TEM Lab Ghana, an update.

TEM Lab Team: me, Carlos Cortez, Shinu Thomas, Eric Ams, Erik Saether

My name is Brody, I'm married to Kylee, just in case some of you weren't aware.  Currently I am in Accra Ghana, I've been here for about ten days and will be here until the 13th of August.  I'm here doing a consulting project for a local NGO that is receiving funding from the ExxonMobil Foundation.  I was going to start a blog so I could post pictures, videos and updates but it turns out I'm just a titch too lazy so I figured I'd just hijack Kylee's every now and again.  The main reason for starting a blog was to document my crazier than normal dreams (anyone that knows me well is aware that I regularly have very trippy dreams that are probably brought on by some repressed memory from when I was 4 and saw something terrifying. who knows.  That coupled with my anti-malaria medication, Malerone, which supposedly gives you nightmares as a side affect, is a recipe for some whacked out dreams).  Problem is, I'm on the daily dose, but apparently the side affect is strongest with the weekly dose...dang.  I will say that I have been having my normal crazy dreams more often, but thats it.

Moringa Oleifera Tree

Our project is basically to determine the feasibility of using Moringa seeds to create biodiesel.  Then to build a business plan for our client, PALMS/Mofil.  

Pastor Joseph Kwame Brenyah 

This is the Pastor, he is the director of the NGO that we are working with.  He always dresses like this, he's an extremely happy and likable guy and is ALWAYS smiling.   

Moringa Seeds

 Moringa is a pretty amazing tree, it is loaded with vitamins, minerals and pretty much everything you need to live.  It is being hailed as the solution to malnutrition (if a malnourished child eats two teaspoons of powdered Moringa daily, he will reach a healthy status in a month, pretty amazing).  The tree grows anywhere and can survive on very little water.  Most scholars refer to it as the Miracle Tree.  

Upon arrival I was told that the seeds have detoxifying properties and that I should eat no more than five seeds in order to "purge" my system.  Seeing as how I'm pretty hardcore, I ate 8.  I spent the next day running to the bathroom every 20 minutes.  I am officially detoxified.

Carlos, Shinu, me, Pastor, Isaac the intern, Erik, Kwadwo the VP, Eric

Fufu and light soup at a local eatery/shack on the side of a dirt road

 I cant say I've been real impressed with the food here in Ghana.  The most popular dish by far if you ask the locals is Fufu and light soup.  Fufu is made of corn meal and cassava, it has no taste and has the consistency of Elmers Glue.  It definitely took me back to my 3rd grade glue eating days.  The soup was actually decent, super spicy but good.

As far as my time in Ghana and my first impressions, I'm having a great time.  Ghana is like no other place I have ever been.  It is known as Africa for beginners because it is relatively safe and stable compared to other African countries.  I knew this before coming so I admit I didn't know what to expect.  I also know that despite this title and attributes, Ghana is a 3rd world country, and that is exactly what I found.  Accra is the biggest city in Ghana and the capital with a population of about 4 million people.  The majority of the city is dirt roads with no buried sewage system.  Power outages are a common occurrence (while writing this post, the power has gone out 3 times).  Traffic is terrible, especially when the main highways have only two lanes going in each direction (most of the time its only one lane).  The pollution is overbearing and sometimes suffocating.  I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, I'm no stranger to the developing world and actually feel very comfortable in it.  Ghanaians are awesome people, I have felt more than welcome since getting here.  the church has a pretty solid presence here, I've passes several LDS meeting houses and have seen numerous missionaries.  They also have a pretty stellar temple here (Which is by far the nicest building in all of Accra).  All in all, I'm having a blast.

A bunch of videos can be found here and pictures here, enjoy.

We are keeping a team blog that we update regularly that you can check out if you'd like

It's over...

I am so incredibly sad that the Harry Potter series is done forever.  Not only is it amazingly creative and extremely entertaining, but I kind of grew up with the characters since the 1st book came out when I was 11 (the same age as all the main characters).  But alas, all good things must come to an end... and what a great end it was!!

I went to the midnight premier of Harry Potter 7 pt. 2 with my mom and brothers in Ogden (an hour away) at a theater that has assigned seating, so we were able to show up about 20 minutes before midnight and we were good to go!  It was so great.

Unfortunately, having assigned seating doesn't prevent you from sitting right in front of the most annoying person you've ever met.  The boy sitting directly behind us talked {loud} the entire time through the previews and gave us quite the performance when the movie actually started.  Lucky for us, my brother caught the whole thing on his iphone.  Take a look:

Yep, that was for real.  

Anyway, it was a fun night and I absolutely LOVED the movie.  It was A-MA-ZING!  

So long Harry Potter!

4th of July = My only day with Brody

Well, the summer is halfway over and that means Brody is finished with one adventure (selling security systems in Oklahoma) and is now on to the next (doing school work in Africa). Luckily, he had a spare day in-between and was able to come home.  (Literally, it was only one day).  And that one day just so happened to be the 4th of July!!  I'm so glad it worked out that way!  So we packed in as much as we could that day and had a lot of fun.

We had breakfast with my family in the morning, and then went to my aunt's house to ride her new Razor.  That thing is a blast and a half!

We spent the rest of the day with Brody's family.  We played some fun outdoor games, had yummy tin-foil dinner's, roasted smore's and did fireworks!  (I'm so happy that Utah has legalized the big ones.  They are so much fun!)

Brody had never met our newest niece, Devyn, so he could be seen holding her very often throughout the night.

