I have to admit that I came to South Africa as a recent graduate, strong at heart, but confused about my direction post-college and I naively thought that my adventure to here would bring unprecedented clarity to this constant dilemma I face. I still am unsure of my direction, but I now understand not only that this is what’s realistic, but that the true value actually comes in what you learn from the experiences you have along the way.

Though some days I sit in the Reciprocity office in Cape Town staring at spread sheets, enslaved by my inbox, and fueled only by coffee and the knowledge that my work is contributing to a greater purpose, (well and that I can leave for Yoga at 5:30) I have to say every single second is worth it because of the experiences that I have been able to have when I get to step out of my office and my shell that is behind a computer screen. When I get to step out of Cape Town where I am just another CT resident, to the townships of the Western Cape and Alexandra where I am now very clearly the minority. A mlungu (xhosa for white person) amongst the vibrant, fascinating, and complex low income communities of South Africa.

Two projects that I am currently working on for Reciprocity bring me into the townships regularly and have been great learning experiences both in the office and the field.

1) London Business School

On December 3, 100 MBA students from LBS will arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa and will be spending the week working in Alexandra, the largest and most historical township in South Africa. Students will be split into groups of 5 or 6 and paired with a navigator and local micro-entrepreneur. Their objective is to learn first-hand about the realities of doing business at the bottom of pyramid, and then structure their expertise into recommendations for the entrepreneur, which will ideally help the entrepreneur to improve their turnover, profit, and general economic stability. My role has been to help identify, interview and select the navigators and entrepreneurs from Alex that are reliable and enthusiastic enough to participate in the program. Lots of logisitcal coordination is needed in order for us to be able to pull this program off so in addition to multiple phone calls, text messages, and emails a day, on site visits have been particularly important in structuring the right team. Though working in impoverished communities is always challenging logistically and emotionally, I am continually inspired by the ambition and enthusiasm showcased by the people of Alex. In their opinion, apartheid is over, Alex is their home, and it is their duty to empower, support, and better their community. Next week I will be returning to Alex

2) Micro-enterprise entrepreneur database

Today is the Hindu holiday of Diwali/Deepavali or Festival of Lights, a celebration for a number of major events in the Hindu religion. Officially, it is a 5-day festival featuring a lot of lights, fireworks, fairs, music, and sweets, and most schools take 10 days off for the celebration (We are taking 2 or 3). People and businesses around Udaipur have set up various levels of decoration including drawing numerous designs on the street, and lights ranging from large LEDs to flashing lights to simple candles used to welcome the goddess Lakshmi. It is a holiday where many people will travel to see their family and extended family; one of the days is specifically dedicated to siblings spending time together.  Even this morning, after being bombarded last night, I was awoken to the melodious sounds of dynamite-strength fireworks being exploded right outside my door to the excitement of many children. The fireworks are definitely a highlight; especially since the most popular ones here are illegal in the US due to the strength and volume of them.

 

There are a few similarities between Diwali and Christmas. One of the most interesting ones is that people will buy gifts for themselves in a sort of celebration of prosperity related to the end of the harvest season throughout most of India. A friend of mine at work told me around Diwali businesses typically will sell 5,000 two wheelers (motorcycles) and 1,000 four wheelers (cars/jeeps), just in Udaipur. Though some people do follow the belief that “it is better to give than to receive” and distribute Diwali gifts for their family and friends. Besides cars, people will make other large purchases and consume A LOT of sweets. Can’t really stress this enough. People love Gulab Jamun and other similar looking/tasting sweets here, which is a small round, brown ball that feels like a massive injection of sugar directly into your blood stream. Needless to say, they’re pretty good.

 

Work is getting busier now that I have a more comfortable, casual repoire with people at the organization. I have started to expand my focus from just researching funding organizations and writing proposals to developing JJVS’ annual report as well as writing content and SEO suggestions for their website. I have been very lucky to be able to work with the organization in a number of different ways, and they are always very helpful whenever I need anything, including a lesson on how to make chai, which is a lot easier than I anticipated (though my first two attempts have not quite been true Indian Level Chai)

 

I’m currently preparing for a trip to New Delhi and Pushkar next week. In Pushkar, there is massive camel fair all next week where people and pilgrims from all around the world come to see the 1,000 of camels, other animals, and various ceremonies taking place. So next post might be a bit late, but definitely worth the wait.

 

Namaskar! 

They keep changing their mind about the weather. It’s been cloudy a lot so far, with quite a bit of rain. Some Ghanaians say that in December it gets very hot while others say it will remain cooler. I’m praying it’s the latter. Without the clouds and the rain it would be too hot and humid for me to be able to survive!

