Matty V's most excellent adventures

2010-07-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

My time here in Ghana is finally coming to an end. I must say that it’s been a wonderful 2 years! The people in my town have really made me feel welcome and I’ve had just a great experience. Even through all the frustrations with teaching, the townspeople have always been there for me, and have given me so much support. I don’t know what I would have done without all of the friends I made when I was here.
With that said, I’m spending my final weekend at my house here with some big big plans. I’ll post more about that next week. However, for this post I’d like to update you all on some of my recent activity here.
I’ve been fairly busy, haven’t been teaching too much but I have been playing basketball a lot with my friends and been hanging out in town a little more often. Here is a photo of my basketball crew. I must say that none of this would have been possible without a previous Peace Corps Volunteer, Patrick Choquette’s, work in building the basketball court. I have continued to teach a few of his former students and some other young men in the community. Well, it hasn’t been so much teaching, but us getting together a few times week and playing and having fun. From left to right we are: (bottom) Discuss and Kingsley (top) Archer, Cantona, Sketches, and I.

Not pictured: Kobe, Stitches, Shadow, Cesar, Rasheed, Ashes, Daniel, and a few others.
Last weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday. I tried to throw a big celebration Ghana style. Meaning that since it is my birthday I pay for and arrange for everything. Well, one of my really good friends, Ishmael, was instrumental in getting everything arranged. We had enough cokes, alcohol, and food for more than 30 people. It was a giant undertaking, and many thanks go out to Ishmael for helping me to setup everything.
Many thanks also go to these fine ladies, Tina and Fidelia
they (with the help of some of my students) prepared all of the food for everyone. We had fufu and rice balls with ground nut soup and beef, grasscuttter, and antelope. My goodness, they did an amazing job. Everybody applauded the food.
Other than people in my town, I had 7 of my closest friends here in Ghana come and celebrate with me. Here we are (where is nancy?) pictured with 4 of my students:

After enjoying all of the food and drinks we had a small dance party and many of my students also showed up:

Here is a photo of the 2 caretakers of my house. They have been very helpful with everything during my stay, they are Bugga and Oyibo

Another very helpful woman in my town was Mama Gladys, she was a wonderful neighbor and was always looking out for me
Another important person was the woman that helped provide the cassava and plantains for my party and that was Abena, I see her almost everyday:
Lastly, it wouldn't have been a party with some of my peace corps friends....here is a few photos:
Kyle, myself and Andrew.
and lastly, a photo before the party:
That's all for this update. I'll try and post one or two more times before I leave Ghana. I've got a lot more photos to take and things to do/see. I'll be flying out of Ghana next Wednesday the 28th of July. It's really been a good 2 years, this blog doesn't even begin to describe all of my experiences I've had in Ghana.

2010-05-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been far too long since I've posted on this here blog of mine. Due to some coercion by some friends and family I think it's time I've dropped y'all another line and to say hello. All is well here. Since my last post I've been busy at school. I was the exams coordinator for my school last term. And even though I didn't have to print the exams, I just had to arrange the students, desks, teachers, etc. It seems like it would be easy work, but in all actuality it was a headache and a half. But a good learning experience for myself and I got to teach or demonstrate to some of the other teachers what it is like when you are organized and get things started ahead of time (when possible). The reason I was so busy as the exams coordinator was that we were giving lots of practice exams to our students in the last year of JHS. They took 4 practice exams getting them prepared for the big exam the BECE. They can only go on to Secondary School (High School) if they pass this exam. I think my students did well on the exam when they wrote it in April, at least I hope they did well. We did our best preparing them.
So after the big exam several of the teachers decided to throw them a party and to say good job. The headmaster donated half of a goat and then we all pitched in a little something so they could make enough food for everybody. So they made fufu for about 30-40 people. And we had some music and a dance party!
Here are some of the shots from the party:
Here are a few of my students enjoying their hard work and eating some fufu together.
Did anybody say dance party? My students even though they're quite young they're really good at dancing. They all can dance circles around me.
Good old celebration! Woohoo!
Other than that life has been good, but my time here in Ghana is really winding down. I only have another 2 and a half months til my time is up and I'm heading home. We just had a few big meetings where I think it'll be the last time I see a number of my friends and acquaintances that I've made since coming here. But you know, after living overseas for a while I've gotten used to saying goodbye to people. It's been a great experience. So here are a few shots from my last get together with people.
First off, I decided to take part in a beard off competition with a number of my friends. Hence the funnier than normal looking pictures of myself and others.
Here's a good shot of Anthony and I hanging out...just remember, our beers are bigger here. One of those big boys is the same as two cans back in the states.
In the process of getting cleaned up and trying to look normal again I went with the mustache. I think I looked like my dad...
And this is a group shot of our whole group (with Jack missing...where in the hell was he?) that I joined PC Ghana with. We started with 35 and are closing out our service with only 24. It's been a blast and I'm really proud to call all of these people my friends. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with them one or two times...here or in the states.
I think I mentioned it earlier buy my time in Ghana is coming to a close here in the very near future. My date to leave Ghana is around the 30th of July or so! and then back to life back in the states....that's all the post for now. I'll try to post at least one or two more times while I'm here in Ghana. Until next time.

yup

2010-03-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

...I'm still alive. I just don't post on my blog very often. But due to popular demand by my many readers ie. my mom and sister asked me to update my blog I thought I'd write a short note and say hello to everybody. Life is still good. Been teaching computers and math a little bit this most recent term, but since my time in the Peace Corps is coming to a close I'm trying to relax and enjoy my time here. For example I've been busy going down to the beach and working on my body surfing, the constant waves and undertow here in Ghana are awesome. Just been trying to chill in the sun and have some fun.
This week 3 of my friends in my town and I have come together and pooled our resources so that we could buy a whole pig. And thanks to the generosity of a few people in our community we got a 1 year old pig for under 35 USD (Amazing), and some of our students helped slaughter and butcher it for us. They did a great job. So in my friend's fridge (since I don't have one) I've got a giant pile of pork. I'm excited to dig into it. This week I'll try to cook up some curry pork and rice. I'll try to write again next month and let you know how it turns out.
I think that's all for now. For those of you that don't know, I should be getting back to the states sometime in August, don't know where I'm going yet but I'll be there somewhere. Later all

Christmas Vacation!

