Playing Dress Up

Because they’re so great, I decided to dedicate an entire post, complete with photos, to Ed’s new clothes he got in Ghana.  I want to call them outfits but since he’s a man I’m not allowed to do that.  On the way to my village when we were riding with PP, we ran into my nearest neighbor Alex’s counterpart (and the assistant headmaster at his school) Dan.  Way back in September I ran into him in the market and he told me all about Alex’s parents coming to visit.  I also told him about Ed coming in December and he said he wanted to meet him.  I hadn’t seen him since until we randomly ran into him in Sandema and he saw Ed, insisting he wanted us to come to his house during his visit.  He even stopped by my house a few days later so we could figure out how to make that happen.  Since we didn’t want to make a special trip, we collectively decided it’d be best for us to visit when we were leaving.  But to do so we had to leave the village very early but luckily that meant he sent the drive with the Fumbisi SHS Mahindra truck to come pick us up which was great.  But this meant our visit occurred early in the morning so it was a rather quiet one since we were all still waking up.  Normally I would’ve made more of an effort to make conversation (especially since I hate awkward silence) but my stomache was bothering me a little so I didn’t feel up to it.  During the visit Dan presented Ed with a traditional Northern (specifically Builsa smock) which was a very nice and generous presented.   I ate TZ and okra leaf soup and was told ‘Awenle, don’t worry you will get a smock at your goodbye party.’  Whew thank goodness- I was worried!  Now Ed and I can find a way to wear our awesome African wear back home, even if just as costumes.

The second new piece of clothing Ed received was my fault.  I thought it’d be fun (and funny) for us to have matching batik.  It’s a common thing here for couples of family members to wear matching clothe.  I even had matching clothes with my brother during homestay and many married or dating PCVs wear matching clothes.  So before leaving for Mole, Ed picked out some green, blue, and slightly pink batik from my favorite store in Tamale, COLWOD.  Then we went to the tailor and had our measurements taken for his shirt and my dress.  Unfortunately for me but luckily for Ed, the clothes weren’t ready until his last day in country so we only matched once.  We wore them for dinner at the hotel the night before he left and of course had someone take a photo for us.   Ed thought he was spared sharing these photos with everyone because he didn’t take them home with them but here it is for your viewing enjoyment. 

Ed's Visit- Part 2

The highlight of Ed’s visit for both of us was our time spent at Mole National Park going on the cheapest safari in Africa. It’s hard to beat seeing crocodiles, warthogs, monkeys, baboons, antelope, bucks, and West African birds. Plus we saw 11 elephants total and 6 up close and personal. But the travel there wasn’t easy and pretty much was the lorry ride from hell. When we arrived at the station, we bought some of the last seats. In one respect this was nice because it meant we didn’t have to wait forever for the lorry to fill and we were soon on our way. But it also meant we got stuck with the crappy seats nobody else wanted. I was in the second to last row in what’s called the jump seat- which is a seat in what should be the aisle so it’s not a ‘real’ seat in that it usually doesn’t have a seat back and is very uncomfortable. Somehow Ed got stuck sitting in the very front not on an actual seat but a wooden seat. That being said he got to experience Ghana travel at its worst. They were even trying to stick two people instead of one sitting on the engine block where Ed’s feet were but then he wouldn’t have had anywhere to put his legs so thankfully that didn’t happen. The road is notoriously bad once you get off the main drag until you reach Damongo- and it was pretty horrid. Ed and I texted back and forth about how miserable we were! But we reached Damongo and then shared a taxi to Mole National Park motel.

 One of my fellow volunteer friends Elyse and her Ghanaian friend/counterpart Burkina were with us for our first two nights at Mole which was a lot of fun. Randomly another volunteer Jim was there too with his family visiting from America. I can’t adequately describe how perfectly the motel is situated above the park but you can look out at the watering holes and it’s a lovely view. We were pretty tired from travel but still went on for an afternoon safari walk. This walk (I think the only one of its kind in Africa) consists of trekking through the park with an armed guard/guide looking for wildlife. The first day we were so excited to see warthogs (of course because of Pumba- good job Disney), bucks (like deer) and elephant tracks which all later became commonplace. After the walk we were all exhausted so crashed right after bed.

The next morning we decided to take a driving safari since we had enough people to do so cheaply once the four of us joined with Jim’s family. Since its harmattan right now the temperature is cooler so we were actually freezing riding on top of an SUV in the early morning. But we saw some cool animals like a big roan antelope and red…. Again we saw elephant tracks, fresh this time, but no elephants. It was Elyse and Burkina’s last day so we were thrilled when, after our swim time, we spotted two elephants from the motel at the watering hole. Our guide in the morning Osman found us to take us for a walk to see them up close. It was so exciting! They waited for us at the watering hole and we watched them for a while and took lots of photos. When they left the watering hole we followed. It was amazing to track elephants through the bush! Osman has been at Mole for 20 years so was super knowledgeable about elephants, the park, and all the wildlife. We also saw green monkeys and lots of birds. Baboons were all over the place at the motel and actually are quite pesky, trying to steal peoples food ! That night we had a Lion King viewing party since neither Ed nor Burkina had seen it before.

