I realized yesterday that I haven't sat on a couch since May 5th. I haven't heard a Canadian accent in weeks. I've say things like joyest instead of joyous and can't figure out which is actually the proper word. Every two weeks I watch TV at the restaurant we go to in Techiman. It is usually news, an Asian soap opera, or Vibes Africa. The last twelve English songs I heard on the radio were Celine Dion. (People hear we are from Canada and immediately assume we love her)  I love it here. I love my job. Working with Angela is really fun. She is hilarious! And clumsy, which is extra hilarious. We had our project halfway point this week. 87 days until we leave Ghana. It seems so far away but I know it will go by really fast. At the end of the month we go to Kumasi again to renew our visas. There will be a hot shower waiting for me at our hotel! Something to look forward to!

Ghana: Living the Dream, Again

What a crazy few weeks. The time has flown by! I killed my first scorpion (which we now call scorps so they seem less scary). I got sick, but am feeling much better. I am back with my monkeys! It is so good to see all of them doing so well. And I am slowly slowly learning IDs of them. The students are having fun with all the new stuff and it makes me miss my group from last year. I wish Amy, Amerens, Ashley, Chelsea, Cannice, and Alix were here! Every time we eat jollof rice I think of Ashley yelling "Jello fries!" so I have taught the students that. They aren't as crazy about Alvaro as we were. Joyce is pregnant! SO pregnant. Sometimes I'm worried she will burst like a water balloon because she is so tiny and huge at the same time. Angela kills me she is so funny. I have died laughing at least once a day. Yesterday she was a bit delirious from her fever and at one point interrupted conversation to say "I know what you're thinking... not thinking.. My arm is a chameleon!" And then started talking about "bird snouts". I am laughing while typing this. I am so happy I am back. All the sounds and the smells foreign and familiar.

