My friend in Wa sent me a gift (via lorry). It was this tiny yellow bird inside of a hand-made cage. Quite a thoughtful gift, i think, and the bird is very cute.

I was explaining what dinosaurs were to my students (only 2 of the 100 had ever heard of them!!). And I ended up getting all these questions about how dinosaurs could have existed long before man when the Bible says otherwise....Help!!!!!!!!!

Interesting observation: The teachers in the US make lower (I think) than the average salary and naturally complain that it is not enough. The teachers here in Ghana make far MORE than the average salary and still complain that they dont make nearly enough....the average salary and naturally complain that it is not enough. The teachers here in Ghana make far MORE than the average salary and still complain that they dont make nearly enough....

So much for parent/teacher conferences here. A father came up to the school today and asked a fellow teacher of mine how his daughter was performing. He said "Oh, she's doing well."After the father left, he admitted to me that he doesnt even teach that student and has no idea how she is doing. So, of course, I inquired about the lie and he said "if we let the parents know that their student is doing poorly, instead of motivating them to do better, they instead completely neglect them, sometimes refusing to pay their school fees all together. Basically they just give up on them. I've seen it happen over and over again. Trust me, it's better to lie." Sad.

So it looks like my new camera is able to upload pics, so yeeeeeeaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! This means I will be trying to post more often, as I really want some documentation of all this after I leave.

Ok, later for now. Love.

OK, back to current life....

This is a bunch of us at a local festival drinking some pito. The pic below is of one of the dancers at the festival.

School is back in session and as I am walking to class from my house, I am reminded of my first day of school last year. On my walk about 1 MILLION flies decided to fly onto my back. I couldn't get them to leave me alone, for the life of me, and I remember being so nervous that when I met my fellow teachers for the first time, they would think "oh, great, they sent us someone who doesn't bathe and that all the flies follow". So you can imagine how relieved I was when I got to school and EVERYONE had a million flies on their backs! I didnt know so many even existed. Anyway, I had forgotten about them because 3/4 of of the year they leave, along with the rains, but rainy season is upon us again in full force!

I was talking with a friend/fellow teacher and found out if a woman cheats on her husband, she has to be cleansed before she can sleep with her husband again. This involves stripping her naked in front of some women and some men and performing certain "rites" on her, involving fowl's blood and "performing some things to her private parts". It's a very embarrassing show, and is used to discourage other women from cheating on their husbands. I asked, "yeah, but what if the woman doesnt tell her husband that she cheated on him?" And was told that if a woman cheats without telling her husband she will come down with AIDS-like symptoms but the HIV test will have negative results. She will continue getting sicker and sicker unless she confesses to what she did and with whom. This "juju", as they call these spiritual curses put upon people, is believed so firmly that it is enough to prevent people from doing many things.

Italy and since....

Ok, just found some notes I wrote on my Italy trip and want to post along side some pics:

1) Airplane food is NOT good, this I know. So why am I so appalled at all the food that people leave on their trays on the plane?? As I'm storing left-overs (covertly) in my backpack, (which by the way I tried to eat later and it was absolutely disgusting! I keep thinking how my students would give anything to have this food!

2) Arrived in Dubois at 630am. It's 95 degrees F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one smiles in the Dubois Airport. Why? Most just trun their heads when eye contact is made, the brave ones raise an eyebrow. But NO ONE smiles. Is it the same back in the states? I can't remember....

I realize now that my extremely colorful Ghanaian outfit is somewhat out of place in the first world. That makes me laugh.

3) Today I spent my 4th day in Rome. I visited all the "must sees" such as the Sistine Chapel with the famous ceiling painted by Michaelangelo, the Treve Fountain, and had dinner and wine along the Tiber River.

4) Off to Orvieto. This little town is located high up on a hill. It is a very charming place with the most beautiful cathedral we've seen so far.

5) I spent the night in Siena, my first night in Florence. It is as beautiful as I read about. Each place I visit has a view that is unbeatable, until the next place, that is. Had the most amazing pasta tonight (called pici, pronounced peachy). Tomorrow I head to San Gimignano, the home of Chianti wine...fun!

