feeding any of them. Oh well, I'll always have the memory. Later, we drove another two hours northward to the Wli waterfall. We had about a 45 minute hike back to the falls. It was incredible! The Wli waterfall is the highest waterfall in Ghana (and amongst the tallest in all of West Africa). It was so powerful that it made a mist that felt like it was pouring rain. It was difficult to take pictures without getting my camera soaked, but I did manage to get this one incredible picture. After taking some photos, I changed into my bathing suit and went swimming as close to the waterfall as I could get. The mist was so powerful that it stung when it hit your skin. The rocks were also covered in algae so they were really slippery and I didn't want to risk falling on them by getting too close to the base of the falls. Anyways, it started to rain while we were at the falls, which is where we were supposed to eat lunch, so we had to hike back down for lunch. That was all for Saturday because we had a three hour ride back to our hotel. We had a lecture at our hotel from Prof. Dodoo Saturday night. The activities of the day were pretty exhausting so I went to bed pretty early, but some people went swimming in the hotel swimming pool.
On Sunday, we woke up around 7 a.m. and left for Akosombo. There, we boarded a "cruise boat" (more like a three story pontoon boat) and went for a 5.5 hour tour of Lake Volta (the largest man made lake in the world). The lake used to be a river that has filled up a large valley after the construction of the Akosombo Dam, which generates much of Ghana's electricity. There isn't really much to note about the boat ride other than we saw some beautiful landscape scenery. It was very relaxing as well. After the tour was over, we left to come back to campus. We arrived back at campus around 7:30 p.m. and I was in bed about an hour later. Little did I know, but I was in for quite a surprise the following morning.
Monday morning, I woke up around 6 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. I felt terrible! I had been sick throughout much of the weekend, but I tried to not let it get to me. Well, it finally caught up to me Monday morning. I decided I would head to the doctor to get everything checked out. I had a pretty nasty bug bite on my arm as well that looked like a spider bite that I wanted to get checked out. I took a taxi to the Nyaho Clinic in Accra for 5 cedis. Then I had to fill out some paperwork for registration to the clinic, which cost me 8 cedis. The consultation fee with the general physician was 20 cedis. When I finally got to see the doctor, after about 2 hours of waiting, he asked me what my symptoms were. I told him: light-headed, occasional nausea, fever, and some joint pain in my fingers, knees, and hips, all of which flared up mostly in the evenings and early morning. He didn't even need the blood test to confirm the diagnosis: malaria. He sent me to get blood work done to verify that it wasn't anything else. The lab fees cost me 17 cedis. When the results came back, my white blood count was normal so the doctor knew it wasn't another type of infection. Although my malaria test came back negative, he said that the test isn't very conclusive, especially because I'm on doxycicline, which is actually an antibiotic that treats a wide array of malaria strains, but apparently not this one. He said that the doxycicline was probably killing some of the malaria, but not all of it, which is why I was exhibiting the symptoms. He prescribed me two other malaria treatments, which cost me 13 cedis, and sent me on my way. With the taxi ride back, another 5 cedis, my total expenditures came to about 68 cedis; pretty expensive to get malaria diagnosed and treated. But, I guess it beats the alternative.
Well, all that said, I'm not feeling 100% right now and I need to head back to my room to study for a test that I have later this afternoon. I've taken an exam with the flu before, but this will be the first time with malaria. I'll just have to wait and see how that turns out. At least I'll have somewhat of an excuse if I don't do well!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Trip to Champs
So, I wasn't able to travel again this weekend because I had a ridiculous amount of work to do. My HIST 309 group decided to pawn off our entire project on me. Therefore, I've been working on writing a 10 page paper this weekend and preparing a 30 minute presentation for class this Thursday. I didn't get it all finished, but I have all day today and Wednesday (no classes) to get it finished. On Saturday, I decided I needed a break from "The Protestant Reformation" (subject of my group project) and there were rumors that Champs, the sports bar in Accra, was showing the Penn State vs. Purdue game on ESPN. I rallied a small group together and we grabbed a tro-tro into Accra. Unfortunately, upon arriving at Champs, we discovered that they were merely rumors; they weren't showing the Penn State game. They were however, showing the Oklahoma vs. Baylor game (not really much of a game). Brandon, Andrew, and I decided there was no reason to stay and pay the $8 cover if they weren't showing the game we wanted to watch. We decided to explore the neighborhood around Champs and try and find a place to eat. As we were walking, we came across one of the most disturbing things that I've seen in Ghana thus far. Along the side of the roads there are these drainage (a nice way of saying "sewage") ditches that people throw their trash in and frequently defecate in. In the distance, I saw what I thought was a naked man, but as we got closer realized was a naked woman bathing in the ditch. The water was black (hence our common nickname for the ditches, "tar rivers") and must have been teeming with bacteria and parasites, not to mention a breeding ground for malaria infested mosquitoes. It was one of those things that you really, really do not want to see, but your curiosity gets the best of you and you simply can't look away. Makes you appreciate those hot showers that we so often take for granted back in the States.
