I've realized that in my finals induced fervor (and by that i mean, 4 days of lazing about then 3 days of cramming. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.) I've been leaving out some juicy cultural stuff that's been going on. So bear with me as most of these things don't relate to one another.
It was Kym's birthday on Monday but because of various reasons we didn't really get to celebrate it on the day... My roommate was incredulous at how we Americans celebrate birthdays with our friends. This is because in Ghana they like to be really mean to you on your birthday. Okay, not really mean... They do it in a joking, loving way. But there are some really mean things that are a part of your birthday celebration. It could include any or all of the following:
Ponding: There's a big, disgusting pond in front of the library full of weeds and lily pads and general algae-grossness. And there's this tradition of ponding on campus for two reasons - Punishment from the Vandals and your birthday. The birthday version is a lot nicer/tamer but it's still not very fun. Your friends basically pick you up by your limbs and toss you in, making sure that you get good and dirty.
Ponding for nicer people: The nicer and (I think) more fun version of ponding is attacking your friend on their birthday with buckets of water or squirting them with water bags, ketchup, flour... anything that will get them wet or messy. I think this one's pretty fun, as long as you know when it's going to happen and you're not on your way to class. I love food fights and/or water fights!
Not allowing you to sleep: This one is really mean, I think. Your friends will sneak into your room and steal your mattress on the night preceding your birthday. As someone who fully appreciates their sleep... I don't like this one at all.
Why, you ask, are you treated so harshly on your birthday? When I asked this question I got the reasoning that "You caused your mother a lot of pain when you were born... So you deserve it." Ha. There you go, Mom. Sorry about that whole Labor Thing. But I'm paying for it now...
The ponding aspect of birthdays segues nicely into talking about the Vandals. I finally got to go into Commonwealth Hall last week when I was picking up some papers from a friend in one of my classes. Well... it is exactly the Slytherin I pictured it to be. First of all, those boys have no respect for women. While waiting for my papers to be photocopied I got solicited for my number at least 5 times... I can only imagine the reactions I would have gotten if I were wearing red. (Red is the vandal color and if you are a guy and wear it around campus. If you aren't a vandal and you wear it, you get in big trouble... If you're a girl and wear it you just get harassed a lot more than usual.) I didn't stay very long but it was just long enough to understand that most of my assumptions about Commonwealth were correct.
Sadly (or not sadly, depending on how you look at it), a couple of weeks ago I missed a Vandal ponding. Annie was up close and personal at the whole thing so she relayed the following:
So apparently this guy was being punished for stealing something. He had gotten caught by some of his fellow students and decided to go to Vandal court instead of getting turned into the University police (and getting expelled). The whole thing starts as a procession from the top of the university (where Commonwealth is) to the pond in front of the library. The guy is put in a wagon/cart type contraption and a sign is put around his neck that says something to the extent of "I will never steal again". People follow this cart and laugh at him and sometimes throw stuff. They get to the pond and there's a huge cermonial punishment decision process going on. The Chief Vandal (whose face you almost never see) and his advisors discuss how severe a punishment he should get. The crowd weighs in by shouting what they think he should get. Finally they decide how many times he should get ponded. This guy got two (apparently he only stole something small). But each individual ponding takes like 15 minutes. Four guys hold up each limb of the offender and lift him as high above their heads as possible. Then they throw him down at the water so as to acheive the worst belly flop pain possible. Then they kind of push him under the water to get the sensation of drowning without really drowning him. At the end they make him stand there and they decorate him with the scuzzy reeds and plants that grow in this disgusting pond. Everyone in the crowd cheers that this criminal is successfully humiliated and will (hopefully) never steal again. Then they make him get out of the pond and pull his cart/wagon thing back up the hill to Commonwealth.
Upsetting, right? Yeah. I know.
