Friday, August 28, 2009

Honeymoon is over

Goodness, I have so much to write about today! Unfortunately, not all of it is fun and exciting... Yesterday I experienced my first large annoyances in Ghana.

FIRST: I started the day yesterday by getting up, getting dressed, grabbing my Birkenstock sandals (the older ones, for those of you who know my footwear) out of my closet to slide on, when I noticed something awful. The foot beds of both shoes were covered in mold. Big green and white beds of mold. I had to stifle the cry of despair and disgust because my roommate was still asleep, but I quickly wiped the shoes clean with some lysol wipes and hoped they would dry out. This morning, once again, covered in mold. I wiped them again and put them out on the balcony, thinking that maybe the wind will help them completely dry out. I don't have high hopes, though. These Birks may have found a permanent home in Africa.

SECOND: I strolled over to the English Dept. yesterday to pick up some photocopied readings for my Studies in African Prose class, and was confused to find a chaotic mass of people there, milling around, queuing up in front of the two entrances to the building, etc. I checked the notice boards outside the dept. and found out why they were all there. This is what the sign said, more or less: STUDENTS IN LEVELS 300-400 (me) WILL NEED TO RE-REGISTER AS THE COURSE ELECTIVES HAVE CHANGED AND BEEN REASSIGNED. What? Changed? I scanned the list of the new courses, and Studies in African Prose has been bumped. This was the small discussion based class that had the really personable professor who had lived in C-U and Bloomington for several years before. The one that looked out for me in class and encouraged me to speak my mind as I was the only white student and would offer a valuable perspective. The class I was really looking forward to! I was so depressed! The class now being offered that is of similar content (Masterpieces of African Lit) is held on Friday afternoons, a day I really was hoping to save for traveling. So instead, I am now signed up for New Literature in English (though I'm not sure what that means). I figure it's okay that I'm not taking ALL Africa/Ghana specific classes. The other four still are (Ghanaian Lit, English in Ghana, African Drumming, and Islam in West Africa). It was just a very frustrating morning.

HOWEVER: The day picked up after that, when I went to hang out with my roommate. She's so awesome! I really lucked out. Her name is actually Amorkor (though the r's are kind of quiet) and she lives in the Accra area with her father. Her three siblings are all in the US working or going to school, but her dad didn't want to give up his baby, so she stayed in Ghana. Ga (the language of the people of the Greater Accra Region) is her native language, but she also speaks Twi, a little French, and, obviously, English. She's really excited about being a host to her country and said she can't wait to take me home to stay for the weekend and show me all around the city. Yesterday afternoon we went to lunch in Osu (a busy shopping district) with a couple of her girlfriends, and she helped me barter for my first African dress! It was pretty exciting! Oh, and she's BEAUTIFUL. I think it's going to be fun to be her roommate.

Once again, I couldn't get pictures up because the man with the wireless passwords is MIA. But I promise I'm trying! Hopefully next week, so you can see some of Cape Coast!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Classes and roommate...? Maybe?

So I have now been in Africa for two weeks (craaaaazy) and I have yet to start real classes and my roommate has not yet moved in. I met her yesterday, so I know she exists, but she told me she was moving in today and has yet to show up (it's after 9 already...). Her name is Amoko, although I have no idea if that's how it's spelled. Presumably I'll learn that soon. I'm pretty sure she's Ghanaian... From our brief interaction she seems really nice, so I'm excited!
Tomorrow begins our first "real" week of classes, the week that the local students and professors decide to show up. So bright and early tomorrow morning (I'll leave around 6:45) I'm off to English in Ghana and then after that, I'll have 5 minutes to run across campus to get to Gender Studies in Ghana. I assuming that I'll be late. But I'm also assuming that really won't be a big deal.

Since a couple people asked, going to greet the chief DOES mean going to the bathroom (way to go Mom). He explained it that you have loyalty to both the chief and to the toilet (you have to visit both regularly) AND that when the chief/the bladder calls, you have to answer pretty quick or you're in trouble. The other two expressions, both the cocoa farm and a woman's wealth, mean the same thing: a lady's...area... While men have no choice but to work to earn money, a woman can choose to work or have her husband work for her. She already is wealthy. (I have a little bit of a hard time with that one, but it's a fun new euphemism.)

