I just found out that my internet works, it don't know if it is supposed to or not but I am not complaining. Mama Rosa is downstairs fixing me dinner right now. My original family is going to be out of town or something so they changed me which is fine, it all works out. I don't have a pool but I do have a private bath and I have a pool at school so it's all good. It is my first night here and oh my god it is amazing. I am going to love this place so much. It is really beautiful and I think that I am going to be very happy and content living here. Mama Rosa is great. It is just us in the house but all is well with that. Paul and Joe are coming over soon to get me and I am really excited about that. I think things will be much easier having Joe around the area in case my brain starts hurting and I just need a break. Paul and Joe were just here visiting. It was great to see them and to speak english for a little bit. This has already been so much easier than Ghana. It is kind of strange though because there are a lot more American things like Pizza Hut, Denny's, and a Best Western. There is quite a bit of English also and many people are able to speak English. I am glad that I will only be speaking Spanish in the home. Our conversations have been basic and limited but I am sure that they will get better with time. I am sooooooo happy. Did I mention that I am happy to be here? I am in a real home with a lot of character. My mom is an older lady with grandchildren my age. She reminds me of my Nanny in a lot of ways because of the way she loves the kitchen and was putting food in front of me as soon as I walked in and many of our conversations have revolved around food so far. The house is still decorated to the hills in Christmas stuff, it looks just like an American home, well, one of those homes where they really really overdo stuff and have a few nativity scenes, candles, santas, placemats, you name it. I wonder what this house will look like when they are gone. So yea, I got to the airport, did the basic stuff, and walked out into the beautiful sunshine of a day. It is so georgeous. Aghhhhhhhhh. Stick a fork in me, I am done. So tomorrow I start school, I have been told that it is even more beautiful up the hill at school. I can't wait!!!
I love you guys soooooo much!!!!

Aburi

Bosumtwi

Photos from Lake bosumtwi

My trip to Butre beach in photos, I love the children!!!

from e-mails- Cote d'Ivoire end of Oct.

So I just got back from Cote d’Ivoire and it was amazing!!! I have to say that it was one of the best trips of my life and I feel like I had such a unique experience being one of the only tourists in a post-conflict zone. I was traveling in a group of six girls from the University, 3 Americans and 3 Canadians. I think that our group dynamic was very advantageous to us in the long run. The location was incredible because Abidjan rivals any big American city in terms of development but the streets are empty. In many of the hotels that we stayed in we were the only ones there, the only ones eating at restaurants, the only ones at night clubs. Even more amazing was being the only people at The Basilique Notre Dame de la paix. It was being at St.Peter’s and being the only people there. It was the most bizarre experience of my life. A huge basilica replicating the Vatican in size and structure plopped down in the middle of an African village. The entire thing was so surreal. Yamassoukro is strange because there are 6 lane highways running through the city that used to be the ex-presidents village of 500 people and there are no cars on the highway. You can easily walk across the whole thing. Down by the Basilica you can lay in the middle of the road, it is a ghost town. Very eerie, almost impossible. I felt like I was seeing a desert mirage, I still can’t believe everything that happened. There were tons of police checkpoints and we got stopped 25 times on Halloween trying to make it back into Ghana. Ridiculous! I guess it is better than letting rebel forces get through. I have to say that overall I felt very safe; more safe than I usually do in Ghana. I think a lot of that had to do with the lack of people, in Abidjan I was walking the skyscraper lined city streets and there was nobody hounding me, harassing me, asking for money, or trying to steal things so I actually had the chance to look around and enjoy my surroundings. In Ghana I am often paranoid about all of the things going on around me and I get easily stressed out but this was just a place to roam freely. There was an amazing amount of diversity in Cote d’Ivoire as well. Many Lebanese, Malians, Burkinabe, and mixed French Ivorians. I met so many different and wonderful people on the trip and I feel so great right now. The food was awesome. Street side open air coffee bars line the neighborhoods and at any hour of the day you can find men sitting and sipping a Nescafe or espresso served with crisp delicious baguettes. There is yummy couscous type cassava, stews, futuo, and the usual African street food. Sandwiches are a riot, they have street ladies who have about 10 pots of boiled food including spaghetti, potatoes, beans, peas, beef heart, eggs, avocado stew, omlettes, chicken, and fish and all of it is served on a baguette. There is no sandwich combination that can surprise me now. There is also a ton of French food like croissants, Lebanese falafel and hummus, and rocking chwarmas.
The shoes were really funny as well. Most of the men wore Jellies, the little sparkly shoes that 3 year old girls wear at home. I think Tabitha had a pink pair when she was maybe two. They are soccer shoes in Cote d’Ivoire and at a dollar a pair they are a much more reasonable option for the children playing soccer in the streets. The neighborhoods in Abidjan varied a great bit because the Plateau was the city center and was very upscale, or was in 1983. The whole city was like a time capsule from 1983, you could imagine it in its height, the glitz and glamour of a modern 80s city. La Deux plateau was my favorite area and had a great fun and young feel to it. It was filled with light skinned immigrant people while Treichville was more of an African immigrant population and was a great area with a fun but not overwhelming market. I can’t say enough good things about my experience, it was beautiful and amazing and I am so happy that I didn’t chicken out at the last minute and decide not to go, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Busua- mid october

