while i was out...

where did i leave off...

2008-11-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

since study abroad i have changed a lot in my life. After returning to UofI in the fall of 07, things were just not the same for me. A lot of personal shit went down and i opted to leave Champaign-Urbana. I finished off the semester working at Pitaya, but was not attending classes anymore.

In my semester off I had to make a decision about becoming an art teacher or dental hygienist, I applied for both options. At the time i was leaning towards art school, however it was pretty much a decision of being rich or poor. Either way i think i would be happy since i have a love for both; yes yes a creepy love for dental hygiene. In the end though i was accepted to Pratt Institute, considered an ivy of the art schools, and i felt i could not say no.

I currently live in Brooklyn where the school is located.

Visitor!

2007-04-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

My mom came to Barcelona for a week, and we saw the entire city and more. At first when she arrived we were pissed off at the hotel since they promised free wireless, but they lied... stupid ass holes. But it all worked out and we got ripped off and payed for it. Very worth while; since the home stay at this time has gotten old and i am so excited to move out. Mercedes is nice, but she never respects my opinion or my wishes. At some point i began to feel like i didnt exist because no matter what i said she never listened. So having my mom's hotel to stay at for the week was a great break.

That friday we went to figueras and saw the Dali museum. It was an amazing museum, very interesting and just very fitting to Dali's personality (being that he designed it). The ceiling is supposed to represent the universe and buried under it in the center is Dali. He had a huge ego and was incredibly narcissistic. Interesting art work, very trippy with all the double images.

While my mom was around, i got to live like a queen and eat delicious food all the time. But it was still tiring to be tour guide and student at the same time. And because my mom stayed on America's schedule and Spain's is just SO different, i missed out on a lot of sleep.

We went to all of the Gaudi stuff: the pradrera, parc guell, and of course segrada familia. I absolutely love Gaudi's work, one of the most unique architects.

Then we hit up all the museums in barcelona since we bought those museum passes. It was worth while. Being in two art classes i've seen most of the museums twice already; but it made it even better because at this point i could explain a lot to my mom about all the buildings and paintings we saw.

The week with my mom flew by, but at the end i was ready for her to go since i was then leaving to morocco the next day! But i really appreciated my mom coming, seeing a familiar face was amazing. Coming abroad as a sophomore has been really challenging as everyone else here has their best friends with them. But i've also taken a completely different perspective with me by coming now on my own, and it has been worth while.

Long time...

2007-04-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

after amsterdam, i jet setted off to Liverpool a couple weekends later. It was a crazy time full of puke n' rally. It being "Patty's Day" as they call it the city was full of green and drunk Irish people since liverpool is a thirty minute ferry ride to Ireland. It was amazing, one of my best party days of the semester. We started off early drinking as we watched rugby all day, since it happened to be the final of the european cup of rugby (i think thats what it was called, i dunno). At some point though i blacked out and made friends with an Irish guy; who tried so hard he even bought a few drinks for my guy friends i was with. It was nice to finally have the exotic foreign accent and be able to use it to my advantage. After a few free drinks we had to be on our way since hunger had called, being that breakfast was 6 screwdrivers.

apparently mexican food does not exist in euorpe, so we ran to the super market to make our own. After buying another case of beer and having three bags of groceries, we decided to jump over a 10 foot wall which on the other side turns into a 12 foot wall onto a parking lot. Luckily after i handed down the groceries; when i was laughing and jumping/falling off the wall i was caught on the other side safely. the day turned into night and the clubbing continued until around 4, who knows what happened in between besides some horrible dancing, some puking, and hanging out with some of the best Brits around.

how the time passes

2007-03-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

This past month has been crazy and has flown by, and i know that not too far off from now i'll wake up and have to come home. But for now my flights have taken me anywhere but home.

Munich, Germany: February 16-18, 2007

So i went to Munich hoping to meet up with some friends of mine who live in Berlin. They don't exactly speak the best English, but they had said they were coming. So i fly out there and hadn't really heard from them the week that i left. They end up e-mailing me that they're not coming; as i am already in Munich. So i decided to make the most of my solo travels and signed myself up for a guided tour of the Dachau Memorial.

