Sunyani,Ghana 12-7-2008/ A Photo commentary of my life in Ghana.

Two snails(its just nature. haha) in relation to my foot.

Jessica, Innocent(the most uninnocent person youll ever meet, even though hes my coolest classmate) and another form 3 student in the Friday uniform.

The gutters in my house. The spicket you see at the right is from the sink in the kitchen. Everything other than the toilet water comes out of this.

Kwasi and I

A Sachet of water with 30 bags of 500 ml. Another AFS student , Wesley, his family in Baakoniaba owns a water filtering process called Life and Living, even though this is Ebenezer water.

Me and Kwasi killing a delicious chicken

The Main Taxi Hub in Sunyani.

Me and Kwasi pounding fufu.

My School:

Maache Everyone!

Ive been doing well lately, and am very excited to be almost done with my first trimester of school!Im really surprised at how quickly this year has been moving along! Im just trying to take everything one day at a time, and its been working so far!

Someone had emailed me and asked what Sunyani is really like. I thought that would be a cool topic to cover, so here it is:

Sunyani is about 300 Kilometers nw of Accra and has a population of about 100,000 people. The natural surroundings are very beautiful after you look past the trash, as i said before! Its very lush and green! There is alot of dirt though, but i expected that. The main source of income is probably agriculture. I think at one point in Ghanas independence it was the largest exporter of coco beans. And there is also a huge American gold company called Newmont in the Brong-Ahafo region. There is also an abundance of casava,plantain, and yam. There are countless( when i say countless i mean it) provisional stores. They sell everyday items, from coca cola to hair products and sandals to razor blades. Within probably a square mile of my house, there are about 10-15 of these stands. Which is pretty convenient. There are also a couple of hotels, a hospitol, a Ghanaian Premier league football stadium, banks, and numerous "take out" food stands. The coolest part of Sunyani is the Cocoa House. Its an apartment complex and also a radio station. Its only about 7 stories high, but its placed right on top of Sunyani so you can see it from everywhere you go. Transportation( ill get to the driving later) makes it easy to get from one point to another. From the main taxi hub in the city center to Baakoniaba is 3,000 cedis or approx. 30 cents. And buses leave daily to big cities like Kumasi, Accra, cape Coast, Tamale,etc. A bus ride from Sunyani to Accra is 130,000 cedis of 13$. There is also a small airport on the outskirts of town. On Wednsdays there is the main market when most people do their shopping and also most of the prices of goods go down. Its quite an adventure to go, lots of commotion and yelling make it pretty fun. And Churches and Mosques, well there are more of them than provisional stores. haha. Pretty much every denomination too. SDA, Baptist, Jehovahs Witness, Methodist, Catholic,Anglican,etc. The most annoying part of the churches is the all night prayer sessions. They start at 7pm and end at 5am. Theyre not quite about it either, the make american screamo music sound like a whisper. haha. and the church that is about 200 yards away from my house speak in tongues while screaming at 2 am, so it makes it even more annoying. haha. But Sunyani is a pretty sleepy town, with not much to do. But i dont mind because i like hanging out with my host family.

Driving is a whole nother story. Believe me when i say its drivers, not pedestrians, first! For as slow as people like to walk here, they make it up by the speed they drive. Drivers are just ruthless to pedestrians and cyclists. When i run in the morning or am just walking about in town, drivers seem to try and get as close to you as they can. There has been plenty of times where if i hadnt moved, i wouldve been run over! They wont slow down for you either! But of course theyll slow down for a goat, chicken or dog crossing the road. I try and find the logic in that, but i think im to stupid. But ive asked my brothers if they care about the driving, they said no. I guess its because they dont know any other driving styles. I wont say all drivers suck at driving, but alot of them do. But of course there arent any belts in the taxis, and they pack as many people as they can into cars and buses. its pretty nerver racking when you see a bus full of school kids, unbuckled, passing a car going about 50 mph going downhill. Thats why there are so many vehicle fatalities. And i thought Americans sucked at driving. haha.

Heres a very aggrivating/funny/hypocritical story. On Mondays,Wednsdays and Fridays we have this thing at school called assembly. its when all announcements are announced and its is also used as a worship service, where a student or teacher will preach about a certain topic. This specific day was about respect for teachers and was given by my ICT teacher. Yet, i felt as though i should have given him a speach on being a hypocrite. Mr. ICT ( I dont actually know his or any of my other teachers names, everyone just calls teachers Madam or Sir) stated his belief that teachers were chosen by God to shepherd the sheep(the students). And that the students should obey everything that the teacher says. I agreed with the whole "chosen by God" statement. Because essentially God chooses everyone for something. I mean, I was chosen to be Rich Pon. But then i didnt agree with the "obey your teachers" statement because extremist terrorists listen to every word that comes out of their teachers mouths, and well, you know the rest. But the funny/aggrivating/hypocritical part of the story is that the same ICT teacher that said all that hasnt come to teach in over a month! And its not because hes sick, its because hes lazy. Yet he will give us a test on things that hes never taught(ive passes all with flying colors though). And hes told the class to come on saturday so he could teach, BUT HE DIDNT COME! His excuse; "I knew you guys wouldnt come". hahaha. I just felt bad for the students because if they dont pass this class, they cant attent college! I just have to scratch my head and aks myself if what hes doing is a bit hypocritical. I should worry about my own faults before i look at his, but he is screwing around with 50 students education! Hopefully he'll get his act together. Everyone makes mistakes, even if they are repetitive and annoying. haha.

