1. I really stink at time management. Just saying.
2. I realized the other day that I read a lot of mommy blogs. I'm not sure this is normal for a non-parent.
3. I really like having a dog around the house. Jana is fostering a sweet Great Pyrenees named Magic.
4. I'm a super light sleeper. I kicked Magic out of my room the other night because she kept waking me up and licking herself.
5. My great aunt Mrs. Henderson died yesterday, at the age of 101. She was a sweet loving person and is in a much better place now. I'll be going to her funeral this weekend and seeing a lot of extended family.
6. I attempted an online workout routine and am super sore.
7. Atlanta seems to think its spring already judging by the weather. I'm not complaining.
The adventures and day-to-day life of a Hokie that enjoys traveling, nature, people, and public health.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Starting an old idea
In 2009 one of my new year's resolutions was to write about (at least) 3 things that I'm thankful for each week. I think I want to do that again this year. So with a little bit of catching up, here are some things I'm thankful for.
Week 1:
Silly games with friends
A new year
Cleaning and organizing
Week 2:
Patrick and Joanna
Seeing Jessie, Freddie, and Donovan
The Cellar
Week 3:
A cool class
water treatment
rain
Week 4:
Seeing Kate!
Mom home safely
An awesome women's retreat
Health insurance
Magic our sweet foster dog
African food!
Week 5 (current week):
Good conversations with Jana
A cool thesis topic
Adele
Katherine
Things circulating on facebook
Week 1:
Silly games with friends
A new year
Cleaning and organizing
Week 2:
Patrick and Joanna
Seeing Jessie, Freddie, and Donovan
The Cellar
Week 3:
A cool class
water treatment
rain
Week 4:
Seeing Kate!
Mom home safely
An awesome women's retreat
Health insurance
Magic our sweet foster dog
African food!
Week 5 (current week):
Good conversations with Jana
A cool thesis topic
Adele
Katherine
Things circulating on facebook
Monday, January 23, 2012
Kumasi Part 1: Revisiting Ghana
(May 27, 2011)
After spending the night in Takoradi, we caught an early bus (like 5am-ish) to Kumasi. Once we were in the city we got off the bus into… chaos.
This is actually downtown Accra near the main market, but same idea.
It’s hard to describe the bustling energy of urban Africa. Take an urban city in the US like Washington DC, with its traffic and buildings and industy, without a lot of the pavement and street signs, with 50x more people walking- in the street, between cars, next to the streets, add animals- goats, chickens, sometimes sheep and the stray cat or dog, add a lot more exhaust, the smell of animals, sometimes the waft of sewage depending on how close you are to the gigantic drains all over Ghana, and add the noise- beyond the normal engines and conversations- people hawking goods, offering you taxis and buses, selling animals, constant honking from cars, and the bustle of hundreds of people talking in one area.
It’s hard to describe the bustling energy of urban Africa. Take an urban city in the US like Washington DC, with its traffic and buildings and industy, without a lot of the pavement and street signs, with 50x more people walking- in the street, between cars, next to the streets, add animals- goats, chickens, sometimes sheep and the stray cat or dog, add a lot more exhaust, the smell of animals, sometimes the waft of sewage depending on how close you are to the gigantic drains all over Ghana, and add the noise- beyond the normal engines and conversations- people hawking goods, offering you taxis and buses, selling animals, constant honking from cars, and the bustle of hundreds of people talking in one area.
