So last I left off saying that we were going to get a tent on the beach. Well half of that happened. We went to the beach, but no tent. It was so fun! Seven of us - Leah, Marlee, Caroline, Marika, Jake, Catja, and me - impromptu-ly decided to go to Kokrobite (ko-kro-bee-tay) for the night and enjoy the beach. We all packed up our very touristy backpacks and went on our way. To get to Kokrobite, we had to take a taxi to Kaneshie Market and from there we got on a trusty tro-tro. Getting everyone to the tro tro was quite a trip - Ghanaians aren't really known for good direction giving, and well we experienced that. People were pointing us in every direction to get to the Kokrobite tro tro, and somehow we found it! Oh tro tro, how I love thee. How to describe a tro tro? A tro tro is a sort of public transportion and is extremely cheap (55 pesewas to Kokrobite, about 45 minutes away). Cheap for many reasons. The cars are relatively broken down, no air conditioning, fit about 20 people in them, and well... pretty unsafe. But reliable? Yes. While waiting for the tro tro to take off, all of us purchased FAN ICE from the vendors outside the tro tro!!! Best thing of my life. Fan ice. Fan Ice is packaged ice cream in a little plastic bag where you bite off the corner and enjoy the deliciousness inside. Its only 40 pesewas. There are three flavors - Vanilla, Choco-Ice, and Yogo-Ice Strawberry. All very good - Choco-Ice is my favorite its like frozen chocolate milk. Mmm.. just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I've had about 8 Fan Ices since that tro-tro ride. Its becoming a bit of a problem haha. But it's the best especially when its soooo hot.
Okay, enough Fan Ice. Back to Kokrobite. The ride to Kokrobite was very interesting. We drove through some extrememly poor villages and by some very wealthy places. The disparity between the two is so ridiculous. The villages we drove through were cute and everyone just seemed so content in their little huts. The wealthy places were like mansions from Scottsdale. When we got off the tro tro at the last stop, I guess we looked pretty clueless and very WHITE because all of the villagers knew exactly where we were going and pointed us directly to the little hotel - Big Milly's Backyard.
Marlee and Marika checked us in and got us the last room vacant for the night. A one bedroom - two twin beds, one double bed. All the beds had mosquito nets and we felt like princesses under them haha. The bathroom was quite nice until later in the night I found my LEAST FAVORITE CREATURE - a cockroach. Just lingering behind the toilet. I recruited Catja and Jake to kill it, because I just couldn't.
Off to the beach! We walk out of the hotel onto the beautiful sandy beaches where a bunch of fishing boats are on shore waiting to go off shore to fish. There were also many vendors and African children running around. We played in the warm, warm water then went to lay on the beach. A bunch of chidren came to sell us stuff and play with us. A few of the girls were obsessed with our hair so they braided it and oh man, they need to learn how to not pull so hard. They were so cute though... I couldn't resist!
For dinner, we ate at the hotel and got free reggae night entry with our meal purchase. Pros and cons with this reggae night. Dancing all night long = pro. Having your room ten feet away from speakers = con. This music went until what seemed like ALL NIGHT LONG! The music was still on when my alarm went off at 5:30 am (reggae music still playing) for our trip to the monkey sanctuary! Anyone want to go see some monkeys? Silence. Please, don't all raise your hands at once. Well... we went back to sleep, no monkeys this trip. Back to sleep until we got up for the beach.
At the beach, we were again surrounded by children... fun for a while until they started begging us for money. We all felt really bad, but what could we do? We supported them by buying their bread for breakfast and played with them (which I think is much more valuable than a few pesewas). It makes me so sad... but we can't give money to everyone who asks for it. After this we tro tro-ed home. I spent a grand total of 16 cedi on transportion, food, and room for the whole weekend out! Yay.
That night, we went for Chinese food at Tip Top. Obruni, obruni. This labelling as a foreigner in Ghana can be very good and very bad. When we got to the restaurant, we sat down and started looking at the menus. We had been told that this place was "very cheap with big portions". Not so cheap after looking at the menu. There were about nine of us and we started talking. We had heard before that some restaurants give "Obruni" menus - i.e. foreigner/white people menus where the food is more expensive. So when we were ordering, we asked the waiter, and he pretty much told us that these were indeed obruni menus... but didn't do anything about it. Which sucks. It sucks being discriminated against, but I guess that's what they're told to do. The food nonetheless was delicious and I'd go back for some lo mein and sweet and sour chicken.
This week was our second week of classes, my first being on Monday afternoon at University of Ghana, Legon. Leah, Andrea, and I got to class on time. This classroom was huge! It was a lecture hall and I swear there were about 300 people in there. It was incredible. Everyone is talking, they're handing out some handouts... and everyone is waiting, waiting. About twenty minutes later, someone comes to the front of the class and announces that the professor who is supposed to teach the class didn't know that he was in fact the professor at all, so class was cancelled until next week. So... yeah. Still haven't had my psychology class. Tuesday, I decided to drop Reporting Africa, the journalism class because I felt really unprepared because it was pretty advanced. So instead I'm joining Documenting the African city, a documentary making class, where the whole class is beginners and we're going to make a 10-15 minute documentary! So I'll be a film maker once I leave Ghana. Plus my teacher is a doll, I love her. Then today I had my photo class with my very rude professor. Today we had our first critique on our portrait project and Marlee and me (haha yes funny) got reamed by our (excuse my language) bitch teacher. Ah, I know this is only the second week of class with him, but I think it's going to be a long semester. Tomorrow I start Popular African Music... I'm dropping Studio Art because its with the same professor as Photography. Lame. Oh, and I have Fridays off now! Wonderful!
