Weekend Fun

This weekend was our first weekend without any orientation programs. We did have a Welcome Durbar on Saturday which was fun. They served some American food, and I got to have salad for the first time. I miss vegetables, oh and olives. Oh and just about anything that isn't rice or chicken or eggs. My diet consists of starch, meat, fruit and carbs. I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired of the food selection here or lack there of. Today for example, the only available options were the night market aaaand the night market. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast and rice for lunch. For dinner I'm holding out to eat at the bar/hotel where we are watching the Super Bowl! I'm hoping for some pizza. Jake and I are going to check out some nicer restaurants in the near future and splurge every once in a while to maintain our sanity. Enough about food, it's making me hungry!

The Durbar was really interesting! They had a live African band with drummers and cowbells and also African dancers. The dancers were really cool. For their second number the three women danced around with pots of fire on their heads! It was crazy. The women here are so talented. They carry around EVERYTHING on their heads. It's really impressive. Some of the men do too but it's mostly women. The first day we were here I tried to carry a bag of little sachets of water on my head and made it three steps. The next morning my neck hurt.

The Durbar was at the Great Hall, which is the highest point on campus (is it sounding like Harry Potter yet?) The view from outside the building was incredible! There is a stretch that overlooks the whole city of Accra. They call it Accra by night. It's like a sea of a million little lights. I tried to take a picture but it didn't do it justice.

My weekends will actually be starting on Fridays, since I have no class! This Friday some girls and I decided to go to the Arts Center which is essentially another market. I ended up getting a Ghanaian dress to wear to the Durbar, beaded sandals, and some gifts to take home for people. To get to the market, we took a transit bus which was my first experience using city run public transportation. It was a double decker bus which was amusing. Inside it had a picture depicting the double decker bus dominating a little tro-tro (a van which is not city run) in an accident basically saying that buses are safer than tro-tros because they win in a collision. I think I've mentioned before that the advertising strategies here are blunt and often graphic! It's really entertaining. The trip to the Arts Center went smoothly, it was the return trip that was a bit more interesting.

Thursday is the day that I take my malaria medicine, as I described in my last post. This means that Fridays are also kind of rough with various medicine-related stomach and other issues. While we were waiting for a tro-tro on the way home I started to feel faint. I had warned some of the girls earlier in the trip that I'm a fainter. It's a lovely curse that goes along with being strawberry blond. (Thanks mom) So when I told them I was feeling light headed and a little nauseous we all decided it was best for a few of us to just get in a cab. It's a lot more expensive than a tro-tro, but I wasn't about to put a price on passing out on the side of the street at Tema Station. We got in a cab around 4:30pm so pretty close to rush hour. It took us an hour and forty five minutes to get back to campus, when it only took us about 45 to get to the market. Part of this delay had to do with the fact that our first cab broke down about half way home. We were sitting in traffic and the driver turned off the car. When he went to re-start it, the car wouldn't start. Luckily he flagged down a cab for us and negotiated with the driver to split what we had originally agreed to pay him. At least my initial Ghanaian car trouble experience is out of the way. I kind of have a feeling it won't be the last though!

Overall the first weekend was pretty good, all malaria-medication symptoms aside. On the subject of malaria, there are three girls who have already gotten it. Luckily they all are fine, though the first girl had quite a scare and was told if she waited one more day to go to the hospital she may not have made it. It's been a good lesson to the rest of the program that at the first sign of fever, aches or chills we need to force the person to get to the hospital. The problem with the first girl was that her fever kept going up and down so she was lulled into to thinking she was getting better.

Well I hate to end this post on such a somber note, but it's time for me to go eat some pizza! **I mean watch the Super Bowl...

Until my next adventure, happy reading!
 