Brody, the fruit ninja

It was great being with Brody, but it went by so fast it felt like a dream.  It was like I fell asleep and had a wonderful dream that we were back together again, but then I woke up and he was gone.  I guess one day is better than none though, and what a great day it was!!

May and June happenings in Utah

I love summers in Logan and I'm glad I haven't ever had to miss one yet.  Although, it just not quite the same without Brody.  I hate not being with him and I miss him every day, but if this is the way it has to be, I'm glad I can at least be with my family.  They've been great at keeping me company and I've had a lot of fun with them.  

Other than visiting Brody for 10 days back in May, and planning & throwing my mom's big surprise party in June, I haven't had much going on since being back in Utah.  But here's a look at some of the few smaller things I've been up to:


MY NEW CAMERA:
Brody got some money for graduation, and he was kind enough to give some of it to me (I guess for supporting him through the whole thing!)  So with the money, I bought myself a new, somewhat nice camera. (Well, it was actually used, but it's new to me!)  It's a Nikon D40, which I think will work great for my first DSLR-type camera.  I'm really excited about it!

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MAKING CARDS:
I spent an afternoon with my mom and sister (while she was here) making cute cards for birthdays, weddings, baby showers and thank you's.  It was fun and I thought they turned out really cute!

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CARNIVAL PARTY
My aunt Annie threw an amazing 'carnival' themed party last week.  It was so creative and she really went all out!!  There were a bunch of fun games for the kids (including face painting and animal balloons), yummy food, tons of candy (including a popcorn machine, cotton candy machine and snow cone machine) and some creative minute-to-win-it games for the adults.  It was a fun night!

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KEEPING BUSY WITH WORK

I was able to find a summer job at Hamilton's (a restaurant here in Logan) to keep me busy, make the time go by faster until I can be with Brody again, and of course, to make a little mulah.  I work as an events server so I help with all the big parties and weddings etc.  It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to find something for such a short period of time.

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BACKYARD BBQ WITH BRODY'S FAMILY
Even though Brody is gone, I still try and get together with his family as much as possible.  I love having a niece and nephew on that side of the family.  They always keep things so entertaining!  Below is a picture of all the girls--  Me, Brody's 2 sisters (Bergendi and Brittney) and Brittney's little girl/my niece Devyn.

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Brody will be finished selling at the end of this week and will come home for one day-- the 4th of July! (coincidence actually), yay!! :) :)  but will then be gone again-- for another month and a half (to Africa for school)  boo!! :( :(   I really hope we NEVER have to do this ever again!

In the meantime, I'll just keep doing what I do.  Which is... I don't know what, most of the time.  If anyone ever gets bored... give me a call!  :)

My mom turns 50

Yesterday, my sweet mom turned 50, which is so hard to believe because she looks 40.  Anyway, I wanted to do something special for such a special person on this very special day, so about 5-6 months ago, I started brainstorming.  I came up with a great plan for a big surprise party and thought it was the perfect idea because my mom LOVES surprises and doesn't get them very often.

There was only one flaw in the plan... one very important person wouldn't be able to make it-- my sister Jessica.  She and my mom share a birthday and they've never spent one apart, especially one this big, so it just didn't feel right to throw such a big party without Jessica here.  So I called her and talked her into flying home from Texas (where she and Brad are living for the summer) to surprise mom and be here for the party.  I'm so happy it worked out!!  Jessica flew in on Thursday (the 9th), we had the party on Sunday (the 12th), and their birthday was Monday (the 13th).  Take a look below at the details of each....

Jessica arrives and surprises mom

Jessica's flight came in on Thursday, so I scheduled my foot appointment to be on the same day, so mom wouldn't know what was going on.  When we came home, I made sure mom was downstairs, and then hid Jessica in the closet by the front door (where my mom keeps her nice camera).  When she came back upstairs, I started asking her questions about her camera (because I just bought one similar to hers), so when she went to the closet to get hers out, there was Jessica!!  It was perfect, because I had my camera right there, ready to capture the whole thing!  Take a look...  (there's a lot but they are all so great!  So just skim through real fast...)

It was hilarious!  Her look of shock and disbelief was priceless!!  She was SOO surprised and so excited.  It was a great thing to watch.

'Cookies and Milk' themed surprise party

I thought it would be fun to have a 'Cookies and Milk' themed party because my mom is so famous for her chocolate chip cookies, so I took that idea and ran with it.  Here's what I ended up with....

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When everything was set up and all the guests where there, I notified my dad, who then blindfolded my mom and took her on a 'car ride'..... to the party!  We ate lots of cookies, played some fun games, sang 'happy birthday' and ate the cake!

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I think everyone had a fun time and once again, mom was so surprised.  Now I can cross 'throw a surprise party for someone' off my list of goals in life!!

Birthday activities

On Monday, her actual birthday, my mom got many cute signs in the yard, including one I made (the red one by the front door).  But the best was the cow....

Jessica was scheduled to fly back to Texas on Monday, (so she could also be with Brad on her birthday too), so the 3 of us went down to Salt Lake to shop (at The Gateway) and eat (at Thaifoon) before she left.  After dropping Jessica off at the airport, my mom and I stopped at a cute little cookie shop for dessert (see, cookies again.... we're cookie freaks!), then we met up with my aunt Annie in Liberty for a walk along the {flooding} Ogden river, more shopping (at a cute boutique) and more eating (at Sonora Mexican Grill).

It was a fun day and a great way to celebrate the birthday's of two of my closest friends :)  Happy birthday mom and Jess!!