After a several hour delay in the Accra due to the ash in London (yes, there was still ash in London like a month later), I made it home safely to Newton, MA. I arrived home and immediately gorged myself, obviously. Then, about a half an hour later, my dad tells me to go upstairs to my room because he has a present for me there. I open the door to my room and I see my brother on my bed with a camera and a chicken in the corner. I scream, of course. Apparently, my brother’s friend has chickens so my brother asked to borrow one as a nice welcome home temporary gift (we gave the chicken back).
Other than that, my adjustment back to life in the USA has been pretty smooth. I’m still amazed by the constant supply of water and power as well as the plethora of food options. And there has definitely been an element of shock; I don’t stand out any more and everything just seems to run much more smoothly. Also, it was really emotional to come back to America and reflect upon my past several months. I still sit here in amazement that I actually fulfilled my childhood dream. Not only did I survive 4 ½ months in Africa, I was able to maintain my level of observance. And on top of that, I even grew religiously (thanks to Rivky and Zahava). The three of us have taught countless Ghanaians, Americans, Togolese, and more about various obscure laws of being an observant Jew (Many Ghanaians now know that you can’t rip toilet paper on Shabbos). Though all Ghanaians have heard of Jews, most of them did not know what that means outside of the context of the Bible. One girl even told Zahava that she used to think negatively about Jews, and after meeting us she has changed her mind.
So in conclusion, my adventure to Ghana has clearly been a great success! Though there were definitely hard times, like not having water for days at a time, I am so thankful for this experience and that I was able to share it with Rivky and Zahava. I honestly could not have done it on my own and we were so lucky that everything worked out so well between the three of us. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that has permanently changed me (I don’t think that I can ever look at eggs or a faucet the same).
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The end of my Internship
As with many things, the last day of school at Tot To Teen School was quite different than the last day of any school that I have ever been to. The school basically has a dance party the whole entire day with a hired DJ not screening any of the songs. The DJ played the most popular Ghanaian and American music and the kids just danced the whole day in the courtyard of the school with basically no supervision. The teachers are busy finishing up grading all the work and some kids must sit there and help them to compile the grades. Other than the students helping the teachers, the kids basically just ran and danced around the school for a day making is complete chaos. Also, many of these kids can really dance, quite provocatively may I add. Many Ghanaians are really talented dancers (my Ghanaian friends always make fun of how Americans dance) and I learned that the talent comes at quite a young age. I spent the day taking lots of pictures (don’t worry, I will upload them finally when I get back to the States) and saying goodbye, which was sad.
Overall I had a great experience working at the school. I definitely learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence standing in front of the classroom. I was slightly nervous that I would begin teaching and realize that I didn’t like it and make a major career change, but that was not the case. Rather, I confirmed my love for teaching. Over the course of the semester I hope that I have taught the children well and that I have made a lasting impression. I think that I taught them most about life and America. There is a common misconception that everyone is American is rich and that whoever moves to America will be instantly rich as well. I tried to disprove this theory (especially to the teachers who are the main proponents). I think I definitely showed them at not everything is perfect in the USA (in fact, we are far from perfect).
Also, for the vast majority of the students, I was the first Jews they had ever met (as is true with most Ghanaians I meet). When I first told the students I was Jewish when I left for Israel I asked them if they had any questions about being Jewish. Most of them had heard of Jews before, but that was basically it. I gave a basic explanation about only believing in the Old Testament and a few more details. The kids asked lots of questions ranging in topics. One girl who had lived in America for three years asked me to discuss the Holocaust with the class because she knew that most Ghanaians do not learn about it. She had gone to school in New York City and began to learn about the Holocaust in 3rd grade. So even though the students are in 6th grade, they had never even heard of it and she thought it was important for the other kids to be more aware. I briefly explained WWII and the Nazi and concentration camps. They were really engaged and asked many questions, which is especially important because this may very well be their only exposure to learning about the Holocaust in a somewhat formal setting.
As you may have notices, in the end I had a great experience at my internship. I made many close ties with students and staff. Some of the male staff even wanted to marry me, which is not unusual. (I get proposals on a fairly regular basis, probably a couple times a week). I really did grow a lot and I was so thankful to the staff at the school for helping me to develop.
