Adventure Sequence Lauched

I am just going to be honest- if I hadn’t spent all my time in a gym growing up, I would have been on the stage, more specifically the spotlight. It is not that I have a lofty opinion of myself, oh no nono, I just really love singing and dancing. Though I am convinced that the rendition of “Just A Little Bit of Love” I sing in the shower is second only to Celine herself, I really am not that great of a singer. I have pitch, which is more than some, and that’s about it. As far as dancing, I am probably the only one that thinks I have killer moves, but I firmly believe that I am the only person who needs to think that. So, when I woke up with a song in my heart and a pep In my step, there was only one thing to do: I turned on my tunes for 7:00 am dance party. It was great. Just great.

I think it was side effects from yesterday. I got probably the greatest footage of my trip (besides really awesome surgery stuff) in the lab yesterday. Once work slowed down a bit, I had to interview my friend Jacob about his thoughts on Celine, which he took very seriously. He told the audience that he had 118 of her songs, which qualifies him for die-heard status, and we followed up with a little duet, which was delightfully awful until my camera ran out of memory!

What was even more hilarious was that shortly after this little interview, Jacob and I did round two after clearning some space in my camera so the stage was set to perform “Because You Loved Me.” We were all over the place, verse one, verse two, the end of verse one. Jacob was in the middle a really great break out when my friend Fidelis, who gave me this awesome necklace, barges in the door. Perfect addition to the party. He is totally up on his American tunes so I had him sing “Forever Young” by Jay Z and he nailed it. This sing along continued as he is threw out names and sang some more songs for us…. And the camera was rolling the whole time. It is such great footage and I die laughing every time I watch it.

I feel it appropriate at this point to give a heartfelt shout out to my awesome camera girl Miss Kristi Christian without such dedication behind the camera, none of this would be made available for your viewing pleasure.

Such good people here and they never, ever cease to entertain me.

And seriously, I am sending this to Celine and I really think this could be my shot at a friendship- like Christmas card kind of friends. “So, how are the twins?”

This is ridiculous. I know. But it’s so much more fun being this way.

Today I spent finalizing a few things before our 6:00 am departure tomorrow. Let it be known to the world that I am the WORST packer. I never know what I am going to get myself into and I need options. I am not high-maintenance. I am indecisive in these matters, and Kristi saw how pathetic this was so she decided to help. She has been living out of suitcase the last year of her life doing rotations in a new place every month, so she has beyond expert status. Before you judge, you should know that I am trying to fit all of this into a backpack. Yes. A backpack. I am attempting to live out of a backpack for 2 weeks. There might be one small little purse bag thing additionally but that’s a given. I am girl. Duh.  I just feel like one is so much more credible traveling through a foreign country with a backpack. So, I am not taking my computer and will be at the mercy of internet cafes if I can find them to keep you updated on what I know will be the COOLEST trip ever! I am so excited!

So here is the general itinerary:

Tomorrow: Tamale. Pick up passport with newly extended return date. Hang out. Explore. Celebrate Zee’s birthday tomorrow evening. Girl’s night out!!

April 14^th: A friend of Abraham’s is taking me to the bus station at 5:30 am because Bob and Dr. Jean need to take Kristi to the airport around the same time to fly to Accra… ask me how not happy I am she is not coming on this trip with me. It has been sooo nice having here here. We laughed a lot together and had some really great girl talks, which I have needed this week. HOWEVER, I am very happy she gets to see her family. Back to the itinerary… Get on bus. Ride for 12 hours if… IF my friends, nothing goes wrong, which is highly unlikely. Proceed south across the fine country of Ghana to Accra. Arrive. Lord-willing between 7-8 pm at the bus station where this super nice man named Henry will pick me up and take me to the guest house I stayed in when I arrived. Kristi will be there so that will be just great.

April 15^th: Another early morning! Henry will pick me back up and take me to…. Well. That’s it. That’s all I have as for as concrete plans. How fun is that?! It just depends on where Chris is at. I will go to either Kpando (pon-do) or Hohoe (ho-hoy), which are in the same general area. I will go by “tro” ( taxi… kind of;) to one of those two places where will spend the next week or so or however long I feel like it exploring the Volta!

Fun fact: Lake Volta is the largest manmade lake in the world. We are going to do some awesome hikes. The mountains on the southern Ghana-Togo border are the highest in Ghana I believe. Don’t quote me on that, but I think I read that somewhere. There are caves we will explore, a monkey sanctuary so I can take a picture of, I mean FOR, my Aunt Deb. The area Chris is in is known for its pottery so there will be come great stuff to observe there and finally…. The long awaited, much anticipated WLI FALLS!!!

I would just love to enlighten you… I didn’t know that was the name of it when I saw it, but when I saw it, I knew I had to go find it. Last November, one of my good friends at Carroll did some majorly impressive networking and got the producers of the most incredible documentary “The Human Experience” (STOP READING AND GO LOOK UP THE TRAILER ON YOUTUBE) to come for a private showing in Helena, Montana. Daniel Pearson, definitely one of your finer moments;) I decided in August that I was coming to Ghana, so when I discovered a portion of it was filmed in Ghana, my interest was piqued. After watching it, my interest was through the roof. There is this amazing shot of them at some waterfall and I just had to go find it so I could see if for myself. Without knowing the name or location, I went to work and did some investigating shortly after I got to Saboba. I looked through guide books. The internet was no help and until one day, in this great book, I found it. It was a picture and I knew that was the one I wanted. I was so excited I had a name and location for it so I could start planning a trip to see it for myself. Confession: I have a slight fascination with waterfalls and it goes all the way back to my childhood. We rented George of the Jungle the DAY it came out when I was in 5^th grade. George takes Ursula to this amazing waterfall and kisses her behind it, and my enchantment with falling good ole H₂0 was solidified for all times. It’s one of those someday things that girls like to dream about:)

And then whenever I feel like heading back, I head back through Accra where I will stay again. And then I will stay in Kumasi with my friend Pastor Vincent Asamoa and his family for a few days over Easter and then head back to Saboba from here. Though I am very much looking forward to exploring the Volta with some super fun people, I am just as excited for my time in Kumasi. Pastor Vincent is just the neatest guy with such a love for basketball and kids. I am not really sure what he is going on there in that regard, but I will find out. I just want to help him anyway I can. I think it will be so refreshing for me to be with him and his family. The guy just oozes God’s love, passion and charisma.

I attempted to make a map for you so you can see where I will be.

So… there you have it. I will post updates when I can, but I anticipate I will be off the air for much of the next two weeks.  But, don’t you worry. I will fill you in when I return with plenty of stories. I am so excited about this. This was just an hopeful idea and it has grown into a reality. I am telling you... We are meant to dream!!

I hope you all had a great day. To my awesome friends and family who have sent recent emails, the internet has been very slow here and really tests my patience… and wins. So I am not ignoring you. I love your emails and truthfully tried to respond. For instance, Aunt Deb, I tried to send you one back THREE TIMES and it didn’t’ work!!

K. I’m out. I’ll see ya on the other side with blips in between. Epic adventure has begun….