China for beginners

You may be wondering, what is China like? well the answer is, i don't know- it depends. There are at least 50 provinces and many languages and accents, all living inside what we call the great country of china! I lived in city of several million people that no one has ever heard of. I traveled through the countryside where crops have been grown for 1000's of years. I hiked mountains where people have gone to listen to the sound of their own breath and come closer to their God. I climbed an apartment building 8 floors up to a small, but clean flat built for three people. I rode a train for over 30 hours standing up with 100 other people in a car the size of two of my living rooms. I ate cold, thick, glossy noodles with chop sticks, slurped my soup and drank tea when it was put in front of me.
But does this describe the beautiful awe inspiring and overwhelming feeling of being in a country with so much history, life and magic? Does my mere two weeks of living with a Chinese person, traveling around the country and doing things she does on a daily basis make me an expert in what China is really like? No, but I still experienced it and loved it and hope to go back and experience it again someday. My experience is not complete. I cannot accurately paint the picture... but then again i did bring a camera :D
So, soon after leaving the airport we were speeding down the road through fields and old buildings, each with the curved roof and animal protectors perched on them. Buildings were decorated with Red and gold banners with the caligraphy displaying representations of former ideas, whose entire meanings are lost and untranslatable to english.
There were corn fields, fruit trees and mountains in the distance. I found out later we travelled out from Shenyang to Benxi, a smaller city, you know, like only 1.5 million people, higher in the mountains and less dnagerous, dirty and definitely more friendly than the rest of China as Sister Gao said. I loved that, everywhere we went, sister Gao commented about how rude people were, who were not from her province. i couldn't tell the difference, because I had no idea what they were saying, and I can't hear the tones, let alone know when someone was upset or friendly.
We arrived about an hour later at this block of buildings and sister gao turned to me ans said you are hungry. I said, sure, so we hopped the curb and parked under this giant blimpie tunnel thing. It was red and large and filled with hot air to keep it in the air, kind of like a cloth gate that was the entrance to a restaurant. We sat at a table and were invited to a back room filled with plates of food wrapped in saran wrap of different entrees. thre were a few pictures on the wall. most of the things I looked at I had no idea what they were, and was too afraid to ask. I knew a few things. yes there is an actual food called general tso's and another that is kung pao chicken, although we have the accents wrong and some of the consonents too. ut I got the picture what it was and was very excited that i could eat it. We also ordered fried sweet potatoes and as with all meals potstickers. We had this final dish of what looked like giant see through slugs dredged in a teriyaki and peanut sauce and topped wth grated cucumber. i don't know what it actually was, but i ate it and it tasted good.
The whole time I was eating I noticed people were staring at me and watching me eat, yes I was using chopsticks and no, I don't think I ever truly got the hang of it. Seriously I must have been a sight- a white girl almost 6 ft tall, with twisted hair, tanned skin hanging out with two chinese girls speaking english. yeah I fit in really well there.
We finished eating and went to drop off my stuff, luckily I only brought one small suitcase,but it was filled with church supplies and american foods that Sister Gao missed. I think I brought a total of two outfits, including a pair of jeans and a sweater. I found out even northern china is hot and humid sometimes.
i decided I was going to try to get on the chinese time schedule as quick as possible, so i forsook the nap I desperately wanted and travelled to sister gao's parent's buisness and home. I can't describe whether it was more downtown or east or west of where she lived, but in the taxi it took less than 3 minutes to get there. My face did a little stretched out by the wind when we arrived.
I was surprised by the amount of English sister gao spoke and how much she had improved in her skills from the time I worked with her a year and a half previously. Unfortunately, her mother and step father did not speak english, so I never got to thank them properly.
We arrived and had dinner prepared- potstickers and all sorts of other delicious foods that I have no idea what they were. we had two other guests at the meal besides me- a cousin and friend of Sister gao's stepfather. They had all been actors and comedians back in the day and were really funny. One of the men spoke a small amount of english, but knew different songs and jokes in english. We were rolling on the floor. It especially became more funny as they got more drunk they became louder and more flamboyant. The only problem was that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I learned so many things that first day- the chinese have a great sense of humor and they also have very hard beds. I think it was a box with a futon like thing on top. it didn't matter though- I slept well.