Overall I had a great experience working at the school. I definitely learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence standing in front of the classroom. I was slightly nervous that I would begin teaching and realize that I didn’t like it and make a major career change, but that was not the case. Rather, I confirmed my love for teaching. Over the course of the semester I hope that I have taught the children well and that I have made a lasting impression. I think that I taught them most about life and America. There is a common misconception that everyone is American is rich and that whoever moves to America will be instantly rich as well. I tried to disprove this theory (especially to the teachers who are the main proponents). I think I definitely showed them at not everything is perfect in the USA (in fact, we are far from perfect).
Also, for the vast majority of the students, I was the first Jews they had ever met (as is true with most Ghanaians I meet). When I first told the students I was Jewish when I left for Israel I asked them if they had any questions about being Jewish. Most of them had heard of Jews before, but that was basically it. I gave a basic explanation about only believing in the Old Testament and a few more details. The kids asked lots of questions ranging in topics. One girl who had lived in America for three years asked me to discuss the Holocaust with the class because she knew that most Ghanaians do not learn about it. She had gone to school in New York City and began to learn about the Holocaust in 3rd grade. So even though the students are in 6th grade, they had never even heard of it and she thought it was important for the other kids to be more aware. I briefly explained WWII and the Nazi and concentration camps. They were really engaged and asked many questions, which is especially important because this may very well be their only exposure to learning about the Holocaust in a somewhat formal setting.
As you may have notices, in the end I had a great experience at my internship. I made many close ties with students and staff. Some of the male staff even wanted to marry me, which is not unusual. (I get proposals on a fairly regular basis, probably a couple times a week). I really did grow a lot and I was so thankful to the staff at the school for helping me to develop.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Togo
On Sunday Rivky, Zahava, and I went to Togo, which is a small French-speaking country on Ghana’s eastern border. (BTW, none of us speak French which makes everything all the more so exciting). At the CIEE Olympics, we had a referee, Jean, who Zahava befriended who is half Ghanaian and half Togolese. We ended up arranging our trip with him and we were able to stay with him for a night. We took a tro-tro to the border town in Ghana, Aflao and Jean met us there. We dropped off our stuff in his little apartment and we went to cross the border into Lome, which is Togo’s capital. Jean is a soccer coach/manager (not really sure what the deal is) and thankfully one of his players took us around for the day on Sunday. The player (we were never sure of his name) is from Togo so his French is great and his English is not so great. Anyways, as we were going through the border control, it started POURING. And the border control is a little shack, so the water was leaking in. Luckily, I had my umbrella, but it kept getting in everyone’s way so I had to shut it. They told us we couldn’t cross because it was raining, but then they changed their minds and we were able to get through with minimal hassle.
In Togo, the predominate mode of transportation is motorcycles. They are often used as taxis, which is the best part of Togo. We took motorcycles in the rain to the Grande Marche, but it was pretty much closed. We walked around Lome a bit, but not much was happening because it was raining and it was a Sunday, but we saw some of the main things to see, including some political monuments. Lome is really nice. It is much greener than Accra and much smaller. Also, at some point over our stay in Togo, new president was supposed to be sworn in, and the opposition party had already announced that they were going to protest. They were unclear about when the swearing in would be or what would happen, so we were slightly nervous. But luckily we had this nameless guide the whole time.
After a few hours, we crossed back into Ghana to return to Jean’s apartment. He had just moved a week before we arrived. Zahava, Rivky, and I slept on one twin mattress on the floor and he slept on the floor in the common room. It was definitely cozy in that twin mattress. Jean was unbelievably hospitable constantly offering us whatever we needed and making sure that we were okay. It was really generous of him to host us like this and even have one of his players escort us.
