sorry its been a while

sorry i've been AWOL for a while, we (annie, paul, emmy & i) all went on vacation from our vacation. we went to accra, the capital of ghana, on wednesday morning. i'm not the biggest fan of accra. as it is too much like being in a big, noisy city...mostly because it IS a big, noisy city. but there are some perks. having been dreaming of american food since about 3 days after arriving in ghana i was delighted to get a little, only slightly funny tasting pizzas from a place called "pizza inn". next door to pizza inn is a place called "creamy inn", which i think is pretty much one of the worst names for an ice cream shop ever. the main purpose of our trip to accra was to go to the american embassy (which was quite an ordeal) so paul & annie could pick up a packet of visa info for paul, & set up an interview date. annie, for those of you who don't know, is a wonderful girl i met when i came to ghana witth CCS, who married an equally wonderful ghanaian boy named paul, who has been approved (finally) for a visa to come to america!!! 

so after that we went to this beautiful beach just to the west of accra called kokrobite. we stayed at a place called big millys, & being there, on the beach with palm trees & coconuts everywhere, was really the 1st time i truly realized that ghana is a tropical paradise. we stayed there for 3.5 days, & loved it. we swam in the ocean (well, more like jumped in waves & tried not to get sucked out to sea) & played on the beach. it was glorious. then emily & i went partially insane & decided to go from kokrobite to cape coast, home to one of ghanas oldest & largest slave castles. my friend sam, whose ghanaian, came with us. we stayed in cape coast for 1 night. we did the slave castle tour the afternoon we got there, then did the awesome canopy in kakum national park the next morning. then, at around 12pm on sunday, we boarded a trotro back to accra (about a 2.5 hr drive) then went on a different trotro from accra to hohoe (an almost 5 hr drive). needless to say, by the time we arrived back in hohoe, we were exhausted.

also. the other night, while doing several loads of laundry in a bucket, i realized how lucky i am to come from where i do &  live where i do. don't get me wrong, i love ghana to pieces  its one of my top 3 favorite places on the planet (& i've been very fortunate to have been to more places on the planet by 25 than many people get to in a lifetime). but seriously, being in a 3rd world country really puts things into perspective. here is a list of things i've realized many of us westerners take for granted:
health care
nice hospitals
washing machines
safe to eat food
basic sanitation
personal hygiene
toilets
access to clean, safe water
safe transportation
hot water
sewage pipes
electricity
literacy
an average life expectancy of almost 80
and finally, and it may seem kind of silly, do any of you have any idea what i would give for a giant cheeseburger or meatlovers pizza right now?

1st art class

today emmy & i did our first art lesson at suzzy! we had 11 kids & it went really well. we made simple color wheels with water colors. they loved it! going back tomorrow to do more stuff then heading to accra on wed for a wild adventure, then to cape coast on sat to see the cape coast castle. also, its raining like gangbusters right now.

5 days in

not much new to report here. we had a pretty insane storm this evening. haven't been feeling well the last couple days. my stomach is having a bit of trouble adjusting to the food. we went on a walk yesterday to a river & walked thru a bunch of farmlands to get there. i fell on my bum in the mud. been pretty low key other than that. we finally went to the market today...man i had forgotten how bad t smells in there. well, until next time!

operation find my kids

so i already said this on facebook but i don't know if you all check that. so yesterday i went to my school to see my kids & found out that all of them have apparently gone to different schools. i was pretty crushed & really had to force myself to smile. don't get me wrong, i was thrilled to see suzzy & the rest of the kids, but i was really looking forward to seeing MY kids.  also, i had planned to do all the art stuff with that class, so i have to come up with a new plan on that front. but i also have a new mission. i am going to find all of my kids & see if i can teach them art on the weekends at the hotel. so tomorrow (today was a holiday, Founders Day) i'm going to ask suzzy & the kids if they know where i can find my kids. i'll search every inch of Hohoe if i have to. so wish me luck!

finally here

WE'RE HERE!!! after a long day of travel & not much sleep, we finally arrived in Hohoe around 7:30 local time. the tro ride was long & ridiculous (as usual). we have our rooms at the hotel & hilda (the woman who runs it) remembers me, mostly because i was the one who ordered french fries & scrambled eggs every day, for every meal. got a new phone so if any of you feel inclined to text me while i'm here you can. 0110202416000. it costs a fortune tho, so don't feel obligated or anything. not much else to report as of yet. it rained like the dickens earlier...thats about it. i'll probably post again on wed or thurs once we've done more stuff. tata for now!

1 day!

BLOG TIME! i will hopefully be updating this once or twice a week. we leave tomorrow at 10:30pm & arrive in ghana around 1:30pm on sunday. that's it for now, time to finish packing.