The Memorial was something that took out all the breath in one's throat. Just thinking of the horrible things that occurred to the people who were sent to the camp. And all i could think about was why... where does evil like this come from... and why hasn't it ended? It was haunting to see the plaque with the words "never again" written in various languages, as it has been a common phrase in the campaign to help stop the genocide in Sudan. I find myself repeating the question of why over and over again.

Out of going on this tour i made friends with a group of army guys who i bumped into frequently around Munich. Then i also met two Peruvians, who invited me out to have lunch with them. We ended up hanging out all afternoon in an attempt to make it to a museum, but then seeing it closed we made it to a beer garden instead. Well the Beers are a liter big and the Germans can take down about four and not feel a thing. As for myself one liter was enough. The night ended at 12 for the Peruvians, but at the hostel i met these Chilean guys who wanted to go out and catch a drink, so that's just what i did.

That next day i saw some guys surfing in a river, and happened to stumble onto a festival.

At first i had many fears of traveling alone, as it could have been dangerous; but i've learned to follow my instincts... lets hope those hold up.

Lisboa, Portugal: February 23-25, 2007

Well my Portugal trip was a little more risky then the last one. So i had met these Portuguese guys at our usual bar, Princesa 23, in Barcelona. They seemed like pretty cool guys, so i kept in good contact with one of them named Andre. I decided to buy tickets to visit these guys in Portugal, but originally planning on staying at a hostel they insist that i stay in their town. So i get to the airport in Lisbon and just hope that this weekend doesn't lead to my death. Andre picks me up in his BMW and shows me around the city, then we go home and i met his family.

The weekend consisted of hanging out, relaxing, going ATVing, and i felt kind of sick so lots of sleeping. There isn't much to tell of things that i did in Lisbon, except that it was an amazing experience to really see Portuguese culture by being friends with them and not just from a tourist perspective. But maybe i should have at least taken one photo... oops.

Amsterdam, NL: March 1-4, 2007

Ahh best trip yet! So Brian meets up with me coming from Ghana on the first of March; and then Friday Drew also came and met up, coming from his busy life as a grad student in London. It was such a great time. It consisted of the Heineken Brewery, Van Gough Museum, Anne Frank House, and lots of good times. I've been having a really hard time not sharing everyone's excitement when friends come into town of they meet up abroad; since none of my close friends are abroad right now.

I'm not really sure if seeing them made me less homesick or if it made me more lonesome for to see all my friends back home. Right now i feel very homesick and wish that i was able to share all the same stories of my AXO girls and UofI friends. But at the same time i can't turn away from this experience or miss out on it, which isn't what i let myself do. But again i took no photos : ( I think of this sometimes and realize how bad that is, but then at the same time i don't want to be so busy making sure i have pictures to capture the moment, versus living the moment.

Well thats the rundown,
~PeeCola

skype... and digits

2007-02-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

oh one more thing, if anyone ever wants to talk on the phone with me download skype and it's free. Free to download and to talk between skype members. My skype name is katherine.morris87; or if you love me a lot and want to call my cell phone: 011-34-63-847-1199 and if you're looking for a laugh and want to talk to my senora call 011-34-62-042-7148 and you can also reach me there.

random thoughts of the night

2007-02-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hmm so how bout dem bears?? On the bright side at least you didn't stay up until 5 watching the game. That was an overall miserable experience, there were all these spaniards who continued to shout the only words they knew in english at the tv and had no clue what was going on in the game. We also got to have british commentary and there were no funny commercials. Just a piece of advice, don't watch the Superbowl abroad, its not all that fun.

So i added a link to my photos on the bottom of the page. I haven't really taken all that many, but it's a small start.

