larabanga and mole national park

this weekend some friends and i went to mole national park. it is one of the best places in west africa to see wildlife.

mole is just outside the village of larabanga, which is home to the oldest mosque in west africa. it is mud and stick construction, originally built in the 1400s in the sudanese style.

in mole now...animals!

right outside our hotel we discovered this family of warthogs sleeping. notice the little babies nursing!

this is the sunset over the watering hole.
more warthogs!
the ripples of a crocodile.
antelope.
our guide, guarding us from all those mean animals.
elephant footprints...though no elephants for us that day.
bushbuck.

"how's the heat?"

that's the favorite greeting that the teachers at my school like to ask me. because they know i'll roll my eyes and say how miserable i am, and that makes them laugh every time.

yesterday--the first day of the month--one teacher told me that we are now in the hottest month of the year. while this is true, it was a terribly discouraging thing for me to hear, when i still have 30 more days to survive!

"how's the heat?"

and then they say "we pray for rain."

thesaurus

my peace corps service will be ending in less than six months. it is a strange thing to think about. 

going home will be weird. it will be one of those times in your life when you know you've changed, but you can't see where or how because it has been gradual, and then being back in a new, yet old environment will make everything seem very drastic.

i know i have changed. 

one way is my speech. i use ghanaian english a lot. sometimes it is on purpose, either teasingly or simply to make a point clear to the ghanaians with whom i am communicating, but sometimes it just slips in, even when i am with other americans or even talking on the phone to family. 

because of that, i suspect i'll have trouble with that when i get back to america.

so, when you talk to me in america in six months, here is what you need to know about my vocabulary:

"somehow" means "kind of" or "somewhat."

"small small" means "a little bit."

"paa" after anything means "very."

"are you having?" means "do you have?"

"i'll go and come" or "i'm coming" means "i'll be right back."

"moto" means "motorcycle" or "motorbike."

"watah" means "water."

"link" (as in "the link is down") means "internet."

"small time" means "see you later" or "talk to you later."

repeating any word (such as "more-more-more" or "small-small-small") means emphasis or very (this one is more sign language than ghanaian english though!).

"pick" means "pick up" or "get" or "answer the phone."

"cock" means "rooster."

"drop" means to exit a taxi or bus.

"two days" means "it's been a long time since i've seen you."

"pants" means "underwear."

"trousers" means "pants."

"in fact" means "i agree" or "it's true."

"sorry" means "that's unfortunate" or "i'm sorry" (regardless of whether it is my fault).

"flash" means to call someone and then hang up before they answer, the ghanaian equivalent of voicemail.

"football" means "soccer."

"abah" means "ugh!" or "come on!"

good-bye harmattan

harmattan ended two weeks ago. it was a very abrupt and much too early end. harmattan is the dry, windy season. although it was very dry this year, and very windy, and everything was constantly covered in dust, and my feet were cracking from the dryness, i was really enjoying the cool weather. at night, even with the fan off, i was cool--even sometimes cold. during the day was often fairly pleasant. 

but then, so suddenly, humidity swept through. suddenly i could not stop sweating or drinking more water, and now even the highest setting on my fan is sometimes not high enough.

and actually, a week ago it rained. it was weird: last year, we didn't have a drop of rain from november until easter. but this year we got a surprise rainstorm at the beginning of february. i worry, because some people tell me that is an indication that an extra-hot hot season will be coming.

SNAKE!

ghanaians don't like snakes. this is understandable, since most of the snakes found in ghana are the bad, poisonous ones. so anytime anyone sees a snake, they do whatever they can to kill it.

so today there was a snake near the classrooms. i was upstairs, so i got to watch from the balcony. down below, suddenly, a bunch of men started chasing after something in the bush. they formed a circle and were throwing big rocks. more and more people gathered, until suddenly, YEAH! and i could then see the white underside of the now dead snake.

it probably became someone's lunch.

jewelry!

i know i've been talking a lot lately about the jewelry my students have been making. but it's really great. the students are learning how to make a product that could provide income for them in the future, and at the same time, the sales of their lessons are earning income for supplies for the school!

i've sent a bunch of jewelry to my mother in indiana. she's helping me to sell it.

so: if you are interested in either buying beautiful jewelry, or supporting a worthwhile cause, or BOTH, please buy some!

if you know me or my mom personally, just contact us to buy some. if you just found us on this website, please leave a comment and we'll make arrangements.

thanks in advance.

my students are very grateful for this opportunity!

mama chicken

this was really funny to me. mama chicken was trying to keep her chick warm, but the chick wanted to see what was going on too.

unfortunately, both are no more. baby ended up dying; mama became christmas stew.

merry christmas!

our neighbor

cote d'ivoire is the western neighbor of ghana. it is the world's top cocoa producer.

there has been trouble there for about ten years, when a civil war began. the november elections were intended to resolve the conflicts, but things have gotten worse.

two presidents, fighting and fleeing citizens...

it's very sad.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-16-ivory-coast_N.htm

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/19/ivory.coast.refugees/index.html?hpt=T2

oil

on the 15th of december, ghana became an oil-producing nation.

there was much fanfare throughout the country, but especially on the coast. off the coast of takoradi is now a huge oil barge.

it will be interesting to see how this black gold will change the country. many other countries have had problems of corruption with the discovery of oil. ghana already has so many natural resources (gold, cocoa, etc), and now adding oil to the mix could certainly bring income to the country. my hope is that the income generated goes to the places where it is needed most.

not even close

i was resting at home on sunday afternoon. 

a couple of my students came and knocked at my door. they were asking for glue for their football. it had a leak, and they were going to try to patch it. i signed back that i didn't have glue here.

a couple minutes later, another knock on my door. i knew it was the deaf kids; their knocking is often very loud and frantic-sounding, since they can't hear themselves.

i went to the door again, slightly annoyed that they were bothering me so much when i was trying to rest. it was a different boy, asking for something different. it looked like he wanted tape, as if maybe they thought i would give them tape instead of glue. since he signed, "please, i beg you" and looked so desperate, i agreed, figuring maybe they would leave me alone if i just gave it to them.

so i went, got my tape and took it to him.

he laughed, and then spelled out what he had asked for: S-A-L-T.

whoops. different boy, different mission.