Registering for classes on SIS (Tufts' online registration website do-hickey) has become increasingly like registering for classes in Ghana... And I don't like it. One. Bit. I have been trying to look at classes for next semester ALL MORNING and it won't let me see them. It must intuit how desperately I want to register and then thwart all of my efforts. Well, Tufts, you think you can get me... but you can't. I won't let you. I will wait at this computer all day if I have to. And by all day - I mean until my time on this computer runs out. Soooo there.
In other news, I had a splendid weekend in western region at Nzulezo and Benyin Beach Resort. It reminded me a lot of Green Turtle Lodge in that it was on a picturesque tropical beach vacation. I was surrounded by palm trees while I swayed gently in the breeze on my hammock - listening to a little Jack Johnson and Ella Fitzgerald and reading Catch-22. I am, of course, deliciously crispy-pink all over. I'm really getting this burning process down pat. It only hurts slightly and should fade into something of a tan within the next day or two. I'm really trying to end the translucency that is my skin tone before I go home and everyone wonders if I really was this close to the equator for half a year...
Anyway, so we visited the stilt village on Saturday and it was a wonderful hour-long canoe ride to get there. Jenny had never been in a canoe before so she was elated that we got to paddle. I took a short video when we were passing through this magical grotto that I could only describe in terms of being in some sort of fantasy movie. It was sooo pretty. We got to the stilt village itself and it was interesting to walk around for a bit, and pretty to take pictures of, but I'm glad we weren't staying there for our two nights in the area. After meeting the chief and donating something small-small (this is one of my new favorite Ghanaian phrases... in Twi it's called nketenkete. hehe. It's so fun to say!) to their school in the village, we got back on our canoes and rowed home.
So now I'm back to the daily grind of pretending to do work here on campus. It's a tough life, I'm telling you.
Oh, and I'm coming home in 49 days. Holy CRAP. October went sooo fast. I'm actually getting a little sad to leave... Weird.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Death on a Stick.
That is how I would describe how I felt yesterday. I woke up for my 7:30 AM class and immediately began to cry because my throat was swollen to the point where I couldn't swallow and my whole body hurt and I was hot and cold at the same time... and there was no way I could skip class. I had my presentation for my Gender Issues class, remember? And I was the one who was supposed to speak for my group. Too bad I could barely speak. UGHHHH. So I drugged myself up with DayQuil and Advil and trucked off to my first class and then to my Gender class. I told my group that there was no way I could speak and that one of them was going to have to give the presentation. But none of that actually mattered because the other groups ran long and we didn't actually have to present at all! AHHHH. Not only did I not need to go to class, but our group is not presenting at all. Because we just ran out of time we are turning in our paper and not giving any sort of presentation! IHATETHISSSS.
Because I was already up and out and the medicine was doing it's job - I decided to go to my third class and last class of the week. Probably a big mistake. This is one of my 3 hour long Twi classes and not even half way through, my medicine wore off. I barely made it through class and back to the dorm where I immediately passed out into a fevered sleep. It was at this time that I considered the possibility that maybe I have malaria.
Now, I know all of you are thinking that "Oh no! MALARIA!! SHE'LL DIEEEE!!" Nope. Not the case. Pretty much everyone gets malaria here. In past Tufts trips, it's been a 1 in 3 chance that you will get it. And they most definitely know how to treat it here. So you don't actually die, you just feel like death. So the thought that I had malaria was not an enticing one - but it would screw up my plans to go to Nzuluzu, a stilt village in the western region of the country.
So after trying to sleep it off and that plan failing miserably, I went back to Nyaho Clinic with Kym - my forever Nyaho buddy. 3 hours, 1 blood test, 1 kind-of-hot, British-accented, Ghanaian doctor later... and I was malaria-free. I have a bacterial infection in my throat. Which is great because the antibiotics are doing the trick! I slept for 9 hours and woke up feeling 10 times better! Still not at my best, but much better than yesterday!
So I am still going on the trip with the Tufts girls to the stilt village, enduring what could possibly be 9 hours of travel both today and coming back on Sunday. Thank god we have ear plugs to block out the blaring Nigerian movies they play on the bus...
Because I was already up and out and the medicine was doing it's job - I decided to go to my third class and last class of the week. Probably a big mistake. This is one of my 3 hour long Twi classes and not even half way through, my medicine wore off. I barely made it through class and back to the dorm where I immediately passed out into a fevered sleep. It was at this time that I considered the possibility that maybe I have malaria.
Now, I know all of you are thinking that "Oh no! MALARIA!! SHE'LL DIEEEE!!" Nope. Not the case. Pretty much everyone gets malaria here. In past Tufts trips, it's been a 1 in 3 chance that you will get it. And they most definitely know how to treat it here. So you don't actually die, you just feel like death. So the thought that I had malaria was not an enticing one - but it would screw up my plans to go to Nzuluzu, a stilt village in the western region of the country.
So after trying to sleep it off and that plan failing miserably, I went back to Nyaho Clinic with Kym - my forever Nyaho buddy. 3 hours, 1 blood test, 1 kind-of-hot, British-accented, Ghanaian doctor later... and I was malaria-free. I have a bacterial infection in my throat. Which is great because the antibiotics are doing the trick! I slept for 9 hours and woke up feeling 10 times better! Still not at my best, but much better than yesterday!
So I am still going on the trip with the Tufts girls to the stilt village, enduring what could possibly be 9 hours of travel both today and coming back on Sunday. Thank god we have ear plugs to block out the blaring Nigerian movies they play on the bus...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Great Internet Crisis of 2008
Written at 9:30 AM on Monday October 20
Ohhh jeez am I tired. These four day weekends really take it out of a girl... I’m currently writing on an internet-less internet cafe computer... Surprise, surprise. So I’m saving this to post later when a connection to the world wide web can be made.
Oh, Ghana. How your lack of connection to the outside world torments me. Although, this does provide me the opportunity to do my NGO grant proposal that I’m supposed to type up, like... now. But I don’t want to. I want to play spider solitare and wait endlessly for Gmail to load.
