monkeys climbing trees and i'm racist

So its been a while. Lots to update! Okay... well, after last time I updated, Andrea and I hung out with Akirash, a Ghanaian artist from Nigeria. We hung out with him at first because I asked him I could take photographs of him for my photo class - for this project we had to spend 8-12 hours with a Ghanaian. It ended up being such an incredible experience. At first, when I talked to Akirash on the phone about this, he was hesitant because he thought I was going to publish the pictures, but when I explained to him it was simply for my class and nothing commerical, he agreed!

When we got to Akirash's house, we hung out for a bit then left to run errands at the market and in the village that is outside of his house. Andrea and I both took our cameras and we had told Akirash about how shy we both have been so far in Ghana when taking pictures because we don't want to offend anyone or make anyone think less of us for taking pictures. When we said this, Akirash giggled and told us not to worry and to just take as many pictures as we want and not to worry about what others think. Since we're only taking pictures for ourselves and not publishing them or anything its not a problem. I dont know how often this happens but he said that people get angry when someone takes their picture then it shows up in a magazine or a travel guide, etc. and they get no recognition or monetary benefit from it. But I can assure them, my pictures aren't going to be published... except to my facebook or my blog.

Walking around with Akirash was so enjoyable and such a learning experience. We had so much fun! He bought food to make for dinner, we went with him to one of his art studios so that he could pray - he's Muslim. Watching his Muslim practice was so interesting... first washing himself with a tea pot of water outside the house, then praying on his mat indoors. It was so incredible to be able to observe that part of his day and that he let us be part of it.

After he was done praying, we walked around some more, went to an internet cafe where he checked his email, and just saw a bunch of his friends. He knew so many people in the village! We visited a few of his friends - went into another Muslim house and met this very nice, interesting man and his family. He had the most beautiful daughter, and his wife was so nice and welcoming also. They also allowed us to take pictures, so I got some cool ones there.

At some point while walking around, I tripped, nearly fell flat on my face, but was able to keep myself up. The only thing I was scared about was my camera - not even my face... but thankfully, both are fine. I did stub my toe though and it was bleeding. It didn't really hurt, so I didn't think anything of it, but when Akirash saw that it was bleeding, he was very concerned and said that we had to go wash it and wrap it up so that it wouldn't get infected. We went back to his studio where he washed it off with the same tea pot that he washed himself with before praying and he wrapped my toe with a little piece of fabric. It was so considerate of him to do it and he was so, so nice and caring.

After that, we walked around even more. All the school children were just getting out of class. They were all so excited to see us "obrunis" and everywhere we walked we'd hear "obruni, obruni!" And "snap us!" - meaning take my picture. I got so many great pictures of school children that afternoon. Akirash also helped both Andrea dn I be more bold - so we both were asking all the locals if we could take their pictures - most of them were happy to have their picture taken, others not so fond. But I did get some really good ones of people around the town. I wish I remembered the name of the town - but its been so long that I forgot. I really need to update for frequently. I think it started with an M... maybe something along the lines of Mamaba?

Well after leaving the village and getting so many great pictures of the local people and of course of Akirash, since that was my assignment in the first place, we went back to Askirash's house where we hung out for a while. Akirash made Andrea and me these delicious beans with some ground up white stuff on top - I'm not exactly sure what it was - something he bought in the market, but it was so delicious. We watched some Godzilla movie... interesting. I think Matthew Broderick was in it. This movie was so bad though, I can't believe he'd be in it, but we're pretty sure it was him. The DVD that it was on was one of the bootleg copies that you can buy on the streets here with like twelve other movies on it. I think the other movies were like "Tyranasaurus Rex" and "Aragon"... all my favorites, of course.

After eating and watching Godzilla, we went to the Alliance Francaise to dance and listen to live music there. It was so fun and the music was so good! There was also an art exhibition where one of Akirash's friends was showing some work - and the work was really good. It was mixed media and a lot of weaving different matierals together - hard to explain but brilliant.