Okay, so I mentioned that I'm in the Documenting class. Last night, we watched the four documentaries from last semester and they were so inspirational and so well done! I hope that my work comes out to be as moving! One of the films called At Post was about the 24 hour security guards that we have on staff at our two residence halls and at our academic center. It really showed another side of them and made me appreciate them and the work they do for us so much more. The film showed interviews with the guards about everything from their families to their working conditions and hobbies. Later on in the movie when showing the wages of many of the different jobs around Accra, i.e. phone card seller, fruit stand worker, clothes maker, etc. It showed the security guard wage to be $0.29/hour (80 cedi a month)! This was the least paid job of all of the mentioned ones in the film. This was so sad to listen to because they really do so much for us and work VERY long shifts - usually 12 hour shifts, but if someone doesn't come to let them go, they can go as long as 24 hours. This made us all very upset and we started to think of ways to help the security guards or make them feel more appreciated for what they do. We decided that we'd bring them home meals when we came back from dinner and two of the girls in my apartment are going to help them with English in return for help with their Twi homework. Talking with them you realize how much they want to do with their lives but how difficult it is. One wants to join the miliatary, another wants to go back to school, and another wants to get his driver's license so he can be a taxi driver. Yet, none of them have the resources to do these things with their lives. It's such a hard position to be in because we all want to help but we don't want to pitty them and at the same time at least they have a job - many people here don't even have that! It is ironic that we watched this documentary when we did because just the day before, Leah and I were on our way to UG when we were talking with Sammy, the driver, about how we, Leah and I, really haven't made in Ghanaian friends yet, when he started to tell us about how he has no friends. It was really sad and we tried to comfort him telling him that we were his friends and that if he went out he'd made friends. But he talked about how because of his job (driving us), he has no time to make friends and when he does make friends, they don't want to be his friend because he has no time to spend with them. Leah and I were just so sad and didn't really know what to say, but now we really want to show him how much he is appreciated and how we ARE his friends... so we're going to work on ways to do this! One of the other documentaries showed how Ghana has little to no middle class and therefore will never get its economy built up. Since so much is imported from the US and Europe, they have little room to build up their own economy because their own work gets put aside. Even things like their native language are "westernized" by using the Latin alphabet. These topics were so eye-opening and very informative, I'm happy we got to see the previous students' work.
Tonight, Marlee and I actually sat and talked with one of the security guards and one of his friends for a long time. It's so nice to get to know the people who do so much for you. We talked about his interests - Richard, the security guard, loves to sew and make men's clothing and loves soccer. Oti, his friend, is in school for engineering. Oti asked me what my birthmark is and when I told him it was a 'birthmark', he asked if a bunch of my relatives had the exact same thing. So, of course, I replied no, because noone else does. He went on to explain that a 'birthmark' here has the meaning of a physical trait that you have in common with a bunch of other people in your family. Like if Greer or Mom were to have the same birthmark. This was very interesting and fun to hear him talk about it!
Well... that's a lot! This weekend, we're going to Winneba - there's about 14 of us - to spend more time at the beach and maybe, if we're lucky, see SEA TURTLES!! But we'll see...
love love love
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
still loving ghana (i really need to keep up with this...)
Okay, a lot to catch up on! So this might be a bit scatter-brained. Classes started this week. I'm not so sure about my schedule so I think I might change it up a bit but as it stands, I'm in four classes - one meets two times a week - so at this point I have class Monday through Friday. Yuck.
Monday: Abnormal Psychology at University of Ghana
Tuesday: Reporting Africa - a journalism class with graduate Ghanaian students at UGhana
Wednesday: Projects in Photography
Thursday: Post-Colonial Studio Arts
Friday: Reporting Africa (part two)
My abnormal class didn't meet this week, so we'll see if I like it when I go this Monday. I'm really enjoying Reporting Africa, except for that it meets on FRIDAYS! This class seems like it'll help me erase a lot of the stereotypes that I have about Africa. She is very focused on the objectivity of our writing and making sure that we show Africa, not necessarily in a good light, but an honest light. For our investigating, etc, I'm paired with a Ghanaian girl named Gloria who is interested in female education and human rights - two things I'm very interested in, so it should be fun! She'll also help me get around the city and help with interviews and stuff for the class. Photography was good also! Our first assignment is to photograph and interview a fellow classmate - Marlee and I are paired together. So I'll be taking beautiful pictures of Miss Marlee for my class... then lots of pictures of Ghana to put up too! I didn't particularly enjoy my studio arts class so we'll see about that - if I don't stay in that I might either get into a music class or a documenting class where we'd make a movie about Ghana.
Both abnormal and my reporting class meet at University of Ghana in Legon which is about a half an hour drive away. This drive is always something else. There are street vendors who try to sell you stuff through your window every minute of the way! Today some man was selling two puppies. CUTEST THINGS EVER! They both fit in one of his hands and he was just showing them to us. I really wanted to take one. When we saw this, we started contemplating who would buy a puppy on the side of the road - puppies aren't really an impulsive buy usually. I guess in Ghana maybe? In addition to the puppies, they sell: bobble head dogs, tourism maps of Ghana, matches, MTN calling cards, foam jigsaw puzzles, inhalers, plantain chips, fish, fresh fruit, fabric, gum, mentos, lots of Obama stuff, flags, hammers, and an occasional window washing, even if you don't want it.
