All is well in Ghana-land

All is well in Ghana-land. Time is flying by in a blur, I cant believe how quickly everything has gone by already!

Classes have been wonderful, we went to a contemporary art gallery last Tuesday with my art class, and I was so struck by the way art is approached here, at least modern art. Art is a complete luxury, not a way of life the way it was in the future, and the way I know it to be back home, surrounded by so many practicing artists…

We all had homestays this weekend so dispersed into the greater Accra region to stay with traditional Ghanaian families for three days. What an experience! We attended their aunts surprise 40^th birthday party last Friday and danced until four in the morning, everyone, children, babies, grandparents…it was phenomenal. It was such a different experience being in another house that does things so differently than I am used to, but it was a valuable experience. It made me so grateful for my own family, as I am dailyJ

Sorry about the short post, but I will keep them coming when I have a moment! Love and miss you all!

Joy

New Horzions Special School has been an amazing experience for me. So far, I have only been working there for two weeks, but it has been wonderful, heartbreaking, important for me. I go in to help in the Rose classroom, all the classes are named after flowersJ, for two or three hours three times a week in between my classes here at NYU and Ashesi University. I am helping in a class with about seven people, ages ranging from 14 to 56, although most are in their early twenties. I know one has cerebral palsy, there is a student with down syndrom, and the rest have similar disabilities not entirely diagnosable. What strikes me every time is how expressive, emotional, intuitive these individuals are. Most don’t have the verbal skills to even speak, but have their own language anyway, whether in noises, in rhythms, in smiles, in their eyes. I have worked at Hillside House, the cerebral palsy center at home in Santa Barbara, and once again here, I am absolutely struck by the joy of these people. Sometimes it is the simple, wonderful things, like the sets of math problems I give to fourteen year old Eric everyday, over and over again, him spitting back answers to me the second I can copy them down for him. Godfrey and Muktah who try to out do the other in proposing to marry me. I have my share of love notes and graphic picturesJ. Helen, who is so, so smart and can understand everything we go over in class, has amazing comprehension ability, but who lacks the means to write it. I sit with her everyday holding a pencil in her hand and copying down the notes that the teacher is covering on the board. She is fifty-six years old and going to school is her favorite thing in the world. I have heard that she absolutely hates holidays and weekends, the days that school is cancelled. I am learning so much about humility and being humble here, appreciating simplicity, and recognizing joy.

Valentines Day?

I’m going to preface this blog by saying that I can safely say that I had an astronomically different Valentine’s day that I have ever experienced before. I am going to paint you a little picture:

Woke up in a hotel room, wedged between two other girls on a double bed with no sheets or blankets, the power is off, the water is off, and the floor has a substantial amount of water that flooded in from the middle of the night monsoon that hit around 3 in the morning the previous night. There was also a seven inch lizard on the wall. Cool.

This stunningly romantic setting was in the extremely charming, sense the sarcasm, Adomi Hotel near Akosombo town, a small colonial village near on Lake Volta. I had planned this trip a few days earlier and had lots of takers. Nine of my friends and I got up at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, and took off in cabs for the tro-tro station. For those of you who don’t know what a tro-tro is, picture an oversized van, usually very run-down, that carries about 15 people. There is really no schedule for them, there are no signs, and you really just need to ask around for the one that is going to place that you need to get to. Even at six in the morning there were hundreds and hundreds of people out at the station, pigs, chickens, grilled fish with their very distinct odor, everyone was grabbing us, selling phone cards, fabric, everything. Pretty much what we experience everyday, just concentrated in one large area. I don’t know how, but we boarded the right van, and actually left not long after. This is a great feat because tro-tros run notoriously late, and by late I mean anywhere from two to seven hours, if they even leave at all. So we were feeling pretty good about ourselves as we flew down the highway. As soon as we got out the city and started heading north towards Lake `Volta, which is the largest man-made lake in the world by the way, the scenery changed and suddenly we were in rolling green hills and savannah. It was absolutely stunning.

Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the ferry port of the Dodi Princess, a cruise that takes six hours to explore the lake and visit Dodi Island. On the cruise there was great music, we danced with everyone, a small pool, and a barbeque! We soaked up so much sun, it was paradise. We met so many people, and really relaxed. Our weeks are really crazy here, literally I am busy with class, working at New Horizon Special School and getting everything done, that I am off to one thing or the other seven until ten Monday through Thursday. The weeks are flying by, so it was nice to take a step back. I was able to journal, read, and we all had a great time with each other. Little did we know it was also the special Valentine’s `day cruise so it was completely hilarious, as the band played love songs and couples were canoodling everywhere.

After the cruise, we checked into the Adomi Hotel, and like I said before, it wasn’t ideal. About half of us saw the humor in the lizards and power outages, and cement block exteriors and showering over the toilet, and lack of mosquito nets, but its safe to say that initially, not everyone was thrilled. However, by the next morning, we couldn’t stop laughing about it.

