Coming to a Close

Yep, I'm almost coming home! Today is my last day at the orphanage. I'm going back to Accra to stay at the volunteer house for a day. I met a girl named Kim at the volunteer house before I came to this orphanage. She was placed in the Volta Region, but we are going to try to go to the temple on Tuesday! After that we are going to see a movie, probably Harry Potter, and have a Western day.
This week was amazing. Martha and I went to the Volta Region. It is GORGEOUS! You know on the Lion King when they are singing Hakuna Matata and Timon and Pumba show Simba where they live; when they pull the giant leaf back and it shows green mountains with really cool trees and rivers running through it. Thats what it looked like. It was unreal. Things you only read about or see on movies. I tried to take pictures, but got so frustrated because they dont even come close to doing its justice.
The first thing we did there were the caves. It was crazy! The coolest hike I've ever been on in my life and probably will ever go on. Once we got to the top of the mountain we started going through all these trees, vines, and rocks. There were ropes attached to the rocks that we had to hold onto because it was literally up and down, and side to side. I have NO idea how our tour guide did the whole thing in flip flops...I took a little stumble and was wearing my Chacos! No harm done though, just a scrape or two. So these "caves" werent really caves; more like tunnels, but it was still amazing. We came to one of the tunnels and the tour guide told me to stick my head in. As I did a bat came flying straight for my face!! I about had a heart attack. It then got more scary as she told us we had to go through the bat infested tunnel... it was fine though. Once we started to go through, they flew out the other way.
The next day we did the waterfalls. Also something that only happens in movies or a book. We took a 45 minute walk through the jungle to get to the water falls. Once we got there we swam at the base of it (dont worry this water was clean and we didnt get any parasites) It was unbelieveable! We went right under the waterfall! It was like going right into a vapor storm and we had to start walking backwards because we couldnt see a thing. The water felt like hail on your back, it was really strong. Definately worth it though. Then as we were coming out all these bats flew up in the air. Literally hundreds of them; you could barely see the sky. Then as we looked more closley at the cliffs, they were COVERED in bats! Thousands and thousands of bats!
After the falls, we went to the monkey sanctuary. To get there we had to take a dirt bike in. It was pretty funny with trying to put our driver, Martha and I, and our bag on it in one trip. Once we got there I've never seen so many monkeys before! They were running around, jumping on the roof of the office, and swinging from tree to tree! On the tour we bought bananas and fed the monkeys! You would hold a banana in your hand and a monkey would come up, peel it, then eat it from you. They were so funny!
When we came home all the kids saw us and yelled "They're back!!" They ran to us and helped us with our bags. Thats when I realized I am really really going to miss them. My last night here was hard....The kids are so awesome. We had a "dance party" with them and bought them all fanmilks. Then Romeo fell asleep on my lap. I'm excited to come home, but I wish I could stay; its bittersweet. The time sometimes felt like I was here for ages and would never leave, but overall it went by so fast. It was definately an amazing experience that I'll never forget.
Well, I leave the orphanage in a matter of hours now. I need to go finish packing and getting everything ready. Thanks for following this while I've been here. I'll see yall in a couple days!

Only in Africa

Things are going well here in Africa. We took the twenty oldest orphans to the beach last weekend! It was awesome! Even though the whole thing was a disaster it was a blast. We got there fairly alright, but our driver was two hours late picking us up. When he finally got there his van broke down. So we took about 6 different taxi trips to get all the kids to the next station. Once we got there THE NICEST man paid for a van to get us all home safely. So everything all worked out in the end. I did get food poisoning out of the whole ordeal though. We bought all the kids dinner and sure enough, eight hours later, my insides were in the Africa jungle. Bleh....
I forgot to mention some other things that happend a few weeks ago. One of the best nights I've had here! One of the volunteers had The Lion King on her laptop so we projected it in the computer lab and showed it to all the kids. They LOVED it! They were clapping, cheering, and giggling through the whole thing. Especially at the end when Simba beats Scar. It was so cute.
Another really cool thing was we had "The Big Clean". All the volunteers pitched in some money to buy cleaning supplies and we had a massive cleaning day. We only cleaned the dinning hall and kitchen, but it took a good three or four hours. Probably the dirtiest thing I've ever seen in my life. We scrubbed until our arms were sore. We scrubbed down all the walls, mopped the very very dirty floor, got all the spiders out of there, and sanitized all the tables. You wouldn't believe the dirt and many many spiders we cleaned out of there. It was really good to help them all like that though. They kept thanking us for our hardwork. It was very rewarding.
Well, my time is short and I'm leaving here soon. This might be my last entry...Until then though, I'll see ya'll in about a week!

