Today I went running. It hit me that I was running in Africa when all I
saw ahead was a clay road and a tree covered rainforest mountain top.
What a beautiful place. As I was running two small boys on a bike rode up
next to me. Most people here are very friendly. They greeted me and
asked “where are you running to?” It struck me for a couple of reasons.
1. Time here is very different than in New York. People are much more
lenient about times and often do not keep to a schedule. We call it Ghana
time. If you want to leave by 7…say you want to leave by 6 otherwise
you’ll likely leave at 8:30. No one goes anywhere in a hurry. The idea
or phrase of “running to work” doesn’t really exist here in Hohoe. You
don’t run, literally or figuratively, anywhere.
2. It was funny for someone to ask me where I was running to instead of
who I was running from…ha!
3. It is so easy here to make a quick friend with a little bit of music
playing on your arm. It’s the simple pleasures here that you remember to
enjoy especially with kids around.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
THE MUST HAVES OF MY TWO HOMES
Things I miss about home:
1. My husband Mikey and my adorable doggie Bubbles
2. My family and friends
3. Cheetos
4. Soda – Especially Stewart’s Grape Soda
5. Running water (and a warm shower)
6. Technology that is speedy – still haven’t learned patience yet
7. The smell of fresh cut grass
8. Sheets that don’t feel wet all the time (It’s very very muggy here in
the wet season)
9. Jeans
10. Stewart’s Ice Cream
11. Taylor Family Dinner Sundays
12. Driving
13. Milk and Cheese…YUM!!! I so very much miss Cheese
Things I love and will miss about Africa:
1. The smiling children
2. Being called a Yevu (sounds like YAYVO) – White person
3. The honking (there is a honk for everything here I’ll translate in
another post)
4. The mangos and avocados…they taste so much better here
5. Buying fabric at the market from some amazing women!
6. Obama’s … it’s a great little hangout and lots of people here seem to
LOVE Barak Obama so I think it’s interesting
7. All the smiling staff here…they truly take on a role of caretaker of us
and it is amazing. I have never trusted people so much that I knew for
such a short period of time. They are some of the most dedicated, fun,
and caring people I have ever met.
8. The sounds of church starting at 9am on Sundays and running until noon.
They celebrate so passionately.
9. Pushing through the market to get 4 yards of fabric for only 10
Ghanaian Cedis…Score!
10. The friendliness of people here in Hohoe
11. The dogs that huddle in the potholes on the clay roads at night and
look so content to be in the company of other dogs.
12. Lizards that make their way into the house to eat all the big bugs
that fly in…handy little critters they are!
13. My mosquito net…I’ve actually come to like sleeping under it. It
gives me a sense of security in kind of a strange way.
14. The sound of rain, crickets, and frogs at night. Who needs a sounds
relaxation CD when you have the real thing.
1. My husband Mikey and my adorable doggie Bubbles
2. My family and friends
3. Cheetos
4. Soda – Especially Stewart’s Grape Soda
5. Running water (and a warm shower)
6. Technology that is speedy – still haven’t learned patience yet
7. The smell of fresh cut grass
8. Sheets that don’t feel wet all the time (It’s very very muggy here in
the wet season)
9. Jeans
10. Stewart’s Ice Cream
11. Taylor Family Dinner Sundays
12. Driving
13. Milk and Cheese…YUM!!! I so very much miss Cheese
Things I love and will miss about Africa:
1. The smiling children
2. Being called a Yevu (sounds like YAYVO) – White person
3. The honking (there is a honk for everything here I’ll translate in
another post)
4. The mangos and avocados…they taste so much better here
5. Buying fabric at the market from some amazing women!
6. Obama’s … it’s a great little hangout and lots of people here seem to
LOVE Barak Obama so I think it’s interesting
7. All the smiling staff here…they truly take on a role of caretaker of us
and it is amazing. I have never trusted people so much that I knew for
such a short period of time. They are some of the most dedicated, fun,
and caring people I have ever met.
8. The sounds of church starting at 9am on Sundays and running until noon.
They celebrate so passionately.
9. Pushing through the market to get 4 yards of fabric for only 10
Ghanaian Cedis…Score!
10. The friendliness of people here in Hohoe
11. The dogs that huddle in the potholes on the clay roads at night and
look so content to be in the company of other dogs.
12. Lizards that make their way into the house to eat all the big bugs
that fly in…handy little critters they are!
13. My mosquito net…I’ve actually come to like sleeping under it. It
gives me a sense of security in kind of a strange way.
