At Whistler

I'm in Whistler right now and just had a great day of skiing today. I didn't feel too rusty, although the cold wasn't overly enjoyable. I'll be up here til after New Years.

Carly left back to Taiwan yesterday, which stinks. It was a great week and facing eight months without seeing each other isn't exactly the greatest.

Finally, in case anyone hasn't noticed, I changed the template for this site. That's all.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone's had a great Christmas. I was up in Campbell River for a few days and have been here since Friday. My cousins and grandparents are here, so we've got a pretty full house. I'm going to the Canada-Finland game tomorrow with Carly and her family, then heading up to Whistler on Tuesday, so that'll be fun.

Not too much else to add. I'll try and post at least once a week. I'm going to be in Canada til around the 22nd of January, so I've got a while. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and just to be somewhat PC, Happy Holidays.

Even more photos

There are 15 new photos up. Enjoy

Tony, the Great White Hunter

The sunset at Cape Coast (after I played with my editing software)

The same canoe

Grace and I in African wear

Maxwell, our finance director, and Dr. Addae

Some more photos

The beach in Accra. On the left is Independence Sqaure--truly ugly. On the right is Osu Castle, which is the seat of government

The canopy walk at Kakum National Park

A forest crab

Martin and I

Elephant poo

Some photos

Our water tanker

Me after surviving four hours of church

I had to take this photo to keep them from running behind the van

A canoe in front of Cape Coast Castle

A view from inside the castle

Lazy

Sorry I haven't put any pictures up yet. I'll do it later today, but right now, I'm lying in bed and am about to go eat. Here's an article about what we've been doing. It's from the Ghana News Agency.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/regional/artikel.php?ID=96094

Home is great. I saw Harry Potter on Saturday. I then turned on the TV, expecting to watch the Habs for the first time since April '04, only to find the game wasn't on. I have no idea why. So I got stuck watching the Leafs-Sens. Which wasn't too bad.

Home

Home at last. I got in yesterday afternoon, then headed over to Shawnigan almost right away. It was great to see my brother and sister and cousin Kate, as well as everyone else, and I had a good chat with Mr. Robertson about fundraising for the water project. I'll head back there in early January to give a talk to the school hopefully.

We're now back in Vancouver and when David gets in tonight, all six of us will be here. I will put up some photos in the next few days. Right now, I just want to sit and sleep and do nothing. It's pretty crazy to think I was in Amsterdam yesterday and Kumasi the day before.

KLM = better than Air Canada and British Airways

So I'm in Amsterdam right now, having just enjoyed an 8 euro breakfast at McDonalds, a 12(!) euro shower and great service on my flight from Accra. The shower was my first hot one in over three months.

Yesterday was long--an hour tro-tro into town, a six hour bus ride to Accra, another hour or so in the car, then a six hour flight. KLM is great: they give you your own TV with movies and TV shows and music on demand. I watched two movies and the Simpsons, which was great to see. I don't think anyone in Ghana has even heard of it.

Now I'm looking at a ten hour flight, followed by the ferry and a drive to Shawnigan. I've given up counting how many hours of travel that is, but it's over 25 in two days. I'll post some photos and more stories when I get some time at home in the next few days.

Finally, congratulations to Katherine on getting into Princeton. Not too shabby--I'm so proud of you.

Last One

Today was the shortest work day in the history of the world. I spent maybe forty-five minutes at the office. And at least three hours commuting. Seriously. I already wrote about trying to get to Kumasi this morning, so I won’t repeat that. When I finally got to the office, we worked for half an hour, then decided that we didn’t want a repeat of Saturday and left early. But of course there were no tro-tros to Kwamo, so we had to get on the public bus which is actually pretty good, but it takes forever to fill up and it doesn’t leave til it’s full.