The next day, we decided to go north of Lome to Mount Agou, Togo’s highest mountain. The player took us to the station and we were on our way, now with no French-speaker to help us. Rivky and Zahava’s two years of French was pretty useless at that point, but we did have a French dictionary, which was minimally helpful. Luckily, there was one woman on the tro-tro who spoke Twi, so I was able to communicate with her and tell her to tell the driver where we were getting off. After a couple hours of driving, we arrived at the base of the mountain and we got a guide to take us up and we planned to have a motorcycle take us down. We climbed about half way up the mountain in flip-flops (we were carrying all of our stuff including all of our food for days so we didn’t have room for sneakers), and then we decided to take a motorcycle for the rest of the way, which was amazing. We reached the top of the mountain and a man in a beater told us he was a soldier and we need to pay 2,000 CFA, which is about $4 because of something with our visa. Then he says if we had gotten the visa we would have had to pay 7,000 CFA, which made no sense. (Keep in mind no one really speaks English and we don’t speak French). Zahava asked where his uniform was, so then this other guy in a uniform came over and we eventually just paid him. We saw the view and we had a little picnic. We were able to pick fruit along our way up the mountain and we ate it at the top. After awhile, we headed back down the mountain on the motorcycles and I sat in the front and the driver sat in the back and helped me steer. They ended up taking us all the way to Kpalime (pronounced Palimay), which is the town we were staying in. We were pretty low on money at this point so they took us to three ATMs all of which were broken.
Anyways, we arrive at a relatively fancy hotel with minimal mold on the ceiling and they tell us the ATMs will be working in the morning. At this point we have VERY little money, not even enough to pay for the hotel. That night, we walked around the town and we met a Nigerian man, who spoke English and French, which was very helpful. We had planned to visit some cascades and he was going to take us, but since we had no money we had to go to the bank first in the morning, which opened at 8:00. We go to every single bank trying to use the ATMs, but every single one was broken (there were two or three in the town). We are having MAJOR communication problems and I’m just waving my ATM card around while everyone tells me all the machines are broken. I cried while explaining to the banker that I have no money, but he didn’t seem to care very much. Also, we had to get back to Ghana because Rivky had a final. We considered having someone wire us money (there were two Western Unions) but we had no phone to call. After two hours of trying to get money, we returned to the hotel still broke and we all gathered every cent we had and counted it on the bed. After discussing all of our options ranging from begging on the street to bartering our cans of tuna, we decided to try to explain to the receptionist (who doesn’t know English) our predicament and tell her we can only pay for part of the cost. We paid for more than half of the hotel, saving enough money to get us back to Ghana and we were out of there. We got motorcycles to take us to the Ghanaian border, which was about an hour and a half away. At one point, there was a random checkpoint where we had to give our passports (as if people are trying to sneak into Togo).
Finally, we reach the Ghana border and are relieved to be speaking English again. We get on the first tro-tro to take us to Ho and there we find an ATM to get money from. There was a REALLY long line and everyone is looking at the person in front typing in the PIN. Finally, when it’s my turn, Zahava makes everyone stand back so I can type in my PIN without everyone seeing. As everyone is screaming and distracted, we successfully get enough money to get back to Legon.
In Togo, the predominate mode of transportation is motorcycles. They are often used as taxis, which is the best part of Togo. We took motorcycles in the rain to the Grande Marche, but it was pretty much closed. We walked around Lome a bit, but not much was happening because it was raining and it was a Sunday, but we saw some of the main things to see, including some political monuments. Lome is really nice. It is much greener than Accra and much smaller. Also, at some point over our stay in Togo, new president was supposed to be sworn in, and the opposition party had already announced that they were going to protest. They were unclear about when the swearing in would be or what would happen, so we were slightly nervous. But luckily we had this nameless guide the whole time.
After a few hours, we crossed back into Ghana to return to Jean’s apartment. He had just moved a week before we arrived. Zahava, Rivky, and I slept on one twin mattress on the floor and he slept on the floor in the common room. It was definitely cozy in that twin mattress. Jean was unbelievably hospitable constantly offering us whatever we needed and making sure that we were okay. It was really generous of him to host us like this and even have one of his players escort us.
