Weekend Fun

This weekend: Pretty eventful. On Friday I came home REAL sweaty from dance class, which started on Thursday. Then I met up with Ethan and Annie to go back to Tech where some people were meeting to watch some jazz and poetry reading at the cultural center on campus. But, when we arrived Maggie, Mimi, Anna, Liz and Morgan said there is nothing going on at this cultural center, or at the city's cultural center...Instead about 10 of us went to a bar instead. Lexi, who's 21, made a good point, that not having to show your ID is such a relief. We haven't had to show our ID once since in Ghana. So, we all hung out there for a bit, but everyone was worn out from the day. Ethan was getting heavy eyes, and kept falling asleep at the table amidst the loud music from the bar. So, around 9pm we left and everyone made it home safe.

The next morning I got up around 7; at breakfast and did some laundry. I was never shown how to do laundry, so I just kind of winged it. Unitl my "brother" (which I found earlier isn't Mum Bea's biological son, but just hangs out here alot) told me I have to scrub the material together, of whatever you're washing, real hard. Only after I hung my clothes to dry did I think to myself how easy lanudry is back home. While here, I haven't missed the mechanical luxuries from the States. They would be so out of place here and wouldn't fit with the vibe of the country. Especially dishwashers. When I go back I'm going to feel so effecient, yet so lazy at the same time. After laundry I went to Kwame's and Jesse's because I thought we were going to the zoo. Instead they were lazy and Kwame took me to find a FedEx so I could mail some books that are just taking up space. It was a several hour adventure. But he was sweet and bought me a juice box, and an orange FanIce; which is similar to GoGurt, but bigger and better. The first FedEx we went to, the one lady who works there decided not to show up to work. So, we took a tro-tro ride into another part of town where we found out that it would cost 140 Cedis to mail some books. That was way more money than I wanted to spend. So, instead I bought Kwame and I a chocolate bar and we went to the "fastest" internet cafe in Kumasi. Which also, was the nicest building I've been in, since in Ghana. Then we went back home and I ate lunch with them because Aunite Grace, the housing coordinator and who lives in the same neigborhood, invited us three to a funeral. Grace gave me clothes to wear, and everything fit pretty much except in the chestal region. Everything was black and I wore a black headband. Thankfully we didn't have to travel far and we danced for a bit and greeted everyone. Then we sat and had a beer. I liked the first funeral better because there was alot more dancing and with live music. Here, it took place in a courtyard and the chairs were facing some flowers and a photo of the man who died. The music was coming from speakers and only a couple women were dacning. Then we just left....Even though it's supposed to be a celebration of life, I felt like I didn't respect the person by just sitting for 2 minutes, dancing for 2 minutes, then drinking. Also, I feel like I'm going to come back heavier from all this beer! Then, the guys wanted to go to Kandy's, a regular for Kwame. So, us three walked in the rain to Kandy's where we just hung out. Then the power went out and everyone just pulled out their phones then went on as if nothing had happened. After about 10 min. it came back on and we went to dance outside while we waited for Grace and Maggie to show up. Overall it was a great Saturday, and was completley worn out by the end.

Sunday I went to church on 2 hours of sleep...But Mum Bea had a dress made for me and it's SO beautfiul! I felt so traditional, like I finally fit in a little bit; and when I come back I'll be lookin' fly. Then later that day I went to an Internet Cafe, which was about a 20 min. walk-which felt great! I did some browsing, and got SOOO excited for Sasquatch!! That night I went to bed at 8pm, with no difficulty at all.

I got homesick a bit on Sunday because I miss weekends in the US where my family took advantage of the free time we had together. Here, there isn't much to do in way of entertainment. But when Chiharu and Ayumi stayed with us, we planned everything and were SO excited to serve dinner, go out to movies, museums, etc. But, I feel like doing things isn't really a big deal here, which kind of stinks.

The dance class is going really well, it's difficult, but I enjoy it alot. I'm hoping to remember the dance steps so I can teach people (mostly Madeline) back home.

ALSO-my alarm clock is useless now. I lost the back piece the night before I left for Ghana so Alex had to tape the back..but it's just not staying. Then on Saturday my watch broke, which is SO lame. Even though I bought it at the REI garage sale..so today on the way home Annie and I got similar watches for only 1 Cedi (about 80 cents...) so I'm expecting it to break in less than a week! Mine is purple and says "Kiss Me" hahah. Annie's is blue and says "Modest". At least I konw what time it is now..

A few photos

 

Where we have class every morning in Kumasi

 

Zenabu smashing up onions for dinner

                                                   Flashes are SO bright-but capture great moments!            
       

Annie!

Anna, my roomate for the first night in Kumasi. 

It was one big bed!

Mimi, Yasmine and Morgan at Candy's restaurant..

Man-U vs. Liverpool game!!!

My home for two weeks in Kumasi

An elder of the church

Church!

