Hello everybody!
Well, I’m not quite sure I remember everything that I wrote last week, so if I repeat anything, just smile and nod. I think the honeymoon stage of my culture shock is pretty much over, but now the quality of the good days is just that much better. I have not gotten sick yet, even though we ate rice with rocks in it last week (blessings on the food have a whole new meaning to me now). I think I’ll just go through some of the details.
I finally ran out of my 15 lb sashe water pack. It is a brand called B20, but we all call it “BO” because it has the hose water taste. I was very excited to purchase a new pack of a different sort. I decided on a bag called “Emanuel.” I should have figured with a shady name like that I was doomed to disappointment. It is the only sashe brand worse than BO. Oh well. Another week or so and it will be gone. It is amazing what your body can do when you have no other choice. Food wise too. I think I eat bread and oranges all day. And even when you don’t like food, you have to finish all of it. You can’t just not. Especially with phrases like “eat your dinner, there are starving children in Africa” looming in the back of our minds.
Lets see. Oh! We had our first day of church. Maybe I am a little biased because I have never been to a branch opposed to a ward, but it was not quite the experience I anticipated. Outside of the church there are babies with yellowing eyes like iodine and chipping bare feet. The children inside are not much different. A hand-me-down dress (of a few generations), a torn pair of jeans, a bleach stained shirt, and a once white dress with a missing sleeve is a typical sampling of their Sunday best. The mothers too. A tie-dyed skirt with a mismatched blouse with some English saying that no one pretends to understands. Half of the men wear child sized Christmas ties, the other half cannot properly tie them, and perhaps that is because they know something that we at home do not. Something that we may have forgot. Hard to say. Relief Society was the lowest part for me though. We had a lesson from an expired manual on Chastity on modesty. I shared the only spare book with a pregnant girl who looked about fifteen next to me. We had to explain what chastity meant. It does not really translate culturally. Someone needs to get these guys an updated book, that is for sure. We read, then reread random segments of the lesson. No one could really understand. And I didn’t want them to. Then a Bible bashing woman came to interrupt the meeting, and it was over.
Walking down the stairs I muttered a frustrated prayer. Why do I come from a land where the chapel benches are cushy, and a piano is always there to accompany? Is the God of love also the same wherever you go? I got my answer. The children came pouring out and greeted all of us. They gave us hugs, kissed our checks, and combed through our hair. The girls I met were teaching me hand-slapping games. No translator needed. We laughed and laughed. I was smiling so much my cheeks ached that night. God is the same no matter where you go.
This is going to be a long email I am realizing. Maybe it is just stuff that I need to work through. I also met another little kid who really touched me. I’m not really the maternal type (or so I thought) but these kids are beautiful! This little boy is named Akwasi. If you check out my blog obrunithroughghana.blogspot.com, there are pictures of him in a turquoise torn short. Getting my camera out again was a great fix. Akwasi lives right behind me, and I’m sure you will be seeing more of him.
My project is also going really well. As of yesterday that is. I met a little girl named Esther who is very interested in learning how to read and write poetry. She is a general art student, and since the school does not teach literature, we are all getting together at noon on Saturday where I can teach my very first lesson! It was so amazing, teaching her about similes and a metaphors, while she read aloud the native language parts of the poem we read together. Really really touching. She took me to lunch with her, and I had my first eating with my hands opportunity. She held my hand (sign of friendship here, even the guys all hold hands) and taught me how to eat out of the same bowl as her, which is the traditional way. I was pretty shy about it at first. I scooped up some food, and then turned it over in my left hand. I forgot that the left hand is not supposed to be used (it is a dirty hand) and I got a fair scolding for it. We all had a good laugh, I got some good food, and then when it was over, Esther wiped off my face with her hand like I was a child. And I felt like a child. Everyday when I get on that yellow bus for school I feel like I am attending Kindergarten for the first time again.
