12.7.06
wow, so i'm back in sogakope, and it's like it's nice to be home! strange..but it's nice to not be in a hotel, and know my way around, and be able to walk to places.
the last time i updated i was in an internet cafe with ing in accra..well, we spent the day to ourselves, and it was i think the best day i've had in ghana, but besides that it would have even been considered a great day in the states. on the way to the wrangler store we found a bookshop, and i bought four books--one from barbara kingsolver (who wrote the poisonwood bible, which apparently reminds lots of people who have read it of my trip this summer), one harvard press collection of philosophic writings from locke and rousseau and hobbes and people like that, skinner's walden two, which i'm reading now, and then gloria steinem's book about everyday revolutions. i forget the title..but yeah, it was so great to find real books!!! i figure they'll at least keep me busy for the next two and a half weeks, and it was refreshing to find something intellectual besides an e-mail from cass (which i also found in accra..right now we're discussing the ramifications for and consequences of eating animals, and whether we have an inherent "right" to eat them, and so on..you can post your thoughts if you want).
anyway..after that ing and i went to the wrangler store, which was full of pretty normal clothes, and it was fun to look but i think all of their stuff might have fit a twelve year old.
now comes the amazing part. we went to koala, this supermarket with all kinds of global goodies, and i found really really amazing things: dutch and french cheeses, real butter, normal yogurt, salads, grapes, normal fruits and veggies that i miss like peas and broccoli and potatoes and things, normal bread that's not sweet like all the bread here, fresh sliced deli meats and cheeses, seafood, ice cream in cartons, wine, canned goods, heinz ketchup, shampoo and conditioner for white people, hand sanitizer, air freshener, m&ms, candy bars, normal fruit juices, diet coke, just a million things. i guess you really can get anything here if you know where to go. i spent 300,000 (about $35) and got the following amazing things:
some hot dogs
2 cans of hummus from lebanon
pretzels
a can of chili
a can of peas
conditioner
two things of real hand sanitizer
some kleenex
ziploc bags
spaghetti sauce!!!! so i don't have to cook for two hours every time i want spaghetti!!
cherry jelly
i think that's all..but oh man, what a great place. if i had a fridge in sogakope to use, i think i would have cleaned out the store of cheese..that's what i miss the most. anyway, it was great, and so then ing and i went back to the hotel and read. then we decided to try the sushi bar we had seen, assuming it would be totally sketchy..and so, after being totally ecstatic at finding all kinds of western food that i can eat now, yes. ingabora and i ate fresh, raw, delicious, not sketchy at all sushi. it was so delicious, and i had lots of spicy raw tuna, and some sashimi and a california roll, and it was so good. we made aggie try it and she hated it, haha, but oh man..i think that dinner was like the highlight of my life. it was expensive, but so so worth it. so yeah, i ate sushi in ghana, how crazy! ah..so that was my best day ever in ghana, so far.
we went home yesterday, but not until i got money out of the bank that ended up being sort of a fiasco, because we had to drive to a different bank to get it, and also the atms were broken, so that was like an hour-long detour. we got back, though, and made it here. then grace (aggie's cousin) cooked jollof rice for us and spaghetti for dinner, and then corrine's whole family and i went to don and philo's house again for drinks. david (the belgian we met last time) brought real red wine again, and so i drank wine and we talked about pineapples and flowers and things. david and don apparently both have boats, and they invited me on sunday to go with them to where the river meets the gulf of guinea and hang out there on the beach and stuff...i think i'm going to take them up on it. i bought a bottle of wine today just in case i do, because i figure it's my turn to contribute after mooching off don and philo and david and elka twice, haha. so yeah..that was really good, and then i even got a ride home! although i kind of fell walking down the slope across the gutter that leads to the house, and i skinned my knee, and got my first ever genuine hole in my jeans. yeah, david got me a little tipsy, haha..but really though, it's an incline of about 75 degrees, and i've slipped on it before and fallen. so..just a little tipsy.
today i went to work and..this will surprise you..did nothing! odette and i went to the market around four and i got all the normal staple foods, along with some experimental baked beans in a can and corned beef in a can. not so sure about those, but we'll see. at least i've got my nutella and pretzels if anything goes terribly wrong.
that's about it for today...i had planned to go to the seamstress i met the other day and get a dress made for sunday's church, but i didn't have time, so i'll do that tomorrow. i guess i'll cook when i get home. and i have to do wash tomorrow, because i didn't do it today, and i have a lot to do. oh, and also david saw me today on the street when he was driving from the pineapple lab, and honked and waved at me, and that made me really happy. not sure why, but i was just like..wow, david waved at me! even though i spent like four hours with him and the dutch people last night, haha. oh, did i mention that david is like, brutally gorgeous and should be a model? maybe that has something to do with me acting like a schoolgirl. i'll take pictures and you'll know what i mean.
so anyway..tomorrow is wash for a million hours and then doing nothing and then going to the seamstress...should be exciting! i hope you are all doing well, and that you appreciate things like canned peas and PB&Js. and i'm coming home in two and a half weeks..whoo! i've got to live it up until then. i'm sure there are many more stories to come.
