Scott's here, Yehudi's leaving!
Sorry for the long silence. Yehudi and I were behind schedule with the tree climbing so as soon as Bright recovered from malaria we started training and climbing right away. In the end we worked for 13 days straight without a day off. I gave Yehudi the afternoons off because he was doing all this exhausting work in the mornings, but I did not have that luxury. I basically worked 12 hours every single day; towards the end I was really crashing. Thank goodness I have amazing RAs like Effia, Charles, Effah, and Dorcas who were helping me out in different capacities.
We finished up all the trees that Yehudi could do in BFMS, Bonte, and Busunya and now he's headed up to Bolgatanga to work on another UofC project. I'm jealous since Bolga is my favourite part of Ghana! For Yehudi's going-away dinner we had Alfred cook some of his amazing ampesi and palava sauce - coco yam leaves with boiled yam. We will definitely miss Yehudi and his great sense of humour at BFMS. Bonne chance with your journey Yehudi, it's just beginning!
Here's a quick update on the past 2 weeks:
Murphy's Law took over again. On this one day, I was biking to Bonte and Busunya with Moses the herbalist, Effah my RA for Bonte, and Yehudi. The dirt road was full of obstacles and quite treacherous for my standards considering our bikes are crappy and we didn't have helmets. My bike "African Champion" switches gears whenever it feels like, usually into a high gear when you're trying to go up a hill. Yehudi's bike "African Hero" has a horrible seat that you can't sit on for any length of time and the chain keeps falling off. Now, there's this excellent biking path through the forest called Kafodidi Trail and it's great if you go fast because there are 3 little hills that are so much fun to fly over. So after a long day of biking on these horrible roads, I decided to bike through the forest on Kafodidi Trail. Somewhere over the 3rd little hill I must've hit a sandy part because the next thing I know, I smashed the left side of my head into the ground! My jaw was in a lot of pain for a few days but fortunately it was not dislocated. I was happy I didn't have to go to the Nkoranza hospital again since they now know me by name there! I guess it's true that most accidents occur close to home - as Moses said we were just a "stone's throw" away when I fell off my bike! Moses visited me almost everyday after that and brought me ice for my jaw to make sure my scratched-up chin healed.
My friend Fausti from Bolga came to visit me at BFMS for a few days. Fausti's one of those amazing friends who just does stuff and lends a hand without being asked. She really saved me because I was working until 7 pm and then had to do chores and cook dinner. She came out into the field with me and was really innovative in finding solutions to problems with leaf collection. She reminds me of Geoff and my friend Nicole in that we complement each other well. Back in the days of ecology, Nicole and I were great study partners since we saw things differently and were good at different things. With Geoff he's great at improvising whereas I'm more of the planner. Anyways, Fausti - I hope you had fun at BFMS, maybe I will see you again in Tamale in Sept so that you can meet Geoff.
Scott showed up 2 days after Fausti left BFMS. He made it to BFMS in a record 24 hours by basically getting off the plane, getting a taxi to the bus station, and going to Kumasi right away. He also lugged all this food from my parents and Geoff! It was like Christmas to get all these treats! Now we have enough Sidekicks, instant oatmeal, and granola bars to last us for the rest of the summer! Thank you Mama and Papa - I love you! Alan, Margaret, Geoff - thanks for the candy; fortunately no one at BFMS likes licorice so I don't feel pressured to share those amazing pontefract cakes! Joanna, thanks for the letter and the stuff from the bio stores, I ran out the day before Scott showed up so it was perfect timing.
I need to renew my visa today so I'm on my way to Sunyani for the night. I'm staying at a nice hotel with TV so I can watch movies and the news (I just found out about the terrorist attacks in London - almost 3 weeks after the fact). I totally need a couple of days off because I have 21 straight days of work ahead of me! I get exhausted just thinking about it!
You likely won't hear from me until mid-August when I'm finished my work. Until then, hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
We finished up all the trees that Yehudi could do in BFMS, Bonte, and Busunya and now he's headed up to Bolgatanga to work on another UofC project. I'm jealous since Bolga is my favourite part of Ghana! For Yehudi's going-away dinner we had Alfred cook some of his amazing ampesi and palava sauce - coco yam leaves with boiled yam. We will definitely miss Yehudi and his great sense of humour at BFMS. Bonne chance with your journey Yehudi, it's just beginning!
Here's a quick update on the past 2 weeks:
Murphy's Law took over again. On this one day, I was biking to Bonte and Busunya with Moses the herbalist, Effah my RA for Bonte, and Yehudi. The dirt road was full of obstacles and quite treacherous for my standards considering our bikes are crappy and we didn't have helmets. My bike "African Champion" switches gears whenever it feels like, usually into a high gear when you're trying to go up a hill. Yehudi's bike "African Hero" has a horrible seat that you can't sit on for any length of time and the chain keeps falling off. Now, there's this excellent biking path through the forest called Kafodidi Trail and it's great if you go fast because there are 3 little hills that are so much fun to fly over. So after a long day of biking on these horrible roads, I decided to bike through the forest on Kafodidi Trail. Somewhere over the 3rd little hill I must've hit a sandy part because the next thing I know, I smashed the left side of my head into the ground! My jaw was in a lot of pain for a few days but fortunately it was not dislocated. I was happy I didn't have to go to the Nkoranza hospital again since they now know me by name there! I guess it's true that most accidents occur close to home - as Moses said we were just a "stone's throw" away when I fell off my bike! Moses visited me almost everyday after that and brought me ice for my jaw to make sure my scratched-up chin healed.
My friend Fausti from Bolga came to visit me at BFMS for a few days. Fausti's one of those amazing friends who just does stuff and lends a hand without being asked. She really saved me because I was working until 7 pm and then had to do chores and cook dinner. She came out into the field with me and was really innovative in finding solutions to problems with leaf collection. She reminds me of Geoff and my friend Nicole in that we complement each other well. Back in the days of ecology, Nicole and I were great study partners since we saw things differently and were good at different things. With Geoff he's great at improvising whereas I'm more of the planner. Anyways, Fausti - I hope you had fun at BFMS, maybe I will see you again in Tamale in Sept so that you can meet Geoff.
Scott showed up 2 days after Fausti left BFMS. He made it to BFMS in a record 24 hours by basically getting off the plane, getting a taxi to the bus station, and going to Kumasi right away. He also lugged all this food from my parents and Geoff! It was like Christmas to get all these treats! Now we have enough Sidekicks, instant oatmeal, and granola bars to last us for the rest of the summer! Thank you Mama and Papa - I love you! Alan, Margaret, Geoff - thanks for the candy; fortunately no one at BFMS likes licorice so I don't feel pressured to share those amazing pontefract cakes! Joanna, thanks for the letter and the stuff from the bio stores, I ran out the day before Scott showed up so it was perfect timing.
I need to renew my visa today so I'm on my way to Sunyani for the night. I'm staying at a nice hotel with TV so I can watch movies and the news (I just found out about the terrorist attacks in London - almost 3 weeks after the fact). I totally need a couple of days off because I have 21 straight days of work ahead of me! I get exhausted just thinking about it!
You likely won't hear from me until mid-August when I'm finished my work. Until then, hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
posted by Avatamsaka Monastery Choir at 4:14 AM
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