Grace made this huge lunch of kenkey with pepe. I guess the best way to describe that is dough nachos with salsa. It was great. I’m now at home, nervous, because the lights keep flickering. I know the power is just waiting to go off. The lines are probably being disturbed by all the sunshine or total lack of wind or somebody’s bad thoughts. That’s all. Tomorrow is my last day in Kumasi. I’m excited, but a little sad to be leaving as well. It’s pretty strange to think that on Thursday morning, I’ll be in Amsterdam, surrounded by white people and winter. If I can get on the internet there then I’ll post. If not, I’ll put something up Thursday afternoon (B.C. time) before I head over to Shawnigan. Either way, the next time you hear from me, I’ll be on a different continent.

Saturday Sunday Monday

It took two hours to get to town today. I was waiting at the junction for a tro-tro for an hour. Martin showed up, trying the same thing. I was about to give up and go back home and work there when a car pulled up and a man I didn't recognize got out and started talking to me. It turned out I met him at the funeral I went to my first week here. So we got a ride into town.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at Bon Appetit with several somewhat-drunk Ghanaians. I guess that isn’t too weird, except for the fact that it was Sunday and they were coming from a funeral. There was a big funeral across the road from Bon Appetit, so there were lots of people staying at Bon Appetit (it’s a small guesthouse) and funerals here are pretty lively. People love funerals—seriously. They happen every weekend here, always on Saturdays, but they often drag into Sunday and even Monday.

On Saturday, it took us close to three hours to get home from the office. We couldn’t find a tro-tro to Kwamo from town, so we went to the university. Traffic was bad getting there. And once we were there, it was impossible to find a tro-tro to Kwamo. We waited for over an hour, before I finally caved and paid for a dropping taxi. It didn’t end up being too much more because we arranged it with two other people, so we each paid about 6000 cedis (80 cents) instead of the usual 2000. Traffic was so bad coming home that I couldn’t meet up with the Peace Corps guys as planned, which is too bad.

The reason for all the traffic was that this is the last weekend to have funerals before Christmas. So EVERYONE was traveling. I’ll remind everyone here that we live no more than 20 km from the office. And it took almost three hours to get home.

On Sunday, I met Martin for one last lunch. He’s going back to the UK next week for good, which is too bad, as he was great company. That was a bit of a downer. Then I went to Bon Appetit for a bit, before heading into town to go to this outdoor bar/nightclub. It was good fun and I realized that as excited as I am to be going home, it’s pretty damn nice here. Sitting outside on a nice warm evening with a cold beer and good music blasting (in a language I can’t understand) is great. Oh well, ripping down Whistler isn’t exactly hell either.

This will be my penultimate post before I leave, as I’m catching an early bus Wednesday morning. I think I’ll post occasionally when I’m home, and I will put up a bunch of photos, so keep checking!

Friday/Saturday

It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m at the office. Yesterday was pretty relaxed—we were at the office for a while, had a brief meeting with one of the partners for the paper, then left early to go eat fufu. I really like fufu. I think I’ll buy some of the instant stuff (which is apparently just as good) and learn how to make the soup and cook it at home. Kate, who was in Ghana last year studying, found a restaurant in Montreal that serves it. She said it’s just like being in Ghana. They have fufu, they show highlife music videos on the TV and it takes an hour to get your food!

This morning Grace and I went to Ahwiaa, a neighbourhood of Kumasi where there are hundreds of people selling crafts. I bought a bunch of stuff and am pretty happy with what I got. It’s great—you go there and immediately get lots of attention because you’re obruni. So if you’re in a stall and see something you like but it’s too big or too small or the wrong colour, you just say that and within 30 seconds, someone will have brought you something you want. I pretty much spent all the money I had, so I’ve got to use an ATM for the first time since I’ve come to Ghana (I’ve been using traveller’s cheques). Let’s hope it works.

Dr. Addae and I are about to have lunch—smoked salmon that I brought from Canada. We’ve been planning on eating it for ages, but something always happens and plans change. But we brought it to the office with us and said we can’t leave until it’s done.

