some pics

leaving tonight

how can i be leaving already? i feel like i just got here. saying goodbye to my kids yesterday was one of the hardest things i've ever done. the cried so hard, some of them off & on thru-out the day. we all cried. even the teacher cried, which was really unexpected & made me cry harder. she wrote me such a sweet note too. so did one of my girls esther. suzzy was so funny, hugging me saying "you shall not cry or i shall cry!" & she hired a photographer to take our pictures. i really don't want to leave yet, but i feel like the longer i'm here the harder it'll be to leave. besides, i'm coming back. i have to. this trip has changed my life & me in ways i can't put into words. the last 6 weeks have been hands down the best 6 weeks of my life. i will never ever forget a moment of my time here. i even kinda liked the cold showers! although i don't think i want to eat rice or chicken again for quite some time. i've reached my limit. bring on the red meat.

i leave tonight @ 11:30 & get home sometime tomorrow afternoon.

goodbye for now ghana. i love you & i'll miss you.

abby

only 2 weeks left!?

how is it that my time here is approaching its end. i honest to god cannot believe that i've been here a month. my group is getting smaller every week.

a new group of volunteers came in this weekend & for the most part they are great. i like all of them except the one from west palm beach, fl (who we're almost positive has fake boobs). she's not gonna have an easy time here. she's also kinda dumb. i don't mean to sound rude...but she is. one of them, a girl named yoonie, is at my school which is awesome.

apparently something was sent from my email to a bunch of random addresses. it was not me. i have no clue how it was sent. if you got an email from me on the 21st of october DO NOT open it. its probably a virus. every computer here has them. its bad. i apologize.

i'm almost done getting souvenirs, which has been a harder task to accomplish than i thought it would be.

i don't know, last week was kinda boring...didn't really do much. i'm going back to the wli falls w/ the new group tomorrow, which will be awesome.

i' gonna sign off here cause the keyboard @ the internet cafe is really annoying. miss you all!

end of week 3. i seriously can’t believe it. this weekend was really hard cause the 1st bunch of volunteers from my group left. the hardest part was saying goodbye to my friend amy. its crazy how good a friend she became to me in just 3 weeks. she made me laugh so hard all the time. she even named her parasite (she got a stomach parasite we think). his name is pete. parasite pete. if you know me at all you can see just from that why i love her. thank god the other girl i’ve gotten really close to, carissa, is still here or i’d be miserable. it kinda sucks cause a large majority of the people left are people i can’t really stand. my roommate is one of those girls who will change everything about herself to be liked by the queen bee...& i can’t stand the queen bee. she thinks she’s gods freakikng gift to humanity. she looks at you like you’re an idiot & acts like she’s here for a much nobler reason than everyone else. whatever, i don’t need that. a lot of the girls here are kinda like my roomie, therefore we don’t really get along. i don’t like people who act like one way around certain people & completely differently around others. i’m sorry that i’m not willing to change myself to fit in & be liked by everyone. talk behind my back all you want, it won’t change me. i don’t like large groups of girls...thats why i love carissa & amy. they accepted me as i am. thats what makes a real friend.

on a brighter note, things are still going great. the dry season is beginning, which means less humidity, which means even though its crazy hot, it’ll be a dry heat. there’s this really cool phenomenon where a rainbow forms a complete circle around the sun, which means the dry season is approaching. farmers dread it. i kinda look forward to it. you haven’t experienced humidity til you’ve been in ghana during a rainy season. you’re clothes are wet w/in 5 minutes of putting them on. so hooray for the dry season!

we went to the monkey sanctuary this week & it was so freaking awesome!!! i hand fed bananas to monkeys. there little hands touched mine. they were so cute. they peeled the bananas right there in your hand. and they made the cutest little sounds while eating them. i really wanted to take one home w/ me =) i have many pictures. we had to wear giant rain boots (they only had one size & that size was like 9 or 10) and clomp down the path, which was super muddy & just wet in general (hence the boots), & then all of a sudden, MONKEYS! they just appeared. they made a funny kinda kissing sound. god i loved them.

