ay yo nawashabashebaaaaaaa

Over Easter break, Andrea, Julia, Mallory, Tina, Gaby, and I traveled to Lomé, Togo. We got off to an early start leaving Church Crescent (our residence hall) by seven am. We got on a tro tro to Aflao, the Ghanaian city at the border. The car ride was easy enough. About a million pot holes, but other than that is was lovely. It was basically like a personal tro tro because it seated eight people and we took up six of the seats – the two seats left were in the front. So we just got to lounge and enjoy our trip. Crossing the border was very easy… I got yet another stamp, woo! Crossing the border was so obviously a change in country. Not only did the language change, the beaches were very different and VERY beautiful, there means of transportation was different – MOTOS, and people weren’t as noticeably attracted to our “obruniness” (“yovo” in Togo) and basically left us alone for the most part. Our first stop was the shell station for a potty break, then after that we got on moto taxis. Moto taxis are just the most incredible invention. They are SO much fun and the best way to move around a city. The wind kept us cool on the hot day, as we drove by the beautiful coast of Togo. The water was so, so blue and the sand so orange it was like a postcard. I don’t know why Ghana didn’t build along the coast - it makes so much sense… Accra would be so much more beautiful if it were built right along the water, but oh well. We took the motos to the art center to visit some friends that Julia had made on her trip to Togo for spring break. There were all Rastafarians for the most part and they were all artists. We looked around at the stuff for a while, then from there we walked to our hotel, Hotel Le Galion. This hotel wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was really close to the beach and pretty centrally located. Andrea, the only French speaker among us, fought pretty hard for us to get a good rate for the weekend. We got avocado sandwiches on the beach for lunch, yum. Then after, we went to the beach and just talked and laughed all afternoon. It was a perfect beach day and so much fun. The water was really rough, but of course, Gaby, Andrea, and I went in anyway. After the beach, we all rinsed off at the hotel then went to get spaghetti. They sell spaghetti with a baguette almost everywhere in Lomé. And all for so cheap. The spaghetti is made right in front of you at little stall, usually on the side of a road. They put spicy peppers in it for a little kick that is so delicious. I will have to try to make some when I come home because it looked very easy and it was so good. (Ingredients: spaghetti, tomato paste, sautéed onions and hot peppers, and maggi flavor stuff). Oh! And you can get spaghetti with omelette. Which sounds pretty nasty, but seriously, its so good. They put a onion and tomato omelette right on top of the spaghetti and its just like having meat sauce or something similar, but much better, in my opinion. That night, we went out with the same guys we met at the art center. They were nice and fun. We went to a bar where we hung out. There was this one Rasta who was absolutely insane. He was just so crazy. I can’t even describe him… he made weird comments, danced weird, made silly faces… he was just a lot of fun to make fun of basically. And a little creepy. Gaby and I got ice cream, but then these little kids behind us kept asking us for money so instead, we just gave them our ice cream and that made them so happy. After the bar, we went to the biggest night club in West Africa – Privilege. At first there was nobody there because it was still early, like one am. But then people started coming and it filled up SO fast. We all danced the night away. It was interesting because there were seriously so many men that I would guess were gay. I think being gay is illegal in Togo, just like it is in Ghana, but it was so nice to see them all having fun dancing.

The next day, we got moto taxis of course to the bank, got out CFA, and then went to breakfast. Andrea and I got spaghetti, again. I wish Ghana got on that train and started selling spaghetti, like they do in Togo. Then we went to Le Grande Marche (I think that’s how you spell it) – the market. This market was terrible. I did not like it at all. Cars could drive through it so it was hard to get around. And it was so hot and uncomfortable. Finally though we found a little offshoot of the market where we bought lots of really nice fabric. After the market, we met up with Julia at the art center, then hung out there for a little while, then went to this really nice beach on the other side of town. It was a beach connected to a nice resort. We didn’t know if it’d cost us anything, because when we went in no one said anything. So we just laid by the beach for a couple of hours. And Gaby, Andrea, and I again swam most of the time. It was so nice and we showered off in the little outdoor showers, when this guy came up to us and told us we’d all have to pay for our time at the beach. That would’ve been fine if it wasn’t for the annoying, fat Lebanese guy who ran the place who obviously told the worker to tell us this. The Lebanese man was just so disgusting… I’m sorry to be so rude, but he wasn’t hospitable at all.. Finally we made an agreement that we’d buy French fries and drinks to make up for the beach payment, which the worker agreed to and the owner was just very rude. We tried making eye contact with him to thank him and just smile… but he wouldn’t and ugh. It was annoying. We ate our overly priced snacks and left. But as we were on our way out – good karma came and the shuttle that runs from the hotel to the airport said he’d take us back to our side of town, which could easily have been like 3000 CFA.

