Trou Trou

This was our main mode of transportation on medium-long trips in Ghana. Long trips (over 6 hours) required STC buses and taxis or our own two feet were sufficient for the shorter trips. Trou Trous though... we rented Trou Trous for our group outings to villages, national parks, and other cities.

Some of these Trou Trous were nicer than others - for example, their seats were occasionally even fixed to the floor. We were often bouncing around hitting our heads on either the roof or the window beside. That was partly due to the vehicle itself, but was also due to the awful roads in Ghana.

There were always holes in the bottom of the Trou Trou so dust would come up around your feet. Dust and hot air - burning hot air. Also, if you sat at the very front your feet were up against the motor... I thought my sandals were going to melt. It was HOT! And there was a wooden barrier between you and the drivers so your knees were crammed in and risked getting splinters. It was almost unbearable!

I had to sit up straight the entire time and squeeze my legs into the seats. I couldn't really put my knees up against the top of the seat because I would either push my seat or the seat in front of me over. It was quite the predicament. You could sleep, however, by resting just your forehead on the seat in front of you. Then you could pretend you were on a roller coaster ride rather than being jostled around in a hot, stinky, painfully uncomfortable Trou Trou.

These fine modes of transportation were notorious for breaking down (as was everything in Ghana). We regularly had issues with them and developed an incredible amount of patience over the course of our trip. Let's be honest honest though -- it's easy to be patient when you really have nowhere to be. We were running on Africa time so it didn't really matter when we got to our destination... except that time our reserved rooms were given away because we were eight hours late (on two separate occasions). The first time we crammed sixteen of us into two little hotel rooms in Accra and the second time we were going around Tamale at 4:00am trying to find a place to sleep. Again we managed to squeeze ourselves onto floors and into beds. It was always an adventure.

Back to our beloved Trou Trous. This particular time the Trou Trou broke down we sat on the side of the road for four hours (this was when I had the scoots!) waiting for another Trou Trou to come to our rescue. We waited and waited and waited. It was actually pretty cool to be in the middle of Ghana in the pitch black. We had no idea where we were and all we could do was sit and wait. It was cloudy so there were sadly no stars, but it was pleasant none-the-less to just hang out (and find enough places to go to the bathroom without a. venturing too far from the group and b. going where someone else had already gone).

When another Trou Trou eventually came to our rescue we had to unload all of our bags and pile them onto the new one. We then tied the broken Trou Trou to the new one with a little tiny rope and pulled it to the nearest village. I don't know how the rope managed to hold up, but it did.

The Trou Trou's really weren't that bad -- especially when it was just our group riding in them. They got a little bit dicey when you were squished in with a bunch of people you didn't know and it was above 45 degrees out. That made for a squishy, sweaty, stinky ride. Especially when there were pukers and/or dry-heavers. Yech! The drivers don't stop for anything!!! Unless something strikes their fancy on the side of the road and they want to bring something home for dinner. When that happened everyone would pile out of the bus and pee/eat/breathe.

And that, my friends, is first class transportation in Ghana.

Sawybean the Walking Machine

Yup, I said it. She's w.a.l.k.i.n.g. And exceptionally well, I might add. All she needed was a little trickery and then she was off! How did we trick her? All it took was some strategically placed sandals - one in each hand. I think she assumed we were still holding onto them and off she went!

And on day two she was already so much better! She was only cautious until she knew she could do it on her own. She can already stand up by herself, turn around, and walk for approximately 40 feet! She was showing off all day. And she didn't want any help - she had to do it all on her own.

I'm so proud!

Music Monday!

Have you ever wondered how some movies get there soundtracks?  Sometimes they have the most amazing songs that you've never heard before.  Is that someone's job?  Does a director say "I need a modern emotional piece, heavy on the guitar, hold the keyboard and give me some soothing Tibetan throat singing." and Jim Smytherson says "okay I'm on it."  Crazy.