Barcelona is amazing, but i am excited to do some traveling outside. Last weekend wasn't all that great because most people started their travels, and only a few of us stuck around. However my friend Carrie and i spent a night out in the barrio "el Born," and found a bunch of really nice bars and great places to eat. We also found one of the best pizza places in Barcelona, and it's reasonably priced, even the beers are cheep there. I've learned that it is always good to find some places that taste like home, because after a while there is only so much ham and mayonnaise one person can eat. I typically wipe off all the mayonnaise, its just too gross for me.

I've decided to go against all that my spanish teacher has taught me here, and to get starbucks whenever i want, that is whenever my wallet permits me to. However when drinking starbucks in public one must be ready for complete rejection; because as i took my chi tea late on the metro no one would sit next to me. Every single bench was occupied except mine, it was me and three empty seats, and then a bunch of people opting to stand. It was worth the rejection, i can't make it through two hours of class, all in spanish, four days a week, from 5-7. It also sucks that my classes end at 7 at the spanish university because it takes 40 minutes to get home everyday. And then i have to wake up at 8am to leave my house by 830 to make it to my daily 9ams, at least those are closer at my program's center.

I'm still suffering through the culture shock of mandatory class. That is the absolute worst thing about Barcelona and is my biggest culture shock yet. What if i feel sick? I don't want to go to class, but no they drop your grade everyday you miss. Then they randomly call on you to answer questions. whats up with that? If i wanted to share what i thought about spanish culture i would have raised my hand. And not being able to doze in and out of lecture is the worst, because being there just isn't enough. I'm looking forward to coming back to my 700 person classes and being one of the masses again. ohh folinger and lincoln hall...

you wish you had a mercedes... and i'm not talking benz

2007-01-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

Ohh Mercedes, my chocolate loving senora, and when i say chocolate loving i am not making any jokes about it. this woman can eat an entire box in one sitting. it happened to be her 73rd birthday this past sunday, so i bought her a giant chocolate milka bar. how long did it last??? One day. I don't know where it all goes, she is definitely not overweight, and doesn't work out either. This is how the home stay thing works: you live in a spaniard's home, they give you breakfast, they make you dinner, and once a week they do your laundry. This is how my home stay works: Mercedes force feeds us pastries every morning, then gives us a stern talking to if we don't eat them. We go to class all day with messy rooms, and come back home with our beds perfectly made and our messy clothes folded in a pile. (sometimes this can be good and bad, because often things are misplaced and i hate when people touch my stuff, but i enjoy having my bed made for me). Then i like to take a nap in my bed and wake up to a nice delicious dinner, with more food then humanly possible to consume, but our plates must be clean by the end or Mercedes goes on about how we don't like her food. I ended up getting really lucky and having a senora that can cook. And the dinner discussion is beyond hilarious. Every day we always get to hear some story about someones friend's, cousin's, sister's, uncle's, daughter, or something like that. These stories are all in Spanish because Mercedes speaks not a word of english, which i'm completely fine with. I enjoy her daily conversations about how she cannot take an airplane because she has "the claustrophobia." She also calls me Kim One, and my roommate Kim Two; because we are both share the name Katie, which she either doesn't know, can't hear us, or just blatantly calls us something else. Either way i'm okay with being Kim One, "la morena". Even my roommate who doesn't speak spanish always gets a kick out of Mercedes and her expressions. After dinner we all usually go out, but getting out the door is another thing as Mercedes likes to keep you talking, but eventually we pretend not to understand and scramble out the door. Coming in late at night in most home stays is often like being in high school and sneaking around, ohh but not in Mercedes' home, because she cannot hear us come in ever. One time i knocked over the phone and it was beeping loudly at me for five minutes (took me a while to figure out where the beeping was coming from) and she didn't even stir. Then my clothes all reek of smoke here since all europeans love cigarettes, so i put my clothes in the laundry bag and they get washed almost daily! Ohh mercedes... my sweet sweet senora, she really is the best of Barcelona.

ghana...so much to say

2007-01-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

wow, it has been a while. There is a lot to say about ghana, so first i will just give an outline of me trip.

