Friday

One more day in Ghana, I cant beleive it.
Yesterday we had class at 9am and Lynley passed out the exams that we had all day to take. After class we went to the pool to try and get a little more sun. It was sunny for about 10 minutes and then was cloudy. Since it is the rainy season in Ghana it is cloudy almost everyday. But it is still hot! When the sun isnt out the people here think that its cold so they will walk around in jackets. Some mornings when it had been raining the kids in my class would come in jackets and I would be sweating. haha I think I still got some sun at the pool though, we were there for a while. Jenny and I split a curry chicken pizza at the pool and drank cokes. The pizza was so hot it practically burned my lips off. haha
After we changed from the pool we went to the mall and ate at Rhapsody. I had a chicken sandwich with fries and it was really good. We stopped at Shopright to get some chocolate and water and then headed home. We were going to go to a club called Club Afro (hehe) but some of the girls including me werent feeling well so nobody went.
Our air conditioner has been leaking recently so we had to move my bunk bed to the middle of the room so it wouldnt soak our beds. That air conditioner.. it has been more of a hassle than anything! haha It stopped leaking right now so we'll see if the pipes freeze again tonight. It was doing really well except for being loud. Not loud like a normal air conditioner.. loud like it sounded like a car backfiring and it was going to fall out of the wall. hahaha No joke.
This morning we had class at 9am but my whole room didnt wake up. So at 9:05 Jon knocked on our door and we all came out to class half asleep. We had to enter some research data about our interviews and have journal checks for points. And we turned in our exams. Pretty much everything to do with class is over! Yay! A few of us went to Tetteh Quarshie market for a little bit and I am officially done shopping! :) Dinner tonight was at a place called Frankies. I had chicken BBQ pizza. It was very good. We didnt eat it all so we gave the rest to our taxi driver. Poor things are hungry. At 6pm we had a lesson at the LDS church. We were doing a fireside about our HIV/AIDS lessons and they were performing for us. We had it in the gym and it was amazing. The dancing that they did was the coolest thing I have ever seen. That was our last lesson of the trip and it was a good one. We just got home from the church and we are finishing up journals and hanging out.
Tomorrow is my last day. I think we are going to the pool for a little bit and then Lynley is taking us all out to dinner at... Rhapsody! haha Then Sunday morning at 10am I fly home!
I wouldnt say that it has gone by quickley, it feels like I have been here for a long time. Im going to miss my kids at the school and I think I will miss my hostel! haha It has been my home so I will miss the leaky loud air conditioner and the toilet that wont flush toilet paper and the shower with the broken door. Ive met a lot of nice people and I am sad to leave them. Ive learned so much while Ive been here. Its been one of the greatest experiences and I will never forget it.

Wednesday

3 more days in Ghana! Today we had our first day of goodbyes and it was sad.
It was our last day at Grey Memorial Basic with our kids. We planned a field day for them and had different stations that a few of us were in charge of. Before we went out to the field our teacher gave Desiree and I each a necklace and a pair of earrings. From the whole class. And one of the older boys named Alfred who Desiree and I have grown close to gave each of us a bracelet that he bought. We felt bad taking it from Alfred because we knew he could have used his money for something for him or his family. But it was so sweet and the kids were so excited that we got presents. The teacher put on our necklaces for us. We tried rounding everyone up for field day but there were like 350 kids and it was pretty much chaos. We just started doing our stations and the kids ran around doing whatever they wanted. Mostly playing soccer. haha But it was fine because it was a lot of fun. They all changed into street clothes instead of their uniforms and it was fun to see them like that. But harder to tell them apart. haha It was so hot! I was in charge of relay races and I raced with them a few times and was dying. haha After about 45 minutes of unorganized gamed (lol) we were taken to the headmistress office and given our dresses. The 2 guys in my group got African shirts and Ghana bracelets and they looked awesome. The dresses they made for us in 3 days were amazing! The were all different patterns and different styles so we got to choose. They were perfect and everyones fit. We were so lucky and grateful! They had us put them on of course and then we sat and watched the kids dance and drum. One of my girls got to dance with the older girls and I felt like she was family because I was so proud of her! haha I was yelling for her and grinning from ear to ear. :) It was a really cool program. The kids thought that we were coming back tomorrow, they kept saying "you be here thursday" so it was sad to tell them that we wouldnt be back. A couple of them told us not to forget them. We got our teachers email so hopefully we can stay in touch.
After school we stayed in our dresses and looking Ghanaian we went to the Happy Kids school to teach the boy scouts and girl guides lessons about things like nutrition, self esteem, and germs. They were so smart and new pretty much what we were talking about so it went really well. One of the men there said that he was in charge of their AIDS education. He metioned that the kids should be trained like he was trained by Lynley. 5 years ago Lynley came to Ghana with another study abroad and trained this man to be a youth leader. He still had his certificate they gave him and was educating kids about AIDS since then. What a good feeling to know that just one person could make a difference and all because we were here. Just like my mom said :) Thanks mom.
After the lessons we were going to go to the Teteh Quarshie market and shop but we were in traffic for an hour. We were all asleep and starving. So we decided to come back to the hostel and take a nap before dinner haha Dinner was Cordon Bleu, pasta with white sauce, and chicken rice and fruit. We are always so hungry by dinner that we eat in like 10 minutes. haha
Right now I am about to walk down the street to the pharmacy to get some mint chocolate and we are probably going to watch a movie on someones computer and just relax! Yay