The next day, we decided to go north of Lome to Mount Agou, Togo’s highest mountain. The player took us to the station and we were on our way, now with no French-speaker to help us. Rivky and Zahava’s two years of French was pretty useless at that point, but we did have a French dictionary, which was minimally helpful. Luckily, there was one woman on the tro-tro who spoke Twi, so I was able to communicate with her and tell her to tell the driver where we were getting off. After a couple hours of driving, we arrived at the base of the mountain and we got a guide to take us up and we planned to have a motorcycle take us down. We climbed about half way up the mountain in flip-flops (we were carrying all of our stuff including all of our food for days so we didn’t have room for sneakers), and then we decided to take a motorcycle for the rest of the way, which was amazing. We reached the top of the mountain and a man in a beater told us he was a soldier and we need to pay 2,000 CFA, which is about $4 because of something with our visa. Then he says if we had gotten the visa we would have had to pay 7,000 CFA, which made no sense. (Keep in mind no one really speaks English and we don’t speak French). Zahava asked where his uniform was, so then this other guy in a uniform came over and we eventually just paid him. We saw the view and we had a little picnic. We were able to pick fruit along our way up the mountain and we ate it at the top. After awhile, we headed back down the mountain on the motorcycles and I sat in the front and the driver sat in the back and helped me steer. They ended up taking us all the way to Kpalime (pronounced Palimay), which is the town we were staying in. We were pretty low on money at this point so they took us to three ATMs all of which were broken.
Anyways, we arrive at a relatively fancy hotel with minimal mold on the ceiling and they tell us the ATMs will be working in the morning. At this point we have VERY little money, not even enough to pay for the hotel. That night, we walked around the town and we met a Nigerian man, who spoke English and French, which was very helpful. We had planned to visit some cascades and he was going to take us, but since we had no money we had to go to the bank first in the morning, which opened at 8:00. We go to every single bank trying to use the ATMs, but every single one was broken (there were two or three in the town). We are having MAJOR communication problems and I’m just waving my ATM card around while everyone tells me all the machines are broken. I cried while explaining to the banker that I have no money, but he didn’t seem to care very much. Also, we had to get back to Ghana because Rivky had a final. We considered having someone wire us money (there were two Western Unions) but we had no phone to call. After two hours of trying to get money, we returned to the hotel still broke and we all gathered every cent we had and counted it on the bed. After discussing all of our options ranging from begging on the street to bartering our cans of tuna, we decided to try to explain to the receptionist (who doesn’t know English) our predicament and tell her we can only pay for part of the cost. We paid for more than half of the hotel, saving enough money to get us back to Ghana and we were out of there. We got motorcycles to take us to the Ghanaian border, which was about an hour and a half away. At one point, there was a random checkpoint where we had to give our passports (as if people are trying to sneak into Togo).
Finally, we reach the Ghana border and are relieved to be speaking English again. We get on the first tro-tro to take us to Ho and there we find an ATM to get money from. There was a REALLY long line and everyone is looking at the person in front typing in the PIN. Finally, when it’s my turn, Zahava makes everyone stand back so I can type in my PIN without everyone seeing. As everyone is screaming and distracted, we successfully get enough money to get back to Legon.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Trips of Reading Week
Finals here at U of G stretch over a four week period, so I've been having a lot of free time to travel around. Ghanaians study an INSANE amount before finals. Literally, they just study all day and don't really leave their rooms. We think they're crazy for studying so much and they think we're crazy that we don't study. But then I found out that the reason they study so much is that many of them don't go to class. I have one friend who literally did not go to one Stats class the whole semester so now she needs to learn all the material on her own. I wold venture to say that many of my Ghanaian friends miss about half of their lectures. I guess it makes it much easier to study when you actually show up for class.
Anyways, so with all our free time we have been traveling around. Last week, it was Yom Ha'aztmeut (Israeli Independence Day) so we made a fancy breakfast of crepes and wore blue and white (Zahava even wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and wore it as a dress) as we went to Mekola Market (the main market in Accra). As we were shopping there, people periodically asked about the flag and we explained to them that it was Independence day. (People are generally familiar with the Israeli flag because many tro-tros and cabs have them). Anyways, so a woman in the market stopped us and said, "Shalom, mah inyanim?" (Hi, how are you? in Hebrew) and I answered in Hebrew and she completely understood. She explained to us that her husband was studying in the Technion in Israel and she lived there for many years. In fact, all her children were born in Israel. It was crazy!!!! She said that she loved living in Israel. We told her that it was Yom Ha'aztmeut and we were celebrating. I ended up buying fabric from her, though it was not even such a great price.