I’ve been waiting for two packages to arrive for the past three weeks! Apparently they came over a week ago, but I just got them on Monday. I had to travel all the way into town to get them myself even though I was told they would be brought to my school. Anyways, Mom and Ian...THANK YOU. You two are incredible. The snacks and the photos and all the other little things you thought of made me feel so incredibly comforted. I think my stomach took the snacks as quite a shock though...it’s been two months since I’ve had that stuff! The students are loving the candy corn! We’ve already gone through two of my three bags in the past two days! All candy to them is toffee and they absolutely love the sweets! (:

Names to not forget:
Persis, Collins, Lloyd, Shadrach, Clement, Ferdinand, Mary, Francis, Erika, Adjele, Elliotta, Nancy, Evans, Sebastian, Sultan, Fidel, Godfred, Alex, Caesar and Ezra. Some of them are my students, in my Form 1 English class and others are day time students and boarders who I’ve gotten to know very well. I adore every single one of them. It’s hard to not show favoritism but some of them I just want to keep and take back home with me! They’re truly the sweetest kids I’ve ever known. I showed them pictures of my family, and they were fascinated to see them and to see me with long hair! One of the male teachers, Peter, told me “Ah, you are looking more beautiful in the picture than you do now!” He really didn’t mean it as an insult, but I still gave him grief about it. The students also agree that I look very nice with my long hair and don’t understand why I ever cut it! To all of my family and friends who agree with them, keep your comments to yourself.... 😉

Chrissy and I have gotten much closer with all of the teachers as well. Angie, Peter, David, Philip and Emmanuel are the ones we converse with the most. We all sit and chat in the little teacher’s lounge we have when we do not have a class. It’s fun talking about various things, learning more about some of our cultural differences. It really is never ending so it never gets boring!

Around the school, there are quotes of encouragement painted on the building. Quotes like “It is dangerous to live without Jesus.” “Godliness with contentment is a great gain.” “Procrastination is the thief of time.” “Those who wish to be Eagles must not walk with the turkeys.” Chrissy and I walk around quoting these to each other in very dramatic, serious voices!

I broke my camera about a month ago, so I went without a camera for three weeks until I bought a new one! It’s very nice, and I got it for a much better deal than I would have back home! Fingers crossed nothing bad happens to this one! My luck with technology isn’t the greatest so I need all the good wishes coming my way. (:

Leah and Jenna, two other volunteers, came to visit Chrissy and I two weekends ago. Their school is quite a ways away so we took them into Takoradi, showed them around and met up with some other friends. At the end of the weekend, we went to Cape Coast with them and ate at our favorite little cafe called ‘New Life.’ I feel like all the volunteers and myself are getting quite comfortable there because it’s easy for many of us to get to and we’ve became friends with a lot of people in town there. Plus, the drive to Cape Coast is absolutely beautiful with the oceanside, tall grass and other scenery.

My class has grown. In fact, it has more than doubled. I think there’s around 26 of them now. Right now, we’re working on essay writing. I’m trying to get them to practice writing essays and writing sentences. Some are farther along than others, but they all need help with grammar, sentence structure, etc. It’s a process just trying to get them to understand the assignment. I’ll take a long time explaining it to them, and they’ll all nod their heads. I’ll ask “Do you understand?” “Yes, madam. We understand.” And right as I’m about to move on, a question is asked about the assignment and the whole thing starts all over again. I thought all of my students were around 16 or 17 years old. They’re all Form 1’s so they’re brand new at the school. However, I’ve recently learned some of them are in their early-mid twenties.

Other random facts:
Takoradi is often referred to as Tadi.

Obruni WAWU= dead white people clothes. And besides their nicer, African wear, they wear our clothes...awkward.

The students say ‘Yo’ a lot. Either they use it as a response, as if to say ‘yes’ or they are cheering on their peers in encouragement. If they get really excited and riled up, they’ll scream it really loud! ‘Yooooooo!’ Too great.

Bo froot and Fan milk is my addiction. I get them any time, as often as I can. Fan milk is a frozen treat. Fan choco is frozen chocolate milk. Fan yogo is frozen strawberry yogurt, and Fan Ice is frozen vanilla ice cream. Why has America not thought of this?! They’re approximately 40 cents, and they’re absolutely heavenly!

Kenkey smells and tastes terrible! To all of my fellow Americans, if you go to Ghana, try it. You can’t come here and not try it...but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Many of the Ghanaians have scars on their faces. There’s a wide variety of scars. Some are on their foreheads, their cheeks, the side of their face, by their mouths, etc... The scar they each have and their placement is based on the tribe they are from. I find it very fascinating, and I want to learn more about each scar and what tribe it belongs to!

The students are constantly trying to imitate my voice. They always talk high-pitched, and I thought they were making fun of me. When I ask, they simply say “Madam, we want to speak good english like you!”

They all have nicknames for themselves!
Ferdinand= Gaddafi (Young Obama, Young Apostle)
Alex=Obama (yes, seriously)
Elliotta=Breezy
And so on... Many of them have asked me to call them by their nicknames. I just look at them and laugh!

I’m getting eaten by mosquitoes religiously it seems like. Sometimes it won’t be so bad, and then there will be a solid week where I feel like I can’t escape them! Our room is right next to a gutter so I feel like no matter what we’re doomed! Don’t worry. I’m being cautious! Mosquito repellant, Malaria medication and hiding out under my bed net in the evenings is helping!