Tuesday

We have had a lot more free time this week. Its how Ive been able to get online everyday.
This morning at school we didnt prepare a lesson because it was our last day of teaching and we just wanted to have fun. We are going back tomorrow but we are playing games with the entire school. So we had our kids draw Desiree and I each a picture of whatever they wanted and put their names on it so we could keep it. That was a lot of fun. We got a lot of drawings of people and fruit. haha They drew us and they drew them playing soccer. Then we got class pictures. Good ones and funny ones. And we took a picture with each of the kids. We passed out candy and balloons and gave our teacher lots of supplies for her to keep for them. Like pens and pencils and construction paper and crayons and colored pencils. Tons of supplies and she was so excited. They all say "God bless you" when we give them things and it just makes me smile because they are sincere.
Tomorrow is our last day at school so we are having a field day. We are going to play games with them and they are going to dance for us. We've also been told that all the teachers got together and are making us all outfits... we are excited to see how they turn out. haha They were going to take our measurements but we didnt go to school last week so they are just guessing.. It should be interesting. It will be funny if they make us wear them :) And they might!
After school we came back to the hostel and had a couple hours of free time before we had to have our class. Desiree and I walked down the street to make some copies of the stories our kids wrote a couple weeks ago. It was less than 5 cents a copy. The man working was very nice and was asking what we were doing in Ghana and we chatted until we were done and had paid him. His brother and another worker came in and they asked what we were doing in Ghana. I told them we were teaching at the school and also teaching HIV/AIDS prevention. To make a long story short.. the guy that had been helping us the whole time told us that there was a cure for AIDS and that the person who told us there wasnt is a liar and brainwashed us. He sounds like a looney I guess but he was serious. He said there wasnt a disease on the earth that didnt have a cure. The other 2 men in the room agreed with him. They all said that they dont worry about getting HIV and that they never will. We were trying to explain to him but he was very set in his ways. I told him before we left that I belived in God and that I would pray he doesnt get HIV because he would die from it.
I was so bothered coming home. Not because he was mean or calling us ignorant Americans but because there are probably lots of Ghanaians like him who are not afraid of getting infected with HIV. This is why AIDS in Africa is spreading like crazy. Because nobody really knows anything about it. We have been teaching it but it has been to willing people who know a little bit about it already. What about all the rest who dont care and who think they can be cured of it. I just cant help but wonder what I am doing here sometimes and what kind of difference we are really making. If most of the people of Ghana are uneducated like this man clearly was.. what can we really do? Make small differences and hope for the best for the people.
Anyway, after we had class we have free time now. We are probably going to the mall and eating there and looking around or shopping. Im excited :)

Monday

This morning we were back at Grey Memorial School to our kids! My teaching partner Desiree wasnt feeling well so she stayed home and I had to fly solo. She wasnt going to teach the lesson today about poetry so I just took her stuff she had planned and tried to make it good. We talked about poems and I read them one of Desirees poems. Then I had them write their name longways down a piece of paper and write a word that described them using the first letter. Lynley came at the end of my class to help since I was alone. They did so well on the poems, they really got it and it was fun reading some of the words they came up with about themselves. Like preacher. haha They were getting crazy towards the end of class so we just went outside to play. When I told them I was leaving for America soon they kept asking when I would come back. Its sad to leave them.
After school we drove about 20 minutes to a school called Happy Kids School. Its in a bad part of town it seems. We taught Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. They were the youngest group we have taught AIDS to so we had to tone it down a little bit and be careful with what we said. They were around 9-15 years old. My lesson on condoms got skipped because the headmistress only wanted us to teach abstinence and being faithful. Those kids were so smart. They could have taught us the lessons. They knew what HIV and AIDS was and how you get it and what to do about it. They had lots of intelligent questions and we were shocked about how open they were. We really could have taught anything and been fine but it wasnt up to us. They were so different from the adults we have been teaching because they werent afraid to participate or tell us how it is or things about their culture. They were genuine and in that way they were better than the adults. When we teach children I feel like we are really making a difference.
After teaching we stopped at a market we have been to a couple of times and all of us still bought more stuff! But we saw the vendors who remembered us and its fun to talk to them when they arent trying to sell us their stuff. It gets easier going to the market every time we go because we are learning the prices of things and how the vendors work. Since we are white and American they think we have tons of money. There are no set prices for anything, its all bartered. I think its kind of fun actually, to argue about a price. They hound us constantly when we walk around the market. They always say "My sista, come, look at my shop, I give you good price!" Theres always stuff in your face and if you say what you are looking for they run and get it for you. Its hard to just walk and look at everything because they hound and yell the whole time. We learn all the tricks so that they dont expect us to pay outrageous prices for something. If we start to walk away since they wont give us a better price they will say "Okay, Okay take it for 4 take it for 4." Once you catch on to them it can be really fun.
We were sitting on our bus after shopping waiting for the others to come and there was a boy with a wire basket of water on his head. He came to talk to us and we asked him if he was wokring today. He said "If I dont work, I dont eat. Ive only made 50 pesowa today" Pesowa is the cents. He made less than 50 cents today. Erin gave him 2 cookies and a hard candy. I gave him 20 pesowa.
We are now back at the hostel waiting for dinner and we cant wait because we are starving. We are having stroganof, pasta with red sauce, fruit, and rice. Yay :) And our choice of drink every night is Fanta, Coke, or Sprite. Thats pretty much the only choices of pop around. Everywhere sells those 3. Going to eat now!

Pictures

The kids love to have thir picture taken. The adults are not as excited.. see the lady in the background? This was at a village last weekend

Me feeding a cute monkey a banana. They would peel it in our hands and touch us but they wouldnt scratch or anyting, it was cool.

The bed Jenny and I slept in

The men drumming and people behind them singing

Us dancing. I have a nice braid by my face from a 10 year old girl named Doris. My professor Lynley looks so cute laughing! haha

My dinner. Yummy :)

Erin and I at the bottom

The waterfall. The bats are so small and hard to see but they are all underneath along the rocks on the left side.