In the morning, after realizing the wonderful irony of our V-day situation, we ventured to a lovely breakfast on the lake before we took canoes out to explore. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I have ever had in my life. It was so calm, and so physically stunning, that we couldn’t help but let the perfection of the moment overtake us.

After another successful tro-tro ride home, we were able to have a lovely afternoon at home before dressing up and meeting up with the rest of our friends who had stayed in `accra for the weekend, and going to Mamma Mia’s, a fantastic Italian restaurant, where had authentic food, the owner is from near `Tuscany, and great wine. So I suppose that Valentines night was a little more conventional.

I continuously find myself in these situations, where the familiarity meets the completely foreign. It is so exhilarating. The arc of my days here take me through so many stages, emotions, activities; I feel so alive, and so grateful to be here. I will update soon, just wanted to share and wish you all the happiest of Valentine’s Days!:)

Elmina Castle/Kakum National Park Weekend

We woke up at six in the morning on Saturday and all headed to Cape Coast on the bus, arriving at Coconut Grove Resort for brunch under a palapa by the pool on the beach. It was stunning. Where am I again? We took our time settling into our rooms before heading to Elmina Castle, the first slave castle built by the Portuguese in 1493. It was unbelievable, being so close to such a significant part of our history. The location was absolutely stunning, which was such a sharp contrast when we saw all of the horrific conditions that the slaves were kept within the walls of the castle. It was an incredibly emotional experience for all of us. Many people were crying, and deeply disturbed. It was hard not to be, when we see the darker side of humanity’s capability in such graphic terms. We even went to the “room of no return,” a dungeon in the back of the castle that the slaves would leave to board the ships towards the Americas. It was incredibly moving.

We left the castle and drove towards Kakum National Park, stopping on the way at a restaurant on stilts over a giant pond of crocodiles. I faced my fear and touched it. As my mama can attest, this is BIG for me, I really am terrified of them. We continued on to the Park and went on the Canopy Walk, a beautiful bridge in the rainforest, suspended hundreds of feet in the air. Those of the group who were afraid of heights had a hard time, but it was so magical being up so high! I loved it. The bridge was broken up into different sections and we were on it for about twenty minutes. The view was unbelievable, I felt like I was completely in the jungle, no civilization in sight, only lush green trees, vines and blue skies. It was a big contrast to the way we had spent the morning.

We returned to our bungalows and swam in the pool and the ocean, walking, running and playing on the beach and in the warm, warm sand past sunset until dark. We had a lovely dinner on the beach, followed by palm wine and dancing and drumming around a bonfire until extremely late. We met a lot of people from all over the world, families and international students..

My roommate Molly and I got up at sunrise the next morning and jumped in the ocean first thing, a perfect way to start the day. We showered, had another lovely breakfast and then got a group of us to go into Cape Coast town, where we had an hour to explore. We literally made it about 4 blocks because children materialized out of nowhere, and we happily played with them, learning dance moves, taking pictures, and meeting their families. I took out a pencil at one point to write something for one of the little boys and all the children crowded around me, they all wanted my pencil, or something to write with, and didn’t own any. This took me by surprise and I am planning to go somewhere when I get back to Accra and buy a huge pack of them to keep in my bag to hand out to all the people that we meet.

We headed back to Accra after swimming some more and checking out of our hotel. We arrived and I was able to go for a run while it was still light before we all gathered to eat dinner together, whatever was in our refrigerator. It was an exhausting, glorious weekend, and I get to officially begin my work in the classroom tomorrow at New Horizons, and I am really eager to start.

All my love.

Monkey sunsets

I just had a phenomenal weekend; I really don’t know where to start. I will have to separate it into two blogs. Here is the first:

Friday morning, eight friends and I got up early, with the intention of going to visit the solo monkey sanctuary, a potentially forty minute drive. Two and a half hours later, after getting lost with our cab drivers down dirt roads leading into tiny villages and ending literally on the ocean, we found it, a lush oasis of rainforest on the beach. We met a man named Kwame, who was a friend of a friend of a girl with us, Olivia. It was a very distant connection, but Kwame embraced us like we were his own family. He walked us around the entire sanctuary, then through the neighboring village, where everyone knew him quite fondly. He was like the unofficial mayor of the town, and he took us to the local school, where we were invited into the principal’s house where we sat around with him and his wife, talking and sharing stories. Then they took us into the classrooms where the students loved playing with us, and the teachers requested to take a big group picture with us. It was such a magical afternoon. Then Kwame took us through the rest of the village and we met so many people. We got to watch fufu being ground in a giant pot by a group of old women and played soccer with all the children following us around. Kwame got us fresh oranges and sweet potatoes off of the street, handing them to all of us. His generosity was astounding. Suddenly, we found ourselves at a beautiful lagoon in a fishing village. There were the most beautiful, colorful boats, they looked like African gondolas. Kwame whispered to a friend and he disappeared for a moment before returning with a giant oar, and ushering us onto a small boat. He took us to an open beach, the most pristine white sand you’ve ever seen, with eight little palapas, and a small bar with fanta and coconuts. We were so hot from walking around all day, and stripped off our clothes and ran naked into the warm, buttery ocean. It was pure bliss.