2010-01-08T01:32:00.001-08:00

whew! Back in Ghana finally! After too many hours sitting in cramped, dirty, dusty, half-broken buses we have finally arrived back in southern Ghana. Home sweet home.
I spent the better part of my Christmas break from school traveling north through Burkina Faso and up to Mali with 2 of my best friends in PC Ghana, Anthony and Kyle. I must say that we had a kick ass trip. So a few tips when traveling around Burkina and Mali the cheap way with public transport...
1. Learn how to speak french or find someone that speaks both French and English, very few of the people in burkina and Mali speak English at all...making communication a little difficult at times, but the people there didn't mind too much, they just laughed at us a lot. Esp, since none of us spoke any French...lol
2. Compared to Ghana, both countries are 2x or 3x more expensive with everything. So our money from Ghana didn't go nearly as far. I almost ran out of money.
3. Remember to bring some kind of warm clothes, it's the desert and this time of year it is cold at night. We spent some nights sleeping outside in Mali under the stars and we were cold as hell...
4. Bring a handkerchief to keep the dust out of your nose and mouth when flying over the dusty road.
5. Also, contrary to popular belief, you can purchase the visas at the border and that may take a little more time at the border crossings, but it will save you a lot of money. For example we bought the Mali visa at the border with Burkina for 15,000 CFCA (~35 USD OR 50 ghc) and it was a one month single entry visa.
Anyways, back to our travels. Like I said in my tips, none of us spoke french, but I guess that just made our trip that much more interesting. Along our trip we ran into some truly amazing people, many of the volunteers in Burkina were rad and made us feel welcome when we crashed their Christmas party and showing us around the capital of Ouagadougou and even the Country Director was extremely welcoming and helped in our Christmas celebrations. It was a party! We also met some pretty cool guys from PC Cameroon we had some fun kicking it both Burkina and Mali. They helped us so very much.
The main purpose of our trip was to go to Dogon Country in Mali. For those that do not know about Dogon Country, it is truly a unique place. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Western Africa. The Dogon people live along a giant plateau, called the Escarpment and they still maintain many of their traditions. Including their way of life, and their culture. The only way to see these people and to interact with them is by going to their villages. Many of the older tourists will opt to take a 4x4 SUV between the villages, and see the area that way. But those of us that have a little more energy and time to kill, we spend our time seeing the Dogon villages all on foot. Walking up to 14 km in a day between them. Most of the days we'd spend an hour walking in the morning (about 4-6 km) and then get a quick tour of the town and then spend the afternoon relaxing in the shade, playing cards and eating. And then in the afternoon we would walk for another hour or so (4-6 km) and take another tour of the town and sit around relaxing. So the three of us hired an english speaking guide, without a guide in Dogon country you wouldn't get very far because of the language and cultural barrier. Even though the official language in Mali is French, the people in Dogon speak Dogon and each village speaks a different dialect.
At night in the villages the roofs of the buildings are made available for us to sleep on. And with a mat and sometimes an extra sheet (if they have one, that's why I recommend bringing warm clothes and/or a blanket) and it is beautiful to stare up at the stars. That's how we rang in the new year's with a few litres of their local millet beer, Dolo and we were staring up at the stars and with a full moon over the city it was cool.
Many of the people in Dogon are Animist, meaning that they have their traditional beliefs with sacrificing of animals and fetish priests etc. Also the construction of their houses and building are very interesting to see. The people in Dogon are also master farmers, coming from America and with having so many machines doing the work for us...it is difficult to believe the amount of work these people do to make their gardens grow in the desert. Imagine watering your fields by hand...it's just incredible. In the middle of the desert one can see bright green fields of onions and cabbages being grown...
Oh yeah, so the last few tips for when traveling overland in Africa. Always bring a book. We had 4-5 different breakdowns (i don't know the number because I'm not sure if you should count a donkey cart coming untied and all of us falling off...) and sometimes you get stuck waiting. Yeah, for spending only 44 hours in public transport from Ghana to Dogon Country and back I think 4-5 breakdowns is expected. But it was kind of funny, our very first tro tro when leaving Accra broke down in gridlocked traffic only 20 minutes away from the station leaving us on the side of the road for an hour and a half. The worse one was when traveling from Tamale to Ouagadougou. Our car broke down for over 2 hours in Burkina Faso and our driver didn't speak any English and we didn't speak any french, but we still tried to push start the car for over 2 hours before we gave up and just hopped on another car passing by. lol, traveling overland can be an adventure.
And my very last tip for when traveling anywhere, carry some extra toilet paper. You never know when you'll come down with a bout of giardia. Under any circumstances giardia really sucks, and when you're traveling it sucks even more. Thanks to Kyle and Anthony for saving me, since I kind of forgot my toilet paper in Ghana. haha! anyways, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my vacation...here are some pictures for you now to enjoy. Much love
Our donkey cart ride into Dogon Country

Group shot at the first stop. You can see our clothes are still clean.

This a beautiful shot of the buildings on the hill above many of the Dogon Villages. Where they perform many rituals and store most of their millet.

A closer look at the buildings on the hill in Dogon.

Group shot with our guide Mamadou, he was a great guy and a thank you goes out to Omar for helping us out! he's the man.

Drinking millet beer on New Year's eve in Banani, Dogon Country.

A photo of myself on the escarpment with a nice view of the Malian desert.

Sports

2009-11-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Life in Ghana is still going well, and this school term has been a lot of fun. I've been busy teaching Math and computers this year. Also this is the first term of the year and the time for our big sports competition. Where the students compete in Athletics (running, jumping, throwing) and Sports (handball, volleyball, netball, and soccer). This year our competition was in a town about 6 km away and because of the expensive 20 cent car ride each way many of my students were forced to walk in order to cheer for our school. The competition included both the JHS and primary schools, from 8 different communities.
Throughout the competition my students performed fairly well, got second in boy's soccer, first in Volley and the girls also did well with soccer and volley. For those of you that have not seen sports competitions in a small village in Ghana you might be surprised to know that many of my students were competing barefoot. This is for all sports, soccer, volleyball, sprinting and even a 5k run. It's unbelievable how strong and talented many of my students are. It was a lot of fun to watch them compete. I also used the opportunity to take many many photos. My students went absolutely nuts when they saw my camera come out. here are just a few of my pics. Enjoy
Linda, trying to look like me with my hat and sunglasses!

A few of my students having some fun

Our football team with their brand new jerseys! With Coaches Ishmael and Sir O!

Justina (my barefoot student on the left) takes the lead in the final turn of a 1.5k race. She's incredibly fast, she's still in JHS and ran it in just over 6 minutes.

Food...