i can’t believe i only have 3 weeks left. when i first got here the prospect of being here for 6 weeks was so overwhelming. but these first 3 weeks have gone by so quickly, & the next 3 will probably go by even faster. especially cause i have little things to look forward to at the end of each week. i have stuff being made by a seamstress that i get to pick up on the 23rd, then i have a package from margaret i get to open on the 31st, then i come home on the 7th. & yes, i am looking forward to coming home. i’ve had an undeniably amazing time here so far, & part of me won’t want to leave, but i really think by the end of the next 3 weeks i’ll be ready.

i already have plans w/ carissa (who lives about an hr away in winchester) to meet up & go to five guys after she gets back (she’s here 2 weeks longer than me). we’re also planning to go down to key largo to visit amy when its cold in va but not snowing. we both like snow too much to miss it =) i hear its already really cold & miserable back home. rachel (a volunteer who left friday) said that it was reported on cnn in england that it snowed in philly last week. thats crazy. i guess its about time to have another freezing cold halloween...we’re had too many pleasant ones the past few years.

the things i miss the most (other than family & friends): CHEESE! (all we have is laughing cow cheese. its a spreadable cheese that doesn’t need refrigeration...its weird), not being sweaty 24/7, cow meat (beef, steak etc.), milk (its full cream here), did i mention cheese?, my bed (mosquito nets are annoying), & last but not least, HOT SHOWERS. yes, the cold ones feel good, sometimes, but they are still cold.

i’m sitting in the big room typing this up while a bunch of people are arguing politics along w/ george, the very attractive, very nice, guy who works here. i’m not quite sure what his title is, but its pretty high in the pecking order. he wanted to be president of ghana but he married an american so now he can’t. he’s very smart. he’s also siding w/ the one republican at the table. its kinda funny.

well, we’re running on generator power as there’s a ghana wide blackout so my laptop isn’t charging even though its plugged in, so i’m gonna hop off here. plus, i gotta get outta this room...if i hear anything about conspiracies, bush, 9/11, or genocide anymore i’m gonna lose my mind. i’m gonna try to watch a movie w/ carissa. hey! look at that, the powers back. lets see how long it lasts this time...

end of week 2

i seriously can't believe its been 2 weeks since i left home. the first half of week one dragged on & felt like a month, but this week has flown by. i can't believe the 3 weekers leave in a week. the house is gonna be so lonely for a week til the new volunteers get here. i've laughed more here than i have in a long time. and i mean laughing til i cry laughter. its awesome.

school is great. i'm working with P3 which is kinda like 3rd grade. i have 10 kids somedays & less on others. we're working on verb tense & the 7, 8, & 9 times tables. they learn everything by memorizing it in order. so if i ask what 3x6 is they have to start @ 3x1 then do 3x2 and so on til they hit 3x6. they don't know anything out of sequence. they also can't do much conceptual stuff. like they couldn't do a puzzle.

i stayed home this weekend with a couple other volunteers while everyone elae went to the beach somewhere. i got sick last week & didn't want to push it too much.

i miss you all...but i love it here. it is waaay too hot though...i'm gonna freeze when iu come home in november.

will update when i can.

- abby

sorry its been so long!

so its been a week and i totally can't believe it. sorry i haven't updated yet, but the internet here is really unreliable. it was really hard at first but its totally amazing now. we did the canopy walk in kakum national park & visited the elmina castle today. we're at a place called the coconut grove now in elmina. we head back to hohoe tomorrow. its an 8hr drive. placement was horrible the 1st day but now i love it. everyone is so awesome here. i love pretty much all the other volunteers. i love my kids at school. all the kids (& some adults too) around town call us "yevo" which means white person, but its not derogatory at all. its really funny. fun fact about hohoe, they love the backstreet boys & celine dion. its hilarious. the food it good & there's this stuff here called "fanmilk". its ice cream in a plastic wrapper & the vanilla tastes like cake batter ice cream. its delicious. i'll try to update soon. now that i kinda have a feel for things i'll go to the internet cafe more. i have to go cause other people need the computer. i'll try to post pictures but i've been told the internet doesn't really allow it. i'll type up my journal entries & post them. i miss you all!


- abby

p.s. the men here are ridiculous. they are so absurdly flirtatious & persistent. and often quite attractive