On November 1, the school started Sports Day #1! It was ‘Volleyball Day!’ While some of the students played in the games, I hung out with the other students on the side. I showed them my neat little drum I bought in Cape Coast a while back, and we all started dancing and singing! Naturally, it was to music I did not know the words to. I stood there, clapped along and smiled! Such a joy! (:
The following day was ‘Football Day!’ Or rather ‘soccer...’ We all walked to a field near by and cheered on all the teams that were playing. They were all separated into ‘houses,’ and they all wanted me to support their house! The teachers also participated, and they tried multiple times to get me to play! How do you tell a bunch of Ghanaians that their team will lose if you put a small, little white girl on their team?? I don’t think it really mattered to them though. I could do something absolutely ridiculous, and they are always so impressed and amused to see! They’re the best support team! (: And for the record, no I did not play. I was sweating just standing there, thank you very much.
My friend Farida came to visit Chrissy and I from Sekondi. She met some of my students and then just the two of us left and traveled to her village and school. We spent the night at her place and woke up early in the morning for our weekend adventure! Farida and I went to Nzulezo Stilt Village! Nzulezo, we later learned, means “full of water.” We took a tro tro from Sekondi to Takoradi, found the Nzema station and paid our 5-cedi-fee for a tro tro to Beyin. From there, we caught a taxi to take us farther into town and found the Nzulezo Visitor’s Center. We had to wait for a little while, and we were surrounded by a group of Ghanaian church members who would not stop pestering us with questions! They wanted us to try their food, take a picture with them... One of them kept insisting that I marry him! It was easy to see they were all bothering us and we weren’t happy. A lady named Rosemond asked if we were annoyed. Ghanaians use the word annoyed as their way of saying ‘mad’,’ ‘bothered,’ or ‘pissed.’ So yes, Rosemond. We were in fact very annoyed!!
The canoes finally showed up! I was expecting something much bigger, but instead we were pushed into these tiny little canoes that barely sat higher than water level! Our poor canoe even had a little hole. There were five people total in our canoe. Farida and I shared ours with Rosemond, Frank, Emmanuel and our canoe guide, Solomon! The three guys paddled, Farida helped paddle occasionally, and Rosemond kept pestering me to scoop the water out of the canoe with the bottom half of a water bottle. There was very little water on my side but still I kept hearing behind me “Obruni, fetch the water!” Yessss, Rosemond...
The canoe ride was an hour long. We got to see beautiful little ponds and forests, and then it finally opened up to a big body of water.
When we got to the village, we took a 30 minute walk around and decided not to stay the night at their ‘Homestay Guest House.’ The village was adorable, but it was so far away from town that there was very little food there and not a whole lot to do! The entire village was maybe a quarter of a mile long. Lots of little naked kids ran up to us, asking us to sign a paper and donate money for them to go to school. Those little faces are awfully hard to say ‘no’ to...
They only have one little school there, and it’s so cute. The village seemed like a very sweet, close little community. We learned that Nzulezo is over 600 years old! We were so glad we got to visit!

When we got back to Beyin, we needed to find food and a place to stay for the night. We met a man at a drinking spot (club) who led us to the owner of the Apollonia Beach Guest House. The owner’s name was Steve, and his little beach houses were right on the beach! We paid 23 cedis total for a sketchy, dirty bed we were terrified to sleep on and jollof rice and plaintains he made for us himself. He even brought the food to us in his grandma’s wicker basket, which was around 50 years old! Farida and I enjoyed our meal on the beach as we watched the sun go down!
We also got to watch an African festival begin right beside our beach house and in front of the Fort Apollonia Museum. They were all dressed up and painted, dancing and moving about! We joined in with some cute little kids and took lots of pictures.

We spent the rest of the evening making friends with some of the locals and walking around Beyin. We attempted to sleep on the bench outside of our beach house, in fear of the bed we were given. At midnight, however, we caved and made our way inside.
We woke up around 6:30am, found Steve to pay him and say goodbye. We bought bagged water to brush our teeth with and fan milk for breakfast. Steve told us to take a certain tro tro to Takoradi so we boarded it and ended up delaying our trip by 2 hours, thanks to the flat tire and the muddy hill our tro tro was never going to make it up. It was an adventurous, not thought out trip, and it couldn’t have gone any better!
That’s the great thing about Ghana. You don’t need a plan here because your plans are going to get messed up or changed somewhere along the trip. It’s better just to pick a starting point and see what happens... (:

Images often speak louder than words so here are some additional pictures of my trip.

Primarily for you old folk who don’t have Facebook:) Apologies they are a bit small in the blog but you get the gist.

I definitely chose the right time to come to India, as it is “festival season”. They have a very different mindset for many of their religious festivals/holidays than Westerners; it’s more like Columbus Day. Almost everyone still goes to work (except for government employees, banks, and sometimes schools/universities), except for the upcoming Diwali where I am told almost no one works for 3 to 5 days.

From October 15^th-23^rd, the festival of Navratri has been going on, which is a Hindu festival where they honor various goddesses and people are fasting (they eat one meal in the evening). Though, I was traveling for most of Navatri, I did get to see Papa-Ji and Mama-Ji complete the traditional prayers, ring the bell, and blow the goat’s horn one night, very cool.

