Goodbyes Suck!

It is official I hate goodbyes. Over the course of the last couple weeks we have been saying our goodbyes to all the wonderful people that we have met during out time in Ghana.

Stephen and Margaret are wonderful individuals and threw us a great going away party. Margaret spent all day in the kitchen making all sorts of wonderful Ghanaian food. It was a most wonderful feast. Earlier this week we traveled make to Cape Coast to say our last goodbyes to all our wonderful friends there.

 

The yummy food!! 

I do not like goodbyes at all. I wish I could stay here, but at the same time I miss my family and friends like crazy! I can’t believe how fast the past three months have flown by! I swear it was just yesterday that Rachel and Summer were driving me to airport!

My flight leaves Accra tonight. I hopefully will be landing in Utah at 10:50 PM Friday!! I can’t wait to see all my family and friends! See you all soon!

Ashley P! 

Elephants!!

How can you go to Africa and not see any elephants? We decided that seeing elephants during our time in Ghana was a must. After some research we learned if you want to see Elephants you go to Mole National Park. Excitedly we started planning our trip to the north to see our elephants.

In all honestly Rachel is the one who pushed this trip forward. Her dream was to touch an elephant! We all thought she was a little crazy, but I decided to hop right on board with this trip. After making some phone calls we got the important aspects of the trip booked and set out.

Our trip started Monday night, when we left our home for the past three months Abomosu on the midnight bus. It was bitter sweet saying goodbye to Abomosu, there will also be a place in my heart for Abomosu. After arriving in Accra we took a small nap before setting out on our long journey up north. We has reserved ourselves seats on the “luxury” VVIP bus that left Accra at 3 PM and would arrive in Tamale at around 4 AM. Needless to say we were all super stoked for the travelling!

 

Rachel and I stoked for the bus ride!

After arriving in Tamale in the middle of the morning, we set out on the task of getting to the park, which is approximately 3 hours away. This is the part that I may not have researched as well as I should have. You would think it would be much easier to get to a National Park than it was. However, eventually we made it to park. Once again we realized our lack of research as there was a swimming pool that we didn’t even know about.

Our first elephant sighting came that night from the viewing area by the hotel. Wow, I have seen elephants in a zoo before, but seeing them in the natural state was an amazing experience. We were excited for our safari hike the next morning, hoping that we would be able to get closer to the majestic animals.  

Lucky for us the elephants were out and about when we started our morning safari hike! There were at least ten of them and they were so so so close to us! We were not going to miss an opportunity to get our picture taken with them. Here are just a few of us with the elephants!

 

I was just a little happy! 

Elephants! :) 

Us with our tour guide, Moses! 

Stoked on life! 

There were also a number of other animals that we saw, but I have to say that the elephants were my absolute favorite! We saw some crocks, antelope, warthogs, and a few monkeys! Wildlife is so much more amazing without the zoo cages.

Our trip up north was superfast, as shortly after our safari we set back out to Tamale in hopes of making it there before 4 PM to catch our bus back to Accra. Luckily, we were able to and rode the bus back. The trip was short, but the elephants made up for the crazy travel time!

Ashley P! 

3rd Wheel

Sometimes I like to be the third wheel. I mean honestly it is usually pretty entertaining to basically be a fly on the wall on someone else’s date. Lucky for me this last week I had the opportunity to be the 3^rd wheel! So first I would like to thank Rachel for allowing me to go on her date with Bernardo!  

I was pretty anxious to see how a date would work in Ghana, I mean would it be the same or different? I was not sure. Let me give you a rundown of this wonderful date. First, off we got to go into Accra, which is always happiness. Unfortunately, we did not get any pizza on this trip which is what we normally do in Accra. Before the date officially started we played lots of card games, which is a great way to pass time here in Africa.

For dinner Bernardo took us to a super nice restaurant which sort of had American food at it. So he obviously gets a gold start for that. Actually Bernardo gets a gold star just for letting me come along to be honest! Mostly during dinner I just people watched, as there were lots of expats having dinner at the restaurant. I didn’t want to interrupt the dinner conversation.

After dinner we went to the MOVIES! Yay! I miss the movies so much! We went to Jack the Giant Slayer. I had not really seen previews for it before I came, but the movie was actually surprisingly great. Also I got to check going to a movie in another country off my bucklist, which is great.

When we got back to the office where we spend the night when we are in Accra, I politely excused myself to bed so I wasn’t present for the whole date. Hopefully before I come home I can go on a date of my own and will not have to be the third wheel again. All in all I would say that date went pretty well. I wish I would have taken a picture of all of us but I forgot…next time though I will for sure!  

Ashley P! 

Transportation

Let’s be honest, one of my favorite things about Africa is the transportation. It is always an adventure and a half when we want to travel anywhere. Whether we are taking taxi, tro tro, or bus we have a good time.

