Trip To The Zoo

Today I went to the zoo. I am glad I was able to see the lions! I also saw monkeys, camels, and tons of other animals. I will post new pictures soon!

After I left the north, I traveled to Sunyani. It was a long journey, but definitely worth it! I was able to visit some Holy Cross brothers for a few days. When I was out in town, I met a guy, Robert, who was telling me he was working at a youth conference. He invited me so I went. While I was there, I was able to meet a girl, Lisa Darrow, who was once on the TV show, America's Next Top Model. She was very nice, we were able to talk for a little bit. She also gave a talk at the conference.

Hey I know its been a while since I've updated my blog, I'm getting bad at this. As I mentioned before, I spent all of November with my good friend, Father Clement. It was a lot of fun! I was able to travel around the entire upper east region of Ghana. It is sub-sahara and it was very hot. The picture on the left is something I took while on a bus. I really enjoyed the north because of the land. You could honestly see for miles. I mainly lived in a village called Wiaga. I occasionally spent some time in Navrongo, which is another local city about 30 minutes away.

While I was in the north, I met 4 college girls who were doing research. We were able to spend a little bit of time together. They lived in Navrongo. This picture was taken when we all went out for drinks. We went to Bolgatanga, which is the capital city of the upper east region. We all had dinner, a bar, and finished the night at a night club.







During my trip in the north, I was able to join the girls one day to pain an orphanage. It was a lot of fun. I painted the whole sky. The was seperated into 4 sections. We divided them up by 4 areas of Ghana. I'm not really sure why we did those 4 locations, Im guessing they are just places the girls enjoyed traveling to.

Before I left the north, I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving. Although we did it on Friday instead of Thursday. I have posted a picture of before and after. We killed our turkey just before we cooked it. I wasn't able to kill it. I was given the option to, but I just couldn't do it.

My Birthday!

What I am wearing is called a smock. It was given to me on that day for my birthday. It is considered to be the most expensive gift that can be received. It is very rare to be given out. A celebration took place with about 300 to 400 people. 

This was taken on Sunday in the afternoon. We went out for a gathering, just for fun. Me and my friend, the man sitting next to me in the white polo, were invited to sit at the head table. It was a lot of fun. They served lunch and drinks. We were here for a few hours. It is about 10 minutes away from the house

Wiaga

I am currently in Wiaga. It is a village located in the upper east region. It took me a very long time to get here. First I had to travel from Takoradi to Accra which took 5 or 6 hours. Then I stayed in a guest home in Accra (the capital) for 2 nights. I met up with my friend on Saturday and on Sunday, we got on a bus to go to the upper east. The bus ride took about 15 hours, and then we had another 2 hour drive after that. The pictures you see below are in his home. It is me, my friend, and 2 other priests. The area is considered sub-saharah. It is not humid, it is just very very hot. We don't even have water heaters, the sun just heats the pipes during the day and gives us hot water.

Me eating banku. It is a local dish you eat with your hands. Its actually one of my favorites. It is very similar to fufu, except it is made with corn instead of plantains.

This is me and Father Roland sharing each other's music while enjoying a cold Guiness

Day at the beach!!

This weekend, I went to the beach with some students. It was crazy hot outside! 

Gin in a bag?

I was this inside a spot, and I had to see what this was all about. Its true, they sold gin and whiskey in a bag. Im not the biggest fan of either of them, but I had to buy one. Where else will you find something like that for 20 cents?!?

Visiting a school at random!

On this day, I decided to visit a random school that is run by the government. I did not know anybody there. I was prorbably there for about 10 minutes. The students were very funny!


In this picture, the students were doing an art project for class.

Washing my clothes

I decided I was going to wash my clothes by hand. I needed clothes the next day and the washing machine is broken. It takes 3 hours to complete a cylce using the washing machine haha. It took me about an hour to wash and hang my clothes. They were very clean. (If your wondering...the woman behind me is our cook)

Getting My Hair Cut

This is brother Joans cutting my hair. He is very good at it!

Climbing The Coconut Tree!

This is one of my students, Peter, climbing a coconut tree. He collected almost 20 coconuts. The brothers and I took 8 to our house. He takes most of them since he was the one who climbed it haha.