This is just one of the pictures that I took this weekend but I thought it was one of my favorites just b/c it's behind bars looking out. This weekend was so intense, I'm not sure how to describe it in words. It was emotionally draining, fun, crazy, relaxing, everything...So...Friday night, I went out thinking I just wouldn't get any sleep since we were leaving for Cape Coast at 6am the next morning. A couple of my friends and I go to this guy's house that we met on the Ashesi campus the other day and we just hung out and watched a movie. So I get home at 3:30 and I get about 2 hrs of sleep and then we all left at 6 for Cape Coast, which is 3 hours away from Accra, where we live. I slept the entire 3 hrs so I'm not sure if it was nice or not. Anyway, we get to the Coconut Beach Resort, which is where we stayed and it was sooooooooooooooo beautiful there. I'm going to post more pictures after this but it's so slow. Anyway, Will Smith has stayed there and some other ppl. But we check in, get our rooms and then we have breakfast and go to the Elmina Slave Castle. I think, going into it, I had no idea what I was going to feel so I didn't want to prepare myself for anything. I just wanted to go there, see what was there, process the information and let myself reflect on it. Elmina is the main slave castle for the Gold Coast and hundreds, probably thousands of slaves were there being sent off to who knows where. So during the tour they take us here and there and it wasn't until we got into one of the rooms where so many slaves were chained and they talked about the people having to lay in their own excrement, menstrual blood, urine, etc and I just got so incredibly depressed and sad. I'm not a dramatic person (at least I don't think I am) but it was like a wave of pain and sadness poured over me and I just started crying. And other people were crying too. And then we went to the Door of No Return, where slaves passed through before getting into the boats. And while we were there, a lot of us were just crying and bawling. After the tour, I was so emotionally drained, mostly b/c I didn't expect to feel everything while I was there and also b/c in that moment, slavery became tangible to me, not just something that I read about in history books or something that I know my ancestors were a really long time ago. And for a minute, it became a black and white thing but it stopped being that b/c it was mostly the injustice of humans doing these cruel acts to other humans. So after that, we were all so drained but I think being near the ocean was very calming for us. Then we went to a market nearby and I bought some stuff, which cheered me up. Then that night our group had dinner on the beach and a bonfire. And it all ended with a midnight swim in the pool. It was a very up and down day that ended on a good note.
Sunday I played volleyball in the morning and then we left to go to Kakum National Park, which has these canopy walks that were so scary. I always thought I was afraid of heights but not that much. This confirmed that heights scare me so much. But it did make for good pictures. Then the somewhat amusing part came when we were driving back on the bus and the bus broke down! So we pull over to the side of the road and myself and this other girl had to use the bathroom so we trek out into the woods but stupid me I happen to get tangled up in thorns and I come out with thorns sticking in my arm and uh...other places.... After about 25 minutes, the bus started up again but we had a backup bus follow us just to make sure. And we made it home safely and I passed out early that night b/c the weekend was so exhausting.
So far classes have been going well, I have African dance 5 days a week but I like it so far. It's only day 2 so we'll see how it goes. As far as the residence where I live, it's great. There are 4 compounds and each compound kind of has it's own little role. My compound has become the Oprah compound b/c I bought Oprah's 20th Anniversary DVD before I came to Ghana and I told everyone I had it and for the past 2 weeks, someone is always watching the DVD in my compound. It's become an obsession. Then there's the boy's compound where we play poker and watch movies and play chess. Then there's the compound that always looks empty b/c everyone who lives there sleeps all day. Then the last compound is the random one. Not much goes on there but once in a while it does. And my room is a quad, we're all cool peoplesand that's the way it is. So yeah, that's it for now. There will be more pictures and if anyone wants to see all of them, go to my webshots.
http://community.webshots.com/user/aushatay
That's all for now peoples. Late-uhz :)
2 comments:
I'm like Jen and I think I'll pretty much be commenting every time you write, haha. That slave castle sounds so emotional. I feel like that's exactly how I would feel if I were visiting one of the concentration camps in Germany. It just makes the past so real and it's almost overwhelming to think how cruel humans can be to one another. And to think that all this pain and suffering actually happened to people in your ancestral line? It's incredibly sad.
On a happier note, African dance sounds fun! And my dancing at the high school is going well so far. These kids are definitely not very talented (No Mike Evaristes or Reginas) so it's a little more work than how it would be with 4992. But the kids try hard and they are patient and very nice so far, so it's been pleasant. Tonight is my first night of large group rehearsal so we'll see how that goes. It's definitely a workout for me every night!
Can't wait to read your next entry!
Wow, Taush. That sounds really intense and definitely like an experience that it'll take awhile to completely digest. Just... wow.
You're getting to do such things and you've only been in Ghana how long? And have how many pictures? Haha...
It looks really beautiful there. And you look very happy and vacation- y in a lot of your pics. I'm forgetting you have classes.
To the commenter above me, I'd like to say: Gabby, you're an awesome dance teacher! I'm sure you're being great!
And Taushaaaaa, you should get more sleep, missy! Just because Ghana is so amazing, doesn't mean you have to see it 24 hours a day! Take a hint from that sleeping compound.
-Jen
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