No Pictures, Just Another List

This morning I went to Jazzercise with my mom, again. Welcome to living with your parents :)

Last summer I quit my job and played from Memorial Day til mid-August. This summer I went to Ghana and am now doing some consulting projects that aren't your typical 9 to 5 cubical gig. I am in Georgia living with my parents and have some free time - to say the least.

Last summer I created the "Fun – but sometimes pointless and random – Things To Do This Summer" List. This summer I decided I needed a "I Should Be A Grown-up, but Why? Endless Free Time Summer" List. I've included a few unaccomplished things from last year and added some new items, and this summer I know I can beat last year's pathetic 71 percent completion rate!

I Should Be A Grown-up, but Why? Endless Free Time Summer To Do List:

1. Find a frozen yogurt place - I have not found a single one within 20 minutes of my parents' house! This is a tragedy. How has the fro-yo craze not made it to East Cobb.
2. Write
3. Run 4 days a week - I'm hoping to be able to run a 10K without stopping by the end of the summer. Maybe a bit ambitious, but I'm going to give it a try.
4. Try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred - I'm not an exercise video person, but since I don't have my gym membership I need to try something.
5. Pilates twice a week
6. Jazzercise, when Mom makes me
7. Cloudy day = Work I can be unproductive (read: go to the pool) on sunny days.
8. Weekly Chick-fil-A, DC and pool days
9. Rock at Rock Band
10. Beat Caisa at Mario Karty Party
11. Eat Bruster’s Key Lime Pie Ice Cream for breakfast - why take a good thing off the list?
12. Watch My So Called Life
13. Watch Mad Men
14. Read - I'm thinking 10 books in 10 weeks. I'll start with, to quote Sam, "You're reading a book about shoes!?!" To which I responded, "It's a business book." :) The Towering World of Jimmy Choo
15. Good to Great
16. Blink
17. A Short History of Nearly Everything
18. Rhett Butler’s People - I'll give it a second shot.
19. Eats, Shoots & Leaves
20. Book 7 . . . recommendations?
21. Book 8 . . . recommendations?
22. Book 9 . . . recommendations?
23. Book 10 . . . recommendations?
24. Take one of MIT's free online classes
25. Take a local class for something
26. Take Two of a Baking Adventure with Caisa
27. Visit Charleston
28. Enjoy Hilton Head
29. Eat at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons in Savannah
30. Visit DC
31. Try things I've never tried before

What would you do if you had some free time? I'm open to adding to my list!

Prevention: Better than Cure

I can't believe I have been back from Ghana for almost two weeks. How did that happen? I finally finished up my final recap for school on the project and thought I'd share some of my thoughts here too.

Through BYU's Economic Self-Reliance Center, I was able to participate in a Social Venture Consulting project. With two other students I worked on a project for MicroBusiness for Health in Accra, Ghana to help strengthen their microfranchise model.

The goal of MicroBusiness for Health is to help people in rural communities throughout Ghana stay healthy by selling affordable health care products and educating people how to use those products. To reach this goal, MBH has created a “business in a basket” microfranchise model that provides women an opportunity to earn supplemental income through the sale of health products as well as help improve the health of their community. These small businesswomen, called HealthKeepers, sell products like mosquito bed nets, contraceptives, oral rehydration salts, iodated salt, soaps, reading glasses, and some personal care products like toothpaste and brushes, ointments, Vaseline, lip balm and bandages. The HealthKeepers sell these products door-to-door in their communities helping their communities one household at a time.

I was able to travel to villages to meet, interview and shadow some of these HealthKeepers. Seeing the impact a little education and training has made for these women was remarkable. Every woman was proud to be able to help improve the health of her community. They could all tell stories about their communities struggles with malaria and other illness, and then they would share stories about people in their village coming to them when someone was sick and being able to help or being able to help prevent diseases with the products. Having a business - while only a small part-time job - has empowered these women. There is still education to be done, but it was an interested experience hearing them explain to me about their business, profits and "marketing tactics." These women were truly inspiring.

