christmas...with pictures!

as promised,i am posting pictures of our ghanaian-american christmas extravaganza.
the party began tuesday afternoon when the first guests arrived. on wednesday, we toured wa and saw all the sights. we visited the great mosque, and the imam allowed us to go up in the tower. it was pretty sweet to be high above wa and see the whole city.

the next day, most of the rest of the guests arrived. we (of course) took pito, this time mixed with guinness. mmm.

as this was christmas eve, we felt we needed to partake in a typical american christmas dinner. right? so... BANKU! we went to the spot down the street and had banku (a fermented corn dough) with okro stew. yum yum.

we partied there for a while before bringing the party back to my house and building a BONFIRE! i mean, you can never go wrong with fire, right?

the next morning was CHRISTMAS! for breakfast, we bought BOFRUIT (a fried dough ball similar to a plain donut) and americanized it with jelly, powdered sugar, sprinkles, chocolate frosting, etc. amazing. tasted just like krispy kreme. or else we've been here long enough it tasted nothing like krispy kreme and we were just desperate, but either way, it was amazing.

next was present time! we did a little white elephant exchange, swapping some lovely and some not-so-lovely treasures

then it was time to start preparing dinner. starting with the slaughter of the three chickens. yes, we did. it was slightly traumatic, mostly because the americans have never killed chickens and had no idea what they were doing.

but the end result was magical.

the end. it was a very happy christmas, good friends, lots of food, and much laughter. i hope you all enjoyed yours as much as we enjoyed ours!

christmas without santa and snow

merry christmas to all! i've had a lovely christmas here in ghana. about ten of us spent christmas at my house. highlights included two bonfires, pito, donut creations, white elephant, chicken slaughtering and large american feast, and much laughter with good friends.
i'll post pictures soon, i promise.
i hope you all enjoyed some snow and cold for me.

school party

last night was the end of term party for the students. it was hilarious, to me at least.
it started with two jhs boys coming over to my house, dressed in their finest clothes, to escort me to the party. one of them had a camera, so they each posed for a picture with me.
when i arrived at the party, the place was hopping. loud music, jamming. the deaf children, of course, couldn't hear it though. so they all sat calmly in their rows of chairs. the children from our mentally challenged unit, the ones could hear, were out on the dance floor having a blast.
there was a random homeless looking man, someone i've never seen before in my life, who apparently crashed the party. he stood off in the corner for quite a while, dancing by himself. but then a fast-paced song came on, and he raced into the center of the room. he threw down his cane, his purse (yes, purse), kicked off his shoes, and started break dancing. just because.
when the song ended, he picked up his things and returned to his corner.
an hour or two after the party was supposed to start, it actually did. the assistant headmistress spoke. then a representative from the ghana ministry of education gave a speech. to the students aged 4 to 21, she gave a lengthy warning. that the children should not drink when they return home. drinking is bad. and they should not smoke. smoking is also bad. but if they must, drinking is better than smoking, so you can maybe drink small but don't smoke atall. oh, and don't have sex. just because they are deaf does not mean that they will not get aids from having sex. so they should be careful and not have sex atall.
after that, they brought out the food. the plates for the teachers were massive, heaped full of rice, topped with spaghetti and cabbage and sheep. immediately, at least half the teachers pulled plastic bags out of their purses and dumped all the food in the bag to take home.
thankfully, the teacher i was sitting by had an extra bag, so i was able to save my leftovers as well.
i mean, it would be a shame to waste it, right?

welcoming committee

this weekend, we had a peace corps meeting in a nearby village.
because none of us volunteers live in this village, it was decided we should go and greet the chief and explain our purpose in coming.
after we did this, we went to take some pito. pito is a locally brewed alcohol, fermented yeast something, that tastes vaguely of hard cider but awful. to me, at least.
anyway, the group of 15 white people walked over to the pito stand, but the party had already started long before. a group of old women had apparently been drinking for quite some time, and they were thrilled to see us. they formed a dance circle with us and sang and shrieked. soon enough, benches were pulled up for us all to sit and take the pito.
next thing we knew, these drunk old ladies had formed a line and danced their way over to us, still singing and shrieking. each one of them shook each one of our hands and welcomed us.
then they danced away.