That's the last time I'll be honest to foreign governments

This is my attempt at memoirs of my China trip- I did not have access to my blog or facebook while I was in China, but I wrote down my experiences. These are some excerpts and other stories.
So I have this wonderful friend in china, who gave me an open invitation to visit her anytime I felt like, so this is the story of my journey through china:D
For some reason there was a freak cold spell in Utah and California during the few days I was home between trips which threw off my body's polarity or something, so to start off my journey, I had a runny nose. The next thing that made my journey complete was a delayed flight leaving SLC which caused us to arrive in LA with only 40 minutes until my next flight left, and I didn't have tickets. Of course the terminal had to be three buildings down from the one I arrived in, and of course the ticket counter had to of closed about 10 minutes before I arrived at it. My favorite line was I am sorry, we cannot help you because we are closed, as there are five employees standing behind the counter sipping coffee. Yeah, I missed my flight, but I was not alone in that, luckily. You know there are two types of people in this world- those who like to help others and those that don't. I met some of both on this journey. There were two other people from my flight who were traveling to china on the same flight I was scheduled with. We made our way back to the united airlines ticket counter and had to beg the custodian to find an attendant to help us, because it was almost 1 AM at this time. She was slightly more helpful than the last, but did not want to take credit for the delay in flight and therefore it was not the airline's responsibility to pay for our housing, food or even flight if we couldn't find another one. At this point I was almost in tears, thinking I would never make it to see my friend, and knowing I couldn't afford a hotel and food and everything for a delayed trip. The mother and daughter I was thrown together through unhappy circumstance were incredibly giving. I asked if I could sleep on the couch in their hotel room if I payed for part of the price. She would only accept a small amount from me. I owe her so much. We were told to come back in the morning to see if there was another flight we could possibly get on sooner. I think we arrived at the hotel, after using the wrong bus and walking the three extra blocks at night, at around 3 am. We woke up, and ran off to the airport at 7:30 am and found that we had seats on a flight at the same time as previously, just a day later... so that meant we had an entire day to spend in LA. The first thought on our minds was sleep. Luckily, the woman at the front desk took pity on us and allowed us to take the room we had payed for, but they had already cleaned until 3 pm. this meant we would be well rested for the long journey ahead of us. Once we woke up at a more decent hour, we had a full day ahead of us to sight see and go shopping. We found a trolley service that would take us to the water front and to several shopping districts.
On the warf, I was approached by the strange old man who said you don't look like you are from around here. Knowing exactly what he meant by that I replied I have been living in Africa over the summer. He got all flustered at that and started spouting off rude comments about the beautiful people of Africa. He was either crazy or just plain rude. luckily, he was slow, so I ditched him pretty quick. I don't think the tales of my shopping in the foreign land of LA are quite interesting, but I can say that the idea of spending a week's worth of ghanaian grocery money on a single meal is appalling to me still.
Aboard the plane, there were no problems except for my runny nose, apparently they like dry cold environments all over the world, not just America. Oh yeah, if you ever want to fly internationally, take Korean air- seriously, they give you socks!!! And the seats go down way far too. i was so comfy :D
Passing through korean security was no problem, they had us fill out a form and then took our temperature. I marked on the form that I had a runny nose, just in case the stewardesses took note of who looked sick, but they didn't seem to mind.
Well I thought that would be the same for china- seriously, I had no other symptoms marked and noone had bothered me entering Korea. but I was wrong.
I think maybe the combination of Africa, practically having dredlocks and a runny nose might have been too much for the poor security officer who read my health claims. Its not that I wanted to cause trouble, or a scene, but I was the only white person on the entire plane, and I probably looked dirty to them. I am pretty sure the security guard almost peed his pants when I handed the paper over. he looked at me and looked down at the paper and then sprinted to the room for a bib. he motioned for me to put it on and then follow him. Seriously I felt like a freak. We went through several hallways, oh I forgot to mention he also was wearing one of the dinky masks. The whole area was blocked off, and marked with the word "Quarantine". We entered this office that looked like an army camp office, except everyone was wearing these white bubble suits with helmets and gloves. i felt like the Alien in E.T. They sat me down and tried to talk to me. there I was trying to explain it wasn't sickness and showing them I was only cold and my nose ran, but they didn't get it. I must have sat there for over an hour. they kept taking my temperature and telling me it is too high. I read what he had writen on the paper and it said 37.1 Celsius. For those of you who don't know... 37.0 is "normal" they would tell me, It is too high, ah you are nervous, we will take it again. That happened at least 3 times. Finally I told them they needed to call my friend and let her know where I was. She came within 5 minutes and helped smooth things over with them. they had 2.5 pages of questions to ask me, each time the answer was NO.
She gave her address and phone number and left with instructions to not let me out of the house for 2 days, and that I must wear the bib/mask thing and report if my temperature increases. Seriously I was almost suffocating from not being able to breath. we walked outside and to her friend's car and when we sat down she said this is stupid and tore it off. I was relieved. Anyways that's the closest call I've ever had with being detained in a foreign country for something really stupid. It was my fault, but with the circumstances it really could have gone any way.