The next day, we went to Shai Hills Reservation, which is about 50 KM from Accra. The guidebook did not give much information (like all guidebooks for Ghana) so we were not quite sure what to expect. It took three tro-tros to get there, but it was well worth it and we never even got lost. We got a two hour tour with a guide (which ended up being longer) and we fed baboons and did a little hike/rock climbing. The baboons were amazing. They are very friendly to people, probably because we feed them. I took TONS of pictures of the baboons. I really liked them and their red butts. We also saw the cave (which was more like an avalanche of rocks) were the Shai people hid from attackers. Rivky did the whole climb in flip-flops (except for the parts that she did barefoot) so that was quite the scene. When we reached the top of the climb, there was a great view. We were so happily surprised that we had such a successful day given the minimal information and last-minute planning. Props to us for pulling it off!!!!
Anyways, so with all our free time we have been traveling around. Last week, it was Yom Ha'aztmeut (Israeli Independence Day) so we made a fancy breakfast of crepes and wore blue and white (Zahava even wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and wore it as a dress) as we went to Mekola Market (the main market in Accra). As we were shopping there, people periodically asked about the flag and we explained to them that it was Independence day. (People are generally familiar with the Israeli flag because many tro-tros and cabs have them). Anyways, so a woman in the market stopped us and said, "Shalom, mah inyanim?" (Hi, how are you? in Hebrew) and I answered in Hebrew and she completely understood. She explained to us that her husband was studying in the Technion in Israel and she lived there for many years. In fact, all her children were born in Israel. It was crazy!!!! She said that she loved living in Israel. We told her that it was Yom Ha'aztmeut and we were celebrating. I ended up buying fabric from her, though it was not even such a great price.
The next day, we went to Shai Hills Reservation, which is about 50 KM from Accra. The guidebook did not give much information (like all guidebooks for Ghana) so we were not quite sure what to expect. It took three tro-tros to get there, but it was well worth it and we never even got lost. We got a two hour tour with a guide (which ended up being longer) and we fed baboons and did a little hike/rock climbing. The baboons were amazing. They are very friendly to people, probably because we feed them. I took TONS of pictures of the baboons. I really liked them and their red butts. We also saw the cave (which was more like an avalanche of rocks) were the Shai people hid from attackers. Rivky did the whole climb in flip-flops (except for the parts that she did barefoot) so that was quite the scene. When we reached the top of the climb, there was a great view. We were so happily surprised that we had such a successful day given the minimal information and last-minute planning. Props to us for pulling it off!!!!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Adventure to Kokrobite Beach
After our last week of classes, we decided to head to the beach.
I'm not sure if I have made this clear, but it generally takes a long time to get to most places. Five kilometers could take easily half an hour. That being said, we knew it would take forever to get to this beach, but it got great reviews. Rivky, Zahava, and I started our day early in the morning and left to get a tro-tro to Circle (which is on of the main tro-tro stations) so we can get to Kaneshi Station . Meanwhile, on the tro-tro I ask the guy next to me to tell me when to get off for Kaneshi Station. Turns out, that the tro-tro wasn't going there so we had to get off at Circle and then go to Kaneshi (which is like ten minutes away). The guy sitting next, Moses, tells me that it's too far to walk and we needed to take a bus. Moses and his friend walked with us for about ten minutes through markets and sewage to the bus stop and ended up coming on the bus with us from Circle to Kaneshi Station. We were all pretty confused with everything and just went with it. We were escorted by two random men and they even paid for our bus! When we got to Kaneshi, they took us to the next tro-tro, where we had to get off at the police barrier (that was the landmark for our stop). Sadly, we lost our escorts at that point and we thought we were going to be on our own. But as we were getting off at police barrier, two men told us they were also going to the same beach so we went together. We had to take a taxi from the police barrier to the beach, but there were five of us plus the driver. Somehow, I ended up sitting on one of the guys laps (who was half my size) in the front seat of the taxi. My head did not really fit in the car, which was quite unfortunate and my knee was blocking the gear shift of the dilapidated car. Every time the driver needed to switch gears, there was my knee blocking his way so I would have to shift my weight every time, trying not to crush the tiny Ghanaian man. Along the way, we stopped so that the Ghanaians could fill their huge inner-tube with air at a pump. After the stop, I made Zahava switch and I sat on her lap and the tiny Ghanaian man went to the back. But the problems with my head and knee still remained. In addition, we had a HUGE inner-tube, which was just held outside of the window for the remainder ten minutes of the drive.
