Sorry for the interlude of radio silence.
I'd say I've been busy, and for some of the time I have been, but honestly, mostly I've just been lazy. We left off last time with me talking about my mock mini placements, and having secured the spot for my actual placement. Since then, I completed my real mini placement, with considerably more adventures than the mock.
My mini placement went really well. We planned it out very effectively and we gathered a lot of really good information. Unfortunately, I didn't get to participate much with the really cool hands-on community part because I was at the Bongo District Hospital. Now, before you worry too much, I was actually not that sick. I mean, I was pretty miserable at the time, but the main reason I went to the hospital was because here in Ghana any time you have a fever and any kind of stomach issues it's a good idea to go and get a malaria test, because malaria is much less unpleasant if caught and treated quickly. As it turned out, I didn't have malaria, so the doctors wildly over-prescribed a whole range of anti-nausea and anti-stomach-pain drugs and instructed me to go home and rest and come back if it didn't go away in a few days. It did, and I actually never took any of the drugs. I wasn't concerned about the legitimacy of the drugs. They were all in their original packaging when the pharmacist gave them to me, and I even got the little rolled-up paper pamphlet of drug information that they always come with in Canada. Still, I felt they were all a little bit heavy-duty for my symptoms, so I just took gravol and slept for a few days.
I had been concerned that going to the hospital here would be a traumatizing experience, because it certainly was for another girl on our trip who stayed for a few nights at the hospital in Accra. The difference, I guess, was that she had very serious problems (she couldn't eat or drink anything because of the pain in her throat and stomach) they didn't know what was wrong with her, and she was in Accra. The big bills piled up mostly because she was at the targeted-to-foreigners hospital in the capitol, and she had to stay in the hospital, unlike me.
My hospital experience was actually not that bad, but I will be eternally grateful to Sarah for going through it with me. It was terrifying at first, because I didn't know what was wrong with me, or how long it was going to take, and the waiting room was basically a couple of benches under a tin roofed pavilion with chickens poking around, like there always seem to be in Ghana, and the multitude of flies made me very concerned about how sanitary the equipment would be. As it turned out, one of the administrative assistance (appropriately named Mercy) noticed the two Obrunis who clearly didn't know what to do, and walked us through the procedure of getting a folder and getting in the right lines for a consultation and a malaria test. When my name was called for my malaria test, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the room where they performed the tests was closed off and clean looking. It was a tiny room, only big enough for the nurse, myself, and Sarah standing against the door behind my chair, holding my hand. We watched him put on new clean gloves and break open a new needle and properly clean the area he was going to stab, which was very comforting. The malaria test itself was rather unpleasant, though not a big deal. I knew they were going to take blood, but I thought they'd take an ounce or so from the elbow like when you get blood tests at home. Instead they pricked my finger like they do when they test your iron before you give blood, and it hurt a lot more. There are a lot more nerve endings in your finger than in your elbow. But all in all the experience wasn't too bad. The whole procedure in and out of the hospital only took about four hours, which is honestly faster than it's ever been when I went to the ER in Peterborough, and the whole thing, consultation, test, and drugs, only cost me GHC 12, which is about $6.70 Canadian.
After we got back from the Bongo District and did our presentations, and wrote our analytical essays about our field work, Christmas vacation officially began. We held a little Christmas party at our 13 person house, where we exchanged Secret Santa gifts and Sarah and I provided hot chocolate (actually milo, but it was close enough) for everyone, while other girls provided chocolate and cookies. After that Katie and Nora and Holly and Christie and I took a three day vacation to Mole National Park. We got up at and left the house at 3:00 AM so that we could be sure to catch one of the early buses. The thing about buses in Ghana is that they never ever leave when they are scheduled to, so the best strategy is usually to show up really early and expect to wait. We only ended up having to wait about an hour once we found the appropriate bus, so it wasn't too bad. We stayed at the Mole Motel, which is the only place to stay in the park, but even with this monopoly it wasn't that expensive. The rooms were clean and spacious, and the shape of the building kept them cool. There were air conditioned options, but as students, we opted for the ceiling-fan option that was much more in our budget. There was a little pool that was mostly clean, and a nice little restaurant and a terrace that looked out over the park. The food at the restaurant was delicious, and fairly reasonably priced for the western options, though the Ghanaian dishes were wildly inflated. There was also a slightly less known staff canteen around the side, whose sign said it was open to guests. There I had one meal of yam chips, that were still five times the price I'd get at a chop bar in Tamale, but two cidies less than they were at the restaurant.