Mefloquine Day

Today is Mefloquine Day. I hate Mefloquine day!!! Taking my malaria medicine is pretty rough, but has inspired me to begin a Mefloquine dream diary. One side effect of the medication (aside from "feelings of mistrust towards others" as the box describes) is crazy vivid dreams. So here is the start of my Mefloquine Dream diary:

1. I had a dream that I got back to the States and forgot everything about Ghana, didn't bring anything back, no pictures, nothing! I freaked out because people started to not even believe that I went....then after that there was a shipwreck where my friends from Ghana washed up in the US. Crazy.

2. One night last week I had a dream that Jake told me he was gay.

3. Before I left for Ghana I had to take the medicine a few times. One night I had a dream that I was being robbed...there were other ridiculous aspects to this but I forget most of them.

The dreams are pretty crazy!! I have woken up with my heart racing and once almost in tears! It's funny to hear everyone else's crazy dreams too. My one friend had a dream that he was holding this baby but he kept dropping it. He couldn't hold onto the baby, it just kept rolling out of his hands!

I guess if the dreams are the worst side effect of preventing malaria it's pretty worth it.

Last night we went to Reggae night again. There were these little kids who did gymnastic/acrobatics! It was so cool. This one little boy could  bend over backwards, grab his feet and roll himself around like a tire. Check out the pictures on FB they should be posted soon.

So far classes have been alright, though I couldn't really understand my teacher in the one I had today. My schedule is pretty sweet. My classes are on Mondays and Tuesdays mostly, but there is one Thursdays. So I have Wednesdays and Fridays completely free!  Yesterday I layed by the pool for the better part of the afternoon (I know, be jealous). It's been kind of funny because most professors don't show up for the first week of classes so I've only had 2 out of the 5 I'm taking. My social work class about children's rights in Ghana seems pretty interesting though so I'm excited! I'm also going to audit a sociology course that I can't take for credit because of a time conflict, but it's about culture and reproductive health. It basically covers all of the taboo issues in Ghana relating to sex and gender. The teacher is a woman who gave us a lecture during orientation about gender issues in Ghana and she was really good so I'm excited to audit a full course of hers!

Well that's all for now, Jake and I are off to check out the bookstore..maybe they will have UGH t-shirts!

More Ghana experiences

Yesterday was our tour of Accra and the wood carving workshop! The workshop turned out to be all about drum making so we didn't get to actually carve anything, but it was interesting! After we learned how the drums were made, the man who owned the shop and some other people played some music and we also danced. Jake and I got pulled into the middle of the dancing circle which was pretty entertaining...mostly for everyone else! I just can't compete with Jake's shimmy! Everyone had a good laugh though and it was a fun afternoon.

The night before last night was probably one of the most entertaining! It was my first club experience in Accra. My friend Nastasia met some french men at Reggae night who have been living here working for a French company in Accra. They wanted to go out so they took us to this Italian Restaurant turned club by night called Bella Roma. It reminded me of a mix between a European and an American club with a little splash of Ghana. The women were dressed to the nines! I really felt under dressed in my sandals as opposed to the five inch heels that surrounded us. The men were a bit creepy, as is to be expected, but the Ghanaian men were SUCH GOOD DANCERS!!! This one man actually flipped my friend Kylee on the dance floor which was a complete surprise! When people here go to the club they stay out until like five or six in the morning so we have some work to do since we only stayed out until about 4 am. The most interesting part of the night was when we went to leave...

We bartered for a taxi as usual. My friend Kylee was sitting in the front seat of the taxi. All the windows were rolled down as most are because it's still pretty hot at night here. All of the sudden a group of younger boys surrounded the taxi and started yelling at us and talking to us asking "how are you how are you?" As soon as Kylee responded and looked at them, one reached into the cab and picked up her purse from her lap! We all screamed and our taxi driver yelled that he was going to call the  police. The boy MAGICALLY dropped the bag! I was sitting in the back on the passenger side and I instinctually jumped out of the car and grabbed the purse as the boy was running away. My adrenaline rush for the week! We were so so so lucky that he dropped it, but learned the valuable lesson of keeping a death grip on your purse even in the taxi! The night ended when we got back to the hostel with me getting stuck in a bathroom stall with a broken lock and having to shimmy out underneath the space. Overall a pretty funny evening.

