I've had one class so far that actually met, which was Medical Sociology. Apparently professors rarely show up for the first week of classes. The one class I did have it was quite difficult to understand the professor since the lecture room has open sides and back and is right next to a road so there was a lot of noise. So I'll try to get closer to the front. We've also had lectures that CIEE organizes just giving us a general introduction to different aspects of Ghana. The one we had on Tuesday was about Religion in West Africa and was fascinating. While it was probably just skimming the surface of things it touched on traditional beliefs and how these have influenced how Christianity is interpreted (Ghanan is over 60 percent christian). Very interesting way of seeing the world! They believe that there are Gods behind nearly every natural phenomenon, for example the River God is responsible for making the rivers flow. Nothing is purely physical. Even tradecrafts have Gods. For example there could be a carpentry God and if you do a bad carpentry job then you offend this God. All these subservient Gods answer to a Supreme God, who people rarely address directly, except in case of emergency. Then we also learned about the role of ancestors in villages, how people who live lives according to the morals and beliefs of the village join a community of ancestors after they die that looks after the village and protects against evil spirits. Anyway, I found it interesting.
Yesterday was our day to lose power (everybody loses power once every 5 days to conserve) so, after dinner, Zach and I hung out at the house and sat with a lantern in the kitchen talking with Ayaow and Ablenyo, two of our "sisters" (both in their twenties) as well as with Stephanie, Abigail and Jaden, three of the small kids in the house. Stephanie and Abigail did performances for us, singing everything from Shakira to christmas carols, all with syncronized dances, using flash lights for microphones. they tried to teach me some shakira dances, and everyone got a kick out of that, watching the "obruni" or foreigner dancing terribly. Jaden, the five-year old, is fascinated by the guitar so earlier in the day we spent some time playing, me fingering the chords and Jaden strumming away. I think he has better rhythm than I do. I feel that the family is gradually warming up to us, at least the younger members. Grace, our host mother, came into our room a couple days ago and said, "hello, I am going to Kenya." Surprised, we asked, "when?" She said, "Now." So Grace is off in Kenya, coming back sometime in February. Part of the reason for the liveliness last night was that Charlie was gone. Charlie, the elderly head of the household, is a large man with a deep, intimidating voice. He sits and yells for Ablenyo or Ayaow to come and get something for him. Eating with him is quite an experience, as he eats incredible portions and expects you to do the same, shoveling food on your plate, all the while yelling for people to get him various things. Its not the most relaxing thing in the world. But since it's his house and he supports everyone who's there, they all wait on him quite loyally. And I think he's a nice guy deep down. But when he leaves, people come out of the woodwork and can finally relax and the house livens up a bit.
The food so far has been mostly good, with a couple exceptions. Usually for breakfast we'll just have some bread and maybe fruit from across the street along with Milo, a hot-chocolate-esque energy drink. But we've tried a couple more traditional dishes for supper and those have been a little iffy, particularly since I don't like fish. We tried fufu, which is gooey, tasteless dough made from plantains covered with palm nut soup. Sounds better than it is, unless you really like fish. But pretty much anywhere you can get fried chicken with jollof rice, which is kind of like spanish rice and that's always a safe bet. While initially I was a little worried, I'm starting to be very glad I got a homestay. We are also becoming friends with Alex, one of our host brothrs who is also a student at the university.