On the 10^th day, it is Dusherra. The reason for celebration is based on a Hindu tradition where good has triumphed over evil, which they celebrate by burning an effigy representing the physical embodiment of evil.(I got the entire epic from Papa-ji; however, I’ll only give this very short version here) Since I had been gone for 10 days, I went in to work still, but I was the only one there for most of the day. While I sat at my desk working on a proposal due in one week (doing my daily routine of slowly moving my computer around my desk trying to find a spot where the Internet work, very similar to a doctor trying to find a heartbeat), I heard hoards of people walking by, drums pounding Dutch house rhythms, and a general air of excitement. While celebrations occurred all around the town, the main celebrations in Udaipur were held in the stadium near Chetuk Circle. I went with two close friends, and we showed up right at the end to see the large wooden structures where the effigy was smoldering into ash. (Sorry, all I have is my iPod touch for a camera, meaning no pictures where you can actually tell what is happening)

 

In general, things are going very well here. I’m busy working on a variety of different things for the organization. There are some new volunteers at Jagran so I am doing a bit of “coordinating” for that as well. I just returned from a two-night stay with the two new volunteers in the Jagran field office at Vali. First, we went to the field office in Jaisamand, which is home to Dhebar Lake, Asia’s 2^nd largest man made lake, which has 52 villages surrounding it. After spending some time looking at the fish, elephant statues, and a photoshoot with the driver came a very beautiful drive to Vali.

 

We were lucky enough to have a full moon that night for two reasons. First the power was out in the village and we needed the light to see. But also because certain places in india have a type of celebration where many people from the community gather around to sing songs, play different musical instruments, and drink lots of chai to celebrate the full moon. In Vali, it was hosted by one of the Jagran coordinators who packed his house very full and made sure we had a good time there.

The next day, we saw a number of different projects Jagran is running in the village, and I got a chance to practice my remedial Hindi. Still not conversational yet, but definitely getting a strong start. At least, I can tell people I want food now.

Mpumalanga:the place where the sun rises

Last weekend I ventured 1,864km from my bustling city life in Cape Town all the way north and across the country to Sabi Sands Game Reserve adjacent to the infamous Kruger National Park in the Mpumalanga province with my friends Lauren, Josh, and Colin.

As you can see, physically it was quite the trek (keep in mind South Africa is 3x the size of Texas!) As seems to be the trend these past few months, once again, South Africa slapped me across the face with humility, respect, and awe. There is so much I want to illustrate as part of this post so I can communicate the experience to you effectively, but also so I can personally reflect and document vividly as well. Therefore, I have decided to split this post up into a couple installments. I hope you check back soon to enjoy the whole story!

Friday October 19, 2012

As you all know I am a gem in the morning so you won’t be surprised when I say I literally rolled out of bed at 4:45am in what I planned to wear on the plane, brushed my teeth and caught a taxi to the airport to catch our 6:10am flight to Johannesburg.

After a much needed 2 hour siesta we rented a car, stocked up on road trip necessities (coffee, chips, dried beef and fruit) and we were off! I drove us the whole 7 hrs. since I am the only one able to drive a standard car. And let’s be honest I learned from my dad how to save and that everyone else on the road is a moron except for me so it was only natural that we save money on the car and I volunteer to drive. Josh was my co-pilot, Colin was the official documenter with his GoPro, and Lauren looked pretty and was the dj for our sing-a-long sessions. Our car, which was later named “Yoshi” was clearly the cheapest option available. In addition to its small size, the clutch and accelerator often would stick so I would have to use my toes to pull them back out. In addition, Yoshi’s horsepower was the equivalent of a three year old on a tricycle, but he got us there and back safely so there are no complaints!

Driving through the beautiful country side of South Africa shed light on how diverse and beautiful this country is and it seemed the farther and farther that we traveled from Cape Town the more and more I surrendered myself to it. The rolling hills, bright red dirt, small farmers, winding roads, canyons, informal traders... The vibrancy of the culture and scenery poured into the windows of our tiny car and lifted us all to a level of excitement we could not contain.

Finally, when we rolled up to the gates of the Sabi Sand game reserve we couldn’t hold it any longer and we had to celebrate our arrival to the broadway version of “Circle of Life” (come on we are grown ups, the Disney version was so 1990). Then as if hitting play made our presence known, as Yoshi climbed over the first hill we found our route blocked by a giraffe! Not like the ones that I fed at the Colorado Springs zoo as a kid, BUT A WILD GIRAFFE! Ear to ear smiles, screams, and off tune belts of it’s the circle of life, and it moves us all totally happened.

Upon arrival at the Nkhoro Bush Lodge, our day only got better. Welcomed by a very friendly staff we luckily made it just in time for the evening game drive. We hopped into the open jeep and were able to add elephants (of which you could see from the lodge at the watering hole), white rhinos, zebras, springbok and more giraffes to our list!