I arrived late at night into Accra, which is where Brian lives. when i walked out the airport i completely freaked out as i faced roughly 500 people swarming behind a gate yelling and hissing at me; then luckily i saw Brian, the only white face in the crowd. We quickly got a cab, which charged us an obscene amount, since it was the airport. I had no idea what to expect of ghana since i was so rushed when i left the country.

That first morning i slept in late being so tired from the 24 hours of traveling. We went out and had some authentic food. I had the red red, which is kind of like some spicy beans and grilled plantains. it ended up being one of my favorite dishes. I then got to experience a what a tro tro was like; a tro tro is like a large van where they cram people well beyond any plausible capacity. It's good cheap transportation. We visited Kwame Nkrumah's mausoleum (1st pres. of ghana), and then headed to ussher fort, which was later turned into a prison, and is now abandoned and can be viewed by bribing the door man. Throughout the day i was still scared and nervous about being in ghana. There are always people hissing at you and staring, incessantly trying to get money from you, it was an overwhelming culture shock that i wasn't prepared for.

Day 2- we went to a light house and got a view of the city. It took us a while to get into the lighthouse because the guy we needed to bribe was trying to over charge us. We still got over charged but not as badly. Later that night I met Rob and Marta, Aaron and Erin; they live next door and are very nice people. It was funny because when i met them i came off as an alcoholic as i slipped vodka into my juice under the table during dinner.

Day 3- I was able to accompany Brian to the Creche, which is where he works three days a week. It's like a day care for street children. As a walked into the gate i was swarmed by over twenty children all hugging me, touching me, saying hello; i had to grab the gate to not fall over. It was one of the most amazing things i've experienced, the excitement in these children is like nothing i've ever seen. I made my way through the storm to meet the women who work there, and the crowed followed. They were a violent crowd, as they pushed each other down, leaving some to cry. They were the cutest kids ever, but very dirty with a constant flow of boogers running down their noses and pee soaked pants. At this point i felt so welcomed into ghana i was no longer afraid. The children normally had class but with christmas around the corner they had free time all day every day. That also explains the ghana christmas atmosphere; because it's going to be christmas no one is going to get anything done. But people on the street will continue to ask for christmas money weeks before and three weeks after in honor of christmas.

Day 4- We went the creche again and left around one to catch a bus to Kumasi. I fell asleep and drooled all over brian, talk about awkward for him to get up when we left the bus. We got into Kumasi around nine or ten and it took us a while to find a place to eat. We had some awful chinese food which i was suspect as to what was actually in it. Then when we got to the crappy hotel i realized that my watter bottle of vodka was lost on the bus, talk about huge waste of alcohol. (i thought of you beth at this point since it is our cardinal rule never to waste vodka and it was like an entire bottle, i was sad also because i lost my cute little nalgene).