The Habs are back in action tonight, rekindling that intense rivalry with Anaheim. I can’t believe that someone actually said: “hey, let’s name our hockey team after that cool movie!” What is even harder to believe is that someone else said: “hey, what a great idea!” Ok, that’s all.

Thursday

We had a meeting at 10 this morning with the main people involved in our newspaper. Because the meeting started at ten, two of the six people showed up at 11 and one didn’t come! No big deal though, as we had a productive session when everyone arrived. We need to do some more market research and creation, but I think this will work. If this is done properly, it has the potential to be very profitable, while serving a very valuable social function at the same time.

After the meeting, I met up with Martin for lunch. We went to this place I’d heard of and I got a bacon cheeseburger. With a fried egg on it. It was so good—far and away the best burger I’ve had here. I could taste barbecue sauce. I think we’ll go back on Sunday or Monday.

Nothing much else to say, other than that the tro-tro mate (the guy who collects money) when we were going home tonight couldn’t have been older than 10! My flight is Wednesday night at 10, so I’m debating whether or not to go to Accra a day early, just in case. I’ll decide over the weekend, but I’m leaning towards just going on Wednesday. It’s going to be a long haul. Three continents in just over 24 hours. Plus I am heading straight to Shawnigan when I get home. Fun. Til next time.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Sorry I didn’t put anything up yesterday. We were in town til late and didn’t get home til after 10, so I just went to sleep. Not much happened worth writing about yesterday.

Dr. Addae told me that our work was on the radio. We have put up 8 reservoirs in an area and fill them by tanker. Apparently, someone on the radio was saying that every year around Christmas (the height of the dry season), things are really bad water-wise, but this year, it will be better because of the presence of an NGO—us. That was heartening to hear and gives me even more incentive to come up with 35 grand we need to put up 12 more tanks and buy another truck to fill them.

Today I got tear-gassed. Well sort of. I was walking by the police station, which is a large collection of buildings and barracks, and all of a sudden, lots of coughing people started moving away from it. And then I started coughing and my eyes started watering. I am not sure what it was, but tear gas makes sense. It was probably an accident. Regardless, it was unpleasant, although I don’t think I got it very bad. Another experience! I wonder what’s next.

On my way back to the office, I passed a man selling ties and one jumped out at me. A Habs tie. It’s ugly, but I promised myself that I would rescue the first piece of Habs merchandise I saw for sale here. And at 80 cents, it didn’t break the bank.

I’ve been planning for our meeting tomorrow about the newspaper. I’m excited about this; I hope we can get it up and running early next year. If so, I’ll try and involve myself as much as possible in it.

It’s now evening and I just watched the news. They had a piece on the climate change conference going on in Montreal. I guess they picked it up from a foreign station. The coverage was pretty typical. America is holding the world hostage, blah blah blah. For some reason, they didn’t mention that despite not signing on to Kyoto, America has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1% since 2001. Meanwhile, European emissions have increased in the same period, despite Kyoto. Oh well—it seems that words speak louder than actions these days.

Monday

The power went out around 1 at the office. It’s now 2 and it just came back on. Right as AC/DC’s Thunderstruck came on my laptop. Weird. I’m home next Thursday, so I’m not going to bother trying to post pictures before then. As soon as I get back, I’ll put up a whole bunch. Right after I go to McDonalds and Quiznos.

Because I really only have one week left, I am trying to make a push to get something organized for our newspaper. We have an editor and have set up a basic arrangement with the printing press at the university. But we don’t have a name or a detailed vision. Dr. Addae is supposed to arrange a meeting with the principals for later this week, so hopefully I can get something down on paper before I go. That way, I can take it to Black Press (my dad’s company) for some advice, as small community newspapers are exactly what they specialize in.