The Pink Hostel!

Monkey Sanctuary

This weekend we only drove about 4 hours to a small village on the outside of town. We dropped off our stuff and then drove about an hour to the start of our hike. We kiked to the base of a huge waterfall and we got to swim at the bottom of it. It was the coolest thing I have ever done! The water was freezing and we were drenched just from standing close to the splashing. There were bats along the cliff and some of them woek and flew around in circles way above our heads. It was awesome. Everything was so green and the trees and mountain looked like something out of a book.
That night we stayed in the village with the people who lived there. We ate dinner outside under a roof made of branches. We had rice with some mystery meat sauce and boiled eggs. There was also fruit and spagetti. It wasnt bad, I had seconds :) But maybe I am just more used to the food now. It was dark by then and the villagers took us for entertainment. They had plastic chairs set up and a boy started a fire in the middle in the dirt. Then an old man told us stories and the boy translated. The old man also played his flute for us. During the stories, the girls in the village braided our hair. After stories, they played drums and danced in circles around the fire until it went out. We got to join them in the circle and dance for a little bit. It was so cool. This went on for at least a couple of hours, they just kept going. They were singing and clapping. A few of the kids did their own little dance around the fire for us. I had so much fun, I loved it.
About 8 of us were able to sleep in the village in homes and the rest of my group was in the "compound" Which was just a group of buildings with rooms in them. I slept in someones house. They were out of town or something, they werent there that night. Jenny and I slept on a bed with one sheet that we layed on. We had no covers but I dont think we needed them and we got lucky and had a mosquito net. There were 2 ceiling fans in the other room but not in our bedroom. We couldnt open the windows because wewere told it wasnt safe. It was stifiling in that room. I slept in jeans to protect my legs from bugs and I did have socks on but I couldnt keep them on haha I thought I would die. We just layed there sweating all night. I did sleep though. I think I woke up every time I moved but the night didnt seem too long. Good thing :)
In the morning we woke early and had breakfast at 7am. It was bread and porrage. (spelling?) The bread was really good and sweet so I had like 3 pieces. The porrage was pretty bland. Could have used some sugar or something on it :) But we ate it. We got ready to go on another hike that was harder and more steep than our last one but it started pouring rain. It was flooding, it looked like a monsoon. They said that wasnt even bad, that they have had worse. haha crazy people. Our hike was cancelled because we didnt want anyone falling down the cliff. We headed back to Accra and stoped at a resort along the way and went on a boat ride in a lake. It was less than $20 for about 15 of us to go and it was worth it. We were all very tired so we didnt look that excited haha but it was fun.
We went to dinner after we got back to Accra and cleaned up. Rhapsody :) I shared a big bowl of pasta. Today was my last day going to church here. It was stake conference and they changed the boundaries and got new bishops for new branches being formed. It was really neat to be there and listen to all of the new bishops talk.
I leave a week from today! This week we are teaching at the school and teaching AIDS to a girl/boy scout group. Im excited to see my kids at school. Im going to try and post pictures today because we arent doing anything. Im need to get caught up in class with the reading and journals so thats what ill be doing. :)

Thursday

Today we woke up for class about 9am and our lesson was about starvation in the world. I thought that was kinda weird because I had a dream last night that I was in Africa with my family and we had just eaten soup. We had lots of leftover soup so I went to the streets and gave it to a starving girl and an old couple. And that was all that happened. Lynley asked us if we were starving and we all just mumbled and didnt say much because we were so tired. I was starving though. We all were. So she said we were going to get ready and go to breakfast! We went to a place close in Osu called Frankies. It is a nicer place and we had pancakes and eggs and toast and juice. It was so good. Different like all the food here but it was good.
After class we had a free day and so we all went to the pool! We went to swim at La Palm hotel right by the beach. It is probably the most expensive hotel in Accra and nearby cities. It would be expensive even in the US. It was less than $10 to swim and we stayed for a few hours. It was nice to relax and get some sun. After that we went back to the hostel and changed and headed out to dinner at our favorite resturant... Rhapsody!! haha Jenny and I split an avacado fillet and it was amazing. :) We stopped at Shoprite for groceries for our trip this weekend on the way home from dinner.
That has been my Thursday. Tomorrow we are leaving about 6:45 and it should only be a 4 hour drive to the Monkey Village. We are hikink to some waterfalls and this is the weekend we get to stay the night in a mudd hut with a family. It should be interesting. Ill be back Saturday evening!!