On Sunday, Zach and I took a tro-tro into Accra to explore. Tro-tros, as I think I mentioned earlier, are big vans with odd biblical quotes in bright yellow letters stuck on the front and rear windows. Anyway, they drive along and the "mate" or drivers assistant leans out the window yelling the destination. There are a variety of hand signals that people on the side of the road make to indicate where they want to go and the right tro tro will pull over if there's space. Anyway, tro-tros are incredibly cheap at 3000 cedis which amounts to about 30 cents. Anyway, in Accra, which, without traffic, is about 20 minutes from where we live, we walked towards the coast, through Jamestown, the old colonial center of Accra. We soon got to this huge covered market with filled with people selling vegetables from booths. There were chickens and goats all over and a lot of people just sitting around, some playing checkers, some listening to the radio. It being Sunday, we passed a couple church services, held under tents with all the women on one side in matching black and white dresses and all the men on the other side, listening to music played on the stereo. The covered market opened to a wide dirt street filled with kids playing and adults sitting on the sides. Kids would run up to us and hold our hand which was nice but I also felt a little uneasy with it feeling like "why do we deserve their affection more than anyone else?" But i guess they were just curious, us looking so different and all. Eventually the dirt road came out on High Street, right by the old Jamestown Fort and lighthouse. These are both perched high above the ocean and, standing next to old rusted cannons pointing seaward, we looked down at the fishing market and harbor below. In the harbor, there were probably a hundred of the long wooden fishing boats mored around a long pier. The ocean was quiet and faded into the haze after about half a mile. It was quite a sight but almost didn't seem real, it was like I was watching a movie. My cousin Emily gave me some very good advice which I am trying to follow and that is not to be too introspective and try to revel in simply being here. Anyway, we walked along High Street which follows the ocean until it came to the sign for a bar that had been recommended to us by another CIEE kid. To get there you walk towards the ocean past a couple dirt soccer fields with kids playing then down some stone steps to a patio built into the seaside cliffs. You can sit just above where the waves break on the rocky cliffs and sip a beer or have some food. On the right is the fishing harbor and on the left the coast curves first in then out. Very cool place. Afterwards we headed back.
Also on Sunday we washed laundry by hand for the first time. I was a failure. After two hours I'd finished a pair of pants and three t-shirts.
There are times where I love it here and also times when I really want to be back home. It's getting hotter and hotter as the hamatan is lifting, making the sun more direct. As I'm getting more settled I find I have less and less desire to hang out with the CIEE group. There are definitly some kids who I enjoy spending time with and want to take some trips with but I definitely don't feel like I have to spend every waking minute with them. I think the people are more likely to engage you if you're by yourself and personally it's sometimes nice not to have to worry about making conversation with anybody and just taking it all in. Anyways hope wells with everyone
love
Phil
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
a week in ghana
first, thank you very much for all the emails and comments i received. i can't tell you how much it meant to me.
anyway today i finally moved into my homestay along with zach, another ciee kid who is living in the same house. i was initially a bit disappointed that we were both going to be living there as it had the potential to perhaps lessen the degree of immersion i'd feel. but we get along well so far its actually been nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to talk with about our experiences. another plus is that we are within walking distance of the university. the walk takes us through a small market and past several small shops run out of shacks. im hoping to eventually start to recognize some of the residents. we are also only about a ten minute walk from the ciee house, which is a house that ciee rents which ten ciee kids share. it's like real world accra. we've been there a couple times and its become kind of the communal hangout for ciee kids. so while i was worried about being isolated from ciee kids, i dont think that is going to be a problem.
as for our homestay house, it's quite big and luxurious. im not sure im getting the typical ghanaian experience in terms of living conditions. there's ac and power and the house is seperated from the surrounding neighborhood by a tall white wall. my host mother, grace, runs an adjacent textile mill, batique (sp?) shop and clothing store. so although all my host parents children are currently in the US studying (one's at gw) the compound is always bustling. often the driveway is covered with colorful fabrics drying in the sun. additionally, my host parents have taken in a bunch of neices and nephews and other relatives so there are plenty of kids around. there's a big fruit stand across the street which sells mangos, papayas, bananas, pinepples and other stuff that i dont recognize. also there's a small supermarket down the street a bit run by a friendly guy named jerry.
we got a tour of the university the day before yesterday and began registration yesterday. the campus is enormous and spacious, home to 27,000 students. it is really its own little town, with markets, vendors, a bank, food court, etc. the buildings are white with red roofs. im pretty sure they were built during colonial times (which ended 50 years ago) so they are elegant though a bit tired and neglected. the library similarly has some nice courtyards and open balconies but relatively few books and the ones they have are very outdated. all the buildings are very open with lots of open windows and doors so there's always a breeze. large trees provide plenty of shade. everything is pretty dry because of the time of year. the main road gradually climbs a hill that circles around a big lecture hall at the top. while the view from the top isnt great at the moment because of hamatan (dust from the sahara), it's got potential, with the increasingly rural landscape to the north.