Just an after thought

I remember the first few days after arriving in ghana how I thought "this is a strange place"... and didn't know if I could make it for three months there (of course I never told anyone that). Now I'm back in the states and I have the same feeling. Shocking, I know. Everything is different than I remember it. Even I am different than I remember- this might have come because I didn't have a mirror for three months. Meeting people is harder than it was in Ghana. I feel the real stresses of school. I have way too much stuff. My life is so much more complicated than before. I feel like everything is coming at me way too fast- classes, graduation, internship, grad school... the I-don't-know-what-is-coming. Its all just piling up waiting for me to do something and yet I don't know if I want to. I wanna go home... but where is home? Texas? Provo? ... Ghana?
I met so many wonderful people in ghana, who cared about and for me. It did seem like a home. One day I will return to visit my friends in Wiamoase, but for now, I will keep experiencing my American Culture shock.

I've left the bush

Remember how I kind of complained about now having the kinds of luxuries that I was used to, you know like flush toilets, internet access, running water and electricity that is reliable... these things may be convenient, but it comes at a high cost too. Cities are expensive and busy. There are so many people here. We are staying in a place filled with Ex-pats and night clubs. There are tons of tourist traps and there is even an expensive obruni mart (a market that is there particularly for white people, or obruni's... ghanaians buy from the outdoor markets typically) Seriously though, the supermarket costs at least double what it did even in Kumasi- a city half the size of Accra, the capitol.
Part of the magic of the Ghanaian people is their slow paced life... this is especially noticable in the small town, but is still readily visible in the big cities. I had a guy tell me to change to the african way of moving when I passed by him and rushed up the hill to go somewhere. He was trying to introduce me to the African way of handling life, but I was too impatient to hear everything he had to say... not that I staffeed him or anything he was just talking outloud in english so I knew it was directed at me, cuz I was the only obruni around. I think the slow and steady movements are in part due to the baggage they carry- try carrying a fridge on your head for a few blocks and see how it goes.
So I have officially left the bush, or the jungles of the ashanti region. The headmaster at the Okomfo anokye secondary school offered me a lift on Friday. We left at 3:45 am and arrived in Accra near to 9 am. We made amazing time, sometimes it takes 8 hours or more. seriously though its less than 200 miles. We are staying in Osu, a suburb of accra.
We got a place in this part of town because Esther, our house mom's husband's brother is one of the leaders for the salvation army and they have a hostel at the headquarters. i left a few days ahead of the rest of the group to take care of a visa situation, so I got to adventure alone for a few days. Yesterday I decided since I had all day to myself I travelled to Kakum national park- when we were there before I had malaria and stayed in the hotel the morning the other students went. so I grabbed about 5 different tro-tros to take the 100 km journey along the coast. It was so worth it. Kakum National park was gorgeous. Its the last preserved rainforest of southern Ghana. The park winds its way through hills and extends much further than anyone can travel in even a week, but I especially went to do the canopy walk. IT wasn't what I expected though- I was envisioning walking through trees instead of through the air from tree to tree. Really it was like a gigantic tree fort. There were a couple of Ghanaians that I made friends with and most of them were so afraid of climbing around on the rope bridges. I wasn't scared until a guy turned around from the middle of the bridge and wanted to get past me. Seriously the width was less than one foot. He must have been one of the rangers for the forest service, but there wasn't room for two to pass by each other. He made the man in front of me lean into the side of the ropes as he walked past and I thought oh no if he makes me do that I might throw up... luckily he was a gentleman and he leaned into the side and let me pass, but that meant that one of my hand holds for balence was gone. I didn't enjoy that one.
Okay so i have to admit by the end of the pentagonal rope walk I was not even holding on and decided to ahve a little fun and started jumping and rocking the whole thing. it was really great to hear the reactions of the people around me. i don't think they knew it was me that was causing it :D.
Oh yeah before I forget, I got my hair done again... this time its a rasta style- twists and extensions. there must be over 100 braids all over my head. I bought two packages of hair and the lay doing it used only a quarter of the hair on the back of my head the first day. I didn't think she was going to need all of it when I went home that night. The next day she started on the front and made them so tiny and close to gether. it just looks like I have super thick strands of hair. Most of the weight came to the front. She finished on the third day with this tiny section in hair and there is a little surprise right in the middle- about 10 twists using red hair because we used up all of mine and diped into some extras from the girl whhose was done in front of mine. seriously close to 20 hours of work was done by one person on my head. but it should last for 3 months or so. the first day it was super heavy and tight to my head, but today I am okay and I have been sleeping through the night. What we will go through for beauty....!

