Week 2 and 3,

The school this week was extremely noisy as they where practicing for their annual march to celebrate their independence from the British. this meant that every morning starting just after 8, each classes would be in the court yard learning and practicing to march, it also meant that the school drummers ( a bunch of boys with sticks and plastic oil containers) would not stop until about 11. This had the knock on effect that i had no one to teach in the mornings so the little time i would spend with a class was cut in half so that i could see all the classes in the afternoons. This continued everyday until last Friday. The march was on the Monday but i sadly missed it as i was traveling to lake volta with a small group of the volunteers.

we left Agric Friday morning at about 6am to arrive at the metro bus station for 6.30. On arrival that place was already swarming with people carrying everything from suitcases, fridges, sacks of flip flops to chickens. We managed to find our conductor and waited patiently for our bus. The metro buses didn't seem to have any set time table and after about three hours our bus arrived. As it arrived people began to run for it (before it had even stopped or the doors had opened), There was a scrum to get on as it is quite common for the bus to be over booked. After we got through the scrum and found a seat the bus fell silent as as i looked up i saw the conductor who began to give a prayer. After the prayer there was a long silence the an Amen, this seemed to be normally practice as everybody joined in. After 5 hours on the bus we arrived in Koforudia and from there we got on a tro and traveled 2 hours to Akasombo. By this time it was about 4 o'clock and we found a guest house.

Traveling in an odd numbered group and trying to save money. Luke, Dries and Myself decided to share a room which again only had one double bed. After an inter sting night sleep we headed for lake Volta ( the largest lake in Africa) where we booked our selves on a all day cruise. On the cruise we met a group of volunteers from the UK who are traveling with Mad Adventure and where working in Ho ( our next destination ). They all live in one large youth hostel style house with three large dorms. Seeing as they had a dorm almost empty the invited us to stay with them. That night as it was their cooks night off i decided that as a thank you i would cook for all 13 people. After i had made this promise i soon discovered that i had two pots and almost nothing to cook with but impressed my self out how many things i could use my pen knife for.

The next morning we left early and headed for HoHoe and the waterfalls there. We arrived at the waterfalls at about 11 and decided we would hike to the upper falls before visiting the lower falls. After meeting our guide we set off and hiked for about 2hours. Although at some points it was more like a rock climb as we found our selves walking across paths a foot wide with a drop on one side and a vertical lift on the other. After 2 hours of hiking in 30 Degree heat we looked like we had already been swimming. Eventually we arrived at the falls which were about 100meters high and because of the long walk we where the only ones there. After the about 30 min we headed back this time doing the hike in half the time as it was down hill although we may have slipped and fell a few more times as we where running out of energy. We reached the lower falls soon after and headed back to the town where we had our driver waiting for us.

That night we went back to Ho to stay with the other volunteers from the UK and again cooked for the entire party. The next morning we found a tro that was heading for Kumasi and managed to get home in about 6 hours.

The next morning i was again feeling sick and decided to revisit the hospital as it was getting worse. After 4 hours in the hospital i was told i was not going to get to see the doctor so i headed to the school and taught my lessons. This morning (Thursday) i tried again and after 5 hours in the hospital got to see the doctor for about 5 minutes who was convinced that i have Malaria. So he has given me a course of drugs to take and if there is no change by Monday it looks as if i will be heading back to the UK for proper treatment. (hopefully it wont effect my trip to south Africa!!!!!!!!!!)