And finally I had a pre-reverse-culture shock on Wednesday. After my final I went to the Accra Mall with Kym to get stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. But not only did we buy groceries but we actually went shopping for clothes! At the MALL! Not just that but I tried things on in a dressing room! I saw my body in a full length mirror. I had NO idea the extent my tan gradiates down my body. I'm about 30 different colors, if you include the bruise I got on my leg last week. It's a little more than ridiculous. Then Kym bought a bathing suit at a counter with a register and got a reciept and it was all very surreal. Next up, we hit the food court. No, not the market. The food court. Where our food was delivered to our table within 15 minutes of ordering. And it was unbelievably delicious. It was a freaky version of an American weekend afternoon and I didn't know how to handle it. The mall is already decked out for Christmas and it was a balmy 95 degrees outside. Christmas decorations and air conditioning just don't fit in my conception of December.
Also there seems to be a new internet cafe with webcams in the mall, so I may be able to set up Google Video chat with people before I leave... That is, if you can't wait the 17 days until I get home to see me.
That's right. 17 days. It's completely surreal and I'm not sure how well I'm going to handle the transition. I hate transitions and they hate me even more. Hopefully copious amounts of cheese and broccoli will ease the pain, but we'll see. Okay, this post has been far too long.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Letter of the Semester
Dear Ecobank,
Remember me? You should, as I have been in your Legon branch at least once a week for the past 16 weeks. It was so long ago - August 6th - when I opened my account. Although it did take us 2 hours to do so and I was stuffed into that holding pen you call a "waiting room", I still had high hopes for us. You promised me my ATM card in a week, and you promised to call. I knew it would probably take longer than that... maybe three weeks... but I didn't expect this.
It has been 15.5 weeks since then and you continue to assure me that my ATM card will come in soon... Every week you get my hopes up when I come in and you say "Next week! It'll be in next week!"
Well, it's next week, all right... I've tried everything possible to make this work. I've reapplied for cards time after time after time. But I just can't take it anymore! I'm leaving the country in three weeks! There isn't a point anymore. So I'm ending our relationship and closing my account.
I know, you're shocked. Well, you shouldn't be. Maybe I wouldn't be so mean every time I came in if any of your employees understood the words "customer service". But because they don't, I don't mind raising my voice and making a fuss. You kind of deserve it.
It's been fun Ecobank - going in at the crack of dawn so that lines are only an hour long. I've really enjoyed jumping through numerous hoops just to withdraw my money, because whoever heard of a withdrawl slip???
Seriously, it's over. Hasta la vista.
Remember me? You should, as I have been in your Legon branch at least once a week for the past 16 weeks. It was so long ago - August 6th - when I opened my account. Although it did take us 2 hours to do so and I was stuffed into that holding pen you call a "waiting room", I still had high hopes for us. You promised me my ATM card in a week, and you promised to call. I knew it would probably take longer than that... maybe three weeks... but I didn't expect this.
It has been 15.5 weeks since then and you continue to assure me that my ATM card will come in soon... Every week you get my hopes up when I come in and you say "Next week! It'll be in next week!"
Well, it's next week, all right... I've tried everything possible to make this work. I've reapplied for cards time after time after time. But I just can't take it anymore! I'm leaving the country in three weeks! There isn't a point anymore. So I'm ending our relationship and closing my account.
I know, you're shocked. Well, you shouldn't be. Maybe I wouldn't be so mean every time I came in if any of your employees understood the words "customer service". But because they don't, I don't mind raising my voice and making a fuss. You kind of deserve it.
It's been fun Ecobank - going in at the crack of dawn so that lines are only an hour long. I've really enjoyed jumping through numerous hoops just to withdraw my money, because whoever heard of a withdrawl slip???
Seriously, it's over. Hasta la vista.
Love,
Your best and most loyal customer, Megan
Account #100010111101010111010101111010101110101000111101011
(WHAT THE HECK! IS THAT BINARY FOR DON'T GIVE HER AN ATM CARD EVER!?!?!)
Your best and most loyal customer, Megan
Account #100010111101010111010101111010101110101000111101011
(WHAT THE HECK! IS THAT BINARY FOR DON'T GIVE HER AN ATM CARD EVER!?!?!)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Eradicate Guinea Worm! (and other fun signs)
Another whole week since I've blogged to you all. No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I went on safari. Now - before you get all excited and ask me about all of the awesome animals I saw and amazingly quintessential African experience... let me tell you a little something.