After two tro-tro rides, a bus, and a taxi we arrived at the beautiful beach with our new friends. We ended up spending the day with them. It was really great and relaxing. The Ghanaians, Zahava and I swam and lied out in the sun and got burnt (just Zahava and I got burnt, though the Ghanaians were very concerned about the burns). Rivky and I took a walk and she played volleyball with random men (she was great...she almost got her serve over the net) and we saw a fishing boat come in with tons of fish and women standing there wait to collect their fish to go and sell. It was really interesting to watch this all happen. They had lots of fish that we could have bought, but I did not really want to deal with cutting off the head and fins. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.
Anyways, after a long day, we traveled back to Legon on the same long journey. We had not had water since Friday (it was Sunday) and we were pretty sandy so we managed to get water from our friends who live in the next block. I was pretty heated about the lack of water (you can ask my parents about that...) but we eventually got water back, after four days without it. It was pretty miserable and incredibly unsanitary. It seems that they may be more on top of the water situation now and I've gotten to be really good about hassling them about it.
I'm not sure if I have made this clear, but it generally takes a long time to get to most places. Five kilometers could take easily half an hour. That being said, we knew it would take forever to get to this beach, but it got great reviews. Rivky, Zahava, and I started our day early in the morning and left to get a tro-tro to Circle (which is on of the main tro-tro stations) so we can get to Kaneshi Station . Meanwhile, on the tro-tro I ask the guy next to me to tell me when to get off for Kaneshi Station. Turns out, that the tro-tro wasn't going there so we had to get off at Circle and then go to Kaneshi (which is like ten minutes away). The guy sitting next, Moses, tells me that it's too far to walk and we needed to take a bus. Moses and his friend walked with us for about ten minutes through markets and sewage to the bus stop and ended up coming on the bus with us from Circle to Kaneshi Station. We were all pretty confused with everything and just went with it. We were escorted by two random men and they even paid for our bus! When we got to Kaneshi, they took us to the next tro-tro, where we had to get off at the police barrier (that was the landmark for our stop). Sadly, we lost our escorts at that point and we thought we were going to be on our own. But as we were getting off at police barrier, two men told us they were also going to the same beach so we went together. We had to take a taxi from the police barrier to the beach, but there were five of us plus the driver. Somehow, I ended up sitting on one of the guys laps (who was half my size) in the front seat of the taxi. My head did not really fit in the car, which was quite unfortunate and my knee was blocking the gear shift of the dilapidated car. Every time the driver needed to switch gears, there was my knee blocking his way so I would have to shift my weight every time, trying not to crush the tiny Ghanaian man. Along the way, we stopped so that the Ghanaians could fill their huge inner-tube with air at a pump. After the stop, I made Zahava switch and I sat on her lap and the tiny Ghanaian man went to the back. But the problems with my head and knee still remained. In addition, we had a HUGE inner-tube, which was just held outside of the window for the remainder ten minutes of the drive.
After two tro-tro rides, a bus, and a taxi we arrived at the beautiful beach with our new friends. We ended up spending the day with them. It was really great and relaxing. The Ghanaians, Zahava and I swam and lied out in the sun and got burnt (just Zahava and I got burnt, though the Ghanaians were very concerned about the burns). Rivky and I took a walk and she played volleyball with random men (she was great...she almost got her serve over the net) and we saw a fishing boat come in with tons of fish and women standing there wait to collect their fish to go and sell. It was really interesting to watch this all happen. They had lots of fish that we could have bought, but I did not really want to deal with cutting off the head and fins. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.