Once we passed the woman and had been walking for a good mile without coming across any restaurants, we stopped and asked two security guards in front of a tax collection building which direction the restaurants were in. As we later found out, they must have been confused by our question because we continued to walk quite a ways before realizing there were no restaurants around. We decided to just walk back to Champs and eat there. On the way, we were walking along, talking and laughing amongst ourselves, when we came across this man that does shoe repairs. With a labor surplus in Ghana, people will resort to the most bizarre jobs to try and make some money. Imagine: a traveling shoe repair man. Anyways, he was hitting his wooden crate with a wood block and the sound caught our attention. When we turned to look, we must have all be smiling/laughing because the guy quickly became very angry at us because he thought we were laughing at him. He wound up and threw his block at us without a moments notice. He missed Andrew and Brandon, but hit me square in the rib cage. Fortunately, he's no major league pitcher, but it still hurt a little. I was more stunned than anything at the moment. We were all nervous that this guy was going to do something else so we just stopped dead in our tracks and prepared to defend ourselves. The guy was yelling at us, but we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We were in a pretty crowded part of the neighborhood, so there were a lot of people around, and this one bystander yelled at the shoe repairman. Feeling reassured that somebody was watching the situation, we cautiously started walking again and the guy let us alone. Hindsight is always 20/20 and if I could go back in time now, I would have picked up the wooden block and thrown it as far away from us as possible. Maybe that would teach the guy to calm down and not threaten tourists; but in all likelihood, it would have probably just made him more angry. Oh the things you'll do and see in Ghana!
Back at Champs, we ordered dinner and watched the football game. Manchester United was playing a match as well, which proved more entertaining than the #1 team in college football's trouncing of Baylor. I ordered a cheesesteak-like sandwich and french fries that were delicious! For dessert, Andrew and I each ordered apple pie and ice cream. The ice cream was just Fan Ice, essentially it's ice cream from a plastic tube. But, the apple pie was warm and delicious. It doesn't compare to one of grandma's home-made apple pies, but it was a nice reminder of home. We left Champs around 8 p.m., when the game was over. Other than that, my weekend has been spent working on my assignment and hanging around the hostel. Aquinaldo, a grad-student from Mozambique, made some of his world-renowned guacamole (that's an exaggeration, but it is quite good) last night and we sat around and talked about International Law as we ate. Good times at ISH 2!
Once we passed the woman and had been walking for a good mile without coming across any restaurants, we stopped and asked two security guards in front of a tax collection building which direction the restaurants were in. As we later found out, they must have been confused by our question because we continued to walk quite a ways before realizing there were no restaurants around. We decided to just walk back to Champs and eat there. On the way, we were walking along, talking and laughing amongst ourselves, when we came across this man that does shoe repairs. With a labor surplus in Ghana, people will resort to the most bizarre jobs to try and make some money. Imagine: a traveling shoe repair man. Anyways, he was hitting his wooden crate with a wood block and the sound caught our attention. When we turned to look, we must have all be smiling/laughing because the guy quickly became very angry at us because he thought we were laughing at him. He wound up and threw his block at us without a moments notice. He missed Andrew and Brandon, but hit me square in the rib cage. Fortunately, he's no major league pitcher, but it still hurt a little. I was more stunned than anything at the moment. We were all nervous that this guy was going to do something else so we just stopped dead in our tracks and prepared to defend ourselves. The guy was yelling at us, but we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We were in a pretty crowded part of the neighborhood, so there were a lot of people around, and this one bystander yelled at the shoe repairman. Feeling reassured that somebody was watching the situation, we cautiously started walking again and the guy let us alone. Hindsight is always 20/20 and if I could go back in time now, I would have picked up the wooden block and thrown it as far away from us as possible. Maybe that would teach the guy to calm down and not threaten tourists; but in all likelihood, it would have probably just made him more angry. Oh the things you'll do and see in Ghana!
Back at Champs, we ordered dinner and watched the football game. Manchester United was playing a match as well, which proved more entertaining than the #1 team in college football's trouncing of Baylor. I ordered a cheesesteak-like sandwich and french fries that were delicious! For dessert, Andrew and I each ordered apple pie and ice cream. The ice cream was just Fan Ice, essentially it's ice cream from a plastic tube. But, the apple pie was warm and delicious. It doesn't compare to one of grandma's home-made apple pies, but it was a nice reminder of home. We left Champs around 8 p.m., when the game was over. Other than that, my weekend has been spent working on my assignment and hanging around the hostel. Aquinaldo, a grad-student from Mozambique, made some of his world-renowned guacamole (that's an exaggeration, but it is quite good) last night and we sat around and talked about International Law as we ate. Good times at ISH 2!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Life
I'm recycling a message that I sent to Genevieve Kelly, a friend from back home, earlier today. After I was finished writing it, I realized it might be a bit "over the top," but it is an excellent description of my experience in Ghana thus far and I figured I would share it with everybody. In response to Gen's inquiry about my life, I responded:
"'The unexamined life is not worth living.' - Socrates
Ghana has been fantastic thus far! I've met some really awesome people from all over the world, but few are nicer than those sweet Southern girls from UNC. I've been able to travel nearly every weekend throughout Ghana. My classes, while not that academically stimulating in and of themselves, have afforded me the opportunity to do some independent research into the subject matters of refugee movements and international conflict, which has been incredibly insightful. I'm reading more, thinking about the future more, thinking about LIFE more! I'm examining myself, who I am, and what I want out of life. I'm listening to the words of Socrates. This has been one of the most important undertakings of my life! Thanks for asking..."
