Today we went to a funeral. Morbid, much? Except not. Funerals in Ghana are like a giant party. Well, okay maybe I should start this differently...
Ghana's view on death is quite different from the American view. I'm somewhat reminded of El Dia de los Muertos in Latin American culture. The idea that the person has gone to a better place is celebrated. One thing that I think is really funny and don't quite understand yet is the "fantasy coffin". This is a coffin shaped like anything your heart desires... a shark, a bus, a rocketship, a uterus. I have only seen these fantasy coffins from afar and therefore do not have all the info on what they are about. But they look way fun. The Bradt Guidebook discusses them and one of the examples they use is a uterus shaped coffin. I have to see this coffin.
Anyway, so we went to a funeral today in Madina with Francis and Kwame. Francis teaches drumming in the music department and Kwame is a guy around our age that lives with Francis. We get there and (as with our experience at the skinning of the chief) were treated as guests of honor and seated up front and center. We got there during the sad, religious part. So people were crying and pastors where preaching loudly in (I think) Twi and Ewe. We couldn't understand most of the religious service but it was nice, I guess. I've never been to a funeral in the States so it's hard to compare.
Then the drummers came in. 6-8 drummers came bursting in and surround the coffin and played a song. They left and a bunch of guys surrounded the coffin and promptly took it out. Then the real party started. A drum ensemble set up shop and everyone began to dance. And by everyone I mean a handful of Ghanaians who forced all six of us Oborunis to dance with them in front of everyone. Which, of course, is embarrasing with all of us flapping our arms like chickens and trying to moonwalk in a sorry imitation of the actual dance they are trying to teach us. This first round of dancing was mercifully short as some real dancers came out in fully costume to perform a dance/drama for us.
This dance/drama was the coolest performance I've seen in Ghana so far. It was half mime, half dance. (Hype! should come do some research here...) It was about how both men and women play hard to get and it was three men and three women toying with each other. The guys would play flirty pranks on the girls and the girls would pretend to scorn them... It was awesome.
But after this performance was when we were REALLY forced to dance. We had a 45 minute dance lesson in front of EVERYONE at the funeral where we learned to shuffle and flap better than our sad, previous attempts. It was somewhat fun but extremely difficult. And you know that everyone watching you is thinking that you look ridiculous. Which is exactly what you are thinking when you do it. A positive outcome of this dance session is the realization that I have Ghanaian hips. Yes, that's right, these honest hips of mine can shake and wiggle like a regular old Ghanaian woman's. Exciting, right? This skill of mine impresses the ladies who try to teach us to dance and softens the terribleness of my footwork.
When we were finally done dancing we were promptly fed, of course. Then a drunk man wouldn't leave us alone and proposed to us several times... (Mostly to Denise... The crazies love her.) After assuring him that we were all married he proceeded to shake all of our hands and leave. Only to come back five minutes later to reintroduce himself again and propose, again. Oy vey.
All in all it's been a fun day. Other highlights of this week include:
+ Getting a roommate
+ Getting a roommate who feeds me
+ Finishing Anna Karenina
+ Finishing Brave New World
+ Running. Yes, that's right. R-U-N-N-I-N-G. Annie and Jenny will whip me into shape before this semester is over.
+ Cooking delicious Italian food in our dorm kitchen
+ Making chocolate chip banana pancakes in our dorm kitchen
Okay, this has been a long post.
As always I like email. But I also like real mail, hinthint.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ghana 102: This is how it REALLY works
I am not a morning person. I don't think anyone that has ever met me before the hour of 9 AM would say that I am a morning person. So it's been tough adjusting to a culture where 7 AM is considered an appropriate time to call someone or play loud music... But I have been trying to adjust. Except... I am not a very happy person when I am woken up at SIX AM by a woman outside of my dorm preaching into a megaphone. I am all for freedom of religion. And religion is a big deal here... Before every lecture someone is at the podium in my lecture hall preaching. But 6 AM? In my window? What did I do to deserve this? Do you really think that I will be MORE willing to be saved in my angry half-asleep state? It wasn't pretty. She left just as my alarm was going off... so there goes my morning...
UGhana has also decided that now would be a great time to shut off all of the water in the University. Yes, that's right, starting today and for the next 10 days our dorm (which houses over 200 students/staff) will have one tank of water delivered every day. And, in true Ghana fashion, only half of the people knew what was going on. Thankfully, someone told me just as I was going to bed last night and I was able to fill up my bucket so I can take a bucket bath in the near future. And, not even knowing about the water shortage, I did all of my laundry yesterday! So it doesn't seem so bad right now, but we'll see how smelly I am by the middle of next week. I am only slightly upset about the water thing because I'm kind of excited to be roughing it. We arrived during the only blackout ISH has had all year... so I was kind of hoping I would get to hunker down and use my tap lights and crank flashlight and pretend I'm camping.
Elana (our coordinator/leader extrodinaire) left today, despite our attempts to get her to postpone grad school for a semester and live here with us. Now we're really on our own. Well... not really. We do have Dr. Bilson and Stephen and Leticia and Gertrude. But it's another step into the semester... It's also been over a month since we've arrived. It's weird because time has felt like molasses but looking back now it doesn't seem like long at all. I'm still slightly home/people-sick (111 days...) but it's a different feeling now. It's no longer weird traveling around Accra. I'm at home in my room (despite my roommate STILL not having moved in). I basically have 3.5 months left here. And right now I'm okay with that.
UGhana has also decided that now would be a great time to shut off all of the water in the University. Yes, that's right, starting today and for the next 10 days our dorm (which houses over 200 students/staff) will have one tank of water delivered every day. And, in true Ghana fashion, only half of the people knew what was going on. Thankfully, someone told me just as I was going to bed last night and I was able to fill up my bucket so I can take a bucket bath in the near future. And, not even knowing about the water shortage, I did all of my laundry yesterday! So it doesn't seem so bad right now, but we'll see how smelly I am by the middle of next week. I am only slightly upset about the water thing because I'm kind of excited to be roughing it. We arrived during the only blackout ISH has had all year... so I was kind of hoping I would get to hunker down and use my tap lights and crank flashlight and pretend I'm camping.