I'm very excited to start community service soon! We submitted our requests for community service this week - I'm hoping to help out at an Autism center! NYU doesn't recommend working here if you don't have experience with Autistic children because one of their students was bitten once... but how often do you think that happens? I asked the owner of the school and she said she didn't mind at all and she actually preferred if you didn't because then you have no preconceived notions about Autism... so we'll see if that works out. If not that then a Drama Therapy center to help disabled children or another special school called New Horizons. I'd be happy to be placed in any of them, so we'll see what the community service director thinks is the best fit.
Tuesday, we watched the Inauguration of President Barack Obama at the WEB DuBois center with Ghanaians and a bunch of other international/American students. It was spectacular. It was all outdoors with big screens of CNN. There had food stands and a gift shop set up with Obama paraphenelia and traditional Ghanaian clothing. Ghanaians were so excited about his Inauguration and were all shouting "OBAMA" and the whole day people were so thrilled to see Americans and proud of Obama's presidency. The whole time I sat there thinking about how nice and warm it was outside and about how cooooold Greer must be (25 degrees, real feel 11!)! I was wondering where Greer was sitting, when she'd get on CNN =), and which ball she'd be attending. I don't think I've ever watched an Inauguration but watching this one was quite magnificent as I feel like so many people are so hopeful about our countries future. Pretty cheesy, but I was just so moved when we all sang the National Anthem and I was just thinking about how we were in Ghana singing it and about how many people across the whole world were singing the National Anthem at the very same moment. My favorite quote from the evening, "You will be judged on what you can BUIILD, not on what you can destroy."
In other news, Marlee, Mallory, Leah, and I went grocery shopping the other day and it was quite astonishing at the similarities and differences in Ghanaian and American supermarkets. ShopRite is like an American WalMart, only probably cheaper and a bit smaller. Well... cheaper when it comes to most things. I wouldn't recommend buying strawberries or grapes here, as they'll run you a good 20 cedi. I'll be sticking with the 70 peswa pineapple and 10 bananas for 50 peswas (Ghanaian cents). (Note: Cream Crackers from ShopRite just don't measure up to the ones from Koala) After we left the supermarket, we were waiting to get a ride and we were approached by GTV (Ghana Television) about our opinion of Chris Brown. Hmm... we were then interviewed and apparently we're going to be on Ghanaian TV tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon talking about how we think Chris Brown is hot. Slow news day I guess.
Wednesday night, we went to reggae night at Labadi beach! So fun - lots of reggae music and dancing. This is a weekly thing, so I think we'll be going back for more next week!
The lady who makes dresses came to our residence hall yay!, so I gave her my fabric and what I wanted done! It's only 5 cedi to get it made! I don't ever want to buy American clothes again. I'm going to be so spoiled.. I'm making a skirt with my first fabric. I'm going to the market again sometime soon to get more fabric to make other dresses! I'm so excited!
Last night, we went to this bar to see Jasmin (a girl from our program) do a 'spoken word' - she was incredible! Everyone was so moved by her. It was basically like very dramatic poetry reading but it was all memorized and so passionate. It was amazing to see! Then we went out to the same dance bar that we went to last weekend which was again so much fun... and a lot less hot and sweaty because it's been a bit cooler this week, phew.
Tonight, we did what I feel like we do best.. hang out! We played football and soccer outside, then listened to music, then watched the Ali G Show (almost peed my pants) and the Office (also peed-pants worthy). Other pasttimes: Cranium, Planet Earth, eating Cream Crackers, and figuring out where we want to go for spring break.
Tomorrow we're going to the beach and staying there over night in a rented tent. We're roughing it. I'll write all about it.... when I'm back!
I still want to write about the city of Accra because I'm pretty facsinated by it and its metropolitanity (if that's a word) and other fun stuff like the costs of everything here, because if I don't do that soon, I'll probably stop being so astonished by some of them... but I had to catch up on this past week, since I've been a slacker. Off to take a (finally) WARM shower!
peace love peace love love
Monday: Abnormal Psychology at University of Ghana
Tuesday: Reporting Africa - a journalism class with graduate Ghanaian students at UGhana
Wednesday: Projects in Photography
Thursday: Post-Colonial Studio Arts
Friday: Reporting Africa (part two)
My abnormal class didn't meet this week, so we'll see if I like it when I go this Monday. I'm really enjoying Reporting Africa, except for that it meets on FRIDAYS! This class seems like it'll help me erase a lot of the stereotypes that I have about Africa. She is very focused on the objectivity of our writing and making sure that we show Africa, not necessarily in a good light, but an honest light. For our investigating, etc, I'm paired with a Ghanaian girl named Gloria who is interested in female education and human rights - two things I'm very interested in, so it should be fun! She'll also help me get around the city and help with interviews and stuff for the class. Photography was good also! Our first assignment is to photograph and interview a fellow classmate - Marlee and I are paired together. So I'll be taking beautiful pictures of Miss Marlee for my class... then lots of pictures of Ghana to put up too! I didn't particularly enjoy my studio arts class so we'll see about that - if I don't stay in that I might either get into a music class or a documenting class where we'd make a movie about Ghana.