well, that's one way of handling that...

school children in ghana are required to have shaved heads.
at first, i thought that was odd, a little too regimented, but now it makes sense because it certainly must reduce insect (lice) problems, and it's a lot easier for the children to take care of. if the girls had hair, then they would also need mirrors, etc.
ok, so i don't know what the length requirement is, but hair must be kept quite short.
the other day at assembly, one of the teachers apparently decided many of the kids' hair was getting too long.
his solution? he walked around with a pair of scissors and cut a bald patch in each child's hair.
it looked awful and was quite embarrassing to the children he selected.
but i guess it worked, because by the next day, i think all but one of the kids had shaved their heads to get rid of the horrible bald spot.

a thanksgiving to remember

i know you all probably feel pretty sorry for me, being so far removed from america and family and all the things that typically make thanksgiving a day to be thankful.

but do not worry: i just had the most amazing thanksgiving of all time.

the american ambassador invited us to his house for thanksgiving. and you just cannot pass up an opportunity like that. it took us 12.5 hours to get from wa to accra on wednesday.

embassy workers housed us. it was like entering an entirely different world. i didn't even know this world existed in ghana. hot showers, freezing air conditioning, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, bacon, internet, fluffy towels, washer and dryer...and this is all before we even got to the ambassador's house!

dinner today was amazing, everything that thanksgiving should be. friends, food, oh good times.

so, i feel sorry for all of you, not the other way around!

braids and aftermath

i mentioned in my last post that i got braids. here is a picture of them.


they lasted about a week before i decided to take them out. and i think the part after the braids might have been even more wonderful than the braids themselves.

what do you think?

friends

last week a girl asked me to be her friend. i said sure, i'll be your friend. she told me where she works, a hair salon.

one day, i passed by the salon without realizing it was hers. she wasn't there, but she had told her sister about her new white friend. so her sister called me over.

so this week, i returned to the salon. they were busy braiding each other's hair, but i sat and visited for the afternoon. the other sisters and their father and all their children were there. they watched and alternately came over to stroke my arm or pat my head, to see if i feel the same way they do.

the next day i went back for my turn at hair braiding. they gave me cornrows ending in a bun. it's very nice. i stayed the whole afternoon, and in the process met the entire family.

when she finished, agnes refused to let me pay her for the braiding. she said it was a gift from the heart.

then my original friend, eva, walked with me. they took me to their house, where they showed me how to make tz and jojo. we ate supper together. the children stroked my arm and patted my head and held my hand. the little girl, blessing, barely left my side the entire evening.

then, when we were all finished eating, they gave me a ride home.

now, seriously, that's some real ghanaian hospitality.

caning

in ghana, a perfectly acceptable punishment in school is caning. this is something we talked about over and over in training, something we were warned about, something we were advised on how to handle appropriately.
as much as we had talked about it and learned about it, i only just saw my first caning last week. two old boys, both probably in their 20's, had gotten into a fight the night before. in front of assembly, each received three lashes on their back from a green stick from a tree. the sticks broke with each lash. it was intense, but the boys barely flinched, keeping up a tough exterior in front of all their classmates.
the second caning i witnessed, this week, was so much worse though. two little p1 boys had gotten into a fight. one had a big cut above his eye. the teachers considered his cut to be adequate punishment, so they spared him, but the other boy... oh, the poor little guy.
first, he was made to kneel in the gravel in front of assembly. a teacher gave him two huge stones, one in each hand. he was made to hold them with his arms extended straight out. they were so heavy he couldn't do it, and each time his arms dropped, he was scolded again.
when that was finally enough, the caning happened. i don't even know how many lashes this little guy got, but it was way too many. he was wailing and sobbing so much the teacher had to hold him by his shirt to keep him from running away or falling down.
when it was finally over, he ran off and screamed and cried in the corner for a long time. it was horrible.