Wednesday

Our schedule has changed this week because we are not teaching at the school this week. The kids are taking exams all day so we wouldnt have any purpose. So we have had our class Mon Tues and Wed morning this week. On Monday after class we went to nearby town called Jamestown. It was pretty much the ghetto. If Accra can even get any more ghetto. It was a more run down part of town where they have had a major increase in the number of HIV infected people. We taught upstairs in a small hot room that is a library and it was a group of adults college age and up. They knew so much that we flew through our lessons and decided to train them to become trainers of the AIDS lessons. It was a really good day of teaching, it makes a big difference when they understand and know a lot of things already. After we taught we went to another market to shop. This one was a lot bigger and partly indoors. I bought more stuff :)
Tuesday after class we had free time all day. We wanted to go to this resort down by the beach and pay to just use their pool because we want to come back with some kind of tan!! Bu it was cloudy so we split up into groups and some people went to an orphanage but some friends and I went to the market again and bought even more! haha After shopping we went to the mall and ate at our favorite resturant Rhapsody :) I ate nachos and mashed potatoes. Like combination huh? After dinner we saw the new Harry Potter! The theater was really nice and I forgot I was in Africa while we were watching it. Someone was smoking in our theater for alittle bit during the movie. They can smoke anywhere here. In the resturant and theater and the food court at the mall. But almost nobody does because they cannot afford to buy cigarettes. Tuesday was a fun day and I guess we pampered ourselves a little bit.
Today after class we went back to the library in Jamestown to train the GA tribe group from Monday. They all got mauals with information and they did really well and I hope that they can make a difference. Right after we left and had dinner at a food court. I had fried chicken and fries. Im about tired of chicken and fries and rice :) We taught our AIDS lesson to a group of women who go to a Pentacostal church. The headmistress at the shcool we teach belongs to the church group and wanted us to teach her fellow members. It was in an unfinished concrete building with lots of bugs. But it was really an experience to teach a group of women. And hear about all the things they cannot do or dont have a say in. Some of us cried during the lesson because the women were telling us how it really was for them. Very sad. And its hard because what can I do about it? What can I tell these women to make them understand that they have worth and have a strong voice? Its very hard for me. But we took funny pictures and im really glad we taught them.
Its has been hard getting up early every single day because the days feel so long! But we get a lot done so it is good. Our air conditioner in our room finally is working again so yay for air! And we figured out how to turn on our water heater so we have hot water in the shower. Afew of the girls in my group got their hair braided. They put extensions in so it is very long and looks like a black girls hair! haha Its really cool. I dont think I could do it though. Maybe a little too extreme for me :) Im off to bed, goodnight.

Mole National Park

I dont have much time but I wanted to do a quick update since I finally have a chance to.
Our drive north to Mole (pronounced like Moley) National Park was 14 hours!!! On a stinkin bus and I had to share my seat. It went fast at first but then we drove on a road that our tour guide said was "the worst African road you will ever be on" for 2 hours.. this road was like driving on those lines on the side of the highway that wake you up and vibrate the car when you hit them. Only they were deeper and longer. Things on the bus were vibrating so fast it looked scary. 2 hours on that road! I thought I might puke so I closed my eyes :)
Our motel was pretty scary. I slept with lizards and cockroaches and little bugs in my room. I have bites from my bed. We had to stay two nights there too. The food was pretty much the same thing.. rice, chicken, guinea fowl, pasta, fruit, and fries. We hung out at the pool and we went on two walking safaris. I saw tons on antelope and tons of warthogs (who hung around the motel grounds) and tons of baboons and a few elephants! We were able to get really close to a pack of wild elephants so that was awesome! We were so wiped out when we got back that we didnt do anything.
It was a cool weekend and I took lots of pictures. I learned that one of my African names would be Yawa or Ya. Because I was born on a Thursday, that name is given to any female born on Thursday. They are called day names. Pretty cool :)

Thursday

Today we had school in the morning and Desiree and I taught about hand washing and germs. We usually dont teach on Thursdays but the kids have exams all next week so we wont be able to teach next week so we taught today.
Our lesson was really fun. We had the kids put their hands in 2 different colors of glitter and then shake hands with someone with a different color to show how quickly germs spread. Then we went outside and washed out hands for 30 seconds to get all the germs off. The only thing was that they have a canister thing that holds their water and its cold and they dont have soap. So that part didnt work out. They did have a bowl of soapy water that everyone uses but that was the closest thing we had to washing with saop and warm water. But it went really well. Now we have a break before we have to teach again!
We finished up in Manya Krobo with the younger womens group about AIDS. My lessons both went well and they last longer than everyone elses because I have interesting topics that they like to ask questions on. Condoms and gettting tested. YAY :) Then we interviewed the girls again to see how much they had learned and it was so cool to see the results of what we had just taught. My girls did great on their questions about HIV and I heard most of the girls did really well. They were interested and actually listened. I really liked teaching the girls. The difference between the mens group and the girls group was huge.
The women in Ghana unfortunately dont have a voice and they should because they are very smart and they would do a lot of good. During one of the lessons today about women and AIDS, my group members talked about how if the man forces anything sexual then it is rape. They said that man and women should be equal in deciding what happens in their relationship. The translator (who was also a preacher) told they girls that men and women were equal only in the bedroom and no where else. That lesson also talked about how women can charge men for rape and the preacher asked if we were talking about America of Africa. He was getting upset because we were telling the girls to be strong enough to say no and that they DO have a voice. I couldnt believe the preacher. The thing that bothers me the most is that there is nothing we can do about it. We cant help those girls be strong. They have to learn it and its hard for them when all they have learned is that women are less. It was difficult for me.
One of the girls I interviewed was really cool and we talked for a while. She is 19 and her name is Augustina. She was really smart and a good girl. We exchanged contact information so I hope that we can stay in touch.
We got home late, it was after dark. Dinner was pasta noodles with a white sauce, potatoes with veggies, some meat sauce stuff, and fruit! We were all starving so we chowed down. haha
Tomorrow we leave early around 5:45 to drive all day to Mole National Park. Its a nature reserve and we will be going on a safari to see the animals. We should see elephants! We are also going to visit a remote village and learn the way that they live. But we arent staying with them, we are staying at a hotel.
I will be back on Sunday evening after the long, long drive!