6) Just passed several huge fields of sunflowers, which just so happens to be my favorite flower. This place truly is paradise! San Gimignano has 3 things that make it quite noteworthy: First of course is the wine, which is superb, second is the unbelievably amazing panoramic view of the lands below, and third is Italy's largest torture museum. It is amazing all the different ways with which humans have managed to come up with to kill one another.

7) In the shower of every hotel we stay in there is a cord hanging down. I'm guessing it calls the front desk and it's for people who have fallen and hurt themselves. I want to pull it so so badly!

8) We have met up with our biking/hiking tour group which consists of 4 tri-athletes, a personal trainer and a doctor. The idea was to hike across Tuscany. Well, since my mom injured her ankle climbing the crazy tower that is the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I decided to try out a day with the bikers. After 40 km ALL uphill...no joke...I decided perhaps biking was not for me :) Did go on some amazing (and strenuous) hikes in Tuscany though. This is what I came to Italy for!

9) Finally, after 22 days, I entered the gate at the airport on my way back to Accra and sat down. I could overhear the Ghanaians sitting next to me speaking "Ghanaian English". I can't explain how sweet the sound was. The trip was fantastic, but I'm going home and I can't stop smiling Paaaaaaaaaaa.

That's all for Italy. Ps. the pics above are at Mt. Vesuvius (sp?), the only active volcano on the west coast of Europe.

Hi all! I've arrived safely back in Ghana from the beautiful country known as Italy. Let's just say I had an AWESOME time, and everyone should attempt to visit this country. I'm not going to re-cap the whole 22 days that I was there...it would take entirely too long, but I will attempt to upload some of my pics. We'll see how the internet connection in Ghana does with my new camera. Cross your fingers!!

This pic is me at the pool at our hotel in San Gimignano in Tuscany. Talk about a sweet hotel...they make their own Chianti wine here, and it is oh, so sweet!

A ton of random things that happen in Ghana :)

It, as usual, has been a really long time since I've really blogged...so get ur reading glasses on cause this one's a doozy. Oh, and also, the order of events may not have originally occurred as they appear, but you'll get the picture :)

Alright...this is a HUGE shout out to those who sent my B-day package: Adam, Brittany, Winnie, Jimmy, Nate, Leanne, and Jacyln (if there were others, this goes to you too!). It was totally awesome! You people rock and I love you dearly. You may think you're only helping me, but thats just not true; (1) many people are going to enjoy the fact that I will now be wearing deodorant. (2) Due to my new hair products, I will be able to increase my marriage proposals from 3 a day to at least 6. (3) And of course my entire volleyball team is going to FREAK OUT when they see what you've sent! No more sore arms from playing with a soccer ball :) A few final notes on the package: I love that one of the PEOPLE mags is in Spanish! Hilarious! And of course the corn likker made me and some of my Ghanaian friends very happy (for the tequila I made them use salt and lime and everything...was awesome). By the way, no problems whatsoever getting it through the customs check...I kinda wonder what exactly they're checking for anyways. And Brittany: the pretzels HAD to either have been sent from you, or a GIANT coincidence! Yes, I too remember that drunken night when I made you walk all the way from downtown Smy to CVS...but wasn't it soooooo worth is for those pretzels with the creamy p-nut butter center?!? Lastly, thanks a million for all your kind words in your cards, whenever I get homesick I just look to my bedroom wall where they all hang.

So, my best girlfriend here, Meg, came up from the Volta Region to visit. A bunch of us went to Mole National Park. Was really cool, saw a ton of elephants and the warthogs were EVERYWHERE. They were as common as goats are in my village. So, one night I was sitting by the pool with 2 of my guy friends and it's pretty late and we had a cocktail with us that we'd concocted out of liquor (that comes in small plastic bags), lime cordial, and water....I know what you're all thinking...delicious, I wish I were in Ghana too so I could enjoy such tasty drinks. Next thing we know the security guard wandered, or should I say staggered over to us, and it was QUITE obvious he had had a few too many drinks of his own earlier. Anyhow, he just stands there with us, awkwardly, without saying anything. So, being the kind souls that we are, we ask him if he'd like a sip of our drink, seeing as he's definitely not against drinking on the job. He then proceeded to take a small sip. But here's the part we can't figure out...only a very small amount of liquid went INTO his mouth, so how was it possible that he FORCEFULLY spit about, oh, 1 LITER of the drink back OUT of his mouth and onto my face?!?