When taking a taxi here, it is a little different than the other places that I have travelled to. Here, they stuff the taxis as full as possible and don’t leave until they are full. This leads to lots of cramped rides. Taxis are fine for short distances, but they are no good for long distances. Usually they put four in the back seat and two in the passenger seat.

One of many taxi rides. 

Tro tros are my favorite form of transportation here. Basically you can get a tro tro to where ever you would like to go. They are kind of like fifteen passenger vans, that they just pack full. It is normal to have three or four people on each row, but it is not unusually to have five or six at times.

And this my friends, is the beloved tro tro! 

Buses are not my favorite, but are acceptable when travelling long distances. Buses are much slower than taxis and tro tros as they stop more frequently. However, they are also a lot cheaper than the other options.

Enjoying a bus ride. 

I almost forget about the best part of travelling here. There are various taxi, tro tro, and bus stations that are filled with vendors. So while you are waiting for whatever mode of transportation you have chosen to fill up, you are swamped with individuals trying to sell you all sorts of goodies. Mostly, I just wait for the food vendors to come around. We can purchase delicious popcorn or plantain chips to hold us over for the travel ahead.  Also these vendors will stand around at traffic lights or toll booths.

Ashley P! 

Spring Break…O Wait

I was thinking that I should post about how epic my spring break has been, but then I remember that I am not in school anymore! I hope that everyone went out and did something super epic for me! It is so weird to think that I might never have a spring break of my own again. But I guess I will take being in Africa for a semester over having a one week break from school.

Before I know it I will be back in Logan working. Well actually I guess I will be in Millville working. It looks like my office is being moved there. I will be walking at my college graduation. I told my mother that that wouldn’t be necessary, but she seemed to think that I shouldn’t skip it. Turning 21 and doing so many other great things will my life.

Every day I am so grateful for the opportunities that God has given me. I would have never imagined all the opportunities to travel the world I would come across. I can only hope that this is only the beginning of my travelling and will experience many other cultures throughout my life.

Ashley P! 

We Love the Weekends

The weekdays in Africa are good, but the weekends always seem to be just a little bit better! This past weekend was no exception as we travelled to Accra. Accra is the capital of Ghana and has a number of fun things to do. We especially love the fact that we can get more Americanized food there. We always seem to eat pizza multiple times when we are in Accra.

On Friday morning we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Ghana Temple and perform baptisms for the dead. It has been a long time since I have performed baptisms and I had forgotten the wonderful experience that it is. I most definitely take the temples around me for granite. Like all other Houses of the Lord the Ghanaian Temple is no exception, it is beautiful!

I love to see the temple! 

Accra, Ghana

Saturday, we decided to cool down and hit the beach. We went to this place called Bojo beach. It was very nice, unfortunately there was lots of sun and we all seemed to be burnt the next day. However, it was totally worth it. I wish there was a beach in Cache Valley; I would go like every day! I love playing in the ocean.

At the beach! :) 

We got to ride boats out to the beach. 

Sunday, we were able to go to church at the temple site. The people here are so friendly. The best part of church as probably when we met Brother and Sister Ribera who are from Cache Valley!! They are here performing audiology work. Brother Ribera is a professor at Utah State. Out of the kindness of their hearts they invited us over for Sunday dinner and even made us chocolate chip cookies! You could say we were more than excited to meet them. It was great to hear about what they are doing here in Ghana.

Us at the Ribera's! 

In all honesty, we did nothing on Monday. Lots of people weren’t feeling super great so mostly we just sat around, which surprisingly enough was fine with me. However, Monday night we went and picked up Mama Abu! Stephens second half. She is a most wonderful lady and I wish we had more time to get to know her!

Margaret is back!! 

For now we are back in Abomosu working hard to get all of our business plans submitted so that we can fund the selected individuals. It is crazy that we have been here for two months already and just have one more month to go.

Douglas' Birthday Party! 

Ashley P! 

Power Outage

Back home I was always so happy when the power would go out. Usually it meant that I could go home from work if the power was out long enough. Because power outages hardily occurred I always welcomed them. Well, here in Ghana they come regularly and now I welcome the power.

When the power is out they say lights out. We always hope for lights on. When the lights go out our water supply also seems to dwindle causing us to have to use buckets of water to shower. It is a new a different experience for sure.

Normally the power will only be out for shorter periods of times, but is sometimes out for twelve hours. This weekend the power really loved us and was out for a whole twenty four hours straight. Needless to say most of our electronic devices were dead before the lights came back on. Once again the power is out and has been out for most of the day with a couple hours here and there with power.

Living in the first world country you sure take the everyday things like power and water for granite. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to live and learn among the Ghanaians. I truly love this country and all the individuals I am meeting.

Ashley P!