A fine mess of contradictions

Bless the rains down in Africa

"The rain is a blessing," said the taxi driver. Well to us it was like the apocalypse. It started on Thursday night at around 11 and I thought the whole house was going to come down. There was lightning that lit up my room every other second, thunder shaking the bed frame and rain so intense I was sure the room was leaking. It was my first rainfall here in Africa and it definitely wasn't my last!

Derek (a new Canadian volunteer), Saskia(the Dutch girl) and myself decided to meet some other volunteers at Green Turtle lodge this past weekend so everyone slept over at my house so we could take the 4am bus out to Takoradi together. The rain of course started that night. Luckily it let up enough so we could walk up to catch a taxi at 3 in the morning to get to the bus station, but then the second we stepped off the bus in Takoradi the sky darkened again. Me, being the eternal pessimist said, um so it looks like it's going to rain. Derek thought otherwise and a second later this torrential downpour started. We were trying to get a tro tro out to Green Turtle because it would be way cheaper but when this intense storm started we decided to catch a cab for part of the way. The taxi ride was hilarious. The roof above me leaked so every time we took a sharp turn rain poured down on me so it looked like I wet myself. The driver was blasting music but his connection kept going out so it would go really loud and then turn off completely and you couldn't see a thing out the front window! We actually managed to get half price on this insane water-logged drive and arrived at our beach paradise soaking wet. We changed, got some Star beers and decided what the hell, lets enjoy ourselves and played Monopoly, haha. Then we decided that swimming in the rain wouldn't be so bad, so we ventured out into the truly amazing water. It was warm and gorgeous despite the rain. Then a huge fork of lightning hit the water and I decided it was probably best to retreat! The other girls arrived and we had a great dinner of curry and chip(it's owned by Brits clearly).

The next day was gorgeous. We had french toast with honey (Gill it was so good!) and then spent the day going on a canoe ride through mangroves and chilling out on the spectacular and isolated beach. We even had guacamole and plantain chips and oh, wow, was it great. That night we celebrated St. Patty's with some other backpackers and drank some of the green cocktails they had. It wasn't an insane party, but it was relaxing and a little piece of paradise. Our way back on Sunday sucked because the bus was delayed three hours but we did have a hilarious tro tro ride where the mate sat on the top of the van! We could see the roof creaking under his weight and were sure we were going to end up sitting in a pile of scrap metal any minute now when all the nuts and bolts gave way. It was hot as hell in there but so funny especially because he had an "I love Jesus" hat on. At the bus station we met a Ghanaian who overheard me and Derek talking about Canada, and he interrupted us to tell us he had studied in Moosejaw Saskatchewan! It was so funny because he asked us a million questions on how Canada was different now and we didn't know any of the answers. He was there 30 years ago and he knew more about it than us. He was so nice though, it was fun to talk to someone who travelled to Canada, not too many Ghanaians have!

This week has been busy. On Monday, Femke and I gave all the HIV/AIDS clinic patients juice and cookies to say thank you for our last day. My last day is next week but it was easier to do it together. I think they really appreciated it and everyone was so nice. I just feel bad that we can't do more for them when they have to wait all day in the heat to be seen by the doctor. Yesterday at the Feyiase school I had a very weird day. It was boiling and almost none of the kids showed up (only the really insane ones of course) because their teacher has stopped showing up for school and they had no rice. So no rice= no lunch= no children at school. I taught the remaining kids how to write the alphabet but then they continued to beat the crap out of each other in-between songs and "learning". I'm not giving up though, I actually got them to sit down and colour for a bit! Agnes came later to try to fix the situation and the kids were insulting each other in front of her. She started yelling at them and I couldn't figure out what they had said to each other. She told me they were insulting each other's mothers vaginas! hahahah that's what they were saying Gill! We could never figure out what made the kids so angry with each other, but I guess "yo mama" jokes are international. I could not stop laughing so of course Agnes started to think it was funny too and we just ended up giggling over these wild children. I think I'm going to buy the school a big bag of rice before I leave- at least then the kids might show up !

On Monday after work I went to a funeral party. It was the one week celebration after Chief, our neighbour's father died. So I went over in my blackest outfit (consisting of some hideous clothes from the market) and we danced and met the family. It was so weird to dance when someone dies but I really liked it. I danced with this really cute old woman. It makes the whole thing into a huge party instead of something horribly depressing. Then me and my host brother and some of his friends took the neighbour out to a local spot for a drink. It was a really fun night actually- celebrating someones death.

I feel like so much has happened but I just don't have time to tell all of it. I'm really not ready to come home yet. I think it will be really strange and potentially very stressful. I don't know if I could live here forever but there are a lot of things I will miss. The fact that you can buy toilet paper from someone while you're driving, that you say hi to everyone everywhere, and that I just saw a taxi full of goats on my way here are just the most hilarious and amazing things to me. My dad is coming to visit this Sunday so I'm excited to show him around. It will be a culture shock for him too I'm sure, but it will be great for him to meet everyone. I miss all of you and I'll be home just before Easter.

Lots of love,

Kate

posted by Kate @ 5:57 AM