a girl called "it"

i'm still learning sign language. it's a long process, and i am trying to be patient with myself. when i actually understand a conversation in sign language, i get really excited. the other day, the conversation was a funny one. the only deaf teacher at my school is the sign language teacher. after class, we were standing around talking to a few students, and this teacher told a student she needed to change her sign name.
sign names are usually the initial of the person's name, signed at a particular place on your body. for me, it is a "j" signed on the inside of my left elbow. each person, ideally, has a different name.
anyway, this girl is in p6, so for at least six years, her sign name has been the letter "i" signed on the palm of the left hand.
which, the sign language teacher explained, is also the sign for "IT."
so for six years, she has been called "it."

three grapes

last weekend, my friend elyse and i were waiting for our bus to leave. we were hungry, so we were eagerly scanning the crowd for something yummy on someone's head. and out of nowhere, we saw GRAPES. grapes! i have never seen these in ghana. i don't think ghanaians even know what they are.
so elyse ran over to the woman to buy some. the woman had only one bunch on her head, the rest of her bowl was apples. she told elyse the price.
three grapes for five thousand. that's three grapes for about 40 cents. the bunch would cost 8 ghana cedis. that's a day and a half's wages. for a bunch of grapes.
so. let's do a price comparison. for the price of three grapes, you could choose to get any of these instead:
a backpack full of potatoes
50 minutes of internet
5 packages of biscuits (cookies)
2.5 eggs
10 pencils
4 text messages to america
12 boxes of matches
4-6 medium tomatoes
10 pure water sachets
1 roll of toilet paper
1 bar of soap
1 jar of peanut butter (well, the equivalent of one jar, sold in a poly bag)
1/3 bottle of beer
1/3 postage for a letter to america
1/2 loaf of bread
needless to say, we did buy a few grapes. they were AMAZING. and we saved the seeds. we will try to grow our own grapes so we can avoid this problem in the future. anyone out there have experience with vineyards?

so cliche

the chaco tan.

the kiddos

pulling out a camera in front of kids in ghana is just asking for trouble. the kids swarm and appear out of nowhere to have their pictures taken. they don't understand needing to stand back from the camera, so they all rush it at once. but they love looking at their own pictures afterward.

so the other day, i let the kids play with some puzzles for a while. these are pictures of that adventure.

i only took pictures in one of my classes, because that camera is such an interruption to anything organized or calm, but here is a picture of some of my p2 kids.

ok, and i know i probably shouldn't have a favorite student already, but i do. his name is john, and he is in p1, and he loves learning about anything, and he has the hugest dimples in the whole world (which you can't see in this picture...). adorable.

guests.

the other day, i returned to my house after class, only to find i had a few visitors.

religious and moral education

the students at my school take a class called religious and moral education. when i arrived at my p3 class last week to teach, they were just finishing up a lesson, and i thought the notes were really funny.
this is what the teacher had the students copy into their notebooks, errors included.

Man, woman, children (girl, boy) are human beings. Human being make
a. pen
b. book
c. phone
d. fan
e. table
f. shoe
g. dress
h. etc
God make
a. human being
b. sun
c. moon
d. stars
e. animals
f. soil
g. tree
h. fish
i. etc

unpleasant

downwind from the classroom building of my school is the urinals, which are cinderblock stalls for urinating, without water or pipes. the smell frequently wafts up to the classes.
in the roof of the classroom building live many, many bats. they bump and clomp around there all day and night, and of course have filled it with their excrement. so the classrooms smell like bat shit too.
well, and the other day, a student puked in the stairwell, so we had that aroma as well.
it was awful.

taking suggestions

next week i think i will have a chance to have GOOD access to the internet, and i will try to post pictures and give some better updates.
but i haven't taken ANY pictures in the last month, so i need requests. are there any things that you are dying to see pictures of? i'll try to take some of my kids and classes, but what else?
you have one week. i'll do my best.