So this weekend we went on our final Tufts trip to Eastern Region, where we basically hung out on Lake Volta the whole time. I was really okay with that because this heat gives me the unbelievable urge to swim, all the time. Which I did, twice on Saturday. Our hotel was gorgeous and had a pretty good pool which I took full advantage of. Of course, that means I am slightly crispy as my skin still doesn’t understand the difference between tanning and burning and I tend to just skip the former and go straight to the latter.
We toured Akosombo Dam, the hydroelectric dam that gives Ghana 70% of its electricity. The tour guide was weird and wouldn’t let us take pictures during the tour and then gave us 5 minutes at the end to take some. It didn’t make sense to me, but what are you going to do?
We also went bead shopping, which was a huge success. I absolutely love that Tufts’ stipend is large enough for us to go buck wild in our souvenir shopping and we don’t have to pay for it. I haven’t spent a cent of my own money since I’ve been here. Which means Tufts paid for my vacation to Green Turtle, all of the souvenirs I’ve bought so far, all of my travel, food, my all-too-often clinic visits and medication, my long distance, 2-hour phone conversations, etc, etc. Thanks Tufts! I knew my tuition was going somewhere!
Then yesterday we went on a 4.5 hour boat cruise on Lake Volta. Which was surprisingly fun! They fed us and gave us drinks and we lounged about in the sun (and in the shade when I started to turn pink) and talked and read and journaled and watched the beautiful scenery pass by... It felt very much like I had gone on a cruise with my friends for spring break. Which got us thinking about going on a cruise together for spring break. Because it would be sooo much fun. Too bad Lauren has to be stupid and going abroad to Hong Kong next semester. Way to go, Lauren. haha
Okay, so I really should be doing my work, for real. More later.
Written at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, October 22
Okay, not having internet sucks a whole lot more than I imagined it would. The campus wireless is down and most of the internet cafes on campus use that network server... so almost everything is shut down. I'm in a cafe in another dorm on campus that miraculously is still connected to the outside world.
This wouldn't be nearly as bad if I didn't have a class presentation TOMORROW and the group I'm working with hasn't even met once. GREATTT. Also we have no guidelines for this presentation so we have absolutely no idea what to do... Oh, and we are presenting on Domestic Violence Law in Ghana... but no one can find the law. Yep. This is my life.
Ohhh jeez am I tired. These four day weekends really take it out of a girl... I’m currently writing on an internet-less internet cafe computer... Surprise, surprise. So I’m saving this to post later when a connection to the world wide web can be made.
Oh, Ghana. How your lack of connection to the outside world torments me. Although, this does provide me the opportunity to do my NGO grant proposal that I’m supposed to type up, like... now. But I don’t want to. I want to play spider solitare and wait endlessly for Gmail to load.
So this weekend we went on our final Tufts trip to Eastern Region, where we basically hung out on Lake Volta the whole time. I was really okay with that because this heat gives me the unbelievable urge to swim, all the time. Which I did, twice on Saturday. Our hotel was gorgeous and had a pretty good pool which I took full advantage of. Of course, that means I am slightly crispy as my skin still doesn’t understand the difference between tanning and burning and I tend to just skip the former and go straight to the latter.
We toured Akosombo Dam, the hydroelectric dam that gives Ghana 70% of its electricity. The tour guide was weird and wouldn’t let us take pictures during the tour and then gave us 5 minutes at the end to take some. It didn’t make sense to me, but what are you going to do?
We also went bead shopping, which was a huge success. I absolutely love that Tufts’ stipend is large enough for us to go buck wild in our souvenir shopping and we don’t have to pay for it. I haven’t spent a cent of my own money since I’ve been here. Which means Tufts paid for my vacation to Green Turtle, all of the souvenirs I’ve bought so far, all of my travel, food, my all-too-often clinic visits and medication, my long distance, 2-hour phone conversations, etc, etc. Thanks Tufts! I knew my tuition was going somewhere!
Then yesterday we went on a 4.5 hour boat cruise on Lake Volta. Which was surprisingly fun! They fed us and gave us drinks and we lounged about in the sun (and in the shade when I started to turn pink) and talked and read and journaled and watched the beautiful scenery pass by... It felt very much like I had gone on a cruise with my friends for spring break. Which got us thinking about going on a cruise together for spring break. Because it would be sooo much fun. Too bad Lauren has to be stupid and going abroad to Hong Kong next semester. Way to go, Lauren. haha
Okay, so I really should be doing my work, for real. More later.
Written at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, October 22
Okay, not having internet sucks a whole lot more than I imagined it would. The campus wireless is down and most of the internet cafes on campus use that network server... so almost everything is shut down. I'm in a cafe in another dorm on campus that miraculously is still connected to the outside world.
This wouldn't be nearly as bad if I didn't have a class presentation TOMORROW and the group I'm working with hasn't even met once. GREATTT. Also we have no guidelines for this presentation so we have absolutely no idea what to do... Oh, and we are presenting on Domestic Violence Law in Ghana... but no one can find the law. Yep. This is my life.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Makin' Banana Pancakes, Pretending It's the Weekend, Yeah.
I am in the most glorious mood this morning. Seriously, hitting the two-months-left mark has really been a turning point for me. Now that there is a light at the end of the tunnel I feel like I can begin to enjoy myself a hundred percent. And it's still far enough away that I don't feel rushed about getting everything that I wanted done or seeing everything all at once. But it feels close enough that I'm less homesick than before.
So this morning I made banana pancakes for my roommate and the Tufts girls. They were delicious, especially with Denise's Maine maple syrup (which she originally brought to give as a gift if she got invited to someone's house... but we realized that people outside of New England tend not to appreciate REAL maple syrup the way we do.)