It's mating season.
That means that all of the elephants in Mole National Park... are hiding in the middle of the forest. AND the park doesn't offer driven safaris (unless you bring your own 4x4 vehicle) so your only option is to do a walking safari.
So, needless to say, our animal viewing was kind of... lacking. I should also tell you that getting to Mole requires 17 hours of being on a bus. And the way that the schedules work for the two buses you have to take - it's more like 24-36 hours to get there.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Friday in order to get to the bus station in Accra to catch the 7 AM bus. It took 13 hours to get to Tamale, which is the big city up north. We got into Tamale at 8:30 PM or so and had to stay overnight at the Catholic Guesthouse. I tried Guineafowl for dinner, which was pretty good. Oh! I also tried goat liver at one of the reststops for the bus. Also pretty delicious.
The next morning we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to check out of our rooms and get to the bus station for 4:30 AM to catch a 5:30 AM bus. We didn't have tickets for this bus, because we got in after the bus station ticket window had closed... But the bus was full/there were a million people mobbing the bus conductor. We met up with a couple other groups of Oboronis who were also going to Mole and after an hour of complete confusion and disarray and relocating - we ended up chartering a minibus/really nice tro-tro to Mole with our newfound Oboroni friends.
We got to Mole by 9:30 AM, or something equally ridiculous. And, as we all know I don't function best under the conditions of getting up before 5 AM two days in a row... we promptly checked in and took a nap. We woke up in time to get lunch and do an afternoon walking safari. Now, as I put in the earlier disclaimer, we didn't see much... But I did get a large number of bug bites! yayyyyy
What was cool, though, was that we had baboons and warthogs hanging out all around our hotel. Of course, I got really excited about this and our first night there I walked up to a mama warthog and her babies and said in my talking-to-animals voice (eg. if you've ever seen me talk to Sophie) "Hiiii! Aren't you cute?"
Well, who knew that she would take it as a challenge to her authority and she would make loud scary noises and come towards me like she was going to charge???
I certainly didn't.
But now I do. Note to self: Do not look wild animals in the eyes.
The morning safari the next day was (if it's even possible) less exciting that the previous afternoon's. And the hotel is supposed to give us a complimentary breakfast, but refused to feed us before the THREE HOUR safari. Meaning my stomach rumblings probably scared all of the animals away. After seeing a few kob (basically African deer) and a waterbuck, we got to go back and eat.
We spent the afternoon exploring Larabunga - a nearby town that has this really, really old mosque. The mosque itself was cool but Larabunga was nothing to get excited about. Check out a picture: (http://www.fecalface.com/POTD/upload/2007/03/post_203/700old_mosque.jpg)
So at this point, we were just preparing to leave to go back to Accra... This involved getting up at 3:30 AM. Again. (HONESTLY, I've never had to get up so early, so many times in a row in my LIFE.) Then a four hour bus ride to Tamale, a 3 hour stopover, and another 13 hours back to Accra. My butt hurts so much from sitting in those uncomfortable seats for such long periods of time...
On the bright side - I did try grasscutter while hanging out in Tamale! Grasscutter, for all of you who haven't seen the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on Ghana, is essentially a giant rodent. It looks like a cross between a big rat and a gopher. They eat it semi-regularly here (not as much as goat, of course!) and I have really wanted to try it. And now I did. It tastes a little off but is overall quite palatable. I believe that now makes my weird food list:
zebra, crocodile, goat liver, grasscutter, frog's legs... Am I missing something? Surely I have to be. I thought I ate way more gross stuff than that!
So now I'm back in Accra and studying for my final in Gender Issues in Religion and Culture, which is on Thursday. Booooo for actually having finals and not just lazing around all day. Oh well, serves me right for not really having any work all semester.
It's mating season.
That means that all of the elephants in Mole National Park... are hiding in the middle of the forest. AND the park doesn't offer driven safaris (unless you bring your own 4x4 vehicle) so your only option is to do a walking safari.