And for the grand finale…. I got my hair braided last night! It took three hours of pulling, wincing, and squirming, and then a few surprises tacked on the end. Apparently after they braid in the hair extensions (which are black and purple… hehe) they torch your hair. I had no idea what they were doing at first, and all of my friends were off doing their own thing. I starting doing a little high pitched panic “uh…guys!?” call, and Chase came running out with a camera, while Maggie talked me through it. So yeah. They torch the fly away hairs to seal it off. Good to know…Just when I thought I reached the end, they started boiling water to put on my head. No burnage here, but I guess that is the step that makes you hair soft. But alas, it is done! It feels so nice to get it out of my face, but it is really really heavy. It took a TON of hair too. They had never seen so much hair before. I already have three headfulls of hair, but my ponytail is about a fist and a half thick. I now look like a video game character. The best part? It cost me ten dollars. When I got my hair black and purple last summer it cost me 80. Love it. Well… maybe I’ll save that thought until I see what my hair looks like when the braids come out. I can’t get them wet either. No washing. Mmmmmm….
If you made it to the end, congratulations! Thanks again for your prayers, love, and support. Missing you all!
Rach/Shelley/Aqua
Oh, and for my proposal of the week! “I marry you… for free.” How romantic.
Weekly favorite business name? "National Health Insurance Scheme"
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Ready, Get Set, Go!
Yesterday I decided to check out the secondary school library as a sanctuary from the incessant flirting teachers and frustrations that come with language barriers. I skimmed the skimpy shelves, took inventory, searching for books in Twi. When I failed to find one, I asked the sleeping librarian, “Do you have any books in Twi?”
He pulled his head off the desk, the big “No Sleeping” sign in perfect view behind him, and gave me a blank stare.
“Do you have any books in Twi?” I repeated.
Then his face lit up, he rose, and went straight way to the “Chemistry” shelf, drawing out the book Agricultural Science. A textbook on trees.
I politely sat down and pretended it was what I wanted. The librarian left to weed the back of the building with his machete, and I made eye contact with the only soul in the room. A 16 year old girl named Esther I came to find out. Out on her desk she had a book of poems by Kofi Anyidoho. One of the books on my reading list. She made my day, and maybe my whole field study. Turns out she is a general art student, struggling to understand poetry because literature is not taught at school. We read through the poem “A Harvest of Our Dreams” together. Me, teaching her about symbols, similes, and metaphors, and her, reading the native stanzas, correcting my name pronunciation. It was amazing. She went and grabbed some friends, and we have organized to have my first teaching lesson at 12 on Saturday. They might even be as excited as I am. It is humbling to know that I get to teach these girls about their own literary renaissance, and that I get to learn from them in return.
Before we left for lunch, one of the girls, Evelyn, went curiously searching through my jottings. At the top of the page I had written, “First day all alone,” referring to Rachel Morison’s absence. She looked at me, smiled, and assured me, “you are no longer alone.”
Ava
He pulled his head off the desk, the big “No Sleeping” sign in perfect view behind him, and gave me a blank stare.
“Do you have any books in Twi?” I repeated.
Then his face lit up, he rose, and went straight way to the “Chemistry” shelf, drawing out the book Agricultural Science. A textbook on trees.
I politely sat down and pretended it was what I wanted. The librarian left to weed the back of the building with his machete, and I made eye contact with the only soul in the room. A 16 year old girl named Esther I came to find out. Out on her desk she had a book of poems by Kofi Anyidoho. One of the books on my reading list. She made my day, and maybe my whole field study. Turns out she is a general art student, struggling to understand poetry because literature is not taught at school. We read through the poem “A Harvest of Our Dreams” together. Me, teaching her about symbols, similes, and metaphors, and her, reading the native stanzas, correcting my name pronunciation. It was amazing. She went and grabbed some friends, and we have organized to have my first teaching lesson at 12 on Saturday. They might even be as excited as I am. It is humbling to know that I get to teach these girls about their own literary renaissance, and that I get to learn from them in return.
Before we left for lunch, one of the girls, Evelyn, went curiously searching through my jottings. At the top of the page I had written, “First day all alone,” referring to Rachel Morison’s absence. She looked at me, smiled, and assured me, “you are no longer alone.”
Ava
Friday, May 21, 2010
Email Home- "Greetings From Ghana!"
