Hello guys. Today, I'm going to Benin's Embassy in Accra to get a single entry visa. In general, visa rules are fairly "lax" (relaxed) in comparison to those of the United States. For example, in order to get to Benin, I'm going to have to drive through Togo. At the Togolese border all I will have to do is pay them $30 and they will allow me to pass by. On the other hand, to get a US visa, you'd need proof of employment, schooling, ties back to your home country. You'd need an address, a significant amount of money, a letter from an employer oh and if you had a criminal record you could forget about a visa.
Tomorrow, I'm going to take a bus ride from Tema to Kumasi, a city which is close to the center of the country. Kumasi is known for its art, its markets, its lake, and probably most importantly Tema is the seat of the Ashanti tribe. The chief of all the tribe has a palace there. A classmate from school is interning in a hospital there and is living with a local family so "I can kill two birds with one stone."
More to come...
By the way...Nante yiye (Farewell).
More will follow...
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Elegant Pen in Ghana
Hello all,
So for the past week the "Elegant Pen" has been in Ghana. To all of my ESL students at the East Brunswick library and all others, feel free to comment and add your own contributions. As soon as I figure how to make it so everyone can post an entry, I'll email all of you.
Let me give you a quick "rundown" [summary] of all the things that I've learned about Ghana so far:
Ghana is a small country in West Africa, with the countries the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast in English) to the west and Togo to the east. The capital is Accra, a hustling and bustling city on the coast to the south of the country. Right next to Accra, to th east, is Tema, the center of shipping and industry in Ghana. Accra is a mixture of New York City and Washington DC since it has big business and government and Tema would be like Port Elizabeth in New Jersey. In Elizabeth, millions of containers come in from around the world on ships to be unloaded and put onto trucks. The same happens in Tema.
It just so happens that my grandmother lives in Tema so I'm spending much of my time in that area. As soon as I am able, I will upload photos of my house and the area that way you can have an idea of what everything looks like.
Stay tuned for an update.
So for the past week the "Elegant Pen" has been in Ghana. To all of my ESL students at the East Brunswick library and all others, feel free to comment and add your own contributions. As soon as I figure how to make it so everyone can post an entry, I'll email all of you.
Let me give you a quick "rundown" [summary] of all the things that I've learned about Ghana so far:
Ghana is a small country in West Africa, with the countries the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast in English) to the west and Togo to the east. The capital is Accra, a hustling and bustling city on the coast to the south of the country. Right next to Accra, to th east, is Tema, the center of shipping and industry in Ghana. Accra is a mixture of New York City and Washington DC since it has big business and government and Tema would be like Port Elizabeth in New Jersey. In Elizabeth, millions of containers come in from around the world on ships to be unloaded and put onto trucks. The same happens in Tema.
It just so happens that my grandmother lives in Tema so I'm spending much of my time in that area. As soon as I am able, I will upload photos of my house and the area that way you can have an idea of what everything looks like.
Stay tuned for an update.
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