Wednesday

So this week has flown by, I should have known that it would!
We have a schedule that we are following now so its easier to know whats going on. On Monday we had school at 8:15am. I taught a lesson on water and staying hydrated. It wasnt bad, the kids were good. We teach our 3rd graders at the school for an hour and a half and we usually play games outside towards the end of our time. I love playing their games, they are so much fun. Lots of dancing and singing and clapping. I dont sign the songs..I dont know them. I try to stay with the beat of clapping but I have to really concentrate. And they just laugh at the way I dance. hahaha But its fun and Im always telling them to teach me a new game.
After school we have our own class in the hallway of our hostel about world health specifically in Ghana that Lynley teaches. I get credits to be here so we have to have some kind of class! We actually have a paper and a quiz on Monday.
About 2:30 we head to the Teshe Orphanage about 20 minutes away. We brought sidewalk chalk and bubbles and plastic necklaces to give to them after we played with them. My friend Jenny and I drew a big square and played 4 square the whole time we were there. There is this adorable little boy at the orphanage maybe 2 years old. His name is Desmond and he has dimples. All of the girls in my group just want to hold him and take pictures but he is shy. He fell while he was playing and I swear we all came running to be the one who comforted him. haha
We played for a couple of hours and Im not sure that we will go back because they dont have that many kids. If we could find another orphanage with more kids we would switch even though its hard to leave them.
Monday night for dinner we went to the Accra Mall and ate at a resturant in the food court called Rhapsody. It would be nice even in the United States, it was like luxury for us! It was a little more expensive but so worth it. We all pigged out. Then we got ice cream. haha
Tuesday morning we had class again and that time Desiree taught a lesson about stereotypes. We gave everyone a balloon that represented a stereotype and then poped it like we were poping the stereotype. They loved the balloons! We gave them a new one because they were kind of sad when we started poping their balloons. The had so much fun with them. There are two boys in my class who cant read or write. They can copy but they dont understand anything. When everybody was taking turns coming up to get the balloon poped, those two boys got skipped. They didnt write down a stereotype so the whole class thought they should be skipped. Even the teacher didnt think anything. I told them to go up and have their stereotype poped. Desiree just made one up for them. The teacher told me no at first and I told her that I wasnt going to have them left out and practically pushed the boys up front. They were so happy. I hate that they are left out and sit at the back because they will never learn anything that way exceot that they have no worth.
We had a lot of fun with that lesson even though it was crazy sometimes and we were worn out!Tuesday afternoon our big bus came to get us to go to Manya Krobo, the village that we teach AIDS in. This week we are teaching a womens group at a school that they go to to learn how to cook and sew and be good wives. They were between the ages of 12 and 25 I would say. A lot younger than what I thought they would be. I wasnt nervous about teaching them. I feel like I connect more with the girls than with a group of men. I really liked interviewing them and learning their names. They sang for us when we got there and brought us chairs and we so good. I didnt teach Tuesday because we didnt get to my lesson. Im almost excited to tell them what I know. They already know a lot which surprised me.
After we left the village we stopped at an African Market to shop. They love to see Americans because they think we have lots of money and that they can make a lot off us. They are putting things in your face the entire time. I was never looking at something without them telling me how they will "give me good deal!" We were followed and it was just crazy. I did but some things though that Im really excited about :)
Today we had school and we both taught about geography. We borrowed a world map and a United States map and a book about Utah so we could show them where we come from. They loved looking at the pictures in the Utah book. They have never been that silent in class! They just stared amazed at snow and the people. There was a black person in the book and the teacher asked if there are black people in Utah. They really have no idea what the outside world is all about. It was more relaxed today and we got to play games after so today was a good day at school. Wednesdays are our free days but we usually end up doing something all together. After school we had class with Lynley and then about 2:30 a few of us went to the Ghana LDS temple to do baptisms. On the way we got lost and our driver had to stop twice to ask for directions. I was afraid we wouldnt make it on time. They are closing the temple for 2 weeks to clean so today was my only chance to go. But we made it and it was refreshing. It was beautiful just like any other temple and everything was just the same. It was a really neat experience. It was nice to have a toilet that would flush toilet paper and even flush at all! After the temple we went to the grocery to get food for out trip this weekend and we ate at Rhapsody again :) Now we are just hanging out at the hostel reading assignments and writing in our journals that will be checked.
My room finally got the air conditioning fixed and it makes such a difference! Im not afraid that Im going to die of mold anymore and I am sleeping through the whole night. Its nice!
Days are long, I am dragging right now and ready to go to bed! Tomorrow we have shcool in the morning and then we go to Manya Krobo to finish teaching the AIDS lessons to the girls and then entering our research about what they have learned. We will be there most of the night because we wont leave until we are all done.
Oh, on our way to the mall tonight to eat traffic was really bad as always and there was 4 of us crammed into the back seat of our taxi. There were police in the road making some people pull over. Our taxi was one of them. The driver and the cop spoke in a different language so we didnt know what was going on except that he didnt have his drivers license. The cop finally told us to get out of the car because our driver was being arrested and the car impounded! The taxi's are sometimes the most exciting stories to tell because of the things that happen!
Im going to plan my lesson for tomorrow and get some sleep. Goodnight!

Saturday

Village

I know my eyes are closed :)