So, needless to say, our animal viewing was kind of... lacking. I should also tell you that getting to Mole requires 17 hours of being on a bus. And the way that the schedules work for the two buses you have to take - it's more like 24-36 hours to get there.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Friday in order to get to the bus station in Accra to catch the 7 AM bus. It took 13 hours to get to Tamale, which is the big city up north. We got into Tamale at 8:30 PM or so and had to stay overnight at the Catholic Guesthouse. I tried Guineafowl for dinner, which was pretty good. Oh! I also tried goat liver at one of the reststops for the bus. Also pretty delicious.
The next morning we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to check out of our rooms and get to the bus station for 4:30 AM to catch a 5:30 AM bus. We didn't have tickets for this bus, because we got in after the bus station ticket window had closed... But the bus was full/there were a million people mobbing the bus conductor. We met up with a couple other groups of Oboronis who were also going to Mole and after an hour of complete confusion and disarray and relocating - we ended up chartering a minibus/really nice tro-tro to Mole with our newfound Oboroni friends.
We got to Mole by 9:30 AM, or something equally ridiculous. And, as we all know I don't function best under the conditions of getting up before 5 AM two days in a row... we promptly checked in and took a nap. We woke up in time to get lunch and do an afternoon walking safari. Now, as I put in the earlier disclaimer, we didn't see much... But I did get a large number of bug bites! yayyyyy
What was cool, though, was that we had baboons and warthogs hanging out all around our hotel. Of course, I got really excited about this and our first night there I walked up to a mama warthog and her babies and said in my talking-to-animals voice (eg. if you've ever seen me talk to Sophie) "Hiiii! Aren't you cute?"
Well, who knew that she would take it as a challenge to her authority and she would make loud scary noises and come towards me like she was going to charge???
I certainly didn't.
But now I do. Note to self: Do not look wild animals in the eyes.
The morning safari the next day was (if it's even possible) less exciting that the previous afternoon's. And the hotel is supposed to give us a complimentary breakfast, but refused to feed us before the THREE HOUR safari. Meaning my stomach rumblings probably scared all of the animals away. After seeing a few kob (basically African deer) and a waterbuck, we got to go back and eat.
We spent the afternoon exploring Larabunga - a nearby town that has this really, really old mosque. The mosque itself was cool but Larabunga was nothing to get excited about. Check out a picture: (http://www.fecalface.com/POTD/upload/2007/03/post_203/700old_mosque.jpg)
So at this point, we were just preparing to leave to go back to Accra... This involved getting up at 3:30 AM. Again. (HONESTLY, I've never had to get up so early, so many times in a row in my LIFE.) Then a four hour bus ride to Tamale, a 3 hour stopover, and another 13 hours back to Accra. My butt hurts so much from sitting in those uncomfortable seats for such long periods of time...
On the bright side - I did try grasscutter while hanging out in Tamale! Grasscutter, for all of you who haven't seen the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on Ghana, is essentially a giant rodent. It looks like a cross between a big rat and a gopher. They eat it semi-regularly here (not as much as goat, of course!) and I have really wanted to try it. And now I did. It tastes a little off but is overall quite palatable. I believe that now makes my weird food list:
zebra, crocodile, goat liver, grasscutter, frog's legs... Am I missing something? Surely I have to be. I thought I ate way more gross stuff than that!
So now I'm back in Accra and studying for my final in Gender Issues in Religion and Culture, which is on Thursday. Booooo for actually having finals and not just lazing around all day. Oh well, serves me right for not really having any work all semester.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
It's been a while...
A full week since I last updated? I must have been really busy... right?
Nope. Haven't done much of anything really. Most of my classes ended last week, although I have my last two classes of the semester today. This is ridiculous! It's not even mid-November and I'm done with classes!! What the HECK? I had a final yesterday (for drumming) and it went... well. It went, let's just say that. I hatehatehate performance assessments. I inevitably always clam up and screw up. But oh well. I can't do anything about it now.