Lately I've been more and more impressed with how many ways there are to earn a living.  I have met someone who owns his own glacier fed stream and transports his stream water to bottled water companies, someone who farms his vegetable gardens in other peoples yards, and his friend who is the head brewer at Howe Sound Breweries.  Its amazing how many occupations there are and how, if someone is committed or determined enough, that person can carve a living out for themselves.  It really is a pity that I can't think of anything I am that passionate about doing; I should get on that.

In honor of being creative and carving your own niche out this is The Books with Be Good to Them Always.



The Books search through hours of old footage: public service announcements, instructional videos, and self help videos, pretty much anything that strikes their fancy. After that they cut out the bits they like and put together songs. They also put together their own videos with the songs. I Really like how they can take bits of many different things and put them together in a way that we can draw some meaning out of it... as long as you're not too concrete in thinking of course, Ashley thinks its all gibberish.

Until we meet again...

E

Teddy Bear Junction

Erik and I went on a hike a couple days ago. You see, I got some new hiking boots a while ago and I haven't actually had a chance to break them in yet. I've worn them grocery shopping, around the house, and occasionally walking around town, but I haven't actually done anything substantial. So we hiked. A little hike that was more of a walk, but we got some fresh air out in the hillsides surrounding Kelowna.

My boots were nicely initiated and we hiked to this creepy place called "Teddy Bear Junction". It was a beautiful little spot that had a pretty view of the city and plenty of teddy bears tied to the trees. Creepy.

It was nice to get out in the sunshine (which has since disappeared) and to be with my husband. I cannot wait to be done with my exam.

Job prospects are looking bleak, but I am hopeful. The floor I want to work on hasn't hired yet so I'm not-so-patiently waiting. I'm thinking about looking into other options in the near future if I don't hear anything... who knows what that will entail, but I feel I need to work as a nurse soon or I will quickly lose confidence and be too anxious to apply. It will all workout.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday Ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

*** *** ***

 

Quinoa Salad

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for a delicious quinoa salad. We have had it a couple times now and we love it!

Quinoa Salad 
Dressing: 
   -- 5 Tbsp fresh lime juice
   -- 1 tsp salt
   -- 1 whole garlic clove, finely minced
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
   -- 1 tsp ground cumin
   -- 1/3 cup olive oil
   -- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, to taste 

For the Salad:
   -- 1.5 cup quinoa
   -- 1 Tbsp salt, add when boiling quinoa
   -- 1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
   -- 1.5 cup corn kernels, fresh (cut from about 2 large ears of corn)
   -- 1 cup finely chopped sweet bell peppers 
   -- 1 whole jalapeno chili, seeded and minced
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

   

The actual recipe explains how you're supposed to prepare the quinoa. It required a cheesecloth, boiling for a while, then steaming for a while.... but I just prepared the quinoa the regular way the internet tells you to and it worked just fine for me.

i am awake

It is 2:25am and I am awake. I don't need to be awake... I just am. I was in bed for four hours unsuccessfully trying to sleep so I decided to get up instead of keeping Erik awake. I had nothing better to do at 1:45am so I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. It was the yummiest grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had. And now I am looking up Ghanaian recipes like Red Red, Groundnut Soup, and Jollof Rice. I think Erik has a delicious week in store for him!

mmmm red red... look at all that palm oil!

Pie Please

Yesterday I did something I have never done before -- I baked a pie. I know, I'm a little ashamed to admit it myself. But here it is, my confession: I have never baked a pie. Correction, I had never baked a pie until yesterday. And I didn't bake just one... I baked TWO. And I even made the crust (a must).

The first was a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Yummy! It may even have inspired me to plant rhubarb in our garden. I love rhubarb.

The second was a blackberry-apple pie. I love blackberries. I miss living on the coast where blackberries were always in abundance. They are so expensive!!!! I decided to splurge and indulge myself in some.

I love that my babies are getting old enough to entertain themselves so I can be productive while I have them over. I've learned to keep them close so they stay happy.

The pies are so tasty. So so so tasty! My only issue is that there is so much liquid in them! You can scoop the delicious insides into a cup and drink it! What did I do wrong?? I followed the recipes (with only minor adjustments), but I used the right amount of flour and cornstarch in the filler.

How do you keep your pies from becoming fruit soup?

