Ashley Shira’s Blog

Day Eight Part Two, Day Nine, Day Ten, Day Eleven….this might be really long!!

Day Eight Part Two (Friday)

So Friday night was very relaxed.  The four of us hung out at the mission house and played UNO and Phase Ten Dice.  It was a nice change from all the venturing out we have been doing and we really enjoyed each other’s company! Emily told us that students aren’t usually expected to work on Saturdays and Kaitlyn had decided not to go see any surgeries so she had made plans for all of us to go to Aburi to the botanical gardens on Satruday.

Day Nine (Saturday)

So Saturday morning Kim and I got up and got ready then walked over to the hospital to tell Dr. Akosua that we wouldn’t be working.  We weren’t able to find her and waited outside her consultation room for about 30 mins before we finally gave up and walked back to the house.  David arrived around 9:30am to take us to Aburi.  We had to run some errands in town first though. We had to go back to the leather store, Vadek, and pick up something for Emily’s mom.  It was a little crazy b/c the store owner wasn’t there and we had to call her and wait for her to arrive.  In the meantime we went to the Forex Bureau and exchanged some money.  We finally picked up the items for Emily’s mother then we were on our way! While we were driving, David told us his family lives in the city of Akusombo which is just beyond Aburi so we decided to go there first and meet his family.  It took us several hours to get there, but there was lots to see along the way.  We saw monkeys (like the one in The Lion King with the blue and red on him!!) just chillin on the side of the road!! We weren’t able to get any pictures because we were driving too fast. (Speed limits here are just a suggestion apparently!) We also stopped and bought some mangos from a lady on the side of the road….they have so much amazing fresh fruit here! We also bought some plantain chips from a lady on the side of the road…..they were sooooo good.  I am going to have to buy a few bags of those to bring home! When we arrived in Akusombo at David’s home we met his father, Charles, and his youngest brother.  His dad had minerals (that is what they call soda) for each of us and we relaxed in his living room while we drank them and got to know each other.  When we were done we piled in the car (literally….six of us in a tiny car) and he showed us the Volta Lake and dam.  He also showed us the shipyard where he works.  They use the lake to run cargo from north Ghana to south Ghana.  It was very interesting and Charles was a great tour guide! After we dropped Charles off at his home we headed to Aburi.  We arrived at the botanical gardens around 5pm and by then we were starving because we skipped lunch! We walked around the gardens for a while.  They were absolutely beautiful! I found it odd that there was an old, rusted helicopter right in the middle of the botanical gardens, but we had a great time climbing around in it and making pictures.  We concluded our tour of the gardens with a trip to the restaurant.  I had grilled chicken and french fries….I’ve never been so happy to have good food!! We made a quick stop at the gift shop on our way out and Emily did a great job negotiating a good price on an African drum. (We are getting better at bargaining every day!) On our way home we stopped at Koala to get a few groceries and for Kaitlyn and Emily to get some Ghanaian chocolate to take home.  When we got home, Kim went to bed and I spent a few hours hanging out with Kaitlyn and Emily while they packed.  It took all of us to figure out how Emily was going to pack her drum in a way that it would make it home intact. The girls also modeled the dresses Gilbert’s wife made them for me.  They are very cute and Kim and I are going to see if we can have her make some for us before we leave.  That would definitely be a one-of-a-kind souveneir!

Day Ten (Sunday)

Sunday was Kaitlyn and Emily’s last day. We went to the first church service again and Kaitlyn and Emily sang during the offering.  The have beautiful voices!! They were asked to sing again at the beginning of second service so we went back to the house during sunday school then went back for them to sing at second service.  Afterwards, we headed to the Labodie Beach Hotel to spend the afternoon by the pool. Daniel, a guy Emily knows from when she lived here, came by the house to say hello right as we were leaving so he helped us get a taxi and negotiate a good price for our ride to the hotel.  We had to take a taxi because everyone was still in church.  It only cost us 4 cedis for the trip which wasn’t bad at all. When we got to the hotel we paid our 10 cedis  to swim (the non-hotel gues fee).  It was a very nice pool!! We spent the afternoon reading, relaxing, and swimming.  We all actually got some sun today, because we finally got to lay out before 2pm. I am excited about the chance to go home with a tan in February!! I didn’t think lounging by the beach and pool would be a part of our trip to Africa….but I’m very glad it is!! I also acquired my third mosquito bite while we were at the pool.  They must really like me…I have three bites and Kim, Emily, and Kaitlyn have none. (It must be because I’m so sweet!) When we got home, Kim and I played Phase Ten and ate some soup for dinner while Kaitlyn and Emily went to say goodbye to Junior and Linda.  When they got home we played a few last hands of UNO before David arrived to take them to the airport. We were very sad to see them leave….the house will be so quiet and empty without them, but I am so glad we met them and were able to spend the week with them.  Our time here wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if they hadn’t been here!! After they left Kim and I decided to move our stuff downstairs into their old room.  It will be easier for us to only have to use one level of the house, plus the shower in the downstairs bathroom is better! So after we got settled into our new room we cut up some mango and pineapple for breakfast on Monday then hit the sack!

Day Eleven (Monday)

It is always hard to get out of the bed on Mondays and it is no different here in Africa! It was nice waking up in our new room though.  My bed downstairs is much more comfortable than the one I was sleeping on upstairs.  We started our morning in clinic with Dr. Akosua.  After seeing a few patients we were told there was an emergency that just came in so we went to check it out.  It was a young man who was struck by a car and had a laceration on the back of his head. Kim and I watched as they assessed him, cleaned the wound, then sutured it closed.  I always find it interesting to see how things are done here….I am learning so much!!! When the man was taken care of we went pack to clinic.  We saw a lot of kids today…..and you guys know that made me happy!! We made some pictures in clinic today, but I won’t be able to post them.  My large memory card is an SD high capacity card and the computer won’t recognize it.  I tried putting it into the camera that I have here that has a cord to the computer, but it is an old camera and won’t recognize the high capacity card either. I will have to share those with everyone when I get home.  Junior just came in and offered to take Kim and I to dinner!! Yay!! We enjoy spending time with him and Linda.  He also gave me some other exciting news…..we can receive calls for free on our Ghana cell phone numbers.  So for those of you who have been wanting to call here is how you can do that.  Just buy a calling card at wal-mart or somewhere and follow the directions on it. (you won’t get as many minutes as it says on the card b/c those are US calls not international…but it should be a decent rate) When you get to the part on the instructions about making an international call you will dial:

011-233-240578624

011 is the access code, 233 is the country code for Ghana, then the rest is my cell number

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all very much!!!