Logbook entries

Because I was unable to update my blog while I was gone, I will be posting excerpts from my logbook. Enjoy! "I tried some groundnut soup and some maize. Both delicious! I am looking forward to trying fufu and banku too. So far I have liked all the new things I've tried, like Alvaro. We may have also eaten grasscutter... bushmeat." Groundnut soup is peanut butter soup. I did try fufu and loved it (mashed up yam into a gooey ball) but we never got around to trying banku (a fermented version of fufu). Alvaro is a malt based soda flavoured with passion fruit, pear, and pineapple. Grasscutter is similar to a guinea pig. It is either caught wild or farmed. "I love the forest! I don't think/hope it would never lose its appeal. I could have cried I was so happy to see the monkeys. Going to see Nana Amoa was fun. He was very interesting to listen to. He seems to have an excellent memory. All afternoon we watched the monkeys in the forest and I am in love. I've already told Angela I might want to help her in the field this next summer. I will have to talk to her more about it to see if that would be a possibility. I'd really like to come back. And for longer than a month. I'd like to find out how tiring/fun/difficult/rewarding long term fieldwork is. Having just a month makes it too easy because by the time I get here I can already feel the end nearing. I want to stay forever. I hope I still feel that way at the end of this trip." I still feel that way. "Right now my leg is on fire from those horrid black ants. I'm sure they serve an excellent purpose in their ecosystem, but I do not appreciate their bite. But it could have been a scorpion, so I am better off this way." "I feel like I get too excited around the monkeys because I love them so much. I never want to go away!" "I can't believe I am in Africa! Two and a half weeks ago I saw Jane Goodall speak, told her I was coming here, and now I am actually here. How did my life get to be so epic?" "Watching the monas in our mango trees is really fun. I like that Angela calls them the War Amps, but it's really sad that they get hurt. It must be hard to be a 3 limbed quadruped. But Captain Hook still moves and jumps around like a champ. He only falls off the summer hut roof sometimes." "I'm trying to learn Twi. I'm not sure why I feel it is so necessary that I do, but I do. I told Robert he has to quiz me tomorrow. I could live here. Maybe they have room in Boabeng for an obrunye to live. I already know how to say that I'm staying: daabi daabi me nko bebiya. I'm reading The Darling and in it the author talks about leaving everything behind and coming to Africa. It seems so easy reading it, but I know it wouldn't be. This is what I always come back to. The forest feels like my home and the primates like my people. How do I leave everything I have known to be the unknown person I feel I could be." "Today's discussion about tourism was really interesting. I feel very conflicted when I travel because I always end up in places with a history steeped in hurt and brokenness. I've been to Dachau and seen the mass graves. I've seen the effects DDT still has on the Vietnamese. Now I'm in Africa and have seen the rooms where slaves died. I feel incredible guilt. If there was a way to fix it all, to change history I would. Seeing the present day similarities hurts. Is Iraq the new Vietnam and Bangladesh the new West Africa? How can we expect people to forget when we have not changed our ways, just our victims. Why do I feel so hopeless with my own species? I wish I was a bonobo or a siamang. Or perhaps a sifaka. Maybe then I would have less worries." "I love this place and I don't want all my thoughts to sound sad. Each day I see so many things that make my life better. Watching a mona stuff her cheek pouches, or hearing a sheep calling for its mother. These things make me so happy that I could cry with excitement. Seeing the black and white infants jumping through the canopy and fighting with their mothers is the most extraordinary thing and I will treasure these during the long, cold days in Calgary. These are the things hat make this planet so beautiful and I want everyone to see and appreciate them. Of course I get excited with the monkeys, there is literally no place I would rather be in that moment, except maybe in the trees with them (but only in the lower branches). I am so happy to love them." "We had fufu for dinner and I LOVED it. It was like fluffy, sticky gnocchi. It is really filling and I hope we have it again soon. I will dream about it." "I'm learning more Twi so when I come back (if they let me) I will be able to talk to everyone. I can count to five with no help. It is such a fun language! I've never been able to pick up something so easily." "I love the rain. It smells so nice. The discussion last night was really great because Josie made popcorn!! It was SUPER DELICIOUS and made my stomach feel a bit settled. Today it was unhappy again, but I think it is doing better now. I even had a second helping of fried rice." "Market Day!! Never have I been so excited to go shopping. It was so nice to have a change of pace and scenery, though I missed my monkeys. There was so much to do and see and the fabric was amazing. I ended up buying way more than I had planned to. The whole place was sold out of FanChoco which was really sad, but FanYogo is healthier anyway. Building good bacteria and whatnot." "The rain is epic! Ashley, Chelsea and I put on our bathing suits and danced and played in the rain but it was SO COLD!! Lightening was awesome and there was a bat flying around. I don't think I want to leave here. Ever." "The safaris were really great. Saw 3 kinds of antelope, 3 kinds of monkey, wart hogs, and elephants! We got really close to the elephants which made me nervous, but I stood farther back so the other people would get trampled first and I could get away. We were all really safe I'm sure. When we were in the pool this afternoon the baboons were causing madness which was really fun to watch. It is too bad that the night safari didn't work out, but we had such a fun time playing games and talking." "The white baby is the cutest thing in the entire universe ever. I find it very difficult not to have fatal heart spasms everytime I see it. It has pinkish arms and strange alien eyes and I want to hug it and love it and hug it. Robert and Dan laughed at me the whole time we were watching it because I kept jumping up and down like a mad woman. Now I am ranting like a mad woman. If it jumps like a mad woman and rants like a mad woman, might it be a mad woman? I need monkey therapy. I have the best life EVER!" "I never want to leave. Ever. I layed in bed this morning, threw my sheet over my face, and told Ashley "I'm not going! You can't make me leave!" To which she said something along the lines of "Pretty sure you would be deported." Logic. I hate it." "Tonight was so fun. Melon soup is my new fave! I think the traditional priest of Fiema told me we would get married and I agreed. I will get to be a queenmother. Cool beans. I need to get a skill so I can have a shop when I move here. I can make perogies. That could be a hit... Bettine's Ghanaian Perogy Palace. Has a nice ring to it. Done. I'm selling my stuff and moving here. We played so many fin games with Robert and Dan and Charles, Efia let a bunch of people carry her baby around on their backs. Tony is grrrreat. The fire was, in technical terms, ginormous. And so freaking HOT. Angela was really funny at dinner, telling me all kinds of good stories about Josie. Possibly one of the best comments of the night, though, was when Pascale said Angela was a good singer. Or when Tony said he was a vivacious dancer. Epic. Dance party! When Alfred was testing his voice I almost cried I was laughing so hard. I can't even remember all the great things that happened because of my laughter-induced amnesia, but I will treasure this experience forever or until I get hit on the head with a coconut <- (most likely) NEVER EVER LEAVING!!!!!!!" "I don't want to fall asleep because we leave in the morning. It is too upsetting. I want to stay with my monkeys and have more fufu and sing the obrunye song." "Ha. I've woken up early. Now all I have to do is find something to chain myself to the summer hut. The only reason that I won't do that is because of the cheese in Amsterdam. Cheese is my weakness... it has been so long without it. Other people miss their "cats" and "boyfriends". Not I. I miss cheese. Laughing Cow triangles only suppress that feeling for so long. I am maybe going to bring a mona monkey home. Although I would feel like the worst human ever taking one from its family, but we could start a new group with a really large homerange... It could possibly work. Or it could be madness. Either is fine with me."

