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