fashion statements

for classes, my students wear uniforms. the girls wear yellow dresses; the boys wear yellow shirts and khaki shorts. when classes end, the students change into their "play" clothes, blue checkered dresses or shirts.
on the weekend, the students are allowed to wear whatever clothes they want. and they, like most of the people in ghana, wear some funny things.
you know those clothes that you give to goodwill? and then from those, the ones that goodwill can't sell? and then the ones that the goodwill clearance whatever can't sell? well, those come to africa. they are called dead white man clothes, because ghanaians can't understand why someone would give away perfectly good clothes, so they assume the person must have died.
anyway. so my little students this weekend modeled some wonderful selections.
a little boy wearing a pink aeropostale shirt
a little boy wearing a "DYNAMAITE SISTERS" shirt
a big boy wearing a lady skins basketball shirt
a little boy wearing a shirt that said "hockey pro" with a picture of a football helmet
then there was also a little boy wearing a massive down ski jacket, despite the heat, i guess just because he owned it and thought it was cool.

what i'm actually teaching

i realized i have never actually mentioned what classes i am teaching or what the classes are like. so i'll do that now, for you super curious readers out there.
i am teaching p1 through p6, pre-jhs, jhs1-jhs3. it's a total of ten different grades ranging from the american equivalent of first grade through 10th grade.
the students are sometimes the correct age for their class, but they are sometimes much older, depending on how long they had to wait to go to school. so p1 might have some six-year-olds, but it might also have 14-year-olds. it's a broad range.
the class sizes also vary quite a bit. my p1 class is monstrous: 20 or so hyper deaf kids who REFUSE to stay seated. but the older classes get smaller and much more manageable. p5 has about 8 students, jhs3 about 10.
the classrooms are all in one building, but the school is currently being renovated, so the girls dorm is also in the same building, and a few teachers also live in the same building. so several classrooms have been converted to housing, and the classrooms are partitioned off so two fit in one room.
this is fine; the kids can't hear to be distracted by another class. but it means that there is not a DOOR that can be CLOSED when class is in session, so all the kids who don't have class swarm the class that i am teaching and drive me NUTS.
the kids sit one or two to a wooden desk/bench combination. many are broken. the windows are broken/screens torn. the blackboards are black painted on the wall. it's little things that i've already stopped noticing, but just dramatically different than american classrooms. the walls are mostly bare; the only posters are hand-drawn diagrams of science topics, usually drawn by the best artist in that class.
the kids absolutely love using the pencil sharpeners that i have. typically, they use razor blades to sharpen their pencils, so the real sharpeners are still a novelty to them.
it's simple things like that which keep them entertained.

and we're off!

classes (for me) began yesterday.
i taught two classes yesterday, two today.
two went well, two went not so well.
i am satisfied with that.
for the older kids, i had them write their names in the middle of the paper, then in the four corners, draw different pictures.
1. their sign name. they hated me for this, because it is REALLY HARD to draw a body and a hand in a certain shape! but it was good, because i got to know them AND their names.
2. a map of ghana and the village they come from.
3. their family and names.
4. their favorite food.
it was a really good project because we could talk and get to know each other, using their drawings to fill in the language gaps.
however, the jhs1 class is one that had trouble with it.
when i asked them to draw their families, a few drew cars. one drew an airplane. when i asked them to draw their favorite food, one drew the sun. another drew a police car.
ah, ghana.
ah, deaf teenagers in ghana.

sweat

so many different varieties of sweat:
the backpack sweat, when you've been wearing a backpack and take it off. your back is drenched, and you have lovely wet shoulder stripes.
a similar kind is the purse sweat, when you simply have one long strip of soaked clothing from the strap of your bag.
then there's the wet back/wet butt sweat if you were just sitting in your own sweat.
or the is-it-water-or-is-it-sweat sweat, when you've just bathed and can't even tell if it is from the bath or fresh new sweat.
oh ghana.
(and this is not even the hot season...)

priorities

because clearly it is more important that the students harvest the beans and sweep the dirt of the entire campus before we start classes.
i mean, definitely the dirt needs to be clean. that's more important than letting kids learn.
(classes starting monday, maybe?)

