Busy Bees

I swear we are working like busy bees. Yesterday, we honestly worked for like twelve hours. I never work this much back home. I can barely stand to make it through an eight hour work day, that is why I normally only work like seven instead. But here work is always constantly on our minds. Rachel did inform me, however, that we really aren't working that much. Haha, I still think we are being busy bees, at least this week. 

However, with all this work I do feel like we are being productive. We have finished the teaching and are now really seeing which individual we can assist with loans. It is very interesting to look over the individuals’ business plans and see how if they had enough to get going or expand they could be profitable and make a healthy living.

It is hard because I want to be able to assist all of them, but the funds are just not there. In a perfect world we would be able to fund everyone, but then again in a perfect world they probably won’t need any funding. So I guess if you know anyone in the MGT 3110 class tell them the proceeds from their fundraising would be greatly appreciated in the SEED program.

Ashley P! 

Kakum National Park

The last adventure we went on was going to Kakum National Park! I definitely recommend going there if you ever end up in Ghana. However, they have super strange hours so make sure you get there on time so you don’t have to pay extra like we did.

So basically all it is, are these rope bridges that are suspended in the tree tops. Let’s be honest it kind of freaked me out. I am not sure who had the great idea of making these rope bridges but I don’t think I would ever suggest it. The whole time I just thought about how much my dearest sister Clarissa would be freaking out. Maybe her fear has always made me not be afraid of things like that.

The bride. 

Maybe just a little scared. 

Me and my new friend Amos! 

Probably one of the best parts of the trip is that the love birds, that is Karson and Chelsea, finally made it official! Karson proposed to Chelsea on the middle of one of the brides and she was completely taken by surprised! It was so cute! The best part is we all knew that he was going to propose and I honestly thought she figured that he would, but nope she was taken of guard for sure! I can’t wait for my proposal! But I am pretty sure I don’t want lots of people there.

The happy couple! With the rest of us! 

All in all we had a great weekend getaway! I am reminded everyday how much I love travelling! I especially love Ghana! I still miss Cache Valley, but feel I will be home before I know it!

Ashley p! 

Cape Coast University

Sometimes we get real lucky and get to have a little taste of the University experience in Ghana. Karson has a couple mission companions that go to Cape Coast University and were able to find us each a place to stay with a member for two nights. I love travelling, but it is even better when you are able to meet the people and gain new friendships.

I stayed with Patience and Barbara and then there roommate who is not a member. They are the nicest and I am so grateful for their hospitality. They were all willing to do whatever they could to make my stay as comfortable as possible. 

My roommates! 

On Sunday we were able to go to church. I love going to church here in Ghana, especially when it is in English. Because of the closeness of the University there are lots of young single adults in the ward. I always love the closeness of members outside of Utah. Honestly, just by being Mormon it is like you have a built in group of friends where ever you go. I think I will need to move out of Utah for a while.

Us at the beach.

Sunday evening we then got to have dinner on the beach. Boy do I love the beach. Utah definitely needs to figure out how to get us a nice ocean beach. But I guess that would only work if all of California and Nevada fell into the ocean. Only a couple of us ended up playing in the water and we ended up getting their right when it started getting dark.  The current seemed to be a lot stronger at Cape Coast then it had been at Green Turtle, I am not sure if it is always like that or just because it was getting dark. I don’t really know a whole lot about the water cycle at on the coast.

After the beach. 

Cape Coast was so much. I hope that we can maybe find some time to go and visit our new friends again. Or maybe they could even come and visit us!

Sometimes not everyone looks, o well. 

Ashley P! 

Cape Coast Castle

After having a wonder time at Green Turtle Lodge on Saturday we traveled to Cape Coast, to meet up with Chelsea and Karson. We ended up getting to Cape Coast a couple hours before them, so we needed to find something to do. For a while we just walked up and down the streets. Luckily we found a nice little shopping area, where I was able to check my sanity. No worries I am still sane as I bought lots of earrings.

Next we decided to go the Cape Coast Castle. They used the castle during the slave trade to house and hold individuals before shipment. I cannot even imagine all of the awful things that took place there. It was very interesting to listen to the process and various things that took place at the castle.

Us at the castle. 

We were even able to make a couple of friends during our tour. All of a sudden we turned around and show a group of guys getting their picture taken with Dustin. They were then super stoked to take some pictures with myself and Rachel. Here are just a few of them.

Dustin with all his new friends. 

Haha they just love me. 

Just one of many. 

My favorite part of the Castle was obviously all the vendors outside. I was finally able to get some good shopping in. The only problem is I have not seen a single shot glass to purchase. I sure hope I find one before I come home. I would hate not to be able to add to my collection while I am here.

Ashley P! 

Green Turtle Lodge!

This past weekend we decided to take a break from working and hit the beach. Honestly, we had one of the most epic trips of my life. It is so epic that I will have to write multiple blog posts to fully document all the greatness. It all began last Wednesday night at midnight when we took the midnight bus into Accra. Rachel, Dustin, and I all traveled together to this epic place called Green Turtle Lodge, by Cape Three Points which apparently is like the center of the world or something. We met Chelsea and Karson later on in the week.