…Okay, I don’t really remember anymore what happened in Togo specifically and I’m probably boring you. So basically highlights of Togo:
- spaghetti and omelette. mmm...
- MOTOS MOTO MOTO
- avocado sandwiches
- Privilege - largest nightclub in west Africa
- Rastas... EVERYWHERE.
- at the market, andrea picked out the single ugliest shoes for me to try on and we were all in tears laughing so hard about it
- beautiful beaches
- a very lonely Easter (I guess a lowlight)… Andrea and I spent ALL day going around Lomé looking for Mike, Danny, and Josh… then tried to find Julia, found her late late, but that was so fun to hang out with her and Marco
- met two beautiful Cote d’Ivoirian sisters who spent most of the weekend with us… unfortunately, I couldn’t communicate very well with them verbally because they only speak French, but they were just so great
- my new found desire to learn a second language.. maybe a third. I don’t know when, but I really need to. Togo was just so frustrating not being able to communicate verbally with so many people that I really would’ve liked it. Seeing the way Andrea was able to communicate was just so inspiring. It’s happening. I’m going to be bilingual. When? Undetermined, but it’s a new aspiration of mine.
- Last day, it POURED… and on the way out of town, there were hundreds of termites flying around. It was so nasty. And where did these termites end up?... STUCK TO MY BACK. It was so gross. Andrea had to pick each termite individually off my back. Yuck. What an experience. Oh and then our bus ride home was a trillion hours because we took the first bus we saw because we were drenched. Bad idea. MetroMass stops for literally EvERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING on the side of the road. Note to self and anyone else traveling to or through Ghana: don’t take MetroMass if you want to get anywhere on time.

The next weekend we traveled to Tamale in Northern Ghana.
Tamale was wonderful. Here’s what I wrote in my email to Allie and Lizzie because I’m very lazy and don’t want to type up a new blog entry…
This weekend was so, so moving. We did so much incredible stuff on our little weekend trip.
Our trip was up to Tamale (not Mexican food "tamale", "but
tah-mah-lay") in Northern Ghana. I almost didn't go on the trip
because they didn't really make it seem THAT cool.. but I'm so happy I
did. It was a 12 hour bus ride up to Tamale. It wasn't too bad
though. I slept the whole way obviously. The night we got there we
ate dinner then slept, but then the next day was jam packed with so
much. So the first thing we did was we got a lecture about Northern
Ghana that was really interesting where they told us about the tribes,
education, history, etc. I'll spare you all of that unless you're
actually interested. Then we went to the market which was so great.
I love markets, they are one of the things I'm going to miss most
about Western Africa. They are just so practical and have
everrrrying. We only had a short time at the market so
I didn’t get much. Next we went to the Central Mosque of Tamale. We
all had to cover our shoulders and knees. And it was so so hot
outside. But that's okay, I really wouldn't have wanted to disrespect
the faith. The mosque was so so so beautiful and now I have so much
respect for Muslims. It was so eye-opening and wonderful. Our tour
guide told us all about the Islamic faith and showed us how the pray,
when they pray, told us about the women's role in the Muslim
community, and well... I'm sure more. After the mosque, we ate lunch,
then went to Dr. Abdulai's Health Clinic. Oh gosh guys, this man is
so incredible. He had such a a contagious smile and a loving spirit.
He lost all of his family when he was young - his siblings and
parents. And somewhere along the line he developed a want to care for
so many people. He has his doctorate and he opened a Health Clinic
for anybody who can't afford treatment and all in the name of God -
it's completely donation based and even the other doctors who work
there are volunteers. And they do every type of surgery and treatment
you can think of. He opened the clinic in 1992 (I think) and there
are people staying there that have been there since it's opening and
some others who have just heard of it. He also runs a sort of "Meals
on Wheels" program, if you've heard of it... I think you have Al.
Basically, he drives around Tamale with a bunch of food in his van and
anybody who is hungry can come get some dinner for the night. He
explained that he does this because "You go to the person you love,
you don't wait for them to come to you." He is seriously filled with
so much love and happiness despite being around sickness and death all
the time, he keeps his head up and loves every patient as if they were
his own child. After we left the clinic, we pooled together money
amongst us (plus one of the girl's here, her mom is visiting) and we
raised 700 Ghana Cedi for him and his clinic... that's in addition to
a bunch of donations that we all got together before we left for
Northern Ghana. So basically we hooked him up haha. After we visited
the clinic, we went to see Diviners! Aka Fortune Tellers. It was so
bad ass. It was this Muslim guy who moved sand around to see about my
future. He told me a bunch of very general stuff and then that my dad
would die before my mom, that I need to sacrifice a "white cock, then
roast it and give it to children" haha, umm... and he kept mentioning
"my stomach" and I swear I never said anything about my stomach to
him. He said that the ailment "will be mild" but then I told him I
already have a chronic problem, and to that he told me he'd give me an
herb. Which I took (it was only 2 cedi)... not so much of a help, but I’ll leave the details out of this public blog. Okay well that was that. Unfortunately nothing
about my love life or anything - "it didn't come up in the sand"...
boo! That would’ve been fun to hear. That night, my friends
Leah and Katja and I wanted to get 'banku' a traditional dish here.