Anyways, after a long day, we traveled back to Legon on the same long journey. We had not had water since Friday (it was Sunday) and we were pretty sandy so we managed to get water from our friends who live in the next block. I was pretty heated about the lack of water (you can ask my parents about that...) but we eventually got water back, after four days without it. It was pretty miserable and incredibly unsanitary. It seems that they may be more on top of the water situation now and I've gotten to be really good about hassling them about it.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Volta Region
Last weekend CIEE took us to the Volta Region, which borders Togo. Rivky, Zahava, and I left on the Friday and the rest of the group joined us on Saturday. This trip was my favorite trip to far.
We came back from Israel right before and quickly cooked a little (without water) and brought lots of canned food. At 7:00 am on Friday morning our driver is ready to take us but there is no staff with us and no one knows who is supposed to accompany us (how typical). Thirty minutes later, we figure it all out and are on our merry way. We drive along some of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. Trying to drink from our water bottle was joke. We made it to our first destination- a monkey sanctuary with minimal bumps on our heads. We entered the sanctuary with a guide who gave us bananas and we fed the monkeys. Zahava was the bravest and went first and fed them without any hesitation, then I had the guide help me feed at first, and Rivky barely fed them. The monkeys say in the trees and we had to extend the bananas to them holding the bottom of the fruit tightly as the monkeys peel the bananas. It was awesome to watch their little hands peel and gorge themselves with bananas.
Afterward, we continued to Ghana's tallest mountain- Afadjato. It's 2900 feet and we started at the base which is at 900 feet. It took about an hour to get up and a less to get down, but it's REALLY steep and Rivky and Zahava weren't feeling well so they turned back and I continued with our guide and our driver. When we got to the top, we were able to clearly see Togo and the surrounding mountain range, though I was no overly impressed with the view. It was nice, but not particularly amazing. The climb down was definitely tough on my knees. Also, keep in mind that we started the hike around 12:50 PM, so the sun was beating down making it over 90 degrees. I actually have never sweat so much in my life. My clothes were completely drenched; it was as if I had jumped into a pool. It was disgusting.
From there we continued to the "hotel" in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hway). We wanted to stay in one room with a king size bed but they insisted that we had two rooms, which was annoying. We began to shower, but realized there was only one towel so we asked for another and they told us they only give one per room. So we had two towels for the three of us. Then, right before Shabbat, there was a huge storm and the electricity went out so we were planning on eating in the dark, but anyways in on of our rooms all of the light bulbs were out so that was not even such a problem. But eventually, the lights came back. In the morning, the phone rings to my room so I went to the front desk (which is like 10 feet away. Also they had called several times the night before and we just kept going to the front desk every time because it was Shabbat. I think they were pretty confused). Anyways, so I went to the desk and she told me I had to move to the other room and 3 people could be in the room after we had BEGGED to sleep together. This is so typical, whatever.
On Saturday Zahava and I walked through the town/village and saw all the hot spots of Hohoe, of which there were few. There was one shack playing some music...possible nightclub?
Then, on Sunday we went to Wli Falls, which was really cool. It's basically just really big waterfalls, which we swam in. It was really fun and refreshing. We hung out there for awhile and then headed back to the hotel, excited for our shower. We we arrived, they had taken our one towel. When we asked for a towel, the claimed there were none, but miraculously after much persuasion, the woman from the hotel found one clean towel for us. We showered and then loaded the bus to travel back to Accra.
We came back from Israel right before and quickly cooked a little (without water) and brought lots of canned food. At 7:00 am on Friday morning our driver is ready to take us but there is no staff with us and no one knows who is supposed to accompany us (how typical). Thirty minutes later, we figure it all out and are on our merry way. We drive along some of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. Trying to drink from our water bottle was joke. We made it to our first destination- a monkey sanctuary with minimal bumps on our heads. We entered the sanctuary with a guide who gave us bananas and we fed the monkeys. Zahava was the bravest and went first and fed them without any hesitation, then I had the guide help me feed at first, and Rivky barely fed them. The monkeys say in the trees and we had to extend the bananas to them holding the bottom of the fruit tightly as the monkeys peel the bananas. It was awesome to watch their little hands peel and gorge themselves with bananas.
