Sittin' in the shade of the tree, wasting time...

Before I tell you about my project I'm just gonna talk a bit about what happened after last weeks blog entry:


On the way back, sitting in the trotro, there was a big group of people coming towards us shouting and whisteling, basically celebrating. A couple of guys were carrying a coffin, not like they do here, on the shoulders and very slow. Oh noo, they were dancing and jumping with the coffin in their hands. Back at home, while peeling the maize, my two German housemates, Clara & Judith, came back from their travels.


The next morning I tought I would meet two other volunteers in Akroso around 8:30 to go to the Salvation Army school together. However, at about 7:50 I asked my host mother whether she received a letter of introduction from my organisation for the headmaster. Reading it, I discovered I have to go to the Presbyterian Junior High School and a girl would take me there. The girl said the school starts at 7:30, so I skipped a few things and rushed to the school, where no teacher had arrived so far. Since the school opened that day after the Christmas break, the children tidied up the school on Tuesday and Wednesday. That meant I just sat in the shade all day and talked to colleagues and students hence the title (a litte homage to Otis Redding, for those who didn't notice. It's one of my 3 favourite songs in the world by the way)


My colleagues asked me, if I believe in god, and after saying that I'm atheist I had to explain the universe, including the big bang theory and the theory of evolution, as simple and as short as possible. That's really hard considering they have never heard of the big bang and can associate the theory of evolution only with a guy called Darwin.


Thinking about the current English sensitivity towards knives (in school), I discovered they couldn't be more relaxed about it here, with the children carrying big machetes around with them... I bought one myself on the market in Akroso on Thursday. Depending on airline regulatoins I am considering bringing it home and hanging it on the wall. (I guess my mum will not be very happy reading this:)


On Wednesday I was in Swedru at the Oburoni meeting,where I talked to two Germans who are here for 12 months and gave a a few ideas about getting a few financial gains from my trip to Ghana. They want to ship African drums to sell them in Germany, which is too much hassle for me, but I might do somethig like that on a lower scale.


Yesterday I travelled with a few other volunteers to Cape coast to see the castle, which was really interesting (I don't mean that in an English way). Cape Coast was one of three castles on the Gold Coast, where thousands of slaves were held til a ship brought them to the New World. Together with Elmina castle, a few miles away, it forms the epicentre of one of the greatest crimes in human history.

(That top bit of the picture is my hat, I bougt on the arts and crafts market in Accra, and the walls belong to Cape Coast Castle)

After the castle we had lunch in the sea-view Castle Restaurant where I had one and a half dishes due to another volunteer's lack of appetite. I then waited in the Barclay's bank for one of the others to exchange her traveler cheques, but considering the airconditioning cooling down the room to 23*C, it was extremely bearable.
Together wit 14 other volunteers, I met during the introduction week in Accra, I'm staying at Hans Cottage Botel, which is a small resthouse complex with a lake full of crocodiles and a pool. I'll be leaving on Sunday and until then I'll just relax and sleep looooong. Yesterday evening, after dinner, I abseiled myself from the group and joined two German volunteers and their Ghanaian coordinator, because I thought the group was too large and I enjoyed the company of the two girls more than most members of the other group:)
I'm still looking for a good travelling companion. There was a Norwegian, but he's been sent to Tamale on short notice. Also he's got Malaria after just one week, taking one of the best malara prophylaxis. If I count correctly he must have been stung by a mosquito while we were sleeping in the same room in Accra. So it could have been me. Travelling-wise I'll se how it goes.
This morning I went to Kakum National Park, walking on the canopy walkway and afterwards doing a nature tour on the ground afterwards. There were two American girls with me on the canopy walk, but they then left so only the guide and I did the hour-long tour on the ground of the rain forest. I will return in May to stay in the Park for the night and be shown around very early to be able to see some of the larger animals like monkeys and such. (My phone was empty so I couldn't take any pictures for my blog, but I'll be back)