But wait, let's go back to Wednesday. So first of all, I got my absentee ballot! It was a way exciting moment, as I am the last to recieve mine. I feel all patriotic and political now with my tiny pencil and bright white giant envelope. And to add to my political fervor, we realized on Wednesday night that the last presidential debate would be on! And since ISH FINALLY fixed our satelite, we have BBC again! So around 9 PM our time we found out about the debates and decided to go to sleep and wake back up at midnight so we could watch them in the TV room. I had a presentation for my NGO's class the next morning at 7:30 AM so I needed my beauty sleep.
So most of us woke up at midnight to watch it, only to realize that it was on at 9 PM EST, not 8 PM. So that means 1 AM our time. Which, with a 7:30 class, was notttt going to happen. So I went back to bed and Denise and Lauren stayed up to report back to the group.
So this NGO presentation went off WAY better than I thought it was going to. The group meetings had been kind of stagnating and I kept feeling like we weren't getting anything done. But in the end, I am REALLY proud of our NGO. Here's the short version:
We created a National NGO called GREEN Ghana that is trying to change the way the environment is valued in Ghana. We want to educate the community about the benefits of keeping your environment clean, how and what to recycle, and what things you can do with what recycled materials. We also want to advocate for a federal recycling program and a nation-wide infrastructure that will make recycling possible on a large-scale level. And finally we want to go into communities and do a neighborhood-wide clean up, teaching people how and why they should properly dispose of their waste and giving them the skills to make marketable products out of waste materials (like pencil cases out of water bags and food wrappers that would normally be littering the street). That's the gist of it, but it's way more complicated than that. I'm really pumped that we pulled it all together and made into what could be a large-scale cohesive non-profit. Now we just have to write a grant proposal for our "starter project" which will be University-wide clean up.
Anyway,a new food joint has opened up at Nightmarket (the market next to my dorm where I eat a lot of my meals). It's called Assase Pa and it's vegan. That may not sound that weird to you but in Ghana, being vegan is almost impossible. Both Kym and Denise are vegetarians at home and they have to considerably bend the rules to eat anything here. So vegan is way out of place. But DELICIOUS. I ate there twice yesterday.
Then, last night Rosie and I went to go see Lysistrata - put on by the UGhana Theatre Dept. And... it was... well...
It was approximately as good as the version I worked on two years ago. For anyone that saw it. It was funny, however, to see it with Rosie when she was SCANDALIZED by the brashness of the sexual dialogue / action. There was a lot of "EHHH!"'s coming from the audience at a few scenes that some of you may know. But the weird thing is, the show was in an outdoor ampitheater behind Commonwealth (Home of the Vandals and the All-Boys House on Campus. Otherwise known as Slytherin.) and the Commonwealth boys have NO respect for theater. Whatsoever. They were hanging out their windows in the back (so they were kind of off to the sides of the stage) yelling inappropriate words and body parts and making tons of noise - to the point where you couldn't hear the actors on stage! As Michelle from Full House would say - How rude! It was way distracting for me, nevermind the actors on stage! Ugh.. kids. No respect these days.
Then I came home to find what amounts to the closest thing to an American college dorm party in our TV room. That's right - six tufts girls playing the BBC news drinking game. Take a sip when they mention a major world leader, Down your glass if they mention Russia, cheers every time you hear the words "Obama" or "McCain". There were more rules, but I don't remember them, I came in pretty late in the game. But it was a fun get-together that culminated in the taking out of my braids, a mini photo shoot of my poufy frizzed out hair (Prof. Trelawny style, and a quick jaunt in the courtyard during an unexpected downpour. 'Twas fabulous.
So today I plan on reading a my Fast Company magazine and starting Catch-22 and napping and generally enjoying life and staying out of the blistering sun. I swear, I know I said it was hot before... but I meant it was hot in the sense that for September it was hot. Meaning it was like 85. Today is like, 100. LEGIT. I sweat by walking to the bathroom at 8 in the morning. This is entirely unpleasant weather.
So this morning I made banana pancakes for my roommate and the Tufts girls. They were delicious, especially with Denise's Maine maple syrup (which she originally brought to give as a gift if she got invited to someone's house... but we realized that people outside of New England tend not to appreciate REAL maple syrup the way we do.)
But wait, let's go back to Wednesday. So first of all, I got my absentee ballot! It was a way exciting moment, as I am the last to recieve mine. I feel all patriotic and political now with my tiny pencil and bright white giant envelope. And to add to my political fervor, we realized on Wednesday night that the last presidential debate would be on! And since ISH FINALLY fixed our satelite, we have BBC again! So around 9 PM our time we found out about the debates and decided to go to sleep and wake back up at midnight so we could watch them in the TV room. I had a presentation for my NGO's class the next morning at 7:30 AM so I needed my beauty sleep.
So most of us woke up at midnight to watch it, only to realize that it was on at 9 PM EST, not 8 PM. So that means 1 AM our time. Which, with a 7:30 class, was notttt going to happen. So I went back to bed and Denise and Lauren stayed up to report back to the group.
So this NGO presentation went off WAY better than I thought it was going to. The group meetings had been kind of stagnating and I kept feeling like we weren't getting anything done. But in the end, I am REALLY proud of our NGO. Here's the short version:
We created a National NGO called GREEN Ghana that is trying to change the way the environment is valued in Ghana. We want to educate the community about the benefits of keeping your environment clean, how and what to recycle, and what things you can do with what recycled materials. We also want to advocate for a federal recycling program and a nation-wide infrastructure that will make recycling possible on a large-scale level. And finally we want to go into communities and do a neighborhood-wide clean up, teaching people how and why they should properly dispose of their waste and giving them the skills to make marketable products out of waste materials (like pencil cases out of water bags and food wrappers that would normally be littering the street). That's the gist of it, but it's way more complicated than that. I'm really pumped that we pulled it all together and made into what could be a large-scale cohesive non-profit. Now we just have to write a grant proposal for our "starter project" which will be University-wide clean up.
