Cassie-At night, I grabbed dinner at a nice fast food place and got fried rice. We stopped into a local bar after dinner and there was this one very friendly women and a bunch of others sitting around. Many of the SAS kids were sitting with each other but I took this opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. I began to try and chat with the women. In retrospect, I found that the women were not as open to try and talk to me as the men. I guess it may be a cultural thing that they like to keep to themselves. However, the one woman was very friendly and outgoing and danced with one of other girls. Two of the younger girls were cutting food for a stew. They work here after school to make money.
The women asked us what day of the week we were born on because people have different names based on what day they were born. They also began to ask us about our boyfriends and if we were married. Apparently, usually by age 20 girls are married.
After this the group, I was with went to an Internet Café and I waited with a friend because I did not have my laptop. We started talking to the security guard who was 21 and had attended college at the University of Cape Coast (in Ghana). We were really amused by his readiness to not do his job to talk to us. Two Mormon missionaries came by who were our age and the person I was with started asking them some questions for his religion class. They gave us a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. As a part of their religion, they have to do a two year mission in another place and where they are sent is random. We also met an Italian pilot that is centered in Ghana. It was interesting; every white person that we saw and talk to was from another country. Usually places that have been colonized have a mix of whites and blacks.
I forgot to mention earlier that public school is only funded through junior high. After junior high, school needs to be paid for. There is not a lot of focus on social services in Ghana.
We learned in our cross cultural psychology class that in these cultures, lighter skin is seen as more attractive and many African men desire to bed white women. At one point, a man confronted me and asked “are you from the United States” and then “can I have your number”. I also heard from other girls that men (even police officers) were offering to buy the women from the men.
I have also noticed a very different type of driving in each of the countries we have been to. Ghana driving has been the worst so far because of all of the traffic. Cars are literally parked for 20 min and then move an inch. I will never complain about rush hour again! The cabs will drive on the wrong side of the road to pass trucks and they make their own lanes. There are also huge potholes in the roads which makes it even more dangerous. At one point we saw a car go right off the side of the road because they were speeding.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Pictures From Brazil
A "Big Ass" Bug that appeared on the boat in the Amazon.
Ev and Cassie on the Amazon Riverboat.
Cassie at the Opera House, Manaus, Brazil
The Meeting of the Waters.
Cassie at the Orphanage with an Anaconda!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Accra, Ghana-Lunch and Street Vendors
Monday Feb 13,2012
On the first day we took a bus into Accra, I was so exhausted, I slept the whole time (imagine me sleeping on the bus!). I made that journey a couple of other times and got to see the sights and the people. Everett had to get his India visas so I travelled with a group of people without him.
We had lunch at a restaurant on pure African time. I was afraid to get a native meal because I doubted I would eat the whole thing, so my friend Chelsea and I got a joll of rice and a pizza to split. I also had ordered a coffee.
The rice came out first and it was so spicy, we had to take breaks eating it and eventually couldn’t eat anymore. An hour later my coffee came out with an omelet. I had only asked for coffee but I guess he was confused that I was having coffee without breakfast. The coffee was powered (like instant coffee) with real sugar cubes. So my friend and I ended up splitting the omelet and toast too. I think an hour after we had finished eating, our pizza arrived. We were able to eat all that food because there was such a long wait. The pizza was okay but nothing like pizza at home. It was wonderful and relaxing to have a meal that slow, I know not everyone felt that way but we able to talk a lot.
Many ordered the national dish which is fufu. It is served with a hand bowl to wash your hands because it has to be eaten without silverware. Fufu looks like dough but it is a maze and is actually very bland. It needs to be dipped into the soup and is served with either chicken, beef or another meat. That soup is the part with taste- it is also really spicy.
After that we took a cab to the market and because we were white, we were constantly being approached to buy things. The women all hold things on their heads. The men don’t do it as much but they do it to help their mothers or when they were trying to sell things. We had two boys approach us and they both had a rack of sunglasses on their head.
The market was simply streets of people sitting on the sidewalks selling their wares. The market varied from everyday items like razors, dustpans, clothes, and pencils. They come out here every day and wait for someone to come by and purchase their merchandise and afterwards, they have to pick up everything only to return tomorrow and sell again.