I have another final on Thursday (Twi) which I'm only slightly worried about. I have to get a 28 out of 50 to get an A. That seems really low, right? Because at the University of Ghana, anything above a 70 is an A. Yep.
After our final I'm going home, packing up, and heading out to Mole National Park. I'ma goin' on safari!!!! My original plan was to go with Jenny towards the end of the month, but Kym didn't think she was going to be able to go at all... Now that our drumming final was so early, time has opened up and we can go on Friday. This may or may not be my only trip to the northern part of the country, so while we are there we hope to check out Larabunga and the really cool mosques that are up there... (You know me, I can't resist a good mosque when I hear about one...) I'll be gone until Tuesday night, so I'll have zero internet access this weekend and into next week...
In other, more disgusting news - check this out! http://docfiles.blogspot.com/2007/06/paederousrove-beetle-dermatitis.html
See that bug? There is a colony of those in my dorm. We saw a couple in the kitchen the other day and Rosie told me that those bugs secrete acid onto your skin by just walking on you. And that acid is actually poison that is 12 times more potent than that of a cobra! (Mom, Dad, don't worry. It has far less poison in it than a cobra does. I'd have to eat it for it to kill me.) The pictures on that website are accurate - although most of them are from when someone squishes the bug on their skin.
So, the other day Denise woke up with a weird sore on her face, just above her eyebrow, and a red line coming out of the sore onto her eyelid. We realized, after a little bit, that this bug must have FALLEN ON HER FACE WHEN SHE WAS SLEEPING and CRAWLED ACROSS HER EYE. She's okay, and she treated it so that it's almost gone. But then - I found one of these bugs in my bed last night! AHHHHH. No damage was done and the bug was removed without any contact to my skin. I promptly put my mosquito net back up (it had fallen down a little while ago and because I wasn't getting bitten at night at all... it didn't seems like I needed to put it back up.) and am on guard to catch all of his little beetle friends...
okay, I think that's all I've got.
Nope. Haven't done much of anything really. Most of my classes ended last week, although I have my last two classes of the semester today. This is ridiculous! It's not even mid-November and I'm done with classes!! What the HECK? I had a final yesterday (for drumming) and it went... well. It went, let's just say that. I hatehatehate performance assessments. I inevitably always clam up and screw up. But oh well. I can't do anything about it now.
I have another final on Thursday (Twi) which I'm only slightly worried about. I have to get a 28 out of 50 to get an A. That seems really low, right? Because at the University of Ghana, anything above a 70 is an A. Yep.
After our final I'm going home, packing up, and heading out to Mole National Park. I'ma goin' on safari!!!! My original plan was to go with Jenny towards the end of the month, but Kym didn't think she was going to be able to go at all... Now that our drumming final was so early, time has opened up and we can go on Friday. This may or may not be my only trip to the northern part of the country, so while we are there we hope to check out Larabunga and the really cool mosques that are up there... (You know me, I can't resist a good mosque when I hear about one...) I'll be gone until Tuesday night, so I'll have zero internet access this weekend and into next week...
In other, more disgusting news - check this out! http://docfiles.blogspot.com/2007/06/paederousrove-beetle-dermatitis.html
See that bug? There is a colony of those in my dorm. We saw a couple in the kitchen the other day and Rosie told me that those bugs secrete acid onto your skin by just walking on you. And that acid is actually poison that is 12 times more potent than that of a cobra! (Mom, Dad, don't worry. It has far less poison in it than a cobra does. I'd have to eat it for it to kill me.) The pictures on that website are accurate - although most of them are from when someone squishes the bug on their skin.
So, the other day Denise woke up with a weird sore on her face, just above her eyebrow, and a red line coming out of the sore onto her eyelid. We realized, after a little bit, that this bug must have FALLEN ON HER FACE WHEN SHE WAS SLEEPING and CRAWLED ACROSS HER EYE. She's okay, and she treated it so that it's almost gone. But then - I found one of these bugs in my bed last night! AHHHHH. No damage was done and the bug was removed without any contact to my skin. I promptly put my mosquito net back up (it had fallen down a little while ago and because I wasn't getting bitten at night at all... it didn't seems like I needed to put it back up.) and am on guard to catch all of his little beetle friends...
okay, I think that's all I've got.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
WE HAVE A PRESIDENT!