a mutual understanding

every evening, as i sit in my living room, i am visited by many guests. sure, some are human, but most are of the insect variety.
they come in under my front door, mostly, and sometimes through the screens in my windows. all varieties: ants, beetles, crickets, spiders, grasshoppers, lightning bugs, and weird ones i can't identify.
they come in and fly around, swarm my light, and crawl around my walls.
they do their thing, have a big party every night.
but they are kind guests. they clean up after themselves every time.
the spiders catch and kill the grasshoppers. the ants carry away the dead beatles. they all work together and clean up all evidence of their crazy party.
then the next morning, when i sweep my living room, there is no evidence of the good time they had just hours before.
such kind guests. i guess i don't mind terribly.

the grand tour

i finally got the cushions for my chairs finished, so now i can post pictures of my house! my house was finished just a couple of weeks before i moved here, so everything is brand new and sparkly clean and wonderful. my house feels like a little bit of america here in ghana.

as you walk in the front door, you enter the living room. or hall, as it is known in ghana. these are the chairs i bought new cushions for. the giant blank space on the wall will soon be filled with something, but my walls won't take nails, so i'm working on some other solution, some way to hang pictures without nails.

if you turn to the right, you enter my guest bedroom/art studio/computer room. this is my computer desk and art workspace. next to that is a small seating area, where i mostly sit when i use my computer, and then my guest bed.

when you leave the guest bedroom, my shower and toilet are in the hallway. i know it is weird to post a picture of a toilet, but seriously! i have a toilet! it's exciting!

next to the toilet is the kitchen. this is another amazing room in my house. first is my stove (and oven! look! it's an oven!). also, notice the blender. amazing. i also have a sink, a sink in my kitchen! these things are rare in ghana: look and admire.

my curtains might be my favorite feature of my kitchen, oddly enough. they have can openers all over them, alternating with opened cans. material here has random appliances as inspiration sometimes, and i really like that i found a good one for my kitchen curtain.

yes, i do have two refrigerators. i know, seems excessive. one is spoiled though, so it is basically a bug-proof cabinet. the smaller one is the one that works. on top of it is the amazing peace corps water filter that help keep us all healthy.

on the other side of the hallway from the kitchen is my bedroom. i love it. outside that window are the goats. i don't love them.

also, i know you know what a fan looks like, but here is a picture. i have THREE. and right now, i usually have to turn them off because they are so powerful they make me cold. i am sure when hot season arrives, i will much appreciate that.

well, that's the tour! hope you enjoyed it, and please know, you are all welcome to visit! i have plenty of room!

27th birthday, ghana style

my friends elyse and jason came to town to spend the day with me for my birthday. we enjoyed fantastic fried rice, and when a man who was greeting us learned it was my birthday, he sang to me. it went: WE WISH YOU A um, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

merry christmas, happy birthday, same difference.

we came home and made peanut butter chocolate MILKSHAKES. (can you believe it? i still cannot.)

then we went back to town, where i had my first fufu. fufu is the most common dish served in ghana, and somehow i lived here three months without ever trying it. so for my birthday, that's what we did.

i realized once we finished it that we should have put my birthday candle in the fufu so i could have blown it out, but it was too late.

it was, overall, a simple yet splendid day.

many thanks for all the packages! i had four wonderful packages to open for my birthday, full of chocolate and cheese and stickers for my kids.

adventures in the kitchen

i almost died today.

ok, that's an exaggeration.  but i almost burned down my house.  

i decided to make thai peanut sauce and rice for dinner tonight.  i lit my gas stove and was heating the oil while i finished chopping the onions and garlic, and i guess the flame was a bit too big, or i took a bit too long, but the oil in the pan got REALLY hot and started smoking, and then LIT ITSELF ON FIRE.  

i had this huge pot, on a gas stove, with 1-2 foot flames shooting out the top of it.  

and of course no fire extinguisher.

i turned off the gas.  and hoped the oil would burn itself away and the fire would go out, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger.  my house was filling with smoke.

and i was panicking.

i know you aren't supposed to put water on a grease fire, but i had no idea what else i could use to put out this growing flame.  so finally, i just grabbed the pan and BOLTED to the front door and LAUNCHED it into the yard.  

it was raining outside, so soon enough, the fire went out.  my metal pan was halfway melted, and now i am nursing a (minor) blister on my thumb too.

i am just thankful my house is still standing.