The game drive is followed by a wonderful traditional dinner, reflection of the day, and then exhausted we were all soothed to sleep by a miraculous thunderstorm that boomed throughout the bush and poured rain that pattered rhythmically against our thatched roof.

Malaria. Western countries hear this term and they flip. We put people with Malaria  in isolation for an indefinite amount of time until they can figure out what could possibly be wrong with you... It’s a tropical disease. It has to be deadly...right?
Not. Ghanaians claim I got Malaria last week. Yes, that’s right, me. Guess what? I’m still alive. The funny thing is there’s no way of proving I have it anymore because it’s already gotten out of my system. Rather than being taken to the hospital and tested, last Wednesday afternoon (October 17th), the Headmaster assisted me to his car, drove on a long (and miserable) bumpy road and we ended up at a house. A Ghanaian man with his shirt half unbuttoned took me into his home, sat me down on his couch and asked me to describe what I had been feeling. Sore throat. Dizziness. Nausea. Lightheaded. Extreme Fatigue. Body aches. Sounded good enough to him so he kindly wrote something down on a small scratch piece of paper and was asked to take it to the pharmacy to receive my anti-Malaria medication. So that’s it? No test, nothing? There has to be a mistake... I notified Henry, our program director, and he simply told me that Ghanaians see it enough to recognize it and that they will take very good care of me. The Headmaster paid for my medication, and I was taken back to school and crawled back in bed. That’s all I wanted to do...sleep. Needless to say, I am feeling much better. I’m still alive, and regardless of whether or not it was in fact Malaria, all is well that ends well. The entire school knew about my illness within hours. Word travels fast out here. They all wished me a quick recovery and were so delighted to see me teaching again.

Yes, Malaria is a tropical disease. Yes, it is something to take seriously. But for all of you Westerners (my mother included) who are worried that I will be haunted by this disease my entire life...relax a little. It’s just like any other disease. Yes, it stays in my system but so does chicken pox once you’ve had it. It can’t come back to haunt me every year or anything crazy like that. I have to be bitten by one of the Anopheles mosquitoes to catch it again. In very very rare cases does it turn into something terminal. Rest assured, Ghanaians claim I got it and I’m still truckin’, ladies and gentlemen!

I’ve had many other interesting experiences over the past two weeks. I woke up at 2am one night to feel something tickling me...not one of those tickles you feel and think ‘you’re making stuff up, go back to sleep.’ Like seriously, tickling. First on my leg, then the side of my arm, then my neck... What in the world. I turned on the flashlight on my phone to find a huge cockroach crawling up my bed net... I’ve never jumped out of a bed that fast in my life. I literally flew myself off the top bunk bed and woke Chrissy up instantly. We’re in the dark, and I’m panicking. Chrissy is half awake and I’m trying to point and explain the thing that has now made its way up to the top of my bed net. I am forever grateful that one of the gentlemen who work around the school was up, by the grace of God, and I opened my door and asked him, as calmly as possibly to remove the creature who has found a home in my bed! It’s 2:20am and he’s just laughing. I think that’s all he does now any time he sees me, especially since I seem to be the one always finding mysterious spiders and creatures in our room or near my presence. I can deal with a lot of the changes in Ghana, but no matter how much all of the Ghanaians laugh at me, I will never, Never be okay with any of their bugs. Yuck.

Almost a full 6 weeks in, I’m getting much more used to things just not being perfect. Francis and Erika are the two young ladies who wash our laundry, and I have begun to give up on guessing when we will get it back. Between the rain and the lack of any dryers, I know not to expect laundry back any time shortly after I give it to them. Also, more and more of my things are getting stained. Little pink stains are now noticeable on my underwear, which I wash myself, and even some of my shirts and dresses. It’s not a big thing. It’s what happens when you hand wash. But aiyy! I just wasn’t expecting that one.

As far as the showers go, I take mine in the evening. I’ve been extremely lucky that the pipes have not ran out of water just before I go to bathe. Poor Chrissy takes most of her showers in the morning and has been let down countless times when no water comes out of the shower or faucet. Knock on wood because showering daily is imperative in my mind. Because of this and countless other things, I’ve come to accept that I am third world high maintenance. I used to think I was so laid back about most things. And back home, I certainly am. But I’m not too sure about here...

I believe I’ve mentioned before that the Headmistress is the one who makes our meals everyday. The sweet African lady takes the time to work hard in the canteen for us, to prepare our daily meals...and we barely eat it. Either because we just can’t eat the large portions they give us or simply because we’re so sick of rice these days, that just the sight of it makes our stomachs ache. We’ve gotten some different things. Yam, Banku, sometimes fried egg. And those have all been fairly good, but we just can’t eat all of it and now we have learned that we have been hurting her feelings! The poor lady! We sat down with her and explained our smaller-portion-diet and the need for foods other than rice! She was so sweet about it, and it made me feel so incredibly bad for not voicing this sooner.