Mihyan (Mi-shan) Palace Museum

This week we ventured to some of the historical sites for the royalty here in Ghana. The palace was formerly used by the ashanti royalty in the early 1900's and is now home to a ton of artifacts that were used by the Ahsanti Kings. We saw refridgerators and coffee mugs, an old record player and a bunch of weapons. We also saw the stools that the kings were given to represent their power. The stools are intricately carved out of wood, well most were and decorated with symbols. there is a golden stool also, which is held by the regional king, the town royalty all hold stools made from wood. I think that was really confusing how I wrote it, but you get the point. We also went to a small craft village right outside of kumasi and they trade with you- so I bought things with the clothes and lotions and stuff I have been using the whole time I was here in ghana. Sweeet Deal! So now I am coming home with the same number of bags, but they will be filled with trasures.
Everything is wrapping up and we are all prepared to come home. Our group leader is leaving this week too, so now its time to party. :D

Akwaaba Obama

I don't know what to talk about today... Life is good! I had my last day at Okomfo Anokye (pronounced u-kom-fo- no-ch- eh)Secondary School on Wednesday of this past week- they are now taking their tests and so I can only visit with them in the evenings and weekends. So I have about 20 interviews with students left and a dozen or so with vendors and other people. Life is good. I think I will be able to finish all that I needed to before we leave in 2.5 weeks. So we will be leaving Wiamoase on the 1st of July and leaving Ghana on the 5th.
Some of the observations I have been making are with the ladies who make the food for the primary schools. They have this shack that they prepare the lunch meal, which is paid by foreign aid, and they use these pots the size of a small bathtub. The shack is always filled with smoke, so it burns my eyes. The ladies are very kind and some even speak english, so we talk about what is going on in the country- especially dealing with the economy, since they are being heavily hit by the downturn.
Obama came here this past week. Seriously it was the biggest thing to happen in Ghana since sliced bread... that hasn't actually happened here yet, so never mind... Yeah Obama was in Ghana. he toured the Cape coast castle and was in Accra and spoke to the people. I think there were about five songs that came out within the last month about how awesome obama is. Also they made fabric that said Akwaaba Obama and had his picture and some traditional symbols on it... dang I should bought some and made a dress, missed my chance though since it sold out in a day. He invited all American citizens to come down and meet with him, but its too expensive and time consuming to travel. So we listeneed to him on TV as he spoke to the Ghanaian people about how to solve their problems. Ghanaians like him because he speaks straight to the point. He told them their future was in their hands that they were the only ones who could make sure they succeed. he called for the corruption to be dealt with and then they would be able to become stable.
I have noticed something about the attitudes of Ghanaians... let me preface this- Ghanaians are as a whole very faithful people, but I think they lack a personal will to succeed- everything is if God is willing, not if I do my work then i will succeed. It is definitely a good part of an attitude to have- trust in God, but we can't sit back and pray and then do nothing. Faith is an action and it applies to all aspects of life.
ON the subject of faith.. I attended the church of pentecost this past sunday. hahaha! it was amazing- I loved it. We sang and danced and then they told me I had to introduce myself adn share a song with them- I sang I am a child of God and spoke a little about the meaning of it. That was really great.
I think we as a group of students decided that dancing should become a part of our worship too. J/K its super distracting sometimes. but its good to move around a bit