Elana (our coordinator/leader extrodinaire) left today, despite our attempts to get her to postpone grad school for a semester and live here with us. Now we're really on our own. Well... not really. We do have Dr. Bilson and Stephen and Leticia and Gertrude. But it's another step into the semester... It's also been over a month since we've arrived. It's weird because time has felt like molasses but looking back now it doesn't seem like long at all. I'm still slightly home/people-sick (111 days...) but it's a different feeling now. It's no longer weird traveling around Accra. I'm at home in my room (despite my roommate STILL not having moved in). I basically have 3.5 months left here. And right now I'm okay with that.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Jumbo is Jumbo
To explain my title I'll have to give you a little background first.
Ghana is a VERY religious county. VERY Religious. Most of Ghana is Christian but there is a large Muslim population also. Now this religiosity (is that a real word?) manifests itself in several ways... First of all, everything is pretty much shut down on Sundays. Medina market, which is usually crazy busy is not so crowded and not so loud. People also like to name their businesses very religious names. I'll give you a few examples... "Jesus is the Head Chop Bar" or "Blood of Christ Bicycle Repair shop" or "God is Good Furniture Upholstery", etc, etc. I would say 90% of all small businesses in Ghana have names like these. Tro-tros and taxis also have names like this, albeit much shorter. Some are named "Forgive me" or "Honor Him" or my personal favorite "God is God."
Now Tufts bought a new van for our program before we arrived and it's a really nice van. It didn't take long for us to decide that we wanted to name our van in the Ghanaian fashion. We debated naming it "Jumbo" but after seeing the "God is God." tro-tro we decided upon "Jumbo is Jumbo". We had to find the guy who sells the letters to put on the van and tonight are going to put them on in what will probably be an elaborate ceremony that involves the "spilling of libations" (Something that they do here in traditional Ghanaian religion...)
That is somewhat of a long story that doesn't really pay out in the end but you needed the background to understand.
In other news I have gone to 4 classes and thoroughly enjoyed two of them. I'm beginning to narrow it down and will hopefully know what I am taking in the next week or so. I will unfortunately NOT be taking "Preparation for Marriage" in the Home Science department and will be regretfully unprepared for my future as a Ghanaian house wife. Damn it. It was a Friday class and we can't take anything on Fridays because Tufts has us traveling a bunch.
But, my NGO class was amazing! First of all, it was a decent sized class. It's about 30 students (which is unheard of here!) and I'm the only American, which gives the whole thing a different flavor. And the best part is that we spend 3 weeksat the end of the semester actually creating an NGO. It's small groups and we get to register them in Ghana at the end of the semester if we want to. It's pretty sweet and totally makes up for the fact that it's a 7:30 AM class.
Also, I've found more parallels between Hogwarts and UGhana. We have a "forbidden forest" here... it's the Aburi Botanical Gardens. It's off limits to the students and quite dangerous actually. People get attacked there because its so secluded. But sadly there are no unicorns or other awesome creatures. Also there are interhall games that take place throughout the year... most notably football. It's no quidditch but I bet there's an awesome House Cup at the end. And Kofi? How can you say he's not a Dumbledore, c'mon people!
Ghana is a VERY religious county. VERY Religious. Most of Ghana is Christian but there is a large Muslim population also. Now this religiosity (is that a real word?) manifests itself in several ways... First of all, everything is pretty much shut down on Sundays. Medina market, which is usually crazy busy is not so crowded and not so loud. People also like to name their businesses very religious names. I'll give you a few examples... "Jesus is the Head Chop Bar" or "Blood of Christ Bicycle Repair shop" or "God is Good Furniture Upholstery", etc, etc. I would say 90% of all small businesses in Ghana have names like these. Tro-tros and taxis also have names like this, albeit much shorter. Some are named "Forgive me" or "Honor Him" or my personal favorite "God is God."
Now Tufts bought a new van for our program before we arrived and it's a really nice van. It didn't take long for us to decide that we wanted to name our van in the Ghanaian fashion. We debated naming it "Jumbo" but after seeing the "God is God." tro-tro we decided upon "Jumbo is Jumbo". We had to find the guy who sells the letters to put on the van and tonight are going to put them on in what will probably be an elaborate ceremony that involves the "spilling of libations" (Something that they do here in traditional Ghanaian religion...)
That is somewhat of a long story that doesn't really pay out in the end but you needed the background to understand.
In other news I have gone to 4 classes and thoroughly enjoyed two of them. I'm beginning to narrow it down and will hopefully know what I am taking in the next week or so. I will unfortunately NOT be taking "Preparation for Marriage" in the Home Science department and will be regretfully unprepared for my future as a Ghanaian house wife. Damn it. It was a Friday class and we can't take anything on Fridays because Tufts has us traveling a bunch.
But, my NGO class was amazing! First of all, it was a decent sized class. It's about 30 students (which is unheard of here!) and I'm the only American, which gives the whole thing a different flavor. And the best part is that we spend 3 weeksat the end of the semester actually creating an NGO. It's small groups and we get to register them in Ghana at the end of the semester if we want to. It's pretty sweet and totally makes up for the fact that it's a 7:30 AM class.
Also, I've found more parallels between Hogwarts and UGhana. We have a "forbidden forest" here... it's the Aburi Botanical Gardens. It's off limits to the students and quite dangerous actually. People get attacked there because its so secluded. But sadly there are no unicorns or other awesome creatures. Also there are interhall games that take place throughout the year... most notably football. It's no quidditch but I bet there's an awesome House Cup at the end. And Kofi? How can you say he's not a Dumbledore, c'mon people!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A Positive Postscript to the Previous Post
1) Yay for Amazing Alliterative Acumen!
2) In my hasty rant about sexism I completely forgot the fun/funny thing about yesterday. The tro-tro back from the market was pimped out. Seriously, Xzibit would be so proud. It had this amazing sound system in the ceiling and blue and white lights that came on at different times. It may not sound that great, but if you know what a regular tro-tro looks like (with doors that fall off as you drive and seats that aren't really attached to the floor), you would be amazed too. We got so excited because we thought Ghana had taken the Cash Cab idea and made a Cash Tro-Tro TV show for Setanta Africa. Alas, we were not welcomed to the Cash Tro-Tro.
3) In the vein of Cash Tro-Tro, Tufts-in-Ghana Productions would like to produce a parody of the YouTube video "Can I get yo number?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D0555EtAZ4). It will be entitled, "Can I get a visa?" Watch the video, then picture a Ghanaian guy cornering me asking if I can get him a visa. OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
Okay that's all. I'm in better spirits this morning, despite having woken up at 6 AM for my 7:30 AM "Management of NGO's" class across campus... only to find out that it is NOT both Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30, like the schedule posted by the general office says... It is actually only on Thursday mornings. Upsetting for this morning but good in the overall...