For the last two days at Mole it was just Ed and me. Originally we had planned on staying only 3 nights but added an extra night since we loved it there so much. We really enjoyed the walking safari instead of the driving so we did two more. While watching lunch the third day we spotted two elephants and called up Osman to see if he would take us for another walk. He was at home but rushed over with his son in tow to take us out. It was his son’s first time going on a walking safari and seeing an elephant which we thought was pretty cool. This time we got to see one elephant using it’s trunk to eat leaves off a branch and then the other one bathing! I think that was one of my favorite things we got to see. Of course we took photos of Osman and his son to commemorate the occasion and plan to mail them the pictures. At one point the boy grabbed Ed’s hand while we were walking to see the elephant toward the water which I thought was cute (and also surprising since kids are always terrified of me here). It was a big day for him I’m sure- seeing elephants and white people! On our last day we went with Osman on one final walking safari and saw a ton of crocodiles at a pond near the motel. Then we followed him to a salt lick where he thought elephants might be but he ended up getting a call from another guide saying they were back at the same old watering hole. We booked it there and got to enjoy seeing two more elephants. This time we watched them drink water and it was nice because I actually sat on the ground to just soak it all in instead of being obsessed with trying to get good photos. It’s such a beautiful place and it was a wonderful experience so I was also taking all that in as well.

That night we went to bed very early to prepare for our 4AM bus ride. It was a struggle getting up so early but it was much more comfortable of a ride than on the way there. Plus we could actually sit next to each other! When we reached Damongo, we waited on the bus for a while and a small girl decided to try and share her breakfast with Ed. She got so close to his mouth with her food and I was again cracking up because kids are mostly terrified of me. Ed said it’s because I try to hard which is probably true! But I also think kids just like him. The end of a trip is always sad and this one was no exception. If you’d like to see more photos of our trip just let me know since Ed uploaded a bunch to an album that I can share.

Ed's Visit- Part 1

I’m trying to get back into the swing of school so it’s taken me longer to get back to blogging than I wanted. Vacation was wonderful. Ed flew into Accra a couple of days after Christmas but unfortunately got stuck there a night since his flight to Tamale was cancelled. It actually worked out since his flight from America was late getting in so he would’ve missed it anyway. But it was disappointing that he was in the same country as me but just not the same place! The next afternoon he flew into Tamale and I was able to sneak into the baggage claim area (non-passengers are supposed to wait outside- it’s a tiny airport) and greet him with a big ole hug. The next day I subjected him to the travel torture that often happens in Ghana on the way to Bolga. Thankfully once we reached Bolga my language trainer PP met us with his sweet SUV ride and carried us the rest of the way to my house, with a few stops on the way of course. Ed arrived in my village in style and a small welcoming party was waiting for us at my house.

Mostly in my village we rested a lot and watched movies which gave Ed time to adjust to Ghana time, food, weather, etc. It was surreal for me to have him in my house and really his coming to my village was more for my sake. I wanted him to see where I’ve been living and working and have a frame of reference for my time here. Plus I think it’ll be a big help to me once I come home. I also took him to all my favorite places like the nearby dam where I snapped this awesome photo of him with my ‘fan club’ as I call these kids. It’s funny to me after all this time these kids are still so excited to see me though I think Ed provided an extra draw. He also met a bunch of people in my village including students, teachers, my headmaster, parents of my students, kids, etc. Another evening I took him to Madam Diana’s house to greet her family. Her son Nathan now says ‘Maa-dam’ every time he sees me and it’s pretty cute. My friend Chris killed a chicken for Ed and made us light soup- yum. Unfortunately Ed’s stomach wasn’t super happy so he only tasted a little bit but liked it. For New Year’s Eve we did a game night, playing Battleship and Boggle before we watched a movie. I had to set my alarm for us to get up and light the sparklers I bought in Tamale at midnight. Some churches were also having church so at midnight they loudly drummed and made noise. A few people were walking home while we were doing our sparklers and greeted us ‘Happy New Year’ in Buli and English. The next day my friend Joseph asked me what we were doing the night before because he saw the fire. He thought I had an ant problem we were trying to take care of! So I had to try and explain the use of fire in a celebratory manner. The last night we biked to the farther away dam which was Ed’s favorite thing we did in my village. It’s so peaceful and beautiful there. The four nights we spent in my village flew by and the next thing we knew it was time to get packed up and ready to move to our next stop on his tour of Northern Ghana: the Tongo Oasis.

We were fortunate once again to get a private vehicle out of my village to Sandema (more on that in a future post). On the way to Bolga, we took a short side trip to the Paga Crocodile Pond to do the 15 minute tourist attraction. It was my third and hopefully final time there! The Tongo Oasis was amazing as usual and Ed loved it there. It’s so serene there and the house is gorgeous. I always enjoy going there for our volunteer meetings so I was excited to share it with Ed. Plus it felt more like a vacation than being in my village did where there are always people knocking on my door or making noise. We took walks, did some wedding planning while we had the time and ate lots of amazing food (American and Ghanaian). On one walk we watched some kids throw rocks at a duck in a pond and before hitting one of the ducks a kid was hit so was wailing. But the other kids were able to fell a duck, drag it to shore, and continuously beat it on the ground. That was something I’d never seen in Ghana; goes to show there’s always something new (though not always pleasant) to see. It was really nice to stay at the Oasis two nights and just have time to relax.  Our next stop was Tamale again before heading to Mole Park, which I'll write about in Part II.