2009-10-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

For this post I’m going to talk a bit about food…and for those that don’t like hearing about the eating of cute, cuddly animals or eating strange things I’d recommend that you stop reading here.
Since I’ve been in Ghana I’ve had the opportunity to try many different types of food. The meat has been especially interesting. Coming from the western world where almost all the meat you buy has been heavily processed, frozen, or cooked already the meat here in Ghana is a bit different. For starters, the bone, skin, fat, intestines, and different organs are almost always included in your food, because supposedly those parts have the most energy and are the most nutritious. Personally, it took a while to get used to this. At first I couldn’t stomach the thought of eating the skin of a goat or cow. Now I eat it every time it’s put in front of me. However, I still have a little trouble eating the organs, intestines, and bones. I’ve tried them all, but I don’t like them so I usually give them to my friends that are eating with me. I’ve tried meat from a wide variety of animals since I’ve been here, many animals that I never thought I’d eat. Including, goat, sheep, chicken, beef, pork, (and here ends the normal list of animals), I’ve also eaten rat (bush rats are pretty big, they can be 2-3 feet long with the tail), grasscutter (looks funny, like if you crossed a bush rat with a hamster. And the meat is very similar to that of rat, but less gamey and is very good), and lastly I’ve also eaten antelope (yup, exactly what you’re thinking, a small deer. And yes it is tasty). As for the most interesting pieces of meat I’ve been served, my top 3 all involve the serving of rat in my community here in the Central Region. When I was first served rat many months ago it came with the whole leg of the rat in the soup, the claw included. I’ll be honest…this disgusted me at the time and I didn’t eat the claw, but rather the meat on the leg. Next I was served the entire tail of a rat. And with the help of one of my friends we were able to eat the whole thing, the skin and bone included. And the most recent one, that came this last week…I was enjoying some fufu and spicy light soup (a tomato based soup that is quite good) and I was picking at (you eat fufu with your right hand) a piece of meat that was covered in soup. And I was puzzling over what piece of meat it was…I knew it was rat but I couldn’t identify it. So I pick it up out of the soup and ask my friend and he quickly replied, “that’s the head”. Haha! And low and behold, I was eating the meat from right behind the ears…the teeth and skull was still intact and I was just picking the meat off of it.
Now for the real reason I’m writing this post…one morning last weekend I happened to be sitting alone at my house drinking some tea and reading a book. Then all of a sudden a few of the teachers from my school showed up at my house holding a sack that’s squirming around asking if they can borrow a sharp knife. Honestly, I was kind of curious to what they were going to do with it….so I played along and got them the knife. Now some of you can probably guess what they’re doing with a sharp knife and a bag that’s moving. What was in the bag happened to be a little black and white cat (I warned you to stop reading) and what happened next is that they braced the thing and slaughtered it less than 10 feet from my front door. Wiped the blood off the knife and gave it back saying thanks and inviting me to fufu with light soup and cat in a few hours. Now, many of my friends have remarked that cat is actually quite delicious and with such knowledge I could not let this opportunity pass me by. I mean, honestly, when is the next time that I’ll actually want to eat cat, or for that matter have the opportunity to do so? Needless to say, I went and hung out with my friends and watched them prepare the soup with the cat in it. And it was really really good! That’s all for now. I hope that the next time you decide to eat cat or something strange you send an invite my way...
Other stuff non-food related....life has been really good. I've been running with some of my students every morning at 4:30 and that has been a lot of fun. I'm trying to get back into shape, and also it's good to help out the students when they're busy training for the big sports competition coming up in 2 weeks.

...vacation concluded

2009-10-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

And for my last installment of my trip with my parents…After leaving Cape Town we flew to a little air strip in Neilsprut, near Kruger National Park and took another Cessna into the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve. Before this trip I had not heard of many of these safari camps, and now I know that Sabi Sabi is one of the more famous camps in all of South Africa. This place was much bigger and not as intimate as our stay in Camp Okuti in Botswana, but it was amazing nonetheless. They had world class service, food, guides, safaris, etc. This is the view from our room at Sabi Sabi. I was sitting on my bed when I took this shot.
Our guide’s names were Elliot and Sylvester. They were very knowledgeable about everything in their game reserve. At this camp we saw everything…rhinos, leopards, hyenas, hippos, wildebeest, impala, kudu, nyala, elephants, lions, etc. Some of our more memorable experiences there was at dusk watching a lion devour the carcass of a buffalo while 5 hyenas were slinking in towards the kill through the fading daylight. We sat and watched for some time, until all we could see of the hyenas was the reflections of their eyes in a sea of blackness. Or watching a baby rhino with its mother wallow in the mud. We saw too many things for me to recall them all here, and for all those that dream of going on safari, here are some pictures to whet your appetite, and I hope you also have as an amazing trip as my family and I did.Elephants are always neat to see. This is the shot of a lion after eating it's fill. You can just make out the carcass of the buffalo in the background. Baby Rhinos are cute!

For the last stop of our trip, after leaving South Africa, I brought my parents to Ghana to check out where I’ve been living for the past year. We spent a good amount of time in the capital, Accra, but I also brought them out to my house in the Central Region and introduced them to a few of my friends. My parents were really excited that as soon as we got out of the car, a group of guys, some of my former students rushed up in greeting and helped us with our bags to my house. And we showed my parents the school where I teach and around my town. Then after that we went down to the beach at Anomabo and rested our feet in the ocean for a few days until my parents had to start their trek back to the states. Now for those that haven’t traveled much, coming to a third world country can be a huge shock. I know it was for both of my parents, but seeing with your own eyes the way people live in the third world is much different than seeing pictures in a magazine or on the television. That’s one of the reasons I love to travel so much….I need to see things for myself.
I hope you have all enjoyed. Cheers.

vacation still continued....

2009-09-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

...After finishing our safari in Botswana we flew back down to South Africa. This time there were no delays or missed flights! Once arriving in Cape Town we were met by more cool weather, since it was winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Even with the cool weather, it wasn't unbelievably cold, however I have become a wuss since I've been living in Ghana.
While preparing for our trip to Cape Town I asked many of my friends where to go and what to see. They all unanimously recommended a visit to Table Mountain if the weather was nice, and also a visit down to the Cape of Good Hope. I must say that my friends were right. The views from Table Mountain are stunning. Next time I'll have to make more of a day out of it, but with our limited time we took the tram up to the top and strolled about for a bit.
I must say that if I ever head back down there I'll try to hike up or explore one of the many hiking/walking trails on the top. The Cape of Good Hope was also really cool, we got to see some truly amazing views. They were absolutely breathtaking.
We also went to Boulder's beach out near Simon's Town and got to walk around on the beach and look at PENGUINS! They were so unbelievably cute, just waddling around everywhere...lol, my Mom was soo happy to see them!

In our 2 days in Cape Town we also decided to check out Robben Island, the prison in which Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners were detained during Apartheid. It was really interesting to see, and it's hard to believe what happened there during their detention. We had a pretty good tour of the island and the prison by an actual political prisoner. The tour was pretty informative but if you want to learn more about what Nelson Mandela and his countrymen endured for their freedom I highly recommend his book, "A Long Walk to Freedom".
We had a guide in South Africa that took us around everywhere in a private car, and gave us an overview of some of the history and other neat facts about her city. Our guide was a nice lady that seemed to know everything about South Africa. Hence, she knew right where to take us and what to do/see and we were extremely busy.
We strolled along the wharf, checked out the giant mall down there, drove by the construction for the new soccer stadium for the 2010 World Cup, and also went to an ostrich farm and got to feed them. LOL, all in all, our time in Cape Town was limited but we had beautiful weather and an amazing guide. more vaction pics and updates coming soon...

vacation continued...

