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.