the registration process is interesting, you have to go to each department, look at bulletins for what classes are being offered, wait in line, then sign a book to get a class. luckily english, history and philosophy weren't particularly popular so i didnt have to wait in line for too long. our director recommended signing up for more classes than you plan to take since the quality of lecture apparently varies quite a bit. at the moment im signed up for Intro to African Literature, African philosophy, history of western medicine in ghana, medical sociology, a polisci class called africa and the global system and a twi language class. i'll probably drop one of these. each class meets for a two hour block once a week, so i think i'll have plenty of free time. i plan on finding at least one place to volunteer once i finalize my schedule.
many of the ciee kids seem like very interesting people. some people ive met so far are zach, who's from wolfeboro NH and goes to vassar. mollie, whose brother went to middlesex school and dated harry's sister, and lauren who goes to the university of colorado. im trying to figure how to balance developing friendships with ciee kids while still getting the full ghanaian experience. i think part of the interesting aspect of travel for me is being isolated from my own culture. i think this helps me uncover which parts of my personality and identity are real and which are a result of trying to conform to societal expectations. anyway, im not sure that can happen to the same extent if im surrounded by americans. at the same time, i dont want to miss out on making friends with some seemingly neat people. it is very nice to have people who you feel comfortable with and this is much more easily accomplished with people who are at least in some way similar. but all the emails i have gotten have reminded me that ive got people back in the states so its not the end of the world if no friendships develop. that was a very big reassurance. so thanks again
just some general observations on ghana so far. ive obviously not been hear long so these may be completely inaccurate. it's quite a patriarchal society and it seems kind of rare for friendships to exist between guys and girls that aren't romantic. the girls in our program get endless catcalls and even frequent marriage proposals from guys. some of the girls bought cheap wedding rings to deflect some of the attention. anway its getting late and my coherence is decreasing so im going to call it quits.
thats all for now, im sorry its very difficult to fully describe what its like here, love phil
anyway today i finally moved into my homestay along with zach, another ciee kid who is living in the same house. i was initially a bit disappointed that we were both going to be living there as it had the potential to perhaps lessen the degree of immersion i'd feel. but we get along well so far its actually been nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to talk with about our experiences. another plus is that we are within walking distance of the university. the walk takes us through a small market and past several small shops run out of shacks. im hoping to eventually start to recognize some of the residents. we are also only about a ten minute walk from the ciee house, which is a house that ciee rents which ten ciee kids share. it's like real world accra. we've been there a couple times and its become kind of the communal hangout for ciee kids. so while i was worried about being isolated from ciee kids, i dont think that is going to be a problem.
as for our homestay house, it's quite big and luxurious. im not sure im getting the typical ghanaian experience in terms of living conditions. there's ac and power and the house is seperated from the surrounding neighborhood by a tall white wall. my host mother, grace, runs an adjacent textile mill, batique (sp?) shop and clothing store. so although all my host parents children are currently in the US studying (one's at gw) the compound is always bustling. often the driveway is covered with colorful fabrics drying in the sun. additionally, my host parents have taken in a bunch of neices and nephews and other relatives so there are plenty of kids around. there's a big fruit stand across the street which sells mangos, papayas, bananas, pinepples and other stuff that i dont recognize. also there's a small supermarket down the street a bit run by a friendly guy named jerry.
we got a tour of the university the day before yesterday and began registration yesterday. the campus is enormous and spacious, home to 27,000 students. it is really its own little town, with markets, vendors, a bank, food court, etc. the buildings are white with red roofs. im pretty sure they were built during colonial times (which ended 50 years ago) so they are elegant though a bit tired and neglected. the library similarly has some nice courtyards and open balconies but relatively few books and the ones they have are very outdated. all the buildings are very open with lots of open windows and doors so there's always a breeze. large trees provide plenty of shade. everything is pretty dry because of the time of year. the main road gradually climbs a hill that circles around a big lecture hall at the top. while the view from the top isnt great at the moment because of hamatan (dust from the sahara), it's got potential, with the increasingly rural landscape to the north.