It affects all of your senses at once except taste, unless you choose to partake in some of the goods being offered. Then you may get rice, beans, stew, cookies that are more like biscuits, various meat on a stick, pastries, etc. All that I tried were good, and miraculously, almost all seemed to agree with my system.*
After disembarking into the semi-chaos, we needed to find a place to stay for the 2 days we planned on being in Kumasi. Diana’s methodology of figuring out taxi fares is to ask several people, not necessarily the drivers, what the fare is to various places, to figure out what we should be charged. In the process of doing this one guy was almost dragging us into (stopped) traffic to get us a taxi. He wasn’t the driver, but he was going to find us a taxi and expected us to be tipped for it. So he told us a fare, and we said that’s way too high. Then a driver said, no, this, and it was half as much. So we agreed and started to get into the taxi and the first guy is demanding a tip- we apparently picked the taxi he wanted us to, except for half the fare. And Diana is trying to explain that we don’t owe him anything, he was trying to gyp us, and as we wait to merge into traffic he’s standing next to the taxi yelling at us that we are bad people because we didn’t tip him. I was really frustrated, and thinking, I want to yell back at you that you are a bad person. But I didn’t, because that really wouldn’t have helped anything. And not all taxi drivers are bad at all- we befriended several in various cities throughout Ghana.
Next edition: Manhiya Palace, the Kumasi Market, and bedbugs
* Without going into more detail than you probably want, all of us interns got upset stomachs every now and then, but nothing really bad. My worst experience was a ‘dodgey tummy’ in the words of Angelina who is from the UK, for about 5 days, and then it cleared up. I never identified anything that made my stomach upset, and considering that when I went to Jamaica for a week in 2001 I wound in the hospital for a couple of hours because I couldn’t keep water down, I consider Ghana a success for my GI system.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
7 Quick Takes
1. My Christmas/winter break was pretty awesome. I got to see a lot of people, play with a big goofy black lab, and help my mom start cleaning out our basement. You might not think that last item is awesome, but trust me, it is.
2. I took a condensed class (read, 2 credits in 1 weeks, class 8:30am-5:30pm) last week and it was really interesting. Also informtion overload, but still really cool- Environmental Microbiology: Control of Food and Waterborne Diseases. Now I just need to finish the assignments for the class.
3. My mom is currently in Israel and my cousin is in Antarctica! I am by far not the only globe trotter in my family.
4. I have this little thing called a thesis to write this semester. It's more than a little intimidating. I'm sure I'll blog about it more, because so far I have been very creative in finding ways to avoid working on it.
5. I'm still applying for the Peace Corps. I'm currently in the land of a thousand doctor's appointments, to be followed with probably more doctor's appointments, and then hopefully a placement. So far I've been nominated for a health position- no shock there :)
6. I have recently read several books, and one of my goals is to blog about reading more. But for now, titles will suffice: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Ghost Map (for my class, but I already owned it), and 'We Swam the Grand Canyon: A cheap vacation that got a little out of hand'.
Currently reading: King Leopold's Ghost, The Last Taboo: Opening the Door on the Global Sanitation Crisis, and Generations. A lot of my Christmas loot was also books, so there's a lovely pile in the non-yet-started category too.
7. My new years resolution is 'To not let the perfect get in the way of the good'. So, to not let my human imperfections stop me from trying things and doing them imperfectly. This is for scheduling, dieting, writing, reading, and all other goals that I make and will probably screw up at some point. Reading 300/365 days of the year is much better than 0/365 days, even though its not a perfect 365/365. So we'll see how things go :)
2. I took a condensed class (read, 2 credits in 1 weeks, class 8:30am-5:30pm) last week and it was really interesting. Also informtion overload, but still really cool- Environmental Microbiology: Control of Food and Waterborne Diseases. Now I just need to finish the assignments for the class.
3. My mom is currently in Israel and my cousin is in Antarctica! I am by far not the only globe trotter in my family.
4. I have this little thing called a thesis to write this semester. It's more than a little intimidating. I'm sure I'll blog about it more, because so far I have been very creative in finding ways to avoid working on it.
5. I'm still applying for the Peace Corps. I'm currently in the land of a thousand doctor's appointments, to be followed with probably more doctor's appointments, and then hopefully a placement. So far I've been nominated for a health position- no shock there :)
6. I have recently read several books, and one of my goals is to blog about reading more. But for now, titles will suffice: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Ghost Map (for my class, but I already owned it), and 'We Swam the Grand Canyon: A cheap vacation that got a little out of hand'.