No school today! Apparently it is common knowledge among students but it isn't on the academic calendar or anything. I guess they announced it on the radio and tv but 1, I don't have a tv, and 2, the radio announcements are always in Twi and I don't speak twi well enough to understand that part yet. I just went to Busua to the beach for the weekend and I had a really great time. The biggest storm in the past century had just come through and wiped out a few houses and stuff so we helped a guy clean up for a while and explored the town and relaxed because there was really no beach left. I planned to surf but even the experienced guys couldn't go out so I decided that was a terrible idea. I had some great moments to myself just sitting by the ocean though and reflecting on life. Saturday I stayed at Butre beach at a private resort that we had to hike a couple of hours down the beach, over a mountain, and the across a long footbridge at the estuary to get to. The little fishing village nearest to it was incredible and I spent a few hours playing with the beautiful little children. The night was really nice. I sat around having a few drinks with friends and then they started a bonfire right at the edge of the water because there really wasn't much beach left at all and these amazing rastamen played their drums and sang until the rain came. The storm was so intense and incredible, I was mesmerized by it really. Good weekend overall I must say because the next morning I had a couple of hours to just sip on my tea and write in my journal in a little hut on the water. Most everything has gone into my journal, hence this online thing has gotten very little attention

little basic things- end of sept.

we got a washer and dryer in my buidling yesterday so I think I might take my laundry and have it done! That is really exciting for me because i have been hand washing everything and that is a lot of work and you have to do it all the time here because things get so stinking nasty ass dirty and there is no way to avoid it. I also have a mold problem where things mold in my closet very easily, especially if they are dirty in any way... it is strange. Basic things like water, washing, and power are so different here. I am going to be so thankful for warm showers, good internet, power, and clean drinking water and outdoors. I am also going to be excited for food at home. I feel like a fool but I want fruity pebbles and mcdonald's as my junk foods when I get home. There is so much really heavy starch in everything that you eat here, it even makes me miss campus food. Einstein's would rock my world right now, no lie.

from e-mails- Togo late Sept

I just spent the weekend in Togo and it was crazy. There are moments of frustration here and being in a French speaking country was a bit difficult as well but the food there was amazing, the people were beautifully and so much more what I thought they would be like than they are in Ghana. I spent a day in Lome and rode around on the motorcycle taxis and had a blast. We also went to togoville and stayed at this Catholic monestary and school with this awesome old man who made us dinner and breakfast at his house for free and took great care of us. It was so random but worked out really well. To get to togoville was the best part because we had to ride across the lake in banana boats for about 30 minutes just paddling over. I also went up to Kpalime but it didn't turn out as nice as we had hoped. As always, it took a million years to get anything done so really sunday didn't include but one little half hour hike and the rest of the time was navigating, negotiating, and border crossing and then coming home in a cramped tro tro for about 5 hours. The ride to the border on the long dirt road through the jungle and down the mountain for an hour was really beautiful though. There are a strange variety of mix moments of absolute bliss and total frustration. All in all I had a really great time but I was so happy to get back to my room last night and crash. These are the life adventures though. I must admit, i miss mountain air and mountain life and i can't wait to come back for it.