Last night, I sat out on my porch with the lights turned off, listening to Miles Davis go to town on his trumpet and tears began to well up in my eyes. I'm not homesick. In fact, I've loved every minute that I've been in Ghana thus far (with the exception of Saturdays when I know I'm missing a Penn State football game or during my occasional bouts of 'Ghanarrhea'), but for some reason the tears came. I was thinking about my childhood; how I miss that old "Sunday ritual," of waking up early to go to church, coming home and having a delicious home-cooked lunch complements of Mom, playing backyard football with the guys in the neighborhood, and not having a care in the world! Then it hit me. I wasn't sad because I missed those moments from my childhood, but because I didn't fully appreciate them back in the day. Memories will stay with me for a lifetime and can always bring a smile to my face, but as much as I want to, I can never go back to those good 'ole days. Never again in my life will I be as carefree as I was back then. I will always have something on my mind, something that worries me (student loans, rent, groceries, electical bills, a marriage, kids, etc.), that keeps me distracted from fully enjoying life.
I've been having a very difficult time lately figuring what I want out of life. Should I go to grad school, law school, get a job right out of college? What career should I pursue? How will I pay off my student loans? Where will I live after college? Who will I spend the rest of my life with? Will I spend the rest of my life with anybody? How can I provide my kids with the life that I always wanted? I've been trying to figure out the answer to these questions all on my own, which was the wrong way of going about it. Right in the middle of my thoughts, tears, and music, I started praying. I asked God to show me a path for my life that fits His will. After about a half an hour of sitting in complete silence (as I turned my computer off at this point), I felt at peace. A peace that I haven't felt in years. I wasn't worried about ANYTHING for the first time since I was probably ten years old! Now, I still don't know what I want to do after graduation (or even when I will graduate; a year early, a semester early?), but I know that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Together, God and I will find a way for me to serve Him that will bring me the satisfaction of my childhood. Someday, I will find the peace of mind that I felt on Sunday afternoons during my childhood. I will relive those good 'old days!
"'The unexamined life is not worth living.' - Socrates
Ghana has been fantastic thus far! I've met some really awesome people from all over the world, but few are nicer than those sweet Southern girls from UNC. I've been able to travel nearly every weekend throughout Ghana. My classes, while not that academically stimulating in and of themselves, have afforded me the opportunity to do some independent research into the subject matters of refugee movements and international conflict, which has been incredibly insightful. I'm reading more, thinking about the future more, thinking about LIFE more! I'm examining myself, who I am, and what I want out of life. I'm listening to the words of Socrates. This has been one of the most important undertakings of my life! Thanks for asking..."
Last night, I sat out on my porch with the lights turned off, listening to Miles Davis go to town on his trumpet and tears began to well up in my eyes. I'm not homesick. In fact, I've loved every minute that I've been in Ghana thus far (with the exception of Saturdays when I know I'm missing a Penn State football game or during my occasional bouts of 'Ghanarrhea'), but for some reason the tears came. I was thinking about my childhood; how I miss that old "Sunday ritual," of waking up early to go to church, coming home and having a delicious home-cooked lunch complements of Mom, playing backyard football with the guys in the neighborhood, and not having a care in the world! Then it hit me. I wasn't sad because I missed those moments from my childhood, but because I didn't fully appreciate them back in the day. Memories will stay with me for a lifetime and can always bring a smile to my face, but as much as I want to, I can never go back to those good 'ole days. Never again in my life will I be as carefree as I was back then. I will always have something on my mind, something that worries me (student loans, rent, groceries, electical bills, a marriage, kids, etc.), that keeps me distracted from fully enjoying life.
I've been having a very difficult time lately figuring what I want out of life. Should I go to grad school, law school, get a job right out of college? What career should I pursue? How will I pay off my student loans? Where will I live after college? Who will I spend the rest of my life with? Will I spend the rest of my life with anybody? How can I provide my kids with the life that I always wanted? I've been trying to figure out the answer to these questions all on my own, which was the wrong way of going about it. Right in the middle of my thoughts, tears, and music, I started praying. I asked God to show me a path for my life that fits His will. After about a half an hour of sitting in complete silence (as I turned my computer off at this point), I felt at peace. A peace that I haven't felt in years. I wasn't worried about ANYTHING for the first time since I was probably ten years old! Now, I still don't know what I want to do after graduation (or even when I will graduate; a year early, a semester early?), but I know that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Together, God and I will find a way for me to serve Him that will bring me the satisfaction of my childhood. Someday, I will find the peace of mind that I felt on Sunday afternoons during my childhood. I will relive those good 'old days!
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