Junie's Online Thoughts
Friday, January 31, 2003
Going to Kumasi...be back on Sunday night.
Thursday, January 30, 2003
Ah, the breakdown of communication. I love it. So, in December, I accompanied this gal named Susan to a Junior Secondary School to help her teach an art club class. The teacher was Vicki, and very nice. When Susan returned home to California, she asked if I could take over the class. I said I didnt really want to as I had no experience as a teacher and no real desire to be one. But she said that she had talked to Vicki and she agreed that I could come every other week to be her assistant rather than the main teacher. I finally called Vicki this week (after cancelling last week due to my stomach thing) and scheduled me to visit the class today at 1 pm. When I got there, she seemed shocked that I didnt have anything prepared. Susan had left all of her art supplies with Vicki, but she left them at her house. I didnt have any ideas for projects because I didnt think I would be doing more than helping. Breakdown of communication, majorly. So my trip today was basically a bust....we made slightly awkward small talk and agreed that I would come back next week with some glue so we could make paper finger puppets. I think she doesnt understand that I dont want to be a Susan, but whatever. Im going to try it, because she really needs a break and the kids can get a different perspective if someone else teaches for a little while. Whether I suck or not, its just for a few weeks. Then I am going to tell her that I cant do it anymore, because we will be travelling more to other cities outside of Accra and I wont have the time to dedicate to it. But I figure the least I can do is give it a shot. If anyone has any crafty kid ideas that involve minimal supplies and minimal cost and time, please email them to me. I need all the help I can get.
When the taxi drove me there this morning, all along Oxford Street were cops and military guys standing around with big guns. Whats up with that, I asked the taxi man. He thought it must be due to the increase in armed robbers lately. Hmmm.....that makes me a bit nervous, although Id be happier to see cops with guns than robbers with guns.
We have been hearing about the Iraq business over the BBC, and its actually okay being here. We get a much different perspective on world affairs and how the world at large perceives the U.S. I certainly know that Bush wont stop his goal of war, because of oil interests, because of his gotta-settle-the-score-that-my-daddy-didnt business, because of his pro-military slant. But its bad....war is always bad.....scary stuff, folks.
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Tried to sign on before but the computer wouldnt let me. Oh well, this time it worked. Lots to catch up on...friend STacey saw an armed robber the other day at a conference for her job. It was during the day, a guy jumped off a motorcycle with a gun, grabbed some guys money, hopped back on and left. She said it was just like a movie...and no one called the cops of course. Why bother? (That just kills me....Im surprised there isnt more crime here when there arent any consequences....)
Today I ran all over creation looking for avacados and zuccini. Took me over three hours to find the latter, and never found the former. I did however, decide to make a key lime pie for the first time in my life. I adapted an old recipe Jeremy had on his computer. Had to improvise on the sweetened condensed milk and guess on the grams to ounces conversions, but it turned out really well. I was surprised, considering I didnt know what I was doing. Next adventure is to find a cookie sheet and attempt peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. yyyyuuuuummmmmmmmm
Tomorrow I go to the class to help the teacher. No clue what I will be doing when I get there, but oh well. Friday we leave for Kumasi, but just for the weekend. No enough money right now to go for a week...have to wait for the checks to arrive that mom mailed me over a month ago. Makes me nervous, but I keep hoping they will show up.
Immigration was almost painless today. Showed up early. They returned our applications with an amount written on them. (they were actually processed twelve days before...we could have showed up earlier, but didnt know that). Paid 240,000 cedis total, then brought it back to the processing room. Come back next week. When? Oh, Tuesday or Wednesday. You dont have our passports ready now? No, you just paid for them. Whatever. One more trip...then hopefully we wont have to worry about Immigration anymore. We will just plan a trip to Togo when we need those last two months extended. Thats it for now....
Monday, January 27, 2003
I meant to have Jeremy write a blog on his birthday, but that never happened. Oh well, another day. Friday the big house had a party for the three birthdays (Jeremy, Erin and Barbara). However, it soon became like the pizza night, where the food didnt materialize until past 9:30 pm and by then we were all starving. I was still recovering from the night before when I got sick from the cake, and tried to take it easy, but with the late eating and brownies/cake that I ate, I got sick again. Jeremy stayed at the party for a while, and at around midnight I could hear them all singing "Happy birthday" with this stoner guy named Africa playing the drums. I tossed and turned and finally fell asleep long after Jeremy came home.
Saturday, we slept late, I gave Jeremy his gifts (a bowl, a teacup and saucer, a wooden lidded vessel and some chocolates), and we postponed our Italian dinner due to my stomach. Instead we went to Busy Internet, then played cards with Erin.
Sunday we slept later than expected, then headed off to Aburi, this botanical garden park less than an hour out of the city. Soooo beautiful. Big trees, well-marked plants, plenty of walking paths and cooler weather. The hills bordered the park and it was fabulous to get out in the woods. It would be much easier to visit Aburi again when we get the car, and there are a bunch of smaller towns and villages near Aburi that we could also see when that day comes. (Our friend, Becky, bought a car when she was here last year. Currently, her friend, Ebenezer, is using it, but she arranged for us to borrow it during our stay here and then Ebenezer gets to keep it forever. We just need to hook up with him to pick it up, transfer it from the taxi it is right now into a regular car, then learn how to drive stick shift. Easy, right?)
Around 4-ish, we made our way out of the park to catch a tro tro back to Accra. Where should we go? Jeremy asked some guy. Those people on the corner are waiting. So we stood by a few folks on a corner near some pineapple sellers. Across the street, tons of people sat on benches outside of a building. I wonder what they are waiting for, we asked. Hours passed. No tro tros. Maybe we should ask again, Jeremy suggested. Excuse me, to the folks we had been standing next to. Are you waiting for a trotro to Accra? No, we are going to Madina. Those people over there, the long, long line of folks across the street, they are in queue for Accra. IT will be better for you to go to Madina and catch another trotro on the street, rather than waiting three or four hours over there. Another hour passed. By now a few paid taxis left, along with one trotro, where people nearly clawed their way onto the vehicle, arguing and angry. Finally a Madina trotro showed up and we fought our way on. It was time consuming, but then again it wasnt. We could have been sitting in line against the way.....so we went to Madina, then caught one to 37/Tech 7, then a shared taxi to Osu. Home in time for dinner.
I had bought this HUGE cheap pineapple in Aburi, and made the mistake of eating some right before bed. Of course the acid freaked out and I was sick again. ARghhhhh. Hopefully, if Im more careful, it will all pass as usual in a few days, and then I can return to normal. Im sick of not sleeping, of being in pain, of not being able to eat what I want. When I get back to the states and get insurance, I will have to see about me having acid reflux...cant do too much about it now, when the Tums and the Alka Seltzer just make it 100 times worse.
Today we are banking, waiting for my mom's envelope with our checks to arrive, making phone calls and running errands. Jeremy returns to Legon tomorrow, then we face immigration on Wednesday. We are supposed to get our VISAS back with our 6 months on them....we'll just see how much of a trauma that turns out to be....thats it for now.....