Paul's Tomb

On Thursday Milena, Mandi and I decided to take the girls out on a little hike to Paul's Tomb. We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was nice and warm with a breeze to keep the young'ns cool.

Can I just say that I love living here? Look at this!! This is only a five minute drive from my house. Five minutes away and this is the third time I have been to Paul's Tomb... I need to get out there more. 

Sawyer loved the water. She l.o.v.e.d. it. We took her out of her stroller and she strolled right on in. She cried when we wouldn't let her crawl in the water, but it was freezing... and she doesn't know how to swim! Instead I showed her how to throw rocks into the water. That kept her occupied for a while.

Milena and Maelle. Maelle is almost 10 months now... I can't believe how quickly that went. All Maelle wanted to do was eat the pebbles. Eat pebbles and play "So Big". I taught her that.

And a little group shot.

5 Seconds

These were too funny not to share.







I like Star Wars the best but the Matrix is also hilarious. Apparently there is a whole world of 5 second movies out there. This is going to be even worse for blockbuster; why rent when I can watch all my movies in 5 seconds?

E

Music Monday

Hello Again and happy Victoria day to you.  In honor of the Queen and Ashley's new found obsession with British Monarchical news and events, I will declare 66 of your red blood cells "Royal Blood" if you can tell me why I chose the number 66.  If you are the winner then don't spend it all in one place.

Radiohead is my most favorite band of all time; the more I learn about them the more impressed I am with how they do everything.  Because it is a monarch/Victoria type of day who better than Radiohead to represent?  This is "There There" or "The Boney King of Nowhere".



I have no clue what it means but this is one of my favorite Radiohead songs.  Come to think of it I don't think I could ascribe a solid meaning to any Radiohead song; maybe that's why they're so great.


Until next time, keep your hat on and your feet firmly planted.

EO

These Two

These two make me smile. They absolutely adore each other and they giggle constantly. Maelle goes as far as screaming and flinging herself towards Erik when I interrupt their games.

Maelle loves Erik because he lets her crawl all over him. He is goofy with her and he tosses her around. He makes faces and strange noises and she giggles like crazy for him.

And Erik, he loves Maelle because she laughs at all his jokes. He loves being loved and who can love you more than a baby? He also loves that I am always there to take her when she yelps or cries.

And I love watching them play together. It's a win-win-win.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday Ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

*** *** ***

One Smart Woman

Her mama must have taught her well because Little Miss is one smart woman. She patiently waited until Erik took a little snooze and then she went for his wallet.

Still No Internet

And our phone isn't working, for that matter. I'm not very happy about this, but there's nothing I can do.

Last weekend Erik and I ended up going home for a friend's wedding. One of my "bathroom buddies" from CBC was married in Abbotsford and we were thankfully able to make it out to the wedding. It was an absolutely gorgeous event and it was so so nice to see Candace again!

I also got to see my niece, Hailey Jade, while we waited for the reception. She is such a happy little girl. She has no idea who I am and yet she was giggling and scooting for me the second I walked in the door. That's one way to warm an auntie's heart. We rolled around the floor, danced, and made all sorts of animal noises. She is so very cute - I wish I could see her more often.

And the weather here has finally warmed up a bit! I had Maelle today and yesterday. She loves me, but she absolutely adores Erik. So much so that when I took her from him on the walk home she cried and flung herself toward him. He is just so. much. fun.

And today Erik and I planted vegetables in the community garden his work now has in town.... Maybe I'll work on our own garden tomorrow. I should probably study though... two weeks from today I will be writing my Canadian RN Exam. And in three weeks tomorrow I graduate!!!

That's all for now folks. We really need internet.

Music Monday

Hello Monday fans.  It comes a little bit later than I hoped but I can blame that on the fact that I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Telus yesterday and today trying to get our internet and phone connection figured out.  Music Monday wouldn't have happened at all this week if it weren't for whichever neighbors of ours don't have there internet locked.

