First Blog on Blogspot

Ok... so the ones I posted before this are all from Tumblr... simply reposted them... but here comes the new one... aka the virgin blog post on blogspot... na mean?!?!

I guess this... again is going to be fairly short... since I'm... again very tired... and my tooth is hurting... cuz the filling fell out... which... I'm getting it fixed tomorrow. and since the insurance covers it I wanna get all my tooth problems fixed... but I don't feel safe doing it here... dilemma dilemma...

On a serious note tho... today's serious business and no playing na mean?! I find it kinda disappointing that a lot of people came with a closed mind and are open to new ideas at all... they are closed up in their own lil bubbles and never wanna listen to anybody else's opinion... so i said okayyyyy! Lawd have mercy! i cant deal with that no mo... so i choose not to deal with it...

Another thing that really gets on my nerves is people insist on speaking to me in some sort of asian languages no matter if I understand it or not... hate being put in a box... next time somebodys getting punched...

sigh... im too tired... later yall...

its been a min..

its been a min..    8/23/10

ugh… havent been on here for a while… never really found time to do so… and im mad tired again… so let me just say one thing real quick… i find it really cute/interesting that sometimes you see ghanaian guys holding hands on the street and whatever… but its just their way of showing affection… and doesnt mean they are gay… this is new to me… gotta change my judgemental mindset a lil bit… -_-

i might make a documentary on this… and african dance and music and stuff… sigh.. gotta go to bed… early day tomorrow!!!!!! :(

Ete sen?!

Ete sen?!  8/18/10

4th day… i just realized that it’s gonna be hard to keep track of the days but lets see what happens…

Today’s the worst/most exhausted I’ve felt since I got here… I don’t think they took into account the fact that we are still jet lagged and we are tired as hell.. but we got a really packed schedule… and the majority of the time we are sitting down and listening to someone talk… and it’s just… not a pleasant experience. I tried really hard to not fall asleep.. but couldn’t help it… my mind wasn’t processing anything at all… I wish they could take it slower and easier…

But anyways… like I said it was a packed day. It was the first time I didn’t get to shower in the morning in like… months… if not years. And it happened to be my birthday… I felt like crap… But I guess this is just part of the Ghana experience… cuz apparently not everyone gets to shower everyday, and I’m still adjusting to this…I woke up 2 minutes before we were supposed to leave so I had to rush downstairs… and everybody was awaiting by that time… and they said happy birthday to me. it was awk -_-.

We went on a tour at Ashesi… got a chance to talk to… whats his name… trevor?! such a cool guy!! the tour was dahling… seeing the classrooms and all that got me all excited to start school… likeeeee i cant wait to meet all the ghanaian students!!!!!!!!!! likeeeee… SERIOUSLY!!!!! im ready jump in the water right nowwwww!!! there happened to be a class going on at the time of the tour… so of course i went in and awkwardly said hi… and ran away… lolz… and then the tour guide led us all inside and said a group hi… and that was much better. and it kinda struck me that they are really westernized when it comes to clothing… cuz from what i had seen on the street and stuff i expected them to wear the “traditional” clothing… but they were just wearing the kinda stuff you and i would wear… and this is another prime example of how assumptions can be so wrong… but now that i know better… i aint ignorant no mo! na mean?!

We then had the privilege to meet the founder of the school… VERY inspirational. he grew up in ghana and went to college at swarthmore and worked at microsoft and was making all that caaaaaaash… and even had kids… but then he decided to come back to ghana and start a school… what a move!!!!!!!!! and this school is really revolutionary on a number of levels… its aiming to change the whole corrupt system that ghana is faced with. and by having students check the boxes “i didnt cheat or see anybody else cheat in the exam”, a thing as small as this, i def believe that they are changing this situation. and it inspired me soooo much.. i asked him how he started the school… cuz you never know… i might jsut start a school in Nigeria or something… na mean?! on our way walking back to the academic center… i was saying hi to all these people on the street… and valentina went… aww ur making friends already! and hater cristann went… thats what im worried about. murr -_-. what a false prophetess. but yeahhhh i AM going to make a lot of friends!! na mean?!?! cuz im watutu and stuff. na mean?!