The hagglers and street vendors here are very aggressive and have a lot of successful tactics to get your money. They start a conversation with you get to know you and then flip out their wares. They welcome you to Ghana and ask you how it is. They are very persistent and won’t leave. Some guys followed my friends for a long time so eventually you buy something to get them off your back. Also they will put your name in a bracelet or written somewhere and say it’s a gift from Ghana… that you need to pay for. It is also culturally acceptable to bargain, so it has taken me a lot of time to get used to this aggressive way of buying and selling. In the beginning, I tried to be polite and say no but by the last day, I was saying no right off the bat. I did not like to be that way and denying them my attention but it was just getting ridiculous. In order to bargain with them (to get them to lower the price), you have to walk away and say you’re not going to buy it. Then they will lower the price to what you want. I started to get the hang of it near the end of our visit.
The schools we passed by-all the children had uniforms. The girls in Ghana are required to have short hair until they graduate high school to show they are a minor. All of the kids looked the same. I wondered how much it costs for the kids to have the uniforms. Also the uniforms help to disguise the financial differences between the kids. The private schools are separated by gender. Many parents send their kids to private schools so that the children are not tempted to engage in sexual behavior and also to keep the girls away from guys with bad intentions.
On the first day we took a bus into Accra, I was so exhausted, I slept the whole time (imagine me sleeping on the bus!). I made that journey a couple of other times and got to see the sights and the people. Everett had to get his India visas so I travelled with a group of people without him.
We had lunch at a restaurant on pure African time. I was afraid to get a native meal because I doubted I would eat the whole thing, so my friend Chelsea and I got a joll of rice and a pizza to split. I also had ordered a coffee.
The rice came out first and it was so spicy, we had to take breaks eating it and eventually couldn’t eat anymore. An hour later my coffee came out with an omelet. I had only asked for coffee but I guess he was confused that I was having coffee without breakfast. The coffee was powered (like instant coffee) with real sugar cubes. So my friend and I ended up splitting the omelet and toast too. I think an hour after we had finished eating, our pizza arrived. We were able to eat all that food because there was such a long wait. The pizza was okay but nothing like pizza at home. It was wonderful and relaxing to have a meal that slow, I know not everyone felt that way but we able to talk a lot.
Many ordered the national dish which is fufu. It is served with a hand bowl to wash your hands because it has to be eaten without silverware. Fufu looks like dough but it is a maze and is actually very bland. It needs to be dipped into the soup and is served with either chicken, beef or another meat. That soup is the part with taste- it is also really spicy.
After that we took a cab to the market and because we were white, we were constantly being approached to buy things. The women all hold things on their heads. The men don’t do it as much but they do it to help their mothers or when they were trying to sell things. We had two boys approach us and they both had a rack of sunglasses on their head.
The market was simply streets of people sitting on the sidewalks selling their wares. The market varied from everyday items like razors, dustpans, clothes, and pencils. They come out here every day and wait for someone to come by and purchase their merchandise and afterwards, they have to pick up everything only to return tomorrow and sell again.
The hagglers and street vendors here are very aggressive and have a lot of successful tactics to get your money. They start a conversation with you get to know you and then flip out their wares. They welcome you to Ghana and ask you how it is. They are very persistent and won’t leave. Some guys followed my friends for a long time so eventually you buy something to get them off your back. Also they will put your name in a bracelet or written somewhere and say it’s a gift from Ghana… that you need to pay for. It is also culturally acceptable to bargain, so it has taken me a lot of time to get used to this aggressive way of buying and selling. In the beginning, I tried to be polite and say no but by the last day, I was saying no right off the bat. I did not like to be that way and denying them my attention but it was just getting ridiculous. In order to bargain with them (to get them to lower the price), you have to walk away and say you’re not going to buy it. Then they will lower the price to what you want. I started to get the hang of it near the end of our visit.
The schools we passed by-all the children had uniforms. The girls in Ghana are required to have short hair until they graduate high school to show they are a minor. All of the kids looked the same. I wondered how much it costs for the kids to have the uniforms. Also the uniforms help to disguise the financial differences between the kids. The private schools are separated by gender. Many parents send their kids to private schools so that the children are not tempted to engage in sexual behavior and also to keep the girls away from guys with bad intentions.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Travel Across the Atlantic towards Ghana
02.09.12
Time is so lucid while on the ship. We do not have weekends and we have lost 4 hours in the last seven days. I have sent some emails to people about how I am spending my time on the ship and I wanted to elaborate.