2009-09-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

After the ordeal about finally getting to meet up with my parents and staying an extra day in Joburg the trip went fairly smooth. We were pampered at all the resorts to an unbelievable level. I mean....after living on my own in Ghana for the past year and having to do all my cooking, cleaning, washing of clothes, fetching water and everything myself it was quite a shock to be given some amazing service and food. I mean, in Ghana, cheese is not commonly found nor is many of the fresh vegetables I have come to know and love when growing up in the states. So I think I put on at least 10 pounds during the trip! lol We tried absolutely everything under the sun, from lasagna, to cheese and crackers, zebra steak, crocodile, ostrich, kudu, fish, etc. All of which were amazing! The food was seriously top notch.
But on to the safaris!
We spent the bulk of our time on game drives. Where we climbed in some pretty rugged 4x4's and went driving about in search of animals of all shapes and sizes. Our first safari stop was in Botswana in a place called the Okavanga Delta. The largest delta in the world that doesn't end in the ocean....to be honest I never knew such a place existed. This giant river actually ends in the middle of the desert in Botswana creating such a lush environment that is full of all types of wildlife. When flying into the safari camp on a small cessna you can see just how vast and diverse of a place this really is. The delta is not small by any means, were flying over it for a good 30 minutes and there was water absolutely as far as the eye can see. Not only can you see the beautiful landscape from the plane, but looking down I was able to spot numerous giraffes and even a giant herd of elephants of 60+.And on the game drives we saw everything. Giraffes, Cape Buffalo, Lions, Leopards, Jackals, Hippos, Crocodiles, Wildebeest, Kudu, Impala, etc etc.
We had a great time staying at Camp Okuti, the staff and everyone was extremely friendly and the place itself was gorgeous. We had a fantastic ranger by the name of Solomon to drive us around and see absolutely everything we wanted to see.
And since the place is so full of water, when driving around in our safari vehicles in the Okavanga Delta we had to do some serious off-roading and go thru little ponds and small streams that at times covered the hood...
that's all for now, I'll try and post more within a day or two. cheers

Vacation!

2009-09-09T04:56:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from an amazing trip to South Africa and Botswana with my parents! Talk about the trip of a life time....I think we saw so much cool stuff that I'll have to update in parts so you all don't get a sensory overload. So over the next week or two expect some more updates with hopefully more pics.
My parents, pictured here:
are the ones responsible, with the help of my Aunt and a few others for the planning and everything. This was a real treat to have someone take care of absolutely all the planning as a volunteer and used to doing everything myself,so this really was something special.
The trip started off a little rough. I knew that there would be a good chance that I might miss my connecting flight in Johannesburg, I only had a 3 hour window in which my plane was supposed to land and for me to go through customs and then meet up with my parents to catch a flight to Botswana. Needless to say that's cutting it a little close. And I wasn't worried when we started boarding the plane 30 minutes late in Accra, or when they announced that we'd be leaving only an hour late. I only started worrying when the captain of the plane got on the radio and said, "We're waiting for some paperwork to get finished before we can leave and also there isn't enough fuel in Accra to make it all the way to South Africa so we're going to have to stop in Windhoek, Namibia to refuel." It was at that point that I realized that I wasn't going to make my connecting flight.
My parents tried waiting for me and help me catch the flight, but there was no way in hell I could make it. After racing through the airport and customs and arguing with South African Airways to pay for my hotel room (which they didn't) I finally got out of the airport and got to stay at a wonderful hotel in the middle of nowhere. I spent a night in Joburg but didn't get a chance to see a damn thing because everyone insisted that I don't walk around town by myself...probably for good reason. But did I listen to them? Nope. I went strolling around the area near my hotel, but I did refrain from going into downtown Joburg. Next time I will.
The next day I did meet up with my parents in Botswana and the rest of my tale will continue from there. But have one more pictures to tide you over....
The Leopard is a beautiful animal. Until this trip my favorite animal was the cheetah, but now I've got to say that it is most definitely the Leopard. They are the epitome of cool. Awesome.

Busy busy...

2009-08-03T03:44:00.000-07:00

I know it has been far too long (again) since I’ve posted on this here blog of mine. The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity for me. So much has happened and I’m sure I’ll forget to mention a lot of important things that have happened, but I’ll do my best to remember as much as I can!
First off, I’ve had new furniture for my house and I’ve done my best rearranging it all to make my house now comfortable to hang out in.

The chairs you see here are much more comfortable than the lone plastic chair I’ve been using until now. So I can now fall asleep reading in a much more comfortable chair! Lol. Anyway, other than furniture my house is pretty much the same as always and life is good and comfy. Also, speaking of new things; my school finally got permission to start using the brand new school building that was built by a Chinese contractor. And I must say that the new building is waaay nicer than 99% of the schools I’ve seen in Ghana. For starters, the school has electricity. And not only do we have electricity but we have an electric bell and there are fluorescent lights and ceiling fans (that work) in every classroom! A computer was also donated to the school by the assembly man and there are metal bookcases to put books and make a library! Needless to say, I’m slightly overwhelmed with how nice this whole setup is…and unfortunately I don’t have any more pictures of the school to post. But I promise that once our school reopens in September I’ll try to get some photos of the inside of the school.
I actually have a photo of the very last class I had in the old school building. I had some friends stay with me for a few days and took a photo of my class and I.

My students were so excited! Haha! And yes you heard right…’when school reopens’, that means that we’re now on vacation! Time to relax and not worry about teaching! Not like I’ve taught much lately, I’ve been busy with the new group of trainees. I was asked to assist with their training and provide support. It’s been a blast and I’ve been lucky to meet almost all of the new trainees. They’re a pretty good bunch, and they remind me a lot of my group when we came to Ghana last year.
And now we come to one of the highlights of my PC experience. I got to see Obama give a speech in Accra! What an awesome experience, we heard at the very last minute that we (all Peace Corps volunteers in Ghana) were invited to attend the event. And surprisingly enough, even with the late notice almost all of the volunteers were able to travel to Accra and see him speak. And not only did I get to see President Obama speak, I also had the privilege to see President Mills (Ghana’s President) speak as well.

Obama even threw out a big shout out to us Peace Corps volunteers, and that was really cool to have the President of the US speak directly about a project that I am involved in. And somehow I got lucky enough to be near the front of the crowd. In fact, I was so close that after the event I looked at my phone and I had a text from my mom saying that she had just seen me on CNN in the crowd when Obama was going around and greeting the spectators. And somehow I wormed my way in there and got to shake the President’s hand, and also the First Lady’s! That is something I’ll never forget...

Playing tourist for a week..