the registration process is interesting, you have to go to each department, look at bulletins for what classes are being offered, wait in line, then sign a book to get a class. luckily english, history and philosophy weren't particularly popular so i didnt have to wait in line for too long. our director recommended signing up for more classes than you plan to take since the quality of lecture apparently varies quite a bit. at the moment im signed up for Intro to African Literature, African philosophy, history of western medicine in ghana, medical sociology, a polisci class called africa and the global system and a twi language class. i'll probably drop one of these. each class meets for a two hour block once a week, so i think i'll have plenty of free time. i plan on finding at least one place to volunteer once i finalize my schedule.
many of the ciee kids seem like very interesting people. some people ive met so far are zach, who's from wolfeboro NH and goes to vassar. mollie, whose brother went to middlesex school and dated harry's sister, and lauren who goes to the university of colorado. im trying to figure how to balance developing friendships with ciee kids while still getting the full ghanaian experience. i think part of the interesting aspect of travel for me is being isolated from my own culture. i think this helps me uncover which parts of my personality and identity are real and which are a result of trying to conform to societal expectations. anyway, im not sure that can happen to the same extent if im surrounded by americans. at the same time, i dont want to miss out on making friends with some seemingly neat people. it is very nice to have people who you feel comfortable with and this is much more easily accomplished with people who are at least in some way similar. but all the emails i have gotten have reminded me that ive got people back in the states so its not the end of the world if no friendships develop. that was a very big reassurance. so thanks again
just some general observations on ghana so far. ive obviously not been hear long so these may be completely inaccurate. it's quite a patriarchal society and it seems kind of rare for friendships to exist between guys and girls that aren't romantic. the girls in our program get endless catcalls and even frequent marriage proposals from guys. some of the girls bought cheap wedding rings to deflect some of the attention. anway its getting late and my coherence is decreasing so im going to call it quits.
thats all for now, im sorry its very difficult to fully describe what its like here, love phil
Sunday, January 14, 2007
In Ghana
I arrived the night of the tenth and crashed at a hostel in downtown Accra. It's quite warm here and the air smells like a mix of fires and palm trees. Anyway, the next day I took a walk around downtown Accra. Upon leaving the hostel, I immediately felt quite out of place. Everyone on the busy sidewalks stared at me and every taxi that went by honked at me, assuming I was lost. I felt quite self-conscious. Almost every group of people I passed tried to engage me in conversation, something that I found exhausting. Most people when I made eye contact with them smiled and greeted me very kindly but there was occasional hostility as well, as one guy said to me, "This is a black man's country." Yikes.
Anyway, the sidewalks were packed with vendors sitting on the ground selling everything from onions to plantain (grilled bananas) to shoes. Few of the buildings here are above two stories therefore palm trees are often the highest point on the horizon, silhouetted against the perpetually hazy sky. The main roads are paved but alleys and sidestreets are dirt so the air is filled with a mix of dust and exhaust. Pedestrians mix with traffic in the crowded streets selling things to cars. I saw a bunch of men and women walking around balancing sacks on their heads.
Completely overwhelmed, I soon got lost and it was a couple hours before I found my way back to the hostel. When I arrived, they informed me that I'd have to find another place to stay, as someone had reserved my room. I looked through my guidebook and took a taxi to a beach-front hostel that's in the suburbs, about 30 minutes from Accra. Upon arriving, I walked down from High Road, past several huts situated on the sand dunes until I came to the entrance of a shaded compound. I was greeted with complex handshakes by the two rastifarians who run the place. They are also reggae musicians in a local band. Anyway the place was nice, with a patio overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately you can't go swimming on most of the beaches here cause they double as toilets for the locals. But there was no smell and it was a nice view. In the morning you can see pirogues, or the long sleek traditional fishing boats, slipping by at the edge of the fog. The rest of the day I hung out at the hostel, watching TV with the rastifarians. It's a lot to take in and I get tired pretty quick.
The next day, rejuvenated, I set out to explore Accra again. I took a taxi to the Osu neighborhood, which was a bit more touristy than the area I'd been in before. I then walked to a public beach and had lunch on the beach. Walking back along the coastal road, I helped a couple guys push their car to a local mechanic. By the evening the sun was a bright orange ball in grey sky and the haze had thickened. When I returned to the hostel, the rastifarians were watching Lord of the Rings. Lying on my bed, I could hear a nearby outdoor church service with the whole congregation singing.
