Welcome to Ghana 2008

Quite unexpectedly, just as the plane touched down, tears came to my eyes. I'm in Africa. Hope. Fear. Riches. Poverty. New horizons. We spent the night at the University of Ghana in Accra and headed to Tefle, the town I'll live in for six weeks. On our first walk around town people came to their doors to see the new people. Children came into the street jumping up and down and yelling 'YOVU! YOVU!" We are the first group of 'yovus' or 'white people' (although only half of us are white) to live in not only this village, but the whole district.

I have lived there for a week and I'm getting used to the slower pace of Ghanaian country life. I've seen things that have given me so much joy, and I've seen things that have made me cry. I have made friends and already feel like I won't be the same when I return to the U.S.

The group and I made our way to Accra this weekend, a tropical, dirty city where most of the buildings and streets are in some state of disrepair or decay. Yet many people are metropolitan- well dressed, professional, ready to work hard and play hard and easy to smile.

I'm at one of the few internet cafes in the city, but I have to be on my way. Unfortunately I can't upload pictures today- it is off-limits here. I will do so as soon as I can, but a computer with an internet connection any faster than a page every three minutes is definitely hard to come by in this part of the world. All my love.

Hey, LOOK! We're going to Ghana together!

I've spent the last week at Adelphi University on Long Island being trained on how to lead a group of 8 college-aged (or recently graduated) women in Ghana and getting to know them. It has been quite a whirlwind; the kind where there are moments I feel I am overly prepared and nothing could happen that I wasn't ready for, moments where I feel a little off kilter, and moments where I just think EEK! (luckily the last ones are short and few). Moravia, Alli, Samidha, Elizabeth, Lauren, Eunique, Zayna, Jenny. I couldn't be traveling with a more open, smart, diverse, lovely group of girls and I'm so lucky to be their leader.

We made a trip to NYC with the whole group to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Operation Crossroads. There was a beautiful service at an old church in the city including organ, piano, and African drum music. We then walked over to the UN's NY Headquarters for a reception on the roof, with beautiful views of the city and East (I think) River.

I'm probably one of the only people nerdy enough to get excited to have my picture taken with portraits of Boutros Boutros Ghali and Koffi Annan (a Ghanaian!).

Afterward, we hung out in Central Park and then checked out some very unique sculptures on the roof of the Met as the sun set over Manhattan. It was a lovely place to be.

I'll leave for the airport at 6:30 this evening with an open mind and a big smile. I'll arrive in Ghana around 8:30 Monday evening. Here I go!

Philadelphia and other adventures

I fell in love with Philly immediately. Next trip= East coast! I took the bus from Penn Station in NYC- it took 2 hours and was only $6.50 each way (plug for megabus.com here)!

It was delightful to hang out with Nilika and Kristi (who just happened to be in town!). I also got to meet Neel (Nilika's lovely boyfriend) and her Philly friends. We wandered, danced, checked out the Italian Market, brunched, had cherry pit spitting contests (in public), and got caught in the rain, among other things.

Nilika and Kristi warm my heart!

On Sunday, I took my megabus back to NYC to hang out with Gabe. We went and saw the David Byrne exhibit "Playing the Building." David Byrne connected the billows in the pipes and percussive elements in the girders and columns of an old, old ferry terminal in Manhattan to an organ placed in the middle of the building. When one presses the keys on the organ, the sounds that result are beautiful and eerie.

Gabe and I had such a wonderful day wandering around Manhattan. He has a wealth of knowledge about the city and is such a great tour guide.

On Monday, I traveled about 45 minutes outside of New York City to Adelphi University, where I've been doing leader training for my position with Operation Crossroads. It's a beautiful campus with actual bunny rabbits that hang out on the lawn. I'll upload more pictures after I meet the group I will be traveling with (tomorrow! eek!!!) and before I leave.

sweet Sophia

I taught my niece Sophia how to whisper. We were making loud baby noises back and forth to each other. It was going very well, and sounded like any good conversation between a grown-up and an eight month old. But then, I decided to put a wrench in things.

Sophia: BAH!

Lucey: BAH! BAH!

Sophia: MAH!

Lucey: MAH!

Sophia: BAH! BAH!

Lucey: "psspsspss..."

Sophia: *pause* "sspsspss"

It was one of my favorite moments ever. I can't wait to see her again in December!

the drive and Texas

On Sunday, June 1st, I packed a little over half of all of my belongings into my trusty Honda Element, said goodbye to my sweet sweet boy, and left on my travels. 

 

I had a leisurely and relaxing four day drive from my beautiful San Francisco to hot, hot lovely Texas.  I drove through L.A. and visited Raquel, 

experienced a quaint little hostel in Tucson, AZ, stayed at Sarah's parents' house in El Paso, played with Sarah in Austin, and then made the final decent to The Woodlands.

 

I took Erin to see the French Kicks and Frightened Rabbit at Walter's on Washington in Houston for her birthday, and unfortunately Frightened Rabbit didn't make it due to van trouble.  It was still a fun show, although that venue is HAWT!  

Saturday morning I drove up to the small town of Canton, TX- between Dallas and Tyler, for Meagan's wedding.  I got to be an honorary bridesmaid (all the fun without all the responsibility) and hang out with her and the other girls while they got ready for the wedding.  It was great to get to be there for her big day, and I'm so happy that I was able to go.  The ceremony was held out in a big pasture in the evening, and it was so beautiful.

The rest of this week has been filled with some lovely time with family and friends. I spent Sunday afternoon with a wonderful family from my childhood, The Strausses.  Through facebook, I found out Sam and Toba lived in San Francisco, and hung out with them before I left, but it was delightful to be with the whole family, for the first time in around 14 years.

I spent alot of time with Claire and my new niece Sophia, but have yet to get any pictures, but don't worry, Sophia is so adorable, she gets her own blog entry very soon.