2009-04-29T00:24:00.000-07:00

w00t! I just got done playing tourist for the first time since I've been in Ghana...and you know what? It was a blast! Right at the beginning of this vacation I traveled around the northern parts of Ghana with 6 of my friends. Thanks to Anthony, Beth, Brian, Kyle, Toby, and Tristen for making it a great time. I'll try and let my pictures do most of the talking, but if you want to know more about anything just shoot me an email and I'd be more than happy to tell you more, but we saw many things. This was my first time traveling to the Northern two-thirds of the country and I've got to say it's a pretty cool place. The people are just as friendly and the land is much more flat and brown than what I've gotten used to down here in the southern regions. We went first off to Tamale, and then stayed with a friend just outside of Bolgatanga. and then in one day we did a lot of sightseeing, first to the crocodile ponds, then to an old slave camp, and lastly to Tenzug village. So we saw lots of wildlife and learned a lot about some of the history of the North. Crocodiles were HUGE and really neat to see, we even got up close and personal with them. I really don't think that they would ever ever ever, allow this type of thing to happen in the states. We also checked out a place called Sirigu with traditional art, which included pottery, drawing on walls, and many other things. It was really neat to see the traditional designs that the people use and hear about the everyday use of many of the items they have.
Also in the North there is Mole National Park, and the travel there can be a bit of a pain, only 85 km on a very very rough road, on a bus with at least 90-100 people crammed on board. Makes the journey almost as much fun as the park itself. But evidently we picked a great time to go to the park because this time in the North is the beginning of the rainy season and the elephants like to come out and swim just down the hill from where we were staying. It was truly an amazing site. We saw maybe 15-20 elephants, lots of baboons and warthogs, a green monkey, monitor lizard, cob (a deer like animal), water buck (looks like a cross between a donkey and deer...), and too many birds, crocodiles, and insects to count. Really cool place to visit. If you have your own private car the park would be really cool to see because you could go into the center of the park and perhaps see a wider variety of wildlife.
Anyways, after this phenomenal trip I got home only to find that a large storm the night before had knocked down the tree in front of my house and it hit my house and knocked out my power for a few days! It was pretty big tree too...the owners of my house worked amazingly fast however and were able to get the electricity fixed very quickly and then replaced the damaged tin roofing sheets. So the rain only leaked into my house one time and made a mess once before it was fixed.
Also the day after I got back from my trip, I had a few really nice folks from Peace Corps South Africa come and stay with me for 2 days, and I finally made it down to Kakum National Park and checked out the canopy walk! Man, what a trip! I really didn't know what to expect, but you are really high up, it was awesome! So thanks to all that made these trips possible, my guests from South Africa were really amazing people and my traveling companions in the North were equally amazing and I think a good time was had by all. Cheers, I hope you all enjoy the photos.
The first photo i think needs no explanation. And Yes, that crocodile is alive, we just watched it eat two chickens...

We got pretty close to the elephants too, didn't get to touch them though. This is a picture of our walking safari guide and an elephant when in Mole.

I'm feeding an elephant..

Group photo!

Anther fantastic group photo, in the pool at the Mole Hotel.

View from one of the platforms on the canopy walk in Kakum National Park.

And lastly, this is the tree that landed on my house. They had already trimmed most of the branches but you can see where it hit the corner of the house and knocked out the electricity. But my landlord and his family had everything fixed up within 3 days.

Cheers

2009-03-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

So guess who's been living in Ghana for over 9 months now?!
ME! Ha, it doesn't feel like that long at all, I'm over 1/3 completed with my time in the Peace Corps, only 18 months to go. Life is still chugging along just fine. Besides getting sick again (nothing to worry about, just the normal stuff when living in a third world country, diarrhea, fever, etc.) school has been going alright. The beginning of this term was amazing with only a few classes were canceled. But in the last month, over two-thirds of my classes have been canceled for a number of reasons. Lately, the students have been working really hard and clearing land to make a school farm and gathering bamboo to make a fence for the farm. That's just one of the many projects the students are involved with. The students here don't try very hard in the classroom but my goodness, they are extremely good at using a cutlass (machete) to clear land. Where American students would beat them in the classroom the students in my school would stomp them when it comes to manual labor and farming!
Another reason my classes were canceled lately is that there was a big marching competition for all of the schools in my district held on Ghana's Independence Day, March 6th. So they had to practice for a few hours every day for the 2 weeks before the event. But I must say that all of their hard work paid off. My school won the competition for the JHS and Primary (elementary school) and even the children in Kindergarten and Nursery marched and got 2nd place! It was a blast. The students really enjoyed the event and the celebrations!

So the first picture is of the students all lined up for inspection before marching. The girls in the front and the boys in the back. After this they march all the way around a football field and then salute to the chief and officials of the town.

And a picture of the JHS boys led by Ishmael, a friend and fellow teacher, and Desmond, one of the final year students. Here they are saluting to the officials. As you can see my students dressed up for the occasion, they're wearing some pretty amazing ties!

And this picture of some of the teachers at my school and myself. The man dressed in all white to my left is my headmaster. Enjoy!

so...i went to a funeral..

2009-02-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

I know how terrible the title of this post sounds...but seriously, funerals in Ghana are vastly different from the rights and customs that we are used to in the states. And that they are giant social events, and many of the people are quite intoxicated for all of the 3 day event. However, it was a sad weekend, we buried my former landlady (Afua), she had passed away the day after Christmas. She was extraordinarily kind to me, and even cooked for me on a number of occasions. She was the first person I really met when I moved into my house. Her kids and extended family have also extended the same kindness to me. This is a photo of the obituary notice that is posted around the town and the surrounding area..Here's a breakdown for Funeral traditions in my area:

*Friday night: wake-keeping. (play loud music over gigantic speakers all night. My house is more than a quarter of a mile away and down the hill, and I can always hear the music as if it is setup right outside my window.)
*Saturday morning: Viewing the body and taking the body to the church for the memorial service, for this it is casual wear. You wear traditional cloth (ntoma) made into a shirt with black pants and shoes.
*Saturday afternoon: In the afternoon, the family sets up tents with chairs and offers refreshments and food for the guests. Doing all of the serving and everything. And from the food, everyone then attends the traditional funeral wearing the traditional cloth wrapped in the traditional style and more music is played and then there is the giving of donations and much drinking and dancing.
*Sunday morning: Thanksgiving service in the church. It's a long service and you wear the traditional black and white cloth, either in the traditional style or made into a shirt.
*Sunday afternoon: Same as Saturday afternoon, for all of the people that couldn't make it to the service on Saturday. So there is more giving of donations, much drinking and dancing.
So a funeral is a very big event and brings the entire community together. I attended my landlady's (Afua's) funeral and did my best to respect the different traditions and customs. I wore the traditional cloth both as a shirt and in the traditional style. My teachers told me that I had to get up and dance as well, so in front of 250+ people I got up and attempted to dance! LOL, while wearing the traditional cloth no less. It was an experience, I'm sure that many of the people had never seen a white man (try to) dance before, one of my fellow teachers also decided to take a video of it on their cell phone. And for this I actually took some photos, I hope you all enjoy...
oh yeah, school this term is also chugging along smoothly. I'll post more about that next time!