Swing on the beach

Desiree and I

The Castle from the govenors balcony

View from the top of the castle

The canopy walk and people in my group

This weekend was a blast!
Thursday we just taught the rest of our AIDS lessons and interviewed again to see how much the group had learned and they all got tested for HIV! We will get to know the results of their tests and I think it will be interesting to see how much of our group really was infected. It rained pretty much all day. This is their rainy season so it rains a lot and it is cloudy a alot.
We left early Friday morning to take our first excursion. We drove 4 hours to Cape Coast Africa to see the slave castles. We were driving along the coast and got to see all the boats and the fishermen and how they live close to the ocean. There are 2 slave castles in Ghana that we were going to tour. One of them was closed Frida and Saturday because Obama came to Ghana and he was visiting that castle on Saturday! So we wet to the other one called Elmina. It looked just like something out of a book. It had a moat and bridge and everything. The portugese built it and brought the black slaves there to keep until they were taken to America or where everthey were needed. It was really neat but it was sad to learn how they were treated.
There was a party or a festival of some kind going on right outside the castle and Lynley saw Anderson Cooper there! Our group also got asked to do an interview with a Ghanaian news team so we were on Ghana tv! Too bad nobody at home could see it because I was right in front :)
We also went to the jungle and walked on the Canopy walk there. It was crazy! It was a board maybe a foot wide that wobbled and it was from one huge tree to another above the treetops of the rainforest. It was roped from the bottom of the boards up a few feet. It moved and swung, I was so scared! I couldnt look down. It was so cool though and Im really glad I did it. It was pouring rain and I think that made it cooler because it made a fog in the trees. I was completely drenched though, I was ringing water out of my jacket. We got a lot of cool pictures.
We made a stop at a crocodile farm ad watched a croc get fed and some people got to touch its tail. But it got bent out of shape and ran away so we left. haha
That night we stayed at The Coconut Grove Beach Resort. It was amazing. We were 2 to a room an there were 2 rooms per building. It was like a little community with beach houses grouped together. Our roomwas awesome compared to our Hostel so when we walked in we acted like it was the greatest thing we had ever seen haha Even though in the US it was about like a Motel room. The pavillion where we ate was no joke 3 feet from the sand of the beach. The rest of our time there we walked on the beach and found sea shells and layed out in the clouds. haha We all got a little sun finally. The secret service was there because Obama was staying at that resort tonight! The day that we left was the day he was coming to stay. We had just been missing him all day. He came to Accra, the capital city where we stay. Then he went to the slave castles where we had been and then stayed at the same hotel we did only a night after! It would have been cool to see the president.
Since getting back to the hostel we ate dinner at another hotel down the street and some people went to a movie but I decided to stay here at the hostel. I can see a movie at home. :) Tomorrow we are free to do what we want. Church at 10am and then I dont know what. Monday we are back at the school teaching our 3rd graders! Then to the orphanage to play. One week went by pretty slow, maybe this one will go faster. :)

Wednesday. Day 5.

Busy Busy!
So My partner Desiree and I were signed up to teach the 6th graders on Tuesday morning. There had to be some changes made and we got bumped to 3rd graders! My instructor Lynley decided to stay with us and help that day. They sang for us when we walked in the classroom and waited to sit down until we told them to. And when we told them to, they said "thank you." We taught for 2 hours because they teacher wanted us to fill the entire time. We can either teach for 2 hours or help the teacher with their lesson. Our teacher is just a sub so he was probably grateful for us to take 2 hours. haha. We tried a few games but they were a little messy with 3rd graders. Then we taught the 6 dimentions of health. Emotional, physical, social... Those. We took turns talking about each. The school building is surrounded by a cement wall and there are many buildings inside. There are actually 3 different schools inside the wall and ours is only 2 buildings. They look like mess halls. One story cement builings with small square holes on each side for windows. The doors are big and wooden and there are 2 per classroom, one on each side. The school grounds are.. well.. awful. It is all redish mud and rocks. There are ditches all over and uneven cement steps. They all run around and climb and it scares me that they will get hurt! They sweep the grounds every morning (with what looks like a bunch of fine sticks wrapped together) and pick up all the trash. The kids actually do a lot of the work around the place. They bring teachers their chalk and get things ready for the day around the school yard.
Towards the end of our class we went outside and got in a circle to play Simon Says. But none of them would get out. If they did what Simon didnt say, they would change it quickly and say they didnt. haha So we just kept playing without anybody getting out. Finally they taught us one of their games that was easy and so fun. We got in a circle and they chanted and clapped while someone would either dance in the middle or pick someone from the outer circle to come in. My favorite was where someone would run around the circle and pick someone, then they would both shake their hips until the song was done and the picked person would go around and pick someone else. I hope that makes sense! It was so cute. We also played something like duck duck goose. It was called fire on the mountain. They crouched in a circle and someone ran on the outside and put an eraser under someones butt and that one had to get up and chase the one that put it there before he made it around to his spot. It was really fun! They all sang and danced to all their games!
So our lesson yesterday went really well, I was happy with it and it was fun. After school we had lunch at our hostel since we had missed breakfast that morning because we left so early. They made us scrambled egg sandwiches :) and french fries. It was good and we all were hungry.
A big air conditioned bus came to pick us up a little while later to take us to where we would be teaching our AIDS lessons. The bus was nice and we were all fighting sleep. It look us almost 2 hours to get there because of traffic. But we got to see (those of us who were awake) things that I expected to see. The little villages where they have nothing and the market filled with tons of people. If our driver hadnt been going 90 the whole way there I could have taken some really cool pictures. haha
We made a stop to pick up the instructor for the mens group that we were teaching and some of us had to go to the bathroom. We were in a town kind of but there were no bathrooms where we were. We had to go find a tree. I got my tissues and we went out back. It was NOT like camping! I would pee in the woods so many times before I would pee "outback" in Ghana again. I might have to though. There were bugs and lizards and trash and green water and mud and it looked like someone had already used our area as a bathroom!
We taught outside in front of a building that was too small for all of us. They had plastic hairs set up for us and they were facing the men who were already sitting down. I was really indimidated to talk about condoms and sex to a group of men who were anywhere from 13 years old to 40 years old. We did one on one interviews first and I interviewed 2 men. That part was really cool. We asked personal questions and none of them were afraid to answer. It took us so long to get there that we could only get through about 3 lessons. Our bus driver had to have to bus back at 6 so we had to go. We all felt better after the interviews to teach and I was ready. The two men that I interviewed had no idea about a lot of important things and I wanted to tell them. I was just thinking about how little they know and no wonder AIDS is spreading. The group was excited for us to come back on thursday. I will be teaching 2 lessons on Thursday since I didnt get to teach mine yesterday.
I took some pictures on the way home but again, out driver was HAULING to get home. haha So I got the best ones I could. Dinner last night was pasta noodles with white sauce and salad. The pasta was really good. The salad was mostly cabbage and carrots and green peppers with no dressing. It was alright, I ate it.
We were so tired and it didnt take us long to fall asleep. They came to fix our air conditioning for our room yesterday but its still muggy in there so I dont know if they did. It has rained a couple of times since we have been here and it really hurts the city. People cant drive or walk in some places so they cant get to work or school. The roads in some areas are so bad that it is almost impossible to get through. Traffic doubles when it rains, it is a disaster for the people. Some of our kids at school will be late because of the rain.
This morning we taught again in our classrooms. It was all me and Desiree today! We made name tags and had them write in notebook that Desiree brought for them about what they want to do in the future. And then we had them write about their family and what they like to do. Our teacher was almost never in the classroom with us. It was a little more crazy today and it was raining outside so we could play a game. We have to yell when we teach because they dont close the doors so they can get air. And with the rain, I felt like I was screaming at them. There are a couple of boys in the class who cant read and can only write their name. The teacher sits them at the back and writes for them. I felt bad.
Ive only got a few minutes left on this computer. Im sorry for any grammer mistakes or anything thats spelled weird! Im always in a hurry :)