So, here's a funny little story about Meg. We have to go back to homestay, when I first arrived in Ghana and was living with a Ghanaian family. One night we were out hanging with some other volunteers in the village I was living in and the night was coming to an end. Meg was a bit nervous about traveling alone back to her village, so I suggested her staying the night with me. What I didn't know at the time was that she tends to sleepwalk when in an unfamiliar environment. The remainder of this story was relayed to me by my homestay parents the next day: Apparently they woke in the middle of the night to her trying to enter my brothers bedroom. They figured she just couldnt find the bathroom and led her there (Ghanaians do not believe in sleepwalking, they think that, instead, a curse has been put on you by some other person). The next time they awoke that night, she was attempting to enter their bedroom. After trying to gain an understanding from her about what she was doing, or what she wanted, she says "I NEED TO SMOKE!" (F.Y.I. smoking is quite taboo in Ghana, so I can only imagine their expressions.) She then requested matches from my homestay mom and both of my parents went outside with her as she smoked an entire cigarette IN HER SLEEP!

I dont know if I've mentioned this before but I think its really weird: My mothers name is Vickie, my step-mothers name is Vicki, and my homestay mothers name is Vicky. Crazy, right!

So, what do you wear when you meet THE most powerful man in the world? This was a question I had to ask myself last week...that's right, I met Obama! Ok, by met, I mean shook his hand, but that totally counts!! How awesome is that! Oh, n sorry mom, I did not get a chance to ask him his plans for saving Mother Planet.

Last night was crazy. I'm in Kumasi at this awesome (but expensive!) Indian Restaurant. I dont know what they put in the food, but as soon as the meal was over, me and my friend Meg were about to pass out form exhaustion. So we leave, only to find out its crazy pouring rain outside. We decided we're too tired to wait it out, so we head out anyways. When it rains here its absolutely, fucking insane...and the rain was so heavy that it was almost impossible to differentiated the cars from the taxis, but we finally found one. So, we told him the hotel we needed to go to and he said no problem and started to drive (as they always do, even though they often actually have ZERO idea where the place you're going is). After riding for about 30 minutes, we started to realize that perhaps this very large Ghanaian man, who happen to be wearing really, really short blue jean cut-off shorts, may not know where he's heading. So, finally, finally, he pulls into this dark alley, and tells us to get out of the car...and me and meg just kinda look at each other and say "alright, man, it was really nice knowing you...bummer our lives are gonna end like this, but I guess it's fate". So, we get out and follow this guy up some steps where he opens the door and we realize that he's brought us to a different hotel. While we were relieved that we were not actually going to die, we kindly explained that we had already paid for our hotel room at the other place, and kinda really needed to get to that one. So, reluctantly, we head back out in the rain (yes, it is STILL pouring rain at this point), and as we're climbing back into the taxi from hell, i manage to slam my head on the roof of the car. So, anyhow, the other hotel had given our driver directions to ours, and we finally get there...shew...or so we think. Just as we pull up to the gate, our driver literally drives his car into a gutter. We still to this day have absolutely no idea how he managed to do this. So, here we are, the driver, 2 white girls, and a few stragglers we picked up by the hotel standing in the pouring rain pushing the back of a taxi in hopes that it can get its wheel out of the gutter and back onto the road. But eventually, we did it, and survived the night so that I could come and tell all of you about it :)

I just started taking mefloquine, a different anti-malarial drug than I was previously taking (you peeps know how I feel about taking the same pill everyday for an extended period of time, so I decided to switch it up). Anyways, one of the side effects of this particular pill is very vivid dreams. So, considering I already naturally have pretty crazy, vivid dreams...I knew this was gonna be quite the experience. And I was right, the dreams are radical!

