Ghana
Ok let me start this off by saying that I think everyone should make a bigger effort to keep Marker Splotches afloat. If people just took 10 or 15 minutes out of their week to just post and say hi, or update about how your life is going. Even if nothing new has happened just let us know you are alive and well. I just have no idea what is going on in anyones life. It sucks because I can't ask about certain things, like boyfriends. What if I ask about someones boyfriend and it turns out they are going through a terribly painful break-up.
So my life since I got back from Ghana. Me and Tom are still dating and we recently passed the two and a half year mark. I started meeting with a personal trainer because when I saw how good Erica looked it inspired me to lose a ton of weight. However we hit a small glitch with my trainer and might not be able to meet anymore because of a problem with the facility we were using. It really sucks and I hope we can figure something out. Other than that I am working as much as I can this semester to earn money from my trip to Ghana. However I was so far in debt that only after my last paycheck did I finally come into the positive, and I am only positive four dollars and some odd sense in my account. I really wanted to visit Truman, Mizzou, and St. Michaels (Miryam's school) but its hard cause I have a weekend class and I work every Sunday and I desperately need that money. I know we are just past the halfway mark in the semester and I cannot wait to see everyone when they get back. I really miss all my Truman friends, like all of 3 North and 2 North (isn't that where Mike and Jordan lived? Or were they 2 South??) I really miss Allyson and Mikey Bono a lot. It sucks not being able to visit people because I am too poor and can't miss my weekend class.
I am taking classes at Meramac this whole year so I can work. I have taken all art classes that I was interested in. Last semester I took Photo I, Ceramics I, Art Appreciation, SCUBA I, and a workout gym class called Fitness I. I loved SCUBA. I am now certified if anyone wants to go on a dive with me. I really loved Photography, so this semester I am taking Photo II, Color Photography, Ceramics I (I am taking it again cause I decided I wasn't good enough after the first semester and I wanted another semester of practice before I could move on), and I am taking a Computer Art Studio class. They are so much fun. I decided I wanted to go into nursing. Next year I will take all my prerequisites at Meramac, then hopefully attend Barnes Jewish School of Nursing. It would be free because of my dad's job so that would be nice. However I will graduate way after everyone else which sucks a lot cause I wasted two years on a major I didn't like (Education) and now I'm wasting another year working to make up for the money I spent on my trip to Ghana. I would really like to show everyone some of my Photography, because I think I am pretty good and I am proud of my work. My Photo one teacher loved my pictures.
Speaking of Ghana, let me tell you about my trip. It was amazing. I spent about 20 hours on planes, not to count the layovers. I couldn't sleep on any of the planes cause everyone knows how hard it is to sleep on a plane. So finally we got to Ghana at like 11 pm Ghanaian time. My first experience was a huge fight between two Ghanaian women on their way off the plane cause one bumped the other with their suitcase. One woman has a baby who she set on the ground (she set a fucking baby on the ground to fight someone who accidentally bumped her). The baby was screaming, no one could get off the plane it was a mess. That night we drove to our first hotel and we ate dinner. We got to bed around 1 am and only got to sleep until 3:30 am because then we had a 19 hour drive to the Northern Region of Ghana. We stayed up there for 6 days and got to know Father's Parish, were taught to dance like Africans by a group called "Christian Mothers", got to visit the school (unfortunately this day I was extremely sick I think from exhaustion, I had a high fever, chills, diahrrea, and I was puking. From what I gather it was an amazing experience with tribal dancers, a huge ceremony, and dinner with Father's family. I cried all day so angry I had to miss it). We met all kinds of amazing people, climbed on the backs of crocodiles, and got to see our goat and chicken dinners heads cut off, skinned, and gutted for our dinner. We drank lots of beers (not me, I was drunk after one but one beer bottle there is the equivalent of two here). It was so amazing.