I am so tired. 2 days after the election, I still haven't caught up on sleep. Tuesday night we got all dolled up in our blue (and for the moderates - red and blue) outfits and went to a party thrown by NYU in Ghana. It was at a restaurant near the American-y part of town and they set up a huge projection screen playing CNN and there was a modicum of free food and drink. Watching CNN was really fun and when it got boring we delegated different political campaign jobs to people in our group. I was fundraising, obviously.
However, after a while it became apparent that the NYU thing was meant to be very educational in nature. There were a lot of speakers who, when they got up to talk about the electoral college or the different parties, turned the volume off of CNN so they could talk. Which, when you are trying to WATCH CNN... makes you kind of mad. We left a little before 1 AM so we could get home in time to watch the east coast 8 PM polls roll in.
Back at ISH there was a pretty sizable group in the TV room watching Al Jazeera. (BBC World wasn't even showing election stuff! What the heck!!) Our other option was SkyNews which, for the better part of 30 minutes was interviewing Eddie Izzard about his thoughts on the election. It's really no wonder why people think America is dumb. They are getting their information about the US election from Eddie Izzard.
Anyway, so I sat there through the whole thing. I watch the results come in. I watched McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech. I have to say, Obama gives me the goosebumps. The man can speak - no doubt about it. Now I wish/hope/want/pray that those speeches can actually change things and that this isn't just the same old, same old.
But after all the excitement died down, it was almost 6 AM and the sun was rising. I had a class in 5 hours and still had to do an "assignment" for it. (If you don't understand my use of quotations, go back and read everything I've written about the state of education in Ghana). So I got a little over 3 hours of sleep. GAH. I should never sleep that little, ever. I'm not fun.
Add that to the walk Annie and I did yesterday that ended up being 5 hours long (Campus to Osu, Osu to 37 for all of you that know what I'm talking about) in the blazing heat of dry season. This heat is almost unbearable. I only say almost because I am, indeed, surviving it. So I have to be bearing it somehow. But I perspire more than humanly possible. It's not a pretty sight. But I'm used to it enough that I know I'm not going to adjust well to the freezing cold of New England winter very well.
Alas, once you get used to one thing... you have to leave.
However, after a while it became apparent that the NYU thing was meant to be very educational in nature. There were a lot of speakers who, when they got up to talk about the electoral college or the different parties, turned the volume off of CNN so they could talk. Which, when you are trying to WATCH CNN... makes you kind of mad. We left a little before 1 AM so we could get home in time to watch the east coast 8 PM polls roll in.
Back at ISH there was a pretty sizable group in the TV room watching Al Jazeera. (BBC World wasn't even showing election stuff! What the heck!!) Our other option was SkyNews which, for the better part of 30 minutes was interviewing Eddie Izzard about his thoughts on the election. It's really no wonder why people think America is dumb. They are getting their information about the US election from Eddie Izzard.
Anyway, so I sat there through the whole thing. I watch the results come in. I watched McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech. I have to say, Obama gives me the goosebumps. The man can speak - no doubt about it. Now I wish/hope/want/pray that those speeches can actually change things and that this isn't just the same old, same old.
But after all the excitement died down, it was almost 6 AM and the sun was rising. I had a class in 5 hours and still had to do an "assignment" for it. (If you don't understand my use of quotations, go back and read everything I've written about the state of education in Ghana). So I got a little over 3 hours of sleep. GAH. I should never sleep that little, ever. I'm not fun.
Add that to the walk Annie and I did yesterday that ended up being 5 hours long (Campus to Osu, Osu to 37 for all of you that know what I'm talking about) in the blazing heat of dry season. This heat is almost unbearable. I only say almost because I am, indeed, surviving it. So I have to be bearing it somehow. But I perspire more than humanly possible. It's not a pretty sight. But I'm used to it enough that I know I'm not going to adjust well to the freezing cold of New England winter very well.