The top photo was taken with my former headmaster, Mr. Ninson. He was really excited to see me wearing the traditional cloth.

And this is a photo of me dancing with some of the teachers at my school.

Ramblings..

2009-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned just how friendly people in Ghana can be. I mean, don’t get me wrong. In this country I’ve had my phone stolen, and some of my friends have also had their phones or wallets stolen, but almost all of those bad things that happen are in the bigger cities like Accra and Kumasi. And the merchants that sell things almost always try to cheat me because I’m white and they think I’m rich, but honestly….who can blame them, I’d do the same thing if I was in their shoes. However, outside of the big cities the vast majority of people are extraordinarily friendly. To prove my point I have a story about taking my propane cylinder to Cape Coast to get it filled. First off, I had no idea where the filling place was, so I had to take a dropping car (Ghanaian lingo, Dropping Car: chartering a taxi, pay for the entire car and take the car by yourself. As opposed to, Line Car: which is a share taxi and much less expensive than a dropping car) which cost a lot of money. Anyways, after I filled my propane tank in the big city I still had to run some errands and my propane cylinder was really heavy (about 70 lbs) and I didn’t want to try and carry it around while shopping. So I asked my taxi driver if he knew of a place to leave my cylinder. And he took me to his junior brother’s store near the tro-tro station. A propane cylinder is not a cheap item here in Ghana, it’s worth about 55 Ghana Cedis (~ $55 and about half of what the average Ghanaian makes in a month) and to think of trusting it with a complete stranger for me was a difficult decision. I know that I would never leave anything like that with a random stranger if I would’ve been in the states. However, I elected to trust my taxi driver’s brother and after I went shopping and finished running my errands it was still there! I’m very thankful for Frank for letting me leave my heavy cylinder at his shop for 3 hours! I’m also really thankful for the random kind people out there in the world, without them this world would be in bad shape. Enough of my rambling…in case you all are wondering, school starts tomorrow and I’m excited! Until next time, enjoy staring at my delicious brownie!

The New Year

2009-01-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

I just spent the last hour trying to upload a picture of a delicious brownie that I made! But, alas my internet wouldn't let me upload it, so maybe next time! but, yes I made brownies from scratch all by myself. And also yes, I don’t have an oven but ‘baked’ it on my stove top with a non-stick pan and a lid! It was an experiment I’m glad I tried! So I made brownies, that’s my big accomplishment of the new year so far!! Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a more exciting new years celebration than I did this year, my celebration consisted of me, myself, and I sitting around. I must say it was very very exciting! However, I did stay up until midnight! But went to bed immediately after.
I started teaching this past week, my Form 3 JHS students started coming to school a week early for some extra classes and revision time with all of the teachers. Even though when I was teaching I had to really chastise some of the students because they refused to take notes or even pay attention. We’ll see if I can get them to learn some better study habits for the next term that is starting on Monday. But I have a big Peace Corps (while in Ghana don't forget...the p is not silent in the word Corps, you have to say all the letters!) meeting this week so I will be absent from the first week of classes (not like much happens during the first week anyways. The children usually just spend it cleaning and getting the school ready for the second week) and will have to really begin in earnest in time for the second week.
The new school that was being built by a Chinese contractor is almost finished and should be commissioned soon! I’ll post some pictures the next time I get around to it. The school looks quite fantastic and I’m really excited that the children will get some high quality facilities and I hope that will entice them to come to school more regularly and that they will try and learn. Here's to hoping...I'll keep you all updated

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-28T01:19:00.000-08:00

So I know I have been very lax about writing on this here blog of mine, but I thought since it was Christmas time it would be a good time to update everyone and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years. I had a decent Christmas, I enjoyed some hashbrowns and some cabbage stir fry was my big splurge on the meal....and listened to A Christmas Carol as read by Patrick Stewart. It was probably the highlight of my day besides chatting for a few with my family and getting a few random texts from the other side of the pond ;-)
But in case you're wondering, I did have a White Christmas! Because of the seasonal Harmattan (winds from the Sahara desert that blow a ton of sand on the area to the south) this far south in Ghana doesn't coat everything in dirt and dust as it does in the northern parts. Instead every morning I wake up to a thick fog that engulfs my house and the surrounding area, and doesn't usually burn off til 9 or 10 in the morning. No snow or Christmas decorations, but I had a ton of fog and some mulled wine! You can't have Christmas without some good 'ol hot wine....delicious.
But other than that, my travel plans to travel about Ghana have now been postponed til the beginning of January. With my friends Anthony and Tristen we're going to head up to the northern part of Ghana and visit a couple of friends and play tourist for about nine days or so. It should be awesome, I still haven't been to the northern part of the country. And never fear, I'll actually remember to bring my camera and take a few photos. So far I've really been slacking, and I promise I'll try to get some good pics for you all back in the states to drool over..
..on that note, I did take some photos of a couple of my classrooms. One is a shot of the desks and the view I have when teaching, and the other photo is of the chalkboard of one of the rooms, and believe it or not, the writing on it is mine. I was helping a small group of my students understand the importance of triangles and trying to show them how to critically think by presenting problems in a different way and encouraging them. I know my handwriting is pretty terrible, but just remember that the chalkboards aren't nearly as smooth as the seem. The one you see is pitted very badly and there are parts of it that you can't write on or erase from. It's always an adventure teaching in Ghana.
Today is the run-off for the Ghanaian Presidential election between the two parties NPP and NDC. It's going to be a close race and I really hope that the Ghanaian people can have a free and fair election with no violence. Let's hope so, we'll know when the results come back in a few days.
I hope you all have an awesome new years, I'll try to write more next year!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T23:33:00.000-08:00

Happy late Thanksgiving to everybody! I don''t want to rub it in to my brothers and sisters that didn't come to Accra for Thanksgiving but I had two big feasts to celebrate, with plenty of turkey, stuffing, and several types of pie, including pumpkin and pecan. The American Ambassador to Ghana was a gracious host and invited a select few of us volunteers to join him at his house and threw a big party. My thanks to him and some of the other ex-pats that opened their homes to us so we could make this event possible. For one day I felt like an American living comfortably overseas, I stayed in a house with glass pane windows and air conditioning and a real shower with hot water. All of the things I took for granted before joining the Peace Corps. But I met a lot of really great people that are working for the American government overseas. Many of them were former Peace Corps Volunteers, and it was really interesting to hear their stories from their service and how they ended up in their current profession. Needless to say, it was a whirlwind trip that now seems like forever ago. I even had a bit of adventure on the way home.
So a few months ago I heard that one of my friends lost his cell phone in one of the big tro tro stations in Accra. I heard this news and laughed, thinking what a moron! And telling myself that I would NEvER let that happen to me! LOL. Well, I guess I broke rule number one from Peter Pan, Never say Never, and I learned that Karma can be a cruel mistress. So when sliding into my seat in a tro my phone slipped from my pocket. Completely unaware of this I got down at my station. Before walking 5 steps I realized that my phone was not in my pocket and I ran back to the tro to retrieve it. But it was nowhere to be found, I even met a lady who saw my cell on the seat but didn’t feel like telling me!! And the real kicker is that when my friend Anthony called my phone to see if I could hear it ring, a Ghanaian answered, “your friend should be more careful next time” and then claimed he would be ‘coming’ back to return the phone. We waited around for about 5-10 minutes and realized it was a lost cause. However I was able to buy a new phone already, somehow the guy that took it didn’t feel like stealing my phone credits too which is lucky for me. But what a pain…anyways, exactly one week from today is the presidential elections in Ghana. I’m really hoping for free and fair elections with no violence. I’ll keep you posted with the latest happenings.