Both abnormal and my reporting class meet at University of Ghana in Legon which is about a half an hour drive away. This drive is always something else. There are street vendors who try to sell you stuff through your window every minute of the way! Today some man was selling two puppies. CUTEST THINGS EVER! They both fit in one of his hands and he was just showing them to us. I really wanted to take one. When we saw this, we started contemplating who would buy a puppy on the side of the road - puppies aren't really an impulsive buy usually. I guess in Ghana maybe? In addition to the puppies, they sell: bobble head dogs, tourism maps of Ghana, matches, MTN calling cards, foam jigsaw puzzles, inhalers, plantain chips, fish, fresh fruit, fabric, gum, mentos, lots of Obama stuff, flags, hammers, and an occasional window washing, even if you don't want it.
I'm very excited to start community service soon! We submitted our requests for community service this week - I'm hoping to help out at an Autism center! NYU doesn't recommend working here if you don't have experience with Autistic children because one of their students was bitten once... but how often do you think that happens? I asked the owner of the school and she said she didn't mind at all and she actually preferred if you didn't because then you have no preconceived notions about Autism... so we'll see if that works out. If not that then a Drama Therapy center to help disabled children or another special school called New Horizons. I'd be happy to be placed in any of them, so we'll see what the community service director thinks is the best fit.
Tuesday, we watched the Inauguration of President Barack Obama at the WEB DuBois center with Ghanaians and a bunch of other international/American students. It was spectacular. It was all outdoors with big screens of CNN. There had food stands and a gift shop set up with Obama paraphenelia and traditional Ghanaian clothing. Ghanaians were so excited about his Inauguration and were all shouting "OBAMA" and the whole day people were so thrilled to see Americans and proud of Obama's presidency. The whole time I sat there thinking about how nice and warm it was outside and about how cooooold Greer must be (25 degrees, real feel 11!)! I was wondering where Greer was sitting, when she'd get on CNN =), and which ball she'd be attending. I don't think I've ever watched an Inauguration but watching this one was quite magnificent as I feel like so many people are so hopeful about our countries future. Pretty cheesy, but I was just so moved when we all sang the National Anthem and I was just thinking about how we were in Ghana singing it and about how many people across the whole world were singing the National Anthem at the very same moment. My favorite quote from the evening, "You will be judged on what you can BUIILD, not on what you can destroy."
In other news, Marlee, Mallory, Leah, and I went grocery shopping the other day and it was quite astonishing at the similarities and differences in Ghanaian and American supermarkets. ShopRite is like an American WalMart, only probably cheaper and a bit smaller. Well... cheaper when it comes to most things. I wouldn't recommend buying strawberries or grapes here, as they'll run you a good 20 cedi. I'll be sticking with the 70 peswa pineapple and 10 bananas for 50 peswas (Ghanaian cents). (Note: Cream Crackers from ShopRite just don't measure up to the ones from Koala) After we left the supermarket, we were waiting to get a ride and we were approached by GTV (Ghana Television) about our opinion of Chris Brown. Hmm... we were then interviewed and apparently we're going to be on Ghanaian TV tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon talking about how we think Chris Brown is hot. Slow news day I guess.
Wednesday night, we went to reggae night at Labadi beach! So fun - lots of reggae music and dancing. This is a weekly thing, so I think we'll be going back for more next week!
The lady who makes dresses came to our residence hall yay!, so I gave her my fabric and what I wanted done! It's only 5 cedi to get it made! I don't ever want to buy American clothes again. I'm going to be so spoiled.. I'm making a skirt with my first fabric. I'm going to the market again sometime soon to get more fabric to make other dresses! I'm so excited!
Last night, we went to this bar to see Jasmin (a girl from our program) do a 'spoken word' - she was incredible! Everyone was so moved by her. It was basically like very dramatic poetry reading but it was all memorized and so passionate. It was amazing to see! Then we went out to the same dance bar that we went to last weekend which was again so much fun... and a lot less hot and sweaty because it's been a bit cooler this week, phew.
Tonight, we did what I feel like we do best.. hang out! We played football and soccer outside, then listened to music, then watched the Ali G Show (almost peed my pants) and the Office (also peed-pants worthy). Other pasttimes: Cranium, Planet Earth, eating Cream Crackers, and figuring out where we want to go for spring break.
Tomorrow we're going to the beach and staying there over night in a rented tent. We're roughing it. I'll write all about it.... when I'm back!
I still want to write about the city of Accra because I'm pretty facsinated by it and its metropolitanity (if that's a word) and other fun stuff like the costs of everything here, because if I don't do that soon, I'll probably stop being so astonished by some of them... but I had to catch up on this past week, since I've been a slacker. Off to take a (finally) WARM shower!
peace love peace love love
Sunday, January 18, 2009
finally some photos!
I put up some pictures on facebook. I think this link should work for people who don't have a facebook too... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108510&l=edf53&id=10808707
Not too much to report today, terrible cramps so I was bedridden alllll day. Everyone went to the beach, it looked like fun from all the pictures. But that won't be the last time...
School technically starts tomorrow. I don't have classes tomorrow, I start Tuesday... just hours of registration ahead of me.
lovelove
Not too much to report today, terrible cramps so I was bedridden alllll day. Everyone went to the beach, it looked like fun from all the pictures. But that won't be the last time...
School technically starts tomorrow. I don't have classes tomorrow, I start Tuesday... just hours of registration ahead of me.
lovelove
Saturday, January 17, 2009
"i feel like one of those dolls..."
"Where when you put them on their side, they close their eyes" - Marlee. And this is how we're all feeling right now.
