tour report

since my last post from tamale our educational tour has taken us all across ghana. we started in a small village in the central region called krobo that is best known for its beads and bead making. krobo uses beads in several different ceremonies. the most popular ceremony is a female right of passage called dipo where young girls completely cover themselves in beads and dance. we met with a group of queen mothers and young girls who told us about the process. we spent one afternoon in krobo with a bead maker. he showed us how he recycles empty bottles to make beads. he smashed guiness (for some reason guiness is the most popular beer in ghana) and schnapps bottles that he bought from local bars and then placed the shards into small molds which he then put into a kiln. next he pulled the molds out of the kiln and drove a nail through the formed beads to make a hole to put string through. we also visited a botanical garden outside of krobo where we found magic beans! these beans, however, do not grow stalks to the heavens; after you suck on a bean for a bit it changes the taste of anything you eat into a sweet taste, even hot peppers. in krobo we stayed at a guest house and when we returned home one afternoon a group of kids playing soccer waved at us to come join them. i was a bit hesitant after dislocating my shoulder in my sleep two nights earlier (luckily i was able to reduce it myself so it wasn't to bad), but decided to play. i started out playing a game of possession with some kids when another team arrived. the coach asked me what position i played and everyone laughed when i tried to show him on my hands a midfielder. we ended up playing a whole 90min game and it reminded me why i love soccer so much. ghanaians don't play as physical a game as americans do; they do move the ball as fast as i have ever seen though which is difficult on an uneven dirt field. the game ended right before the sun set behind a collection of mountains surrounding the field.

from krobo we travelled to a town on the boarder of ghana and togo called dagbe. in dagbe we learned a traditional war dance and got to visit the beach twice. the waves were huge! i felt like a blueberry in a blender. togo has a strong french affiliation so when we visited the boarder we were able to find and enjoy loaves of french bread with avocado and onion; we returned twice to for this sandwich.

now we are in vume; a pottery village in the volta region. we have spent two days working with a group of women who make and sell pots. the techniques they use are unlike anything i had ever seen before. they dig their own clay from a hillside near the volta river and fire their finished pots by covering them in palm leaves and tall grasses and setting them on fire. i am excited to return to vume during my independent study to learn more about their processes. tomorrow we will be leaving vume and driving to cape coast where we will be visiting another national park and a few former slave castles.

did you get rid of your green and gold number 4 jersey after brett signed with the jets? if so, it might have ended up in ghana! today i saw the fifth favre jersey i've seen since being in ghana.

we have been speaking twi far less frequently since leaving the ashante region, however, i did recently learn my new favorite response to 'how are you?' - bokoo se ntaafoo awoo - means literally i am cool like the birth of twins. ghanaians consider birth a very difficult but beautiful process so when a women gives birth to twins its a very cool thing. i think that's a lot cooler than a cucumber.

me reko didi - i'm going to eat. much love!

dane