and funny anecdote. facebook… idk how it does this… but recently ive seen a lot of jerseys of this person named essien and hes number 8… idk who he is or what he does but i see this everywhere in ghana… and this person somehow appeared on the side bar on facebook… one of those recommended page thingy! whoa! facebook is creepy… thats all i gotta say…

okkk back to today… we then had a lesson on culture dos and donts… and theres a list of things that you are not supposed to say or do… like ur not supposed to say “dont be silly/stupid/foolish”… sigh… i use the word foolish all the time… thanks to esther and stuff… i guess not any more! and shut up… apparently is not acceptable either… but as i was taking a walk outside by myself… some guy on the street yelled at me “are you crazy?!?! i see you walking by…” (mind you, are you crazy is also on the list of donts…) and i was likeeeee… omggggg! im offended!!! well not really… i thought it was funny that he said what i just learned in class -_-… smh

then lunch at addipa! is that the name of it?! this time around the food was MUCH cheaper! i had something called banku… it was sour -_-… but at least i told her to not make it spicy… and it WASNT SPICY!! woot! it was only 4 cedis… which is like 3 US dollars! it was alright… but red red is soooo goooood! prolly cuz its red. but i bet yellow yellow is better and stuff.. cuz its asian -_-. lolz.. smh. andddd jollof rice… of course its amazing… and fufu was good too!!!! so essentially… i liked everybody elses food but mine -_-… sigh… but anywayssss

then we came back for the internship fair.. and got to meet up with cathy and albert!!!!!!!! woooot! but they all sounded so good i couldnt decide which one i would do… oh welllllll… i guess ill pick something that has to do with children…decisions decisions…

then… TWI lesson!!! this was the funnest part of the day… but even this almost made me fall asleep… sigh… ohhh i forgot about the religion lecture… i slept for the most part… and when i wasnt asleep nothing he said was registering… so i really dont remember much… but one thing i do remember is Christianity is the biggest religion in Ghana… Hallelujah! what can i say…

Back to the Twi lesson… it was soooooo funnnnn!!! i learned how are you.. whats ur name… where r u from… and you? cool… good… well.. thats about it… but even that was a lot to digest in just an hour… OHHHH and REALLY (Saaaaa??!?!?!?!)??!?!?! to express surprise and stuff… ohh and thank you… well yeah now that’s really it i think… i quickly put this to use.. i came back and talked to the security guard.. the plumber… the waiters at the restaurant… and the driver… and RAs… welll basically all the ghanaians i had access to… before they give us some time to explore the rest of Ghana… and now im proud to say im really good at it!!!!!!!!!!! and im also getting better at the pound… and the snap and all that… being introduced to a new culture is the most exciting thing i can think of!!!!!!!! and im striving to really be a part of it and not be an outsider/tourist… not cool. not bocoo! at all!

the bus took everybody to koala while i headed back to my dorm and chatted with the security guard… oohhhh i also met uncle taigo today!!!!!!! hahaha… im finnally getting to meet all these people everyone keeps telling me about… it feels wonderful… its like having the baton passed on to you… the legacy continues..

then we headed over to the restaurant as always… and had dinner there… the waitress there somehow found out it was my birthday and told she would give me a surprise… and i was like… ohhh… you pretty much just gave the surprise away -_-… but it was nice of her and stuff. and she was dahling! they sang happy bday… and she invited me to dance… and i kinda did. and the food there wasnt spicy!!! at least not that spicy… and i was happy…

i got to talk to this lady named Christa over dinner. shes the director of the program… heard so much about this lady… everybody was telling me how wonderful she is… and finally!!! omgggg 3 words. Such a DIVA!!! shes always the most stylish one wherever she goes… and bling bling and everything im like damnnnn! shes got it all! from head to toe… it really impressed me that she actually takes the time to have dinner with students and really tries to mingle with the students. and i gotta say, i love herrrrrrr!!! and shes really open too… it was just so comfortable talking to her.. that in our first talking session… we even touched upon the issue of her “man friend” and all that fun stuff… it got me laughing so hard… LOL! and she said happy bday to me and gave me a hug… how dahling!!!

and finally came the surprise… they sang happy bday to me and stuff… and i was asked to speech. and all i said was “meda se! meda se papaappapapaapapa” if i spelled it right… which means thanks very very very very very much!!! lawlz.. how wise of me.

and the waitress wanted to come celebrate with us… and we exchanged numbers… cheaaaaa!!! the first number i got of a ghanaian… of course… imma get so many numbers as time goes on… thats a given.

i was gonna go to the office tonight to celebrate… but everybody got too tired and all went to sleep… so i did too. smh… sad puppy. but tomorrow the CRAs are taking us all out!!!!!!!! sooooo ill do it then… im prolly not gonna get wasted then… imma be diff and spend my 21st bday sober…

sigh… this is what im doing instead of sleeping. hopefully this is actually worth the time and effort… cuz God knows im exhausted… but im spending an hour a day writing blogs… aljfkljflajflaksjfljfls;jlafjlksdfjs; sleepy time!!!

Second & Third Day

Second & Third Day      8/17/10 - 8/18

I was trying to write my blog on my bed… and of course… I fell asleep in 5 minutes… but I’ll still try to at least blog every other day… cuz these moments are just too precious to forget. And I’ve never even had this much motivation to blog/journal… hmmm but it’s ghana! na mean?!