I never even thought about this song until two years after I heard it.  One day it was in my head and I had no clue where I had heard it or who it was until I saw a certain movie for the fourth time.  This is Skip James with "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" which perfectly matches my "Hard Time Telus Talkin' Blues"



If you can guess the movie where I heard this song you win 100 points towards a May long weekend vacation (redeemable at any campground, border crossing, spa, hotel, bed and breakfast, and golf course owned or operated by E&A Olson Inc.).

Happy Trails

Echo Delta Oscar

Sleepover with the Bean.

Sawyer, Erik and I had our first sleepover since... December!!! I can't believe it has been that long. Her mama said she had been up teething all week so she was worried she would be a crabby-pants. Sawybean was absolutely lovely! She went to sleep a little late, but she didn't cry for a second and she slept through the night in typical non-teething form. And I absolutely loved having her!

It was such a beautiful day too! We crawled around outside for an hour or so, enjoying the sunshine. Sawybean doesn't really love crawling - she would much rather grab my hand and walk around the yard. She is finally getting over her stranger-danger which makes me happy! It has been a little bit dicey at times since I came home from Africa, but she's coming around.

We took her to Boston Pizza with us because we wanted to watch the Canucks game and she behaved so well. She sat in her highchair playing with her spoon and her food while we enjoyed the game.

Actually, she watched the game a lot herself... mainly when I was trying to get her attention because I wanted to play with her. She put up with all my pestering and was a little champ.

Sad the Canucks lost. 

When we got home we had bath time (our fave) and then snuggled down with a bottle. I kissed her on the forehead, tucked her into bed, and shut the door. She chatted to herself for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep. It was perfect. She was perfect.

I needed to wake her up in the morning because we needed to get going. She was so snuggly. We ended up having more time than I thought so we made Mandi a Mother's Day card. We started with markers because I couldn't find my crayons... we really just had sword fights with the markers... then I brought out the crayons. Sawyer wasn't really into colouring all that much, but she chewed on the crayons for a while.

And the final product... with the pretty little girl. I had to fight her to hold her hands still so I could outline them.

Oh! And here's a look at our clean kitchen. We still need to get a table, but look at how lovely it is! I love it. I can't wait for a table so we can have a little more space to work, but it is 10000 times better than our last kitchen.

My Lovely Weekend

I had an exceptionally lovely weekend.

Both Erik and I had the weekend off - yippee!

It was sunny and beautiful out.

 Sawyer came for a sleepover.

I got to go to church for the first time in four weeks.

Our friends came over after church (most of us don't have mothers in Kelowna).

We played on the scooter. Just good 'ol shenanigans.

Little Miss came out to play too.

It was just a lovely, lovely weekend.

Music Monday

When I hear this song I think 9/11.  Probably because the lyrics talk about "planes dropping from the sky."  As this has been a significant week regarding that event I chose this song to share.  I don't think that it was made with 9/11 in mind but that is where my mind goes.

I love the lyrics in this song; simple, poetic, powerful.  I also love its mellow-d.

This is Ketch Harbour Wolves with their song "Ghost Town (Someone's Dream").  Enjoy



Until next Monday...

Echo Delta Oscar over and out.

Hello My Friend.

In Enchi we were greeted the same by every kid we met.  And it wasn't a simple 'hello' either. No, all the kids would see us and hollar out, "Hello my friend. Hello my friend go to school!" Only it sounded more like, "heh--low--my---friend. Heh--low--my--friend--go--to---school!" Or, for the kids who weren't yet in school  "heh-woah--ma--fweh--heh--woah--ma--fweh--go---toooo----skoo." The kids would say it in unison too, which was adorable.

That wasn't the only thing they would chant out to us either. Kelsey, Amber and I went running in the mornings in Enchi (in the cool 33 degree mornings) and the kids we passed would all chant, "Run Canada Run!" over and over which made me laugh every single time. Once I stopped to tie my shoe and I heard "KEEP RUNNING!!!"

This little guy was one of my favourites. Who could resist that adorable smile? I would go for walks alone on the mornings we didn't run and these kids would always rush out to say hello. They loved having their photos taken and telling me about school, their family, and their lives. Oh I miss it.