Alas, once you get used to one thing... you have to leave.
Monday, November 3, 2008
GrInC continues...
So after a WONDERFUL dinner at El Gaucho - the game restaurant - I have come up with the following analysis.
Crocodile is delicious. I mean, seriously and unbelievably delicious. I would say it's a cross between chicken and fish in all the best ways.
Zebra is okay. It was very reminiscent of beef but it was slightly off. I thought it had fish undertones but no one else at the table agreed. So maybe my tastebuds are weird.
Frog's Legs are pretty good. We had them in a garlic butter sauce, so that flavor overpowered the whole dish. They reminded me of chicken wings, but with many more bones.
And for dessert I had the most delectable Chocolate Mouse. And a complimentary drink that the very nice owner sent over to our table called "The Pink Squirrel". It wasn't pink, but it was delicious.
1 Day until the election!!!!!!
Crocodile is delicious. I mean, seriously and unbelievably delicious. I would say it's a cross between chicken and fish in all the best ways.
Zebra is okay. It was very reminiscent of beef but it was slightly off. I thought it had fish undertones but no one else at the table agreed. So maybe my tastebuds are weird.
Frog's Legs are pretty good. We had them in a garlic butter sauce, so that flavor overpowered the whole dish. They reminded me of chicken wings, but with many more bones.
And for dessert I had the most delectable Chocolate Mouse. And a complimentary drink that the very nice owner sent over to our table called "The Pink Squirrel". It wasn't pink, but it was delicious.
1 Day until the election!!!!!!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
I have been in Ghana 100 days exactly.
Hmmm the Great Internet Crisis continues. I might abbreviate it Ghana-style (all organizations tend to have pronouncable acronyms... No matter how ridiculously they have to alter it...). So I'll call it GrInC. So I'm in the only hole of internet left in Ghana. It's getting pretty annoying.
Okay, so let's see... What do we have to talk about? Oh! My internship! So I started my internship with the Concerned Circle of African Women Theologians. They are linked to WATER (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual), the organization I worked with this summer. Two of my professors here are part of the circle and I am working with one of them on a couple of projects. The first, and far more exciting project is helping them to write a proposal for a conference about Women of Faiths and Democratization. So basically, I get to sit around and have really in-depth discussions about things like... the formation of secular Western democracy as a backlash to the political upheaval in Europe and... indigineous forms of West African governance and their inextricable links to religion. We also had a very interesting discussion about being "gender-blind" versus being "gender-aware" in both societies. Anyway, this is probably really boring for anyone not interested in this stuff but I have been craving intellectual stimulation for SO long. So it's really exciting to finally get it.
The other project, which is far less exciting but does utilized my under-resourced skills of organization, is to compile an updated and organized database of members and their contact information. Yayyyy spreadsheets.
And on a slightly different note, on Thursday we all went to see Annie's dance performance. She was in a senior project for one of the TA's in her dance class. The show was called "In Between Their Thighs" and it was about the slave trade and the rapes that occured because of it. Annie, being the Oboroni that she is, was a European slave trader. Now this show was way intense and very, very upsetting in the graphic portrayal of some of the things that happened. But the most upsetting part? The Ghanaians in the audience laughed and cheered through both rape scenes. I'm not kidding. It actually happens. And it took all of my willpower not to turn around and punch some of those boys in the face. UGH. Sometimes the insensitivity here makes me want to scream.
Anyway. Yesterday was Halloween and I have to say, I had a very American Halloween... Denise, Kym and I went shopping for costumes/things we needed to make our costumes for most of the morning and then we all got together and worked on them. I was a water bag (the things we buy for 5 cents on every street corner from the girls with bowls on their head yelling YASSSSSS PYUUUUU WATAAAAAH. - translation: Yes (or Ice) Pure Water.) I crafted it entirely myself and I have to say, I'm quite proud of the finished product. Kym was Facebook and she walked around all night bringing people together, breaking them up, reporting on various conversations our friends were having, and making people write on her wall. Annie was coming straight from her dance show so she was just going to keep her makeup on and be a man. Jenny was a baby turtle! And my personal favorites were... Lauren and Denise as John McCain and Sarah Palin (respectively). Holy crap, was their costume funny. Who knew that deep down, Lauren really did look like John McCain?? They made a ton of fliers to hand out to people and they campaigned their way up and down that party like it was their job. Which, in a sense, it was.