A couple of Sundays ago we went to church...from 8am to 12pm. Four hours. A test of patience to the max. Most of it was fine. There was some music, readings from the Bible and students got a chance to sing a song or read a verse they wanted to share. I even got the privilege to sing a song, with one of the male students, who wrote the song and taught me! Everyone really liked it, and overall the service was great... It was just long. Too long. At one point during worship, two girls just started screaming. Chrissy and I were so confused as we stared at them, scratching themselves, holding their ears, screaming and kicking about. A couple of students forced them on the floor, tied their feet together and just held them there as the rest of the church continued praising God. It was the strangest, and in my mind saddest, thing I had ever seen. I didn’t understand it, and in all honesty, I don’t think I was really supposed to. I sat there and prayed on my own that God would look after them and just continue to work through them as He sees fit.

Classes are going well. I’m still teaching Form 1 English and Chrissy has Form 1 Science. We’re becoming a lot more comfortable with the students, and I believe they are with us. They truly crack us up sometimes. All of the students at Golden Gate are so quick to argue. They can be so so stubborn. They’ll argue over the silliest things and then cheer each other on when they’re in agreeance. Chrissy and I watched a debate on canning take place between the Form 3’s and Form 4’s. It’s very humorous to watch them bicker with each other and try to prove their point with either myself or another teacher.

I’ve also taken on a new job. I’m in charge of dictations every week. Mr. Dadson asked me to come up with ten English words and their synonyms. Every Monday morning I post the words on the board, and all of the students are required to copy and learn the words for Friday’s dictation exam.

I’ve been taught a famous Ghanaian dance called the ‘Azonto.’ It’s one of their hip songs here, and all of the time I am asked if I know it and can show them.

It’s a strange thing, but for some reason my skin heals faster here. I have a tendency to pick at my nails and cuticles. Back home, my fingers will be sore and wrecked for days, but here they heal so quickly and I rarely have any problems with them! Random but it’s such a nice change!

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it on here, but their currency is Ghana cedis and pesewas are their coins. Their currency is almost double in worth of ours. So $50 is worth about 100 Ghana cedis. It’s made it extremely easy to budget my money and buy things for cheap. It’s also extremely fun to bargain, especially since they like to give the white people Obruni prices!

Another thing I’ve noticed is a Ghanaians habit of asking ‘Are you sure?’ It doesn’t matter if I’m asked how I am, where I’m from, what I like, etc... They always have to question it with an ‘Are you sure?’ as if I’m going to say ‘Actually, no I’m not doing well,’ or ‘Actually, I’m from Canada not America...’ It’s too funny. They’re such happy people all the time. When they’re upset, you know. They’re never upset with us, but aiyyyy I would never want them on my bad side!

It’s been raining a lot here. I’m taking it all in while it lasts because without the rain, it’s going to be hell in their humidity. And when it rains here...it rains. It can rain so hard you have to cover your ears and yell at the top of your lungs to get anyone to hear you! It’s a good thing the loud rain doesn’t last too long though... I’ve also noticed mold has formed on some of my things. A pair of shoes and a sports bra have already been thrown away because mold grew on it. I wasn’t too pleased about that!

This past weekend (October 19-21), 18 of the 20 volunteers went to visit Kakum National Park! It was absolutely beautiful. We got to do a canopy walk, and the guide took us on an hour tour through the rainforest. Unfortunately, all we really saw were some interesting looking trees he explained to us. The guide told us monkeys, elephants and many other animals are hard to spot in their rainforest because they like to stay away from humans. It normally takes a lot more than one day to be able to find anything. All of the volunteers and myself are holding out for Christmas break when we’re going to Mole National Park and we’re taking a safari! But this weekend was nice. The first night 16 of us crammed into a 2 bedroom at the Rainforest lodge, because we were lied to about the price. It was an extremely nice place to stay, and we were told it was 10 Ghana cedis per room. We verified this with the guy at the front desk multiple times, on the phone and in person. It wasn’t until the very end of the conversation did the guy say 100 cedis per room and totally threw our plans off. So we convinced the manager to let us into the 2 bedroom, priced at 180 cedis and the guy at the front desk was suspended for two weeks. Woops. The rest of the weekend we spent back at Oasis Beach Resort in Cape Coast, relaxing on the beach and getting to know more of the Cape Coast locals. I definitely think the people in Cape Coast are some of my favorites, but I’m not planning on going there again too soon. Ready for a new place!

I picked up my first personally made African dress yesterday! I love it, and I already have new material in for a skirt! Y’all better hope I don’t get too carried away with it... They’re too beautiful to resist!

I’m starting to get more and more used to the slow pace around here. It’s hard. I can’t tell you how many times I want to tell Ghanaians to “hurry up!” but they never will. It’s pointless trying. You just have to learn to shrug your shoulders, smile and carry on.

With this post coming to an end, it’s good to mention the happiness this place has already brought me. Things aren’t perfect. Far from it. But there is beauty in imperfection and that is what I have found here. America or not, it’s a beautiful place to now call home.

For the past 10 days, I was fortunate enough to get a bit of time off because a number of people from my organization went to a conference held in another state. Since I did not set time aside at the end of the trip for traveling, I decided now was the time to do it. I asked for advice from some people about where to go in this massive country with such a wide variety of topography. Having been living in the desert region of India for about a month and a half, it was time to head for colder weather, and where better to do it than the Himalayas, the mountain range infamous for having the largest mountain on the planet. Also, thanks to my coordinator and other friends, I had the skeleton of a plan for where I would go.