The Atlantic crossing passed quickly. We have had eight days of classes which is the longest stretch of classes by far. The work is not really that difficult or time consuming and I have plenty of time to socialize and to rest. Everett and I have been waking up for 6:30 for an Insanity fitness class since the Feb 6th. We are both pushing each other to get up.
I am learning sign language from a girl on the ship who is deaf and her translator. They have started an ASL club! The translator also Ballroom dances, so she joined our little informal group to teach those who find us and want to learn or to just dance and have fun. One of the girls is from France had found us dancing by accident and she was thrilled to learn ballroom and expressed that excitement to me.
I also attended a Spanish club, where I got to talk to other Spanish speakers and my professor! I am really excited-I will continue to use this as a way to preserve my Spanish.
We spend a lot of extra time playing card games like Egyptian Ratscrew, Rummy and Hearts. We played Cranium a lot at first. There are different programs put on about music or other different topics. Also different movies are played in the Union (auditorium area) and on the TVs. We have seen Hangover, Toy Story 3, and Pirates of the Carribean. The TVs for awhile marathoned Shrek, Pirates 2 and Tarzan. On the day of the Super Bowl, we all had to give up four hours of internet for there to be enough ban width for them to show it. I watched up till half time!
The ocean is really calm and we can barely feel the boat rocking which is unfortunate because I enjoyed being rocked to sleep at night. The weather has been significantly cloudier than the past weeks in the Caribbean area! We get rain almost every day and the decks are constantly wet. On the 9th we got to see a lightning storm and I had a great view (Note to Daddy and Uncle Don). It was exhilarating. Everyone is feeling better (as far as sea sickness)! We also had about 16-20 people quarantined for a day. Many of them were simply sea sick but the crew was not taking any chances with norovirus (often called the "stomach flu").
Time is so lucid while on the ship. We do not have weekends and we have lost 4 hours in the last seven days. I have sent some emails to people about how I am spending my time on the ship and I wanted to elaborate.
The Atlantic crossing passed quickly. We have had eight days of classes which is the longest stretch of classes by far. The work is not really that difficult or time consuming and I have plenty of time to socialize and to rest. Everett and I have been waking up for 6:30 for an Insanity fitness class since the Feb 6th. We are both pushing each other to get up.
I am learning sign language from a girl on the ship who is deaf and her translator. They have started an ASL club! The translator also Ballroom dances, so she joined our little informal group to teach those who find us and want to learn or to just dance and have fun. One of the girls is from France had found us dancing by accident and she was thrilled to learn ballroom and expressed that excitement to me.
I also attended a Spanish club, where I got to talk to other Spanish speakers and my professor! I am really excited-I will continue to use this as a way to preserve my Spanish.
We spend a lot of extra time playing card games like Egyptian Ratscrew, Rummy and Hearts. We played Cranium a lot at first. There are different programs put on about music or other different topics. Also different movies are played in the Union (auditorium area) and on the TVs. We have seen Hangover, Toy Story 3, and Pirates of the Carribean. The TVs for awhile marathoned Shrek, Pirates 2 and Tarzan. On the day of the Super Bowl, we all had to give up four hours of internet for there to be enough ban width for them to show it. I watched up till half time!
The ocean is really calm and we can barely feel the boat rocking which is unfortunate because I enjoyed being rocked to sleep at night. The weather has been significantly cloudier than the past weeks in the Caribbean area! We get rain almost every day and the decks are constantly wet. On the 9th we got to see a lightning storm and I had a great view (Note to Daddy and Uncle Don). It was exhilarating. Everyone is feeling better (as far as sea sickness)! We also had about 16-20 people quarantined for a day. Many of them were simply sea sick but the crew was not taking any chances with norovirus (often called the "stomach flu").
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Neptune Day
Neptune Day-Wednesday Feb 8th-The Day We Crossed the Equator!
