BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:)

Time has a funny way of speeding up when you want it to slow down, which sounds so clique but it is the best way I can describe what is happening here in Ghana. The last 7 weeks have gone by in a flash, and I feel as if I have been here in Ghana for a year already. So much has happened already during my stay, and I thought I would do my best to write a recap of the past month or so. The internet here is insanely slow and unreliable, which makes it impossible for me to email everyone, so writing a blog may possibly be the best way somewhat keep in touch. The only place to start is the beginning......
We arrived in Accra, the Capital of Ghana late at night on Jan 12th, and were assigned roomates and rooms. Initially, our dorms seemed very modest. We live in the International Student Hostile, but Ghanian students live here as well. There are two twin beds in a room with 2 dressers and tile floor that is peeling almost everywhere. You wouldn’t consider walking around the room barefoot...there are cold showers only and when the power goes out, bucket showers are what is done. Handwashing your clothes and drying them in front of your room is normal, unless you are willing to pay some local women to wash your clothes for you. Obviously, this type of living was a transition for me at first. Now that I have been here for almost 2 months, I realize that living in my hostile is such a luxury! The other dorms on campus fit 4-5 people in one room, and their power goes out daily causing them to use bucket showers almost every day.
I was nervous about the food before coming here, I was told to expect pretty much only rice and chicken. And believe me, there is a TON of rice and chicken, but there is also many other things to eat as well. There is a night market right across the street from my dorm where everyone goes to eat. I usually eat a Chaboom in the morning ( an egg sandwhich) for 50 peswas (which is about 30 cents) and then during the day on campus there are places where you can eat at. My favorite food for lunch is a meal called RedRed. Basically, it is rice and beans with a spicy sauce mixed together, and then fried plantains are added. It is a must for me, and I am officially addicted to it! I will try to find the recipe and bring it home to make for people! At the night market, there is also a vegan stand with a woman named Ranet who runs it. She is so funny, and we taught her how to make guacamole the other day. I think that is the hardest part about the food here, there is nothing even close to Mexican food . Which for everyone who eats with me regulary knows I could eat for every meal! But the vegan stand has the most amazing vegetable and groundnut(peanut butter) soup, which I add rice to and is fantastic.
Everyone uses public transportation here. We get around in tro tros, which are vans that fit about 16 people in. (When in reality, they should fit only about 9). At first, I was terrified of the tro tros. Getting on one is quite the process. You stand at the tro tro station, and all of these vans will drive by with the door wide open (while people are in them) and the mate( the person literally hanging out of the door) will be yelling the destination of the tro tro. You have to flag it down, and usually about 10 other people want the same one so you need to get to it fast because people get pushy! It slows down, not even to a complete stop sometimes, and you jump in. Once you are in, there are so many people crammed in the van that sitting on someone usually happens. Now that I use the tro tro’s all the time, I find them hillarious and I always manage to get myself into a new adventure every time I take one. Half the time I think they are yelling a different destination than they actually are, so I end up on the other side of town. But, whenever that happens, we just use our motto for this trip: TIA (This is Africa). If you get upset about stuff like that, you won’t make it here, because it happens all the time. And I mean ALL the time. You order something at a restaurant, and it takes 2 hours to get your food, and it may not even be what you ordered. You buy a bus ticket that leaves at 1pm, and it will leave at 4 pm. The concept of time here is so different, well actually there really isn’t a concept of time. But, TIA. We have all done a pretty good job adjusting I think.
As you can imagine from how I described the tro tro’s, the driving is insane here. Literally cars all over the road, and people selling the most random things on the street are crossing the street all over, which I am still amazed I have not seen anyone get hit. The first week I was here, I still had the mentality that cars will stop for pedestrians. That quickly changed when I was almost hit 10 times. Hahaha Drivers stop for nothing, and drive like maniacs. In a single lane, they will fit 3 cars in the width of it, and zig zag into the oncoming traffic lane, like they are playing a game of chicken. MY friends and I joke that crossing the street here is like playing a game of Frogger (the computer game where the frog has to make it across the road with all the obstacles in his way). And most roads are dirt, and filled with pot holes, and they just fly through them causing the cars to bounce around!
But, even with the crazy driving, bucket showers, and lack of a sense of time, I love it here. Everything is so much more simple. Kids play soccer outside for fun, and people enjoy eachother. I find the lack of computers, videogames and television refreshing. I love when I get back from class and just am able to sit at a table with friends drinking a bottled coke in the shade. Life should be more like that. The Ghanains think it is hillarious that we are in such a rush. They joke with me and ask why I am sprinting when I walk. I am trying to perfect the "Ghanain walk" which is painfully slow to me, but am working on it. It is beautiful here as well. The most intense natural reds, browns, oranges, greens, and yellows I have ever seen. The dirt here is even beautiful. It is such a deep red that I find myself taking pictures of just the dirt. I live on campus which is in Legon, (a smaller city right outside of Accra, the capital). And Accra is hectic and full of life. The nightlife, restaurants, and shopping is all there. I don’t particularly like Accra, but it is nice to have a place where if you desperately need something like Shampoo, you can find it. Once you travel outside Accra to the more rural African areas, it is gorgeous. Jungles and villages with clay huts are everywhere up and down Ghana, and the people that live in the villages tend to be a bit more friendly than those that live in the city. Which I think is true of almost everywhere. And maybe I shouldn’t even use the word more friendly, they just take more time to talk to you and get to know you.
Which brings me to the people. I absolutely adore the people here. The most helpful and accommodating people anywhere. Being white in a place like Ghana can be intense at times, just because we stick out so badly that the attention can come to be overwhelming. And they aren’t rude to us or anything, but they don’t see many white people so they all want to talk to us, and touch us etc. One thing I have had a harder time adjusting to is their concept of personal space. They are very touchy with eachother, and so they don’t even think twice about grabbing your arm as you are walking by to try to get you to check out their shop. When that happens and you aren’t expecting it, it can be scary. We associate that with hostility, and they don’t mean it in that way at all. My name is "Obruni" which means white person. When I say hello, they will say " ohhhh Obruni!" and they think its hillarious. I laugh and say "Obibini" which means black person. At first, I didn’t know if that was politically correct to say, but my Ghanain friends tell me that there is nothing offensive about it, they say "You are white, I am black, and acknowledging it shows that you respect eachother and our differences." I think that is really cool, and I love how their culture is so accepting of everyone. They do laugh at me when I attempt to speak Twi (the local language) even if I pronounce it correctly, they still laugh. I take it in stride, because I can assume how funny it must sound to have some white girl trying to speak the local Ghanian dialect. I am learning quickly though, and can have a conversation in Twi now, and am continuing to take a Twi class so I can get even better.
I have made many Ghanian friends who help me understand the culture even better, and it is especially great to sit next to friendly Ghanians in classes, because many of the professors have heavy accents, and the Ghanians will see that I am struggling to write down what he said, so they will move closer to me, and tell me the words I can’t understand. Or when the professor tells the class a joke, and everyone laughs but me (because I am the only white person in a class of 300) and it probably looks like I have no sense of humor, but I honestly just can’t understand when they talk really fast. But, the people around me will lean in and restate what was said, just slower. They probably have no idea how much I appreciate that, but being the only one out of the loop is definitely no fun, so I am extremely grateful when I sit next to Ghanians who go out of their way to help me.
This entry is getting entirely too long, I apologize! There was so much to catch up on though, and from now on I will write more regularly, so keep checking my blog for updates! Feel free to comment as well, I would love to hear from you all! Bye for now:)