and i'm grateful for the lack of smoke detectors, honestly.  my neighbors didn't need to be any more aware of this incident than seeing a melty black pan laying in the grass.

just another day in paradise

i realize i haven't really told you about what life in my new home is like.  now that i've been "home" for two weeks, things have settled into a bit of a routine, and i'm sure you are curious what i spend my days doing.

actually, i'm curious as well.

i'm not quite sure what i've actually DONE that has made the time go by.  

well, usually, the roosters start waking me up anywhere from 2am to 6am.  there is one that stands directly outside my window, and he has a crow-off with one in the distance.  and back and forth they go.  i, being the ever champion sleeper, fall back asleep.  i usually get up around 8, i suppose.  i make some breakfast, either pancakes, french toast, or eggs, and read a little bit.  i decide i should get showered and ready for the day, but then i always decide i should do my cleaning first so i shower after i'm all sweaty.  so i do my dishes, sweep my floor, rearrange my house (again), or whatever ambitious tasks i am up for.  

i did a lot of laundry these first couple weeks, both my clothing, and random bedding and linens that were left to me.  

and i want you to appreciate what doing laundry means here: filling a tub with water, and sitting on a stool and scrubbing the heck out of things.  and scrubbing the heck out of your hands.  ouch.  and then moving the soapy items into clean water and doing it again to rinse.  and then wringing things dry and then hanging them up.  it's no simple task here.  be impressed.  i've earned it.

ANYWAY.  so after i've done some cleaning, i take a shower.  yes, i did say shower.  my house does have a shower.  i love it.

after that, i'll read or write or nap or even start on an art project.  

at some point, perhaps a sandwich for lunch.  

usually i end up walking to town.  it's about a 30-minute walk, and i've yet to plan my walk such that i don't leave at the very hottest point in the day, so by the time i arrive at any destination, i'm completely sweaty and dying for some water.  i might wander around the market a little bit, or just walk up and down the street exploring, or i might go to the internet cafe.  then i start heading back home, pretty much as soon as i've cooled down, and soon i'm sweating again.  

so then i've got the whole evening in front of me.  it gets dark before 7pm here, so if i'm home by dark, i still have a lot of time on my hands.  sounds like time to make a wonderful dinner!  i made spaghetti with garlic bread one night, and i'm certain it was the best spaghetti ever made.  i made macaroni and cheese (with laughing cow cheese), made banana bread once, and oh, i'm just getting started.  

i have so much time to figure out how to be a good cook while i'm here!

so then after dinner, turn on some music and chill again.  maybe have a friend over for a game or just read or write.  

then bed!

and repeat.

school is scheduled to begin on 15 september.  classes will begin one to two weeks after that, depending on when the students actually show up.  so in a month or so, i'll find a new routine with a new schedule!

variations on a theme

in the south of ghana, in twi-land, it goes this way:

obruni coco machi 

in the north, the song the children sing goes this way:

nansala, how are you, we are fine, thank you

today as i walked down the street, i was greeted from a distance by children i could not yet even see, with the little chant.  

nansala, how are you, we are fine, thank you

over and over it repeats itself.
and like any fine piece of music, though the chorus remains the same, the verses may change slightly.  

good evening, how are you, i am fine.

afternoon, how are you, i am fine.

good evening, fine.

fine evening.

how.

personally, i have grown to appreciate the shorter versions, when the person skips all the excess and goes from greeting to answer without bothering for the question.  
although, truly, my favorite, was from one of our trainers.  he skipped all the nonsense.  his greeting went, simply enough: joy, how? my answer: fine.
the children, though, their chorus never changes: 

nansala, how are you, we are fine, thank you. nansala, how are you, we are fine, thank you.

if i interrupt them mid-song, perhaps ask them how THEY are, they stare at me, shocked and amazed and terribly confused.

another window view

now that i have been living in wa for a week, i thought i'd tell you more about my house. i am still working on a few things inside my house, but i'll give you the window view in the meantime. so my house has many, many windows. being the ever-ridiculous american that i am, i stood outside two of my windows and my front door to take pictures for you. internet, you're welcome. i'm sure i looked like a fool.