Thats all for now, I hope all is well!

-Rich

Sunyani,Ghana 11-17-2008

Ive realized this year isnt as much about me having fun, as it is me learning about myself. Dont get me wrong I am enjoying myself. But this stay in Ghana has really made me appreciate my "Gladelife" even more! I know ive said that so many times, but its very true. Its the small things that make me love home so much(actually, the differences are totally different, but ill just say theyre small). Ive really had to cope with so many different things. And ive really had to be patient with people who are just completely rude to me. School is very very aggrivating. The teachers are arrogant know it alls, who think that the students should understand everything that comes out of their mouth. I love my host family but its not as much a son to mom and dad or brother to brother relationship as it is a business parter relationship. And the variety of things(food,sports,Entertainment) are,well, there is no variety. I eat either rice,fufu,banku,kinkee,plantains or ampesi. But usually its fufu,which i dont mind eating (or i guess i should say swallowing) but at one point in my stay i swallowed fufu 14 out of 15 dinners! If you eat anything that often youll get sick of it! Sportswise, its just futbol. Which again i dont mind watching, but right now at home hockey season is in progress and of course Vanderbilt is bowl eligible for the first time in almost 30 years, THE YEAR I GO TO AFRICA! Hahaha! And entertainment, theres really nothing to do in Sunyani other than shop, and as i like to call it, get the obroni price. Which consists of people trying to get you to pay triple the amount an obibini would pay. I really hope youre not getting the wrong impression(which im sure you probably are) of my stay or think in crying myself to sleep(which i havent shed a tear since being here, surprisingly, because i caught the homesickness bug pretty bad at first), becuase i have a new appreciation for my family, friends and life itself. Ive caught myself so many times thinking that if i didnt come to Ghana, id be just going about my life and having no appreciation for it. Im really happy with my decision in coming to Ghana,becuase, if i had gone to a more westernized country, it would have been a different story! I wish more students had the opportunity to do what im doing now,because it will take me along time to go back to my ways of complaining about not having "good" food in the pantry or saying theres nothing good on TV even though i have a selection of 300 channels, etc, etc. Hahaha. The moral of my rant this week, appreciate your life, its probably better than you think!

PS.

The first picture is of my view towards Baakoniaba road outside of my house. The second picture is of my house. If you cant read the words on the house it says "The House of the Lord". And the third is of Baakoniaba road going towards downtown Sunyani. Notice the Cocoa House in the distance, you can see it from everywhere you go.

The Ghanaian Military

My brother Adu had told me that a bunch of my fathers church members(well im not sure if theyre apart of his Kenyasi church, or if theyre just Anglicans) had died in a trotro accident on Saturday. The group of 22 people were on there way home from a funeral when a truck full of stolen wood collided with the trotro head on. Heres the whole story:
The Ghanaian military were chasing after a utility truck full of stolen wood. So they decided to open fire at the truck, which shot and killed the driver and made him swerve in to the other lane and kill 22 out of 23 people in the trotro. I just find it totally unnecessary to open fire on a truck full of stolen wood. But what also gets to me is, they drove off without helping the people in the trotro! They freaking drove off! I think that they might have just wanted to shoot at something, which ended up in this tragety. That just shows how untrained the military is here. At least wait until there arent any vehicles around! And theyre supposed to be protecting the people of Ghana?! And its also even worse that they didnt even have to integrity to stop and check on the people!
But what really hits home to me is that i met a number of these people at my host fathers installation in Kenyasi! Nothing more than an introduction to them or anything, but it still hurt me so much. Also, another AFS student had come to Sunyani to visit the AFS students here and on her way back home, she was only a few minutes behind the accident! That could have been her! 22 people died over a truck full of stolen wood! I find that very pathetic!
I just ask you to pray for these people and their families! Because their lives where cut short because of one poor decision.