Hello Everybody!
I am in much better spirits since I last wrote. I feel bad, that morning was the day that I woke up going "what... have....I...done." Things are very happy now. I'll just kind of go through and start listing. There is so much! It is so overwhelming!
Okay, for starters, I am safe. Alive. And well. Our living conditions sure are different, but that is a good thing. Esther (our landlady) has a niece named Christiana that comes over and helps us cook and teaches us the ropes. She cooks us dinner Mon-Thursday, so tonight we are on our own, which could be interesting. This morning we tried to cook oatmeal... which turned out rather... interesting...
Okay, and this is just kind of funny to me, but we drink water out of little bags of water called saches. I bought a brand that tastes like warm summer hose water. Not my favorite flavor. Anyways, you just bite a corner off and have at it. I have managed to spill mine on several occasions, including squirting it in mine, and the person next to me on the tro tro's eyes. Everyone likes to sit next to me.
Food is good. I was scared at first. There is nothing familiar about it. No chips. No oreos. No chocolate bars. No Noodles and Company. Even the bread is weird. But the bread grew on me, and I found some fried dough that is naturally bad for me, but it tastes good, so I am good to go on snacks. Maybe I might even learn to cook. Gain the patience to cook. Yes. This could be a very good thing.
Oh and do we have bugs. Not just any bugs though. These are straight up biology text book bugs. The first night there was a black spider the size of my palm outside of my room. It was disgusting. I keep looking for it everywhere I turn in the house now. But yeah. I am getting better at squishing them. And Nate, one of the boys with me, is really nice about taking care of them.
We do have electricity, but only about 10 percent of the time. So far, we have only had it for one night. No fans. And my favorite part? No water. Granted we don't really use the water for anything but showering, and bucket showers are fine, but Esther had an obruni (white man) flushing toilet instaleld for us. We are all very worried and unhappy about this. First of all, this is not a typical toilet. No toilet paper can be flushed down. But if you have no water, you have to try to flush it with buckets of rain water. It works maybe 1 out of 5 times. I quite enjoy the hole in the ground. It is fast. Reliable. And I know exactly what I will get back from it. No surprises. Needless to say, my bathroom phobia is also going away.
Another interesting thing here is everyone wakes up at 5, and goes to bed super early. We have been averaging about 9 PM bedtime. It is the only time in the day when it is cool though, so everyone is up and ready. I'm not sure I have ever been okay about waking up so early. We have roosters that start going off at 3 and 4ish though, so that hour of sleep does not count. A few of us have started exercising in the mornings. Running and such. Today was yoga, and it was quite nice. I might get more into that when I get home. Maybe I might learn to relax. :) (PS, Okasan and Daddy that positive thinking journal is turning out great! Thank you again!)
Laundry this week was also one of the highlights of my week. It is such a humbling experience, and so intimate. It is one of the perks that got lost with the modernization of the washing machine. It takes a few hours to do everything, but you have so much time to sit and talk. They are so careful with water usage too. The whole batch of clothes only took two buckets of water. When we were finished, Christiana actually mopped up the spilled water from the concrete and drained it into the flowers. They have big buckets that pick up the rain water and everything. No water goes wasted here. (Do you remember that lectura in Spanish Roberto? yeah. These things happen!)
Lets see. I got a mosquito net. But it keeps falling in and knocking me on the head at night, so that is fun. It is blue, as well as the walls, so everything is this neon cobalt color. I really like it. There are so many bright colors here. I cannot wait until I am comfortable enough to get my camera out.