After leaving Accra at midnight we finally made it to Green Turtle Lodge at about 1:00 or 1:30 in the afternoon. Travelling around Ghana sure can be adventurous. By the time we actually arrived I was most definitely tired of sitting. We ended up taking two buses and then two Trotros to get to our final destination, but boy was it worth it! The last Trotro ride did get a little scary though. Okay, so Trotro are basically big vans that the stuff as many people as possible in right? We ended up going basically off roading in this old rickety van. Pretty great if I do say so may self! 

On one of the many buses!  

Green Turtle lodge is right on the beach. We stayed there for two nights and mostly just took in the sun and played in the water. I of course read when my Kindle was not completely dead. If you ever go to Ghana Green Turtle is definitely a must go to place. I could just sit and watch the ocean waves all day long, also falling asleep to the sound of waves is pretty great as well.  

Finally, we arrived! 

 We also took a nice canoe ride one morning and even saw a Jellyfish!! I don’t think I have ever seen a Jellyfish before, but this one was pretty legit! One of the best parts though may have been the night that Rachel and I thought it would be a great idea to sign up for the Turtle Night Hike. Honestly, all we wanted to do was see a turtle! So after walking along the beach for like an hour without seeing any turtles we turned around. It was real unfortunate that there were no turtles to be found. But hey I guess on the bright side we got to pay four dollars to walk along the beach and see lots of crabs.

Canoe trip! 

 All in all we had a super great time in at the Green Turtle Lodge. Here are a few of the pictures that we took while we were there. I will try and get most of them posted to Facebook, but let’s be honest the internet here is not always quality.

The beach! 

Green Turtle

Playing in the water! 

All of us! :) 

Ashley P!

Fresh Fruit!

One of the best parts about Ghana has to be the fresh fruit that we are able to have every day! Back home I hardly ever eat fruit, but I have honestly fallen in love with fruit here. It is a real shame that when I go home the fruit will have no comparison to the fruit here, but I still think I will love it.

Everyone’s favorite probably has to be the pineapple. We have it at least once every day. And this pineapple is not like that pineapple at home. You can eat and eat this pineapple without having any cankers or anything.  I just know that my mom would absolutely love it!

My personal favorite though has to be the mango. I am not sure what I have been doing with my life, but I am pretty sure that I have never really had mango before coming to Ghana, but let me tell you it is amazing! I just know that when I come home I will be craving mangoes because I am already craving them here.

Pineapple and mango only begin to describe the wonderful fruit here. We have had watermelon, tomatoes, and avocados. The avocados are very delicious and I think we are going to make some guacamole.

Ashley P! 

African Wedding!!

This weekend we were very privileged to attend our very first African Wedding and was it quite the adventure! So here is a rundown of the experience. It all began Friday evening after we had finished teaching our last business class of the week. Then we met Yvonne and Dennis who were helping us travel to Samuel’s, the groom’s house to stay the night. We hoped on a tour looking bus and just rode on it for a fair amount of time.

To be honest we have no idea where we were when we got off the bus. But we just trusted in those showing us the way and went to Samuel’s place. It is very interesting, but when Ghanaians feed you they just bring you out food and then leave. I really wish they would stay and eat with us, but I guess that is just not the case here. Anyways we were told to wake up to be ready to leave for the wedding being held in Tema at 4:30 am. So at four the next morning we were up and getting ready. Another thing about Ghana they are hardly ever on time. After being ready to leave at 4:30 we didn’t end up leaving until like six.

They were very nice and gave us our own taxi to ride in. However, I think they forgot to give our taxi driver very good directions. Because around the time we should have been getting to the wedding our taxi driver started stopping like ever 100 feet to ask for directions. It didn’t matter if we were in a busy intersection or not, he would just stop. On the freeway he was driving really slowly and all the drivers passing us were yelling at him. Anyways, after sometime he just pulled the car off the side of the road and said that we were going to wait for the others. He never admitted to being real lost, it was great. Later we found out that our taxi driver was actually the brother of the groom.

The bride.

Upon arriving at the wedding we were greeted and treated like celebrities. You would have almost thought we were more important than the bride and groom. They even fed us food in a private room before all the festivities started. I thought at first everyone was going to get some, but it turns out it was just for us.

Our food. The rice was so spicy!! 

It was very interesting to watch the wedding. I just wish I knew twi or that they spoke English. For the most part I was just very confused to everything that was happening. At one point in the ceremony they introduced all of us and had us going sit behind the bride and groom. The only other people behind them were like the moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas.

Yay, for cameras and documenting moments like this. 

I think Ghanaians favorite thing to do is dance. They had a special song for just us Americans to dance to. I don’t think have had so many cameras that close to me before. They were all highly amused with us. They even had some of us participate in a dance competition. Talk about awkward!

Us with the bride and groom. 

All in all though we all had a great time! We are not sure if we will be attending another Ghanaian wedding, but we sure are never going to forget our first Ghanaian wedding!

Ashley p!