With my own two hands...

We just got back from the central market, and even though we only went through 1/10 of it, it took a couple hours. I swear if you look hard enough the market has everything. The supermarket seems so unnecessary now.
This week has been quite the boring one. We have finished a third room, the beach room, so thats exciting. Now we are going to buy clear gloss to make sure our 100 hours of work doesn't get completely trashed, because even though its only been up for a month, its getting ruined fast. So maybe if it would last until I left...haha hopefully.
We threw a Halloween party at our house this weekend which was fun. We all dressed up, and hung out, drank an awesome bop. It was pretty standard, nothing too crazy.
We are going to finally get to the orphanage this week to begin the building of the room for the handicapped girl. So I am excited to get started with something new.
Also Eli and I are most likely going to go up North for 9 days this Friday once she finally gets it together (I am hoping you read this :))
On a really awesome and exciting note, I am beginning to think that my travel time around Africa might be extended. Meaning that I could travel up North through maybe Morocco and Egypt and then go straight to Israel. I don't see the point in coming home for a month and then leaving again right away. We'll see how A. Nahum takes it, but I am crossing my fingers because that would be so cool.
I don't have all that much to say because my last post was so draining. Keep the emails and the love coming, I appreciate it alot when I start feeling homesick.

But you got to use
use your own two hands

One Sweet World...

October 23rd, 2006
I am the worst blogger known to man kid. Sorry about that kids, but tough luck, I've got better things to do. Too bad I forgot the last time I blogged so I will just write whatever I feel like.
We went to a Kente Cloth (the traditional weaving of silk string into quilts etc...) village, Bonwire, last weekend and it was cool, except for the fact that we were seriously harassed by locals. I have never been rude here, but I started to that weekend. This whole obruni thing is really starting to get to me, I seriously am just getting to the point where I ignore people who try to talk to me on the street. Not the most conductive way to make friends I suppose, but what can ya do?
Anyway, more importantly we went to the Volta Region this whole past week and it was really cool. The west part of Ghana is pretty dry, and I live close to a big city so its decently "developed." Ho (the city which we went to) was crazy green and beautiful. It was Sanna's birthday so we went out to a restaurant and had a nice evening.
The next day we went up North a little further to Leklabi and saw the Afalo water fall. According to Toon, waterfalls are classified into A,B, and C categories according to the development of their trails and accessibility. A being the easiest and C being the most difficult. Funny that this was a C waterfall and because my Chacos were stolen by a dog is Wia, I only had my flip flops.
So I went barefoot.
Ha! What a terrible idea that was. Even though the hike half ruined the waterfall (also the fact that the feeling that it was my personal doomsday (haha Eli)) it was really beautiful. The next day we went to Wli waterfall, the biggest in West Africa and it was amazing. Even though you couldn't swim because it was so powerful it hurt, and Eli's camera was stolen by a Gollum look alike who was eating a snake w/ its head chopped off that he had caught, it was still a worthwhile trip (our tour guide found the camera too:))
So we got back today after a 7 hour trotro ride, which couldn't even compare to the 207 ride we had on the way down.
I have been feeling a bit homesick lately which I am actually happy about. I actually thought I would never want to go back, but now when I think about things I am rarely scrutinizing anything. I just miss it. And I just feel positive when I reflect back on what I, at one point, wasn't sure if I wanted anything to do with anymore. I'm not going to be stupid enough to let my feeling about home ruin this trip.
My longing for eggs benedict might though.
As I read about everyone's lives back at home, I can just feel the distance between me and them growing with every minute I am here. It worries me because I remember Mike once said "I am so excited because when we come home we will all be so close, nothing will matter." I am scared I am going to change so much that I won't even be able to relate to anyone anymore.
My daily stresses can't even relate to homework or papers or relationships. Not to say I'm being challenged more, but just in a different way. Which means I am growing in a different way.
I can feel that I'm different. I've never been aware of such a strong change within myself.
Also, I can feel myself restless with the idea of medschool for 15 YEARS. Eli and I talk about it all the time. I am beginning to get the feeling that I would be so much better in an administrative and political position in international affairs. I want so badly to touch people and help where its needed, but I'm starting to think that while I'm off at school basically throwing money at the universities, I could be travelling and doing more.
Travelling. Thats all I want now. I just want to see as much as the world as I can, and absorb it. I always knew there was more to life then MN, but I have never felt so compelled to find it as now. Okay I'll leave this for now. Love and miss everyone.

Living is easy with eyes closed...