While I’m at home, I’m also going to try my hand at fundraising for our water project. I have two proposals finished. One is specific to one area, while the other is more general. I like the specific one. It will take approximately $35,000 to fund. Any takers? I am conflicted as to whether or not I should stay in Canada longer, as there is a lot I can do from there. I might end up staying an extra few weeks, as the time I’m scheduled to be home is the time everyone is on vacation so fundraising will be tough. It’s a decision I’ll make when I’m home. Obviously it would be great to be in Canada longer, but I don’t want to get too removed from Ghana either. For now, the plan is Vancouver/Whistler the whole time. If I extend it, there is a small chance I’ll go to Toronto, but that is a long shot.

I’m going to close on a sad note. My parents sold our house. It had to be done, as it made no sense to have such a big house with no kids in it, but still. I love that place—it was the best house we’ve had and there are so many good memories there. It’s weird that I’m so attached to it, considering I only lived there for grade 9, vacations, and last summer, but there you have it. We’ll still have it over Christmas for one last hurrah. Anyways, that sucks a lot.

Here’s an even sadder note. Today is the 10th anniversary of Patrick Roy leaving Montreal. That was the last time I cried because of sports.

Tony Cape Coast

Well, this one is going to be long. It covers Thursday night to Sunday.

On Thursday, Martin and I decided to stay in Kumasi as our bus left for Cape Coast at 4 AM. We went to this really nice Indian restaurant and paid about 10 times what a plate of fried rice and chicken would cost. It was worth it. We played a bit of pool there and then went to this little spot near our hostel and had a bit too much of the local gin. This place was literally a shack. It had three benches, a fridge and a shelf. The locals were somewhat surprised to see two obrunis there.

Getting up at 3:30 was a bit of a pain, but we made our bus and got into Cape Coast around 7. Fortunately, the place we were staying let us check in, so we crashed til about noon. We then wandered into town, grabbing a burger (the first good one I’ve had here) at this beautiful restaurant on the beach.

After that, we went to Cape Coast Castle. It’s hard to know what to make of it. The building is pretty impressive, but the history behind it is horrifying. At one point, the tour guide shut us in the “condemned cell”—a room without windows where insubordinate prisoners were put to die. There were two interesting museums within the fort, both of which were surprisingly detailed. After that, we wandered around Cape Coast for a while, climbing up a hill to this small fort that was a lookout for the British. When we got there, some youth stopped us on the path and demanded money for a development fee. This is a common occurrence (Ghana seems to be one big shakedown), but I can actually say we got our money’s worth. We got an informative guide and then sat down with this man who had been a lecturer at Cape Coast University, but then went blind, so he started a school for the blind and deaf. He gave us a really informative history of the region, so the initial annoyance at what seemed like yet another way to get money from foreigners quickly dissipated.

We didn’t do anything on Friday night, other than eat too many kebabs. We got up early on Saturday morning to go to Kakum National Park, about an hour from Cape Coast. Although our taxi driver from the guesthouse to the tro-tro station told us that we would have to wait five hours for a tro-tro so we should pay him to drive us, there was one waiting when we got to the station. What a surprise. We were there over an hour before the park opened, but they let us in early anyways, along with two Americans, a Brit, and a French guy. The main attraction is this canopy walk, suspended 40 metres above ground. It was amazing, especially because we had it to ourselves and could take our time, watching monkeys jumping around in the distance. It was incredible.

The French guy and the Brit had a car and wanted to go hiking in the park and they invited us, so our guide arranged for us to meet up with some rangers at the other end of the park. Some forest elephants had been damaging crops on the edge of the park a few days before, so we followed their tracks. Although we didn’t see any elephants, it was great. We got to do something that very few tourists do, traipsing through dense rainforest with two armed guides in the middle of nowhere. At one point we came to this river and the wardens piggybacked us across, which was fairly guilt-inducing but I’m glad I did it anyways. We also got attacked by ants at one point. When we got out, one warden let me hold his gun for a photo! Tony the Great White Hunter.