2) In my hasty rant about sexism I completely forgot the fun/funny thing about yesterday. The tro-tro back from the market was pimped out. Seriously, Xzibit would be so proud. It had this amazing sound system in the ceiling and blue and white lights that came on at different times. It may not sound that great, but if you know what a regular tro-tro looks like (with doors that fall off as you drive and seats that aren't really attached to the floor), you would be amazed too. We got so excited because we thought Ghana had taken the Cash Cab idea and made a Cash Tro-Tro TV show for Setanta Africa. Alas, we were not welcomed to the Cash Tro-Tro.
3) In the vein of Cash Tro-Tro, Tufts-in-Ghana Productions would like to produce a parody of the YouTube video "Can I get yo number?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D0555EtAZ4). It will be entitled, "Can I get a visa?" Watch the video, then picture a Ghanaian guy cornering me asking if I can get him a visa. OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
Okay that's all. I'm in better spirits this morning, despite having woken up at 6 AM for my 7:30 AM "Management of NGO's" class across campus... only to find out that it is NOT both Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30, like the schedule posted by the general office says... It is actually only on Thursday mornings. Upsetting for this morning but good in the overall...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Ghana 101: This is how it works
I like lists and therefore this post will be in list form. I feel like all of these are pretty typical (yes, Sam and Meghan, TYPICAL!) of my experience and frustrations with Ghana at this point in time.
1) Lecturers are on strike. Meaning that classes are for real not happening at this point. Not just the unofficially not happening that they usually are. Rumor has it that it is near an end, which leaves the situation with far less drama and fun than if they were on strike all semester... but I do kind of want to have my classes.
2) I have broken so many shoes because of the University of Ghana campus. Seriously. First of all, I understand that I have difficulty walking in any situation. I'm not that graceful... I accept it. But the sidewalks are made of uneven brick and if you don't look directly at your feet allllllll the time you are bound to trip and rip your flip flop in the process. So after killing the second pair of Old Navy time-honored and tested flip flops... I gave in and got real sandals. Perhaps instead I should just work on learning some grace from those amazing Ghanaian ladies who can balance 50 pounds of plantains on their heads.
3) Now this might be somewhat of a tirade, but please bear with me. I am sick and tired of being harassed on the street. I had plenty of warning about the amount of marriage proposals I would recieve here... and I take those with a grain of salt. It's kind of funny when your tro-tro mate spends your entire ride to the market trying to convince you to marry him and get him a visa to America. It doesn't matter if you tell him you're married or that you can't get him a visa or that America isn't all that great... But really, I don't mind the marriage proposals. The part that really bothers me is the grabbing and lewd comments... specifically in the market. (But even on campus!) I understand that different cultures define personal space as different things but my body is not to be touched - whether it's to get me to buy your cell phone or shoes or whatever. Sometimes its a hand or an elbow or whatever they can snatch of you when you walk by... Sometimes (like today) you have 20 men coming from you in every direction saying things like "Baby I just want to kiss you right now... Can I show you around Accra?"
THIS IS NOT OKAY. Now most of the time, the people here are wonderfully sweet and nice and want to keep you safe and happy. This is not a normal situation. But the blatant sexism I encounter here is so hard to deal with sometimes. It makes you constantly question what you can stomach as "cultural difference" and what you have to consider wrong in any context. The situation today was obviously wrong... but there have been a lot more subtle incidents in the past 3 weeks here.
Anyway, sorry this is a slightly depressing post. Cheer me up with fun things about home/abroad!
1) Lecturers are on strike. Meaning that classes are for real not happening at this point. Not just the unofficially not happening that they usually are. Rumor has it that it is near an end, which leaves the situation with far less drama and fun than if they were on strike all semester... but I do kind of want to have my classes.
2) I have broken so many shoes because of the University of Ghana campus. Seriously. First of all, I understand that I have difficulty walking in any situation. I'm not that graceful... I accept it. But the sidewalks are made of uneven brick and if you don't look directly at your feet allllllll the time you are bound to trip and rip your flip flop in the process. So after killing the second pair of Old Navy time-honored and tested flip flops... I gave in and got real sandals. Perhaps instead I should just work on learning some grace from those amazing Ghanaian ladies who can balance 50 pounds of plantains on their heads.
3) Now this might be somewhat of a tirade, but please bear with me. I am sick and tired of being harassed on the street. I had plenty of warning about the amount of marriage proposals I would recieve here... and I take those with a grain of salt. It's kind of funny when your tro-tro mate spends your entire ride to the market trying to convince you to marry him and get him a visa to America. It doesn't matter if you tell him you're married or that you can't get him a visa or that America isn't all that great... But really, I don't mind the marriage proposals. The part that really bothers me is the grabbing and lewd comments... specifically in the market. (But even on campus!) I understand that different cultures define personal space as different things but my body is not to be touched - whether it's to get me to buy your cell phone or shoes or whatever. Sometimes its a hand or an elbow or whatever they can snatch of you when you walk by... Sometimes (like today) you have 20 men coming from you in every direction saying things like "Baby I just want to kiss you right now... Can I show you around Accra?"
THIS IS NOT OKAY. Now most of the time, the people here are wonderfully sweet and nice and want to keep you safe and happy. This is not a normal situation. But the blatant sexism I encounter here is so hard to deal with sometimes. It makes you constantly question what you can stomach as "cultural difference" and what you have to consider wrong in any context. The situation today was obviously wrong... but there have been a lot more subtle incidents in the past 3 weeks here.
Anyway, sorry this is a slightly depressing post. Cheer me up with fun things about home/abroad!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Harry Potter and the African Illnesses
I've decided that the University of Ghana is Hogwarts. Now, some of you may just think that my love of Harry Potter means that I see it anywhere I go... This may be true. But in this case it also applies. First of all, when you are accepted to UGhana, you are put into a hall. The people who run the Tufts-in-Ghana program are all Akuafos (Akuafo Hall is like Gryffindor. The cool kids that star in the series obviously live here...). There's Volta Hall, which is all girls. (They remind me of Ravenclaw because it seems like those girls are the most studious of the bunch.) Mensah-Sarbah is the hall that no one really talks about, so I'd say that one is Hufflepuff. But the best comparison is the hall that I consider to be Slytherin - Commonwealth Hall, home of the Vandals.
