Some photos from life in Ghana

Kids in Axim Oda, Easter region

 Eating sugar cane

Sugar cane before eating above and peeling it below!

With Jhonatan and Louisa - up the mountain overseeing Accra, in the Ghana University!

Sussan [Sierra Leone], AFS secretary

Ediite :) 

Aburi Botanic Garden - worth a visit!

Pineapple plant!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aburi Botanic Garden

Ghana is bad for my ears.

There is nothing to eat in my fridge, apart from sachets of gin and jar of tomato-peeper sauce. I made a tea to fill me up and between the sounds of TV on my left and church evening pray coming from my right, I am trying to concentrate and write couple of reasonable lines to make sense. 

The church is so loud, that I might consider moving away for this week, just because it will be going on every evening this week - loud and clear!!! 

It is ok to preach and pray, to go to church and believe, but I do have a problem with the screaming - singing - 'music' being played so loud, that everyone in the neighborhood is forced to listen. [Partly the problem being the lack of windows in Ghana. All they have here is glass shades and a net and bars, but nothing that would keep the dust, rain water (if shades are not put down) or sound coming in and out of the room]. One would think this is a reason why even more precaution should be done when being so super loud, but not in Ghana. Here everything and everyone is loud. If music is played in the bar -then so loud, that you can not have a conversation, if a party goes on and music is played, then so loud that you cant really hear the lyrics... if you wanna sell something on the streets, you use loud speaker and announce your message. And this happed every 100m on some busy streets, like Circle, for example. 

So it is nice to go to Togo for a weekend and listen in quietness, even in Tema [ a city about 30km from Accra] one can find a quite spot. It is nice to listen to quietness... oh, and change the rhythm of the music. :) 

Other than that - I love Ghana, my body loves Ghana...just if you could, please, be more thoughtful with my ears! :) 

Home feeling in Ghana. Still looking.

Hey ya, has been a long time since my last entry and as all of you might have noticed, I have gotten more lazy in comparison with the first weeks. Well, it is natural. I think all my diaries have full 1st pages and as the experience grows, the time between the entries also grows. I could try to promise that it will not repeat, but lets be real - it is Africa and things happen by God's Grace! :)

Last evening I spent with my friend watching TV and particularly enjoyed the show 'Who wants to be rich?' [yeah, I guess in Ghana a million is too much to offer cause the questions are ridiculously easy, so they go for less and call it RICH]. Apart from the regular questions being very easy, it was great to find out some interesting things about Ghana in the process, like the fact that their current constitution was approved in 1994 and they money was denominated in 2007  [thou people still refer to 50ps as 500 and 3Cds as 3000]. It was also great for the fact that it was great home feeling - lying in a big bed, eating take away Ghanaian food, giggling over the TV show and drinking Black Balsam [ yeah, I got a package from Latvia and it also have a BIG BLACK BALSAM in it!!!]

The conclusion of the evening is - I NEED HOME here in Ghana! A place where I can stay in bed, walk around naked, eat from pots and sing in shower [thou I never do that, or do I ?].

Happy and sad.

I have totally lost count of time. I do not have the sensation that Christmas is around the corner and that somewhere people are enjoying winter joys. Miraculously I have gotten in some sort of daily life, that manages to keep me busy for the morning to late evening.

How life in Ghana didn't quite turned out to be what I had expected.

Some of you might now that it I came to Ghana with an idea in my mind, that I would start to work here as from February 2011, but, unfortunately, that plan fell apart on my 3rd week here and ever since I have been stressing myself out by the fact that I need to find a job ASAP. And find a job in Ghana!

After the initial - let's get to know Ghana - period, where the only worry is to care about the basic things of food, roof and fun, comes the REALITY check of needing to find a place to live in and set the daily life routine, which also involves planning carefully the transport expenses, food shopping etc.

And finally, Ghana didn't turn out to be just yet another backpacker's destination, being ok with my 40kg of life I brought with me. There have been so many formal outgoings, that my only two pairs of dressy shoes are worn out and definably not enough dresses with me. I am as concern about my looks and appearance here as I was in Latvia. Not something I would have guessed... :)

Thou the good news are : after less than two months into the adventure, I am referring to this as LIFE!