Anyway,a new food joint has opened up at Nightmarket (the market next to my dorm where I eat a lot of my meals). It's called Assase Pa and it's vegan. That may not sound that weird to you but in Ghana, being vegan is almost impossible. Both Kym and Denise are vegetarians at home and they have to considerably bend the rules to eat anything here. So vegan is way out of place. But DELICIOUS. I ate there twice yesterday.
Then, last night Rosie and I went to go see Lysistrata - put on by the UGhana Theatre Dept. And... it was... well...
It was approximately as good as the version I worked on two years ago. For anyone that saw it. It was funny, however, to see it with Rosie when she was SCANDALIZED by the brashness of the sexual dialogue / action. There was a lot of "EHHH!"'s coming from the audience at a few scenes that some of you may know. But the weird thing is, the show was in an outdoor ampitheater behind Commonwealth (Home of the Vandals and the All-Boys House on Campus. Otherwise known as Slytherin.) and the Commonwealth boys have NO respect for theater. Whatsoever. They were hanging out their windows in the back (so they were kind of off to the sides of the stage) yelling inappropriate words and body parts and making tons of noise - to the point where you couldn't hear the actors on stage! As Michelle from Full House would say - How rude! It was way distracting for me, nevermind the actors on stage! Ugh.. kids. No respect these days.
Then I came home to find what amounts to the closest thing to an American college dorm party in our TV room. That's right - six tufts girls playing the BBC news drinking game. Take a sip when they mention a major world leader, Down your glass if they mention Russia, cheers every time you hear the words "Obama" or "McCain". There were more rules, but I don't remember them, I came in pretty late in the game. But it was a fun get-together that culminated in the taking out of my braids, a mini photo shoot of my poufy frizzed out hair (Prof. Trelawny style, and a quick jaunt in the courtyard during an unexpected downpour. 'Twas fabulous.
So today I plan on reading a my Fast Company magazine and starting Catch-22 and napping and generally enjoying life and staying out of the blistering sun. I swear, I know I said it was hot before... but I meant it was hot in the sense that for September it was hot. Meaning it was like 85. Today is like, 100. LEGIT. I sweat by walking to the bathroom at 8 in the morning. This is entirely unpleasant weather.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Thank GOD I don't have lice.
Okay, so last night I was in the kitchen with the girls talking with Adowa, the seamstress when I felt something on my head. It was on the nape of my neck and felt kind of itchy - like a mosquito bite. I had Denise look at it and she said that there were little red bumps ALL OVER MY HEAD. Between every braid there seemed to be a bump. So of course I FREAKED OUT.
This is coming after having a conversation over the weekend about how, although getting my hair braided was painful, at least I have the comfort of knowing that those women went through my hair strand by strand. So at least I don't have lice. Because I am TERRIFIED of lice.
So last night, when a bumper crop of itchy red spots appeared on my scalp... I was more than slightly upset. After further examination we assessed that it couldn't possibly be lice as there wasn't a bug to be seen on, near, or around my scalp. So what the heckkkk could it be?
So here are the possibilities:
1) I am allergic to all of this fake hair they put on my scalp. Quite possible.
2) They pulled my hair so hard when they were braiding it that my head is rebelling.
3) You can't realllyyy wash your hair when you have braids, you kind of just have to clean it with alcohol. So maybe this 90 degree weather has made my whole head break out?
I'm not really sure. But the solution seems to be to take them out so we're having a Hair Un-Braiding party on Friday in front of our finally-working television. (Yayyyyy BBC! Real news!)
Otherwise, not much to update you all on. We have our final Tufts trip this weekend to Eastern Region. We get to go to a bead making place and I get to add to my ever growing pile of souvenirs and Christmas presents. We also get to go on some sort of boat cruise? And of course, I'm assuming (although it's probably better not to assume...) that our hotel will have HOT WATER. Which means possibly a hot bath or shower. INCREDIBLE.
This is coming after having a conversation over the weekend about how, although getting my hair braided was painful, at least I have the comfort of knowing that those women went through my hair strand by strand. So at least I don't have lice. Because I am TERRIFIED of lice.
So last night, when a bumper crop of itchy red spots appeared on my scalp... I was more than slightly upset. After further examination we assessed that it couldn't possibly be lice as there wasn't a bug to be seen on, near, or around my scalp. So what the heckkkk could it be?
So here are the possibilities:
1) I am allergic to all of this fake hair they put on my scalp. Quite possible.
2) They pulled my hair so hard when they were braiding it that my head is rebelling.
3) You can't realllyyy wash your hair when you have braids, you kind of just have to clean it with alcohol. So maybe this 90 degree weather has made my whole head break out?
I'm not really sure. But the solution seems to be to take them out so we're having a Hair Un-Braiding party on Friday in front of our finally-working television. (Yayyyyy BBC! Real news!)
Otherwise, not much to update you all on. We have our final Tufts trip this weekend to Eastern Region. We get to go to a bead making place and I get to add to my ever growing pile of souvenirs and Christmas presents. We also get to go on some sort of boat cruise? And of course, I'm assuming (although it's probably better not to assume...) that our hotel will have HOT WATER. Which means possibly a hot bath or shower. INCREDIBLE.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The rest of my weekend....
I didn't want to ruin the completeness of my post I wrote (but was unable to publish) on Saturday. So here's another one for you talking about the rest of my weekend.
First of all, Elana - our trusty program coordinator - took our photos when she left in August and put a selection on Facebook. A lot of them are the same as the ones on Flickr but there are a few different ones (And some taken by Denise!) So if you'd like to check them out, you should be able to see them here:
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097736&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097738&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097739&id=1704918
You may or may not be able to view them if you do not have facebook or are not friends with Elana. Try it and see.
So yesterday we went to an "Outdooring" (ie. Baby Naming Ceremony) of our friend's baby. They call it this because traditionally, it's the first time the kid gets to come outside since it's born. It usually takes place 8 days after he or she is born but this baby was 2 1/2 weeks old because they had to get all of the family together (and his mom was in the hospital for longer than expected).