Currently reading: King Leopold's Ghost, The Last Taboo: Opening the Door on the Global Sanitation Crisis, and Generations. A lot of my Christmas loot was also books, so there's a lovely pile in the non-yet-started category too.
7. My new years resolution is 'To not let the perfect get in the way of the good'. So, to not let my human imperfections stop me from trying things and doing them imperfectly. This is for scheduling, dieting, writing, reading, and all other goals that I make and will probably screw up at some point. Reading 300/365 days of the year is much better than 0/365 days, even though its not a perfect 365/365. So we'll see how things go :)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Musings on Friendships
Dear future potentially married self,
I'm not trying to make any assumptions here, but there is a chance that you'll be married in the future. And this IS something that your current single self wants (in the future). That being said, please remember that you have freaking awesome friends that you have made as a single person. And please don't ditch them when you get married. I know that when people get married they sometimes say, 'I didn't know what love was until I got married', etc etc, or stop spending time with their friends because all they want to do is look googly eyed at their true love. There might be a separate letter to you asking you to please not do that too much in public. But I digress.
Don't forget your friends. They are seriously awesome. They have laughed with you, cried with you, carried you through hell and back, worked with you, played with you, tried to change the world with you. These are the people that you can build silly gingerbread houses with and form the group that bursts out laughing in the middle of studying scripture. You've said you can call me at 2am and they did, and then they returned the favor. These are the people you sat in the hallway of your apartment and talked for hours on end with. These are the people that supported your decision to go sledding in a shopping cart, and to do hurricane relief work after Katrina. The ones that know the crazy stories from your childhood, and college, and grad school, and are also good friends with your mom. The ones that challenge your beliefs and make you grow as a person. They are your co-workers, roommates, mentors, and the people of all ages that fill your life. These are people your current single self hopes you will spend the rest of your life knowing, and growing with, and spending time with and keeping in touch with.
So if you fall in love and get married, don't say you didn't know what love is until that point. Because that's really not true. Romantic love is different, and so please remember to throw that adjective in there. Because agape and philos love, the love of God and friends, you've know your whole life, in ways that many people never even glimpse. Hang on to that. It's just as if not more important than a spouse.
You've got the best friends on the planet and then some. Don't throw them under the bus for a boy.
Love,
(Single) Me
I'm not trying to make any assumptions here, but there is a chance that you'll be married in the future. And this IS something that your current single self wants (in the future). That being said, please remember that you have freaking awesome friends that you have made as a single person. And please don't ditch them when you get married. I know that when people get married they sometimes say, 'I didn't know what love was until I got married', etc etc, or stop spending time with their friends because all they want to do is look googly eyed at their true love. There might be a separate letter to you asking you to please not do that too much in public. But I digress.
Don't forget your friends. They are seriously awesome. They have laughed with you, cried with you, carried you through hell and back, worked with you, played with you, tried to change the world with you. These are the people that you can build silly gingerbread houses with and form the group that bursts out laughing in the middle of studying scripture. You've said you can call me at 2am and they did, and then they returned the favor. These are the people you sat in the hallway of your apartment and talked for hours on end with. These are the people that supported your decision to go sledding in a shopping cart, and to do hurricane relief work after Katrina. The ones that know the crazy stories from your childhood, and college, and grad school, and are also good friends with your mom. The ones that challenge your beliefs and make you grow as a person. They are your co-workers, roommates, mentors, and the people of all ages that fill your life. These are people your current single self hopes you will spend the rest of your life knowing, and growing with, and spending time with and keeping in touch with.
So if you fall in love and get married, don't say you didn't know what love is until that point. Because that's really not true. Romantic love is different, and so please remember to throw that adjective in there. Because agape and philos love, the love of God and friends, you've know your whole life, in ways that many people never even glimpse. Hang on to that. It's just as if not more important than a spouse.
You've got the best friends on the planet and then some. Don't throw them under the bus for a boy.