Funerals, hairdoes, and things that jump in the night

We were invited to a member of our branch's brother's funeral on July 4th. We dressed up in our black red and blue clothing and travelled to Asamang a neighboring village. Funerals are frequently done in this season, they a held 40 days after the person dies, and in this case he died in Canada so he was flown back to his home town. We arrived and there were several funeral going on in this small town, so we luckily met up with some of the branch members and they showed us what to do. We came to this clearing behind one of the schools and there were four open air tents set up in a square with a display of picture and flowers in the middlw. there was lots of space in the middle and a huge speaker system. WE started with the tent closest to us and moved counter clockwise and shook hands with the front row of each tent. the one we ended with were the family of the deceased. Then we were wisked away to another area next to the school and given drinks and a meat-like substance that had been severally dehydrated and fried. i think it resembled chicken.... on a side note I just realized that people really do eat the entire chcken and beef peices they are given- like bones and all !!! Malta is a favorite drink over here- similar to puerto rico, so I had a little taste that I was familiar with... do you remember when i thought it was gross. Our church members told us we want you to dance, but don't worry we will teach you. Oh so I forgot to mention that there are two parts of funerals, in the morning is the mourning and the afternoon is the party... we cae conveniently for the party :D IT is custom to give money to the family to cover the cost of the food and drinks and a little more if desired, so we fille dout a slip for the entire group and they took it to the announcer and told everyone how much we gave. Then they said okay now you all need to dance. I just laughed and followed them out to the middle section that was cleared and followed the lady in front. IT just so happened that there was the perfect number of ghanaian people to take each one of us and show us what to do. So there were video cameras and phones everywhere filming the obrunies. I am sure it was a spectacle to see, but when the rest of the group sat down they pulled me back out and made me do it again. Apparently the latin and belly dance helps with ghanaian moves too. Eachj move has a meaning here- you don't use your left hand really, just small movements. they use a lot of hand movements hip movements and you repeat them over and over. Everyone was dressed up with tons of cloth draped all over, oh I wish I had my camera there, but I didn't know if would ahve been appropriate to be a tourist at a funeral.

So I took out the braids from my hair, I had a lot of people telling me it was time to and I had the hugest fro ever! So I went traveling around and found a new salon and they put corn rows in the front in red black and blonde and then did a weave on the back, so I have wavy short hair that sticks out everywhere. they say its mehoya feh, adn hip life, so I reallly like it too. I had 6 ladies all surrounding me as they put it in.

I also got to go to church with Madam Esther our house mom, they really focuse don the singing and dancing at her church, it was very lively.

So I had this great experience on sunday evening, I was getting ready for bed and was headed to the outhouse, I opened the door and truned on the light and this huge black thing jumped out at me... of course I screamed and ran away, but I wasn't sure what it was or where it had gone, so I went back and this thing ran at me. It was a huge rat that somehow had gotten into the washroom and was guarding its territory. I didn't know what to do and so I went back to the house and Grace and Christiana came out and questioned me. they went around the corner and it was there. Christiana went for a huge stick and came running around the corner with it either hot on her trail or her on it's. I guess she got it or something, but it was a great show. Ahh the joys of living in the bush :D

Cape Coast and back again

So we had malaria when the original trip was planned, and by saying we I mean someone in the group had it so the decision was made to delay. It turned out that several others got it during the would be vacation so I guess it was a good plan. The worst part was that my research got delayed more. ITs awkward to explain that you were supposed to be gone, but aren't and that hopefully you will leave in a few days, but I guess that's how it goes. I wasn't feeling well early this past week- backache and nausea so they took me to the clinic also, but I didn't get tested for malaria, they just gave me pills to take- they weren't labeled and some smelled and tasted really funny. I think I felt more sick and dizzy being on them than not, but I took a full course for malaria treatment and then contracted a small case afterwards. I stuck it out and travelled while being sick( I'm not planning on missing any other weekends). The saddest part was I missed the kakum national park trip. I did get to go to the coast and we saw the castle. They were beautiful and historical, just the way I like it. The roads weren't too bad either, going there we ran into a monsoon and I'm pretty sure we passed by some flooded shops along the road. No one got sunburned because it was cloudy that is another highlight and now we are back in kumasi and on our way home to Wiamoase. All in all I'd say the trip was a success, and that Ghana is beautiful.