Now the Vandals are a Skull-and-Bones type of fraternity/gang. They all wear red and basically run the school. They have their own judge and jury system - so if you are caught by the vandals you can decide if you want them to try and punish you or if they should turn you over to University Police. It's craziness. They are totally Slytherin!
In other news, everyone in our group has decided to get sick. Well, not everyone. Kym has had a hacking cough for at least two weeks. On Monday we decided to bring her to the clinic to get it checked out. We all thought it was TB (How funny would it be that both of my trips to Africa start off with someone getting TB!) because she had tested positive during a TB test a couple of months earlier... But at the time her chest X-Ray didn't show any TB. So we were convinced that it was TB. However, after 5 hours of Ghanaian beauracracy and a chest X-Ray and blood work it turns out she just has a bad upper respiratory infection.
Then, two days ago we went on an adventure to the market for fabric shopping. And I must say that I will develop QUITE the fabric problem very quickly. It's a little ridiculous. But while we were there we picked up some veggies (oh thank god. I found zucchini and eggplant and carrots. Too bad ALL I want in life right now is broccoli.) and had some snacks. It's not at all uncommon to buy your snacks off of people's heads while you are stuck in traffic in a tro-tro, which is what we did on the way home. A few of us bought bags of plantain chips. I managed to eat from the okay bag, but three of us ate some BAD chips. Needless to say, they weren't up for anything for at least 36 hours. So I've managed to stay healthy thus far... although we all know that this post will definitely jinx me and I'll begin throwing up within minutes.
So I registered for 9 classes. That's a lot of classes. Here's the rundown...
Religion:
New Religious Movements
Gender Studies in Religion and Culture
African Traditional Religion
Sociology:
Sociology of Religion
Home Science:
Preparation for Marriage... YEP THAT'S RIGHT. THAT'S A CLASS. The course description talks about how to pick the right mate and transitioning into married life. I'm so fascinated and really want to know what they have to say about it. So I couldn't resist.
Zoology:
Conservation Biology... I have to fufill my physical science requirement. Blech.
Dance/Drumming:
Intro to Traditional Dance/Intro to Drumming... whichever fits my schedule as they haven't put up the class schedule yet. Even though classes start on Monday.
African Studies:
Twi... This is a required language class with only the Tufts kids.
Administration:
Management of NGO's... I'm only auditing this course because the finals schedule conflicts with other classes. Also it's at 7:30 in the morning twice a week. We'll see how good this class is. And if it can convince me to roll out of bed at 6 and walk a half hour across campus.
So all in all, that's too many classes. But we'll see which really pan out.
Also, I'm in the process of putting my pictures on the internet which is a HUGE pain in the butt. So you better appreciate the blood and tears that went into it. They aren't all up and they don't all have descriptions... but bear with me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/megan-travel-photos/
Alright. Seacrest, out.
Now the Vandals are a Skull-and-Bones type of fraternity/gang. They all wear red and basically run the school. They have their own judge and jury system - so if you are caught by the vandals you can decide if you want them to try and punish you or if they should turn you over to University Police. It's craziness. They are totally Slytherin!
In other news, everyone in our group has decided to get sick. Well, not everyone. Kym has had a hacking cough for at least two weeks. On Monday we decided to bring her to the clinic to get it checked out. We all thought it was TB (How funny would it be that both of my trips to Africa start off with someone getting TB!) because she had tested positive during a TB test a couple of months earlier... But at the time her chest X-Ray didn't show any TB. So we were convinced that it was TB. However, after 5 hours of Ghanaian beauracracy and a chest X-Ray and blood work it turns out she just has a bad upper respiratory infection.
Then, two days ago we went on an adventure to the market for fabric shopping. And I must say that I will develop QUITE the fabric problem very quickly. It's a little ridiculous. But while we were there we picked up some veggies (oh thank god. I found zucchini and eggplant and carrots. Too bad ALL I want in life right now is broccoli.) and had some snacks. It's not at all uncommon to buy your snacks off of people's heads while you are stuck in traffic in a tro-tro, which is what we did on the way home. A few of us bought bags of plantain chips. I managed to eat from the okay bag, but three of us ate some BAD chips. Needless to say, they weren't up for anything for at least 36 hours. So I've managed to stay healthy thus far... although we all know that this post will definitely jinx me and I'll begin throwing up within minutes.
So I registered for 9 classes. That's a lot of classes. Here's the rundown...
Religion:
New Religious Movements
Gender Studies in Religion and Culture
African Traditional Religion
Sociology:
Sociology of Religion
Home Science:
Preparation for Marriage... YEP THAT'S RIGHT. THAT'S A CLASS. The course description talks about how to pick the right mate and transitioning into married life. I'm so fascinated and really want to know what they have to say about it. So I couldn't resist.
Zoology:
Conservation Biology... I have to fufill my physical science requirement. Blech.
Dance/Drumming:
Intro to Traditional Dance/Intro to Drumming... whichever fits my schedule as they haven't put up the class schedule yet. Even though classes start on Monday.
African Studies:
Twi... This is a required language class with only the Tufts kids.
Administration:
Management of NGO's... I'm only auditing this course because the finals schedule conflicts with other classes. Also it's at 7:30 in the morning twice a week. We'll see how good this class is. And if it can convince me to roll out of bed at 6 and walk a half hour across campus.
So all in all, that's too many classes. But we'll see which really pan out.
Also, I'm in the process of putting my pictures on the internet which is a HUGE pain in the butt. So you better appreciate the blood and tears that went into it. They aren't all up and they don't all have descriptions... but bear with me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/megan-travel-photos/
Alright. Seacrest, out.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
You think you know... But you have no idea
Ohhhhh do I have another bathroom story for you! But alas, I should write chronologically. So you'll have to just wait and read it later on in this entry.
