weather

where i live, you can't just turn on the news and see the weather forecast, so i've never really been quite sure what temperatures i'm actually enduring. i just know it is hot, and this is the cold season.

so you should check this out to see the weather forecasts for my town.

http://weather.weatherbug.com/Ghana/Wa-weather.html?zcode=z6070

and check it again in may, when i'm going to be baking in excessively excessive heat.

glass beads

my favorite of our workshops was the glass beads.

basically, they start with broken bottles from beer or minerals; women pound the glass until it is a fine powder.

the powder is then poured into ceramic molds. each mold has dozens of spaces for the beads, and each space has a piece of cassava stem inserted in to hold the spot for the bead hole.

this is some of our counterparts working on that step.

then filling the molds with the glass.
then it goes in the oven, which is built of dirt and has two holes on the sides to put logs in.
they baked for a couple hours, then we had to let them cool of course for a little while, and the end result was really great.
we got to keep our beads!

carvers

we also visited a group of wood carvers.

the most entertaining part was that a funeral was going on where they normally work, so when our busload of white people pulled in, we walked into the middle of the funeral, each took a log, and got back on our bus and drove somewhere else.

i think we REALLY confused that village.

anyway, the carvers take logs and turn them into beautiful woodworks: masks, fertility dolls, statues of women, and catapults.

pottery workshop

this week has been the art education ist.

and because i'm in the best sector of peace corps ever, our ist was pretty amazing. we got to visit local artists at work.

first up was a women's pottery workshop.

they make pottery that looks like it is wheel-thrown, but it is actually formed by hand, on the ground, and the ladies turn themselves around the POT instead of turning the pot itself.

they use an open pit for firing, simply building a bonfire with a bunch of pots stacked in the middle.
here are some of their works-in-progress and finished products. pretty sweet.

best photographer ever

this is my friend. check it out. she's amazing.

i want her to come visit me. so let her take your pictures.

it will be wonderful.

janetmcknight.blogspot.com

have i ever mentioned

how much ghanaians love celine dion?

once upon a time, i set a field on fire

accidentally. a whole field.

my front yard, to be exact.

oops.

a couple months ago, as we started getting into dry season, people began burning fields. it filled the air with smoke and was generally disgusting and made everything look charred and ugly. no one burned the weeds in front of my house, and they grew increasingly dry.

in ghana, it is normal to burn your trash. since this is a country that is still developing, organized trash collection is rare, so you just take your little bag out to your little hole and light a little match and there it goes. no problem.

ahem.

except today.

i was careful. i promise i was. i looked away for ONE MOMENT and WHOOSH the whole field was suddenly ablaze. I AM SERIOUS. i just stood there. and stared.

i mean, running for water would have done NOTHING. and there is no fire department to call. i just had to let this wildfire run its course.

i went inside and watched out the window for a little while. i felt sick to my stomach watching. i tried to distract myself, but i kept checking the status of the huge inferno that was my front yard.

i kept telling myself it was ok, but i had no idea if it WAS ok. then i heard my neighbor: joy? is joy home? hello?

CRAP. i answered the door, waiting for her to yell at me for being such an idiot and setting a whole freaking field on fire.

she asked if i started the fire. i said yes, started talking really fast about how it just happened and i didn't know what to do and i'm so sorry and oh my goodness what can we do about it?

and she just laughed at me. straight up laughed at me.

so i guess it was ok.

another day, another adventure.

christmas...with pictures!

as promised,i am posting pictures of our ghanaian-american christmas extravaganza.
the party began tuesday afternoon when the first guests arrived. on wednesday, we toured wa and saw all the sights. we visited the great mosque, and the imam allowed us to go up in the tower. it was pretty sweet to be high above wa and see the whole city.

the next day, most of the rest of the guests arrived. we (of course) took pito, this time mixed with guinness. mmm.

as this was christmas eve, we felt we needed to partake in a typical american christmas dinner. right? so... BANKU! we went to the spot down the street and had banku (a fermented corn dough) with okro stew. yum yum.

we partied there for a while before bringing the party back to my house and building a BONFIRE! i mean, you can never go wrong with fire, right?

the next morning was CHRISTMAS! for breakfast, we bought BOFRUIT (a fried dough ball similar to a plain donut) and americanized it with jelly, powdered sugar, sprinkles, chocolate frosting, etc. amazing. tasted just like krispy kreme. or else we've been here long enough it tasted nothing like krispy kreme and we were just desperate, but either way, it was amazing.

next was present time! we did a little white elephant exchange, swapping some lovely and some not-so-lovely treasures

then it was time to start preparing dinner. starting with the slaughter of the three chickens. yes, we did. it was slightly traumatic, mostly because the americans have never killed chickens and had no idea what they were doing.

but the end result was magical.

the end. it was a very happy christmas, good friends, lots of food, and much laughter. i hope you all enjoyed yours as much as we enjoyed ours!

christmas without santa and snow

merry christmas to all! i've had a lovely christmas here in ghana. about ten of us spent christmas at my house. highlights included two bonfires, pito, donut creations, white elephant, chicken slaughtering and large american feast, and much laughter with good friends.
i'll post pictures soon, i promise.
i hope you all enjoyed some snow and cold for me.

school party

last night was the end of term party for the students. it was hilarious, to me at least.
it started with two jhs boys coming over to my house, dressed in their finest clothes, to escort me to the party. one of them had a camera, so they each posed for a picture with me.
when i arrived at the party, the place was hopping. loud music, jamming. the deaf children, of course, couldn't hear it though. so they all sat calmly in their rows of chairs. the children from our mentally challenged unit, the ones could hear, were out on the dance floor having a blast.
there was a random homeless looking man, someone i've never seen before in my life, who apparently crashed the party. he stood off in the corner for quite a while, dancing by himself. but then a fast-paced song came on, and he raced into the center of the room. he threw down his cane, his purse (yes, purse), kicked off his shoes, and started break dancing. just because.
when the song ended, he picked up his things and returned to his corner.
an hour or two after the party was supposed to start, it actually did. the assistant headmistress spoke. then a representative from the ghana ministry of education gave a speech. to the students aged 4 to 21, she gave a lengthy warning. that the children should not drink when they return home. drinking is bad. and they should not smoke. smoking is also bad. but if they must, drinking is better than smoking, so you can maybe drink small but don't smoke atall. oh, and don't have sex. just because they are deaf does not mean that they will not get aids from having sex. so they should be careful and not have sex atall.
after that, they brought out the food. the plates for the teachers were massive, heaped full of rice, topped with spaghetti and cabbage and sheep. immediately, at least half the teachers pulled plastic bags out of their purses and dumped all the food in the bag to take home.
thankfully, the teacher i was sitting by had an extra bag, so i was able to save my leftovers as well.
i mean, it would be a shame to waste it, right?