This was an experience I will never forget and am so thankful I was able to have. Here are some pictures of the HealthKeepers I visited with.






Seeing this woman take the eye exam and then put on glasses and retake the eye exam was a moment I hope to never forget. After she finished she asked a child to go get her a mirror; she was so excited to see how her new glasses looked. Just thinking about it still gives me goosebumps. All that excitement and a huge difference in this woman's life all for about $3.

Casper the Ghost

Kelli (in the most dramatic voice ever): "This cannot be happening! No, this is not possible. Kristan cannot be tanner than me! No. This is not good for my ego."

I have the fairest complexion in my family, minus my dad. I tan well, but only after quite a few burns, and no where near as well as my Mom and sisters. I usually get made fun of for this, and get told repeatedly to put on more sunscreen or a hat. It's quite annoying.

I'm happy to report for the first time in my whole entire life:
I. Am. Tanner. Than. Kelli.
Thanks to Africa, one trip to the pool and Kelli working in an office all day. It's a small summer miracle - one I'm sure will never be repeated. So this Memorial Day Weekend, I enjoyed it. I teased and teased and teased.

This weekend the family (minus Caisa and Shannan) went to Lake Rabun -remember last year's trip - it's always the same :) There was rain and too many clouds, but we did get some sun and had a blast.

Kelli wouldn't let me document her whiteness, but you can kind of tell in this picture - on our "hike" to Tallulah Gorge.


Tubing Day 1: "I think I'm too old for this."
Tubing Day 2: "Again. Again. Again."


It's kind of nice not having cell service, TV or internet. A relaxing fun long weekend.

It's Officially Summer

First Stop:


Second Stop:


Third Stop:


I love my life.

Back in the U S S . . . A

Real Food
Shopping with Mom
Bruster's Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Hot Water
A Hairdryer
Central Air
TV
My Cell Phone

It's good to be back.

Free Time

5ish: Finish up work.
6ish: Grab something for dinner.
6:30: It's dark and there is nothing to do.

So I read 1,026 pages. Three and a half books in three weeks. And I got tons of sleep too.


Entertaining. But a really, really bad decision to read a book about food during the first week of a basically foodless trip.


Southern girl moves to NYC. Reminded me of my cotillion classes.


This is has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I finally read it. It has a whole chapter on Saved by the Bell. I mean really.


After two different book clubs reading this book I have finally started it. I'm half way through and love it.

I Love To See

The Accra, Ghana Temple. Beautiful.

The Tro-Tro

One Van
+
One Driver and One Money Taker
+
About 14 to 17 People
+
Open Windows
+
Lots of Dust and Diesel Fumes
=
The Tro-Tro

It's safe to say, I'm a taxi girl. Ghana's roads are actually pretty decent (apparently some of the best in Africa). The traffic is horrible and there are basically no rules, but paved roads. However when you get out of the city a little the dirt roads are a completely different experience. I have been on some roads that I would have been scared to drive on in my 4x4 Jeep. But these drivers are in little sedans driving over huge holes and bumps like it's no big deal. It's quite the experience.

Akwaaba

More on what I have actually been doing in Ghana soon, but I have been able to travel to about 10 different rural villages for work. I have met some amazing women, seen some remarkable places and fascinated tons of kids. Here are a few pics.

The Tribe Has Spoken

Paige: I could outwit, outplay and outlast you on Survivor.

I picked a coconut (from a pile a man was selling), opened it with a machete (or winced as I watched him hit it with a machete), drank the milk (straight from the coconut, milk dribbling down my face) and then picked out and ate the coconut (it comes off quite easily). Not quite sweetened coconut flakes, but it wasn't bad.

I'm just sad this is the only picture I got.

Would You Like Fries With That?

So what have I been eating in Ghana?

The Breakfast of Champions: Forget Wheaties, I'm talking about pineapple and two pieces of bread with strawberry jam. Every. Single. Morning.


Lunch and Dinner: Rice, rice and usually more rice. Sometimes plain white rice and sometimes I spice it up with fried rice.