Oh! Big news: I tried Fufu the other night. My first impression: not great. Fufu is basically a strange tasting lump of bread dough (actually cassava dough, but the same consistancy of bread dough. or gooey play-do, which is what it reminded me of, going down), covered in a spicy broth and a slab of meat, in my case, beef. Here's the tricky thing though. They don't give you silverware for this meal. Ghanaians eat it with their hands. And so do Americans who don't bring their own fork to dinner. PLUS it's rude to touch food directly with your left hand, so all the action happens with the right. Let me tell you, ripping apart a slab of kinda fatty beef is HARD with one hand. Super hard. And the soup was really spicy for my wimpy tastebuds. I managed to eat about half of it, and I'm really glad I tried it, but I don't know that I'll be ordering it again any time soon.

Last night we attended the International Programmes Welcome Durbar, which was so much fun! They had lots of wonderful food for us, as well as a great group of drummers and a dance group. African performing arts are so amazing. So much energy! They ended the night with a Highlife band (a popular music genre in West Africa) for us to dance to. It was a very fun evening.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Flowing once again

Water, water, water, water, water! Those are the words that are being joyously shouted around the hostel this afternoon. After four solid days sans water, us American kids are ecstatic with this afternoon's announcement. Amazingly, they got the toilets all emptied out too. I don't know when or HOW they did that awful job, but they are empty and flushable! People are taking showers left and right, filling up buckets to save for our next outage, and I even saw one girl mopping her room floor. Personally, I took this chance to do some laundry. That's right folks, today I hand washed 8 shirts, 3 towels, 4 pairs of underwear, a washcloth, and a bra. It was exhausting. My wets are currently hanging on one of the many drying lines in our courtyard, waiting to be blown dry by the wild African breeze.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Bucket baths and Madina Market

Hi family and friends,

I've been here for seven days now and time is already flying by. A few updates on my life:

1. Still don't have a roommate. But classes are supposed to start tomorrow, so hopefully she will be getting here soon!

2. We have been without running water in our hostel for the past 48 hours, which means no flushing toilets or flowing showers. Let me tell you, it is getting smelllly in those bathrooms! This morning I decided I couldn't wait much longer for a shower, so took my first bucket bath. There is a water reserve tank in the back of our hostel that has a spigot on the ground floor, so I filled a large bucket, dragged it upstairs to the showers, and used a bowl to pour water from it. Overall it went really well and I think I enjoyed it better than the other showers I've taken here! The water wasn't quite as cold since it is able to be heated by the sun, and I even got to shave my legs. I might become a bucket bather for life.

3. Classes start tomorrow morning, and my first one is at 7:30 am, which means I'll have to leave the hostel around 6:45 or so to get there in time for a seat. My first class is English in Ghana, which is more of a linguistic course. I hope it will be interesting! Also tomorrow I have to find time to reigster for my other classes, get my student ID, figure out when my other lectures are meeting, and figure out how to feed myself! I think it will be a busy day!

4. We went to the Madina Market today. The young woman who has been leading us around all week for orientation, Faustina, took us for our first Tro-Tro ride to Madina. It cost 25 pesewas, which is equal to about 15 cents to take the Tro-Tro to the next town over from Legon. Very cheap! The driving is CRAZY here. I would never EVER drive in Ghana. The drivers seem to be very good at weaving in and out of the traffic though. The market itself was a bit overwhelming. We walked down aisle after aisle of little shops selling vegetables, fish, snails, cloth, shoes, bags, etc. Faustina told us that it wasn't very busy because it was a Sunday and most of the shops weren't open, but to us, it was ridiculously busy! They kept calling us "obruni" which means white person to get our attention. It's a friendly nickname and Faustina told us to respond by yelling "obibini" (meaing black person) right back. Mostly, I just say hello with a smile though. While I know they're not meaning offense to me, it goes against my natural instincts to call someone "black person." I'll have to work on it... The children in the market were so funny. They seemed so shocked and excited to see white people. "Obruni, obruni!" they called when they saw us. When we say hello back, they give us shy little smiles and waves. One little girl came up to me to shake my hand and was so happy. It is a little incentive to keep putting on the sunscreen!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Hello from Ghana!