Miracle Junction, Baakoniaba 11-03-2008

I cant believe its already been 2 months! Im already done with 1/5 of my stay here in Sunyani! I already feel as though ive matured so much. Ive realized that there are so many things in my life that I take for granted, but never really noticed it, and I wont take for granted of them when I return home. You don’t know what you have until its gone, and that’s the truth! I have so many new found respects. Ill name just a few: legal minorities in the states, because I feel like im always being watched here in Ghana. School at home, its waaaaaaay better than I thought and if youre still in school, don’t take it for granted! Sanitation at home( ill follow this up a little later), an I used to worry about a mcdonalds(oh how I could eat some mcdonalds now. Haha) bag on the side of the road!
Communication is a bit different/difficult here. Everything is kind of indirect. I sometimes cant get a straight answer. And it doesn’t really help that I don’t speak much Twi, and sometimes peoples accents are pretty hard to understand. I didn’t think there would be a language barrier, but there is! A lot of times im not even able to understand people, I always end up saying Menti a sia(I don’t understand). Mainly it’s the pronunciation of things. Ie. “th” is not “th” its “duh”. Like “there” would be “dare”. Or “barber” would be “baba”. But im actually surprising myself by picking up a good amount of twi. Im able to converse with my family a little bit in twi. And im able to ask simple questions. Its just small stuff, but itll add up after 10 months.
So at the beginning of my stay I hated fufu. I felt like I needed to gag sometimes. Cause its pretty weird to eat. For one thing you just use your hands, and the soup is usually boiling hot(Ghanaians are like immuned to heat. Haha), then you just pinch some of it off and swallow it. And theres like bones and eyeballs from the fish. The actual fufu itself isn’t weird. Its just smashed up cassava and plantain. Its just the method you eat it is whats weird. Google it or youtube it, theres probably somewhere you can find it. But now I love fufu. I remember I was eating ampesi and plantains one dinner and I asked myself “Why aren’t we eating fufu?”. It was just one of those things I needed to get used to. Im going to miss it when I get home! Haha.
Ive never been hated on because of my color( at least I don’t think I have) until I got here. On two different occasions its happened. One: my ceramics teacher was teaching us about the formation of clay(him and the ecomonics teacher always pick on us three exchange students to answer questions, and im not joking. I don’t think they realize that there are 40 other people in the class) and he asked me “Richard, where did clay come from?” I answered truthfully “I don’t know.” And then in the most sarcastic way he said “ Well if the whiteman doesn’t know than how should i?”. I guess he was just joking but it really hurt me inside. Hes and older man so I think maybe he might have some resentment against the UK for colonizing the former Gold coast. Then on another occasion I was on my dialy run before school and I ran past 3 guys. And as I ran past, one of them said “look at the white man, he thinks hes so much better than us!” then they started laughing. That pretty much killed my day! I know they were just joking but they wouldn’t have said it if they didn’t think it was partly true. Maybe I need some tougher skin. But I think everyone is equal in the sight of God. Whether someone’s race, religion or gender is different than mine. One of these days God will prevail and all prejudices will finally vanish.
Going back to the trash thing earlier, I never really realized how beautiful Ghana really is. I always was just always saying to myself “look at all the trash everywhere!”. But I never looked past it I just never realized ghanas natural beauty. Its rolling hills and lush green vegetation its very beautiful. As the saying goes: Don’t judge a book by its cover!
Take care,
Rich

Pics are of my Backyard, Miracle Junction(Where I live),my hallway(my rooms the first on the right, note the directional arrows and the windows to the hallway. haha),and me washing clothes.

10-12-2008 Sunyani,Ghana

Last weekend my host father was installed as the Arch Deacon of Kenyasi's Anglican Church. My brother Adu had borrowed a truck from one of his NPP buddies. It was Adu, Kwadwo, Junior,Kwasi, Wess, and me in a 5 seat truck. It wasnt stuffed though, no until two other big Ghanaian ladies got in, then it got crowded! Adu was driving with Kwasi on Kwadwo's lap. and Wess Me the two 230+ lbs ladies and Junior on my lap. If we were to have crashed, we wouldnt have gone anywhere! haha. we pretty much sprung out when we parked. it was about an hour drive. The installation started an hour late(thats Africa for you). And lasted 3 hours. It didnt seem that long though. The ceremony was different. It was all in Twi, so i had know idea what they were talking about. Afterwards we ate and just chilled out. I met Junior and Kwasi's parents though! They were very very nice. My host parents kind of unofficially adopted them. Theyve been living with my host parents for the past 3 years. They havent seem them in over a year so they were very excited to see them! I bought some cookies for Kwasi and Junior to give there other younger siblings. It seemed like they miss their village. Luckily on the way home, Kwadwo and one of the ladies didnt ride home with us, so i got to roll shotgun with Junior on my lap. haha. Adu was freakin flying down those hills though. He hit almost 160 km/hr which is somewhere around 90mph. I looked to the back seat and Kwasi was holding onto Wess for dear life! It was so funny!

The teachers at school are freakin lazy. i hate to say it,but unfortunetaly its true. Everytime i walk by the teachers lounge, they really are lounging.Not only are they lounging, theyre watching tv!At least once a day, a teacher doesnt show up to class. One day we only had one teacher come! And the teachers have to have the class captain come and get them! Its pretty ridiculous. And TASTECH is one of the best schools in Sunyani! It sounds bad, but my general outlook on school is kind of negative. I mean theyre teaching us about computers on blackboards. But i really shouldnt say that, because theyre using all their resources to the best of their abilities! I try and stay as positive as i can, but it can only go a certain extent! Most of the students are cool though. Except this one guy that gets on all three exchange students nerves. And the food is very good, and very cheap. You can get a good amount of food, and a couple bags of water for under 1 Gh Cedi.

Speaking of money, Ghana redenominated its currency in Summer 0f '07. But alot of times they still use the old currency. ie.- 500 old cedi is 5 new peswas, 180000 old is 18 new Gh Cedi, or 10000 is 10 new Gh Cedi. Its kind of confusing for an obroni because you have to do the conversion on a dime in your head.