I cannot TELL you how UNBELIEVABLY excited I am for Tuesday. Well, I could write it all in CAPS to tell you, but that would just be really annoying. So I'm really excited. Really, really excited. We are going to some party thrown by the NYU kids Tuesday night and then taking a quick nap and getting up at 4 AM (11PM EST) to watch the results roll in. Can't wait.
So I'm going to go get ready for my crazy night. Tonight me and the other 3 non-vegetarians in our group are going to a South African game restaurant. Springbok? Yes. Zebra? You bet. I'll report back on the spectrum of deliciousity.
Okay, so let's see... What do we have to talk about? Oh! My internship! So I started my internship with the Concerned Circle of African Women Theologians. They are linked to WATER (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual), the organization I worked with this summer. Two of my professors here are part of the circle and I am working with one of them on a couple of projects. The first, and far more exciting project is helping them to write a proposal for a conference about Women of Faiths and Democratization. So basically, I get to sit around and have really in-depth discussions about things like... the formation of secular Western democracy as a backlash to the political upheaval in Europe and... indigineous forms of West African governance and their inextricable links to religion. We also had a very interesting discussion about being "gender-blind" versus being "gender-aware" in both societies. Anyway, this is probably really boring for anyone not interested in this stuff but I have been craving intellectual stimulation for SO long. So it's really exciting to finally get it.
The other project, which is far less exciting but does utilized my under-resourced skills of organization, is to compile an updated and organized database of members and their contact information. Yayyyy spreadsheets.
And on a slightly different note, on Thursday we all went to see Annie's dance performance. She was in a senior project for one of the TA's in her dance class. The show was called "In Between Their Thighs" and it was about the slave trade and the rapes that occured because of it. Annie, being the Oboroni that she is, was a European slave trader. Now this show was way intense and very, very upsetting in the graphic portrayal of some of the things that happened. But the most upsetting part? The Ghanaians in the audience laughed and cheered through both rape scenes. I'm not kidding. It actually happens. And it took all of my willpower not to turn around and punch some of those boys in the face. UGH. Sometimes the insensitivity here makes me want to scream.
Anyway. Yesterday was Halloween and I have to say, I had a very American Halloween... Denise, Kym and I went shopping for costumes/things we needed to make our costumes for most of the morning and then we all got together and worked on them. I was a water bag (the things we buy for 5 cents on every street corner from the girls with bowls on their head yelling YASSSSSS PYUUUUU WATAAAAAH. - translation: Yes (or Ice) Pure Water.) I crafted it entirely myself and I have to say, I'm quite proud of the finished product. Kym was Facebook and she walked around all night bringing people together, breaking them up, reporting on various conversations our friends were having, and making people write on her wall. Annie was coming straight from her dance show so she was just going to keep her makeup on and be a man. Jenny was a baby turtle! And my personal favorites were... Lauren and Denise as John McCain and Sarah Palin (respectively). Holy crap, was their costume funny. Who knew that deep down, Lauren really did look like John McCain?? They made a ton of fliers to hand out to people and they campaigned their way up and down that party like it was their job. Which, in a sense, it was.
I cannot TELL you how UNBELIEVABLY excited I am for Tuesday. Well, I could write it all in CAPS to tell you, but that would just be really annoying. So I'm really excited. Really, really excited. We are going to some party thrown by the NYU kids Tuesday night and then taking a quick nap and getting up at 4 AM (11PM EST) to watch the results roll in. Can't wait.
So I'm going to go get ready for my crazy night. Tonight me and the other 3 non-vegetarians in our group are going to a South African game restaurant. Springbok? Yes. Zebra? You bet. I'll report back on the spectrum of deliciousity.
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