First mefloquine dream: I dreamed I was at my job as a swim coach when all of a sudden Will Smith came in and came up to me and made some joke about how I'm George Bush's sister and how I hate Obama. And I was all "Will Smith, what are you doing here?" Then we left together so I could show him where his hotel was. He said he was in town for the shooting of Batman 3. Right as we approached the hotel, the sky went black and rain drops the size of cars started to fall. It was all so very real! Next thing I know, Will has my hand and we're running at super-human strength to escape a tornado! He was jumping 100's of feet into the air, taking me with him. I was scared and excited and I couldn't believe what was going on. Soon after, this scary robot creature cornered us and started breathing out some green smoky chemical into our faces...some kind of brainwashing gas. He was looking at me and repeating "Your first born will be mine. You will name him Android Adeit. You will deliver him to my doorstep on the day of his birth." I looked to Will for comfort, and he just started repeating the same things the scary robot was saying! Just when I was seriously getting confused, Will Smith congratulated me on a job well done. He said we had been filming the movie the whole time and I was co-starring with him. He also mentioned that the last take I didn't do very well at acting, so they decided not to tell me that they were shooting so I'd react more realistically. How weird is that!?!

Second mefloquine dream:There were dinosaurs all over Ghana. I mean all the ones from Jurassic Park, including T-Rex. It was very cool/exciting and, honestly, a bit scary. I was like "I thought dinosaurs were all extinct!" And then my boss was like "Americans really don't know anything about Africa!"

P.S. Im guessing because of the fact that everyone here believes in creationism, the very, very vast majority of Ghanaians have never even heard of dinosaurs! Not ONE of my students! I've really got to get a dinosaur book to show them, cause I'm really not the best artist.

So, after training I finally got back to the Upper West. I was riding back to site on a packed tro with a TON of people from my village (all of which I hadn't seen in an entire month). Because the journey is somehow completely exhausting, I fell asleep on the tro (despite the fact that the people were talking very loudly, in Degarre, of course). Anyways, them talking somehow entered my dream, but in my dream it was in English and they were fighting over who was the best dancer- Jay-Lo or Britney Spears (I guess I've been reading too many PEOPLE magazines lately...but keep sending them cause they're awesome!). Anyways, the tro went over a speed bump and I was startled awake and yelled "I dont know guys, I really think Shakira's takes the cake!" Everyone stopped talking and looked at me. Quite embarrassing if I do say so myself.

So, I just arrived back from the south to find about, well, lets see...a MILLION giant moths had colonized my back yard, which happens to be where I sleep....awesome!

You know how certain smells can bring a feeling of home (sickness) with them? Well, the biggest one for me is coconut. I think its probably because whenever you're at the beach, or pool, it's always a happy, fun experience, and you are also always confronted with coconut smelling sun tan oil/lotion and/or pina coladas. I've begun using the coconut creme pie body wash the girls sent me and while I LOVE the smell, I'm forced to think about home with every shower. So, having just stepped from the shower, I want to say that I miss you all dearly.

Hey all! Sorry, I know, I've been slacking on my blog lately...but thats because I've been traveling.

I just had mid-service medical in Accra--yeah, thats right, I've officially completed half of my service here..crazy! Time flies. Anyways, Accra is so, so very refreshing after staying in a village for so long. We were able to go out to restaurants and eat REAL obruni food, my first real salad in a year! Plus, my friend Meg has a birthday really close to mine and some Korean guys from her site took us out to this unbelievably fancy Korean restaurant. The bill at the end of the night was more than I get paid in an entire month, and there were only four of us there! Then we went to a karoke bar...it was a blast.

Now I'm in Koforidua, where the new volunteers are being trained. I'll stay here for about a month helping prepare them for what lies ahead.

I'll do my best to write more soon, but have to go meet the chief with the new trainees right now. Oh, and happy fathers day to all the dads out there!! Love ya,

Diana

Life and Dreams

Comments:
Meg:
Thinking of joining PC! Cool...i could totally see you doing something like this. Its not without its hardships, for sure, but it definitely is something I can not envision myself ever regretting. You have the option of choosing your top 3 picks for location (although you may not get any of them). I chose 1) Africa 2) South America 3) Caribbean. Turns out 35% of PCVs are sent to Africa, and something like 5% to S. America and 4% to Caribbean. So, while those places sound totally bad ass...your chances are somehow small. They told me in one of my interviews that bc they have enough applicants who are already fluent in Spanish, if you are NOT then they wont even really consider sending you to a Spanish-speaking country. With that said...i think where ever you end up, that is exactly where you are supposed to be. As for owning my own chickens...thought of it and would love to but...we are forbidden due to "risk of bird flu". Not sure the likelihood of catching bird flu actually is but I'm guessing somewhere around the same likelihood as getting trampled to death my a herd of elephants. Knock on wood. But I'm totally considering going vegan again (sorry Brit., I know how you were really wishing I'd come home craving beefy tacos), anyhow, since I've learned how to make soy milk and tofu from scratch. And it's way yummier than anything I've ever bought in any store.