Also, my research is coming along nicely. Well. Relitavely. Yesterday was my first day at the secondary school. There are 2,000 students there. Hardly what I was expecting. I felt like Brittany Spears or something. Everyone swarmed us. Stared at us. Turned on the fans for us when we came in. Touched our skin, felt my hair. It was crazy! I have had to change my name to Shelley at the school too, because no one can say Rachel, and the other girl working there is named Rachel. It is odd trying to change your name. I keep forgetting. Anyways. The school rooms were very interesting. Teachers can cane their kids here, which is different. And the desks look like little antique desks that you would fine in the pioneer village at Lagoon. It was such a great experience. I can't wait to get to know the teachers better and start teaching creative writing. To make the celebrity day even worse, on my walk home three kids came up to me and asked for my autograph. Then, each grabbed my hand and kissed it. How does this even happen, that some nobody can come over here and be the biggest thing in town? It is kind of weird for someone who does not like attention, but yeah. Intersting. I think i expected more hostility or something, especially with Cape Coast and those monstrous slave castles just miles down the road. People are not like that here though. I feel very safe, and I am sure this will be a great experience for me.
Thank you for your love, emails, and support. I love and miss you all!
Rach
Oh, and I have had my first proposal, which was eventful.
I am in much better spirits since I last wrote. I feel bad, that morning was the day that I woke up going "what... have....I...done." Things are very happy now. I'll just kind of go through and start listing. There is so much! It is so overwhelming!
Okay, for starters, I am safe. Alive. And well. Our living conditions sure are different, but that is a good thing. Esther (our landlady) has a niece named Christiana that comes over and helps us cook and teaches us the ropes. She cooks us dinner Mon-Thursday, so tonight we are on our own, which could be interesting. This morning we tried to cook oatmeal... which turned out rather... interesting...
Okay, and this is just kind of funny to me, but we drink water out of little bags of water called saches. I bought a brand that tastes like warm summer hose water. Not my favorite flavor. Anyways, you just bite a corner off and have at it. I have managed to spill mine on several occasions, including squirting it in mine, and the person next to me on the tro tro's eyes. Everyone likes to sit next to me.
Food is good. I was scared at first. There is nothing familiar about it. No chips. No oreos. No chocolate bars. No Noodles and Company. Even the bread is weird. But the bread grew on me, and I found some fried dough that is naturally bad for me, but it tastes good, so I am good to go on snacks. Maybe I might even learn to cook. Gain the patience to cook. Yes. This could be a very good thing.
Oh and do we have bugs. Not just any bugs though. These are straight up biology text book bugs. The first night there was a black spider the size of my palm outside of my room. It was disgusting. I keep looking for it everywhere I turn in the house now. But yeah. I am getting better at squishing them. And Nate, one of the boys with me, is really nice about taking care of them.
We do have electricity, but only about 10 percent of the time. So far, we have only had it for one night. No fans. And my favorite part? No water. Granted we don't really use the water for anything but showering, and bucket showers are fine, but Esther had an obruni (white man) flushing toilet instaleld for us. We are all very worried and unhappy about this. First of all, this is not a typical toilet. No toilet paper can be flushed down. But if you have no water, you have to try to flush it with buckets of rain water. It works maybe 1 out of 5 times. I quite enjoy the hole in the ground. It is fast. Reliable. And I know exactly what I will get back from it. No surprises. Needless to say, my bathroom phobia is also going away.
Another interesting thing here is everyone wakes up at 5, and goes to bed super early. We have been averaging about 9 PM bedtime. It is the only time in the day when it is cool though, so everyone is up and ready. I'm not sure I have ever been okay about waking up so early. We have roosters that start going off at 3 and 4ish though, so that hour of sleep does not count. A few of us have started exercising in the mornings. Running and such. Today was yoga, and it was quite nice. I might get more into that when I get home. Maybe I might learn to relax. :) (PS, Okasan and Daddy that positive thinking journal is turning out great! Thank you again!)
Laundry this week was also one of the highlights of my week. It is such a humbling experience, and so intimate. It is one of the perks that got lost with the modernization of the washing machine. It takes a few hours to do everything, but you have so much time to sit and talk. They are so careful with water usage too. The whole batch of clothes only took two buckets of water. When we were finished, Christiana actually mopped up the spilled water from the concrete and drained it into the flowers. They have big buckets that pick up the rain water and everything. No water goes wasted here. (Do you remember that lectura in Spanish Roberto? yeah. These things happen!)
Lets see. I got a mosquito net. But it keeps falling in and knocking me on the head at night, so that is fun. It is blue, as well as the walls, so everything is this neon cobalt color. I really like it. There are so many bright colors here. I cannot wait until I am comfortable enough to get my camera out.