Last night we just stayed in the hostel, but it was one of the girls' birthdays. Tradition here is that on someone's birthday you dump water all over them until they are soaking wet...no joke. It's called Punding (Ponding) I'm not sure of the exact spelling! So a bunch of us stayed up to pund Caroline into her 21st year. Our hostel has a courtyard in the middle so it is kind of shaped like a square/rectangle with an open center. About seven or eight of us stood on the second level and dumped buckets of water down on her into the courtyard. We definitely caught her off guard! We'll  have to get creative with punding again soon because a lot of people are having birthdays on this trip!

Today was the official first day of classes. I FINALLY finished registering! I'm taking two social work classes which will count for my Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies minor, two political science courses for my major and then Twi, the local language which is required by the program. Twi doesn't start until next week. I didn't  have class today, thought I normally will. The first week of classes here is pretty disorganized, as is the whole registration process. To register you have to go to each department...campus is super spread out and over a mile and a half long, so it is very walking intensive...especially with the heat. The times and buildings for the classes are posted at each department so you can't even sign up for classes until you have all of the times, which means you end up making multiple trips to each department. Luckily I'm  pretty much finished with the process, which is such a relief! It has definitely been the most frustrating part of my trip so far.

Well I think that's all for now! I'm off to go buy an internet modem at the mall so I can finally have access in my room! More to come during the first week of classes!

First week in Ghana overview

Where to begin!?  My time thusfar in Ghana has been amazing! Hopefully this blog will keep everyone updated on my adventures throughout the next four months, as I have limited internet access and want to keep those few curious friends and family members in the loop!

“Obruni” means white person in Twi. Naturally I’ve learned to respond to it, among other names and calls such as “Hey Lady.” It’s not an offensive term, just a label used for most foreigners.  Although as an Obruni I am in the minority (as is to be expected) there are a surprising number of other obrunis studying at UGH this semester.  There are about 60 people total in my program (CIEE) in addition some other programs with kids from the US, and also a few european students.

My first day in Ghana began at 8 am when we touched down in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. At the time 8 am seemed fairly early; however I am finding out that in the context of Ghanaian culture 8am is late! Ghanaians wake up as early as 4am to go to the market, and get household chores done in order to beat the heat! Classes here start as early as 7:30 am! Surprisingly enough, this early hour doesn’t always mean early to bed early to rise. Ghanaians love to go out and stay out late despite their early mornings. On the subject of going out, I’ve gotten to experience a few bars/clubs so far this first week. Last night some of our group went to Reggae night at a local hotel. There was live reggae on the beach, a few beachside bars, tables, and of course the waves! It was more like a vacation than second semester of my Junior year. The drink of choice here called Star. It’s a light beer, that is pretty tasty, and relatively cheap. Then again, pretty much everything here is cheap in the context of US dollars.

For example, most mornings I get up and have either fruit, which is between 50 pesewas and 1 cedi, or if I want to splurge, I’ll have an egg sandwich which is between 70 pesewas and 1.2 cedis. 1 cedi is between 60-70 cents. So many mornings I’m paying a dollar or less for a meal! Although I can’t drink the tap water, bottled water and water sachets are plentiful. The water sachets are an experience. They are little plastic pags of water, which hold about what a bottle would. You rip them open with your teeth and squirt them into your water bottle or your mouth. They are a bit like water balloons if you drop them though.

As far as Ghanaian food goes, I have been able to try a few local dishes. I’m really a fan of what they call “Red red” which is beans and black eyed peas in a red sauce with some mysterious powder. Maybe it’s a spice? I’m not too sure. I was able to try fufu which is popular. Fufu is a dough-like glob placed in a soupy broth usually mixed with some kind of meat. I tend to stick to chicken, as my friend tried goat and got a little surprise floating organ in his soup. You eat the fufu by picking pieces of the dough off and dipping them in the soup. No utensils necessary. The broth is pretty spicy, as is most food here, but overall I didn’t mind it.