Beach and Temple Trip

Its been awhile since I've been able to get on the internet. The orphanage hasnt paid the bill for internet so it probably wont be working the rest of the time I'm here. Now we either go to internet cafes or Martha and I made a friend her named Dominic and he lets us use his internet.
The temple trip happend and it was great; I loved it! It was really good to be able to go to the temple again. It's interesting how the highlight of my trip to Africa has been the temple; something I can do two minutes away from my house.
There are two boys at the orphanage, Eric and Israel, both about 16, that came to church with us the other week. They have been meeting with the missionaries and seem to really enjoy it. They ask tons of questions and seem to be eating everything up. We'll see how it goes.
This weekend Martha and I took a very needed trip. We went to Kokrobite beach. We stayed in this awesome hotel in a little grass roofed room. The food there was SO good! I almost cried when we had ice cream. I tried some fish which was complete with head and eyeball; really good though. Now it's back to rice and bread everyday at the orphanage, but it'll be okay.
While we were there they had culture night on Friday. It was so so cool. They had african dancers with drumers and everything. They even had an acrobat/fire eater. The next day we went to a monkey sanctuary. We only saw one monkey, but it was still really cool. We saw it jump from one tree to the next. After we went on a canoe ride. They use big bamboo sticks to row the boat instead of oars. Like a gondola. I tried to steer the boat, but it was very hard. That night was Regae night. It had a live band with dancing. It was really fun until we got tierd and tried to sleep but couldnt because the band played until three in the morning.
This next week is the kids last week of school before exams. My kindergarten class really doesnt know much so we'll see how they do on exams. Thats it for now. Til next time!

Another day in Africa

This week has been pretty good. I taught in the Kindergarten class for some of this week. Their attention span is about five seconds long. We taught them the hokey pokey though and they loved it!
Another mormon girl showed up last week. Her name is Martha. We went to church yesterday which was really good. I'm so glad we found it! It was all in English which suprised me. I invited Eric and Israel to come (they are about 16 and17). They really wanted to come, but the head honcho of the orphanage said they couldn't. It was too late of notice or something. So we are going to try for next week. The ward is having a temple trip this Saturday! I really wanted to go to the Accra temple while I was here, but had no idea where it was. So this worked out quite nicely.
So Obama came to Ghana last week. What a joke! They had things from HUGE signs saying "Welcome Obama" to Obama boxers and buscuits. He's bigger here than at home! Some of us volunteers went to Accra this weekend and everyone yells at you, "Obama, Obama!" They called us Obamas children and Obamas escourts. It's really funny actually, but quite ridiculous.
There are so many things that are different here. The sun goes down at about 6 or 6:30. It's so crazy; I'll never get used to it. It's been raining so much lately. I've never even seen rain like this before. It makes random rivers everywhere. But because of the rain I haven't been able to do laundry because there is no where to hang my clothes to dry. I never feel clean here. I will never take a hot shower for granted again!
So the food here has made me break out in a rash. How lovely. I'm pretty sure its from all the oil they cook thier food in. I have random food cravings all the time.
I love it here, but I think I'll be excited when I go home. Time flys by so quickly here. I can't believe I've already been here almost two weeks. I never know what time of the day it is, let alone the date or day of the week.
Well that's about it for now! Til next time

I'm Alive!

The internet here is very slow if it's even working so, this is the first time I've been able to get on. The orphanage I'm at has a computer lab with internet, but it doesn't always work.
So much has already happened, and I haven't even been here a week yet! The plane ride from Utah to New York was great. I sat behind a PACK of missionaries! I got to see them in action! haha They were talking to a lady about different churches. I also made a friend from Romania. His name was Ovi (pronounced Oh-vee) After we got to New York I no longer had the missionaries with me. That's when I realized I was really going across the world by myself. The spirit they carry is amazing, I was sad to leave it.
The second day I got to the orphanage we went to the beach!! I loved it! The kids loved it, too. I got a bit burnt because my malaria pills make me more sensitive to light, but it's not bad. Nothing like the other girl here; she has a giant blister on her shoulder from her sunburn. One kid named Romeo ran around naked, covered himself in sand, then says "Look, I'm white like you!" He's such a character.
The culture here is very very different. Everybody waves and says hello to everyone, I love it! Very very friendly. They have these things called trotros (basically a giant van that you cram as many bodies in as possible.) When we went to the beach we had 32 bodies in one van. If someone passed gas I'm sure we would have died. Speaking of which the toilets here are lovely. Its basically an outhouse and smells wonderful. One kid got locked in it and they had to break the lock off. I'm suprised he didnt pass out from the smell. We get to bucket bathe here too. It's really not bad at all. The water is cold, but it feels pretty good because it's so hot here. I love the heat!!
For the fourth of July we went down to Cape Coast. It's about two and a half hours away. We went to Kacum National Park and did the canopy walk. It's a tiny rickety bridge suspended by seven trees. That was awesome!! You're about 70 feet up and can see all across the jungle. Beautiful! After we went to Elmina Castle. It used to be used as a building for slave trade. It was so interesting. Sad actually, to be there; in the very place many others had died and suffered. We went down in the dungeons where people were kept. It was intense, is the only word I can think of for it.
So there are three volunteers here from England. I am taking on their accent. I talk with a British accent sometimes without meaning to. I even think to myself with their accent.
I've already had four marriage proposals. Two from the same person. Very persistant he is. Everyone asks you for your number, too. Good thing I didn't take a phone with me!
I taught in the nursery the other day. What an experience that was! All I did was break up fights. The kids here dont understand violence is bad because their teachers "cane" them for discipline. It so aweful! I had one kid in each hand trying to keep them from kicking each other, yet they still managed. During this I also have two kids on each finger, fighting over who gets to hold it, one on each leg, and another trying to get on my back. It hurts actually, they MAUL you!
Some of the younger ones (mostly outside of the orphanage) are scared of me. "Obroni, Obroni!" they yell. It means white person. They usually warm up to you after a while.
Again, the internet here is sketchy so I will try to continue updating this. Goodbye for now!