Well, i sent in my absentee ballot for the US Presidential election. It wasnt what i expected it to look like. I thought maybe it might have the candidates pictures and maybe a bio(i guess i have high expectations. lol.) but it was just a yellow piece of paper with the candidates names. But i was(and still am) excited because my first time voting will be in Ghana. I voted for the candidate that i thought would lead America for the better not only for the present, but for the future. I want my kids to be able to prosper and not have to worry about economic problems and what not. I also voted for this candidate because he seems to be looking out for people my age. The four issues i tried to concentrate on were: the war in iraq, the economy, the environment, and homeland security, and i agreed with all the opinions of the candidate i voted for.

Some people here think white people are superhumans and are made of money, especially the kids. Theyll touch me like i feel different or something, and ask me for money, which i dont give them because if one white person gives them money theyll think every white person will give them money. Which sounds bad, but like im not made of money. And its not like theyre giving me some sad face and asking for money, this is how they literally say it: "Obroni, give me money!". Its like jeez, at least act like your going to be thankful for it! And it doesnt help that my name is Rich! lol.

I hope your doing well. Take care!

-Rich





P.S. I just realized this, I kind of seem to talk bad about Ghana in my blog. But I want you to know that Ghana is such a beautiful place. Both its people, its culture and environment! Im just trying to point out some of the differences between my home country and my host country. I feel as though Ghana has made me more mature already, and its only been a month and a half! I just thought I'd tell you this before you think that I hate Ghana, because it is an awesome country!

10-5-2008 Sunyani,Ghana

I think I just had a revelation! I dont think it was from God, maybe just my innerself. Well it could have been from God, he just sent it through my innerself. Im not quite sure, im pretty finite. haha. But i just realized that I, as well as alot of other people, need to control their emotions. Because if you don't, youll soon be taken over by that emotion. And and by that time, you wont be thinking about more important issues. I think that emotions are just a test from God. And you just have to overcome these tests, learn from them, and move on, becasue if you dont youll always be dwelling on that test.
I guess i should have told you why i got this revelation. I woke up at 5:30 am to blasting music from Adu, and i got extremely pissed off. I kept trying to go back to bed, but i just kept dwelling on the fact that someone would have music blasting at 5:30 in the freakin morning! I got to the point where i was just fuming. I wanted to rip someones head off. Then it hit me like a pile of rocks, why would i get to the point of being angry over a simple thing like that. I shouldve just got up, and asked Adu to turn it down, and go back to bed. So i said a quick prayer for forgiveness( i had a few choice words in my head for him) and calmed down. Im glad i realized this now, so now i know if i dont control my emotionsm, ill start becoming irrational. Which will eventually lead to making bad choices. And of course, life is full of choices!

10-1-2008 Twene Amanfo Secondary Technical School (TASTECH)

Well i left 1 month ago. I feel as though ive finally hit my stride and am now getting into the groove of things. It really only took about a week to get my homesickness to go away, but it was a very hard week. I thought it would never go away! But i just made myself realize that im going to be here for 10 month, and also realized that this trip was a pretty penny, so why waste any time mopping around wishing i was at home! I wont say that i dont have feelings of homesickness every once in awhile, but thats to be expected. And im feeling very comfortable. Ive started knowing where things are at, where to take taxis to, and people are starting to realize that im not just a tourist, im here to stay. I still get called "obroni" 50 times a day though. lol. Ive also started school so i feel as though im in a rhythm.

Speaking of school, its a whole nother beast than school at DUB C(WCHS, if youre not a student there). Ill just mention a few things. They wear uniforms, which ill wear in the next few weeks. They cane the "stuborn"(its like the teachers fav word) students, and its no tap on the wrist. Its a wind-back-and-hit-them-in-the-head-about-5 times kind of caning! The students have a stationary room and the teachers come to us. which can lead to a pretty boring day since your not walking to classes every 90 min like in the states. And sometimes teachers dont even show up, youll just end up sitting in the class for awhile with a bunch of kids speaking Twi. A few days ago, we only had 1 teacher come to class the whole day! luckily my fellow American lent me a book(The Kite Runner, if you havent read it, its awesome!) a few days ago, which i read the whole day.

Since ive been in Sunyani, ive seen like 5 white people other than Wess and Iris. So i stick out like a sore thumb! Everywhere I go i can feel the eyes on me. and its funny cause sometimes people will know me but i wont know them! For example, a few days ago i was walking home and this man in a car driving on the other side of the road from me stopped, waved, and said "Hey Richard!" I waved back at him and he drove off, but i had no clue who he was! That happens on a regular basis. I feel kind of embaressed when that happens because theyll say "Hi Rich" and i wont know there names. haha but the kids here are pretty obnoxious, its not like when grown ups say "Obroni" to me, the kids say "OBROOOOOOONI!". haha i kind of laugh though.

Im 215 lbs, so im not a small guy, but i dont consider myself fat. But good Lord do people love calling me fat and big. At first i was offended when theyd say that. Id just give them a Chuck Liddell stare and walk away. but then someone told me that its good to be big. So now, i just force a smile out when someone tells me that. Its still annoying though.

My little brothers are really cool. and very hard working! Everyday they wake up at 5:30 to clean the house. Its incredible. When i was that age, i was struggling to get up, let alone do chores before i go to school! Then after school they do more chores, and cook and clean after dinner. And they clean the whole weekend practically. They barely have time to hang out. I dont think they get appreciated enough, but they dont seem to mind. They do a lot for me during the week, so i repay them by hanging out with them and helping cook and clean as much as possible, also helping with their homework. and they dont get lunch money so on fridays and sometimes during the week i get them an icecream of something of that nature. Theyll grow up to be very hard workers!