Anyways, so this family is Dagomba (read: from the north) so they were giving their son a Dagbani name. AND THEY PICKED MINE! So me and my little namesake, Whoompini (I know, Elana, I'm butchering the spelling...) got to hang out yesterday. And he is just the cutest little thing ever. And we all got to hold him, which was great and unexpected.
However, because there were several mix ups about what the actual time was for the ceremony, we were there for 4 hours and did not get to see the actual ceremony take place. Nor did we get to dance... (Although this is probably for the best.)
A few of us went to Madina market afterwards and it was eerily abandoned. More than 3/4 of it was empty, with one whole isle gated and locked. I've never, ever seen it empty like that! Even on a Sunday! I'm not sure what was up, but it was strange. I ended up getting a couple of headbands for my braided hair (to protect it from the inevitable sunburned scalp) and some fabric.
SPEAKING OF - If you are expecting gifts from me at all - for your birthday or Christmas or you think that I like you that much... I would really, really appreciate if you could tell me what you would like. Jewlery? Carved statues? Carved boxes? A chief's stool? A drum? Another kind of musical instrument? A bag? PJ pants? A dress? Just plain cloth? A basket?
Seriously, I do really need to know. Because otherwise you are just getting what I give you and you may miss out on that thing you really wanted to get. And if you want clothing I need your measurements pronto.
Anyway, yesterday was slightly strange because I keep having this eerie "I'm in Ghana" feeling. I was grocery shopping at like 9 AM and I keep feeling like... This isn't weird anymore! I'm in Ghana and I'm just buying food. And it's not weird. I'm taking a tro-tro by myself and I know where I'm going and this is normal. It was strange in all it's normalcy. I think I'm beginning to get used to things here. And maybe starting to like them. (gasp!)
Okay, so I actually have a modicum of real work to do for my classes (two group projects - one of which we have no idea what the project/presentation entails and it's due next Thursday. Ohhhh Ghana.) so I should probably do that instead of talking your ear off instead.
First of all, Elana - our trusty program coordinator - took our photos when she left in August and put a selection on Facebook. A lot of them are the same as the ones on Flickr but there are a few different ones (And some taken by Denise!) So if you'd like to check them out, you should be able to see them here:
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097736&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097738&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097739&id=1704918
You may or may not be able to view them if you do not have facebook or are not friends with Elana. Try it and see.
So yesterday we went to an "Outdooring" (ie. Baby Naming Ceremony) of our friend's baby. They call it this because traditionally, it's the first time the kid gets to come outside since it's born. It usually takes place 8 days after he or she is born but this baby was 2 1/2 weeks old because they had to get all of the family together (and his mom was in the hospital for longer than expected).
Anyways, so this family is Dagomba (read: from the north) so they were giving their son a Dagbani name. AND THEY PICKED MINE! So me and my little namesake, Whoompini (I know, Elana, I'm butchering the spelling...) got to hang out yesterday. And he is just the cutest little thing ever. And we all got to hold him, which was great and unexpected.
However, because there were several mix ups about what the actual time was for the ceremony, we were there for 4 hours and did not get to see the actual ceremony take place. Nor did we get to dance... (Although this is probably for the best.)
A few of us went to Madina market afterwards and it was eerily abandoned. More than 3/4 of it was empty, with one whole isle gated and locked. I've never, ever seen it empty like that! Even on a Sunday! I'm not sure what was up, but it was strange. I ended up getting a couple of headbands for my braided hair (to protect it from the inevitable sunburned scalp) and some fabric.
SPEAKING OF - If you are expecting gifts from me at all - for your birthday or Christmas or you think that I like you that much... I would really, really appreciate if you could tell me what you would like. Jewlery? Carved statues? Carved boxes? A chief's stool? A drum? Another kind of musical instrument? A bag? PJ pants? A dress? Just plain cloth? A basket?
Seriously, I do really need to know. Because otherwise you are just getting what I give you and you may miss out on that thing you really wanted to get. And if you want clothing I need your measurements pronto.
Anyway, yesterday was slightly strange because I keep having this eerie "I'm in Ghana" feeling. I was grocery shopping at like 9 AM and I keep feeling like... This isn't weird anymore! I'm in Ghana and I'm just buying food. And it's not weird. I'm taking a tro-tro by myself and I know where I'm going and this is normal. It was strange in all it's normalcy. I think I'm beginning to get used to things here. And maybe starting to like them. (gasp!)
Okay, so I actually have a modicum of real work to do for my classes (two group projects - one of which we have no idea what the project/presentation entails and it's due next Thursday. Ohhhh Ghana.) so I should probably do that instead of talking your ear off instead.
Finally, A Weekend in Accra...
Okay, so I wrote this blog on Saturday but the internet at ISH (where I live) was too slow to be able to post it on blogger. Boo. So pretend it’s Saturday.
The foot is a beautiful shade of purpley-blue-grey. The swelling doesn’t seem to want to go down any further but I am almost walking like a normal person again. Which is great! There’s only a slight limp, which I kind of exacerbated by thinking of myself as totally healed and walking around on it all day today without my ace bandage. Which I regretted by this afternoon. But alas, it is much better than I ever thought it would be at this time.
SO – Rosie, my quietly persuasive roommate, finally convinced me to get braids. It took some convincing as I was sure that I was going to look like just another silly Oboroni. But I could not be more curious. Since coming here in July, I have wanted to get the full range of experiences of being in Ghana. No food is too gross to try. No dance is too embarrassing to perform in front of a hundred strangers. And getting your hair braided is just such a Ghanaian thing to do.
I wasn’t in denial about how silly I was going to look, I really wasn’t. I just figure, at no other time in my life can I look this funny and not have to see a billion people that I know every day. I can do it and, besides a few pictures and the memories of the other 5 Tufts girls, no one will be the wiser!