the last time i updated i was in an internet cafe with ing in accra..well, we spent the day to ourselves, and it was i think the best day i've had in ghana, but besides that it would have even been considered a great day in the states. on the way to the wrangler store we found a bookshop, and i bought four books--one from barbara kingsolver (who wrote the poisonwood bible, which apparently reminds lots of people who have read it of my trip this summer), one harvard press collection of philosophic writings from locke and rousseau and hobbes and people like that, skinner's walden two, which i'm reading now, and then gloria steinem's book about everyday revolutions. i forget the title..but yeah, it was so great to find real books!!! i figure they'll at least keep me busy for the next two and a half weeks, and it was refreshing to find something intellectual besides an e-mail from cass (which i also found in accra..right now we're discussing the ramifications for and consequences of eating animals, and whether we have an inherent "right" to eat them, and so on..you can post your thoughts if you want).
anyway..after that ing and i went to the wrangler store, which was full of pretty normal clothes, and it was fun to look but i think all of their stuff might have fit a twelve year old.
now comes the amazing part. we went to koala, this supermarket with all kinds of global goodies, and i found really really amazing things: dutch and french cheeses, real butter, normal yogurt, salads, grapes, normal fruits and veggies that i miss like peas and broccoli and potatoes and things, normal bread that's not sweet like all the bread here, fresh sliced deli meats and cheeses, seafood, ice cream in cartons, wine, canned goods, heinz ketchup, shampoo and conditioner for white people, hand sanitizer, air freshener, m&ms, candy bars, normal fruit juices, diet coke, just a million things. i guess you really can get anything here if you know where to go. i spent 300,000 (about $35) and got the following amazing things:
some hot dogs
2 cans of hummus from lebanon
pretzels
a can of chili
a can of peas
conditioner
two things of real hand sanitizer
some kleenex
ziploc bags
spaghetti sauce!!!! so i don't have to cook for two hours every time i want spaghetti!!
cherry jelly
i think that's all..but oh man, what a great place. if i had a fridge in sogakope to use, i think i would have cleaned out the store of cheese..that's what i miss the most. anyway, it was great, and so then ing and i went back to the hotel and read. then we decided to try the sushi bar we had seen, assuming it would be totally sketchy..and so, after being totally ecstatic at finding all kinds of western food that i can eat now, yes. ingabora and i ate fresh, raw, delicious, not sketchy at all sushi. it was so delicious, and i had lots of spicy raw tuna, and some sashimi and a california roll, and it was so good. we made aggie try it and she hated it, haha, but oh man..i think that dinner was like the highlight of my life. it was expensive, but so so worth it. so yeah, i ate sushi in ghana, how crazy! ah..so that was my best day ever in ghana, so far.
we went home yesterday, but not until i got money out of the bank that ended up being sort of a fiasco, because we had to drive to a different bank to get it, and also the atms were broken, so that was like an hour-long detour. we got back, though, and made it here. then grace (aggie's cousin) cooked jollof rice for us and spaghetti for dinner, and then corrine's whole family and i went to don and philo's house again for drinks. david (the belgian we met last time) brought real red wine again, and so i drank wine and we talked about pineapples and flowers and things. david and don apparently both have boats, and they invited me on sunday to go with them to where the river meets the gulf of guinea and hang out there on the beach and stuff...i think i'm going to take them up on it. i bought a bottle of wine today just in case i do, because i figure it's my turn to contribute after mooching off don and philo and david and elka twice, haha. so yeah..that was really good, and then i even got a ride home! although i kind of fell walking down the slope across the gutter that leads to the house, and i skinned my knee, and got my first ever genuine hole in my jeans. yeah, david got me a little tipsy, haha..but really though, it's an incline of about 75 degrees, and i've slipped on it before and fallen. so..just a little tipsy.
today i went to work and..this will surprise you..did nothing! odette and i went to the market around four and i got all the normal staple foods, along with some experimental baked beans in a can and corned beef in a can. not so sure about those, but we'll see. at least i've got my nutella and pretzels if anything goes terribly wrong.
that's about it for today...i had planned to go to the seamstress i met the other day and get a dress made for sunday's church, but i didn't have time, so i'll do that tomorrow. i guess i'll cook when i get home. and i have to do wash tomorrow, because i didn't do it today, and i have a lot to do. oh, and also david saw me today on the street when he was driving from the pineapple lab, and honked and waved at me, and that made me really happy. not sure why, but i was just like..wow, david waved at me! even though i spent like four hours with him and the dutch people last night, haha. oh, did i mention that david is like, brutally gorgeous and should be a model? maybe that has something to do with me acting like a schoolgirl. i'll take pictures and you'll know what i mean.
so anyway..tomorrow is wash for a million hours and then doing nothing and then going to the seamstress...should be exciting! i hope you are all doing well, and that you appreciate things like canned peas and PB&Js. and i'm coming home in two and a half weeks..whoo! i've got to live it up until then. i'm sure there are many more stories to come.