Today was “protocol day” and while we were not sure what that meant, we knew we didn’t have classes today. Everett and I have been waking up at 6:30 am for an Insanity fitness class since the Feb 6th. At 7:45am, there was an announcement from Neptune telling us that we had to report to the 7th deck aft in bathing suits. I was already awake because of the exercise class. They had current music on the sound system and 4 large trash buckets with their tops on.
A drum line of all the cabin stewards travelled through the hall and eventually made it up to the 7th deck with our dean (without a shirt) covered in green (Neptune) following in the rear. They talked to us and had us say an oath ( I wasn’t able to really hear it to know what was said). But to pass the ritual, we had to have slime poured over our head, jump into the pool, kiss a fish, kiss King Neptune’s ring and we were then knighted.
People had the option of shaving their heads. I am really bad at guessing but a little less than half of their guys are either bald or have Mohawks. I believe six or seven girls shaved their heads; none of them had really long hair. I thought about it for a moment because the excitement of everything but my friend Chelsea and I vowed to each other we would resist the temptation.
The way the heads were shaved was the people sat down in a row- there were 4 chairs- and people that worked on the ship (not hairdressers) shaved people’s heads. A lot of the jobs were very uneven-the guys can fix on their own. They did a better job on the girl’s heads. The salon offered to fix the uneven haircuts for $5. It is hard to recognize people that we have just met and it is also the norm to see a lot of guys sitting around that are bald. When the people stood up from their haircuts all their hair was on their back, it was so disgusting. There was so much hair on the deck… I think 40 lbs all together. I left around 9, I think it went on till much longer and people hug out in the pool, but it was too crowded.
Today was “protocol day” and while we were not sure what that meant, we knew we didn’t have classes today. Everett and I have been waking up at 6:30 am for an Insanity fitness class since the Feb 6th. At 7:45am, there was an announcement from Neptune telling us that we had to report to the 7th deck aft in bathing suits. I was already awake because of the exercise class. They had current music on the sound system and 4 large trash buckets with their tops on.
A drum line of all the cabin stewards travelled through the hall and eventually made it up to the 7th deck with our dean (without a shirt) covered in green (Neptune) following in the rear. They talked to us and had us say an oath ( I wasn’t able to really hear it to know what was said). But to pass the ritual, we had to have slime poured over our head, jump into the pool, kiss a fish, kiss King Neptune’s ring and we were then knighted.
People had the option of shaving their heads. I am really bad at guessing but a little less than half of their guys are either bald or have Mohawks. I believe six or seven girls shaved their heads; none of them had really long hair. I thought about it for a moment because the excitement of everything but my friend Chelsea and I vowed to each other we would resist the temptation.
The way the heads were shaved was the people sat down in a row- there were 4 chairs- and people that worked on the ship (not hairdressers) shaved people’s heads. A lot of the jobs were very uneven-the guys can fix on their own. They did a better job on the girl’s heads. The salon offered to fix the uneven haircuts for $5. It is hard to recognize people that we have just met and it is also the norm to see a lot of guys sitting around that are bald. When the people stood up from their haircuts all their hair was on their back, it was so disgusting. There was so much hair on the deck… I think 40 lbs all together. I left around 9, I think it went on till much longer and people hug out in the pool, but it was too crowded.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Rough Seas - Feb 5-6
We are going through some really rough seas. So far, Ev and I have not been sick. It must have been all those rollercoaster rides and trips on Long Island ferry that help us.
40 people made it to Global Studies class today, with the remaining ~60 feeling ill and self-confined to their bunks, quarantined, or sea sick.
The seas are pretty rough. One student describes the rough seas- sliding from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed...feeling really heavy then feeling really light. She finally gave in and put on a patch to help with the seasickness. The researches on board have told her that each time they go on land they lose their sea legs and have to re-acclimate once back on board. They did tell her that each time the acclimation process does get shorter. The Crew made an announcement that the rough seas would only last through Tuesday (Feb 7) and that the rest of the trip to Ghana would be much smoother sailing. She seemed very upbeat and happy in spite of the rough seas.
We weren't allowed to use the internet for a period of time since they were "streaming the Super Bowl"!
40 people made it to Global Studies class today, with the remaining ~60 feeling ill and self-confined to their bunks, quarantined, or sea sick.