OBAMA!

2008-11-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

First off, I'm really excited that Obama got the vote to be the next president, I stayed up late here in Ghana full of anticipation and tried to listen on the radio to the results as they came in. I find it kind of ironic that I passed out around midnight, and one of my fellow teachers called and woke me up at 4 in the morning yelling that Obama just won! It was great! I've had many people come up to me and tell me how great it is that a black man has been elected, many of the Ghanaians are encouraged and as hopeful as many Americans are.
Other than that, life around here has been good. I'm still trying to teach and making some small progress and I feel like I'm getting through to a few more of the students! Sometimes it feels like I'm fighting an uphill batttle, and the kids don't want to learn at all. But this week has been really encouraging, the students stopped talking so much and were trying to listen to what I was saying! I'll let you all know how the rest of the term goes, it will be interesting. There's no way in hell I will be able to get through all of the material that I wanted to this term, but I'll keep these students working as hard and as fast as they can while trying to have some fun at the same time.
Outside of teaching and school, life has been really good. I found this awesome beach about 40 km west of Cape Coast and went swimming. You have to pay to use the beach but they keep it clean and in good condition. I must say, it was absolutely gorgeous! Sandy beach, palm trees, beer....what more could I ask for? I felt like a tourist on vacation! I'll make sure to take my camera the next time I go and I'll be able to share with you its majestic beauty.
Oh, and I just realized that this past Monday, 10 November, marked the 5th month that I have been in Ghana! ...how time flies.

Rainy Season...

2008-10-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Right now we're in the middle of the last rainy season for the year....and I find it sad that the first thing I think of when I see a bright sunny day is "Damn, I should have done laundry this morning..." For those of us that have never really had to wash all of our clothes by hand you have to keep your eye to the sky and watch for a good day so your clothes don't sit on the drying line for days on end. And even then, the weather sometimes changes very drastically in just a moment, at least it makes every washing experience exciting. For the last four months I have 2 buckets and I've dubbed them my 'washing machine' as long as you put in a little bit of elbow grease and add a spot of sunshine you can have some clean clothes. But in the rainy season that is sometimes easier said than done, it seems to rain at least once a day right now. And last night there was a storm directly above my house that seemed to rattle my teeth every time it boomed and then the torrential rain on the tin roof of my house is louder than anything I've ever heard. And when it rains and storms here sometimes you have to cancel classes because the rain is so loud you can't hear anything over the pounding of the rain. Ah, but to be in Africa...it's delightful. Three nights ago after a good storm had swept over my house and left us without power, we had the clearest night without a moon I've ever had to see the stars...my goodness they were everywhere and it truly was a clear night, I could easily make out the Milky Way. It was great. But life for me...it's going well. I'm still having a great time. and I'll be traveling to see one of my good friends this weekend and will try to post some pictures the next time I get around to it.

Teacher Kwabena Matchew

2008-10-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

....the title says it all. I'm a teacher here in Ghana, and many of the people in my town know me as Kwabena Matchew. And for those of you not famaliar with African names, everyone is given a name for the day of which you were born. I was born on Tuesday, so my Twi (one of the main Ghanaian languages) name is Kwabena. I've been pretty busy with classes so far this term even though we have yet to make a daily class schedule. LOL. It's all good though. As of now I'm teaching two classes of mathematics and two classes of computers in a school with no computers and almost all of the students have never used a computer before. So I've just started and I think I'm going to have to come up with some creative ways to teach. I'm up for the challenge, it should be fun.
On a more somber note....from what I hear the credit crisis and world financial disaster is just getting started. I feel for all of those with money invested, but I feel as if there is no better place to ride out the storm than sitting in some far away country that wants nothing to do with the outside world...it's great. I wish you all the best, and good luck out there in the world, I'll keep my ear to the radio and my eyes to the net for all the latest...

School's in session?

2008-09-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

So the first week of school has come and gone here in Ghana. I have stepped in the classroom only to introduce myself to the students. I've been told that classes will start on Monday of next week....so in the meantime I have been 'supervising' the cleaning of the grounds and just hanging out. It will take some time to get used to the way everything is run here, but that is the way it is with any new job. But for now all of the students know more about what's going on than I do...lol, oh well. I'm excited to start teaching!

I was able to get up to the school last week and take some photos.

The top photo is of the current JHS building in which I will be teaching.

The middle photo is of the new school building that is currently under construction. It should be completed by the end of this year.

The bottom photo is of the primary school that is adjacent to both. So pretend you were in my shoes, approaching the school. On my right would be the JHS, directly in front of me would be the new building and then to my left the primary school. As you can see, my school is on the top of a hill. It is really nice because there is always a small breeze. It helps keep it a bit cooler.

Time for school

2008-09-17T12:39:00.001-07:00

So the time for school has descended upon Ghana. It has came up out of nowhere...and I am currently trying to figure out how school in Ghana is run. It is so vastly different than anything I have ever seen in the states, in that the children do all of the groundskeeping with their cutlasses (machetes) and proceed to clean the classrooms, etc. with supervision from the teaching staff. Students as young as 7-8 years old are coming to school with their cutlasses, and from what I've seen, most parents in America would not let their child of that age even touch a cutlass, much less take one to school. In America I'm sure you can get expelled for taking even a pocket knife to class. Also, the first week of school is over halfway gone and I have yet to step foot into a classroom, or get my teaching schedule. Hopefully by Monday of next week I'll have my first few lessons. I'll let you all know how they go...

At site

2008-09-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

So I've been at my site now for just over 2 weeks....and I have to say that this country is way cool. I've been able to see and do lots of things in my first few weeks here. It is rather hard to find fresh vegetables (or any at all), like onions and tomatoes in my town. So I have to travel about 20 minutes to the nearest market (on Tuesdays and Fridays) to go shopping and restock my shelves. Ahh...isn't life grand. In the picture to the right I have a shot of a bunch of my friends and I. There's Dina, Meg, Anthony, and Ralph. I know he doesn't look it, but Ralph just so happens to be the oldest Peace Corps Volunteer ever. Anthony just happens to be one of my closer neighbors...it only takes 4-5 hours to get to his house from mine. And speaking of houses, I just happen to have a picture of my house here with me today...