I hope all is well! Ill talk to you soon!

PS. The photo is of me and my host brothers!

9-23-2008 Sunyani,Ghana

My first day of school was a few days ago. Ive decided to go on the Visual Arts path. I figured i might as well do something dealing with the Ghanaian culture rather than doing a science, math, or business course. The students in the class are very cool. I think its about 30 people, with only 4 girls, so all i hear all day are testosterone filled jokes. haha. Everyone is very curious about the american culture. Which i enjoy telling them about. But usually they want to know my political and religious views.
When they ask about my political views i tell them that i consider myself an independent because i agree with some republican views and some democratic views. and of course they want to know who i want to win the presidential election. when i ask them they usually tell me Barack Obama, well thats actually the only answer theyve given me. and actually they give me legit answers, not just "Because hes black.". I know no ones vote counts but the american vote, but i think most of the world wants Barack Obama to win.
As for religion, its everywhere, which i dont mind at all. they pray at school, and there is a student chaplain, and he preaches to us on mondays,wed, and fridays. hes pretty good for only being aloud 5 minutes. My economics teacher asked me one day, and i think everyone pretty much put what they were doing aside to here what me and my fellow american had to say. I told him that i wasnt any particular religion and that i believed all true religions have different names but they all contained the same truths. I also told him that i believed all people go to heaven but its whether your close or far from God in the afterlife. He replied "We'll be good friends this year." so i though that was pretty cool!
Some other things about school. The desks are the most uncomfortable things ive ever sat on. Its like sitting on a 2"x4" for 3 two hour sessions, without any leg room. its like im being punished for 6 hours. Those things are the work of the devil. lol.
Ok, if you dont want to hear a pretty nasty story, then skip these next few lines. My friend Innocent, no seriously thats his name, told me that sometimes a thief will get burned alive if they get caught. I didnt believe him one bit. then the today he brought in this newspaper, and the headline said "Burned Alive", with the most graphic picture of a dead burned man as the cover picture. i about threw up in my mouth. I guess the guy had stolen ONE PLASTIC CHAIR and he was tied up in chains, dragged 800 yards then burned alive. civilized, i think not. and actually the mayor of the town had ordered him to be burned, obviously he denied it and got away with it. It was terrible.
Me and wess were going to visit another AFS student in Nkoranza on saturday, but ended up not going because the bus never came, so we ended up going to Eusbett hotel. Its where all the white people go when they stay in Sunyani at least thats what my host bro told me. I still didnt see but 1 obroni. But it was heaven! they had american food! I was never so excited to get a pizza in my life! it was ghanaian pizza but it was still great! I asked for pepperoni and they gave me chicken. lol
One thing about the variety of food here, or i guess lack of variety i should say. Every dinner i either eat yams, plantains, rice and tomato sauce or fufu, or a combo of all. Its pretty annoying to eat the same thing over and over again, but i didnt come here to get pampered did i? and the portions here are freakin massive. my mom for breakfast gave me 7 plantains, and pretty much made me eat them all, then gave me some leftover rice. Im 215 lbs, but thats a lot of food! haha. but ive been getting used to the Fufu lately. and i kind of enjoyed it much to my surprise. Im glad im gettin used to it, because ill be eating it for the next 9 1/2 months!!!
Ill end on a pretty funny story. One of my teachers asked me what sport i played. I said i wrestle at my high school. and everyone went nuts when i said that. they thought i did wwe! they started pretending to throw chairs and other crap like that. I got kind of pissed off after awhile and luckily i had a video of one of my matches on my camera and showed it to them. then they realized. now they want me to show them moves. ahaha.

I hope you and your family are doing well!
Take care!

By the way, my appologies(s/p) for not adding as many photos as i said. there are a few photos lower down on this same page. enjoy!