Elmina and Kakum

After a night in Accra, we head west. Elmina is the oldest castle on the western coast of Africa. We take a tour, standing in cells where slaves have lived and died. It is a humbling moment when the tour guide points out that while the Dutch were in church, right below them were women begging for their lives. Our history is full of mistakes and we haven't learned enough from the past. I dip my toes in the Atlantic, waves chasing me as I sink into the sand. The girls with trays of oranges balanced on their heads ask me to take their picture. The air smells fresh and the oranges are sweet, I am hesitant to get back in the van. Our arrival at Hans Botel reveals a surprise: the pool is open. We jump into the warm water and vow to never leave. One of the signs reads: "NO DROWNING". Day one is over. Day two arrives early and we watch crocs glide through the water as we eat our breakfast. Today we are headed for Kakum. Our tour guide tells us of the colobus, Diana, and Mona monkeys that live in the forest, but we know the truth. This forest is dead. There may be a few colobines left, and a few birds, but humans are the only prevailing mammals. We learn about fufu and banku, foods we will try in BFMS. We see rubber trees and trees that produce black dye, trees for pestles and trees for roofs. I skip the canopy walk to spare my nerves and dignity and let the others climb high in the trees while I tour the museum. We get back to Hans Botel and swim more, playing water games in the sun. I finally start my log book and readings, admitting that I am a student and not a vacationer. But being a student is fun when it involves lizards running across the ground and ants crawling up your leg. At dinner I try new things: groundnut soup (delicious) and grasscutter (similar to a guinea pig - tastes better than dog) But I am glad I ordered fried rice. I will get groundnut soup again another time. I still have four weeks to try new and crazy (and wonderful?) things.

The Myth of Africa

I open the window shade and see bright red land staring up at me: my first view of Africa. A thrill runs through me as I spot cities and dried rivers. The land stretches off in each direction for as far as I can see. I can see dunes that way and hills nearby. Though nearby could be kilometers away. We seem to fly over the Sahara for hours and I imagine what the people down there might be like. Probably like me, but not as cramped.I think about class, and talking about the myth of Africa. From up here all I can think of are the myths. Deserts for days, red sand, camels and mystery, or perhaps savanna and grasses, big game and wonder, or even jungle and trees, monkeys and monsters. Is there a "real Africa"? In an hour I will find out. The sun is setting and the sky is red streaked with yellow and blue. Black clouds form treetop silhouettes. Night falls and all I see is another plane blinking on the horizon. Then one star. The ground beneath me is black, we aren't near the cities yet. Who is down there? Probably someone like me, but warmer. This plane is freezing and I can't wait to get to the heat. The city comes into view quickly and turbulence hits as we begin our descent. Please don't fail me plane. I need to get to Africa! The landing is surprisingly smooth and I feel warm air seep into the cabin as they open the doors. I step off the plane onto the tarmac and am immediately covered in humid, sticky sweat. Ah, home!

Bocas

Have been in Panama about two weeks now and I love it! I am getting a tan (though I am still the palest person here). We have had tons of fun so far. I have seen tons of howlers and a spider monkey yesterday. I don't count the spider monkey though because she is habituated. The poor thing watched her mother get shot and killed and now she is not nice to humans. Understandably! We climbed up a mountain yesterday to a waterfall and I was the first one to the top! I made it up in 1hr 8mins! Then we went swimming in some hot springs and a river. Boquete is beautiful and I found a great bakery that I love. The sourdough is so good! We are headed back to Bocas now. Back to early mornings! The howlers start calling just before dawn so we leave the station around 4:30-5 so we can locate them before sunrise. Having lots of fun!

Panamania

Great flights. Slept most of the way. Panama City is beautiful. Met up with Rihana and Don (used to be at ITEC) and went for a little tour of the neighbourhood around the hostel. We are staying at Lunas Castle which is such a cute place. I love it. Bussing to Bocas really early tomorrow. Wish I could hang out in Panama City a bit longer. Oh well. There are so many cats here and they are pretty cute. I want to catnap one and bring it home!