Crap week, good week!

So yeah, we all have our good days and bad days. The same even apply for good weeks, months and years! There is a healthy balance in the universe, which sometimes we dislike (after all - who likes to be unhappy?), but then the good times are twice as good. Just like a crappy meal when you are hungry - tastes a whole lot better, right? :P

Last week was bit crappy for me. Got a bit ill, had to go to see a Dr and go through the experience of an idiot poking my veins, which resulted in me NOT GIVING the blood test. I also got super bored, since things with AFS are not moving anywhere and job that could have been done and over by now, is still...pending. Started to look for a job and this process isnt the most self-esteem supporting and optimistic, as there are few ads that meet my needs and companies, whose needs I can meet! So adding all that together and topping it up with 2 nights with last minute changes in plans, a home that doesnt feel like home... well, you get the picture! Ediite had her crap week!

And on those days, weeks - we tend to see EVERYTHING in darker colors. I, personally, pick fights for no reason, bitch and comment about things, see the bad rather than the good things. I also complained that I do not have friends here in Ghana yet. You know - those people whom I can call up at these situations and know that they will be by my side and moan with me. And well, we might not have quite reached that stage, but for sure - I have friends that care about me!

Today alone, sitting here on my sofa this morning, I got two phone calls from people in Ghana - just to check on me and wish me a great week! I mean, come on, doesnt that count as a GREAT started of a week!? Doesnt a fact that a friend comes over and cooks you lunch on Sunday, counts as a BEST FRIEND? And after meeting a new couple and the woman inviting you over for her aqua aerobics classes on Thursday for free and after I can enjoy laying around the pool in the sun!? Doesnt that all count as great start of yet another WONDERFUL week!?

So to conclude - this is my attempt and manifesto, that this week is going to be great! We will find the house that is going to be OUR HOME, I will get the job that will make me feel smart, needed and meanful every day and I will have the best time of the week with my loved on! Oh, and I will leave Accra at least twice this week! :)

Whats on your TO DO LIST this week, people?!

Happiest part of the day.

Some of you already know that I have met my special One here and he colors my days in all the colors of rainbow! And my happiest moments of the day are those, when the clock hits 5pm...and I know that quite soon it is time to get my ass off the chair in front of my PC at the office in Adabraka and go down to Asylum Down, where I will meet Him for a drink. My happiest moments of the day, the walk downhill, when it seems that the whole world is smiling at you and wishing you a wonderful life! It is when the butterflies start to fly in my stomach again!

So I am off... :)

Quiet night in.

All I can hear in my living room at 8pm are people clapping at the near by church, grasshoppers singing their evening song and traffic somewhere far away. Had a shower 2h ago, but am sweating again - might need to take another one just before bedtime. It is crazy how humid the air is here, happy I made the curls before moving here, as I would have my natural, wild curls all the time anyhow!

Today is a rare night, when I stayed in. Have been home most of the day and was sort of looking forward to leave the house, but instead also thought that it would be OK to be on my own for a while and remind myself about the good old times when I was able to entertain myself for days, weeks... somehow now, it seems that I need people around, well one specific person. Yet even us - need breaks and a day off, it is just healthy!

Spoke to mom today, sounds like my little brother is growing up by days and fulfills his role of 17 year old, good looking guy quite well! Of-course, I would wish that it didn't give mom the headache, but it is all part of parenthood, I guess.

Darn, just did the mistake of putting my dinner pineapple ball next to me on the sofa and guess who is eating it now - some giant, harmless ants! Yeah, I still owe you a blog about the concept of clean here and how my standards have lowered quite a bit! For instance - I just fished the ant out and gave it a lecture and carried on with my dinner! Plain yogurt and pineapple - all natural goodies! :)

So TV and early bed time it is!

November already.

I cant believe, it is November 1st and only few weeks left till Christmas! I would not have mentioned this, if only I hadn't heard the song 'Let it snow, let it snow...' being played in a shopping mall! Quite surreal song for a country with average t being +30 and 90% of population never having experienced snow!