However, by Friday morning I was dreading getting it done. Rosie and I made plans to go to the “salon” (actually a stall at Bush Canteen – a market on campus) at 7 AM. The process of getting your hair braided takes something like 3 -6 hours, depending on how many people are working on you at once. It’s also quite a painful process. They don’t just braid your hair normally. They braid in a TON of fake hair (they go through a process of trying to match your hair color to the different fake hairs they have… they had to mix a brown and a red for mine. Except the finished product is much more red than my hair actually is…). So any one who knows how thick my hair is normally should understand that I have 3 times the amount of hair on my head now. I can’t pull my hair into a pony tail because I can’t fit it in one hand. I got the front cornrowed in a pretty pattern and the rest is in regular braids.
I haven’t decided if I like it yet. It’s definitely weird. My original plan was to withhold judgment for 2 days and the earliest I could take them out (if I didn’t like them) was Thursday. I still haven’t made that decision yet, but we’ll see. I can’t imagine I’ll want to leave them in any more than 2 weeks.
In other news, today Nana Akufo-Addo came to campus. We were told in our orientations that we were not supposed to go to “political rallies” as they could become riots and/or be dangerous. But a Presidential Candidate was coming to OUR CAMPUS. How could I not go?? I’m totally missing the fun and fervor of election season back home so I need something to fill that gaping hole. The original word on the street that he was speaking in the morning. WRONG. He’s speaking at 5:30, says the people wearing NPP shirts, setting up the platform on the basketball court. So we show up at 5:30. And wait. And wait.
Denise worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign last summer, so she was all a flutter about the similarities between American and Ghanaian campaigns and rallies. She said something about how in the US they always tell people to get there at least an hour before they actually think it’s going to start. (UGH. The stage manager in me HATES that.) So 6:30 rolls around and we think – Hmm. Maybe things will start.
Nope. Then it’s 7. Then’s it’s 7:30. Then it’s 8. Then it’s 8:30. Finally someone comes on stage to tell us that Nana is on campus, but he’s in Legon Hall for something or another and we should all go over there. And there’s literally a stampede of people trying to get over to see Nana. This part was by far my favorite as people got super excited when they started seeing important politicians. There was tons of yelling and chanting and singing and picture taking. It was quite exciting.
On the way to Legon Hall I got into a VERY detailed and intellectual conversation with a student working on the NPP campaign. He asked me all of these interesting questions about American politics in comparison to Ghana and my viewpoints on the war in Iraq and the American economy. It was really cool to have that kind of discussion with someone who didn’t go to Tufts.
So we got to Legon, more jumping and shouting, and then suddenly – another stampede! This time, back to the place we came from originally. I’m not sure what the point of relocating us for 20 minutes was, but it happened and I seemed to be the only one questioning it. By the time we got back and the lesser politicians were making their introductory speeches, I couldn’t take it any more. I’d been there for almost 4 hours. My foot was starting to hurt. I was hungry. So, even though it seemed as though maybe Nana was actually going to show up, I had to go home.The experience was worth it all the same, I was just too cranky/tired/hurting to stick it out any longer.
The foot is a beautiful shade of purpley-blue-grey. The swelling doesn’t seem to want to go down any further but I am almost walking like a normal person again. Which is great! There’s only a slight limp, which I kind of exacerbated by thinking of myself as totally healed and walking around on it all day today without my ace bandage. Which I regretted by this afternoon. But alas, it is much better than I ever thought it would be at this time.
SO – Rosie, my quietly persuasive roommate, finally convinced me to get braids. It took some convincing as I was sure that I was going to look like just another silly Oboroni. But I could not be more curious. Since coming here in July, I have wanted to get the full range of experiences of being in Ghana. No food is too gross to try. No dance is too embarrassing to perform in front of a hundred strangers. And getting your hair braided is just such a Ghanaian thing to do.
I wasn’t in denial about how silly I was going to look, I really wasn’t. I just figure, at no other time in my life can I look this funny and not have to see a billion people that I know every day. I can do it and, besides a few pictures and the memories of the other 5 Tufts girls, no one will be the wiser!
However, by Friday morning I was dreading getting it done. Rosie and I made plans to go to the “salon” (actually a stall at Bush Canteen – a market on campus) at 7 AM. The process of getting your hair braided takes something like 3 -6 hours, depending on how many people are working on you at once. It’s also quite a painful process. They don’t just braid your hair normally. They braid in a TON of fake hair (they go through a process of trying to match your hair color to the different fake hairs they have… they had to mix a brown and a red for mine. Except the finished product is much more red than my hair actually is…). So any one who knows how thick my hair is normally should understand that I have 3 times the amount of hair on my head now. I can’t pull my hair into a pony tail because I can’t fit it in one hand. I got the front cornrowed in a pretty pattern and the rest is in regular braids.
I haven’t decided if I like it yet. It’s definitely weird. My original plan was to withhold judgment for 2 days and the earliest I could take them out (if I didn’t like them) was Thursday. I still haven’t made that decision yet, but we’ll see. I can’t imagine I’ll want to leave them in any more than 2 weeks.
In other news, today Nana Akufo-Addo came to campus. We were told in our orientations that we were not supposed to go to “political rallies” as they could become riots and/or be dangerous. But a Presidential Candidate was coming to OUR CAMPUS. How could I not go?? I’m totally missing the fun and fervor of election season back home so I need something to fill that gaping hole. The original word on the street that he was speaking in the morning. WRONG. He’s speaking at 5:30, says the people wearing NPP shirts, setting up the platform on the basketball court. So we show up at 5:30. And wait. And wait.
Denise worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign last summer, so she was all a flutter about the similarities between American and Ghanaian campaigns and rallies. She said something about how in the US they always tell people to get there at least an hour before they actually think it’s going to start. (UGH. The stage manager in me HATES that.) So 6:30 rolls around and we think – Hmm. Maybe things will start.
Nope. Then it’s 7. Then’s it’s 7:30. Then it’s 8. Then it’s 8:30. Finally someone comes on stage to tell us that Nana is on campus, but he’s in Legon Hall for something or another and we should all go over there. And there’s literally a stampede of people trying to get over to see Nana. This part was by far my favorite as people got super excited when they started seeing important politicians. There was tons of yelling and chanting and singing and picture taking. It was quite exciting.