Day 5- We woke up and found this porridge woman on the street, it was very gingery and good. I loved the sweet fresh bread it came with. Then we had to figure out how to get up north to Mole (sounds like mol-lay), which is where all the safari animals are. All the bus tickets were sold out, so we had to try this station that had tro-tros there; another guy who was looking for a ride up north tagged along, lets just say he looked like lurch and had the worst hair cut ever. Our cab driver ended up getting arrested on our way to the station, but luckily bribed his way out of it. It was such crap too, because they were like "oh he doesn't have the right shoes on," little did they pay attention to the fact that there were no seat belts in the car at all. But at one point the cops got in the car and were like "where are you going?" we thought they were going to take us, but then our cab driver came back to the car after some talking and dashing of money. We end up at the station and they only allow you to buy tickets the day you are leaving, when you do this you pay then wait for the car to fill up. So then Brian and i went to the largest outdoor market in all of West Africa (wayyy coool), however i nearly crapped my pants when i got grabbed by someone who didn't let go. I mean at this point i was used to people touching my arm but not holding on, i ran off and all was well. A little more cautious the rest of the time in the market. Then we went on our way to the cultural center of Kumasi, and this nice guy we met on the street walked us there. I noticed that the men we would meet there would never walk next to me and only next to other men. After the cultural center we wandered around looking for this military museum. Along the way we met the "wizard" who apparently had paintings hung in the palace, won many awards, and was finishing graphic design school; umm sure thanks for the bull shit mister. He pulled us off to the side after we found the museum and kept trying to sell us some crappy paintings. They were only crappy because we had found some much nicer ones earlier for less money. It turns out that the wizard is really good at getting the obrunis (white people) to buy his paintings because lurch (the guy we met earlier) and two other people in our hotel bought paintings from him. Anyways the museum was really cool; it almost made me cry, they had weapons from the genocide in Rwanda. The guide we had was really young and would not stop staring at me the entire time then quizzed me about everything, a very funny and awkward situation. Later as we got back to the hotel, lurch had met two other girls traveling to Mole and we all decided to rent a tro-tro, very pricey but the easiest way for us to get there. That night at the hotel someone knocked on our door at like 11 (which is late for ghana) and i was like "umm sleeping." ten minutes went by and then another knock, i reply "who is it?", some mumbles. Another ten minutes goes by another knock. I open the door and this guy who worked at the hotel was like "oh i have toilet paper for you," then he stood in the door way as i told him i was sleeping, he finally left as i closed the door. Turns out he had a little crush. I did not sleep that great, not only because our door stayed closed because a centimeter of wood held it shut with the lock and the creepy door guy, but it was one of many nights with awful diarrhea.

day 6- Had a long ass tro-tro ride with lurch, who the entire three days we ended up traveling together called me Shannon, even after i corrected him. talk about dense. One of the girls, Heather, was really cool but her friend sucked, i don't even remember her name. The ride was the bumpiest thing i have ever been on, the roads were unpaved and had HUGE potholes in it. The ride for me was almost fun, but being sick with the shits made it not fun. The tro tro broke down while we were at a pee stop at the side of the road, ahh sweet relief of the bushes. Then we had to push the tro tro to start, and it could have made it to our destination only an hour away but the driver took pack to a small town and had us stand around for an hour. i was NOT happy, super pissed off. We then got crammed into this tro tro with a crap load of other people, it just sucked because we paid so much money and got screwed. We finally arrived in Mole. But then we didn't have reservations because we arrived a day earlier than we thought. So we had to fight for a room and they cleared out a storage room and the five of us slept on the floor. I was so angry, i hate being trapped into spending 24hours with the same people who just weren't all that much fun. Good thing i downed a couple beers in substitute for dinner. I went to sleep on the floor and woke up the next day with over 100 mosquito bites, no exaggeration, my legs are soo ugly with scars now.

day 7- Was so itchy and feeling sick, continuous diarrhea, slight fever, annoyed with everyone around me. Wanted to call o'tool and bitch about my life. We went on the 6am safari walk. Got to see a lot of cool animals; we tried to be very quiet, but the guide kept taking cell phone calls and talking. We walked for about two hours and still no elephants or monkeys; then the call came and the elephants were up by the hotel. We made our way up and got some awesome shots of them. Then Brian and i rented some bikes and rode into the next town, it was so hot and dehydrating. Along the way i met this old man with a machete, he was nice. We got into the next town, Larabanga, which has one of the oldest mosques in ghana. Then we rode our bikes back as i could no longer stand the itching and needed more cream for my sores. As we got back we found monkeys climbing on people's cars, I was literally a foot away from five wild monkeys! soo fun. Sickness continued... then had to experience my first bucket shower, talk about worse then all the other cold showers i took that trip. It was just dumping water that was sitting in bucket over my head. At least this night we had a room to stay in. But we had to wake up at 4am to catch the bus to Tamale.