Yesterday - registration at U Ghana. This is like a million day process. It started in November when I applied. Had to make THREE hand-written copies of the same form, then get accepted. We got our acceptance letters dated November 18th, on January 14th. Hmm. Once accepted, we literally had to wait in line to get into the internet cafe (? apparently that's where they register international students) for an hour to get a man to put us in the online system. We waited for another hour for who knows what. From there we took our bus to the other side of campus to wait yet another hour for ID cards. In order to register for classes, the department has to put up physical time-tables and if they're not up, well then you have no idea what time or day your class is on. Finally today I found out the times of the two potential psychology classes that I might take - abnormal and environmental. We have to go back, again, Monday morning to paper register at the office.
We also went to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Artists Alliance Gallery. Both of these were very interesting and beautiful. The memorial had lots of fountains and we learned a lot about when Ghana became independent and A LOT about Kwame Nkrumah. The Artists Alliance Gallery had a lot of Ghanaian art and other African art. We learned about the evolution of African art and about how its all based on the aesthetics and functionality of it - like fabric if better when used for wearing a dress not as a wall-hanging. There seemed to be a lot of western influence on some of the more modern art, but it was all very unique at the same time. We could not take pictures but there was quite a variety - very realistic paintings and other abstract. There were a lot of mancala boards too - some shaped like alligators, others very traditional looking. Here are a few pictures - it took like an hour for these to go up, so um... these'll be the only ones for now. But the first one is of the Memorial, the next one is a mancala board, then the last is of a sign at the memorial that I really loved.
Today we went to yet ANOTHER orientation at U Ghana. It was five hours long. And pretty informative and at times HILARIOUS. we got more instruction on how to avoid diseases, such as cholera. "When you have cholera, stools are coming uncontrollably" (said in a very Ghanaian accent) - my friend Andrea and I were in the front row when the guy said this and we literally almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard. And on top of that, while we were drinking cans of soda, he advised us to wipe off the top of the soda can because when the cans are in storage, "rats urinate on the cans" and you could drink the rat urine.
From there, we went to a marketplace. Holy cow, soooo many sights, sounds, colors, smells, .... I'll try to post pictures soon but it was just so crazy. Kaneshi marketplace: roasting pig on the sidewalk, ghanaian children running around, women selling dead, smelly! fish on their heads, beautiful fabrics, so many fresh fruits and vegetables, and just wow. It was something else. I still can't really believe I'm here. The apartment we live in is so nice that it all seems so unreal when we see what we see during the day and come back to this at night. It's like huts next door to mansions - such a monetary gap. Of course, I took a lot of pictures. In fact, one picture actually got me in trouble! We've been told that it's okay to take pictures of huge groups of people without having to ask for permission, but when it's like just a few people, it's polite to ask if you can take their picture. So today at the marketplace, I took a picture of literally the WHOLE market from a staircase, and a man started yelling at me telling me I was rude for not asking permission, blah blah blah. When I asked our Ghanaian guide if what I did was rude by their standards she said absolutely not and that the guy was probably startled because the flash went off and he probably thought I was taking it of him only. I told him I was sorry but that was about all I could do and then we left the market and everyone else was SUPER friendly. I also bought some fabric at the marketplace so I can take it to a dressmaker to get a dress made sometime this week. It's only 5 Ghana Cedi (pronounced kind of like c.d. but like see-dee) to get a dress made here (plus the 8 Cedi I spent on the fabric)!! And they are so beautiful! While we were waiting to leave the marketplace on our very touristy African safari bus (though there are no safaris in Accra), like ten beautiful Ghanaian children jumped on the bus and were playing with us and dancing and just so, so full of life. Another billion pictures were taken. We then went to another art market, which I was in love with but I had no money, so I wasn't able to get anything. Maybe next time!
Still hot as heck here... and lucky us, February and March are supposed to be the hottest months here. Here we go...
Yesterday - registration at U Ghana. This is like a million day process. It started in November when I applied. Had to make THREE hand-written copies of the same form, then get accepted. We got our acceptance letters dated November 18th, on January 14th. Hmm. Once accepted, we literally had to wait in line to get into the internet cafe (? apparently that's where they register international students) for an hour to get a man to put us in the online system. We waited for another hour for who knows what. From there we took our bus to the other side of campus to wait yet another hour for ID cards. In order to register for classes, the department has to put up physical time-tables and if they're not up, well then you have no idea what time or day your class is on. Finally today I found out the times of the two potential psychology classes that I might take - abnormal and environmental. We have to go back, again, Monday morning to paper register at the office.
We also went to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Artists Alliance Gallery. Both of these were very interesting and beautiful. The memorial had lots of fountains and we learned a lot about when Ghana became independent and A LOT about Kwame Nkrumah. The Artists Alliance Gallery had a lot of Ghanaian art and other African art. We learned about the evolution of African art and about how its all based on the aesthetics and functionality of it - like fabric if better when used for wearing a dress not as a wall-hanging. There seemed to be a lot of western influence on some of the more modern art, but it was all very unique at the same time. We could not take pictures but there was quite a variety - very realistic paintings and other abstract. There were a lot of mancala boards too - some shaped like alligators, others very traditional looking. Here are a few pictures - it took like an hour for these to go up, so um... these'll be the only ones for now. But the first one is of the Memorial, the next one is a mancala board, then the last is of a sign at the memorial that I really loved.