We then spent the weekend, or some of it with Akirash. On Friday, Andrea and I went to Akirash's house to hang out, learn how to cook, and to spend the night. Our original plan was to spend the night Friday then wake up really early Saturday and go to Kokrobite, then go to Aburi gardens on Sunday. We ended up just hanging out on Friday, Andrea and I fell asleep really early.. and woke up after about 12 hours of sleep. And when we woke up Akirash had left a note for us saying that he had to go get medication for his friend in a city outside of Accra because they couldn't find any for him here. Instead of going to Kokrobite, Andrea and I went back to Chruch Cresent and I ended up spending my Valentines hanging out with a lot of people from the program and then going out to a very nice Italian dinner with a bunch of girls. Sunday, when Akirash was back from picking up the medication, he took Andrea and I to Aburi Botanical Gardens which is about an hour outside of Accra.

Something important about the weekend: Bathroom talk. Peeing sucked at the house because we had to pee over a hard surface squatting where you inevitably get pee all over your feet - while getting a wonderful hamstring workout. But I seriously had the LONGEST PEE EVER. It wouldn't end!! My legs were shaking and I was sweating like crazy just trying to hold myself up so i wouldn't fall in my pee haha. Ugh! Then pooing was an adventure too. We had to go to an outhouse type thing. There was an actual toilet, but no running water. We had to fill up a bucket before we went to the bathroom in order to flush the toilet. This was fun when I had to go at like 5 am haha. Basically I am so thankful for toilets in close proximity to my bed and just in general in America, but toilets are hard to come by here in Ghana.

Aburi and the surrounding city were so beautiful. The drive there was gorgeous - it was up a hill so we saw so much of the city from a higher altitude. When we first got off our tro tro, we got to a wood carving village. There were so many great masks, statues, and other wooden things - very cool. Everyone was trying to sell us stuff, but all I ended up buying was a small mask. After leaving this little market (if it could even be called that..), we walked to the Aburi Botanical Gardens. One of the most hilarious things happened as we were buying our admission to the park. So the sign said something like: Non-Ghanaians - Child: Free, Student - 1 cedi, Adult - 3 cedi. Ghanaian - Child: Free, Student - 50 pesewa, Adult: 1 cedi. So Andrea and I were like cool - 1 cedi. But apparently, student only applies to student through high school, so we were expected to pay the 3 cedi. We bargained down to 2, but still. A students a student. Whatever. So that wasn't funny, but then the lady told Akirash he had to pay, but Akirash decided he didn't want to pay. He told her that because he's there so much and because she always brings foreigners, like me and Andrea, he shouldn't have to pay and just walked in. We just laughed so hard once we got in the park because I really have never seen that happen and in the US i don't think that'd ever fly. Like I don't want to pay... soooo, yeah, I'm not going to. We joked about it with him for a while and he just laughed in his little infectious giggle, and then walked through the park. We bought pineapple from this lady in the park whose kids loved our cameras. The children really wanted to take pictures of us so we let them use our cameras and take pictures of us with their siblings and it was so fun and cute. The children were just so beautiful and full of life. After this we walked around some more than came to this tree. This was no ordinary tree. It was only the most incredible tree I've ever been to... it was hollow on the inside and had holes in it so we could climb INSIDE THE TREE. I got so many awesome pictures. I actually used one of the ones I took of Akirash for my photography project. That one got me into trouble, yet again. Geez, my photography teacher. That's all I'm going to say.

Last week, I also got some of my dresses back from Marjorie! I need to get more fabric so that I can make more stuff... but I'm started to realize that although its cheap, it adds up. I've made a couple tank top, a skirt, and two dresses. But i'm in love with all of them!

We watched Hotel Rwanda too. I forgot how good and moving it was. It was so sad too. I cried. But I'm very happy that I watched it again.

Then last weekend was my Ghanaian homestay. This is a whole post in itself. AH... I really should update more often, this is stressing me out. Maybe I'll post this, then write about my homestay, and then I'll write another one about this most incredible movie that we watched tonight for my recitation. I would highly recommend Traces of the Trade. It was just so phenomenal. But I seriously just think everyone should watch it.

This weekend, I'm going to Burkina Faso for FESPACO! 20 hours on a small Ford bus, each way. So many films to see. And a new stamp in my passport!