the first picture is the view out my front door. it's a lovely strange tree, and behind it you can see my neighbor's garden. i'm hoping that once i get some seeds, she'll let me use some space there to attempt to grow things, if i can overcome my black thumb. there is a narrow path which leads between the garden and the wall. and actually, in the hour since i took this photo, some guys came through and cleared the path for me! so it's not narrow anymore, really. the school is gated, so the path is just a shortcut to the nearest entrance. on the other side of the wall are a few random shops and kiosks. i think we've got a hair braiding place, a seamstress, and a general goods store. it's not a busy street, so i really wonder how those places ever make any money!

next picture is the view out my kitchen. this is the random mess and construction scraps from my house, i guess. and in ghana, i'm doubting these items are ever cleaned up. in the background is the second bungalow that has been rebuilt. ours are the first two, and they are now working on a third along with a new dormitory, classroom block, and administrative building. exciting changes!

the last picture is the view outside my bedroom window. this is my neighbor's shed-like structure. she has a couple of goats tied up to it, which is odd. goats here wander free, so i'm thinking these will be her dinner in the next couple days. we'll see. they've tied some plants to the roof for the goats to eat, so they are keeping entertained, but these guys are what usually wakes me up each morning. it was a rooster my first couple days here, but i think he has relocated, or i've stopped hearing him.

so, welcome to my home! will you recognize it when you come to visit?

making it official

as of thursday, 13 august 2009, i am officially a peace corps volunteer. after two and a half months of training, peace corps decided we were all qualified to be real volunteers. for the occasion, we went to a local senior high school and had tents set up outside. we invited all of the trainers, all of our homestay families, local government officials, current volunteers, the peace corps staff, and the american ambassador. we even had a brass band. this was our time to shine, to show ghana what we have learned since we arrived here on the 4th of june. so what do we do? we wear our loudest, poofiest, craziest, and brightest clothes. here are some pictures of the big day. jessi, i hope you are satisfied with the long-awaited pictures of my dress! this one is me with carol and nancy, two other art ed volunteers.

here is the entire art ed group, including our two sign language trainers. from the back left: godfrey, nancy, carol, me, scott, katharyn, sonya, taj.

my u-dub (upper west region) girls, also my braid buddies. (i'm sorry to inform everyone that i took the braids out a few days ago...my slippery white girl hair couldn't hold on to them so well. but i do plan to get braids again sometime, probably soon!)

and finally, my homestay "parents." on the right is baba, my father. on my left is his sister. i alternated between calling her my aunt or my sister. it was all very confusing. but they are wonderful, lovely people. they told me that any time i come back to that area, i should come visit and stay with them. my time with them was very lovely, though also incredibly awkward. it's all good. welcome to ghana.

so during the swearing in ceremony, each language group performed in their chosen language. many groups did market skits or tro-tro skits. our group "sang" a song in sign language. we selected three blind mice. however, the process of translating it first into ghanaian english and then into sign language changed the words around quite a bit. here was the end result: three blind rats three blind rats see one two three run see one two three run all chase farmer's wife cut tail BIG knife did you see same before? three blind rats

taking it to the bank

the day after swearing in, peace corps was to deposit our pay and
settling in allowance into our bank accounts. several of us went to
the city to withdraw some of our money.
we walked into the bank and realized, whoops, peace corps never taught
us how a bank in GHANA works! so we stood there for a moment, not
sure if we needed to fill out a slip or get in a line, and which line
do we use? so we decided to wait in a line and hope it was correct.
it was very clear that we were quite confused, and as usual, the white
people in the room became the center of attention.
what? the obrunis don't know how to use a bank?
so after waiting in line for a little while, i walked up to the
teller. i told him i would like to withdraw 100 ghana cedis. i
handed him my account number.
then the teller informs me that the balance in my account is zero, and
if i take out money, it will be negative 100 ghana cedis.
i ask him to check my friends' accounts, and both of them are zero as well.
the rich white foreigners a) don't know how to use a bank, and b) have
NO money in their accounts.
and that, my friends, is what peace corps is all about: breaking down
the stereotypes that exist in this world.