Today we went to yet ANOTHER orientation at U Ghana. It was five hours long. And pretty informative and at times HILARIOUS. we got more instruction on how to avoid diseases, such as cholera. "When you have cholera, stools are coming uncontrollably" (said in a very Ghanaian accent) - my friend Andrea and I were in the front row when the guy said this and we literally almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard. And on top of that, while we were drinking cans of soda, he advised us to wipe off the top of the soda can because when the cans are in storage, "rats urinate on the cans" and you could drink the rat urine.From there, we went to a marketplace. Holy cow, soooo many sights, sounds, colors, smells, .... I'll try to post pictures soon but it was just so crazy. Kaneshi marketplace: roasting pig on the sidewalk, ghanaian children running around, women selling dead, smelly! fish on their heads, beautiful fabrics, so many fresh fruits and vegetables, and just wow. It was something else. I still can't really believe I'm here. The apartment we live in is so nice that it all seems so unreal when we see what we see during the day and come back to this at night. It's like huts next door to mansions - such a monetary gap. Of course, I took a lot of pictures. In fact, one picture actually got me in trouble! We've been told that it's okay to take pictures of huge groups of people without having to ask for permission, but when it's like just a few people, it's polite to ask if you can take their picture. So today at the marketplace, I took a picture of literally the WHOLE market from a staircase, and a man started yelling at me telling me I was rude for not asking permission, blah blah blah. When I asked our Ghanaian guide if what I did was rude by their standards she said absolutely not and that the guy was probably startled because the flash went off and he probably thought I was taking it of him only. I told him I was sorry but that was about all I could do and then we left the market and everyone else was SUPER friendly. I also bought some fabric at the marketplace so I can take it to a dressmaker to get a dress made sometime this week. It's only 5 Ghana Cedi (pronounced kind of like c.d. but like see-dee) to get a dress made here (plus the 8 Cedi I spent on the fabric)!! And they are so beautiful! While we were waiting to leave the marketplace on our very touristy African safari bus (though there are no safaris in Accra), like ten beautiful Ghanaian children jumped on the bus and were playing with us and dancing and just so, so full of life. Another billion pictures were taken. We then went to another art market, which I was in love with but I had no money, so I wasn't able to get anything. Maybe next time!
Still hot as heck here... and lucky us, February and March are supposed to be the hottest months here. Here we go...
Twi lesson: Medasse = Thank you!
love love
love love
Thursday, January 15, 2009
just dance
Today was more (in the term of Marlee, my friend here.. I hope you see this) BORE-ienation. We talked about community service, which I'm so excited for and we also got to talk with most of our professors. I am not taking African dance and music anymore because its during my photography class, but I am taking photography, studio arts, a reporting Africa class (where we will hopefully take a trip to Burkina Fasso for a film festival up there!), and then another class that I have yet to register for. Dun dun dun... Worst part of the day (probably will be the worst part of the entire trip.. so long as I stay out of the hospital) - discussing the required reading. I can't even explain to you how looooooong we talked about this short short play! This lady could've gone on for days about this play. After this long boring discussion, of which we were let out at 4:30 and were supposed to be out by 4... we had to be out ready and dressed to go to the U.S. Ghanaian embassy at 5:00. Everyone took two minutes showers because we were all so sweaty and gross from the day and got dressed up and ready to go to the Embassy. The embassy was nice and everyone there was nice. They told us MORE security and safety tips - I guess you can't be too well-prepared. Next.... Ghanaian dance bar!
Tonight was SOOOO incredibly fun! We just got back from a live music bar with lots of dancing! The musician would have breaks in between songs and look at everyone and say, "Go get a drink, it's too hot!" He's just making sure no one gets dehydrated haha. It was all reggae music - they played Hey Jude in reggae and it was so great. It was SOOOOOOO fun... I've never sweat so much in my life - so humid and hot and humid and hot and a million bodies up next to you dancing. It was great - a Ghanaian man told me, "white girl, you're a good dancer" (imagine an African accent) (and ME a good dancer, woo hoo!!). Another guy at the end of the night came up to me and was like "Don't break the chain" out of nowhere and so i asked him... "Chain?" and he was like "Of friendship - you guys all have such a close bond with one another and I hope you're all friends for a very long time" which was so nice but its funny because like we've only known each other for 4 days.
I'm having a wonderful time! I can't wait for more time out in the city - less time in the NYU Academic center for orientation.
Twi lesson:
Ete sen? - how are you? (Et-eh sen)
Eye! - Fine! (eh-yay)
peacelovelovelove
Tonight was SOOOO incredibly fun! We just got back from a live music bar with lots of dancing! The musician would have breaks in between songs and look at everyone and say, "Go get a drink, it's too hot!" He's just making sure no one gets dehydrated haha. It was all reggae music - they played Hey Jude in reggae and it was so great. It was SOOOOOOO fun... I've never sweat so much in my life - so humid and hot and humid and hot and a million bodies up next to you dancing. It was great - a Ghanaian man told me, "white girl, you're a good dancer" (imagine an African accent) (and ME a good dancer, woo hoo!!). Another guy at the end of the night came up to me and was like "Don't break the chain" out of nowhere and so i asked him... "Chain?" and he was like "Of friendship - you guys all have such a close bond with one another and I hope you're all friends for a very long time" which was so nice but its funny because like we've only known each other for 4 days.
I'm having a wonderful time! I can't wait for more time out in the city - less time in the NYU Academic center for orientation.
Twi lesson:
Ete sen? - how are you? (Et-eh sen)
Eye! - Fine! (eh-yay)
peacelovelovelove
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
"i'll tell you what to do.. IGNORE IT!"