Ok, starting from yesterday, orientation day 1: ughhhh. SOOOOOO TIRED!!!! i’m surprised i didnt fall asleep… we had to wake up mad early for the orientation and stuff… real business it is… na mean?! and we went to the nyu campus… it’s very diff than i expected… i thought nyu would build a really fancy building for us… i mean, not that i want nyu to, but you know how nyu always spends money on these unnecessary things. but it was small and looked just like any house you would live in… but i guess the homey feeling is nice. its just not very classroom like… we had a quick tour of the entire campus… which took us about 10 mins -_-… and of course, i took a lot of pics… i turned into a photographer since ghana… ive had at least 300 pics in the past 2 days lol…

then we met the officials… i dont remember that ladys name… but the director of the program is a very lovely ghanaian woman… and of course christa is amazing… and a woman of style too! they gave us a rundown of what the program is gonna be like… and that just got me so pumped up for everything… and then they had the police officers give us some tips… which, kinda scared me a lil bit… cuz they talked about how ppl get mugged… and how ppl take your bag from inside a car and drag you along the street… sigh… sad puppies.

then lunch at… ughh i forgot the name but it was our first ghanian meal basically… sampled quite a few ghanaian dishes… and WATERMELON JUICE!! muahaha… watermelon is like my fav food everrrrr.. and fried chicken… and koolaid?! -_- LOLz! and of course, by the end of it, my mouth was burning… even the plantains were spicy… i was suffering… and cuz i have a cut in my mouth, it makes everything even worse. sigh. but its good… and finally got a phone too… its the old fashion nokia phone… and texting is such a pain… but i mean its better than nothing… plus its got radio…and flash light!!! how cool is that?!?!

sigh.. i fell asleep once gain… and now i cant really think clearly but i figured blog has to go on… so here it is…

we spent the whole afternoon getting our phone registered pretty much… then dinner… i feel like all we did was eat…

coming back from dinner.. i went to the airport with the lovely cristann and erin and ughhh i cant remember her name right now but shes nice and stuff… anyways i went to the airport for the 3rd time in the past 2 days lolz… and i talked to the driver while they were picking up their stuff… he was going an hour over time to drive us there and back…and no hes not getting paid for that. and he had to wake up at 4 am the next morning… sad puppies. that made me feel bad… he’s really lovely person tho!!!

Day 3: More orientation… we walked to the campus this morning instead of taking the bus… and it was like a fresh breath of air… finally got to walk the streets of Accra!!! had a lecture in the morning then a lil tour of the city… we went on a bus tour to British Accra, and saw the tombs and all that good stuff… but didnt even get a chance to get off the bus and walk around… but going around the city just makes me wanna go into the city and mingle with the locals… but sigh… cant do so just yet… lunch at frankies again… and that lunch took 3 hours. it was insane. and the RAs wouldnt even let us go downstairs… but i went anyways -_- lolz… and ppl kept trying to sell me stuff… like drugs and errthing… im like… do i look like a smoker?! no -_-. and they keep touching me too… im telling you im gonna touch back… smh.

it started raining during the bus tour… the first rain i experienced in Ghana… it was refreshing… and cooling. Africa’s cool! na mean?!

since lunch took too long walking tour was almost canceled.. but we ended up walking around for a lil bit… and it was sooo fun!!! all kinds of ppl were around… and everybody is so friendly!!! everybody waves to you… and idk where we were.. but out of nowhere came all these lil kids and they were waving and smiling at us… it was the cutest thing everrrrrrrrr omgggggg!!! i love kids so much… and they were also playing how low can you go -___-… smh. thats a major smh. but i danced to it and stuff. and it was nice and stuff.

Sigh… apparently im 21 already… according to ghana time… happy bday to myself… i feel so old -_-.

imma go get one of those flowery shirts for myself… and maybe a bottle of wine… too bad i dont have money -_-.

and by the end of next month, imma learn how to balance stuff on my head… just watch!!!!!

watutu in ghana… its like fish in water… natural! na mean?! how wise. ok bed time..\

oh since i said i wanted to go to egypt to see the pyramids… at least 5 ppl have asked me about details… not to mention those that kept it to themselves… sooo i guess this trip is happening!! and my dream is finally coming true… egypt!!!!!

First Day in Ghana!!!

First day in GHANA!!!   8/15/10

Just a forewarn this blog is prolly gonna run really long… but patience is a virtue and stuff. So here we go.