more about food

although fried rice isn't actually ghanaian, it is very easy to find
here. after a long day of traveling, there's just nothing like
finding a stand with good fried rice.
i have grown to like it just the way it comes.
in a plastic bag:
fried rice
a chicken leg
a sliced hard boiled egg
a squirt of ketchup
a squirt of mayonaise
a scoop of shito, a fish based spicy sauce
a few shreds of lettuce
if you want to be american when you eat it, dump it into a bowl and
use a fork. or, if you don't care, just bite the corner off the bag
and squish it into your mouth.

this is why i now carry things on my head

one of the requirements peace corps takes very seriously is the use of anti-malarial medication. the one i am taking can have some wacky side-effects, such as vivid dreams and nightmares. fortunately, i have not experienced much of these problems.
another side-effect of mefloquine, one they didn't talk about much, is a difference in sensitivity to sun. i only found out about this a couple weeks ago.
i had wondered how i had been living in ghana for so long, rarely wearing sunscreen, and barely getting burnt. somehow mefloquine decreases sensitivity to the sun.
which is quite the dramatic change for me, of course.
so, a couple days ago, perhaps i had grown lazy. perhaps it was carelessness. a sense of invincibility? anyway. i was outside FAR too long. in the direct sun. i didn't feel like i was burning, so i stayed out.
my back is now covered with GIANT juicy blisters. i can't even remember the last time i was burnt this badly. i can barely sleep at night because i have to lay on my back. i can hardly carry my backpack for the pain.
and yesterday, a random man named charles came over to us at dinner and introduced himself. he was very friendly and jolly and welcoming...
and SLAPPED me on the back as a greeting.
it was all i could do not to cry. or scream.

convenience stores

ghana makes the drive-thru window seem like a slow way of buying things.
here, if you are on a bus or in a taxi and say, feel hungry, or
urgently need to buy a toothbrush, just look around. at the station
or at whatever intersection you are waiting, chances are, people are
selling that item from their heads.
you just wave them over and purchase away! never even have to leave
your seat, and certainly no waiting.
what if the vehicle starts moving before your purchase is complete?
no problem. the seller just runs alongside your taxi or bus and
finishes things up!
plantain chips, pure water, fanice, toothbrushes, towels, hats, you
name it: it's available.
i think we all agree. this is one of the things that america SHOULD
start doing!

address

i don't remember if i mentioned this, but i have a new and better
address for you to use for all those letters and packages (ahem,
birthday...) that you are sending.
please just email me (or my mom) if you want it. letters and packages
should work fine at the new address.
i'll always be able to receive mail at the address on the right; it's
just that i'll be a two-day trek from accra, so this will help mail to
arrive more quickly.

my homestay family!

hese pictures are of my homestay family.

the kids are fatayiah (12), fatimah (7), xena (5), and little brother, named something like swale (2?).

the adults are my homestay uncle/brother, and my aunt and perhaps her sister.

it's too hard to figure out how everyone is related. i've started just calling them all brother and sister.

i don't have a picture of mother/grandmother.

i'll work on getting a picture of the whole family together.

problem is, each week or two, we seem to add another member.

see why i'm confused?

yes, i did.

my friend elyse and i decided to get our hair braided. for mine, it took six hours. and lots of weave. i made many friends, as the entire village seemed curious about that white girl getting braids. here are some pictures.

the two small girls are margaret and her sister (whose name i've forgotten). they were our "translators" and sat with me the entire six hours. the taller woman is the hairdresser. she and another woman spent six hours on my hair and only charged me 4 GHc. that's like three dollars. the weave was 3.50 GHc. putting me at a total of 7.50. what a steal. the other lady in the picture is a friend i made, mercy. she came in to have her hair brushed, but stayed for several hours. i think she was entertained by the whole scene. her daughter was with her, playing around the shop, and every so often coming up to me and touching my toe to see why it looked different than hers.

the daughter's name is davida. mercy told me to show this picture to all of my american friends, because she has no husband, just a baby, and if some nice american man wants to marry her, please, could i help her find him? certainly. this is my official attempt.