day 8- still sick, soo freaking miserable at 4am. About to kill brian for no reason at all besides taking out my anger of being sick and the system in which buses work in ghana. The bus breaks down they transfer us to another bus, we continuously fear our bags didn't make it on. At least we got lucky here and we never paid for the bus and when it broke down they refunded people in order to give the bus we got on. We arrived at Tamale, very tired, very sick. Ended up going to sleep for a while then woke up for a late lunch. I thought that we had seen the last of the two girls that we met in Mole, but we ran into them on the street, and Brian invited them to tag along for the day. I feel bad now, because i was kind of a jerk and wanted nothing to do with them. All i wanted to do was be alone with my fever and diarrhea. But then we ended up spending all day with them. But actually i am now getting to my FAVORITE BEST PART OF THE TRIP!! So this peace core guy brian met along they way had this random number of Walisu, who gives tours of his village. We show up and got to see authentic pottery making, which was amazing for me and my love of ceramics. Then he showed us around and the entire time we could hear drumming in the background. We inquired as to where the noise was coming from, and he took us to one of their traditional dance ceremonies. We were invited to dance, but we came back for that after he showed us the shay butter making, and cotton spinner. The people in villages make absolutely no money, the cotton spinner makes roughly four dollars a month. It was sad to learn about these things, but Walisu is trying to better there situation with all the money coming in from the tours. Which is hard for him to do because most tourists only do what is listed in the only guide book to ghana, and even the local hotels wont put up his banners. Hopefully his tours will take off, because it was the best thing i experienced, it was soo authentic and not touristy at all. Then after seeing the cotton spinner we went back to the music and it was our turns to dance. The butterflies were swarming in my stomach, but luckily they made brian go first. He was dressed in traditional tribal dance clothes and then placed 10000 cidis (like a dollar) on the drummer's forehead, which is what you are supposed to do in order to help support the drummers. Then as he danced the people put coins on his forehead which would fall to the ground and that money would also go to the drummers. Then they had me get up and walk over to Brian and place money on my forehead and connect it to his. We looked into each others eyes and just went with it. It was some awful dancing on both of our parts, but i can honestly say i have never had so much fun dancing in my entire life. It was this feeling that is indescribable, the talking drums fill you with emotion and the surrounding crowed. Then they had Brian sit down and i rocked out my solo dance with a scarf around my neck, which is what the women wear. This was the best part of the entire trip, and i will never forget it. Later that night i told brian i wanted to take the 15hour bus ride back to Accra because then we would make it back to have Christmas with his friends, which was the closest thing to a family we had in ghana.

day 9- woke up at 5 and took long long long ride back to Accra. Got into Accra and slept, very tired, and finally no more diarrhea too constipated from taking Cipro medicine to poop.

day 10- Christmas. It was very very sad for me, i have never felt so homesick in my entire life. I sat and cried a little bit and wanted to call everyone i knew, but it was too expensive so i just called my mom. I really wanted to leave ghana at this point and almost did. I ended up staying and we ate dinner that Marta, Rob, and Aaron had made. They were so sweet and made things feel a little bit better, they even bought me a gift; nicest people ever. We lit sparklers and ran through the street singing happy birthday to Jesus.

day 11- left late to Cape Coast, had decided not to leave ghana and continue on. Cape Coast was nice, because we had hot showers and we took about 20 in the two days we were there. We arrived around dinner time so didn't really do to much this day.

day 12- went to Elmina, and saw the slave castle there. There is such an amazing and rich history in ghana. It is so sad to hear about all the horrible things that went on for centuries, and the fact that slavery still exists in some places in the world is horrible. There would be a balcony where the governor would look out at all the female slaves, pick one, she would be allowed to bathe, then she would be raped to death. So many died, so many tortured, so many lived a life of suffering. After the castle we walked around Elmina, then returned to Cape coast.

