Lots of things to
update! I don't have much time though so I can't write as much as I'd like to about each thing...
Cup of Nations
update: So in case anyone was curious, I actually didn't have class last
Wednesday. The professor didn't show up because of the game, so instead a bunch
of us went to a bar and watched the game from there. Ghana lost, unfortunately,
and then played for 3rd place and lost that game too, so they didn't place this
year. Ohh well.
Then this past
weekend, we went to Cape Coast. We left Legon early Saturday morning, and drove
straight to Elmina Castle--the largest former slave fort in West Africa. First
thing that struck me was the unsettling irony of how beautiful the architecture
of the castle is , despite knowing about all the horrible things that happened
there. It was a really emotional tour. We were brought down into the dungeons
where slaves were packed in by the hundreds for months at a time in almost
complete darkness, and walked through what they called "the door of no
return." We had a discussion about the experience later that night after
dinner, where a lot of people shared their thoughts, which was nice because it
was interesting to hear about how everyone else felt.
That same afternoon,
we went to a workshop on batiking, which is
this way of dying fabric with stamped designs. The place we went to was
called Global Mamas, which is an NGO that focuses on fair trade practices and employs
a bunch of women to make clothing with batiked fabric to export. There's also a
store here in Osu. I need to get over there at some point because they make
some really cute stuff. I wanted to buy it all… But anyway, we learned how they
do the batiking by stamping the designs in wax on the fabric, and then dyeing
it. We made our own banners for our CIEE olympic teams. Someone's going to
judge them for us and decide on a winner.
Then on Sunday we
went to Kakum National Park to do a canopy walk through the rainforest! It was amazing. Although, I was a
little more scared than I thought I'd be. Before it I was all, "I ain't afraid of no heights,"
until I got on that rickety rope bridge, looked down, and thought about how
people have died on much sturdier structures before. But the view was
incredible. I'll put up pictures eventually, but I lent out my camera cord so I
have to get that back first…
So Cape Coast was a
success. Other updates:
I joined the
volleyball team! Kind of. Everyone is welcome to come to practices every day at
3, but there's an actual team that you have to be good enough to make if you
want to compete. I don't know if I'll make it, as I haven't played in a while,
but so far I'm the tallest one there so maybe that will be to my advantage…?
Also, for an update
on the internship situation, I've been debating with myself a lot lately about
whether or not I should stick with it. I don't want to go into the boring
details of that, but I think I'm just going to stick with it. I just was hoping
for something more focused on public health since I'm not pre-medicine, but I know
of a place I can volunteer at to learn about PH a little more. Also, things
went really well at the hospital yesterday so I feel better about it.
I'll just have to accept that some days there's literally nothing to do, and
some days there are women pretty much lined up out the door to have babies. So
yesterday was a busier day. I saw 2 more births, tried to awkwardly provide
comfort for the women in labor, and me and the other student there hung out
with the doctor all day and he had us help him place IV lines and then when
there was nothing to do he helped us with our Twi.
Also, happy belated
Valentine's Day everyone! I got a call from my parents, which was very nice. My
friend and I spent our night at a pizza place, where we had to wait for 3 hours
(not an exaggeration) for our pizza because the place was packed for buy one
get one free night, and it takes forever to get food here anyway, no matter
where you go. We were there all sweaty in our volleyball clothes while everyone
else was all nice and dressed up, probably on dates with their valentines. So that was
cute.
Anyway, hope
everyone had a great valentine's day, regardless of relationship status :)
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