Saturday, December 3, 2011

Site Visit to Kongo West

Now I must elaborate on my busy three days in Kongo West, filled with greetings and meetings and drinking pito.
Day 1 (Saturday, November 5)
Christopher brought me a breakfast of fried eggs and a box of Don Simon juice to start off my day.  I had some sweet bread and instant coffee, product of India, to go along with that.  I'm not a big fan of the tea bread or sweet bread here; its very white and has no nutritional value...but sometimes I eat it anyways.  I also find it interesting that they really don't produce coffee here.  I think there are areas that grow the coffee beans, but then they export it to be processed.  All the coffee I have had here has been Nescafe, or some other brand of instant coffee.  In the morning you just need some coffee or tea, so you grab whatever you can.  Adding some evaporated milk to the coffee makes it tastier, and it gives me probably one of my only sources of calcium and vitamins A and D, since I haven't had much access to dairy here.
We started the day of greetings by walking across the street to Kongo East to meet their assemblywoman, Honorable Elizabeth.  Christopher is the assemblyman for Kongo West; there is only one chief for all of
Kongo, however.  (Kongo East and West are divided by the highway, called Bawku Road, which leads to Bolga to the west, and eventually takes you to Burkina Faso to the east.)
After greeting her, we walked back across the road and down the street to drink some pito brewed y Christopher's aunt.  Pito is the common drink found in the north (in the south, they make a very alcoholic drink called akpateshia).  It is made form guinea corn, a small, reddish grain.  I was described the pito brewing process, and it was emphasized that it is a purely organic process.  They only use the guinea corn, water and yeast.  The guinea corn grain that is leftover after the soak it in water and drain the juice is used as feed from their animals.  The residual yeast that collects at the bottom of the barrels, and the bottom of the calabash you drink from, is used to make bread or put in the next batch of pito.  The alcohol content of pito is very low, much less than beer, but it does vary from brewer to brewer because there is no standardized process.
During my first pito drinking experience, I met a bunch of Christopher's close friends- Marcus, Mr. Sam, Mr. Roja, Mr. Michael and Mr. John.  Marcus is only a few years older than me, but the rest are in their 40s and 50s.  (I have found it very hard to tell the age of Ghanaians- they tend to look a lot younger than the age they say they are, but sometimes I think that they don't always know their age or they round up.)  This group of men is really entertaining- they are always giving each other a hard time and laughing, but they also talk of serious issues too.  I didn't understand much of what they were saying, but they still made me laugh.  They all speak at least some English, so I was able to have small conversations with them.
After a few hours of pito and jokes, we walked about 30 minutes to Pitanga.  (Kongo West is split into five sections: Pitanga, Yakin, Go-nsablong, Go-nseong and Nagbonk.)  In the local language, "tanga"= rock, and "pi"= hard to pick up.  So this area of Kongo has lots of big rocks, but I was not able to see many of them where we were; Chris is going to show me more when I get back in December.
Since this was my first meeting, I was unsure of protocol of greetings.  Christopher told me to greet the women and he would greet the men.  (I think I could not greet the men because I was not yet introduced to them.)  To greet in Kongo, you say "Tuma, Tuma" and the response is "Naa" or "Naabaa."  That was about 75% of what I said in Nab't the whole weekend.  The other 25% was "La ayela?"/"La an-soma" (How are you?/ I am fine) and telling a few men that I am married (Mam tari sira). Most of the greetings that I learned in Kongo are different from what I have been taught in my language classes, so it will take some time to break down what I've been learning and use the local words and phrases.
Quite a few people showed up to this first meeting in Pitanga, which made Christopher very happy.  The elder men sat on one bench, and the elder woman sat on another; we sat on a bench facing the elders.  The younger people in the community sat around us on the ground or in scattered chairs.  To start the meeting, the bisnabaa said an opening prayer.  Chris then began his introductory speech in which he described how he applied for and received a volunteer.  There was a master of ceremony who translated for me (read: Christopher would talk for 10 minutes at a time, and I would get a two-sentence translation, haha).  Eventually Christopher asked me to introduce myself.  This caught me a little off-guard since he didn't warn me in advance, so I came up with a little something on the spot.
I told them my American name, and my Nab't name, Kongbon.  (Christopher gave me this name.  It means, "for all of us"- I am here for the whole community of Kongo.  So far I have gotten great reactions to my new name from the community.)  I told them I was very happy to be in there community, to get to know them, and to help them in any way that they want.  I told them that I do not come in with my own preconceived ideas of what they need or what they should do, rather I am there to listen to them and work as a team to help them achieve their goals.  I clarified that I was only there for three days initially, to get a feel for the community and my living situation, and I would return at the end of December to begin my two-year service.  I told them between now and then I would be receiving a lot of training and would bring back that knowledge to the community.
I met both the bisnabaa and the manga zea of Pitanga (the manga zea is the Queen Mother-she deals with problems that the women have in the community, while the bisnaabaa deals with the men.  We were in this meeting for almost two hours.  Christopher did most of the talking, while the M/C translate occasionally for me and said some words of his own, and the bisnabaa and manga zea spoke also.  I answered a few questions from the other members (one was, "Should we start discussing issues now?"  My response was "No, I will be back in December to talk to everyone for longer."  And Christopher added that he would arrange meetings to have while I am gone to start talking about problems and their solutions.)  The manga zea ended the meeting with a closing prayer, I went around thanking everyone for coming, then we walked back toward town.  Christopher was very happy with how I was received, so I think I started off on a good note.
We met up with Cletus and Ran back in town.  Ran is a fellow trainee who is in the next won over, Yakoti, and his counterpart is Cletus, who has been best friends with Christopher since childhood.  I am sure we will all meet up frequently to catch up and discuss our projects.