9-16-2008 Sunyani, Ghana

I think of all the places AFS offered, I think Ghana is the place with the biggest "Culture Shock". I think the only place that could stand an argument would be somewhere in Central/South America. Other than the fact that English is the official language(which they barely use anyways) everything is different.
Family life is one of the biggest adjustments ive had to deal with. It seems like they dont spend much time together. At home in MJ we have dinner together as a family, here you eat when you want, where you want. Sometimes Kwasi and junior will eat in the hallways or outside. So its a bit different. Also it seems as though Kwasi and Junior do all the work. They cook,clean, do the laundry, etc. And they dont spend much time with their grandparents(my host mom and dad). Once they get done cooking and then cleaning everything up, they shower and then head to their room. I dont think theyre neglected or anything, its just different. I try and spend time with them at night playing cards or just talking with them because i semi feel bad for them.
My host parents are very nice and generous. But theyre a bit intimidating. They dont have a lot of emotion, and they dont speak very good english. At first it was like i didnt talk to them, but gradually ive been talking to them more and more. So itll get better the longer i stay here. My host dad is a Anglican Priest and they told me theyd be moving somewhere else on october 4th. Something with the church. But Adu,Kwasi, Junior and I will stay in Sunyani. Im still just as confused about it as you! haha
We have chickens here at the house. If youve ever lived with them youll know what i mean, and if you havent then be glad you dont. Every morning at around 4:30 they do there cockadoodledoo chant for like 30 minutes! Its so obnoxious! And sometimes in the middle of the day theyll go on a chanting rampage. its so annoying. Im glad i eat chickens. Kwadwo said when its time to slaghter them, i could have the honors. haha
The taxis are so funny here. The drivers honk for no particular reason. And most of the cabs have been used so much the speedometer and odometer( i think thats the one) dont even work. And there is no such thing as a smog test here, which is a good transistion to the enviornment.
Sunyani was voted the cleanest city in Ghana in 07. But its soooo trashy. I actually dont know what they do with trash, cause there isnt a trashman. I think americans needs not to worry about Americas environmental problems, but the rest of the worlds! Becasue i guarantee that the rest of Africa and most of the rest of the world is like Ghana.
I played futbol a couple times already. They take pick up games so seriously, even the little kids! But i guess they are purebred futbol players! Its pretty fun to watch the more experienced players.
The mosquitos were way overhyped by the doctors. I think ive been bitten maybe 5 times since ive been here. Not to say those 5 didnt have malaria, but i thought there would be swams and swarms of them.
The doctors gave me medicine for Travelers Diarehea(sp?). I think they gave me the wrong medicine. Ill try and put this in a non-crude way, I couldnt go to the bathroom to save my life! haha if you know waht i mean. the food here is just way different from my diet at home. Most of the foods here are very starchy, and there are no fruits and vegetables served usually. Also not to many dairy products are here. So its pretty different.

Well its dinner time.....time for more fufu. haha

Take Care!

9-12-2008 Sunyani,Ghana

On Monday morning we were told the places we would be staying for the year. I guess i was supposed to go be in Accra, then i was moved to Nkoranza, then finally they told me i would be in Sunyani(which means slaughter elephants, i would later find out by one of my older host brothers.).

So the people going to Sunyani, Nkoranza, and Techiman had to get up at 3 am on tuesday morning. It wasnt to hard to wake up becasue i was pretty excited. It was me, Wess, Iris, Mari, and Amanda. And actually one of my host brothers,Adu, was going to ride with the people going to Sunyani, but i didnt know he was my host brother at the time. We arrived at the Intercity STC bus stop around 4 am or so. They weighed our bags, put tags on them, gave us our ticket and had to wait for our 5:30 am bus departure.

The bus left about 6am. It was a 9 hour bus ride to go 250 km!!!! I was about to kill myself in boredom. I slept a little, and listened to my zune for as long as i could before i got sick of listening to music. They played the worst Nigerian movies imaginable. I could compare it to going to see D-Wars with some friends, it was such a bad movie we left within 15 minutes of it starting and went to see another movie. When were on the outskirts of Accra,the roads were about the bumpiest things ive ever been on. It was a dirt road, and you would go up and down for atleast the first 45 minutes of the trip. I thought it wouldnt stop, but it eventually did.

The roads were pretty narrow the whole way. Every half an hour or so, youd see a semi-truck tipped over on the side of the road, with its cargo scattered over the road. I was surprised to see all the little towns there were. I also loved the blanks stares peolpe would give us, obrinis(whiteman), as we passed by them in the charter bus. we stopped at one point, and the driver got out and had to check something outside of the bus. And the poeple would just stare at us. Not in a lethal way or anything, but i just couldnt help but laugh. its like theyve never seen a white person.

We stopped at a rest stop/ restaraunt. We all paid our 10 peswas to go pee, and then tried to find some food. I wasnt all that hungry so i just bought a huge 53 oz bottle of water for 1 ghana cedi, which is a freakin deal if you compare it to buying a 20 oz bottle of water for the same price in the states. Then I bought some like oreo type things, which werent even made in ghana(they were made in China, where else?) and the lady charged me 2 cedis. But i guess that was my fault for not bartering with her. But it was my first time buying something in Ghana.

I sat down with adu at a table. he had bought some fufu. its made of casava and plantains smashed together, with some spiced soup and meat. Its pretty much like eating a huge ball of unbaked dough. and im not talking chocolate chip dough or anyhting like that. haha. Its not bad tasting, its just very filling and heavy. I think itll be an something ill have to get adjusted to.

We eventually arrived in sunyani after a stop in kumasi. We got our bags and jumped in a taxi. me wess and iris kept looking back at the trunk becasue it was open, possibly letting our bags falll out. luckily they didnt. Iris was dropped off at her host dads computer shop, then we dropped wess off at his house, which he'll be living with like 12 other people. Then we got to mine and Adus house. Its a nice gated home. with like 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living, kitchen and dining room. Its a bit creepy though becasue there are windows looking out to the hallway from my bedroom. and they hallways are very big. prob 50% larger than and american residential hallway. I have a father who is an anglican reverend. a mother who stays at home and works at the market selling kids shirts on wednsdays, and two lil bros. Kwasi is 12 and Junior is 8.

They fixed me fufu and stew. I ate my first fish with the head on it. it wasnt to nasty actually. its different though. AFter that i was just sitting around for about an hour. I was so depressed at that time. I just felt so home sick and really just wanted to go home. Homesickness is really a terrible feeling if youve never experienced it. you feel pretty helpless. I almost to the point of crying. But luckily Adu and i went to Wess' house before i felt any worse. his house is about a 10 minute walk away. But he and his host brother had already gone to town. But me and adu stayed there and talked with the family awhile. the mother offered her daughter to me to marry. and actually i thought she was serious, then she laughed. i jokingly declined.