On Wednesday evening, October 10, I hopped on the Mewar Express, which runs Udaipur to New Delhi in 12 hours. I wanted my first overnight train experience to be positive, so I paid a little extra for the 3-Tier AC class, which means there are fewer people coming through offering/yelling chai or samosas, we are given sheets, and there are six beds to a compartment (bottom, middle, and top of one wall). It was very comfortable, and one of my fellow riders offered to look into places for me to stay in Amritsar and gave me suggestions about what I should do since the time between trains in Delhi was 8 hours. This led to my first lesson from this trip. When you travel alone, you have to be able to rely on others and do quick character assessments of people. Of course, it is important to keep a certain level of awareness or doubt in your mind, especially when they start asking for things in return.  In India, there are people called touts who frequent the train and bus stations offering “help” to tourists when in actually they usually lead them to whatever hotels have agreed to give them a commission, which are almost always more expensive than average.

I arrived at the Nuzamuddin Train Station early in the morning and went straight to my next bus station in New Delhi. 8 hours later, I got on to my train from New Delhi to Chandigarh. First stop of the trip. Chandigarh was India’s first planned city after independence and was planned by Le Corbusier, a French architect who the city into a grid with many “Sectors”. On the train, I met a very nice Siikh man who was traveling with his sister and her two kids. He gave me some suggestions about what to do and where to go in Chandigarh.

 

The next morning I wanted to figure out the best way to get to my next destination, Shimla. This ended up taking all morning (thanks to a very confusing bus system with stations in several different Sectors) but finally discovered where I needed to be the next morning. I went off to the famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh. It was constructed by Nek Chand who did so illegally but eventually was supported by the local government to finish the project. It was quite an amazing collection of rocks, sculptures, and man-made waterfalls. Within the garden, I met a group of 4 local students who were attending university, and I talked with them for quite a while because they had an English test coming up and wanted to practice. Though this did not give me a chance to practice my Hindi, we had a good time walking around the Garden and exchanging information about one another’s culture.

(Got a few pictures taken with a couple of Siikh guys who asked. Indian people really like taking pictures with foreigners, and foreigners enjoy feeling like they are a celebrity, so win-win situation)

 

After the Garden, went and quickly saw the Open Hand Monument, also designed by Le Courbusier. The significance of the Open Hand is to represent peace and unity.

 

The next morning I woke up, had breakfast at the hotel, and went to catch my bus to Shimla, a hill station. I jumped on the bus, which ended up being pretty exciting. Traveling up to Shimla was incredible; the views of the valleys, low-peaks, and apple orchards were amazing. Thanks to our driver, who I can only describe as a Siikh Santa Clause due to his massive beard and jovial nature, I had no trouble staying awake because he was driving as wildly possible. I may have been paranoid, but I’m almost positive after every time they did a death-defying pass on those narrow mountain roads, they looked back at me to see how worried I looked. 6 hours later, I arrived in Shimla and took a walk around the very steep streets of the town. There are only two or three drivable streets in Shimla; stairs are the main method of getting from here to there, which means everyone from Shimla is in very good shape because it can be very tiring to go from one side of town to the next even as a somewhat-fit 22-year old.

It turned out there wasn’t very much to do in Shimla besides walking along the Mall Road and going to the Monkey Temple. There are some treks, but most of them are a ways from the city and take several days with proper gear. Fortunately, I did manage to meet a group of travelers who I ended up hanging out with for a couple of days. They introduced me to Tibetan food, specifically Momos (Veg-stuffed dumplings) and Thukpa (Noodle Soup with Veg). Momos went on to become a staple of the trip and my future eating habits. Also, we went ventured off on random roads and explored the town as much as possible.

 

 

After taking a couple relaxing days in Shimla with the group, Andrew (recently graduated British master’s student) and I set off on a very bumpy 10-hour bus ride for Dharamshala/McLeod Ganj (It is basically one city, Dharamshala, but it is split into two for some reason. McLeod Ganj is about 10 km from Dharamshala proper), home to the exiled Tibetan government, many Tibetan refugees, and the Dalai Lama.

Despite being the most touristy location of my trip, McLeod Ganj was the favorite. There is a very relaxed, Zen vibe to the city. Buddhist monks who live in one of the several monasteries around the area are always going about town or walking through many of the trails accessible around the city. They intermingle with tourists who come to learn more about Buddhism; I met several people who were about to enter into a 10-day intensive course on Buddhism where they are not allowed to speak to anyone and meditate for hours on end.

  (McLeod Ganj)

Andrew and I visited the monastery where the Dalai Lama usually resides, Tsuglagkhang. (He was on tour in the US, unfortunately). There was a very good museum on the history of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, which detailed all of the brutalities and cultural genocide the Chinese have and still are inflicted upon the people of Tibet, including the capture and continued possession of the Panchen Lama (the chosen successor to the Dalai Lama) at the age of 6 (He is now 23). It’s truly terrible; however, the Tibetans who have been able to escape the country, traveling through the Himalayas usually with limited supplies, are still actively raising awareness about the occupation and advocating for independence from the Chinese. Tibetans are primarily a non-violent community, which is why the Chinese have been able to successfully possess the country for so long with limited resistance.