Sunday we did a lot of great
stuff too. We went to the very north of Ghana, to a city called Paga
to visit a slave camp where other Africans would capture fellow
Africans for the Europeans and keep them in the camp. This camp was
SO hot and dry. Like blisteringly hot. And they told us about how
they only had one meal a day, they had to be barefoot, and how they
were basically left to the "survival of the fittest". Not only was
that bad, but when the Europeans wanted slaves, they had to WALK from
northern Ghana BAREFOOT to the slave castle on the coast - Cape Coast
(I visited this castle at the beginning of the semester). The drive
is about 15 hours to Paga... I can't even imagine how they'd walk.
How anybody even made it. It was so eye-opening and I'm grateful we
got to see it. Wow this is long, I'm sorry. After the slave camp, we
went to a the "Widows and Orphans Ministry" and its exactly what it
sounds like. Widows in northern Ghana have been/are ostracized when
there husbands die so these women banded together and try to make a
living. They weave baskets and basically do all they can to live
happily. This was my favorite part of the trip. When our bus arrived
at the site, literally all these young children came running at the
bus so excited to see us! They were clinging to us and holding our
hands and just so happy to see someone that was there to love them.
We brought lots of donations for them too. When we got there, we all
sat around in a huge circle under a huge tree that provided so much
shade, it was pretty crazy, because it didn't seem like it would
provide that much shade. And the widows talked to us about their
projects - the basket-weaving - and what they do and how they have the
orphanage there too. They were so grateful for our donations. The
kids were absolutely adorable. If i was going to bring home a
Ghanaian child... this is where I would've picked him/her up. There
was this one little girl that I was OBSESSED WITH. Ah, going to this
little neighborhood was exactly what I wanted to do this whole time
and I'm so happy we finally did it. I just had such a good time with
the children and the widows. Now I think I know that I want to help
out at something like that later on in life because it just made me so
happy and I had a smile on my face the whole time. Oh, and I got some
really cute pictures of these kids. I was only there for like an hour
and I miss it so much already haha. Okay, well that was basically
then end of the trip. Then Sunday we were up at 3am to get on the bus
back to Accra.

Since Tamale, lots of work. Documenting, photo projects, recitation project, music project, and just this morning my Legon Psychology final. It was really sad to have our last academic thing at Legon.

Last Friday in recitation, we all got dressed up by this Ghanaian group in traditional Ghanaian clothes, it was so fun. They gave me an enormous booty made out of fabric. There are some great pictures of us... and my friend has a video of me dancing haha. Its funny. And it was so fun. We also learned a lot about Ghanaian culture, so that was good. But dress up time...overshadows that haha.

Saturday I went back to Aburi Gardens, the place I went to with Akirash. This time we did a bike tour which was SO FUN. But dang, am I out of shape and was it HOT HOT HOT! Mallory, Chris, Eric and I went into the village and rode around and it was so beautiful but so hilly and hot. It was such an incredible experience. It made me really regret not getting a bike at the beginning of the semester because I feel like I could've seen so much more of my area had I had one, but oh well. Actually, no regrets.... just happy I got to do the bike ride in Aburi.

Wli falls this weekend!! It seemed so far away when we looked at the calendar three months ago, but now its here? Time flies. Only a few more weeks here. I'm really starting to get nostalgic. Taking pictures of everything. Cherishing every moment with my friends. Trying to enjoy everyhing, even doing my homework? Just taking in Ghana. It's going to be so hard going all the way back to LA being away from all my new friends who will be in New York. I really hope that I'm better about staying in touch with everyone than I ahve been in the past. I'm so bad about that... so something needs to change. The world is so small now with skype, facebook, phone, etc. so I think i'll be able to do it. Okay, now i'm getting unnecessarily sappy. But really I'm just so happy that I've had this experience, and I'm going to miss it so much. I better get off the computer, stop talking about it, and actually just live it. ["Imagine single violin in background"]

love peace love peace love