day 13- went to Cape Coast slave castle. The tour was not as extensive as the Elmina castle tour, but Cape Coast was much larger. After the castle we headed out to Kakum national park, into the jungle. We got there around 300 and had to order our lunch/dinner because the park closes around 4. Brian and i were brave and decided that we were going to sleep in the middle of the jungle all by ourselves. Our beds were an upraised piece of wood, a foot off the ground, with mosquito nets with many many holes in them. We sat there as darkness was coming upon us. I have never been so terrified once darkness hit. Pitch black with the creepiest noises i have ever herd in my life. There was something walking right around our bed, i could hear the wood chips cracking. Then all of a sudden there was this light in the sky that brian saw, then a glowing orb started to float around us, at first farther off in the distance and gradually came closer and closer. it ended up flying over us. I don't care if anyone thinks that i'm crazy or not, but i saw what i saw. Then about thirty minutes later the orb came back and floated around us again, it was a glowing ball about the size of a bird, this was no lightening bug. I was about to pee my pants i was so scared. Then we worked up the courage to reach into our bags and got some xanex to help us relax so we could sleep.

day 14- woke up, yay not dead!! 7am go on a canopy tour of the forest. Didn't see any monkeys but did get to see some animal fall out of a tree and catch itself. It was fun to walk along the ropes and through the tops of the trees, but the walk wasn't very long, but definitely something to do. We had to make our way back to Cape Coast in order to catch a ride to Axim. After various tro-tro rides from Cape Coast, to Takoradi, then we made it to Axim. Here we saw the most beautiful sunset and finally got to relax along the beach after much busy traveling. Well only a night of beach relaxing.

Day 15- woke up and made our way to see a village on stilts. I was an interesting trip to say the least. We were waiting along the road and wanted to take a tro-tro, but then this taxi drove up and told us no tro-tros came there. We opted to wait because normally they lie to you so you will take their taxi. But this one let us in for free and took us down the mile or so to where the tro-tros do stop. Then we waited there for about ten minutes when the taxi comes back, and offers us a ride to the center where we can catch a canoe to the village. He offered a low price, so we took it. It was the shadiest ride. So at first the friend of his is driving and he is taking us to where his cab is. Then we get to his cab and it stinks of fish, because as he later explained to us that he buys the fish from the villages and sells the to the resorts. It had flies all over it. He takes some time cleaning it up, we then get in and it needs to have a good push to get going. Twenty feet after we got started, the car got a flat tire. He was going to take us with to go get it fixed. We get out and he tells us to wait only 15 minutes, we end up waiting about 40, but even if we wanted to take something else there no cars that passed had empty spots. Finally we are on our way. It ended up being a very smelly and bumpy ride. The driver tells us this road is too bumpy and we must take the beach front road. All of a sudden we are driving into a tiny village and clearly not on a road, then come out driving on the literal beach. There are always people pulling in their nets along the beach, so as we passed they would have to lift them over the car or have us drive over their ropes. They all did actually end up knowing the driver as they all said hi to him. It was the strangest thing to take a taxi along the ocean and sometimes in an inch or so of the water on the shore. After nearly running a few people down, we arrived at the office where you find someone to canoe you over. We looked back to pay our taxi drier and he disappeared, so we left money at the office, but even when we came back he hadn't shown up. So we went on a canoe ride which was very pretty and i thought better then the actual village. Because at the village on stilts we just kind of walked up and down it once and then left, there village has already become touristy so they are not phased by visitors. Then after our canoe ride back we really lucked out and this other couple who had also just visited the village and had seen us at the hotel the previous night; offered to give us a ride back to however far we wanted up to the hotel. From there we then found a couple tro-tros and made our way to Algona, which then took us to Busau. This was when we spoiled ourselves with a really nice hotel since it was new years. Rob and Marta met us in Busua, so we sat around relaxing and eating with them all day.

day 16- New Years!! here is Brian's description of the ghana new years, and it is all accurate : We treated ourselves to a nice dinner and spent the night drinking at our hotel and ran out to the beach to ring in the New Year. There was no giant clock to cue in the new year and the various cliques that littered the beach failed to synchronize their watches. Over the span of 4 minutes there were 9 separate countdowns accompanied by their own fireworks. Later, Katie throws up the most expensive meal we had eaten in Ghana.