Today was good... First off, Mom helped me figure out my non-paid tuition situation AND my jury duty has been postponed, excellent news - I won't have to fly to Phoenix on January 28th! And... I'm starting to really enjoy the people here. Milk was fantastic... I criiiied. Today we learned lots of cultural dos and don'ts - like the thumbs up that looks like you are texting/playing a video game is BAD! OFFENSIVE haha. Don't do it. Also, never refuse food from someone who offers it to you.. they take offense to that too. We also were told not to take offense if Ghanaians call us "Obruni", meaning white person or foreigner. Its a term of endearment and they are usually genuinely excited to see us..apparently! After this session, we then visited Ashesi University where I think I'll take African dance and music! Then we visited the University of Ghana where i may take one class. The campus is HUGE! And registration is sooo confusing. Also, the bathrooms have no toilet paper so i had to use my little legal EnviroNotes notepad paper to wipe. GROSSAAA. So now if i take a class there, I'll know to bring my own tp. I really want to take environmental psychology here... I would be in class with like a bunch of GHANAIANS! woo hoo! I'm so excited to get to know locals.. they are all very friendly (besides the one who told me it was "nice to be nice"). Most ghanaian students dress up and look very nice for class. We all are wearing tank tops and shorts, and sweating our little booties off. It's so gross, I don't know how they do it and manage to look nice! The internet guy came to talk to us about...the internet, and man, was he attractive. He was Ghanaian AND he had a British accent. Tonight: more delicious Ghanaian food for dinner and then just hung out with a bunch of girls in my residence hall. At dinner I sat next to this hilarious Israeli woman who was astonished that I knew that Isreal was in Asia. I don't know who she was, what her name is, or why she was sitting with us, but I loved her. And she was just funny. A you-had-to-be-there type lady. Oh funny thing.. I'll try to get a picture soon, was we saw a sign for "Urinals" and then upon closer inspection... they have CARTOONS of people PEEEEEING! Like men standing up and peeing. On the walls of the urinal. Bizarre. I just laughed. And tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out since we were in a moving vehicle. Well no malaria yet.. and no unusual diarrhea (I'm actually way good on this medicine yay), so I'd say I'm doing well!
twi lesson: me d⊃ (that's the closest i can get to a backward c) wo = Romantic I love you - not really used between family members. Auntie Akosua, our teacher, said that they don't really say "i love you" between family members - that she doesn't ever remember her mother saying it to her, but that its completely understood. Interesting fact about the Ghanaian culture to go with the Twi lesson!
peace love love
goodnight!
twi lesson: me d⊃ (that's the closest i can get to a backward c) wo = Romantic I love you - not really used between family members. Auntie Akosua, our teacher, said that they don't really say "i love you" between family members - that she doesn't ever remember her mother saying it to her, but that its completely understood. Interesting fact about the Ghanaian culture to go with the Twi lesson!
peace love love
goodnight!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
ghana. day one. two. three.
day one:
I'M IN GHANA!!! No piece of cake getting here, that's for sure, but I'm here. Stefanie (one of my best friends from home) left a St. Christopher bracelet to surprise me in my purse so when I got to LA, I found it and from then on, I knew I would have a safe trip =). Finding it made me so happy and it was just so thoughtful. Anyway, first off, I just ichatted with my mom and it was nice to see her! It's already 1:30 am here but I'm not tired, just pretty worn out. One of my roommates and i are the only people awake anymore. Everyone else is asleep. I can't tell you much about ghana yet, because it was dark when we landed, but everyone seems pretty nice. Except that its HOT! And humid as a sauna, gross. And it's only night time, I can only imagine the sun woo. Apparently in missed this, but in the airport, there are signs saying that if you are a pedophile, you must leave the country. No signs about criminals, rapists, identity theifs, etc. but pedophiles MUST get back on the plane and leave. Welcome to Ghana. So my evening upon arrival... My suitcase broke at the seams at the airport. All my luggage smelled like vinegar... like seriously haha? Only in Accra, I guess. So then we took little buses to the dorms. We got off the buses, and I look at the dorm assignment sheet and I see Griffin next to "JOSHUA"!!!!!!! Of course, they put me in a BOY's room because my name is griffin. So that was great. But now i'm in a triple with two other girls because the girl who is supposed to live with them doesn't get into ghana for another couple days. So we'll see what happens with that. I really like the dorm, it's really nice, and we have electric fences around the facility and security men who check the van as we come in, so I feel super safe. We only have cold showers for a while, which was refreshing, and cold haha. I'm a very happy camper. I really like most of the people here, hopefully it'll get even better. Orientation ALL WEEK LONG! So I'll update as soon as possible about actual Accra, Ghana..
day two:
Orientation starts. LONG LONG day. Hot again too. Every minute of our day from 8am to 8pm is filled with lectures about how not to die here and how if we do something wrong how we will die. Wear bug repellent. Take malaria meds. Drink bottled water. Don't have sex with locals. Eat cooked food. Don't walk around by yourself at night. If you do any of these things, you're just asking for it. Anyway, it's really nice spending all day with the whole group because we really get to know everyone! It's so different being in Africa, so its nice that we are easing our way into everything. Some very un-American things/African things that I think are pretty funny: chickens, mango trees, and baby kittens in our backyard, lots of dirt roads, "road rumbles" instead of speed bumps, cold showers, etc. It's fun though. We're all just getting used to the idea of being in AFRICA. The staff is great and they make it really easy to get adjusted. Ghanaian food is great. We had it for both lunch and dinner. My favorite: plantains from this place called Tante Marie. We have a meal plan here which is great, because I think plantains are my new favorite food. mmm. Also, at lunch, a cell phone vendor came and we got nice ghanaian nokia cell phones. Pay-as-you-go. So if you get a call from Africa, ANSWER IT, IT'S ME!!