On the way to Legon Hall I got into a VERY detailed and intellectual conversation with a student working on the NPP campaign. He asked me all of these interesting questions about American politics in comparison to Ghana and my viewpoints on the war in Iraq and the American economy. It was really cool to have that kind of discussion with someone who didn’t go to Tufts.
So we got to Legon, more jumping and shouting, and then suddenly – another stampede! This time, back to the place we came from originally. I’m not sure what the point of relocating us for 20 minutes was, but it happened and I seemed to be the only one questioning it. By the time we got back and the lesser politicians were making their introductory speeches, I couldn’t take it any more. I’d been there for almost 4 hours. My foot was starting to hurt. I was hungry. So, even though it seemed as though maybe Nana was actually going to show up, I had to go home.The experience was worth it all the same, I was just too cranky/tired/hurting to stick it out any longer.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Blue Appendages and Brown Bandages
I am a master limper. I'm telling you, as bad as I am at walking normally - that is how good I am at limping. We briefly held a hobbling race yesterday as I have figured out how best to walk without shooting pains. It kind of involves lifting up my entire left foot and moving it in front of my body but only letting the heel touch the ground. And not flexing any muscles in my foot. A difficult process at first, but I have become a master at it.
Tuesday was by far the worst walking day. I took the bus in the morning because there was no way I could walk to class. Walking down the stairs took 20 minutes and a lot of energy. So all day Tuesday was pretty slow going and painful. But Tuesday night I iced my foot for something like 6 hours while I finished my book (11 down... not enough left to fill the two months I still have here...) The swelling had gone down somewhat but the color went from bluish-grey to a purply sort of color.
Yesterday it went back to blue, but there was less swelling and a less noticeable limp. Today even more so. Which is a good sign, considering if it were broken it would only be getting worse... So maybe the folks down at Nyaho Clinic actually do know a thing or two. Not that I ever doubted them. :)
That's all for now.
Tuesday was by far the worst walking day. I took the bus in the morning because there was no way I could walk to class. Walking down the stairs took 20 minutes and a lot of energy. So all day Tuesday was pretty slow going and painful. But Tuesday night I iced my foot for something like 6 hours while I finished my book (11 down... not enough left to fill the two months I still have here...) The swelling had gone down somewhat but the color went from bluish-grey to a purply sort of color.
Yesterday it went back to blue, but there was less swelling and a less noticeable limp. Today even more so. Which is a good sign, considering if it were broken it would only be getting worse... So maybe the folks down at Nyaho Clinic actually do know a thing or two. Not that I ever doubted them. :)
That's all for now.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
We All Knew This Day Would Come
Yesterday was such a normal day. I went to Nyaho with Kym for most of the morning because she was feeling sick all weekend. We all feared it was Malaria but it wasn't. So far as they can tell, it's some sort of amorphous "virus". That's usually what they say when they can't come up with any other diagnosis.
So I didn't expect anything exciting out of yesterday at all. Except, as soon as I left the internet cafe yesterday afternoon to go to the post office... disaster struck. I was just walking along, not a care in the world. Until the ground moved from under me and I was suddenly prostrate in the dirt. Was it an earthquake? No. I just tripped on the barely jutting curb, landing on the side of my left foot. This whole fall was quite a commotion and caused dozens of turned heads and a couple of gasps. (Great, like I didn't have everyone looking at me before... I had to go and bring further attention and humilation to myself...) Several people asked me if I was okay, to which I said yes, and I did they thing any good American would do. I got up, brushed myself off and told myself to "walk it off". Which I proceded to do. For about 12 yards, until the pain in my left foot and the large easter egg-sized purple lump that appeared there began screaming at me. I needed to make it to the post office to send off a couple of letters (Anna and Logs - you better appreciate that mail!!) so I convinced myself not to cry and limped down the main road to the post office. Then I promptly took a cab back to the dorm. Where I realized I had a formidable 3 flights of stairs ahead of me. At this point, my hobbling had gotten quite a few stares from the porters and guards outside of ISH, to whom I had to explain my humiliating injury.
I finally made it upstairs and made myself a sling of sorts out of some fabric and used various frozen objects to reduce the swelling. It started out with a first aid ice pack and moved to a frozen GoGurt-type thing (FanYogo for all of you in-the-know about Ghana). Kym came over and ate the FanYogo when it was done and I moved onto a frozen water bag while we both assessed the situation.
I couldn't tell if it had been broken but the pain was excruciating so we made the decision to do a 2-for-1 Nyaho special. Two trips to the clinic in 12 hours. It has to be a record. Sadly, some of the people recognized us when we went back. 2 hours of hobbling to and fro along with a couple of X-rays tells me that my foot is not officially broken but they can't explain the excessive swelling and pain in my foot. I'm telling you it was about twice the size of a normal foot and started out a disgusting puce color. The bruise faded from puce to bluish-grey which is slightly better. Although walking is not.
They sent me home with two ace bandages and some anti-inflamatory gel. So now I'm hobbling around campus trying not to wince every time I hit a rock.
But on the bright side - I have already had three offers from guys to carry me on their backs. I haven't taken any up on it yet, but I think it would be pretty great to get tied on and carried around like a small Ghanaian child. It's even better than crutches.
So I didn't expect anything exciting out of yesterday at all. Except, as soon as I left the internet cafe yesterday afternoon to go to the post office... disaster struck. I was just walking along, not a care in the world. Until the ground moved from under me and I was suddenly prostrate in the dirt. Was it an earthquake? No. I just tripped on the barely jutting curb, landing on the side of my left foot. This whole fall was quite a commotion and caused dozens of turned heads and a couple of gasps. (Great, like I didn't have everyone looking at me before... I had to go and bring further attention and humilation to myself...) Several people asked me if I was okay, to which I said yes, and I did they thing any good American would do. I got up, brushed myself off and told myself to "walk it off". Which I proceded to do. For about 12 yards, until the pain in my left foot and the large easter egg-sized purple lump that appeared there began screaming at me. I needed to make it to the post office to send off a couple of letters (Anna and Logs - you better appreciate that mail!!) so I convinced myself not to cry and limped down the main road to the post office. Then I promptly took a cab back to the dorm. Where I realized I had a formidable 3 flights of stairs ahead of me. At this point, my hobbling had gotten quite a few stares from the porters and guards outside of ISH, to whom I had to explain my humiliating injury.