Love,
(Single) Me
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
7 Quick Takes
1. It's been a really long time since I've blogged. I keep thinking of all of these things to write about, but I never have time enough to write that 'perfect' entry I'm conceptualizing. So one of my new goals is, in the words of The Frugal Girl, a blog I follow: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". So here's to more imperfect blog entries.
2. Speaking of imperfect, I feel like something is wrong with the space key on my laptop. So if there are two words run together give me some grace, I promise it's not that I failed 4th grade grammar.
3. I'm just short of being halfway through this semester (yikes?), and it's awesome. It's a lot of work, but I really like my classes. Mental note to expand on those in another post. I'm not currently working, but debating a job or internship for next semester- we shall see.
4. Um, I'm back from Ghana? Maybe that should have been #1 on the list. My summer in Ghana was awesome and although I only posted about half of what I wrote about the summer so far, another one of my goals is to rectify that in the future too.
5. I forgot how much I like to write. Somewhere an English class (or two or ten) scarred me from writing and it's taken me years to realize that I actually really enjoy writing. It's another form of creativity for me.
6. As I am writing this, I am swaying back and forth to the music stuck in my head, Michael Jackson's 'Beat It'. I think listening to a big 80s weekend on the radio has lasting side effects.
7. It's fall break! Which means I didn't have class today, which is nice. Fall break extends into tomorrow also, but since I don't have class on Tuesdays, today is the real break. And since half of my classes are on Mondays, it's a real break indeed. It's also following a rather insane 2 weeks, so it's much appreciated. So far I've been to the zoo, the Stone Mountain laser show, church, and the grocery store. And slept a lot. I've also been cleaning, scrap booking, baking, and catching up on some neglected friendships.
2. Speaking of imperfect, I feel like something is wrong with the space key on my laptop. So if there are two words run together give me some grace, I promise it's not that I failed 4th grade grammar.
3. I'm just short of being halfway through this semester (yikes?), and it's awesome. It's a lot of work, but I really like my classes. Mental note to expand on those in another post. I'm not currently working, but debating a job or internship for next semester- we shall see.
4. Um, I'm back from Ghana? Maybe that should have been #1 on the list. My summer in Ghana was awesome and although I only posted about half of what I wrote about the summer so far, another one of my goals is to rectify that in the future too.
5. I forgot how much I like to write. Somewhere an English class (or two or ten) scarred me from writing and it's taken me years to realize that I actually really enjoy writing. It's another form of creativity for me.
6. As I am writing this, I am swaying back and forth to the music stuck in my head, Michael Jackson's 'Beat It'. I think listening to a big 80s weekend on the radio has lasting side effects.
7. It's fall break! Which means I didn't have class today, which is nice. Fall break extends into tomorrow also, but since I don't have class on Tuesdays, today is the real break. And since half of my classes are on Mondays, it's a real break indeed. It's also following a rather insane 2 weeks, so it's much appreciated. So far I've been to the zoo, the Stone Mountain laser show, church, and the grocery store. And slept a lot. I've also been cleaning, scrap booking, baking, and catching up on some neglected friendships.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I alight here
That's the Ghanian way of saying this is where I get off when you're in a car.
I fly home to the States tonight, arriving sometime tomorrow afternoon EST.
I know I've been very bad about keeping up my blog, mostly because our internet situation got scarce these last few weeks, which makes uploading pictures impossible (we're charged on bandwidth).
So, I hope to post a lot more pictures and stories when I'm back home.
The research this summer has been awesome, as have the people I've gotten to work with. I've been able to see quite a lot of Ghana, although I didn't make it up north this trip. I've bought a lot of arts/crafts souvineers.
I've traveled by plane, bus, taxi, tro-tro (old beat-up van crammed full of people), car, canoe, and motorbike. I've walked a lot. I've seen a lot of toilets (my research was on sanitation). I've gotten one marriage proposal from an assemblyman. I've gotten and recovered from malaria. I've worked on a lot of spreadsheets. We've had several dance parties. I've learned to make 1 Ghanian dish, red-red (bean stew and fried plantains). I've taken pictures of lots of goats, which I've seen in yards, houses, gutters, streets, trees, and car windows. I've eaten a lot of mangos and pineapple.