Afterward, we continued to Ghana's tallest mountain- Afadjato. It's 2900 feet and we started at the base which is at 900 feet. It took about an hour to get up and a less to get down, but it's REALLY steep and Rivky and Zahava weren't feeling well so they turned back and I continued with our guide and our driver. When we got to the top, we were able to clearly see Togo and the surrounding mountain range, though I was no overly impressed with the view. It was nice, but not particularly amazing. The climb down was definitely tough on my knees. Also, keep in mind that we started the hike around 12:50 PM, so the sun was beating down making it over 90 degrees. I actually have never sweat so much in my life. My clothes were completely drenched; it was as if I had jumped into a pool. It was disgusting.
From there we continued to the "hotel" in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hway). We wanted to stay in one room with a king size bed but they insisted that we had two rooms, which was annoying. We began to shower, but realized there was only one towel so we asked for another and they told us they only give one per room. So we had two towels for the three of us. Then, right before Shabbat, there was a huge storm and the electricity went out so we were planning on eating in the dark, but anyways in on of our rooms all of the light bulbs were out so that was not even such a problem. But eventually, the lights came back. In the morning, the phone rings to my room so I went to the front desk (which is like 10 feet away. Also they had called several times the night before and we just kept going to the front desk every time because it was Shabbat. I think they were pretty confused). Anyways, so I went to the desk and she told me I had to move to the other room and 3 people could be in the room after we had BEGGED to sleep together. This is so typical, whatever.
On Saturday Zahava and I walked through the town/village and saw all the hot spots of Hohoe, of which there were few. There was one shack playing some music...possible nightclub?
Then, on Sunday we went to Wli Falls, which was really cool. It's basically just really big waterfalls, which we swam in. It was really fun and refreshing. We hung out there for awhile and then headed back to the hotel, excited for our shower. We we arrived, they had taken our one towel. When we asked for a towel, the claimed there were none, but miraculously after much persuasion, the woman from the hotel found one clean towel for us. We showered and then loaded the bus to travel back to Accra.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Passover in Israel
Needless to say, being in Israel was great. I saw lots of friends and family, but more importantly I ate a lot and consistently had running water. I seriously forgot what it's like to not have to worry about the water running out at any point. It's really reassuing to know that I will have a toilet with running water. Back to the food...not only did I eat a lot, the food was actually good (it was quite disappointing returning to canned beans for Shabbat dinner). Before Passover began, I made sure to eat as much Chametz as possible including, but not limited to bagels, shwarma, pasta, and pizza. Over Passover, I was still impressed by the food. I stayed with Rivky and Zahava's sister for the first Shabbat and I spent the seder with Sandy, Arlene, Tamar, and Jonah (aunt, uncle, and cousins) at their friend's gorgeous home, which was really nice. Most importantly, the food was great. Then I went to Aviel's dorm at Hebrew University (friend from high school) and spent several days with her and our other friend, Plasky. We relaxed a lot, ate great food, and walked around. We went to Tel-Aviv for a day, which was fun. I had pizza and I actually couldn't tell that it was kosher for Passover. It's amazing the thing you can do with potato starch. Then, for the next Shabbat, I went to Raanana to Karen Seidenwar's family, one of my closest friend's from seminary and I spent several days there with her and Aviel. I used to go to her house all the time when I was in Israel and it was really natural going back.
The flight back to Ghana was fine. Nothing too eventful. Going through passport control is different in Ghana. I'm not sure whether the guard was joking or not, but he was trying to convince me that my visa wasn't acceptable for students, but I convinced him otherwise. If he was joking, it certainly was not funny. After I got through immigration, some man kept asking "to be my friend" and when we can meet again. I told him he can come to Legon to see me and he can find me there (keep in mind there are about 30,000 students here). Oh I was back in Ghana!!!!
When I returned to the dorm, surprisingly enough there was no water.
The flight back to Ghana was fine. Nothing too eventful. Going through passport control is different in Ghana. I'm not sure whether the guard was joking or not, but he was trying to convince me that my visa wasn't acceptable for students, but I convinced him otherwise. If he was joking, it certainly was not funny. After I got through immigration, some man kept asking "to be my friend" and when we can meet again. I told him he can come to Legon to see me and he can find me there (keep in mind there are about 30,000 students here). Oh I was back in Ghana!!!!
When I returned to the dorm, surprisingly enough there was no water.
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