Yesterday was a very busy, very exciting day. First of all, it was Day 2 of Registration. Now at the University of Ghana, registering as an International student and registering for classes are about the two hardest things we could possibly do. I've never encountered such red tape and beauracracy in my entire life. Registering as an international student took four hours on Thursday... and that was speedy. We had Dr. Bilson there to cut through a lot of the crap for us. But the fun part about registering for classes is that nothing is ever easy or straight forward. Let me give you a couple of examples... Technically, registration started last Wednesday. I say technically because none of the departments have decided what classes they are offering yet. Some won't for another week or two... Also, even if they do post the classes that they are offering, a lot of them won't post the schedules of when those classes are held. Sometimes until after the "official" start date of classes. Which (obviously) means that most of your first week of classes will be spent not going to class. So (as you might guess) we had a fun few hours of moving from building to building trying to figure out where to get this paper and what we needed signed and getting photocopies of every piece of paperwork they could possibly ask for.
Yesterday was also the day that Kofi Annan was getting sworn in as Chancellor of the University of Ghana! Yay!!! It was this whole big ceremony and the President of Ghana also spoke. So it was kind of a big deal. We didn't really get to be up close and personal but I was there. That was what was important.
Today Elana took all of us into the heart of Accra. And boy oh boy, have we finally left the leash behind. We took a tro-tro (it's kind of a big van that stuffs 20 - 30 people in it. It's the main way of getting around in Ghana, besides taxis) to this huge market. I'm talking HUGE. I've never been to a market this big and loud and crowded. It was more lining the streets, rather than a one big area, so staying together as a group of 7 was impossible. It was barely possible to walk without running my forehead into a basket or bowl on someone's head. After 45 minutes of playing follow-the-leader, we made it to CMB. This is an area where a lot of northerners hang out (and thus Elana, who is in the north a lot, would also hang out) and a very, very impoverished neighborhood. I'm talking babies with distended bellies walking around in bare feet... trash everywhere... It was kind of heartbreaking to witness. But the people there were great. They taught us how to play Wale-Wale, which is the Ghanaian version of Mancala. We also all got Dogbani names (in addition to our Twi day names). My Dagbani name means "God's gift". Which I think is appropriate. I'm pretty great. Haha.
So at some point we were all sitting around, chatting, when one of the girls in our group needed to "greet the chief" (if you don't get the euphamism, read my previous posts...). I also needed to go, so one of Elana's friends, Fusseini, brings us to the "public restrooms" for the neighborhood. Now, I have gone camping... so I have gone in many a bush and behind many a tree. And I would have 100% preferred either a bush or a tree when I got to this restroom. It was about as large as a public bathhouse at say, a public beach in the US. And it smelled like cooked urine. Ghana is hot and this bathroom was basically cooking everything inside of it. The floor was concrete and very, very wet. With what, you can probably guess. Now in Ghana (as with most African countries) you are expected to bring your own toilet paper to the restroom with you. As soon as I got into the stall, I realized that I didn't have any in my purse. So I assess my situation... I'm in a stall (also covered in slick surfaces) and the "toilet" is really a hole in the floor. But one of the main problems is that there is about a 8 inch space in between the door and this 6 inch raised platform where the hole is. In this situation, you're supposed to prop yourself up by putting your hands on the walls beside the hole, but this is impossible due to the amount of... waste substances covering the entirety of the stall. So I have to trust my amazing balance skills to make this work. Except that I have un-amazing balance skills. And I'm balancing on a slippery concrete floor. No, no. I didn't fall in. Thank god. I might not be here to tell the tale, if that were so. Although, when trying to leave the stall, the door opens inward and only has that 8 inch space to swing before it hits the raised platform... so trying to get out was a pretty hilarious show as well. But somehow I made it through with minimal damage. I live to see another bathroom.
Yesterday was a very busy, very exciting day. First of all, it was Day 2 of Registration. Now at the University of Ghana, registering as an International student and registering for classes are about the two hardest things we could possibly do. I've never encountered such red tape and beauracracy in my entire life. Registering as an international student took four hours on Thursday... and that was speedy. We had Dr. Bilson there to cut through a lot of the crap for us. But the fun part about registering for classes is that nothing is ever easy or straight forward. Let me give you a couple of examples... Technically, registration started last Wednesday. I say technically because none of the departments have decided what classes they are offering yet. Some won't for another week or two... Also, even if they do post the classes that they are offering, a lot of them won't post the schedules of when those classes are held. Sometimes until after the "official" start date of classes. Which (obviously) means that most of your first week of classes will be spent not going to class. So (as you might guess) we had a fun few hours of moving from building to building trying to figure out where to get this paper and what we needed signed and getting photocopies of every piece of paperwork they could possibly ask for.
Yesterday was also the day that Kofi Annan was getting sworn in as Chancellor of the University of Ghana! Yay!!! It was this whole big ceremony and the President of Ghana also spoke. So it was kind of a big deal. We didn't really get to be up close and personal but I was there. That was what was important.
Today Elana took all of us into the heart of Accra. And boy oh boy, have we finally left the leash behind. We took a tro-tro (it's kind of a big van that stuffs 20 - 30 people in it. It's the main way of getting around in Ghana, besides taxis) to this huge market. I'm talking HUGE. I've never been to a market this big and loud and crowded. It was more lining the streets, rather than a one big area, so staying together as a group of 7 was impossible. It was barely possible to walk without running my forehead into a basket or bowl on someone's head. After 45 minutes of playing follow-the-leader, we made it to CMB. This is an area where a lot of northerners hang out (and thus Elana, who is in the north a lot, would also hang out) and a very, very impoverished neighborhood. I'm talking babies with distended bellies walking around in bare feet... trash everywhere... It was kind of heartbreaking to witness. But the people there were great. They taught us how to play Wale-Wale, which is the Ghanaian version of Mancala. We also all got Dogbani names (in addition to our Twi day names). My Dagbani name means "God's gift". Which I think is appropriate. I'm pretty great. Haha.
So at some point we were all sitting around, chatting, when one of the girls in our group needed to "greet the chief" (if you don't get the euphamism, read my previous posts...). I also needed to go, so one of Elana's friends, Fusseini, brings us to the "public restrooms" for the neighborhood. Now, I have gone camping... so I have gone in many a bush and behind many a tree. And I would have 100% preferred either a bush or a tree when I got to this restroom. It was about as large as a public bathhouse at say, a public beach in the US. And it smelled like cooked urine. Ghana is hot and this bathroom was basically cooking everything inside of it. The floor was concrete and very, very wet. With what, you can probably guess. Now in Ghana (as with most African countries) you are expected to bring your own toilet paper to the restroom with you. As soon as I got into the stall, I realized that I didn't have any in my purse. So I assess my situation... I'm in a stall (also covered in slick surfaces) and the "toilet" is really a hole in the floor. But one of the main problems is that there is about a 8 inch space in between the door and this 6 inch raised platform where the hole is. In this situation, you're supposed to prop yourself up by putting your hands on the walls beside the hole, but this is impossible due to the amount of... waste substances covering the entirety of the stall. So I have to trust my amazing balance skills to make this work. Except that I have un-amazing balance skills. And I'm balancing on a slippery concrete floor. No, no. I didn't fall in. Thank god. I might not be here to tell the tale, if that were so. Although, when trying to leave the stall, the door opens inward and only has that 8 inch space to swing before it hits the raised platform... so trying to get out was a pretty hilarious show as well. But somehow I made it through with minimal damage. I live to see another bathroom.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
I can't for the life of me think of a title for this post.