day 17- Hungover. we make our way to The Green Turtle, which is an eco-lodge set along a beautiful palm lined beach. There are about 10 bunalows that are solar powered, the shower water is recycled to water the plants, and the self composting toilets smell really bad. So i made sure to pee on the beach as much as possible to avoid them.

day 18- Here is a story that can only be good heard from brian's perspective, get ready it gets good here: "I’m woken up early in the morning by Katie fighting with the door like a lunatic. She is pulling at the door and frantically exclaims “The key broke off in the lock and we’re locked in!!” Caring more about sleeping at that moment than our impending doom I rolled over to go back to bed but Katie pleaded for me to get up and uttered the four words that makes any trapped experience all the more excruciating: “I have to pee”. I started to crack up but I was quickly reprimanded with a stern look that implored me to get out of bed. By the time I reach the door Katie is already holding her crotch and kicking her legs high as she does her pee-pee dance around the room. Now, I just lose it and am getting tears in my eyes from laughing. Katie laughs too, but begs me not to make her laugh and make it worse. I go over to the door and sure enough the key is hopelessly jammed into the lock. I turn to Katie and as she carries on her pee-pee dance she screams, “Brian, it’s an emergency!” I look out the window and no one is around. We were not left with many options. I start to ram my shoulders into the door to try to break the door down hoping that the entire bungalow won’t come crashing down if I succeed. Katie’s just dancing there the entire time stuck repeating a mantra of, “I gotta go, I gotta go.” As I continued to bust the door down Katie exclaims, “I can’t wait. Hurry, find me something to pee in!” I’m hysterically laughing as I glance around the room which had virtually nothing in it. The best I could do was hand her a wicker basket. Not wasting any time and not really carrying about the gaping holes in the basket she pulled down her pants and peed in the basket in the middle of our bungalow. It was then that we figured out that our room was slanted as her pee slowly trickled out of the basket and escaped out the door. A satisfied Katie stood up and told me how good that felt. We tried our best to clean up our pee stained bungalow before calling out the window and getting someone to rescue us. The lock was later fixed that night but we agreed to stop locking it." All i have to say is that it was the floor or my pants, i chose the floor and managed to keep my half of the key that i broke.

this day to january 6th- we boogied boarded, read books, relaxed on the beach, i got attacked by another hundred mosquitos, and layed around all day. It was just what i needed after all that traveling.

january 7th- My last day. It was Aaron's birthday so after racing around the airport to check my bags in we met up with his family. Then raced back to the airport. And thats when i said goodbye to ghana... at least for now, you never can know what could bring me back...

2006-12-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well for those of you who are worried, I'm still alive!! I got in late on Friday night in Accra. Things are very different here, but in a good way. It is very sunny and hot every day, however i'm still not getting a tan, maybe by the end of the trip. At first it was strange to be the only white people around and having everyone stare at me, and yell obruni (meaning white person) at me, some even try to touch you, mostly the children. At first i found it slightly annoying, but then i realized when i saw i white person i would stare and think to myself "what's a whitie doing here," so it's understandable. It has only been two and 1/2 days and I have already seen so many cool things. No monkeys yet, but many lizards and frogs. There are some things about Ghana that i know that i will miss when this short trip comes to an end. More to come later...

digits

2006-12-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

Leaving Tomorrow!! I'm going to miss so many people! I just spoke with my old Spanish teacher and he had some amazing things to tell me about Barcelona, I'm very excited. For anyone who would like to contact me while i'm abroad here is my a cell phone number 34-62-0427148. Feel free to call anytime starting January 8th.

count down

2006-12-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

In 11 days i leave for two great adventures. My first stop is Accra, Ghana and i will be there for three weeks. Then i will leave straight from Ghana to Barcelona, Spain. I just wanted to make this blog for anyone who wants to see what i'll be up to for the next five months. I hope to see some cool shit, be able to share my experiences, and hopefully come back knowing a lot more Spanish.