Also, my research is coming along nicely. Well. Relitavely. Yesterday was my first day at the secondary school. There are 2,000 students there. Hardly what I was expecting. I felt like Brittany Spears or something. Everyone swarmed us. Stared at us. Turned on the fans for us when we came in. Touched our skin, felt my hair. It was crazy! I have had to change my name to Shelley at the school too, because no one can say Rachel, and the other girl working there is named Rachel. It is odd trying to change your name. I keep forgetting. Anyways. The school rooms were very interesting. Teachers can cane their kids here, which is different. And the desks look like little antique desks that you would fine in the pioneer village at Lagoon. It was such a great experience. I can't wait to get to know the teachers better and start teaching creative writing. To make the celebrity day even worse, on my walk home three kids came up to me and asked for my autograph. Then, each grabbed my hand and kissed it. How does this even happen, that some nobody can come over here and be the biggest thing in town? It is kind of weird for someone who does not like attention, but yeah. Intersting. I think i expected more hostility or something, especially with Cape Coast and those monstrous slave castles just miles down the road. People are not like that here though. I feel very safe, and I am sure this will be a great experience for me.
Thank you for your love, emails, and support. I love and miss you all!
Rach
Oh, and I have had my first proposal, which was eventful.
Kejatia Market
We weaved through the crack in the mud wall like ants. The narrow walkway of churned up rail roads, conglomerates of cement, and rust colored mud caked our dry sandals, following each other in a straight lines like ducks. To the left, a baby girl pissed in the open sewer gutter. A toothless vender selling second hand socks. A man grabs my wrist, touches my hair. I am real. I found a grocery store. Approached the cashier.
"Do you have an ATM."
Then a silent stare. Uncomprehendable chattering between the workers. Now I am the idiot in the store. Completely handicap to all social etiquette. I left. Who needs water. The sun so hot. My blood flowing like hot tar.
Then I got back. Asked Maggie for the phone, and stared at it for an hour or so. Calling. Hanging up. I left something back there. I'm not sure what. But I think I lost my voice. I don't know how I feel about Kejatia market.
Gipsy
"Do you have an ATM."
Then a silent stare. Uncomprehendable chattering between the workers. Now I am the idiot in the store. Completely handicap to all social etiquette. I left. Who needs water. The sun so hot. My blood flowing like hot tar.
Then I got back. Asked Maggie for the phone, and stared at it for an hour or so. Calling. Hanging up. I left something back there. I'm not sure what. But I think I lost my voice. I don't know how I feel about Kejatia market.
Gipsy
Where the Streets Have No Name
Well, I am here. Finally situated in Wiamoase. I cannot even begin to describe the scene. Yesterday was my first day in the secondary school (high school here), and I now know what it feels like to be famous for a day (maybe a few more). There are a thousand eyes staring at me at all times. Clapping. Shouting. Waving. People turn on the fans when I walk into the room. It is crazy! I am nobody, but here? I don't know. Myra is having a really hard time with the attention, but then she just sees some color harmony and her eyes light up like Christmas trees. Gypee is also pretty quite, still totally perplexed that she cannot describe the market.
On my way home from school I was stopped by three primary school children. The boy approached me first, asked me for my autograph, and then all three grabbed my hand and kissed it. I think I have a very vague sense of what the black man in the tabernacle choir feels like now.
Oh, and I have had two proposals so far. The general sequence of questions seems to be "How are you, what is your name, where are you from" and "are you married?"
Loves,
Ava
On my way home from school I was stopped by three primary school children. The boy approached me first, asked me for my autograph, and then all three grabbed my hand and kissed it. I think I have a very vague sense of what the black man in the tabernacle choir feels like now.
Oh, and I have had two proposals so far. The general sequence of questions seems to be "How are you, what is your name, where are you from" and "are you married?"
Loves,
Ava
Monday, May 17, 2010
Email Home- "Update!"