Then for the second week we went all over Ghana to do some touristy things. We stopped at Mole National Park where we took a walking Safari (there were lions there but they said the lions navigate so far into the woods you can't see them. However at night we could here them roaring.) Let me explain Ghana's terrain, our guide called it Savannah forest. When we were in the North it was mostly Savannah but with a fair amount of trees. The further South we got the more rain foresty it became. So our guided tour was through Savannah forest land. The terrain was so beautiful. We also got really close to elephants which were so fucking huge and scary it was amazing. We saw all kinds of monkeys, baboons, green monkeys, red monkeys, and some others whose names I forget, we saw crocodiles and alligators, we saw warthogs (like Pumba), and we saw the elephants. I wished we could have seen more like giraffes and hippos but the elephants were pretty amazing. It was really scary to get that close to a huge elephant.
Once we reached Mole we had the option of eating more American food. They had things like pizza, and hamburgers but it was the Ghanaian version of those foods. I ordered a sausage pizza one night with these two other guys and out comes a pizza with very little cheese and cut up weird tasting hot dogs on top. The hamburgers were like chicken in between bread. It was interesting. They even had fried rice which was actually pretty good. We stayed at Mole two days. They had a swimming pool which was freakishly dirty but we swam in anyway. At Mole there were tons of Europeans we made friends with, one in particular who was named Toby and he was from Germany. He was awesome. There was a group of Norwegians who raised money to bring an orphanage on a trip all over Ghana. We swam and played games with the orphans. Now in Ghana, orphanages work very differently. No one ever adopts children. Orphanages raise children until they are like 12 or 13 and then they are on their own. It's really sad actually. But we swam and played with them which was amazing.
Then we went down to Cape Coast and visited the slave castles. Toby came with us and we met up with some New Zealanders who were traveling all over Africa to get experiences to write a novel. And they had some really amazing stories. They just went wherever they could. I would tell you some but I am writing enough as it is. We spent the last three days in Ghana shopping, and sitting on the beach, visiting slave castles, and just hanging out on the restaurant (bar for us at nights) which was on the roof of our hotel with a beautiful view. One day in particular was amazing because in Ghana you have to buy chips to put in your phone to call home. But your phone has to be unlocked by your service provider while you are there. So I had only gotten to talk to my parents for about 5 minutes and to Tom for about 5 minutes and we had been gone for two weeks. So a girl let me buy a phone chip and use her phone. We were on the beach, (the beaches were deserted - the locals were all scared because there were big waves and a strong tide and they knew too many people who drowned) we finished swimming and building an amazing sand castle when these guys who were climbing palm trees and collecting coconuts went up and got us all ones. They cut them open for us. We had to drive to a certain area where the water was safe to swim in, and the only safe areas were by these amazing resorts which were like paradise right off the beach. They are really cheap too, 80 usd for one night. Isn't that crazy? In Ghana that is freaking expensive, in Missouri you can't even get a room in Holiday Inn for one night that cheap.
So anyway, it was around 1, we had waiters who would come to us on the beach, take our orders, and a beautiful little shelter they would serve us amazing food in. So I had a great day, a great lunch, and I was sitting on the beach able to talk to Tommy for a whole 50 minutes. It was the best day ever. Then we went to this beautiful restaurant for dinner on the beach and there were dancers right outside dancing and playing music. It was a long sad trip home but I was so happy to see my family and Tom. I had the best time ever and I really want to go back. Anyone who is interested we should talk to the girl who planned the whole thing she is planning another and I would love to go again.
Sorry for typing so much. I will be impressed if anyone even read this, or if you did that you made it this far. Anyway, I hope to see you all soon. Everyone start blogging!
So my life since I got back from Ghana. Me and Tom are still dating and we recently passed the two and a half year mark. I started meeting with a personal trainer because when I saw how good Erica looked it inspired me to lose a ton of weight. However we hit a small glitch with my trainer and might not be able to meet anymore because of a problem with the facility we were using. It really sucks and I hope we can figure something out. Other than that I am working as much as I can this semester to earn money from my trip to Ghana. However I was so far in debt that only after my last paycheck did I finally come into the positive, and I am only positive four dollars and some odd sense in my account. I really wanted to visit Truman, Mizzou, and St. Michaels (Miryam's school) but its hard cause I have a weekend class and I work every Sunday and I desperately need that money. I know we are just past the halfway mark in the semester and I cannot wait to see everyone when they get back. I really miss all my Truman friends, like all of 3 North and 2 North (isn't that where Mike and Jordan lived? Or were they 2 South??) I really miss Allyson and Mikey Bono a lot. It sucks not being able to visit people because I am too poor and can't miss my weekend class.