Language Barriers

Sorry, its been a few weeks since my last post, the internet wasn't working for a while. No worries though, all is well. I have exciting news for anyone who has not heard yet... My brother came home from his mission in Japan this week and my other brother got his mission call to Asencion, Paraguay North this week too!!
David, who was in Japan sounded like a 1st generation Japanese American kid- his laugh and accent were pretty thick, it was awesome. It seems like this last week was a party everyday. Thursday I called home, Friday was our group member Amy's birthday and today found out I have official IRB approval... Just in time for us to go on our midsemester retreat to Cape Coast.
Last night, we had the biggest storm since I've been here in Ghana- it poured for 5 hours at least, and it is still drizzling today. It makes me miss home where we have rains like that for days during the hurricane season. I made a little taste of home for the birthday party- salsa! It tasted pretty normal too. The funny part was that as I was preparing it Grace and Christiana were watching it and were so confused as to what I was doing- I didn't use oil and I added fruit to the cooked vegetables. I got them to try a bit, but they hardly touched it. I think it was too foreign for them. Don't worry it wasn't the spice that was the problem, I think it had to do with the temperature (we chilled it) and the fruit mixed in. Well we gobbled it all up with some homemade chips and crackers.
So I had a few unexpected things happen that were not expected. So I have been joking all along about the number of marriage proposals I receive daily, and I think for the most part the boys and men that ask are only joking and do not take offense when I laugh and walk away. Well, I had a strange visitor over the past few days who found out where I live and has come to the house at least 3 times that I know about. I suppose I met him in town once and talked to him shortly and left. The first time he came I was sitting inside the courtyard and he spoke with Grace and Christiana asking if he could see me and I was there and had no idea who he was. he kept trying to take my hand and I would take it back again and then I told him I was busy and he offered to help and then I told him he should leave (no worries, I was trying to be polite) he kept mumbling about chemistry between us and how he prayed that I would say yes and I said oh don't do that ( I was almost prepared to teach him a gospel principle about agency). then I said here I will show you the door and led him back to the gate and asked him to leave, then he tried to hug me and I was about to pull out my self defense moves, but luckily he got the picture that I wanted him to leave, whew! I came back around the corner and of course Grace and Christiana were trying hard not to laugh, and then the other students came out of their rooms to laugh also. Apparently they were listening to the entire conversation and were thinking about coming to rescue me, of course no one actually did. I thought that would be the end of it, but oh no... later that evening I was on my way to an appointment and he came trotting up the path and I was very cold and he said something about me not having a phone so he would buy me one. I said no, please go away, I am not interested. Grace was with me also and she told him in Twi that if he did not stop bothering me she would call the police. Apparently he did not get the picture then either because he came back yesterday all dressed up. I saw him and told him to go away adn I dashed up the stairs into Grace and Christiana's house and hid out there until he was gone. Apparently the subtle hints don't work on Ghanaian men either. I thought I was direct, but maybe men hear what they want to hear.

pseudonym... yeah i proly spelled it wrong

So last week I came early to check the email and such.. the day after I was in kumasi the entire city was on fire... well not everything, but everything important- the market and tro-tro station were engulfed. I felt bad b/c the other students didn't get to email back. The worst part is that it was over a million dollars lost in merchandise- people's lives were lost- everything they own and all hopes of being able to get ahead in life. They don't have insurance here for the stores and products they sell, so it seems awful. The fire raged for 3 days, becuase people kept going back in to grab their things and the streets that should have brought firefighting persons were blcked by the vendors and shops... it could have been controlled better if things were more organized. It seems like things are back to normal again today. I think the givernment is going to be able to put more order into rebuilding everything- people have learned their lessons the hard way and will hopefully be more willing to follow safety codes.
So on to less depressing things- I started my research this week... i think I ahve approval althought I have heard the final word, but I have permission from everyone else. but i am 4 weeks behind, so I need to hustle to get caught up. I go to the schools almost daily and i sit under a big tree and talk to the teachers who are out of class and occasionally speak to the students who are a part of my research. They are very happy to have an American friend who comes to their house, so it makes my life much easier. I just hope that they are okay with me doing the research and not just because they want me to come over. However it gets done... I guess I am okay with that.
So I realized this week that the entire town of wiamoase knows me as "shining"... Like that is my name to them- everywhere I go they ask what is your name, I reply shannon and then they say ah shining, shining star. I sometimes try to correct them,but it doesn't do anything. So I am a shining star :D I think it goes back to the school just outside of town whose mascot is the Shining Star. At least it is not because I am so white that I blind them.... for those of you who are laughing now I will have you know I am well on my way to becoming Obibini, which means black. I have a beautiful farmer's tan and a thiving z on my feet from my shoes. Yeah Its pretty much amazing.