Monday. Day 4

This morning we were all very tired. I think that the time change is finally starting to get to us. Breakfast is from 7-9 or 10 depending on if they run out of food or not. A couple of us went down to bfast at around 8 and there wasnt much left. So I have a couple of pieces of butter bread and some beans. Then they brought out some more fried eggs so I had one of those.
At 10am we got in some taxi's and headed to a school called Grey Memorial Basic to meet with the headmistress about our teaching. We were just walking around and the kids were so excited to see us. They were waving from their classrooms and standing up. Then we got to the kindergarten classrooms and they stood and sang us a song that said they welcome us and they are happy to see and meet us. It was so sweet. The teacher had a switch in her hand and she used it in the table to get the little ones attention. They minded! Once one person got their camera out and took a picture, all the kids came running because they like to have their picture taken and get attention from us. They were swarming us! It was crazy.. kids everywhere goofing off and posing. But it was so fun and Im not afraid to teach anymore, Im excited. So my partner and I teach the 6th graders and we all start tomorrow at 7:30am!
After we left the school we went to a mall that had a grocery attached to it. The mall was very nice and so was the store. I got water and apples and candy for my class.
At 3:00 We piled in taxi's to go to the Teshe Orphanage just to play with the kids. I was in a taxi with 2 other girls. Traffic is usually bad but we hit some open road by the beach and our driver was doing about 90.. then we heard something pop and our car started wobbling! His tire had blown out. We pulled to the side of the road and waited for another taxi to stop or for him to fix his tire, which he was working on. Another taxi pulled up so we hopped in. He said he had to get gas first and made sure it was okay with us. We said sure. We thought it was close but we ended up on some backroad where they were pumping gas out of a truck. Taxi's were lined up waiting to get gas. He left us in the car and went to wait for our turn. We locked the doors and rolled up the windows. haha We were there waiting for like 15 minutes! Finally we were on our way but traffic was stopped. By the time we got through traffic it was an hour and a half later. There are no left hand turns in Accra. You have to go up and make a U-turn in the middle of the road and go back. Its hard to explain. There are only 2 sided roads and round abouts and places to make a u-turn. We finally got to this city where we thought the orphanage was but the driver dropped us off and we had to walk. This city was the worst one I have seen so far here in Ghana. It was dirty with trash everywhere and people were living either on the street or in tiny beat up wet shacks. You would have to see it.. ive never seen anything like it. So we go up to the police station and ask where the orphanage is and he tells us we have gone too far and that it was the city before that one. So we had to hop in another taxi who knew where he was going. Anyway, we finally made it! We were there for like 10 minutes and then we had to leave to make it back for dinner. So we missed playing with the kids but we finally made it to our group. Quite an experience :)
Dinner was huge fried chicken and fries and fruit. It was all very good but I think we were all starving so we went to town on our dinner. haha
Since then we have been working on our lessons for the school kids for tomorrow and also our HIV/AIDS lessons for tomorrow. We are traveling about an hour away to teach adults about hiv. We are really nervous but Lynley says we should be fine so I think we will get the hang of it.
It has been a long day and it is going to be an early morning tomorrow! So I should go to bed. :)
Goodnight

Pictures

Having dinner at the Paloma Hotel. Just half of the table.

Drinking pineapple juice at the beach.

Riding the horse with help from a boy named Kofi.

My bunk. yay

The streets!