Miranda:
Said spiders have been missing for 2 weeks......

Carter:
Got your package...you and Field are the shit! Thx so very much. Was reading the People magazine featuring Obama last night before bed and had this dream that I was in an airport and happened to run into Michelle and Barack. Was pretty exciting (although in my dream I had forgotten to charge the batteries for my camera, so was unable to document the event)! So he literally is the man of my dreams. What's the deal with me having dreams that take place in airports anyways? See below...

To all:
I will do my honest best to get pics loaded...but its not easy! Plus the camera I brought kinda sux bc they made me all scared about theft before I left the US so I didnt bring my good one. But gonna have mom bring it with her when she comes to visit in August and I'll make sure to get the pics uploaded in Europe then, if not before.

NOW....WHERE WERE WE?

Today at school there was this baby goat, no bigger than a puppy, that kept coming in my classroom. It was unbelievably cute, but quiet disruptive. So I had to grab him and find his mother. Not on my usual list of teacher's duties, but hey, thats Ghana :)

Its funny that guys in the US go to the gym several times a week, and will never have bodies like these Ghanaian men. You should see them! They work all day, either4 at the farm, or building houses, or something physical, only to go and play a game of football (soccer) in the evenings. They dont even have to think about it, just go on with their everyday activities and they end up with bodies like rockstars....no, rockstars have skinny, drug-abused bodies, its more like god-like bodies.

I think I mentioned that the majority leader of Parliament here in Ghana is from my village. Anyhow, his mother past away last week, so this weekend Sombo had one of the biggest funerals I imagine the Upper West has seen in a long while. It took place on the field that is literally right in my front yard. People came from all over Ghana, I'm not entirely sure, but I think the Vice President was also in attendance. Quite interesting. They lay the body in the middle of the field and people walk around it in circles mourning very loudly and openly, as is custom here. Other than that, there was a lot of drumming /dancing/ and drinking. I went and, for a small fee, got to look at the grave. It was about 15 feet down by 7 feet wide. Completely tiled! This is so that not a single speck of dirt will touch the coffin. Of course only the very rich can make this kind of grave a reality. It was quite beautiful, actually. I wasnt aloud to go for the actual burial, though, as women are not allowed. Something about us being too sensitive, and liable to break out into hysterics.

I'm pretty sure Ive already mentioned how mangoes are definitely the BEST fruit in the world, but I think they deserve at least one more "shout out". My friend Jeff believes that mangoes are Gods apology to Western Africa for making it so close to the sun. I think he may be on to something...

I was just thinking about how weird it is that the people up here in the Upper West Region look so very different from the people of the south. I mean Ghana is only the size of Oregon! Up here, everyone is so skinny and somewhat tall but down in the south (where they get 2 rainy seasons) where everything is lush and green, the people are all so, so fat (and shorter for some reason). But it made me think how Im gonna go into shock when I get back to the US where there are people who are twice the size as a fat, southern Ghanaian. They just do too much physical work here to achieve the level of obesity us Americans have been allowed to achieve :)

I somehow lost interest in my reading club after I started a girls volleyball team at my school. Does that make me a bad person? Anyways, a lot of the children also lost interest in it. And volleyball is so very much fun! 4-5 days a week...its keeping me unbelievably busy (I barely have time to do laundry anymore). Speaking of...we dont have any volleyballs, so we are playing with soccer balls (which is actually quite painful after about 2 hours of playing). The volleyballs are really expensive (if you can find them), about $40. So, if any of you kind souls happen to be sending a package this way...volleyballs (cheap ones) are on the top of my Christmas List :) In the meantime, I'll be working on toughening up my arm skin.