The seas are pretty rough. One student describes the rough seas- sliding from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed...feeling really heavy then feeling really light. She finally gave in and put on a patch to help with the seasickness. The researches on board have told her that each time they go on land they lose their sea legs and have to re-acclimate once back on board. They did tell her that each time the acclimation process does get shorter. The Crew made an announcement that the rough seas would only last through Tuesday (Feb 7) and that the rest of the trip to Ghana would be much smoother sailing. She seemed very upbeat and happy in spite of the rough seas.
We weren't allowed to use the internet for a period of time since they were "streaming the Super Bowl"!
Cassie's Service Trip to the Orphanage in the Amazonas Region
A group of about forty students, professors and lifelong learners took an air conditioned, cushioned bus to an orphanage in the Amazonas region. There were fifteen children from 5 to 13. The majority of them were placed there out of their families because of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse. The woman in charge said that many of the children have psychological issues that were usually a result from the abuse. She noted that many of the problems are manifested when they are older like ages twelve or thirteen but not as much when they were young. They receive their education at the orphanage and form tight bonds with the other children. We spent two hours there interacting with all the children and had a handful of toys, balloons, tattoos and stickers to give to them and use them for playing.
Initially we sat down with a bunch of boys and asked the names and the ages but after that I could not come up with a way inquire about their interests or continue a conversation and they lost interest in talking to us. I felt awkward and frustrated by my lack of ability to carry a simple conversation or effectively keep them entertained. There were also too many of us compared to their numbers so I constantly moved to different kids to prevent us from overwhelming any one of them. The other SAS participants were able to connect better with the children when they got to talk and play one-on-one. When I travelled to Mexico in 2009, I fell in love with this young girl who got very attached to me. She introduced me to her mom and followed me around even when I was doing maintenance work on houses. Going into this orphanage, I expected the children to take to me like she did, but I didn’t have the time to work with any of them for a substantial amount of time. In the future, I need to be more creative in order to break the language barrier to connect with the kids.
I also brought my own toys from home to give to the children for them to play with. I hesitated just handing out the toys because they were already receiving so many other things and I hoped to use them as a medium for playing and bonding. I had a Cinderella doll and saw a girl with the princess on her shirt so I got to give her the doll and the two others next to her some as well. I also gave them a brush and they started to brush the dolls’ hair. This experience and their smiles made me feel a little more confident that I had done at least one thing that was significant.
When trying to interact through the language barrier, everyone tried to use different ways of connecting. I realized I usually feel more connected to the kids through humor, getting them to laugh. Without talking, I wasn’t able to do it as easily as when I am at home, so I guess it just requires more improvisation than I am used to. I also tried drawing pictures and different universal games to build a good connection. I want to work on my creativity skills when there is a language barrier because this will continue to be an issue in future projects. I can try and use more gestures or drawings to ask questions, make a child laugh or suggest activities. I also endeavor to create a connection with one child and be patient if communication is difficult.
One of the girls, Karol, drew me two pictures with her name on it and gave them to me. I had not even talked to her or seen her, yet she still felt the need to give me something. This act of charity on her part was a quintessential example of the theme of reciprocity which is a core of service learning according to Sternberger. She felt this need to give something to me as a gift and I in turn drew her a picture. The community that needs to be formed in service learning projects can only come from mutual sharing. I also was very aware of some of the different mental illnesses of many of the children. One of the girls wanted to take her tattoo off so badly she used my nail to scratch it off and then winced when it hurt her. I was at a complete loss of what to do because I could not understand her way of thinking or pattern of logic. I would have loved to spend more time to follow her patterns of behavior to get to understand what is happening in her world.
I want to explore what service was done during these couple of hours. We played with them and gave them toys but they did not really benefit from us going to play with them. We got most of the benefit because we got to play and be a part of a new cultural experience. But their lives go on the same with the same lack of stability and painful memories in their life. It is important to show these kids love and loyalty because they may not have really felt that they were truly intimate with someone or that there are people out there they can trust. I felt that we were continuing the cycle of people leaving their life. But also as discussed in class, the children enjoy the attention and enjoy knowing that we are going there to be with them. That attention and positive emotion was what they were deprived of and I guess we gave our service to them by bringing our impetus to be with them and become their friends.
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