I am taking classes at Meramac this whole year so I can work. I have taken all art classes that I was interested in. Last semester I took Photo I, Ceramics I, Art Appreciation, SCUBA I, and a workout gym class called Fitness I. I loved SCUBA. I am now certified if anyone wants to go on a dive with me. I really loved Photography, so this semester I am taking Photo II, Color Photography, Ceramics I (I am taking it again cause I decided I wasn't good enough after the first semester and I wanted another semester of practice before I could move on), and I am taking a Computer Art Studio class. They are so much fun. I decided I wanted to go into nursing. Next year I will take all my prerequisites at Meramac, then hopefully attend Barnes Jewish School of Nursing. It would be free because of my dad's job so that would be nice. However I will graduate way after everyone else which sucks a lot cause I wasted two years on a major I didn't like (Education) and now I'm wasting another year working to make up for the money I spent on my trip to Ghana. I would really like to show everyone some of my Photography, because I think I am pretty good and I am proud of my work. My Photo one teacher loved my pictures.
Speaking of Ghana, let me tell you about my trip. It was amazing. I spent about 20 hours on planes, not to count the layovers. I couldn't sleep on any of the planes cause everyone knows how hard it is to sleep on a plane. So finally we got to Ghana at like 11 pm Ghanaian time. My first experience was a huge fight between two Ghanaian women on their way off the plane cause one bumped the other with their suitcase. One woman has a baby who she set on the ground (she set a fucking baby on the ground to fight someone who accidentally bumped her). The baby was screaming, no one could get off the plane it was a mess. That night we drove to our first hotel and we ate dinner. We got to bed around 1 am and only got to sleep until 3:30 am because then we had a 19 hour drive to the Northern Region of Ghana. We stayed up there for 6 days and got to know Father's Parish, were taught to dance like Africans by a group called "Christian Mothers", got to visit the school (unfortunately this day I was extremely sick I think from exhaustion, I had a high fever, chills, diahrrea, and I was puking. From what I gather it was an amazing experience with tribal dancers, a huge ceremony, and dinner with Father's family. I cried all day so angry I had to miss it). We met all kinds of amazing people, climbed on the backs of crocodiles, and got to see our goat and chicken dinners heads cut off, skinned, and gutted for our dinner. We drank lots of beers (not me, I was drunk after one but one beer bottle there is the equivalent of two here). It was so amazing.
Then for the second week we went all over Ghana to do some touristy things. We stopped at Mole National Park where we took a walking Safari (there were lions there but they said the lions navigate so far into the woods you can't see them. However at night we could here them roaring.) Let me explain Ghana's terrain, our guide called it Savannah forest. When we were in the North it was mostly Savannah but with a fair amount of trees. The further South we got the more rain foresty it became. So our guided tour was through Savannah forest land. The terrain was so beautiful. We also got really close to elephants which were so fucking huge and scary it was amazing. We saw all kinds of monkeys, baboons, green monkeys, red monkeys, and some others whose names I forget, we saw crocodiles and alligators, we saw warthogs (like Pumba), and we saw the elephants. I wished we could have seen more like giraffes and hippos but the elephants were pretty amazing. It was really scary to get that close to a huge elephant.
Once we reached Mole we had the option of eating more American food. They had things like pizza, and hamburgers but it was the Ghanaian version of those foods. I ordered a sausage pizza one night with these two other guys and out comes a pizza with very little cheese and cut up weird tasting hot dogs on top. The hamburgers were like chicken in between bread. It was interesting. They even had fried rice which was actually pretty good. We stayed at Mole two days. They had a swimming pool which was freakishly dirty but we swam in anyway. At Mole there were tons of Europeans we made friends with, one in particular who was named Toby and he was from Germany. He was awesome. There was a group of Norwegians who raised money to bring an orphanage on a trip all over Ghana. We swam and played games with the orphans. Now in Ghana, orphanages work very differently. No one ever adopts children. Orphanages raise children until they are like 12 or 13 and then they are on their own. It's really sad actually. But we swam and played with them which was amazing.