It was nice but I felt, and still feel, a bit homesick, much more than I do at college. I miss my family and friends from back home quite a bit and feel a very long way from them. While I'm awkward at home, here the gap in cultures magnifies this extraordinarily. I dont want to have to start over making friends and getting to know people, but I suppose I'll have to. But at the moment Im feeling quite lonely.
Today, people from CIEE started showing up. I went out to lunch with the first four to a nearby chinese restaurant (chinese restaurants are everywhere here). they all seemed nice though, them being girls, the pace of conversation was incredibly fast and I could barely keep up with it. After lunch, Kwaku's son (Kwaku is a friend from the states who's from ghana), Raymond, came by and took me to meet some of their relatives in the area. I first met Ama's (Kwaku's wife) sister and her daughter then to Kwaku's brother. They also helped me get a Ghanaian cell phone. They were all quite friendly and welcoming.
By tonight, many of the CIEE people have arrived. It feels like the first week of freshman year all over again. We have an orientation dinner tonight at ten and I think tomorrow we'll go see the university.
I will post again soon,
love
Phil
Anyway, the sidewalks were packed with vendors sitting on the ground selling everything from onions to plantain (grilled bananas) to shoes. Few of the buildings here are above two stories therefore palm trees are often the highest point on the horizon, silhouetted against the perpetually hazy sky. The main roads are paved but alleys and sidestreets are dirt so the air is filled with a mix of dust and exhaust. Pedestrians mix with traffic in the crowded streets selling things to cars. I saw a bunch of men and women walking around balancing sacks on their heads.
Completely overwhelmed, I soon got lost and it was a couple hours before I found my way back to the hostel. When I arrived, they informed me that I'd have to find another place to stay, as someone had reserved my room. I looked through my guidebook and took a taxi to a beach-front hostel that's in the suburbs, about 30 minutes from Accra. Upon arriving, I walked down from High Road, past several huts situated on the sand dunes until I came to the entrance of a shaded compound. I was greeted with complex handshakes by the two rastifarians who run the place. They are also reggae musicians in a local band. Anyway the place was nice, with a patio overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately you can't go swimming on most of the beaches here cause they double as toilets for the locals. But there was no smell and it was a nice view. In the morning you can see pirogues, or the long sleek traditional fishing boats, slipping by at the edge of the fog. The rest of the day I hung out at the hostel, watching TV with the rastifarians. It's a lot to take in and I get tired pretty quick.
The next day, rejuvenated, I set out to explore Accra again. I took a taxi to the Osu neighborhood, which was a bit more touristy than the area I'd been in before. I then walked to a public beach and had lunch on the beach. Walking back along the coastal road, I helped a couple guys push their car to a local mechanic. By the evening the sun was a bright orange ball in grey sky and the haze had thickened. When I returned to the hostel, the rastifarians were watching Lord of the Rings. Lying on my bed, I could hear a nearby outdoor church service with the whole congregation singing.
It was nice but I felt, and still feel, a bit homesick, much more than I do at college. I miss my family and friends from back home quite a bit and feel a very long way from them. While I'm awkward at home, here the gap in cultures magnifies this extraordinarily. I dont want to have to start over making friends and getting to know people, but I suppose I'll have to. But at the moment Im feeling quite lonely.
Today, people from CIEE started showing up. I went out to lunch with the first four to a nearby chinese restaurant (chinese restaurants are everywhere here). they all seemed nice though, them being girls, the pace of conversation was incredibly fast and I could barely keep up with it. After lunch, Kwaku's son (Kwaku is a friend from the states who's from ghana), Raymond, came by and took me to meet some of their relatives in the area. I first met Ama's (Kwaku's wife) sister and her daughter then to Kwaku's brother. They also helped me get a Ghanaian cell phone. They were all quite friendly and welcoming.
By tonight, many of the CIEE people have arrived. It feels like the first week of freshman year all over again. We have an orientation dinner tonight at ten and I think tomorrow we'll go see the university.
I will post again soon,
love
Phil
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