Malaria and other Adventures

Now before you start getting worried... I did not have the malaria, my roommate did, So witnessed first hand the joys of being awake all night to the sounds of wretching :D As a whole it didn't seem too bad- she got over it in 3 days and is pretty much back to normal now, except for the funny twitch and noise it makes every time she breathes, hehehe J/K no long term effects. Apparently it takes two weeks for it to actually take effect over your body,and she got it two weeks to the day we entered Ghana- those nasty mosquitoes were waiting for her as she got off the plane.
As for me, I haven't had any problems other than the normal foreign travel stuff.

Since I am still waiting for permission to begin my research i ahve had a lot of free time and have gone exploring and am trying to become as Ghanaian as possible. This week, I plaited my hair, which means I braided it. Yeah, It looks amazing- one other girl was brave with me and did it, but hers only lasted 3 days before it drove her crazy and she took it out. The worst part is that they pull your hair super tight. That is a smal price to pay for not havign to worry about hair in your face or bugs in your hair or even washing it :D it is super easy to take care of and I think it looks nice. Next time I might not choose black, maybe red or purple or white... we'll see.

Coming to Kumasi today was also an adventure. WE were walking towards the tro-tro station and this huge van came barrelling by us and the guy pointed towards town adn said to kumasi. I brought my hair up and called it by bringing the fingers to the palm. the tro tro stopped and we ran over and climbed in hoping we would come out alive. There were only a few passengers inside so we realized it was a dropping tro-tro. perfect. So we sat down and didn't negotiate a price and we took off. I am pretty sure we were going nearly 60 mph, which on roads here is like going 90 at home. there are enormous pot holes that cover the road so they swerve everywhere. Sometimes there is on coming traffic too. I am pretty sure they rewire the horns to the lights and windsheild wiper bars to provide easy access. So they honk at everything, around curves and at cars and bikes and pedestrians. i think one driver honked at a goat too, but it didn't help much. The worst thing that sometimes happens is when your side of the road is broken so you are on the other side and another car is coming and there is a person on the side of the road too. our driver will gun it and swerve and you think you are going to die right there. Today our chair was loose so we could teeter back and forth with the motion of the tro tro. this scenario i mentioned above happened and there was a bike. we were going so fast and it was too late, so we hit the hole, which turned out to be half a foot deep. I went flying in the air and I was so scared I was laughing. the door holder turned and looked at me and pointed and laughed too and the driver tured around to apologize. The other two girls with me were just clinging to things, I don't think they thought it was as fun as I did though. I looked down at the floor and I could see out the bottom to the road. the metal was ripping, but that was the least of our worries.

So when we got on the tro tro it was relatively empty, but we stopped for other people along the way and managed to stuff fifteen people in a van the size of a suburban (well it was a little taller than that).
The best part of the ride is that it costs less than a dollar for an hour and a half of driving- super cheap and so worth it.

I ate a caterpillar

So each time I come to the internet i write this nice long update and then right as I am clicking to post it the computer shuts down. I have learned my lesson and will give a shorter update, but I hope to include pictures.

We have safely arrived in Wiamoase and have settled into freshly painted rooms. They are a nice bright blue. Last week on thursday was market day in town, so i decided to go check it out. I walked to the center of the village and found an old woman sitting on a porch. She didn't speak english and I didn't speak enough Twi, but we got along well. She introduced me to her friends and we all went to the market together. I sat with her as she sold things and met a bunch of other people. one of her friends spoke english very well and she invited me to come to her house to chat more, so I said sure and followed her. She is very kind and she invited me back to teach me how to cook tomorrow.

I ams till waiting to be introduced to the school so I can get a letter of approval to do my research there and start, hopefully some time this week I can start.