We made our way back to Cape Coast with our two new friends. It was nice to be in a private car again. We went back to the same restaurant as before and three of us had a good meal. Jeremy (the French guy) ordered lobster and some of the meat tasted like it had been marinated in diesel. All I could think of was Trailer Park Boys. The concept of the customer always being right doesn’t exactly exist here. It was pretty funny to watch a French guy arguing with Ghanaians about food.

After that, we went swimming. I have never been in a more powerful sea. Some of the waves were at least six feet, but what was most powerful was the undertow. It was so much fun, bodysurfing and getting tossed around for a while. Jeremy and Matthew left us to go to some wildlife reserve near Cote D’Ivoire, so Martin and I just went to this beach resort and had a couple of beers. It turned out that an Ashanti Dance Group was performing there, which was great. It did feel a bit staged, but was impressive nonetheless. People here are incredibly athletic—they went on for ages.

Sunday morning: we went to the bus station early to try and get tickets for the afternoon bus. However, their system doesn’t really take reservations, so we got stuck taking the early one, which was disappointing. It would have been great to hit the beach again.

That’s really all. I’m back home now. It was an incredible weekend and it’s too bad that Martin is leaving for good in December. I’ve got the numbers of the other guys we met and if the timing is right, we’re going to go up to Mole in January. The Habs won (finally). At least they’ve been managing to lose in OT a lot, so they are simply treading water. Hopefully a full week off will do them good. I’m flying home next Wednesday, but am probably going to Accra on Monday, so this is my last week before Christmas. I really want to get some stuff sorted out with the newspaper before I leave, but we’ll see. The pace here, although usually pretty enjoyable, doesn’t exactly work if you are on a tight schedule. One last thing. I saved all the emails I’ve received recently to a disc today in Kumasi but I forgot the disk there. So replies are going to have to wait one more day. Sorry for that. And the length of this.

Cape Coast

Martin and I have arrived in Cape Coast and saw the castle this morning. I've got six minutes left of internet, so I'm not going to write much. It's great here though, although we had a bit too much kasapreko last night. Ugh.

More on Monday, maybe sooner.

One of those days...

Today was one of those days. I already talked about how music videos usurped the news this morning, so the day was off to a bad start. Then I got to town and saw that the Habs are in the tank right now. So I went to the office to do some work and the power was out there. So I sat around for a while before it came back. I worked for a while and then realized I had to go to immigration to apply for a re-entry visa for Christmas.

I have already written about how unpleasant immigration is, and today was even worse. I had a letter on RUCNET letterhead stating the reason I needed the re-entry visa, as they asked when I was there a few weeks ago. I handed it to the officer (already being as friendly as your typical gulag guard), who looked it over and then told me it wasn’t good. Apparently, simply writing “To Whom It May Concern” is not good enough. It had to be addressed to Ghana Immigration Services. I explained that Dr. Addae was in Accra to no avail. So I had to go back to the office and get a new letter with ONE EXTRA LINE. And then when I went back, just to prove to me how insignificant I was, they made me wait in the office for ten minutes while they chatted about something personal. I feel like writing a swear word right now, but I’m not going to.

I think what happened was that the guy figured I was some arrogant white punk so he thought he’d take me down a peg. And I really had no option other than to simply take it. Maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic, but I was so annoyed, especially considering today seemed to be the hottest day in the history of Ghana.

So today wasn’t exactly my day. Oh well, I’ll live. Tomorrow I’m staying in Kumasi for the night so Martin and I can catch the 4 AM bus to Cape Coast. We’re going out to a good Indian restaurant, so that’ll be fun. This will most likely be my last post til Monday, so have a good weekend y’all.

PS. The government fell. Good riddance. But I have a feeling we’re just going to get more of the same mediocrity in the diseased Dominion. I really hope Paul Martin plays the Alberta card again. That would make it interesting. At least Hedy “Burning Crosses” Fry against Svend “Sticky Fingers” Robinson will be funny. I would kill (or steal a $55,000 ring) for them to both lose.