11 June 2008
must be the colors and the kids
15 April 2008
my drumming class was away at a funeral.
grave-hopping. maybe more admirable than the aged traditions of flower-dropping.
his shirt read:
i'm not a bitch
i'm THE bitch
and it's MISS bitch to you
10 April 2008
where you will see ashton in bell bottoms and eat a pomme d'amour
aahh so long since my last entry. but i'm all over the blogging life again i swear. after this weekend i'm posting photos from a funeral in a small village. it was beautiful beautiful and so sad.
we went to Ivory Coast for Easter Break. despite the whole civil war thing and the 'don't go to ivory coast or you'll die!' warnings of peers. we felt pretty rebellious. and were glad afterward because we decided we would like to stay forever and only petty obligations were presented in protest of this idea. petty obligations won. on the basis that maybe they weren't as petty as we were willing to make them out to be if it meant we could stay forever. but maybe we'll stay forever another time.
french west africa. and it's really french. west africa. baguettes on street corners, croissants and tea for breakfast and we're ready to go. croissants and tea for breakfast everyday and any day means an automatic new favorite place. which makes sense considering paris is a favorite place and Abidjan was hailed as the 'paris of west africa' in its prime, its prime being the 70s which is quite possibly the best time to be in your prime if it means every building is a geometric puzzle and Ashton Kutcher may peek out in bell bottoms and all of a sudden set-location will be obvious, how did you not know it before? i also thought it looked like what i'd imagine an African Cuba to look like based on what i imagine Cuba to look like which may or may not be solely based on 'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.'
the cathedral.
we find an abandoned dark stairway at the bottom and used a flashlight on a phone to go up the twisting staircase, dark and dusty enough to make you think you may step on an assortment of one or all of the following: dead bodies, a homeless man that upon being stepped on will awaken angry enough to kill you, the non-casper ghosts in casper that unlike casper are really mean. we climb all the way to the toptoptop of this weird abstract structure thing protruding from the church, the highest point you see in this next photo of the outside of the cathedral. we feel we are on top of the world. we are proud to have gone so high, to have done something probably illegal, and to have carefully evaded the homeless man with potentially murderous tendencies. so proud in fact, we sign our names. we were here.
the grocery store. we were really excited. as evidenced by the unnecessarily great amount of photos taken there. lipton tea is what i have four cups-a-day-three-spoons-of-sugar of everyday. nutella is what we dream of having everyday. milo is the ghanaian equivalent of ovaltine except EVERYONE drinks it ALL the time. and a nun at the butcher is just funny.
the art gallery. we love it. and those that run it. i am especially fond of the black hats and how much they laugh.
we kept trying to take 'serious family portraits.' we mostly fail.
apples of love!
17 March 2008
15 March 2008
you were right about the stars
last weekend it was off to Mole. Mole like the Mexican dish, not the skin imperfection. Mole national park: home of 600 elephants, and vacation hotspot for 80-year olds (in khakis, giant Buddha earrings, and binoculars) who refuse to relinquish dreams of going on an African safari. traveling is me, Thien-Vinh, and Megan. except sometimes I call Thien-Vinh 'Rin-Tin-Tin' and she barks back. and we meet Syntia from
Yahyah and Anoosa are so smart, 19 and 15, respectively, and in love with our cameras. ‘I am a pho-tog-rapher’ Yahyah says over and over. ‘I am a pho-tog-rapher.’
I made a friend, our relationship was me talk-talk-talking, he blowing bubbles in response. no words, just bubbles.
me: can I take a photo of you blowing a bubble?
him: [blows bubble]
Yahyah and Anoosa are nephews of Al-Hassan, one of the Salia brothers. they started eco-tourism in Larabanga, ie 2cedis for his nephews to walk us around, show us the mosque, children always following, holding our hands, linking arms. this may be my favorite kind of tourism. Al-Hassan is all hospitality, serving us food despite our insistence that we just ate. ‘but food that isn’t free isn’t food,’ was his irrefutable response.
and finally we are driven in the community cab the 15 minutes to Mole. the cab was donated by an NGO for driving tourists to Mole, and pregnant women to the hospital in the next town to give birth. i wondered if a baby had been born in the taxi.
Mole is lovely, we sit in our bright-curtained rooms,
we wake up early for our safari and Abu with a gun is our guide. he has worked there for twenty years, sweet eyes and a sweet laugh.
we walk behind him through ‘the bush’, feet away from pumbas (warthogs, but spoken of as ‘pumbas’ throughout our travels). they look noble. we decided it’s the mustache. like they could smoke a pipe
evenings are teatime and spreading-out our towels on the porch and looking out at the trees and up at the stars and saying hello to the pumbas walking nonchalantly past us, close enough to be invited to tea. the next day we say our good-byes to the Freds.
this is how we get back to Larabanga. i feel like i'm flying.
we meet up with Daniel and Tara. they’re English and in love and together discovering the world. Daniel is in dreads, Tara in beads, and I admire their courage, leaving jobs and comforts only 6 months after finishing university for the adventures of
they are fascinated with our cameras: run around, snap, run around, snap, climb to the roof, snap, ‘stay there, stay there,’ snap.
Tee-Tee's portrait of me:
my portrait of Tee-Tee:
photos taken by the kids; Larabanga through their eyes:
one of the girls prepares a delicious meal of yam stew and we sit around the table, Al-Hassan sharing his frustrations of trying to help his community develop, starting more schools, saying over and over ‘I feel I am in the wrong society’ and all I can think of is how I hope YahYah and Anoosa can go to college but it’s hard coming from a small village.