Sunday. Day 3

Yesterday morning we had a meeting with Lynley and then we were allowed to go back to sleep. Some of us did but some didnt because we are still getting used to the time change and when to sleep. That night, we set an alarm to get up for the meeting. We set it for 7 and when it went off, we got up and one girl even got in the shower when we realized it was still really dark outside. We checked the clock downstairs and it was only 2:30 in the morning! My clock was hours ahead. We set it again for 7 hoping it would work this time. When we got up again it was only 5:15. We finally just unplugged it and figured someone would wake us up. So we didnt get a lot of sleep that night.
After our meeting we got in some taxi's and went to the Beach. Its called La Badai Beach (Said like Body Beach). It was kinda dirty. There was glass and trash on the sand and tires and trash piles closer to the grass by the beach. But otherwise, it was really pretty. I rode a horse along the beach too, that was really fun. Then we sat on some chairs under umbrellas and drank pineapple juice while tons of people tried to sell us stuff. We were swarmed the entire time with people selling jewelry, paintings, drums, swimsuits, candy, and food. I did buy a couple of bracelets :) Everyone who was not selling to us was just watching because im sure it was interesting. haha
After the beach, we went to the Paloma Hotel for dinner. We ate outside under a roof that was all open on the sides. Lots of people got pizza and pasta. I got chicken fried rice, I really liked it. They were playing popular songs like Lil Wayne, Rhianna, Chris Brown, and Akon. haha And the tv in the kitchen had The Hot Chick playing. On our way to the hotel to eat, we saw a child in the street getting slapped by a woman and then she dragged him onto the sidewalk. A bunch of men came running and separated them and were telling each other that she needed slapped now. She was screaming and some people were pushing each other. It was crazy. It made me sick to watch them.
We went to bed early last night, it took me forever to fall asleep though because it was hot. This morning for breakfast I had bread and butter, a hard boiled egg (with a white yolk) white pineapple, and things that kinda looked and kinda tasted like pancakes or crepes. We all piled in taxi's about 10:00am to go to church. The LDS church and temple are right beside each other and it is gated off. It looked so nice inside the gates. So different from the outside. It was very pretty. The members were so nice and they wanted to take pictures with us and hug us and were so nice. We met the missionaries and the older missionary couple who is from America too. And in the new issue of the Ensign there is an article about Ghana. On the cover is a picture of a woman who was in the ward we went to! I met her! haha It was really cool because she is great friends with Lynley.
We have dinner tonight at 5:00pm. We moved it to an earlier time because we are all usually starving by 7:00 when it used to be. Until then we are free to do whatever. I plan on relaxing and working on my lessons because we start on Tuesday. Im nervous to teach but excited to get something going. The last 2 girls arrived so I now have 5 other girls in my room with me. We have the biggest room but the bathrooms are all the same size so we dont get lucky there. But we havent had any problems because no one is fighting to take a cold shower. haha
Today during church it rained for the first time since we arrived. We were inside but we could see it. It was really coming down! I thought it was neat. :)
So today should be a good day and I hope to get a lot done before we really start working.
Valeri

Hello from Ghana

I made it! The flight actually wasn't that bad. The free movies helped me not to lose my mind. 9 hours went by fairly quickly.
What a different world Africa is. Nobody could have told me what to expect or how to be prepared. It is something you have to see.
I was so glad when we were able to get all of our luggage and get out of that airport. My leader Lynley was waiting for us and we were so happy to see her! People were lined outside of the airport and men were asking to help with our bags. They helped load them into our big bus and talked to us about Obama. (President Obama is coming on the 10th and everyody is talking about it here. There are signs and people selling Obama shirts.)
The traffic is absolutely insane. Nobody drives in their lane and its just a big mess of cars cutting each other off. And they all honk at everything. Adults and children line the streets selling stuff. They walk in between the cars on the road and come right up to your window to sell you food or drinks or car chargers. Anything. The streets are dirty and there are big cement ditches that we have to jump over sometimes. People cook on the street and sell it.
We are staying at the Pink Hostel. I am in a room with 3 other girls right now and possibly 2 more when they arrive. The floors are tile and we share bunk beds and one tiny bathroom. There are only like 8 rooms per floor so my group occupies the entire 2nd floor.
It is so hot and muggy. Everybody was sweating even in the hostel. The air smells musty and like body odor.
Since we have arrived this morning, we exchanged money, went to the Koala market for some bread and water, and walked the steets looking for a place to buy calling cards. People stare and honk and yell at us when we are walking. Not mean things, just yelling. Its hard not to feel out of place. We got to ride in a taxi on our way to and from the Koala market and that was a little scary just because of the driving and traffic. One of our drivers bought a box of kleenex from a vendor off the street and he barely stopped. He grabbed the box and she grabbed the money as he was driving away. I thought it was funny. All the drivers want to take the Americans for a ride.
For lunch our hostel made us "grilled cheese" sandwiches and french fries. The sandwich had melted white cheese and lettuce and a tomato. We dont eat the lettuce here because it is hard to clean it free of the parasites. The fries were really good and salty :) For dinner tonight at our hostel we had brown rice with chicken and veggies in it, cooked cabbage with some gravy, and fruit that was mostly mango and papaya and white pineapple. It was good and none of the food so far has made me sick. haha.
We have just been resting the rest of the day. My shower today was cold. And the water comes from a spout that I have to hold up myself, it doesn't come from the wall. The sliding door to our shower came off its track and so we have to pick it up and move it when we take a shower. haha My roommates and I took a short nap before dinner and when we woke up, we could hear a pentacostal preacher on a microphone just outside our window. It sounded like there was an auction in our room and he was speaking a different language.
It is 10:45 pm right now and we have a meeting tomorrow morning with Lynley at 7:15 about the do's and dont's while here. She has to go the the airport after and pick up the rest of our group. We will be free to go to the beach or hang out at our hostel all day. It should be fun. :)
I will post pictures soon.
Valeri

Just so you know

I am leaving for Ghana tomorrow from Indianapolis at about 10:30. I have a connecting flight in New York at JFK and then straight to Accra, Ghana!
I am going with my school, Utah Valley University as a study abroad program. There are about 15-20 people in my group and most of us are Community Health majors.
The purpose of our trip is to teach HIV/AIDS prevention. This is a service learning trip so we will be teaching during the week and we will get to travel and tour the cities and attractions on the weekends. We will be teaching all age groups about AIDS and about lessons we have come up with ourselves. Things like staying hydrated and geography. We will also have the opportunity to educate orphans and womens groups about staying healthy.
I will be in Africa for about 5 weeks. I return on August 2nd. I hope that I have everything ready but I guess you cannot be completely prepared to go to Africa.
I am really excited but nervous tonight. I know that going will be a great life experience.
My next post should come from Ghana, I am on my way!