 

 

The next day, Andrew and I decided to hike to Triund, a small base camp located at about 2800 meters above sea level. Two German high school students had told us there was a waterfall on the way that was not to be missed, so we added an extra 6 KM off the path and hiked to the waterfall where we had lunch at the waterfall café. Anyway, after enjoying some chai and omelets, we headed back to the trail to Triund. The remainder of the hike was about 9 km, primarily at a very steep ascent. It took a couple stops along the way, but eventually we dragged ourselves up the stairway of stones to the top. Total amount hiked that day was between 16-18 km and 1500 m additional altitude in about 4-5 hours. But it was definitely worth it. Here’s why.

 

It turned out Triund was basically a camping site with a guesthouse and three other general supply/restaurant shacks. To make hiking easier, Andrew and I had brought limited supplies, which turned out to be a mistake because the Himalayas do get cold at night. Specifically, I only had a t-shirt, rain jacket, athletic shorts, and a Tibetan shawl, which was crucial.

 

 

The sun went down around 6:30, and the cold came very quickly. Fortunately, we had found a place run by a guy named Sunil who offered to let us stay in his store with sleeping bags with support (by support, I mean there were blankets thrown over a pile of stone), but he did have very good veg chow mein. He started a fire at sundown, and a group of travelers gathered and around to keep warm. A group of young, local shepherds and Sunil began singing Punjabi traditional and pop songs late into the night. Eventually, I hopped onto the stones, put the sleeping bag on, and “slept”.

After about a maximum of non-consecutive two hours of sleep, I woke up to the sunrise over the mountains. Andrew and I decided we were ready to get back to McLeod Ganj. The hike down only took 2 hours, though it was pretty rough on the knees since we were basically descending down a massive stone staircase.

 

My last planned destination was Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple (A massive Siikh Temple) and the India/Pakistan border. The bus from Dharamshala left at 5:00 AM and to get there from McLeod Ganj there was a bus that left at 3:30 AM. I woke up at 2:45 to walk to the bus station and realized my hostel locks the gate every night until morning. Since I had to get back by Monday morning, visiting Amritsar was not going to be possible. I found out there was a Volvo bus to New Delhi that left at 6:00 PM that evening, so I decided to take that. Spent the day wandering around McLeod Ganj drinking coffee and eating momos then bid Andrew adieu and started my long journey back.

 

I arrived in Delhi at 5:00 AM and discovered the bus station was not open (of course), but found a rickshaw driver that claimed to run a private bus that would take me direct to Udaipur from New Delhi. Anything and anyone is kind of questionable at 5:00 AM, especially when you are an exhausted solo traveler, but I went anyway because I was pretty desperate to get back. Got on the bus and was eventually told that despite the claim that this bus would go directly to Udaipur, it was in fact going to Jaipur (about 10 hour drive from Udaipur). I didn’t think it would be too much of an issue since I would still be able to get to Udaipur by Monday morning and make it to work without any issues, except for the only sleep I’d had for the past 36 hours was on a bus. I stayed on the bus until the last stop, and they had arranged for a tout to take me someplace to wait until my bus left at 9:30 PM (it was about 3:00PM at this point). After spending 6 hours in Jaipur with people who were constantly trying to sell me stuff all the while claiming not to, I was definitely ready to get back to Udaipur. I finally got to see my first Udaipur sunrise over one of the lakes as the bus was coming into town. It was amazing and was a great ending to a very memorable trip.

“When I was a girl, favorite thing in the whole wide world was to see a field and run for no reason...the sky is blue, blue for no reason.” – Bonnie Raitt

October 4-7 Cloof Wine Estate, Darling

This post is slightly outdated but I have to catch up on some of my goings on because I have a few epic ones to come that I don’t want to overshadow the also wonderful experiences that occurred earlier in the month. This particular account will recall the AWESOME weekend that was Rocking the Daisies (arial photo above). Just think the South African Lollapalozza, or Woodstock for those of you born circa 1989, basically four days of sunshine, camping, fun loving people, great food and drinks, dancing, no showers, and MUSIC! So much awesome live music, my ears literally were in paradise.

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It was so great to spend a weekend away from the city and just be surrounded by beautiful music, scenery, and people. I really felt like I was able to completely bring my mind into the present to fully enjoy the experience, neglect all worries or thoughts that existed in reality and be carefree. At Rocking the Daisies things didn’t need to be justified by reason, they were perfect just the way they were.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves here. To my fellow music lovers check out the following names if you know what is good for you:
– Jeremy Loops- a looping genius that brought the house down. Also my friends boss at Greenpop. He likes to plant trees too!
– Black Handed Kites
– Goldfish
– Black Handed Kites
– Desmond and the Tutus
– Pascal & Pierce