It's been so long since I last updated! Well... a week. So not that long. Most of the week we spent in orientation where we had two lectures a day for four days. The last and most interesting by far was a lecture about the upcoming election in Ghana. As you may or may not know, Ghana's current president has served two terms in office and is ineligible for reelection this coming December. Therefore, this election is a pretty hot topic for this semester. And, given the circumstances in Kenya and Zimbabwe, everyone is a little on edge as to what will happen here. Ghanaians themselves seem pretty optimistic. Ghana has a somewhat spotty political history (This is the fourth republic they've set up since their independence 60 years ago. There were a lot of military coups.) but everyone wants to move forward. Ghana harbors a lot of other West African refugees and really wouldn't have any place to go if something were to happen here. So, not to give you a history or poli sci lesson or anything, I just found this lecture really, really interesting. The professor who spoke basically said that there are signs that violence due to the election could occur but everyone is making sure that they won't.
So rest easy, I will be safe.
But, despite the kind of boring week I've had, this weekend was amazing. We left Friday morning to go to Kopeyia, which is right next to the Togo border. There is the Dagbe Cultural Center where we got to do fun African arts things allllll weekend. So basically I was in heaven. That is, until I realized that a large part of our time there was spent on DANCE. Now, I'm sure all of you have witnessed the tragedy that is my dancing ability. I have no body self-awareness and can barely make it through western dance. Then, put me into a situation where I have to use muscle groups I never knew existed and move my body in ways that it was never meant to move. Are you imagining this? Okay, now imagine all of this happening in a sauna where even the slightest aerobic activity causes you produces buckets of sweat. That was dancing at Dagbe. We learned an entire dance over the course of three days and performed it this morning, despite my body's protests. It's called Gahoom (I think that's how it's spelled) and is a very fast, very happy dance. It's also about 15- 20 minutes long when you do the whole thing. Thank god that's over.
Anyway, I survived the dancing so I was able to do the other fun things which include batiking fabric, drumming (the Gahoom, no less!), and (my personal favorite) BASKET WEAVING! I have been talking about how much I want to weave baskets in Ghana since I knew I was coming here. That's how seriously I take these baskets. So I made one and it's great. You will all be impressed by this basket, I'm telling you. It is that good. And we go back to Dagbe for two more weekends before I come home. Soon I will be a pro. I'll have to get my own machete and go out in the outback of Western Massachusetts and chop down palm trees and make my own baskets.
And last night they did this amazing cultural show for us with a full 20ish person drumming ensemble and three really cool Ghanaian dances. It was the most quintessentially African thing I have ever seen. Someone in my group probably has a recording, which, once we figure out how to upload things, will be put on the internet. Dagbe was such an amazing environment, just to hang out in. The children from the surrounding village (and the children of the people that work there) hang out in the compound all day so we got to play and interact with them. One girl who had to have been about 7 or 8 carried her baby sister around on her back all day. And let me tell you, this was probably the cutest baby I have ever seen. I couldn't even control myself, I wanted to hold it so badly. Next time we go we want to take little gifts and things to give to the kids there.
And in other, unrelated news... my love affair with Ghanaian food might be hitting a brick wall. For all of orientation (that is, my time here so far) we have eaten at the University Guest Center. And the guest center only serves so much variety. The fruit here is still amazing... pineapple, mango, coconut, papaya. Everything is fresh. And I do like some dishes: watchey (a rice and beans type concoction), fufu (a sticky steamed pounded casava/yam type deal that you put peanut soup over it), fried plantains, etc. But somehow things just aren't satisfying. I leave full but not happy. My "live to eat" motto has slowly become "eat to live". We'll see how this progresses but I might super skinny (and super buff from the ridiculous amount of walking and African dance I'm going to do here) when I get back in December. And on that note... I'm off!
So rest easy, I will be safe.
But, despite the kind of boring week I've had, this weekend was amazing. We left Friday morning to go to Kopeyia, which is right next to the Togo border. There is the Dagbe Cultural Center where we got to do fun African arts things allllll weekend. So basically I was in heaven. That is, until I realized that a large part of our time there was spent on DANCE. Now, I'm sure all of you have witnessed the tragedy that is my dancing ability. I have no body self-awareness and can barely make it through western dance. Then, put me into a situation where I have to use muscle groups I never knew existed and move my body in ways that it was never meant to move. Are you imagining this? Okay, now imagine all of this happening in a sauna where even the slightest aerobic activity causes you produces buckets of sweat. That was dancing at Dagbe. We learned an entire dance over the course of three days and performed it this morning, despite my body's protests. It's called Gahoom (I think that's how it's spelled) and is a very fast, very happy dance. It's also about 15- 20 minutes long when you do the whole thing. Thank god that's over.
Anyway, I survived the dancing so I was able to do the other fun things which include batiking fabric, drumming (the Gahoom, no less!), and (my personal favorite) BASKET WEAVING! I have been talking about how much I want to weave baskets in Ghana since I knew I was coming here. That's how seriously I take these baskets. So I made one and it's great. You will all be impressed by this basket, I'm telling you. It is that good. And we go back to Dagbe for two more weekends before I come home. Soon I will be a pro. I'll have to get my own machete and go out in the outback of Western Massachusetts and chop down palm trees and make my own baskets.
And last night they did this amazing cultural show for us with a full 20ish person drumming ensemble and three really cool Ghanaian dances. It was the most quintessentially African thing I have ever seen. Someone in my group probably has a recording, which, once we figure out how to upload things, will be put on the internet. Dagbe was such an amazing environment, just to hang out in. The children from the surrounding village (and the children of the people that work there) hang out in the compound all day so we got to play and interact with them. One girl who had to have been about 7 or 8 carried her baby sister around on her back all day. And let me tell you, this was probably the cutest baby I have ever seen. I couldn't even control myself, I wanted to hold it so badly. Next time we go we want to take little gifts and things to give to the kids there.