from e-mails- missing fall mid september

I miss fall right now... all the little things. i went to a sports bar last night and we watched the arizona baltimore game. we had the smaller tv and couldn't hear the game because they were also playing soccer on the biggest screen and most of the people in this country would much rather watch that. it was nice though, it made me miss stupid little things of home though and my dad. not that i have ever been one to watch a lot of football on tv but last night really made me think of home and how football is just there and a part of life and when i am home on sundays doing laundry a game is on. aly said it is starting to smell like fall, i miss that smell. i am not homesick or anything, just little things about home i have been thinking about. i think mountain heritage day was this weekend as well. i am such a mountain girl hehehe.
things are great here though, reall really frickin hot but good. i went up to kakum this weekend to the rain forrest and i had a blast. we went camping in the park and had the whole place to ourselves. that night we had to walk half an hour to the next village for food and we played with the kids (about 40) for a couple of hours until the sun went down and we were lead to a little guesthouse where ms.gina made us dinner and we visited with all of her family. i think michael will put up photos from that soon. the next morning our guide sampson came and got up from our campsite at 5 in the morning and we started our hike. we hiked over to the canopy walk and got to watch the sunrise from about 100 feet up or so on rope bridges and tree platforms, it was sooo beautiful. then we just hiked the ebony trail, and overall, it was awesome. then we went and saw the slave castles of cape coast and elimina. it was a very eerie experience and i really learned a lot from it. yesterday was a pretty chill day with a lot of card playing, shopping (tons of yummy fresh food now), and then the game last night followed by movie night at that restaurant where they showed knocked up.
so this morning we went for our run at 630 and it was already super hot but i had a good run. 50 spf sunblock all over already and it is only 830. i am doing some homework here on the computer and stuff and then i have dance class followed by laundry time. after that i am going to my conflicts in african states class and then we are making dinner.
oh yea, and i went to church yesterday morning because i am trying that as part of my cultural experience here. i have to say, it was nuts. it was a new pentecost church and they were just yelling and screaming and talking about god is gonna make you rich and strange stuff, it made me appreciate some of the churches at home and around school that still understand that christianity isn't about money. it was totally evangelical and all about asking new members to put a lot of money into the offering and support all of these rural evangelical projects that they were doing but i really didn't agree with anything they wanted to do. part of the service was in twi and the other part was totally like american contemporary stuff... just strange to me.

from e-mails- Volta Region Sept. week 1

well africa is africa which means internet, electricity, and running water are suprisingly hard to come by. It usually takes a long time to respond to anything. things are really great here though and i have been traveling a ton and experiencing some amazing things.
so this past weekend was absolutely amazing!!! We went to the volta region and climbed amedzofe which is the mountain above the highest town in the country. It is where the missionaries first settled because of the cool climate, it felt just like home. The place was so foggy and mountainous, it was late september in Appalachia for a brief moment in time. This area was part of German Togoland and so you can see the influence and I spent a few hours with a village elder on Friday night, so I learned about all of this. It was so cool to have this 90 year old man telling me about everything he had been through with the area being under league of nations, un protection, and all of these other things before it became part of ghana. The most bizarre part of the night was when a funeral procession came by with the ambulance bringing the corpse back to the town. It was insane, people were dancing and singing in the dark of the night and the only lights were from the ambulance and hte party bus in front of it. All of the power had been turned off so we were meeting with Mr.Datsa in candlelight when the group came by. There was a drumline in the front and everyone was dressed in black and red. The next day I got to go to a real funeral a few villages over, it was so great. I got to dance in the funeral circle which is a big drum circle in the middle with a group of men in the first ring and then women dancing around on the outside with death rags of black and red. I learned a lot. It is also awesome because they feed you tons of food and make you drink a lot as well. Sooooo different from home. But yea, the rest of the weekend was spent hiking the tallest mountain in Ghana, playing in waterfalls, and playing iwth monkeys. the waterfall was more like a hurricane though, it was the strongest thing i have ever been near and I felt insane going close to it. i have no words to describe the awesome power of that thing. but the hike was nice, i wanted to just hike right into togo which was the next mountain over but there is one girl in the group who had never hiked before and was an hour behind the rest of us so that wasn't really an option. so yea, the best time i have had yet... by far.