And that is a picture of the back side of my house....The two blue doors there are to the latrine and to the bathroom. And the door underneath the light is my front door. Enjoy.

PCV!

2008-08-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

So I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer now! After 10 weeks of intensive language and cultural training and sessions our group was swore in on August 19th and we have taken to the wind and have spread to all 10 regions of Ghana. In addition to the disclaimer on the side of my webpage I would like to post another disclaimer: Because of the location of my site, my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa is going to differ greatly than that of my peers. That being said, if anybody wants to come and visit me I’m only 3-4 hours of traveling away from the main airport in Accra! Some of my friends have to travel 2 days or more to reach Accra. Needless to say, I’m loving my site and my stay in Africa. The next school term doesn’t really begin until mid September so I have a little bit of extra time on my hands to putz around and try to mingle with some of the fascinating people in my community. There are some interesting characters here, and I‘m looking forward to meeting them all…
Ok, enough boring stuff. I have some more pictures to post. The top picture is of my friend Kyle and I at the swearing in ceremony and then the bottom picture is of another friend of mine, Brian and myself at the swearing in after party..also there is a picture of a giant logging truck that i thought my dad would enjoy to see that there is logging and giant trees out here in Ghana after all!

I've got some more photos of my homestay family that I've been living with in the Eastern Region of Ghana. They were most kind to me and they really can cook well. My homestay mom owned a rice stand and here rice was quite amazing! There are also some more pics of my friend Kyle and his family and myself. And the last picture is precious. it's a little boy at the my homestay house. I gave him a water balloon and without water pressure it is really difficult to fill them up with water....so he was blowing it up and the kids were chasing the balloons everywhere about the courtyard.

OK, i guess you can have more pics

2008-08-07T07:04:00.001-07:00

LOL, I guess you can have some more pics of my random adventures. And in no particular order are several more pictures for your viewing pleasure. Life is still going well and I'm having a great time. Just a few stories from this side of the pond. People are still friendly and training is going well, however I'm looking forward to the conclusion of it and moving into my community in the Central Region and begin teaching!

In case you're wondering what the pictures are.

The sahara desert from the air....frickin' sweet.

My birthday dinner of a hamburger with french fries and a coke! One of the best meals ever!

And the last is from when my friend Jenny Rosendin from Ketchikan, Alaska came to visit me in Koforidua and I took her and her friend summer to go see Boti and Aka Falls. Coincidentally they came on my birthday! what an awesome day! ahahah, my first birthday celebrated overseas...

Pictures?!

2008-08-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

So for the first time from Africa I'm able to upload some pics from my various travels! I really do hope you enjoy. The one picture is in front of Boti Falls near Koforidua and that is with the majority of the peace corps group. And the other image is of me at a 'spot' (all bars in Ghana are called 'spots') in my first week in Ghana surrounded by a bunch of kids in a remote village in the Western Region of Ghana. I have got a lot more random photos. But these ones are by far the best and the most interesting. Enjoy.

I have a house to myself...

2008-08-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

So I just got to my site in the Central Region of Ghana the other day, and I'm alive and well. Life is great. It's really good to be out on my own for a little while. The people in my town like all of Ghana are extremely friendly and I have been blessed with a house to myself. ;-) so more room to y'all that want to come and visit me. I also have a friend stationed somehow close to me..I'll be heading back to training and then swear in towards the middle of August. Everything seems to be shaping up very nice over here in Africa. I hope all is well back home.

Internet once again

2008-07-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

So I made it to the internet cafe in Koforidua once again....but this time I failed to bring my pictures with me! Damn. Oh well, this trip was kind of short notice and instead of posting a picture I'll post something from my favorite webcomic of Sinfest from http://www.sinfest.net

And instead of pictures I'll let that little comic kind of sum up everything about my experience thus far. I'm having a blast....and it's not easy or boring work. But this is the life.

I actually just went to the big bead market here in Koforidua and found some cool beads and some other odds and ends, also picked up some material to make some trousers. The majority of us also went to two waterfalls this weekend...Boti and Aka falls, they were quite amazing! We got a number of really great photos, I can't wait to be able to post them. ..I'll try to write again soon.

I'm still alive!

2008-07-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

I'm still alive and kicking over in Ghana! I can't believe it but i've been living here for just over a month now! I've seen and done quite a few amazing things...have you ever sat 20 in a bus meant for only 9 people? or seen a 3-4 foot long green snake going down the middle of the road being chased by a group of men trying to kill it with a bench? I absolutely hate seafood but i've eaten sardines almost daily and have eaten snail. I've also seen enough littering and trash everywhere to last me 100 lifetimes...
But apart from the random things here and there....life in ghana proceeds as normal. Except for the fact that I shaved my head when i first got here. And I have been teaching in a junior high school with 60-70 students per class. I must tell you all that this has been quite an experience and I am loving teaching and the Ghanaian people are extremely friendly and welcoming for all of us with the peace corps. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures on my next journey to the internet cafe. Adieu for now.

So, I finally got email access

2008-06-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

The title once again says it all....I finally have found some internet! yay! I'm currently in Takodori in SW Ghana and I've got to say that it's been a blast so far. I've been staying with a current PCV down near Beyin...right on the coast and I have got to say that the rainy season here in Ghana, especially in the southern region is very rainy. Downpours a plenty! And humid as all hell. I guess it will just take some time to get used to. So I went to a village on stilts, swam in the ocean, ate some local cuisine, and hung out with some little kids....I have some pictures to post the next time I remember to bring my little computer cord ;-) I hope all is well back in the states.

btw, I posted my mailing address for the next few months on the side of this page in case anybody wants it! Much love people!

I'm in Philly!

2008-06-07T10:07:00.001-07:00

So in case the title doesn't spell it out enough for you..I'm in Philadelphia for a few days with training for the Peace Corps. Training actually starts in an hour so I have got to make this short! I'm staying in the Historic district in Philly and have had the best Philly Cheesesteaks in my life! You've never had one til you've had one here in the city of brotherly love. The liberty bell is was a sight to behold, I never thought that I'd come to the East coast to see it...the dalai llama and I both agree that the bell's fricking sweet!

The time has come!

2008-06-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

The time has totally come for me to get on out of Reno and the States for a while! I leave tomorrow and I'm really really excited! I also just bought myself a new laptop and I hope that will help me be able to keep in better contact with you all with pictures and random writings. I love you all and will see you in a few years! <3

Check check

2008-05-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

so I've never really been down for this whole blogging thing...but I think I might as well give it a whirl.
AHEM. And now the real reason I'm making one of these silly blogs. I'm joining the peace corps in hopes of being a math teacher in some far away land. In Ghana specifically, and I'm really stoked and ready to go save the world! Btw, I leave Reno, NV on June 6th for training in Philly and finally get to Accra, Ghana on June 10th!