{this moment} - an exception

{this moment} - A Friday Ritual. A single photo - no words - A video,  capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

*** *** ***

I saw little Sawy this week and she decided to pop up and crawl! Mandi said she's been crawling for about a week -- cute!! The best way to bribe the little monkey is with food so I was ready to coerce her with a bowl of bananas and yogurt.

Dust Storm!

The road in Enchi before a vehicle drove by.

The road in Enchi after a vehicle drove by... and after we felt it was safe enough to bring out our cameras again. This was the day after it rained too!

Pay to Pee

In Africa we often had to pay to pee. It wasn't expensive -- usually only 10 peswas. And if you needed newspaper you had to pay more for that too. I carried baby wipes and kleenex everywhere with me so I thankfully never had to resort to using newspaper. 

You could usually just pop a squat wherever you were, but the large crowds weren't always conducive to this. Ghanains had the freedom to do such things... but we stood out and attracted too much attention. 

Voiding where these signs were posted resulted in a fine. And it was an especially hefty fine if you were white. This wasn't an issue as I usually require a little more privacy. 

We usually only had to pay to pee when we were traveling... which ended up being a lot of the time. I tried to avoid using any kind of facility as much as possible. This sometimes meant starving and dehydrating myself, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get by. Oftentimes the bus wouldn't even stop anyway so you'd be sitting there doing kegels for hours on end. This didn't work so well the time I ha the runs on our way home from Bolgatanga... but that's a story for another time. And we thankfully had our own trou trou.

These are some of the establishments I had the honour of relieving myself in. These were the nice ones even. There were some nasty nasty ones. Nasty ones. Oftentimes it was just a hole in the ground. This was my least favourite because then you had to aim and that is a skill that was highly underdeveloped at the beginning of the trip. It also didn't work so well with explosive diarrhea. The other problem with the little holes was that they were usually in the homes of people we were visiting... which meant you couldn't pass it off as someone else. It was obviously the inexperienced white people. Woopsy.

This one was especially nice. The red wall was a nice touch.

I spent four hours on a bouncy trou trou trying to hold my bladder and when we stopped to buy some snails I jumped out... there was sadly no where to go to the bathroom so I somehow managed to communicate with a ghanaian around me. We communicated that I needed to pee (which is very important because pooping would require a different facility) and the kind gentleman led me to a little cement slab with three walls. Try peeing on a cement slab without having any back splash... it's not possible if you are a woman. And the worst part is that it isn't just your own urine splashing back at you! I vacated the facility to find a crowd of women and children waiting for me. They all came up wanting to shake my hand and talk to me.... all I wanted to do was wash my feet with my wet wipes, but I had no such luck. I did manage to do it before I returned to the trou trou, but it wasn't soon enough for my liking. Those cement slabs soon became common for us... and they never became more pleasant.

We usually peed in the urinals because the above "toilets" were too expensive. In the urinals there was a trough with a raised cement slab that you were to stand on. You could see outside the urinal if you were standing so we would all squat down and do our business. A Ghanaian woman walked in once when I was squatting as she laughed at me. She boldly pulled up her skirt and went about her business standing and facing the trough... rather than being reverse as I was. So that was how it was done! That changed the way I peed for the remainder of my time in Ghana. If I could recommend anything it would be to wear a skirt if you are required to use any of the aforementioned facilities. The reason for this is that you can pee standing up and you don't have to worry about getting your shorts wet. Really, a couple dribbles in your underpants is the least of your worries (for the record, I never dribbled in my underpants). 

The move and a song

 Before...

After!

If you can spot Ashley in the "before" picture you win 20 votes for a Canadian political party of your choosing.

And now... a number.  In honor of what we have to keep telling ourselves to get through this weekend, this is, The Bad Plus with Never Stop.

This is Erik if you haven't guessed already.  I am announcing that I have been voted in as Prime Minister of "Music Mondays" on this blog.  That's right, every Monday I will be posting one or more songs that I have been enjoying for the week, month, year, or more!

You stay classy... planet earth

P.S.  Music Mondays will probably have to start taking place after May 13 as we will get our internet and phone back up and running on that day.  For now we must pirate "FreetheFreeses" internet connection.  Don't free those Freeses.