Here's something I think is interesting...My neighbors houses here are all right next to mine, essentially no one has a house in Ghana that is separated by any large distance from their nearest neighbor(s). And everyone kind of keeps an eye on everyone else's houses, property, and really on other peoples lives as a whole. Everyone knows their neighbor, for better or worse. People back home would call this being nosy. And often it feels that way too. "Where are you going?" "what will you buy?"...these are questions I get on a DAILY basis. But heres the thing- I've never felt more safe at my home in my life! And I live practically alone (unless you count the small # of hours my roommate is around). My friend Felix told me that your best friend here in Ghana is the person you live closest to. No questions. No matter how much you get along with someone across the village, or no matter how you feel about your neighbor---you will be best friends. I should add here the 2 reasons why. (1) Ghanaians do not have "alone time" like Americans do. In fact they find it quite odd that I should EVER want to go to my house when there's no one there. They literally spend from morning to night, everyday, all year in the presence of other people. Its really mind-boggling to me, actually. So, you are bound to spend a plenitude of time with your neighbors. (2) This is the reason (close enough to) verbatim that Felix gave me. " Well, what if something happens to you, or someones coming to your house to harm you, or someones breaking in to steal your stuff, how is your friend all the way across town going to help you?". Valid enough.

I keep having these re-occurring dreams where I travel to the US for a visit, only I always have trouble getting back. Like once I couldnt find the gate at the airport, once I couldnt find my visa, once the car broke down on the way to the airport. These dreams are very panicky and full of anxiety, although I always manage to get on the plane and make it back to Ghana just in the nick of time. What do you think these dreams mean? What do you think it would cost for me to call that dream doctor on the radio in Atlanta from here?

So, while our main goal here as volunteers is to teach and work on the development of Ghana, we also have two other goals. One, to learn about Ghanaian culture so we can then share that with others when we get back home. Two, to spread knowledge about American culture to the Ghanaians. And this latter goal is one that is very much in need. The other day I was sitting with an American friend having a calabash of pito (pito is served in these huge wooden (they're not actually wooden, they are the shell of a fruit that looks like a watermelon and is cut in half and dried) bowls). There was this extremely talkative guy next to us that would not be quiet for the life of him, so I figured since we had to listen to him anyways, I may as well steer the conversation to something somewhat interesting (although my friend told me that if I provoked him to keep talking , he would never speak to me again). So I said to the man, "so, what do you know about American?" And his response was "Oh, I know a lot from when I was in high school. I know all about the important people, like Abraham Lincoln and Caesar." It was hysterical! We almost fell off our bench we were laughing so hard.

So, one of my fellow teachers, and closest friends here, is also a grave digger. In the UWR of Ghana there are 3 religions: Islam, Christianity, and Traditionalism. He was telling me what happens when a traditionalist dies. Here goes: The body is laid down flat. Then someone slits the throat of a fowl. The fowls blood is then spread around the body in a complete circle 3 times. Then blood is placed between the big and second toe on the body's left foot. Then a small feather is plucked from the fowl and placed in the blood. I was assured that it will stick quite nicely to the blood so that it will stand up. After a traditionalist dies (I dont know if there are any women traditionalists, by the way), it is believed that he will go on a journey to find his ancestors (the ancestors are their version of God, from what I can gather). If, while on the journey, he should pass a woman, he should leave her alone (as everyone knows women are weak). However, if he should pass a man, he should instantly cut the mans throat to kill him, then cut off the mans penis and testes and he should eat them to prove his manhood (some in the US would argue that doing so would be denying his manhood :). Thats some version of purgatory~!

Relationships form in the strangest ways. A month ago or so I sat by this old woman while drinking pito. Everyone was pretty jovial, as is the usual consequence of chatting over pito, and I referred to the old woman as my mother (sorry mom :). The next day, this woman came to my house with an entire bag of rice for me, simply because of that remark! And a friendship was born. Since then, she has come to my house on several occasions and we have chatted to the extent my Degarre will allow (she speaks NO English). We talk about farming, food, cooking, and where we have been, will be going. Sometimes I share alcohol, if I happen to have some at my house (which is almost never), and mostly we just sit in silence. Here, you quickly learn the skill of sitting in a comfortable silence in the presence of other beings. Something that is not so common in the US.

While walking to this internet cafe to write this blog today, i passed this small girl. She couldn't have been over the age of 4. She was facing a small cement block, slapping it over and over with a cane and yelling at it. No, caning in school definitely doesnt teach these kids to solve their problems by hitting. No, not at all.

Love you all, miss you all. Until next time. -Di