Litsening to the Beatles a little too much. Is that even possible? Ya, I don't think so. So we finally got to an I Cafe because we have been working like crazy this week! We have finished completely the "sea room" and the mural is awesome! I have learned to never attempt painting a jelly fish again (I don't know where that would come up in the future...) and also to never paint a whole wall red. The "snow room" which we are currently painting is red, and has a mural of an igloo and an eskimo and people sledding and a snowman, who I named Kurt because he was annoying and not "working with me" so I figured if I named him after my favorite author he would be a little easier :0) Other than though is looks absolutely awesome, and I am in the best mood after I paint (even though I am a different color and completely covered in sweat...ew) because I can see my work coming to an end result. Its so positive.
I finised East of Eden and started Of Human Bondage. Steinbeck is ridiculous and I am so glad that Toon has access to a library where I can get more! East of Eden is now up to the Slaughterhouse Five level, and I mean the same level and thats huge. I read a ridiculous amount here. I brought 9 challenging books and have read 5 of them. I'm probably going to have to get more :)
We just got back from the orphanage in Boadi and decided a way to build extra rooms for them so that the disabled children who come there will have a place to stay. It was so nice to spend some time there. The children are SO needy, I have never seen kids so deprived of attention in my life. One girl kept wrapping her arms and legs around me when I already had my hands full with other kids. I fell in love with Elsa, a beautiful little girl who was so pleasant and friendly. I am so excited to work there, and I am hoping to take a few weekends off around Christmas and spend it there with the kids.
The owner is such a cool guy. He started the orphanage in his own house 10 years ago with 6 kids. It now has somewhere around 150 kids, and is constantly trying to expand to be able to have room for more. They provide medical care, and schooling up to secondary school, when they send them to another school in town. He is a really spiritual guy, and is so thankful for anything or anyone who wants to help. So yay, I feel really happy about the opportunity to help him :)
I am feeling really weird lately because I really need some alone time, but I never get it. I can't think properly with everyone around all the time. Everyone from home knows that I am really needy of alone time. I will build myself a little fort outside in our rainforest backyard and the problem will be solved. As long as I keep it a secret from my roommate so she doesn't come out and talk and talk and talk...haha right...
Well we need to go buy some paint and I should probably eat because I haven't all day. Keep the emails coming, except from my girls STOP WRITING EMAILS, it takes me like 2 hours to get through a weeks worth :)
Love and miss everyone

Cutest damn baby you'll ever see...

Just trying to upload a picture.

Oh and I think Slaughter House Five now has competition in my mind...East of Eden is sheer brilliance. I bought a dictionary so I can actually read my Proust and Cervantes now. yay!

Other than that I updated a couple days ago so I don't have much to say...we are going to visit the school we are teaching at on Mondays and Fridays tomorrow. I am going to teach English. math and maybe science, my boss seemed determined to get me to teach science...maybe the whole med student thing :)

looks like the picture isn't working :( oh well...maybe next time

RASTAFARA....

That title is for the benefit of Eli and only Eli :) Get a life and stop reading my blog.
Anyway...its been a while since I've been able to blog so I actually have a couple things to say! For one thing, we finished painting the blue room so that is awesome, we are going to start painting the mural tomorrow.
Okay so we went to Accra this past weekend, and good lord it was a long trip. It took us like 9 hours to get there, and then we found some random hotel and had candles cause the electricity was out and we all passed out. The next day Liane had a malaria relapse so we had to take her to the hospital. It was a complete disaster because the lab was so slow so she had to find a bed and wait for the results.
We ended up letting her rest and going to see the "National Museum" which was really small, and to be honest kind of pathetic. The exhibit at the Met is larger, and more interesting. Not to mention the fact that foreigners are charged more to enter. Boohiss.
After another 3 trotro rides we some how got to Kokrobite, the most awesome hippie paradise I have ever seen. We stayed in an open air loft (w/ mosquito nets, of course) and drank beer on the beach all night while litsening to live raggae...it was so awesome. "Rastafara" comes from the fact that most of the locals speak no english but somehow always manage to say "rastafara..." over and over.
They had an awesome fast food place in the village (fast food being rice and stew with maybe chicken or fish) so I had rice 4 times within 24 hours...still not sick of it yet. Its so good! They also sold some awesome patchwork clothes and jewelery, so for the first time I actually bought something other than food or stuff for the house.
I met a guy, David, 23 from Amsterdam, and he was really cool. He was a med student and was working in the North to get medical care to the small suburbs (villages, suburbs don't exist here.) It was so funny for one thing, because talking to him reminded me of me when I first came here (he had only been here for like 3 days), and I was giving him all these pointers. I felt like such a Ghana expert. And then I was telling him about all my plans for the future and he said I was the most forward thinking person he had ever met...thats new! haha no... We talked on the beach for a couple hours after the raggae show, and I tried to get him my email but he had disspeared. I left it with the reception. I'm never gonna talk to him again...haha.
Anyway we somehow got back to Kumasi and we stayed the night at Eli's because it was too late to get a trotro to Wiamoase. So now I am sticky and gross and probably smell and should be starving because its Yom Kippur but I am too lazy to keep it.
I'm trying to keep up with emails, but somehow its just too much work. It doesn't mean I love anyone any less, I am just bad with time management at the internet cafes.
Love and miss everyone.