We went to church somewhere near agona with this little branch. I think there were thirty of us in a small classroom. We had a lesson on the plan of salvation for sunday school and the spirit was there, because truth was taught. The little branch will have a baptism sometime this week, but it will be here in Kumasi and we cannot come to support it.
Christiana is a neice to our landlord and she comes to coook and do our laundry for us. She is teaching me all the recipes to make Ghanaian foods. We have a good time together. it is unfortunate that everything is fried here, I am sturggling with it. The flavors are strong and the spices are hot. I love it. Christiana showed me how to make garden egg soup last week and then she allowed me to taste it when it was all done. I had a huige bowl full and it looked like in the soup there was a caterpillar, but I knew that we hadn't put any bugs in so i figured it was just one of the spices.... but then i found another one and asked what it was- christiana said oh thats not supposed to be there and removed it. It was too late for the first one though, I ate it and then regretted it. oh well its just a little more protein :D

the first few days

These are a few of my memories from the first few days in Ghana. Just remember I was awake for over 35 hours... so things could be a little shaky!
I exited the plane and was immediately surrounded by warm moist air and fragrant air. The air itself had the smell of a tropical city, but to add on top of that there were working men all around who I don't think even knew of the existence of deodorant. (don't worry, they don't smell as bad as american men who forget theirs) !
The city itself is full of bright colors, but the airport is set apart from the city and surrounded by a small jungle. The trees are bright green adn the dirt is a beutiful shade of red. It looks like rust and the once white buildings are now stained with years of wind, rain and dirt. The roof tops are also brightly colored greens, blues and the same red dirt color. Different parts of the city seem to clump together with one color.
I got off the plane and walked a few hundred feet and entered a building where our luggage was being piled. After a few minutes and a few worries that somehow my luggage was lost it came around the carousel and then I was ready to go.
I went through all the winding halls with customs and inspections and visa details, but they didn't hassle me. "i am just a student" is what I told them, no mention of research or anythign like that, not that i think it would be bad to mention, but just much easier to tell only part of what I was doing here- taking classes.
I arrived at the bottom of the airport and saw the room I was supposed to wait in and move towards it, but a guard stops me and says where are you going? i was about to panick because if I could go there then I would not know where I could meet my group. Then a voice from inside the room says, "she's with me!" Haleluja, margaret did come to meet me, even though that was not in our plans originally. Ahhh thery let me through and we entered the air conditioned quiet waiting room that was newly built and very comfortable.
Margaret and I would be there all day waiting for other arrivals.
The only problems throughout the day were missing luggage and a few police men wonderign what we were doing in there... Oh yeah and I also found my first Ghanaian husband.His name is Henry and he works at the airport- he is 25 and he wants me to meet his family and convince them that he should come to America. Margaret, against my desires, gave him our phone number and he calls all the time.
So because there were missing luggages, we had to stay an extra night in Accra. The city is busy and full of generous people. Our first full day we set out to the national museum and had a tour opf the peoples and cultures of ghana. It would have been more exciting if the room had not been like a sauna. By the end of the tour I was light headed and starving. We walked outside and thunderclouds had already set in, so it was much cooler than expected. We started walking back towards the hotel and stopped for food. I ate an already halfway peeled orange, actually I more precisely should say I drank it, because you squeeze it and suck, yeah it was good. Then we also had rice and some stew-like substance that we mixed in the rice. The spices they use here are way more spicy than almost anything I can imagine... except that one time I made salsa with habinero peppers... But it is tasty, so i am happy.
We took a long nap that afternoon and then part of our group went to pick up luggage adn the rest of us ventured out to find dinner. We met a sweet girl, named rose, who took us to a restaurant where we ate for under $1.50. wahoo! i love this.
It gets dark here around 6:15 pm so we don't have much of a night life, but that is good because apparently people get up around 4 am :D I am excited for this.
So yesterday, May 8th(friday), we travelled from Accra to Kumasi a total of 250 km, and it took 8 hours in a large greyhound like bus. Luckily it too was air conditioned. People sell things that are balenced on their heads and they will walk out in traffic and offer you what they have. Sometimes it is fish and plantains, bread or water sachets. it is quite a sight to see a woman with 12 loaves of bread on her head. They are graceful, thankfully.
So now we are in Kumasi and plan to visit the markets where I can buy a towel.... yeah I have showered in several days, but it doesn't matter much because neither have any of my fellow travelors or ghanaians...
I guess I should say Happy Mother's Day to you mom and hello to the rest of you!