The weather here is hot, naturally as Ghana is the closest land mass to the center of the earth! From about 8am-6pm it is HOT! I mean like take three steps outside and start to sweat hot. I’m finding that the material of the clothing I brought that I ususally wear in the summers is too heavy for the Ghanaian sun! I’m having some clothing made by Miss Elizabeth the seamstress who comes to our hostel every few days. This should be lighter weight and also more African! The prints and fabrics here are beautiful and the seamstresses are so amazing! I can have a dress tailor made to fit me for about $7 US! Jake just had a shirt/tunic made too!

This Sunday we will be taking a tour of Accra, but we have gotten to go into the city a bit since we’ve been here. On my first day I went to Oxford Street, a market in the city. I got a patchwork bag and bartered for a beautiful canvass painting! The artist was wearing a t-shirt that said Harrisburg Susquehanna River. I couldn’t believe that Central PA had followed me to Ghana! The market was quite an experience. There are people everywhere trying to sell you literally everything! It’s incredible. I’m getting better at bargaining though I always feel bad doing it! Our Ghanaian friends tell us to cut the price they offer you in half and start from that point. Everyone thinks Obrunis have endless amounts of cash and no clue about Ghanaian currency. You even barter for taxi fares here!

The transportation situation in this country is pretty interesting. We mostly take taxis where we want to go, so we barter for the rate and if we don’t agree with the driver we let him drive away. There are so many taxis in this city!! The other form of transportation are tro-tros. Tro-tros are busses/vans which can hold as many as 20 people I would guess. I have never seen so many people crammed into one space. These are the cheapest form of transportation.  They drive by and the driver’s assistant leans out the window and yells the destination of the tro-tro. For example there is a traffic circle that is a popular destination , so those tro-tros have someone yelling “circ circ circ circ” (which amusingly enough sounds like “sex” with their accents). There are also hand motions that go with this. Ghanaians in general use a lot of hand motions. There are certain motions that mean different things when hailing a cab, when waving to a friend, and of course insulting someone. If you give someone the thumbs up with your left hand it is equivalent to the middle finger in the US. Two thumbs up are ok though. Ghanaians also use different fabrics and clothing to say things. For example there is a fabric that if worn to your in-law’s house tells them that you are unhappy with them, without even opening your mouth! A woman who spoke to us today told us that if a wife is mad at her husband she can put so much pepper in his food that he can’t eat it and he will get the message! It is truly a creatively non-confrontational society.

Sometimes being in Ghana feels a little like playing a game. You have to remember the rules so you don’t offend anyone, all while figuring out how to stay hydrated, satiated, and well rested. I’ve considered taping my left hand to my side because it is offensive to give or receive anything with your left. As a lefty Jake has had to make some major adjustments! I drink more water per day than I do in three days in the US and at night I cozy up in my tie dye sheets under my mosquito net  so I don’t get malaria. While there are so many things to be aware of and remember this culture and society is truly relaxing. Our program has started saying  “American walk” when they want people to catch up with them when walking somewhere. We have all started to mosy along wherever we are going just like the Ghanaians(I blame the heat). Generally the people are friendly, though of course there are some unfriendly people who don’t like Americans. Jake and I have befriended a guy out our his floor named Daro, who is from Togo. He is in the International Student Hostel with us. We also have met  his friends Nabil and Sombe from Burkina-Faso and the Ivory Coast repsectively. Tomorrow Jake will get his roommate who we think will be Ghanaian! My roommate is a girl who is in our program. I’m hopeful that I will make some female Ghanaian friends eventhough I don’t have a Ghanaian roommate. We were told that it is a little more difficult for white women to make friends with Ghanaian women. Many view us as competion because Ghanaian men give us so much attention. I guess we will see! That’s all for now! More to come in the following weeks!