When we got into town, i got my cell ghanaian cell phone which was about 80 cedis. Then we went to a bar. you only have to be 18 to drink. so Adu ordered himself a beer and told me i could get one too. and i was actually pretty close to getting one. Then my morals kicked me in the crotch, and i just ordered a coke. lol. I did take a sip of his ghanaian beer and it was pretty nasty, im glad i stuck to the coke. After that we went to buy a internet card so i can have internet access at home. But i noticed i wasnt to depressed while i was in town. I think the trick is to keep my mind away from thinking about Mt. Juliet.

I came to Ghana under the impression that they speak english, I was a bit wrong. It is the national language(english) but everywhere you go, Town, the taxis, restaraunts, at home, they speak there native language, in my case its Twi, pronounced chwee. So i feel pretty confused most of the time. but i think after awhile ill start picking it up.

I take advantage(and so do you) of my washer and dryer. Here, you do it with your hands. Its very time consuming. Me and Junior did it. you throw your clothes in a bucket of water, then take every clothes piece one by one and wash it, then rinse it, then repeat, then hang them to dry. Its hard work. I feel like im living the indigenous life as J Boog would say.
speaking of living the indigenous life. Yesterday Kwasi shot a bird with his slingshot, feathered it, and then cooked it. half way through it getting done he rubbed it down with salt. and when it was done, i tryied a piece of it. it was a taste ive never tasted before. hahahahaa.

Later that day me wess, and bb(wess' host bro) went to Adus work. he works for the National Patriotic Party, the democrats of Ghana. Its election year so he works very hard. The 3 of us went to the market. I had to buy a towel and a mosquito net. The market is very very very cool. I enjoyed to hustle and bustle of it. Everyone says "Obroni etesen!" which meens white man how are you?! And by the way, its not offensive to call some one a white man or a black man(obibini).

See the thing is, i dont hold hands with people at home. for one thing ive never really had a girlfriend, so i dont hold hands with females. Im not gay, so that crossed out men. and im not a child so i dont hold hands with my parents anymore. so its a new thing when Adu or any other guy tries to hold my hand. Its extremely akward. But i know its just the culture. But when a guy tries to hold my hand i just try and slither away and let them hold on to my pinky finger or something like that. hahaha. Even wess told me the same thing. LOL
Anyways im about to go to a internet cafe, so ill talk to you soon.
Take Care!!!!

9-08-2008 Accra,Ghana

I arrived in Accra, Ghana at about 20:30 local time. It was about a 6 1/2 hour flight from London. The plane was slightly smaller than the first flight which i think was a Boeing 747, so this one i think was a 767, but im no plane expert. I slept maybe 2 hours and ended up watching The Happening, which sucked. Im glad i didnt watch it at a theater, i wouldve wasted 7 bucks. But I also watched Ironman which was the third time a saw it, and still liked it.

When we landed we got out of the back of the plane, and went down the stairs to the tarmac. I could smell the pollution already. I also noticed there was no "High-Tech" equipment to transport luggage from gate to gate, just John Deer Tractors. The 4 of us got into the immigration line. They checked our passports, Visas, and looked(but not inside) of our immunization record. Mari, Alyssa, and I were able to get through without a hitch. But Wes wasnt able to get through because he didnt have an address. So we told him we would find and AFS staff member to help him after we got our luggage. I went to the extremely crowded luggage belt, looked around and saw my bag sitting beside of the belt. I quickly grabbeid it and was happy that it didnt get lost on the flight like it did in JFK. I waited for the girls to get there bags. Mari got hers, ans said shed go find someone from afs to help out wess. but right as she left he came out of the line. I think he must have found an adress or somehting of that sort. As i started walking toward him i noticed two men holding hands. I remembered it didnt meen your were gay, it was just the culture. It was still a bit wierd though. We finally got our bags and proceeded outside. when we got out side there were literally hundreds of people behind police fences. They were all screaming and shouting. they were watching a soccer, or i guess futbol, game. We saw the AFS piece of paper above everyones head. We walked to it and a man and woman gave us handshakes and led us to a white bus that held probably 20 people. as i was walking this random man grabbed my bag and took it to the bus, put it in there and walked away. I was kind of wierded out. but it was the beginning of "African Hospitality". We drove a while and arrived at the "PinkHostel". I ended up rooming with Wess, Pierre, and Boris. It was a very small room with a small bathroom. that night i had a very lonely night. i was sad becasue i wasnt at home. but luckily i fell asleep quite fast.

I got about 9 hours of sleep. so i felt real good that morning. we went downstairs and had breakfast. it was a very basic breakfast. eggs, toast, and rice krisp cereal. Kweku, the AFS volunteer(who was a very cool guy), started the orientation at about 10. We mainly talked about saftey and other things like that. by nooon we were on our way to Bojo Beach. I forgot my trunks, so i just wore some gym shorts, as well as wess. As we were waiting for the bus i saw my first lady carrying something on her head. my mouth dropped(not literally) when i saw her. It was one of the coolest things ive ever seen. she was carrying peanuts on a platter. It seemed like an art to me. being able to carry that, have a child strapped to your back and being able to walk normally. id say thats an art. As we got on the bus Kweku had a bag full of something. i wasnt sure at the time, but it ended up being bags of water. they were purified water in a sealed plastic bag. about the size of a sandwich bag, probably 15oz. You just bite a tiny hole in a corner and suck water out of it. bad thing is you cant really set them down, w/o it falling over.