14. The sound of rain, crickets, and frogs at night. Who needs a sounds
relaxation CD when you have the real thing.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
THE MEANING OF THE WORD NEED…
When you live without amenities for a while you start to realize how
blessed you are to have them. Sunday was my first time doing laundry in
Ghana. Here at the home base we don’t have laundry services or a
washer/dryer. Instead we use good old well water captured by a bucket, a
large bar of soap, elbow grease and a big tin bowl to wash away the smells
of a long week of work under the African sun. The trick is…do laundry
before you really need it. Despite how warm you might think it is in
Africa, Ghana is a very moist humid place in the rainy season and it can
take a few days for things to really dry. Thankfully I wasn’t sure what I
was doing at first and didn’t dive in with all of my clothes at once so
while I’ll be wearing the same thing to placement on Monday that I did on
Friday…at least they will be dry!
Speaking of amenities – we don’t always have running water in the houses.
Water is very scarce here even though it seems like it rains every night
and most days. Worse than no water is the idea that water must run uphill
a bit to get to the house that I live in across the street (more of a dirt
path really) from the main house. All this comes up to meaning that water
pressure, enough to run a shower, is a rare and wonderful treat. Instead
we take bucket showers. We capture rain water from a big bin (looks like
a trash can in America) fill a small bucket and do whatever you have to,
to work your magic, and get as clean as possible. You never truly feel
clean here. When you have skin like ours you find yourself sweating a lot
more than the people who are from the region. It’s both an amazing and
gross thing all at the same time. The only day I have truly felt clean
was the day we went to the waterfall and water blasted all over me from
what seemed like a mile above in the sky. I look forward to coming home
to a hot shower with plenty of shampoo and body wash and no rationing of
any of it. What a luxurious treat!
blessed you are to have them. Sunday was my first time doing laundry in
Ghana. Here at the home base we don’t have laundry services or a
washer/dryer. Instead we use good old well water captured by a bucket, a
large bar of soap, elbow grease and a big tin bowl to wash away the smells
of a long week of work under the African sun. The trick is…do laundry
before you really need it. Despite how warm you might think it is in
Africa, Ghana is a very moist humid place in the rainy season and it can
take a few days for things to really dry. Thankfully I wasn’t sure what I
was doing at first and didn’t dive in with all of my clothes at once so
while I’ll be wearing the same thing to placement on Monday that I did on
Friday…at least they will be dry!
Speaking of amenities – we don’t always have running water in the houses.
Water is very scarce here even though it seems like it rains every night
and most days. Worse than no water is the idea that water must run uphill
a bit to get to the house that I live in across the street (more of a dirt
path really) from the main house. All this comes up to meaning that water
pressure, enough to run a shower, is a rare and wonderful treat. Instead
we take bucket showers. We capture rain water from a big bin (looks like
a trash can in America) fill a small bucket and do whatever you have to,
to work your magic, and get as clean as possible. You never truly feel
clean here. When you have skin like ours you find yourself sweating a lot
more than the people who are from the region. It’s both an amazing and
gross thing all at the same time. The only day I have truly felt clean
was the day we went to the waterfall and water blasted all over me from
what seemed like a mile above in the sky. I look forward to coming home
to a hot shower with plenty of shampoo and body wash and no rationing of
any of it. What a luxurious treat!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
OH THE FUN OF IT ALL!
Wow! It has already been one week since I first came to Africa. It is so funny because I expected to be completely overwhelmed by how new everything would look. It is a bit overwhelming to be so far from home without the company of family and friends, but the sites and sounds somehow still feel very familiar. I’ve made my home here in Hohoe – unpacked, gone to the market and the bank, enjoyed meals with my new CCS family, and begun buying fabric to have some dresses made. On Tuesday we visited the Wli waterfall. It was a nice shady walk in and when we saw the waterfall it was breathtaking. It is nothing like anywhere else I have ever been! The water rushes so hard down the fall that even if you only get close to it, it takes you breath away (no literally…you feel like you can’t breathe). What an amazing and powerful force! The water felt so good. That was the day I felt the cleanest since I’ve been here for sure (our home often runs out of water-we do a lot of baby wipe baths). Yesterday, we went to Lake Volta for a day trip. It was AMAZING! First we stopped at a resort on the lake and took in some views. Then we went to lunch at Hotel Volta where they had a TV, air conditioning, and great food! Then we took a boat tour of the lake and visited the dam that created the lake. Fishing is the primary way of survival for people that live on the lake and a good source of income in a country where that type of consistent income can be rare for families. Next, we visited a place where they make glass Cedi Beads. They make most of them out of recycled bottles and some imported glass. I have a new appreciation for the bracelets that I have been buying for anywhere from 1 to 3 Ghanaian Cedis ($1 = 1.46 Ghanaian Cedis) and all the work that goes into making them. Finally we enjoyed dinner at the Hotel Volta again, a live band, and some soda (we usually drink water so soda is a real treat) and boarded up for the 2 hour ride home. What a blast!!!
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