culinary frustrations

so last night was rough for me. i went to the atm and i couldn't get any money out so i was freaking out but i got some this morning and things are fine. I also tried fufu last night and it was so bad. i didn't even get a quarter of the way through because my gag reflex wouldn't let me. it tasted like i was eating spicy slimy cornstarch balls. then i tried roasted corn, no luck there either because it was dry and tasted like chicken feed. i didn't eat much of that either. other than an egg sandwich in the morning, this was the extent of my food. it was malaria medicine night as well. i was feeling like a drunk idiot because i didn't have enough food in my stomach and everything is closed on sundays. tanisha saved me with a piece of pizza. i have decided that tuesday night is pizza night and that is all there is to it.call me an obruni if you want and criticize me for eating american food, i don't care! over at the pizza inn, which is a rather expensive option they have buy one get one free night. two large pizzas for 7.40. sounds like a deal to me. i love rice, but i love everything else as well. the food is getting old very fast and i am realizing how important it is to take my vitamins. there are no vegetables here, just meat, starch, and the ocassional bean. no dairy here, so calcium is good. no vegetables, which sucks. i am not much of a meat person, and i am supposed to stay away from chicken but that is totally impossible. i would be nothing if i did that. so i may have to spend more on food to get adequate nutrition. i don't care though. sorry, just had to vent a little. i just want home food so much right now. eat some yummy stuff for me.

Well I am now sure how much to say but I am getting the swing of things around here. I have registered for my classes and I am super excited. Apparently the first couple of weeks nothing really happens but I am going to try and go anyway. Most of the departments haven't put up timetables yet so I still don't know what time my classes are being offered. I also am going to have to drop a class or two but that is ok. I will wait and see on the times and if I can understand the professors or not. So far I only know that I have Conflicts in African States on Mondays from 3:30 to 5:30. I am also registered for Sociology of African Religion, History of Africa to 1500, Early Modern European History, The Black Diaspora, an introductory Twi class, Obruni Drumming, and Obruni Dancing. I am so excited about classes actually. I really want to take all of them. It is just so different from the states where everything is set when you register six months ahead of time. There is a lot of standing in line and going to various departments and then going again but that is ok.
Besides that I am just experiencing life here. I am eating a lot of really interesting foods and trying other parts of the culture out as well. Things are looking good!