day three:
Orientation started at EIGHT! So needless to say, I was tired from the moment I woke up and my roommates and I all didn't want to get out of bed. Finally we did and went with the whole group to the Academic center where we learned yet again about more ways in which we can die. Malaria, typhoid fever, diarrhea, AIDS. Wonderful. Today we actually got to walk around the town in a little area called Osu. Ghanaians are VERY aggressive when they want you to buy something. This man came up to me and when I said "No thank you." He proceeded to tell me, "It's nice to be nice, you know?" put the necklace in my hand and wouldn't leave my side for about five minutes. I didn't buy the necklace and just left. He approached some of my friends but I pulled them away haha. We also had our first Twi lesson today. I learned how to say many things. Its a very hard language and the enunciation of everything is sooo different than it looks. Today we had no Ghanaian food - only pizza for lunch (delicious) and indian food for dinner, also good. I'm excited to get into the city more though, we've been kind of kept in our group for a while! Tonight we're watching Milk because one of the boys here has it, so I'm very excited for that. Actually... I'm going now! I'll try to keep up with this blog thing...
twi lesson for the evening: bye = Yebehyia
Peace and love love love
I'M IN GHANA!!! No piece of cake getting here, that's for sure, but I'm here. Stefanie (one of my best friends from home) left a St. Christopher bracelet to surprise me in my purse so when I got to LA, I found it and from then on, I knew I would have a safe trip =). Finding it made me so happy and it was just so thoughtful. Anyway, first off, I just ichatted with my mom and it was nice to see her! It's already 1:30 am here but I'm not tired, just pretty worn out. One of my roommates and i are the only people awake anymore. Everyone else is asleep. I can't tell you much about ghana yet, because it was dark when we landed, but everyone seems pretty nice. Except that its HOT! And humid as a sauna, gross. And it's only night time, I can only imagine the sun woo. Apparently in missed this, but in the airport, there are signs saying that if you are a pedophile, you must leave the country. No signs about criminals, rapists, identity theifs, etc. but pedophiles MUST get back on the plane and leave. Welcome to Ghana. So my evening upon arrival... My suitcase broke at the seams at the airport. All my luggage smelled like vinegar... like seriously haha? Only in Accra, I guess. So then we took little buses to the dorms. We got off the buses, and I look at the dorm assignment sheet and I see Griffin next to "JOSHUA"!!!!!!! Of course, they put me in a BOY's room because my name is griffin. So that was great. But now i'm in a triple with two other girls because the girl who is supposed to live with them doesn't get into ghana for another couple days. So we'll see what happens with that. I really like the dorm, it's really nice, and we have electric fences around the facility and security men who check the van as we come in, so I feel super safe. We only have cold showers for a while, which was refreshing, and cold haha. I'm a very happy camper. I really like most of the people here, hopefully it'll get even better. Orientation ALL WEEK LONG! So I'll update as soon as possible about actual Accra, Ghana..
day two:
Orientation starts. LONG LONG day. Hot again too. Every minute of our day from 8am to 8pm is filled with lectures about how not to die here and how if we do something wrong how we will die. Wear bug repellent. Take malaria meds. Drink bottled water. Don't have sex with locals. Eat cooked food. Don't walk around by yourself at night. If you do any of these things, you're just asking for it. Anyway, it's really nice spending all day with the whole group because we really get to know everyone! It's so different being in Africa, so its nice that we are easing our way into everything. Some very un-American things/African things that I think are pretty funny: chickens, mango trees, and baby kittens in our backyard, lots of dirt roads, "road rumbles" instead of speed bumps, cold showers, etc. It's fun though. We're all just getting used to the idea of being in AFRICA. The staff is great and they make it really easy to get adjusted. Ghanaian food is great. We had it for both lunch and dinner. My favorite: plantains from this place called Tante Marie. We have a meal plan here which is great, because I think plantains are my new favorite food. mmm. Also, at lunch, a cell phone vendor came and we got nice ghanaian nokia cell phones. Pay-as-you-go. So if you get a call from Africa, ANSWER IT, IT'S ME!!
day three:
Orientation started at EIGHT! So needless to say, I was tired from the moment I woke up and my roommates and I all didn't want to get out of bed. Finally we did and went with the whole group to the Academic center where we learned yet again about more ways in which we can die. Malaria, typhoid fever, diarrhea, AIDS. Wonderful. Today we actually got to walk around the town in a little area called Osu. Ghanaians are VERY aggressive when they want you to buy something. This man came up to me and when I said "No thank you." He proceeded to tell me, "It's nice to be nice, you know?" put the necklace in my hand and wouldn't leave my side for about five minutes. I didn't buy the necklace and just left. He approached some of my friends but I pulled them away haha. We also had our first Twi lesson today. I learned how to say many things. Its a very hard language and the enunciation of everything is sooo different than it looks. Today we had no Ghanaian food - only pizza for lunch (delicious) and indian food for dinner, also good. I'm excited to get into the city more though, we've been kind of kept in our group for a while! Tonight we're watching Milk because one of the boys here has it, so I'm very excited for that. Actually... I'm going now! I'll try to keep up with this blog thing...
twi lesson for the evening: bye = Yebehyia
Peace and love love love
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