It really didn’t hit me yet when i was on the plane… I was still in the packing and rushing mode… I was basically just following what was supposed to happen… and I watched the losers on the plane. it was dahling. and they played eenie meenie, by just bibs. of course. and then they played baby, by j bibs too of course. it was a live version. and i almost didnt recognize the song. sigh… And I fell asleep. But the moment I got out of the plane and saw the huge “Akwaaba” (Welcome) sign… my heart started pumping like crazy… it was the most wonderful feeling ever. I overheard this guy saying he’s from nyu… and as always i crept up to him and introduced myself, sort of. And I was joking we might be roommates. And we are. -_-. smh. So we went thru immigration… and the first thing we saw was this… 

I thought it was funny first… until I was informed that “sexual deviants” refer to, basically, the lgbt community. Not so cool. But funny still.

We met up with the rest of the group, and this very nice guy Chris was awaiting us… we got into the bus and drove off. Little did we know, we got to the house/dorm we’re living in. And it’s a HUMONGOUS house in Labone!!! We got a balcony right next to my bed… and a huge living room… it’s just… the perfect house to live in. Rosemary and Calvin are the 2 wonderful RAs we have here… they are all recent college graduates and they are the sweeeeeeetest people I know!!! Anyways… I thought I would be really tired and pass out… but no, I could not hold back the excitement… every time the thought came to me that I’M IN AFRICA, I’d smile. Can’t even help it. Well I was smiling the whole time… So I talked to the 2 wonderful RAs.. Calvin is an artist… and has paintings and all that good stuff… very cool…

OKKKK so the first place we went to was this place called Frankie’s. The food is very Americanized. I don’t approve. PLUS, as opposed to common belief, the prices were really expensive. REALLY EXPENSIVE. I spent 14 cedis (equivalent to 10 dollars) on lunch… which is like the prices you pay in NYC… anywhoodles I got this dish called Jollof chicken… it was good… but… spicy. well nobody else thought it was spicy… but… well. IT’S SPICY!! And apparently EVERYTHING is spicy… sigh. im screwed -_-. And then we talked about why we picked Ghana… and I just kept rambling… talking about how I’ve had a dream… that one day… i could go visit the pyramids and stuff… and it was dahling. I just had to so much to get out…

On our way back, someone waved to us… and I waved back. And they all thought I was weird and stuff. But this is called friendly, na mean?! So that inspired me to wave to every single person I see… well… now it’s getting kinda weird. But everybody, almost everybody, waved back, with a smile!!!!!!!! It was the most dahling feeling everr!!!! I never felt so welcomed before…

Shortly after, the second group got in… I raced out the door to go meet all of them… I said Akwaaba to all of them and helped them with their bags and stuff. how nice of me and stuff! And I mixed up this girl named Lauren with Candis… and I gave her an awkward hug. And it was awk and stuff. but it was nice and stuff. so… yeah. it was nice -_-.

I went to lunch again with them… and met 2 other RAs, Abigail and Kingsley. and we went to this other place called Churcheese. And again, it’s americanized. but the same dish here costs only 8 -___-. smh… such a rip off. But I saw this woman here wearing a Jesus shirt… and I approached her and has a lil convo with her… and she invited me to church… well I invited myself. But I found Jesus… so quickly.. na mean?! And I talked to the waitress at the restaurant and she basically said… everything here is spicy. sigh… it’s gonna be pretty tough and stuff. sigh.

Cuz I couldn’t stay still… i went to the airport with Calvin again to pick the last group up… calvin is a really interesting guy… he listens to so much american music… he even knows the dream… and i know a lot of ppl that dont… lawlz. how dahling!

And I talked to more bus drivers and more random people… I got a lot of stares, as the only asian guy in the entire airport… i would always smile back tho. i was soooo excited… i couldnt even control myself… my mouth just never shut… this is actually the first time i actually closed my mouth as i sat down and started the blog lolz…

christa, the program director, was there too… ive had… i dont even know how many people tell me to give her a hug. so i gave her 4 hugs. and she was dahling. and it was a dahling moment. and marian, who has been emailing me back and forth… well… she emailed me quite a few times.. and i never responded to her -_- smh… long story short (well its gotten pretty long already…), the last group got here.

And we came back to Church Crescent (the name of our place), and Rosemary sent me to show everybody around and all that… and I helped them pick up the bags and stuff. Everyone thought I was an RA… so I crowned myself the RAA (RA assistant lawlz…). and they believed me and stuff. such a lawl!

But yeah… now I’m just chilling at valentinas room… sigh. im not sleepy at all… not jet leg no nothing… all i wanna do is get out of here and meet the neighbors… and meet all the ppl… sigh…

it’s only my first day here. but i already know that this is gonna be the BEST time of my life… not one of. BEST.

i lovvveeee Ghana… and Ghana loves me. so.

we’re married.

New Blog

Tumblr is fetch... so here's the new one... I guess I'll repost the ones from Tumblr... but new blog coming very soon...