And in other, unrelated news... my love affair with Ghanaian food might be hitting a brick wall. For all of orientation (that is, my time here so far) we have eaten at the University Guest Center. And the guest center only serves so much variety. The fruit here is still amazing... pineapple, mango, coconut, papaya. Everything is fresh. And I do like some dishes: watchey (a rice and beans type concoction), fufu (a sticky steamed pounded casava/yam type deal that you put peanut soup over it), fried plantains, etc. But somehow things just aren't satisfying. I leave full but not happy. My "live to eat" motto has slowly become "eat to live". We'll see how this progresses but I might super skinny (and super buff from the ridiculous amount of walking and African dance I'm going to do here) when I get back in December. And on that note... I'm off!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Hail to the Chief
I feel like the title to this post has so many different meanings.
First of all, we just found out a few days ago that Kofi Annan (former Secretary-General of the UN) is being appointed Chancellor of the University of Ghana. Now here they don't have a president of the university they have the Pro Vice Chancellor. He does all of the grunt work (ha, if there is any grunt work other than schmoozing a lot...). The Chancellor is more of a figurehead position. This is exciting nonetheless and Kofi will be here for a huge ceremony on the 11th! Yay!
The other reason I put this particular title is because of the exciting events of yesterday. I was abruptly awoken at 7:30 in the morning yesterday by Elana, our coordinator person. She is very into drumming and has tons of friends and contacts all over the country. One of them called her that morning to tell her about a new chief getting "skinned" (inaugurated) that day in Accra. So she came to see if we all wanted to come. Which was obviously a silly question because who WOULDN'T want to see that kind of thing. After two taxi rides (one of which Lauren and I sat in the trunk part of the station wagon taxi) and one proposal we ended up at this area of Accra. We met Elana's drummer friends who began drumming immediately as we proceeded to move through the street into the neighborhood... passing kids who were sooooo excited to meet white people. These kids were so cute (Frankly, I'm not sure what it is about Africa but I have not seen one un-cute kid) and one latched herself onto me for the whole time I was there. She kept shaking our hands and would introduce me to all of her friends by pointing at them and then pointing at me and then clapping as if to say "You are friends now! Hooray!"
So we got to this little concrete area with a tent covering it and the drumming intensified. There were men coming from all different houses/huts who were dancing and yelling and singing and drumming. It was so cool and so intense. We realized after a little while that we were sitting outside of the "palace" (office/home) of a Youth Chief of a northern tribe (who was the chief for northerners who live in Accra). He was not the new chief getting skinned, but someone we were picking up along the way. After a lot of drumming and singing and dancing we moved out... back to the street where there was a bus waiting to take us to the ceremony.
And this was a party bus - let me tell you. It was the same amount of intensity and energy and people... just crammed onto a school bus. So that part was great. We got to a different part of Accra where the ceremony was taking place and the party kept on moving. Forced to dance by a large Ghanaian man with a whistle, we all tried our best to minimize how foolish we looked. Which was pretty difficult considering that our procession led right into a huge courtyard surrounded by people sitting down. And, really, it's not like we could blend in... So we had to resign ourselves to being part of the attraction.
Finally we were able to sit down and only be somewhat stared at. Elana was with the drummers the whole time so we had a gaggle of Ghanaian men looking after us. And by looking after us I mostly mean moving us from place to place and taking our picture. It was really fun though and we got to see some really amazing culture.
And this brings me to my third and final hail to the chief. So in Ghana, they don't like to talk about the toilet directly. It's too vulgar. So they like to use a lot of euphemisms. One of which is
"talk to the chief" or "visit the chief". We are told this is because the chief has a lot of power over the people in the village and he can force anyone to come see him. You can delay seeing him for only so long before you have to go. Well, at the skinning of this chief, I had to visit the chief REALLLYYYYY bad. Really bad. And most of the people there didn't know what a bathroom, washroom, toilet, loo, water closet was... I finally made it to a hotel which understood the phrase " relieve myself".
And here's an edit to an earlier post. Ursula commented on my phone number info with a correction, so take note.
as for the phone # i thought you'd like to know that 011 is the code you dial to call out of america, 233 is ghana's country code, and 024 is your area code. so if you were calling from a us cell phone, you'd dial +233243413296
First of all, we just found out a few days ago that Kofi Annan (former Secretary-General of the UN) is being appointed Chancellor of the University of Ghana. Now here they don't have a president of the university they have the Pro Vice Chancellor. He does all of the grunt work (ha, if there is any grunt work other than schmoozing a lot...). The Chancellor is more of a figurehead position. This is exciting nonetheless and Kofi will be here for a huge ceremony on the 11th! Yay!
The other reason I put this particular title is because of the exciting events of yesterday. I was abruptly awoken at 7:30 in the morning yesterday by Elana, our coordinator person. She is very into drumming and has tons of friends and contacts all over the country. One of them called her that morning to tell her about a new chief getting "skinned" (inaugurated) that day in Accra. So she came to see if we all wanted to come. Which was obviously a silly question because who WOULDN'T want to see that kind of thing. After two taxi rides (one of which Lauren and I sat in the trunk part of the station wagon taxi) and one proposal we ended up at this area of Accra. We met Elana's drummer friends who began drumming immediately as we proceeded to move through the street into the neighborhood... passing kids who were sooooo excited to meet white people. These kids were so cute (Frankly, I'm not sure what it is about Africa but I have not seen one un-cute kid) and one latched herself onto me for the whole time I was there. She kept shaking our hands and would introduce me to all of her friends by pointing at them and then pointing at me and then clapping as if to say "You are friends now! Hooray!"
So we got to this little concrete area with a tent covering it and the drumming intensified. There were men coming from all different houses/huts who were dancing and yelling and singing and drumming. It was so cool and so intense. We realized after a little while that we were sitting outside of the "palace" (office/home) of a Youth Chief of a northern tribe (who was the chief for northerners who live in Accra). He was not the new chief getting skinned, but someone we were picking up along the way. After a lot of drumming and singing and dancing we moved out... back to the street where there was a bus waiting to take us to the ceremony.