Studying hard, looking hard...

No words...

Lovely lovely sunset

Onlookers

Pappa Attah getting his moves on!

David and Kwame dancing!

Abigail (in red), she was AMAZING!

Soccer before class

Long Post

12 FEB 12

Many things have happened since leaving Accra Friday morning. We met at Legon at 7am but didn't leave until around 8am. The drive was extremley bumpy for about 70 percent of the trip. At times it was so loud that conversations were useless. We rode in a bus though, instead of a tro-tro, which made the trip smoother. About an hour into the trip we stopped to get some snacks (turkey tail and yam fries). Right when we stopped a bunch of hot water came spraying out onto the front seats and on Liz and Aleah. Apparently the radiator overheated so we chilled while our driver put more "Voltic" water in the radiator. We continued on our way and Anna french braided my hair and Jesse read aloud to us from Elle magazine. I tried to read for a bit, but girls are so chatty! It was also impossible to sleep because even when we drove on the concrete, there were speed bumps every 5 min. We arrived to Kumasi at Lizzies Hotel where Anna and I shared a room. It was so nice to live with everyone again, now that we're all closer. Then all 19 of us jumped into a tro-tro and went to Candy's Resturant where we ate lunch and dinner. Then lunch again the next day. The food was great and we all ate till we were stuffed. Then back at the hotel we had time to relax so some girls and I went into one room and layed on the bed watching a really old/bad Meryl Streep movie while Sierra was reading from the Bible. I eventually fell asleep and woke up to the girls laughing b/c apparently I was drooling...hah. But then we all got ready for dinner and a night on the "town." At dinner no one was hungry but somehow I managed to eat more than I probably should have. Afterwards we walked to Kwame's home and met his mother who is sososo sweet. Then we all took a tro-tro to watch live Hi Life music at an outside venue. The few people that were there were only sitting and drinking. Eventually our group got up and began to get our groove on. I don't have any photos from that night because I didn't want to worry about my camera..and I wanted to dance without any restraints or worries! It was such GREAT fun. Most of us have been dying to dance all together, and we kept trying to get a group together in Accra, but with everyone so spread out it never happened. But we definitley took advantage of the one Friday night we were all together. Only two girls went home early because they weren't feeling well. After dancing at Hi Life for about a couple hours some of us wanted to go to a club, since Kwame's cousin is a DJ there, DJ Amazing hahah. So, we went to the club which was about the size of a large living room, but no one was there because it was only 11 and people don't begin arriving around 12.30 or 1. We danced for a bit, but soon everyone was so tired. I talked with "Ice Tee" who works with SIT in Kumasi, about how late 1am is to start dancing. He said that's normal, and that tomorrow he'll probably wake up around 4 or 4.30. Ghanaians DON'T sleep! I have not a clue how they survive. I feel like getting 7 hrs of sleep is way to lazy and selfish now. I'm trying to train myself to stay up until at least 9.30 or 10, since I've been going to bed around 8.30. The next day (Sat) we went around to where our classes will be held. Then later that day we went to our homestays. I took a half an hour nap and woke up to no one in the house. I wandered around and it's a very nice place. I have my own bathroom, with running water and there's a nice living room with a TV and a porch outside with a table where I can do homework and/or eat. Zenabu, the house help girl (who's Muslim and from the North) prepared my dinner and I sat at the dinner table alone. It was fine, just didn't know where anyone was...later I found out that Papa is a Nana (chief), which makes more sense now that he is a larger man. And I have three brothers; David, Bonny and Kwame. It's interesting to go from having one 8 year old host sister to three tall/older brothers.

After dinner I went outside to watch Zena pound fufu, I picked up the big stick she was using and it was heavy! The all laughed at me, in good humor. It was entrancing to watch, because there's a beautiful natural rhythm to pounding fufu. I asked my brother, David, if we could walk around the neighborhood. So he took me around and we walked by a plantain garden/farm and around until we ended up at the King's palace. He is the King of the Ashanti region, passed down through the family line. We went onto the premise and walked over to a group of women and children. So many children! my host brother asked if we could visit the Queen Mother who lives in a smaller home next to the palace. A little boy showed us into the room, which wasen't as "elite" as I expected. I didn't realize I had to take off my shoes, so  I was standing there with my Chacos on while David introduced us and I spoke to the Queen Mother in the little Twi that I know. She was an older woman who was almost completley blind. There were two other younger women in the room, keeping her company. They invited me to come back and take photos of the palace anytime I wanted (since I forgot my camera). That was a pretty cool experience that I'm sure no else has done yet. I felt really good after talking to her because I feel like I stated my prescence in her region as a visitor, and she accepted me. That night I went to bed at 8.30, getting some of my homework done.