Okay I've had spaghetti noodles a few times and a few cheese sandwiches, but that is basically it. And the Ghanaians love their spices - which I love! So everything is really spicy and flavorful.

I've loved my experience here in Ghana, so I don't want this to sound negative, but I can't wait for food that I don't have to think "Is this safe to eat?" or "I have no idea what that is!" I'm looking forward to ice and salad and fruit and milk and sweets and . . . variety.

There is a Sale at the Chitchen Store

This weekend I had a little bit of a different cultural experience. They built a mall in Accra about a year ago with a Shoprite, movie theatre, food court, stores, etc. Saturday night we wanted to get out and do something - usually our evenings consist of dinner and then once it's dark we just go back to the hotel (I've gotten a lot of reading done). So we took a taxi out to the mall.

It was weird. I didn't even feel like I was in Ghana anymore. It was filled with middle - upper class Ghanaians, expats and tourists. There were even little high-schoolers just hanging out. All of the stores were nice - Panasonic, Puma, Nike, etc. It was just weird. Here I have been spending time in little villages and communities all week, and then go to a very westernized mall.

I did get to see Tim Riggins, Ryan Reynolds and Mr. Sexiest Man Alive Hugh Jackman though. But talk about a different experience watching an American movie in a different country. Oh, and I was freezing in the movie theatre and I found my first Coca-Cola Light. :)

Cape Coast and Elmina

One of the reasons – okay, one of the many reasons – that everyone kept laughing when I told them I was going to Africa this summer is because I don’t camp. Well it wasn’t “camping” but I stayed in the worst lodging accommodations of my life last Friday.

After Kakum we headed to Cape Coast where we stayed at the Oasis Beach Resort. Nice right. Wrong. I mean I was only paying $5, so I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. I probably got about three hours of sleep, and I really can’t believe I got that much. I stayed in a little hut, shared a double bed, had zero air circulation, used a mosquito net and sweated to death – and of course cursing that I was there. (If you think I'm just being dramatic . . . Kelli . . . you are wrong.)

Thankfully it was light at about 6:30am and this was the view out my itty-bitty window.



While I was cursing that we chose location over accommodations, the location could not have been better. In fact I’m pretty sure I’ve never stayed closer to the beach. It made for a perfect morning of drinks, reading and lounging on the beach.



Next we went on a humbling and educating experience to Cape Coast Castle. Cape Coast was the first capital of Britain’s Gold Coast colony, an important trade harbor and throughout the 18th century the heart of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Cape Coast Castle was one of the largest slave holding sites in the world and one of the largest and best-preserved buildings of its type in West Africa.

A little something I learned about the Atlantic Slave Trade, taking place from the 1500s to 1870s. Within scholarly circles, the estimates range from a total of 12 million to 25 million Africans. Brazil received one-third of Africans; the Caribbean islands received another one-third; and the final third was spread through the rest of the Americas. Scholars agree that the smallest number of Africans came to the United States and Canada. Still, estimates range from 1.5 to 2 million between 1620 and 1860.

The dungeons were dark and cramped with stones still marked by the desperate scratching of those imprisoned within them. There is a Men’s Dungeon, Women’s Dungeon and the Door of No Return exit to the sea.












Some more Cape Coast shots.







The crab is the Cape Coast symbol. They even have a statue.



After Cape Coast, we headed over to the neighboring town of Elmina for a few hours. Compared to Cape Coast, Elmina is a much smaller, quaint fishing village. It was just as important of a harbor for the Portuguese and Dutch as Cape Coast was for the British.



The Elmina Castle is the oldest existing European building in Africa. It was very similar to the Cape Coast Castle, but the Door of No Return was much more dramatic. You go into the first room, then go through a second doorway that is about four feet tall into a smaller room, then through a shorter doorway into a smaller room and then directly out of the castle onto the boat.





On Sunday we went to church in Cape Coast and can I just say how much I love going to church in other countries. The people were amazing. They laughed at each other, questioned things and were just all-around fabulous. Oh and this is the view across the street. It wasn’t a bad Sunday drive out there.