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.
No comments:
Post a Comment