After the salt water had saturated every part of us, an hour or so, we got back in the boat with Kwame and headed back to town, where we hiked back through the village and up above the town. The view was amazing, and as we looped around back to the sanctuary, we saw monkeys, out for their evening meal as the sun is setting. We returned to our started point with, get this, our cab drivers from that morning, still waiting. STILL WAITING! They were there for nine hours! It was hilarious. They drove us back, straight to our big group dinner. Needless to say we passed out that night, tired, but completely floored by how much we had seen, how much we had experienced.

Being here has really opened my eyes to a completely different way of life, and I have been astounded by the generosity of the people that I have met, especially this day. There are infinite ways to lead a happy life, and you don’t need much to do it. I have always felt so blessed with my home and my friends and my family, and I have this incredible sense of belonging here, that I have only ever felt at home. There is an amazing similarity within the culture here and the way that I am accustomed to, it is strangely familiar and different all at once.

New Horizon

Hello All!

Quick update, I'm just running out the door to my first day at my internship with New Horizons, the special school for children and young adults with disabilities. I am going to be working out my schedule, and see when I can teach music! I am really looking forward to it.

This week has been really great, and I can really feel myself sinking into the culture more and more. We met the king, last friday which I told you about, and it really was like stepping back into the past. That afternoon, i bought a bike between me and two friends of mine so we can explore that way too, it has been a great way to get around, and my internship is perfect biking distance away.

Saturday, my friends and I were itching to get out of the neighborhood that we live in and wanted to see more of Accra. We ventured into `jamestown, an old colony of the British in the 19th century during the slave trade. It was a phenomenal experience. we just walked into these tiny villages of metal siding shacks, goats were running free, chickens, children were naked, taking bucket showers, eating jollaf rice wrapped in banana leaves...the smells, colors, were overwhelming, and I was really struck by how different this place is from home. I felt saturated, and exhilarated. We then climbed the Jamestown lighthouse and looked out over the entire city, and the ocean, at the shack towns along the coast, at the more affluent areas interspersed with churches and mosques peaking out over rooftops...We then ventured to the beaches, and were immediately surrounded by thirty young children, climbing all over us, asking our names, we played in the sand, sung songs, splashed around for hours. On our way home, we poked our heads into an old fort and ended up getting a full tour of Saint James fort, an old prison originaly built for slaves in the eighteen hundreds. There were some rooms that we walked in, and had to immediately exit, the feelings inside were so powerful and strong. You can tell that a lot happened there, a lot of unresolved tension was in the air. We were pretty quiet on the taxi ride home.

I found myself thinking of this day alot this week, as we get into the schedule of classes and everything going on. 

Also, Sunday was a great day, even though `ghana lost the African cup. We went to the center of town in a huge group, dressed in appropriate colors of green red and yellow and watched the game with hundreds of local ghanaians on a huge jumbotron screen. We ate fan ice( yummy vanilla ice cream in plastic bags) and cheered like crazy americans that we are. As I went off to the side to find a trash can, these young ghanaians were painting flags on their arms, and asked if they could paint me. `of course i said `yes! but i got stars on my face, my chest, and the local TV station filmed it all. Everyone is so friendly here, they loved that i cared enough about ghana to do that. It was really sweet actually:)

NYU paid for everyone to join the gym here, which is actually the best gym in the country, it is beautiful, and my friends and I went to yoga last night. It was bizarre, that was something I thought I would not be doing on my study abroad experience. It was lovely.

Oh and guess what? I am very allergic to something here, for four days this weekend I broke out in a red, welty, full-body rash, and it would come out for a couple hours in the morning and at nighttime. hmm...i could not figure it out, especially because i have never been allergic to anything in my life. We actually traced it back to my Malarone, the anti-malaria medication that I am taking, and so i had a nice, few hour trip to the hospital for a consultation to get it changed, what an experience. the hospitals here are very different from at home, as you would expect. There were so many steps. reception to check in to the temperature room, to waiting room 5 where you are called to the consultation room where you then take your prescription to the office and wait for it to be filled. needless to say, i was there for a while, but i had a book and was armed with the key word here: Patience.:) Honestly, just seeing the way the system worked was really interesting, i just cant imagine going through it if i was feeling sick or anything, the wait would have felt a lot longer. 

Time is going by so fast already, we are headed to Cape Coast this weekend to visit elmina castle and do the canopy walk at Kakum national park. It should be wonderful, past students have said that this is one of the best trips that we do. 

Sending so much love to everyone, thank you so much for the lovely notes and well wishes!