The next day (Sunday) I went to church with Mama Beatrice. The husband and three sons didn't go though. Service lasted 5 hours. I held it together (by the grace of God) somehow. Thankfully it wasn't too hot and that I didn't get very hungry. Back at home I had pasta with hard boiled egg and some kind of meat (dark and chewy?). I didn't eat very much, but was full. Then I visited Jesse who lives with Kwame, and Ethan was over, so we all hung out. But for most of the time I was on the couch with Kwame's friends' daughter (around 2 yrs) who fell asleep on me. I was able to carry her on my back the traditional Ghanaian way, with a cloth (see photos). Then I turned her around on my hip and sat down to play with her, then she just passed out. I thought I was going to die, it was so adorable, and I was so content. I miss Casey! Then I went home for dinner which was rice with a sauce on top, more mystery meat and sliced avocado.

Kumasi has been great! And our first paper is due on Wednesday, so gotta start working on that!

 

08 Feb 12

Today we had our first oral quiz, and I was the first to go of my group. I surprisingly felt pretty confident afterwards. Grace and I practiced on our two tro-tro trip to school today. We probably looked like fools trying to speak Twi. While I was waiting for the other groups to finish up I started to read "Traditional Religions of Western Africa" trying to get an idea for my ISP. I talked to Pappa Yemi about it and he got super excited when I told him about doing something about religion and staying in a village. He suggested doing researching on the combination of Muslim women and the traditional african religion up North. So, I'm pretty excited about that, and probably traveling around to different villages up North to also compare several ways of living.
But then during lecture I had a mini freak out because I need an internship in order to graduate and I really want to do mine with NPR. BUT I feel like I do not have enough experience at all...but it's too late to apply for Summer 2012 scholorships...Anyways we leave for Kumasi Friday morning and everyone is pumped to see a different area of beautiful Ghana!

Photo..

 

Lexi bout to eat her mango!

 

          Learning to Batik! Hopefully I'll bring back part of what I made

          

                                                          Weddding!

                                                                Champagne poppin'!

                                         The group in our awesome cloth before the funeral.

                                                             Anna and Liz with the sweetest kids!

                                                      Dancing!

                                          Wiz, an artist in Ghana-who does AMAZING work!

                         Sierra, me and Ethan at Emily's 21st bday. Apparently we were supposed
                                              to do crazy eyes hah

                                                Anna and Annie: Things of beauty

Weekend

06 Feb 12

Last night Sierra and Anna slept over because we "went out" last night which was just drinking and waiting for a club to open, because it didn't open till midnight, but we left before then. So they stayed over and we stayed up till 2am talking. We slept in till 8.30 which is late here, they always get up at 5am. I walked Anna to the tro-tro stop, which is about a 10min walk. Then back home I found out that my parents were going to a wedding today, but we the SIT kids were meeting at the beach...I decided to go to the wedding instead, and Grace, who I live w/ went to the beach. I've been to the beach and I wanted to experience a "western" Ghanian wedding. So, I had coffee and bread for breakfast and we stopped at this gift shop so they could get a present, but me, and my sisters had to wait in the back (aged 10 and 8) for like 20min and it was SO hot. But we got to the wedding around 12ish, so the reception had already started, and I was hungry already. It was amazing though, it was held at a church and there were so many people there, and the band was playing music SO loud the preacher was preaching with his hands and yelling. Everything you could imagine of a black church. I was sitting on the side, with one butt check off and Nana was like leaning on me, so I was pretty uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. But then the preacher began a small sermon and at that point I was getting really hungry, and it was hot, so getting impatient and snappy. And thinking, how is everyone smiling all the time, aren't they hungry?! haha But I should've been thinking about how in the US we rush everything..but here they relish in the go(o)d times haha. So, finally it was over and I waited outside for my parents. It shouldn't have been that hard to find me, the only white person...so we drove over to where the food/cake was. And the music was SOOOOOO loud, well maybe it wouldn't have been for you. But I was hungry/had a headache, and it was hot, and I hadn't drinken any water. And people were talking above the loud music. I was amazed that they could hear each other, and the elder people at the scene were completley fine, no one looked bothered by it..then finally we ate and I had to eat fast

b/c my mom had a mtg at 6pm... On the way back there were 4 of us squished in the back..just not pleasant. But I amazingly fell asleep in the car..made it home. Then my mom started making dinner, but I was still getting over the mini stomach issue and was still super full, but she made fries and one scrambled egg for everyone. I could NOT pass that up haha. 
So that was just Saturday. On Sunday Grace and I went to church with our host mother, who is involved with the ceremony each Sunday. We were again, the only white people in the church and we didn't go up for communion, because were unsure what to do. So the pastor (?) called us out and we had to go in front of the church and take communion and he asked if we go to chuch and I lied saying sometimes...all in all it was good, but we had to leave early to meet people at campus to attend a funeral. The photos will explain it alot better. But it was amazing, and I want my funeral to be like that, dancing dancing celebrating!