I've had lots of crazy adventures, including canoeing on 2 lakes, getting caught in a rainstorm and subsequently having a water fight, tracking down a cab driver for the better part of a day (and then spending the night at the house of another cab driver's grandmother), seeing numerous beaches, waiting hours for a tro-tro, meeting people from all over Ghana and the world (Gambia, Togo, China, Denmark, England, Canada...), visiting 2 waterfalls and frolicking in one, visiting 2 museums, climbing a lighthouse, seeing 3 forts, crossing a canopy walk, and touring the University of Ghana campus.
I've learned a lot about conducting research involving people, and with people of another culture. It was fantastic to be able to work along side of Ghanians for this survey, and they had a lot more experience surveying than I did. I've made friends that I really really hope I keep in touch with (on 3 continents). I've learned that GIS mapping is super cool.
I've gotten to look poverty in the face, and realize that not all poverty is equal, and that people here in Ghana are better than I am about not judging on appearances. I've seen how frustrated people are when they think they have no power to change things in their community.
I've been able to see a beautiful country filled with friendly people and a lot of opportunity. Ghana is heading in the right direction, and its wonderful to see. There is also still a lot to be done.
I'm sad to leave and happy to be seeing my family and friends soon, all at the same time.
To my Ghanian friends that may or may not be reading this, please stay in touch and come visit me!
Akwaaba. You are welcome.
I fly home to the States tonight, arriving sometime tomorrow afternoon EST.
I know I've been very bad about keeping up my blog, mostly because our internet situation got scarce these last few weeks, which makes uploading pictures impossible (we're charged on bandwidth).
So, I hope to post a lot more pictures and stories when I'm back home.
The research this summer has been awesome, as have the people I've gotten to work with. I've been able to see quite a lot of Ghana, although I didn't make it up north this trip. I've bought a lot of arts/crafts souvineers.
I've traveled by plane, bus, taxi, tro-tro (old beat-up van crammed full of people), car, canoe, and motorbike. I've walked a lot. I've seen a lot of toilets (my research was on sanitation). I've gotten one marriage proposal from an assemblyman. I've gotten and recovered from malaria. I've worked on a lot of spreadsheets. We've had several dance parties. I've learned to make 1 Ghanian dish, red-red (bean stew and fried plantains). I've taken pictures of lots of goats, which I've seen in yards, houses, gutters, streets, trees, and car windows. I've eaten a lot of mangos and pineapple.
I've had lots of crazy adventures, including canoeing on 2 lakes, getting caught in a rainstorm and subsequently having a water fight, tracking down a cab driver for the better part of a day (and then spending the night at the house of another cab driver's grandmother), seeing numerous beaches, waiting hours for a tro-tro, meeting people from all over Ghana and the world (Gambia, Togo, China, Denmark, England, Canada...), visiting 2 waterfalls and frolicking in one, visiting 2 museums, climbing a lighthouse, seeing 3 forts, crossing a canopy walk, and touring the University of Ghana campus.
I've learned a lot about conducting research involving people, and with people of another culture. It was fantastic to be able to work along side of Ghanians for this survey, and they had a lot more experience surveying than I did. I've made friends that I really really hope I keep in touch with (on 3 continents). I've learned that GIS mapping is super cool.
I've gotten to look poverty in the face, and realize that not all poverty is equal, and that people here in Ghana are better than I am about not judging on appearances. I've seen how frustrated people are when they think they have no power to change things in their community.
I've been able to see a beautiful country filled with friendly people and a lot of opportunity. Ghana is heading in the right direction, and its wonderful to see. There is also still a lot to be done.
I'm sad to leave and happy to be seeing my family and friends soon, all at the same time.
To my Ghanian friends that may or may not be reading this, please stay in touch and come visit me!
Akwaaba. You are welcome.
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