The walking safari was pretty cool. We didn't see that much in terms of wildlife. We saw a whole mess of antelope, a few gazelles, and a few waterbuck and warthogs. We didn't see any elephants, to the great dismay of the other girls, but it was cool to walk along and see the animals instead of seeing them from a truck. The guide was nice, but less knowledgeable than the guide I'd had in East Africa, and his English was not the best. It was a fabulous experience for the price though. It only cost us three cidies each per hour, and we went on a two hour trek. It was a very pleasant hike, even though I'm not much into hiking. There were herbs growing in the park that I recognized the smell of, but couldn't quite name. I think there was thyme, or something like it, but I couldn't swear to it. Anyway, the whole hike smelled like tea and the spices that my mom often cooks chicken or turkey in. We went on a driving safari the second day, and we didn't see any new animals, but we got a different view of the same ones from the day before. They had a set of three benches fixed to the top of an SUV with metal supports around so we couldn't fall out. I was a little hesitant about this at first, but the roads that we drove on were not too bumpy, and the speed limit in the park was 10km/hr, so I was able to relax. This was also a very inexpensive expedition, as it was the regular safari fee of three cidies per person per hour, plust 50 cidies per hour for the vehicle. Divided among the eight of us who went, it was quite reasonable. Our bus back to Tamale actually left on time, at 4:00 AM, which was an unprecedented occurrence that pleased us greatly. The number of people that they packed on to this bus was quite astonishing, though. The bus was set up like a greyhound, but with slightly narrower seats, and handles like the ones on city buses in Canada had been fixed to the ceiling so that people could stand,. And they did. For hours. It was about a five hour bus ride, though it only filled up such that people were standing about one or two hours in. Still, I was glad I had my seat, as cramped as it was.
Getting back to Accra from Tamale was rather disastrous. We had planned on coming back to our house for about an hour to gather our things before setting out for Kumasi that day. We ended up doing that, but the STC (state transport company) buses to Kumasi were sold out for days. We hadn't considered that throngs of people would be traveling in the days immediately before the elections, such that they could return to their home electoral areas to vote. After hours of waiting and changing our minds and visiting two of the three private bus stations in Tamale, and even considering flying, we finally got on a trotro to Kumasi and got to our guesthouse at about 10:00PM. It was a long day, and we were all a little big cranky. From there, those who had their passports with them decided to fly the rest of the way back to Accra. Sarah and Holly and Christie and I did not have that option, so we got up at around 6:00 and braved the Kumasi bus station. This time was much easier though, and it only took us about half an hour to get on a nice air conditioned VIP bus to Accra. Sarah and I came to stay with Carmencita, which felt like utter paradise after our unfortunate travel experience. We took a day to just sit around and relax before we started going about the city again. Then we visited our respective host families, which was lovely. I had missed them a lot, and as usual, they wouldn't let me leave without feeding me, and the food was delicious. Since then we've gone to the arts center to look for souvenirs and Christmas presents, spent a day downloading movies at the internet cafe, and otherwise enjoyed our vacation.
Then, a couple of days ago, Katie and Nora and I went for another little adventure to Togo. Sarah had to stay behind because her mom was flying in before we were planning to get back. This trip was fantastic. We had another up-at-3:00AM-to-travel day, but managed to make it to the border, change some money, and get our visas without much trouble. Neither Nora nor Katie speak any French, so I was the official translator for the trip; a job for which I was rewarded with one free dinner. It wasn't necessary, but it was nice that they wanted to do that. We ate delicious french food. Apparently whatever the reason for the lack of milk and dairy products in Ghana, it isn't because of the heat, because these things were readily available in Togo, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. We mostly just hung out by the beach, reading our books and relaxing and enjoying the French-ness of it all. We went to one tourist attraction: the largest fetish (as in fetish priests, kind of like voodoo) market in West Africa. It wasn't as big as I expected it to be. There were a couple dozen stalls around a courtyard/parking lot of sand, and we paid more than we should have to have a guide tell us about the items and their uses. Most of them were dead animals, or their heads. There weren't too many other odd body parts lying around, but there were also the usual stones and seeds and carved statuettes and voodoo dolls. We were blessed by the priest there, and Katie and I got little overpriced souvenirs that supposedly have magical properties and were blessed by the priest for us.
The trip home was uneventful, and overall it was just a very good vacation. Now I'm back at Carmencita's, and you're pretty much all caught up. Sarah and her mom, with whom I went for lunch and a trip to Madina Market yesterday, are on their way to Cape Coast. I would be going with them, but I promised my host family a visit today or tomorrow before Sarah invited me. Also, I'll be going to Cape Coast again with my family when they come on the 27th, so I'm not missing out too much. I have a couple of days to myself now, to relax in the air conditioning (which seems unfathomably opulent and luxurious to me now) and get ready for Christmas. Hopefully I'll be better at keeping at this blog in the days and adventures to come. I'll keep you posted!