And this was a party bus - let me tell you. It was the same amount of intensity and energy and people... just crammed onto a school bus. So that part was great. We got to a different part of Accra where the ceremony was taking place and the party kept on moving. Forced to dance by a large Ghanaian man with a whistle, we all tried our best to minimize how foolish we looked. Which was pretty difficult considering that our procession led right into a huge courtyard surrounded by people sitting down. And, really, it's not like we could blend in... So we had to resign ourselves to being part of the attraction.
Finally we were able to sit down and only be somewhat stared at. Elana was with the drummers the whole time so we had a gaggle of Ghanaian men looking after us. And by looking after us I mostly mean moving us from place to place and taking our picture. It was really fun though and we got to see some really amazing culture.
And this brings me to my third and final hail to the chief. So in Ghana, they don't like to talk about the toilet directly. It's too vulgar. So they like to use a lot of euphemisms. One of which is
"talk to the chief" or "visit the chief". We are told this is because the chief has a lot of power over the people in the village and he can force anyone to come see him. You can delay seeing him for only so long before you have to go. Well, at the skinning of this chief, I had to visit the chief REALLLYYYYY bad. Really bad. And most of the people there didn't know what a bathroom, washroom, toilet, loo, water closet was... I finally made it to a hotel which understood the phrase " relieve myself".
And here's an edit to an earlier post. Ursula commented on my phone number info with a correction, so take note.
as for the phone # i thought you'd like to know that 011 is the code you dial to call out of america, 233 is ghana's country code, and 024 is your area code. so if you were calling from a us cell phone, you'd dial +233243413296
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Magic Berries and Technology Woes
So the internet here is too slow and the computers are too finicky with flash drives to be able to upload photos. I know, heartbreaking. It's even more heartbreaking that I spent the last hour and a half trying to do so. So I guess my words will have to suffice for now.
The slave forts were a really... grounding experience. I'm not sure if grounding is the right word for it, but I'm at a loss for any others. It's really difficult to explore that side of human nature. To understand the actual experiences that came out of those places as well as the far-reaching implications. Sometimes we don't want to remember suffering like that; it's easier not to remember. (And on a completely different note, did I just use a semi-colon correctly? If so, that would be the first time in my entire life when I did. And in a blog, no less...) But it was really hard, yet really important for us to go there.
Cape Coast and Elmina (the two towns where the slave forts were situated) were amazing! Seriously, I've never seen a place so alive and vibrant and colorful and loud. That was what I thought West Africa was like. Especially Elmina. It was this wonderful port town on the ocean. Thousands of people were crowding around the shore as boats were coming in and this fed directly to the market behind them. It was just a sea of reds, blues, greens, blacks, purples. Just movement and color and ocean smells. I loved it. I definitely want to go back.
Coming back to orientation was less fun... lectures in a stuff room are not as interesting as exploring (although far less intimidating, which is important in these early stages). These lectures are getting a lot more interesting, though, now that we are talking about real issues in Ghana. So far we've discussed political history and traditional and modern social institutions. I can't wait for the lecture on youth in modern Ghana and the one on culture, food, and festivals. (I mean, you know me and food...)
Ohhhh food. So you may or may not know about this little thing called "Magic Berries" aka Red Berries aka Miracle Fruit. Check out this link to the article on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_fruit). So these berries grow in Ghana!! Not just in Ghana but on campus! Outside of the chemistry building on a big tree!!! I know, exciting right? I saw them on a British TV talk show a little while back and had no idea they would be here! Tonight we tried them with dinner and it was so ridiculous. At the guest house they always serve rice with this spicy tomato sauce and the tomato sauce tasted really sweet. Almost like a sweet and sour sauce. French fries tasted more like fried dough. My guava juice tasted as if someone had dumped a bunch of sugar in it. The fruit itself doesn't taste like much, it's a little sour. But afterwards you feel like you have powdered sugar coating your tongue. It was really weird and really awesome. Next time we want to try them with better foods like vinegar and lemons and mustard and hot sauce.
Alright, I'm not sure if I have much else to say... I hope everything in your parts of the world is great... Send me emails, I love hearing from everyone!
The slave forts were a really... grounding experience. I'm not sure if grounding is the right word for it, but I'm at a loss for any others. It's really difficult to explore that side of human nature. To understand the actual experiences that came out of those places as well as the far-reaching implications. Sometimes we don't want to remember suffering like that; it's easier not to remember. (And on a completely different note, did I just use a semi-colon correctly? If so, that would be the first time in my entire life when I did. And in a blog, no less...) But it was really hard, yet really important for us to go there.
Cape Coast and Elmina (the two towns where the slave forts were situated) were amazing! Seriously, I've never seen a place so alive and vibrant and colorful and loud. That was what I thought West Africa was like. Especially Elmina. It was this wonderful port town on the ocean. Thousands of people were crowding around the shore as boats were coming in and this fed directly to the market behind them. It was just a sea of reds, blues, greens, blacks, purples. Just movement and color and ocean smells. I loved it. I definitely want to go back.
Coming back to orientation was less fun... lectures in a stuff room are not as interesting as exploring (although far less intimidating, which is important in these early stages). These lectures are getting a lot more interesting, though, now that we are talking about real issues in Ghana. So far we've discussed political history and traditional and modern social institutions. I can't wait for the lecture on youth in modern Ghana and the one on culture, food, and festivals. (I mean, you know me and food...)
Ohhhh food. So you may or may not know about this little thing called "Magic Berries" aka Red Berries aka Miracle Fruit. Check out this link to the article on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_fruit). So these berries grow in Ghana!! Not just in Ghana but on campus! Outside of the chemistry building on a big tree!!! I know, exciting right? I saw them on a British TV talk show a little while back and had no idea they would be here! Tonight we tried them with dinner and it was so ridiculous. At the guest house they always serve rice with this spicy tomato sauce and the tomato sauce tasted really sweet. Almost like a sweet and sour sauce. French fries tasted more like fried dough. My guava juice tasted as if someone had dumped a bunch of sugar in it. The fruit itself doesn't taste like much, it's a little sour. But afterwards you feel like you have powdered sugar coating your tongue. It was really weird and really awesome. Next time we want to try them with better foods like vinegar and lemons and mustard and hot sauce.
Alright, I'm not sure if I have much else to say... I hope everything in your parts of the world is great... Send me emails, I love hearing from everyone!
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