We must have drove about half an hour. the ride was insane. It seemed to me that there was a lot of poverty but maybe its just a standard for ghanaians. whey they saw a van full if white people they would wave and say hi. there were so many people selling things on the street, lots of people were carrying things on there head, which still to this point amazes me, and probably always will. When we would stop(which wasnt often because they run red lights frequently and they dont stop for people. its like they speed up when they see people coming. haha) people would come up to the bus and try and sell things through the window. they were very nice though. they would try and start a conversation with you. they sold food,and different odds and ends. from mentos to screw drivers and huge pictures of jesus to q-tips. They came up to the windows and would wash the windows while stopped, for just a few peswas. Ghanaians are crazy drivers. but its funny when all you can hear sometimes is horns from cars.

The air pretty much smells of firework smoke, burning plastic, and trash. but then there are times where it smells so good, from different foods. pretty much every alleyway have stands in them. im not sure if anyone buys anything, becasue it seems like everyone is selling something.

we eventually got to the beach. it was a private beach,and was only a few cedi to get in. we had to get in a long boat to take us over to the ocean part of the beach. it was pretty oldfashioned. but it was fun.we all got dressed, or i guess undressed, and got in the water. it was warm and very trashy. it had all kinds of trash coming up onto the sand. but other than that it was very nice. we kicked the soccerball and played volleyball, normal beach activities. haha.

when we got back to the hostel our dinner was waiting. it was delicous. it was a type of rice with very hot chicken. spicy hot btw. oh and for lunch we had a mixture of black eyed peas, onions and rice with fish. that was also very good. i asked kweku how much it cost. he said about 2-3 cedi, approx 2 american dollars. but if you were to buy it in america, he said, it would be well over 6$.

We all had a great conversation afterwards. just learning about each other and i guess bonding.

yester day 9-9-08, we went to kwekus church. it was massive. The sermon was about 120 minutes and had well over 2000 people in it. and that was only the first service. I enjoyed it, there was lots of singing and dancing. i think i threw in a couple american dollars while the offering went around.

for lunch we had yams, plantains, and spiced beef. and for dinner we had a spicy noodle type dish. they were both very good. the way im eating right now, i dont think ill loose a pound!!!!! Ill gain it!!! hahaha. We went by the american embassy in accra. it was huge. the other americans thought it was ridiculous to have it that big. i think they were embarrased by it. personally, i wasnt embarrased at all. theyre not just going to build it for nothing, its there for something important. and dont you thing ghanaians might be happy america has a presence in ghana? because america is the worlds strongest and richest nation, we have responsibilites to help out other smaller nations. kind of like a "big brother". i dont know. maybe its just me.

but american politics are so prevelent here. someone asked one of the americans after church, "Hows Bush?". and on the radio they speak twi. so youll hear twi words then barack obama, then more twi words then mccain. Its kind of funny.

So i just exchanged some of my american dollars. i exchanged 250 american dollars and got back 275 ghanaian cedi. it was 1.1 $ to 1.16 cedi.

Well thats all for now. Take care!

9-5-2008 London Heathrow International Airport

These past few days have been a rush. I arrived at NYC's JFK Airport. I went to go get my bags, but of course, the day before my first international flight, they loose my luggage. So I filled out the necessary paperwork, told her where id be staying and she said it would hopefully be there by tommorrow. So I tried not to worry about it. I found the Airtrain to take me to the rental car/ hotel shuttle pickup spot. I asked a man with TSA and he pointed me in the correct direction. If i hadnt asked him i would have been going around in circles. So i was happy that i asked. The hotel shuttle picked myself and about 5 other AFSers up and took us to the hotel. When I got there I registered with AFS and told Renee, the AFS registrar, that my bags had been lost. She was very very nice and took care of everything. She called delta and got everything worked out, updating me on where my bags were every once in a while. I met so many AFSers. NYC was the departure gateway for Italy (65 people), Spain(30),Portugal(15), Turkey(10), South Africa(2), and Ghana(4).It was really just a review orientation of what i already knew. Ghana's group is i guess pretty cool. Mari is from Maine, Wesley is from Washington state, and Alyssa is from Oregon, and obviously me. I had to share a hotel room with a guy from NC and he was going to Italy. I think his name was Jeff. He was a nice guy, but it was kinda akward to sleep in the same bed with someone you dont know. hahaha. At about 24:00 I got a call from Renee telling me that bags were downstairs. I was soooooooo relieved!
We were the last to leave from the hotel on Thursday, which was about 19:00, and our flight was at 22:30. They flight was decent. I slept a good bit, and they served good food for an airplane. It was a 6 1/2 hour flight, the longest flight ive ever been on. Luckily I kind of begged my way to an isle seat! haha. Well my flight is about to take off from LHR. So Take Care!