March 5

Last weekend some friends and I went to Aburi, a small town with wood carving and a bead store. Our group of 50 students had gone one of the first weekends but a smaller group of us wanted to go back and look around some more. The wood carving town has little booths (for a lack of better term) about 10 feet by 7 feet, that line the road, with no space between them. Inside each booth an artist displays his work and urges anyone that passes to come in, “It’s free to look,“ is a common phrase. There are no stet prices, so it is up to the buyer to negotiate a reasonable price. We have learned that they try to charge us triple the price, so we have learned to start low and then work our way to a reasonable price. It is definitely becoming easier to bargain, sometimes it can be very frustrating, but the feeling of accomplishment when you successfully bargain is great! On Saturday night we went to the Vagina Monologues put on by students at the university, it was very well done. All the plays put on by the theater department are directed by students and are accomplished in only 6 weeks! On Sunday a group of friends went to an area of Accra, Osu, to find a Chinese restaurant. It turns out that the Chinese restaurant we were planning on going to opens at 4pm on Sundays. We were able to find another restaurant so it all worked out in the end. Maps don’t really exist in Ghana so getting the feel of the area has been difficult but I am familiar with the most common tro-tro stations so that makes getting places a lot easier.
Different organizations on campus plan trips to different parts of Ghana that are open to all students. This upcoming weekend I am planning on going with the Computer Science students up to Mole National Park. The park is in northern Ghana, about a 14 hour bus ride. We are leaving on Thursday and driving straight through and then going to the park and driving home. Not a lot of time at the park but I am really excited to see elephants! Mole National Park is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Ghana has apparently the best viewing of wildlife! The most common attractions our elephants, hippos, antelope, baboons and different bird species. I am planning on traveling to the northern part of Ghana again and to Burkina Faso (the country north of Ghana) at the end of April or beginning of May. In the later trip I will be able to stop at Mole National Park again if I feel there is more to see.
The orphanage has been a lot of work but so rewarding. My parents are sending me picture books about snow and one of my friends from the program has a snow globe, when the package arrives I am going to teach the kids about snow! I think they will really enjoy that. Two new girls arrived at the orphanage last week, they speak a northern language and not a lot of English, so communicating with them has been interesting. Thankfully some of the other kids at the orphanage are helping with translation. Some of the kids are being adopted next weak, on Sunday there will be a goodbye party for them and the volunteers are invited. One of the kids, he is about 10 years old, was a little sad on Wednesday and we found out that he was being adopted and moving to America on Monday. I can’t imagine all the things going through their heads, leaving the country they have grown up in, leaving 30 kids that have been like siblings to them and leaving for a country that they have no idea what to expect. He told me he was going to either Tennessee or Indiana, and I told him how great those states are and that they are not too cold! He seemed to appreciate all the things I told him about America. Also yesterday all the students formed a circle and they had to pick partners, one girl ran across the circle and hugged me and asked to be my partner. Of course I said yes and then realized we had to dance in the middle, when it was out turn all the kids started laughing that ‘the white girl’ was dancing! It was so much fun and all the kids seemed really excited that I participated and joined in on their dance.