Hello Everybody!\
wow i hardly know where to start. this keyboard is really weird so please ignore the spelling and punctuation stuff. we have been staying in kumasi for the last two nights. it has the biggest market in west africa in it that we are checking out before we head for wiamoase, the village we are actually staying at.
lets see. our hotel was rather ineresting. i figured out that i really am a bit of a princess. the bed sheets were stained brown and yellow, and in one place, red whcih was awesome. my sheets were ripped in half, but i didn't use them anyways. yikes. it is so hot here. it feels like that feeling when you just get outo f the gym or done runing but you can never escape it. sweat just falls down your body all day long and you just get used to it i guess. i lay in bed for hours and hours before i finally fal asleep, and then a rooster always ges up at 3;45 each morning hahaha. it will be nice being in wiamoase, that is for sure. oh, and even though they had flushing toilets none of tem actually flushed, so it just stunk up everything. then there was the guy jerking off with the door open that i got to see....
but! on the good side, i am really loving the oportunity to get to know my group. we are all so different but it has been fun learning from each other about each other. yesterday we just sat around during the hot part of hte day and talked, napped, chilled, and it was so different than what i am used to. i guess there are a few of us in the group who are hoping to learn how to relax from this experience. that woldbe nice for everyone i am sure haha.
while i remember, thank you so so so much for the massage okasan. i think it definaely helped me in general for this whole week in transition. love you so much. :-)
so lets see.... the taxis are interesting. they always charge us more, but what can you do. so now we fit all 7 of us in, and that is all kinds of interesting for breaking down social barriers. today we are ridding a tro tro, whcih is basically a hollowed out van wehre they stick as many people and goats in as possible and just go. haha, so yeah. that will be fun.
it does not look like i am getting a phone today. but i did get my sim card so i will for sure be able to call next sunday. i'm thinking probababnly about the same time as yesterday? it sure was nice talking to you guys. i love and miss you all, and i feel like there is so much to tell. i can't wait till i can settle in and gather up my thuoghts so that i can better express them too you. just know that i am safe and will be the whole time i am here, and that i love you all.
loves,
rachel
wow i hardly know where to start. this keyboard is really weird so please ignore the spelling and punctuation stuff. we have been staying in kumasi for the last two nights. it has the biggest market in west africa in it that we are checking out before we head for wiamoase, the village we are actually staying at.
lets see. our hotel was rather ineresting. i figured out that i really am a bit of a princess. the bed sheets were stained brown and yellow, and in one place, red whcih was awesome. my sheets were ripped in half, but i didn't use them anyways. yikes. it is so hot here. it feels like that feeling when you just get outo f the gym or done runing but you can never escape it. sweat just falls down your body all day long and you just get used to it i guess. i lay in bed for hours and hours before i finally fal asleep, and then a rooster always ges up at 3;45 each morning hahaha. it will be nice being in wiamoase, that is for sure. oh, and even though they had flushing toilets none of tem actually flushed, so it just stunk up everything. then there was the guy jerking off with the door open that i got to see....
but! on the good side, i am really loving the oportunity to get to know my group. we are all so different but it has been fun learning from each other about each other. yesterday we just sat around during the hot part of hte day and talked, napped, chilled, and it was so different than what i am used to. i guess there are a few of us in the group who are hoping to learn how to relax from this experience. that woldbe nice for everyone i am sure haha.
while i remember, thank you so so so much for the massage okasan. i think it definaely helped me in general for this whole week in transition. love you so much. :-)
so lets see.... the taxis are interesting. they always charge us more, but what can you do. so now we fit all 7 of us in, and that is all kinds of interesting for breaking down social barriers. today we are ridding a tro tro, whcih is basically a hollowed out van wehre they stick as many people and goats in as possible and just go. haha, so yeah. that will be fun.
it does not look like i am getting a phone today. but i did get my sim card so i will for sure be able to call next sunday. i'm thinking probababnly about the same time as yesterday? it sure was nice talking to you guys. i love and miss you all, and i feel like there is so much to tell. i can't wait till i can settle in and gather up my thuoghts so that i can better express them too you. just know that i am safe and will be the whole time i am here, and that i love you all.
loves,
rachel
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