Then we went down to Cape Coast and visited the slave castles. Toby came with us and we met up with some New Zealanders who were traveling all over Africa to get experiences to write a novel. And they had some really amazing stories. They just went wherever they could. I would tell you some but I am writing enough as it is. We spent the last three days in Ghana shopping, and sitting on the beach, visiting slave castles, and just hanging out on the restaurant (bar for us at nights) which was on the roof of our hotel with a beautiful view. One day in particular was amazing because in Ghana you have to buy chips to put in your phone to call home. But your phone has to be unlocked by your service provider while you are there. So I had only gotten to talk to my parents for about 5 minutes and to Tom for about 5 minutes and we had been gone for two weeks. So a girl let me buy a phone chip and use her phone. We were on the beach, (the beaches were deserted - the locals were all scared because there were big waves and a strong tide and they knew too many people who drowned) we finished swimming and building an amazing sand castle when these guys who were climbing palm trees and collecting coconuts went up and got us all ones. They cut them open for us. We had to drive to a certain area where the water was safe to swim in, and the only safe areas were by these amazing resorts which were like paradise right off the beach. They are really cheap too, 80 usd for one night. Isn't that crazy? In Ghana that is freaking expensive, in Missouri you can't even get a room in Holiday Inn for one night that cheap.
So anyway, it was around 1, we had waiters who would come to us on the beach, take our orders, and a beautiful little shelter they would serve us amazing food in. So I had a great day, a great lunch, and I was sitting on the beach able to talk to Tommy for a whole 50 minutes. It was the best day ever. Then we went to this beautiful restaurant for dinner on the beach and there were dancers right outside dancing and playing music. It was a long sad trip home but I was so happy to see my family and Tom. I had the best time ever and I really want to go back. Anyone who is interested we should talk to the girl who planned the whole thing she is planning another and I would love to go again.
Sorry for typing so much. I will be impressed if anyone even read this, or if you did that you made it this far. Anyway, I hope to see you all soon. Everyone start blogging!
the village in Edina
the rainforest from the canopy walk
the beautiful scenery and dirt roads we traveled by
me and a player from Nigeria's team (the African cup was held in Ghana this year and we were at the airport with everyone else)
the clouds on our trip to Amsterdam from Ghana
me and the croc and Fr. Clement (who was amazing)
me and the croc
more cute orphans
me and a cute little boy
cooking
warthogs
a cute African girl we met
all the girls who got skirts made or bought material, and those who didn't, balancing water on our heads to be African
another one of those amazing huge trees
the elephants on our safari
safe sex poster - make it big and read it it's funny and weird
me holding the cutest orphan in front of the beautiful view at Mole
me on top of the rainforest on the canopy walk
a room where slaves were kept until they all died
slave castle in cape coast
the slave castle in Edina
me firing the cannon at the slave castle
waves crashing on the rocks at the beach
me and my big coconuts
the beautiful shelter we ate in at the beach
PUMBA!
the dirty swimming pool at Mole
my safari group (we had to split into 2 groups)
a baboon and a warthog fighting over food in this village. we saw a baby baboon run up to a human baby and snatch food right out of the babys hands. it was sad but hilarious. there was no shortage of food in ghana
this is called a trotro, its a van they shove tons of people in and drive all over the country. we had to take some trotros and it was hell.
this was one of the ladies who taught us to dance. she was obsessed with me and called herself my mom.
this is the beautiful sunsets we would see every night from our hotel in the north in bolgatanga
posted by Reine @ 1:13 PM
5 Comments:
Sorry I said Edina but I meant to say El Mina. Oops.
-Laura
Blogger won't let me sign in with my password and stuff. I don't know what's wrong.
Keegan
It looks like an amazing trip, Hovis.
And you're totally right about the blog! I love to read about people's lives, when they care to update. It really ought to happen more often.
good luck getting into barnes.
i'm on the 650 person waitlist :(
the soonest i could get in there is jan 2010... i guess new buildings attract people
testing, testing.
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