Alive and well

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I am here in Ghana and doing fine. Thank you to everyone who helped me get here. I couldn't have done it alone, that is for sure. When I first got here I was all by myself and being asked on dates by immigration officers and had strangers trying to trick me. I soon met Mr.Passah and Dr.Akotia and they have helped me so much. I am very luck to be in such a good program. Things are soooo very different here and I don't even know where to begin. I don't have electricity or water right now but I have been managing just fine. I feel like I have really gone back in time, like to my grandmother's generation. I have to go fetch water from the yard to bathe, but it is fine. It is the roughest place I have ever lived in but it is the best accommodation around. It is very simple and safe though. Most people are very very poor, and at the arts center market yesterday I wandered into the back and found where all of the people lived. I think I am really learning to appreciate so many of the things that I take for granted at home. The people here are really nice! It is strange though because everyone can speak English but they usually speak twi, efe, or some other language with each other. I have been into the city and into the market and even tried my hand at bartering, how bizarre! The market can be intense because everyone is asking you to buy stuff but with time I think it will be easier. I found an awesome market on campus today.. .the Bush Canteen, I know it will be cool during the week, but it is unlike anything I have ever seen in the States. I am kind of outside of the main strip on campus but it is nice. There are horses right across the yard. The horses and monkeys are tied to the trees but the dogs, chickens, and sheep roam free. There are so many dirt roads here, it is incredible. Red clay paths are a main way to get around. The land is filled with beautiful grasses, trees, and flowers. Of course I am not much of a city girl so the buildings are a total turn off and don't impress me at all. That is usually the story though. The people are really the most interesting. There are so many beautiful faces, and they are so unfamiliar to me. The women have beautiful dresses. I can't wait to have dresses made. Sorry this is so long but I feel like there is so much to say. I am keeping an extensive journal though, so I will be able to tell tons of stories and share that when I come home. If anybody has any questions of wants to know anything please send me an e-mail or reply to this. messages are always welcome. Thanks again for all of the love, support, and help.
Love and Peace
JennieV.

wow. I am sitting in my room right now looking at potential graduate school fellowships (mostly foreign affairs) before I write out a couple of assignments for work tomorow to contribute to la vida montanera and the mountain laurel. A moment ago I just took a second to take it all in. I looked up from my computer screen and this is what I saw... a pile of books in my reading corner in which my current books sit between my two mexican carvings. I could see The Global Struggle for Human Rights, The GRE Test, 'Tis, The Clash of Civilizations, and A People's History of the United States. I could also see the maps of Central America and Europe on my wall in the same line as the green rolling mountains outside my window. The last thing in sight was my suitcase for the conference I head to tomorrow. I am so excited about it. I love going to conferences! I love the feel of a true business environment and I love meeting people, and being involved with so many people with common interests. This weekend the office is heading to Chapel Hill for the Immigrant Right and Refugee Training Institute at the Law School of Chapel Hill. How exciting! I know the three of us are going to learn so much, though our applications of the material will inevitably be different.

On another note... I had the chance to speak at Franklin Daybreak Rotary, my sponsoring club, and it was so excellent. I just really love how supportive that club is of me in everything I do. The people there have really helped me to realize my dreams and move me towards the direction of them. Anyway, I am such a lucky person to have them behind me, if it wasn't for them, who knows where I would be.
Ciao for now

paperwork, paperwork, paperwork

So... school has ended and I am living at home again. I am doing a lot of really fun things and enjoying myself but I feel inundated with paperwork. I just want to go all ready but there is always another form to fill out for someone along the way which can be frustrating because many of these forms have to be filled out by other people and nobody will help me out. I just get annoyed with calling professors and sending e-mails and still hearing nothing. Hopefully I will begin making progress soon.
Right now I am just working a couple of days a week and then studying for the GRE and trying to enjoy myself a bit other than that. Aly and I went and studied under the biggest poplar in the U.S. today. It is nice to be able to do something that I enjoy while I am studying. I feel like there is a bunch of stuff to be done but I don't have the structure to be doing it in. Kind of crazy.
Also, I am in the great search for graduate programs. I know I want to go into a graduate program right after my undergraduate work but I think the battle will be to convince the programs that it is a good idea. After being away for a year I will be ready to come back and jump into an awesome new educational experiences in the states for a couple of years. I just feel like I have more to learn and more skills to gain in the classroom before I get into my career.
Wish me luck!

and we're off

Let the journey begin!
For a bit I will mostly be explaining my predeparture process and emotions. Many exciting things are happening though... and there are so many more to come!
For the record... here is my official plan:
University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana- Fall 2007
Centro Linguistico Conversa, San Jose, Costa Rica- Spring 2008
wish me luck