I have now had four full days here in Ghana and I am loving the experience so far! I'm in the Honeymoon Phase, so I'm told. The campus is HUGE in comparison to Truman, and self-contained, as opposed to the U of I. Each morning we set off from the International Student Hostel at the southern end of campus across the red dirt paths and under the branches of the incredibly big, beautiful trees to go to various lectures on safety, health, adjusting to Ghanaian culture and registration procedures. In a lecture yesterday that focused on cultural etiquette we learned that there are certain inappropriate topics that are generally covered by euphemisms.
For example: "I'm got to go greet the chief."
Or: "A woman's wealth"
Or: "Her cocoa farm"
Any guesses to what these might mean? I'll tell the answers next time....

I'm really enjoying our residence hostel also. It's a four story building with a huge courtyard in the center. The hallways are open to the courtyard, like a motel, and the ends of the halls have big open balconies. Each room has its own balcony too. The breeze up on the fourth floor (where I am) is great. I wake up cold in the mornings! Who would have guessed? They say August is the coolest month, though, an din a couple months it won't be the same story. I don't have a roommate yet, but I've heard that means I will have a Ghanaian roommate. While that kind of makes me nervous, I'm also excited that I'll have an inside perspective to help me out this semester!

Today we went on a driving tour of the Accra, the capital city, and were able to stop for tours at the W.E.B. DuBois Center and the Kwame Nkrumah (I think that's how it's spelled-- the first president of independent Ghana) Memorial. Both were very interesting! We also stopped at a cultural center market and I experienced my first bargaining session. I talked down a wall painting from 25 cedis to 10 cedis (about $7). It's a beautiful (small) painting of--guess what-- elephants. I know I'm boring, but it's really pretty!

This post hasn't been very long, but it took me nearly 20 minutes to connect to this site, so I have to get going! Know that I am safe and having a great time! I love you!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Two Day Countdown

As my father so lovingly pointed out today, I haven't posted anything in a while, and as he put it, no one is going to follow my blog if I don't write anything. But frankly, I've been quite busy! Going to Africa is a lot of work!

Believe it or not, my packing is fairly complete and neither of my suitcases weigh over the designated 50 pound mark! Rolling clothes instead of folding really does work wonders. I'm not sure I get the physics of it, but it's true, I promise. All of my clothes fit in about half a suitcase. The rest is filled with towels, lysol wipes, gallons of sunscreen, and a pot to boil the diseases out of the water. One of my favorite things are the fun little gifts for the African children. I've been told that in marketplaces and rural villages, the children will flock to Americans with the hopes of getting small presents. I've come prepared. I'm bringing crayons, markers, stickers, Lifesavers, gum, cars, and hairbands. Hopefully they'll trade me a crayon for a picture.

It's strange to think that in three days I'll be in a different continent. I keep saying it over and over to myself. I'm going to Africa. AFRICA. AFFFRRIIICAAA. It's like I'm trying to convince myself of it. Interestingly enough, I'm not freaking out yet. I know logically that leaving the US to go to Africa for a semester is a BIG deal, but it doesn't feel that big. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. But I've been preparing for it so long, I feel like I've thought of everything. Impossible, I know, but I'm not that worried. It's an adventure. Things will work out. Problems will be solved. I will be fine. I know this in my head, so I'm not freaking out. Come Sunday, I might have a different story for you.

My flight leaves from St. Louis Sunday evening, stops in Chicago (where I meet the rest of the group), Heathrow, and then arrives in Accra, Ghana Monday evening. I'm excited for the plane. Weird, right? Who likes traveling for 24 hours? But I've always thought plane rides are exciting. Especially the take-off and landing. It reminds me of a rollercoaster--and I LOVE rollercoasters. Plus, on this flight there will be movies (yay!) and meals! I've never been served airplane food before! I know, I know, it's not known for its quality, but I still think it's fun. And again, come Monday, I might not have the same sentiments, but for right now, I'm looking forward to it.

They supposedly are going to give me a phone card to use when I arrive in Ghana to call home on Monday. So hopefully, Mom and Dad will hear from me around 2 pm cst on Monday. I'm sure they'll call the immediate relatives, but if you haven't heard from them and are curious, feel free to give them a call. I'll try to get online sometime within the first few days to let everyone know I got there safely, but I don't give any guarantees! Who knows what crazy things they'll be keeping us busy with!

I love you all and thank you for everyone's support. It's comforting to know that I'll have so many people at home sending me good thoughts across the ocean. I will miss you!