I finally made it upstairs and made myself a sling of sorts out of some fabric and used various frozen objects to reduce the swelling. It started out with a first aid ice pack and moved to a frozen GoGurt-type thing (FanYogo for all of you in-the-know about Ghana). Kym came over and ate the FanYogo when it was done and I moved onto a frozen water bag while we both assessed the situation.
I couldn't tell if it had been broken but the pain was excruciating so we made the decision to do a 2-for-1 Nyaho special. Two trips to the clinic in 12 hours. It has to be a record. Sadly, some of the people recognized us when we went back. 2 hours of hobbling to and fro along with a couple of X-rays tells me that my foot is not officially broken but they can't explain the excessive swelling and pain in my foot. I'm telling you it was about twice the size of a normal foot and started out a disgusting puce color. The bruise faded from puce to bluish-grey which is slightly better. Although walking is not.
They sent me home with two ace bandages and some anti-inflamatory gel. So now I'm hobbling around campus trying not to wince every time I hit a rock.
But on the bright side - I have already had three offers from guys to carry me on their backs. I haven't taken any up on it yet, but I think it would be pretty great to get tied on and carried around like a small Ghanaian child. It's even better than crutches.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Last Days at Dagbe (or, Maybe Now I Won't Sweat as Much)
My, oh my. I'm back from my strenuous weekend at Dagbe with the requisite sore back and arms. And legs. And butt. And chest. And blistered feet. And bug bites. But, this being our third time there, I have definitely gotten in better shape since the first time. I'm less sore and could still function on a basic level after performing on Saturday. Yes, I said PERFORMANCE. Because we had to perform three different dances on Saturday night. Gahu - the one we learned our first weekend there. Akyagbeko (I think that's how it's spelled) - the stylish war dance we started to learn last time we were there. And of course Agbagya (again, spelling?) - the most famous of the Ewe dances that involves pumping your chest and flapping your arms like a chicken. All three. We had to perform, in front of a large number of people from Kopeyia (the village where Dagbe is located). NOT COOL.
I was definitely not on board with this until I found out one very important detail... We get costumes. And props. Gahu doesn't involve much in the way of props but I got to play a girl so I got a head scarf and a top and skirt. The "boys" got tops and little hats and this large cloth that is tied into a diaper like bottom. But for Akyagbeko we all got the diapers (as in the dance we are playing a rag-tag bunch of teenage boys who use these awesome furry sticks that have spirits in them that tell you how to win the battle) and sashes to hold up wooden swords on our sides. AND war paint. We all got war paint. I looked fierce, Tyra would be proud. Michael, the American guy who is staying at Dagbe for the next few months, got our first dance on video and a little bit of our second dance. Hopefully we'll get that before we get back to the states.
The dance itself was long and exhausting. The first one probably went on for almost half an hour. Then we had to go change and do our second dance right away. It went fine, nothing to brag about and I'm positive our Oboroni-ness helped soften the fact that we were pretty terrible. After our two main dances, the staff did this awesome war dance in the most ridiculous costumes. Picture tutus made out of African cloth on grown, muscly Ghanaian men. Also they are wearing weird hats and leggins with cuffs of rafia. Yep. It was pretty great.
Otherwise, my secondmost crowning acheivement of the weekend was my spectacular basket. I'm telling you, I was meant to weave baskets. I should take up knitting, I really like zoning out and crafting for an afternoon.
So now I'm back to the daily grind of university life. It's tough not having classes on Mondays. What's a girl to do? Perhaps read some Murakami Haruki and "study" for a possible pop midterm tomorrow? Maybe meet with my NGO's group to work on our Non-Graded project/presentation? Maybe I'll just nap... I haven't decided yet. The day is young. We'll see what ends up happening...
I was definitely not on board with this until I found out one very important detail... We get costumes. And props. Gahu doesn't involve much in the way of props but I got to play a girl so I got a head scarf and a top and skirt. The "boys" got tops and little hats and this large cloth that is tied into a diaper like bottom. But for Akyagbeko we all got the diapers (as in the dance we are playing a rag-tag bunch of teenage boys who use these awesome furry sticks that have spirits in them that tell you how to win the battle) and sashes to hold up wooden swords on our sides. AND war paint. We all got war paint. I looked fierce, Tyra would be proud. Michael, the American guy who is staying at Dagbe for the next few months, got our first dance on video and a little bit of our second dance. Hopefully we'll get that before we get back to the states.
The dance itself was long and exhausting. The first one probably went on for almost half an hour. Then we had to go change and do our second dance right away. It went fine, nothing to brag about and I'm positive our Oboroni-ness helped soften the fact that we were pretty terrible. After our two main dances, the staff did this awesome war dance in the most ridiculous costumes. Picture tutus made out of African cloth on grown, muscly Ghanaian men. Also they are wearing weird hats and leggins with cuffs of rafia. Yep. It was pretty great.
Otherwise, my secondmost crowning acheivement of the weekend was my spectacular basket. I'm telling you, I was meant to weave baskets. I should take up knitting, I really like zoning out and crafting for an afternoon.
So now I'm back to the daily grind of university life. It's tough not having classes on Mondays. What's a girl to do? Perhaps read some Murakami Haruki and "study" for a possible pop midterm tomorrow? Maybe meet with my NGO's group to work on our Non-Graded project/presentation? Maybe I'll just nap... I haven't decided yet. The day is young. We'll see what ends up happening...
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