I quickly ate before heading to the next meeting, another 30 minute walk in a different direction.   My late lunch was: fish (whole, chopped into pieces, bones, skin and all) in rice, noodles and beans, with fried yams.  The second meeting was is a section called Go-nseung.  As we approached the meeting, the women were singing and clapping in a circle, and as I sat down, I was surrounded.  Several of them welcomed me by doing a foot-stomping dance, and there were a lot of high-pitched calls.
There was another opening prayer, Christopher did his intro, I said a few words, and one of the schoolgirls, Belinda, translated for me.  This meeting went differently than earlier; members started to go into the needs of the community (water and electricity), and Belinda further emphasized the need for money so that parents could send their children to school.  She was a very passionate young girl, and I was inspired by her.  She was probably in senior secondary school (high school), and she had the best English of anyone in this section.  Many times she wasn't even translating; she would go off on her own tangents, further expressing the need for water, electricity and money to go to school.  I guess this section thought that I would only be there for three days, and would not be returning, so that's why they dove into the community's needs right away.  Christopher let them carry on, but it was interesting to hear what everyone had to say.
This meeting went way past sunset; very quickly, the moon was our spotlight.  It shone so brightly we didn't even need a flashlight to get home.  Before calling it a night, Christopher and I had a late night snack of fried eggs and Star.
Day 2 (Sunday, November 6)
Breakfast was fried eggs and coffee again.  The day before, I asked Christopher if we were going to church (the community is primarily Catholic), purely out of curiosity, not out of personal want to go.  He said we may go if we had time, since we had more meetings scheduled.  Well, come Sunday morning, after I ate breakfast, we walked to Chris's aunt's pito place again.  We were there until noon.  So, needless to say, we did not go to church.  The same men that I drank pito with the day before were here drinking pito again, instead of going to church...I think we will get along.
So at about 12, we walked about 45 minutes to the next section: Go-nsablong.  (I keep approximating walking times to each section, but it is very difficult to know the actual distance we are walking.  Ghanaians walk VERY SLOWLY, and since Christopher is an assemblyman, we stop and talk to EVERYONE we pass.  And Christopher likes to talk, so each greeting takes a while.  Even Cletus was teasing him about talking to each and every person we walked by.  Eventually we would just started walking away as Christopher was talking with someone so that he would have to run to catch up to us.)  This meeting was quite a bit smaller than the others; it was Kongo market day, so most of the section was selling at the market.  (Kongo market is every three days, and it rotates with Bolga and Pelongo markets.)  It was still good to meet the bisnabaa and manga zea though.  After a while, we took leave and walked back to town to met up with Cletus and Ran for some cold drinks.  I had another late lunch of fish, rice bean and noodles.
For dinner, Christopher and I went to a spot in town, Wadegardens.  We ate a local dish  called Konkogre, which is millet based, with chucks of meat.  I can't really describe the taste, but it is very earthy and grainy.  I did not dislike it, but it an acquired taste.  It did help to wash it down with a beer though.  The Upper East is so dry and dusty, especially in Kongo, that you have to place a coaster over your glass, or your cap back on the bottle, whenever you are not drinking out of it.  At first I wasn't sure why people did this; I though maybe it was to keep bugs out.  But when you sit around for a while, and motorbikes keep passing you, kicking up clouds of dust, you quickly learn to cover your glass or bottle.
Day 3 ( Monday, November 7)
Today we traveled to Bolga for market day.  But of course we could not begin our day, officially, until we stopped for some pito first.  We drank a bit of pito around 8 AM, then went out to Mission Junction to catch a tro, which we caught at about 9 AM, after waiting for half an hour.  Kongo is far enough out from Bolga that tros and taxis do not come by often, and the town itself does not have any cars; most everyone rides a motorbike, or they have bicycles.  People in this area simply do not have the money to buy a car, so you see mostly bikes and motorbikes all over Bolga and the surrounding villages.  It was market day, so it was fairly easy to catch a tro, but on non-market days, it will be near impossible to caught a car out of Kongo to Bolga.  I predict I will be riding my bike a lot, since dealing with tros and taxis is not very pleasant.  I will enjoy the exercise anyways.
So we got into Bolga at about 9:30 and went to the police station first to introduce myself and get contact info.  Then Christopher shoed me the bank, post office and internet cafe.  I even helped him open up an email account because he said he wanted one- he has never had one before and did not know how to use the keyboard.  We got breakfast at a chop bar in the market- fried chicken, jollof rice, cabbage and noodles, yum.  The market is very spread out; I still don't know how big it is.  You can find just about anything here- livestock, bikes, food, handkerchiefs, door locks, obroni clothes, shoes/sandals, get a dress made, catch a tro or taxi or bus, get your hair did....etc.
Rob and Barbara also came to the market with their counterparts, so we all met up, caught up on how our site visits were going, and put together a plan for getting to Tamale the following day.  Chris and I left everyone about noon to catch a tro back to Kongo since we had another meeting planned, but we ended up waiting for 1 1/2 hours for the tro to fill up and leave.  Tros and taxis don't leave a station until they are filled with people and luggage/livestock/food/anything people need to take home.  Sometimes this can happen fairly quckly, but more often than not, you have to wait around for a while.  I've heard many terrible stories of people waiting for HOURS for a tro to fill so that it would leave the station.  Apparently, Metro Mass is more reliable because they either leave once the bus is full, or they leave at the scheduled departure time, whichever occurs first.
Back in Kongo we met with Nagbonk, which we passes through the day before to get to Go-nsablong.  The meeting went about the same as all the others.  For as introverted and shy as I am at home, I've been really amused with how easy it has been for me to greet and talk in front of people I do not know, using the very little Gurune/Nab't I know.  But then again I don't have a choice, and I don't want to start off on the wrnog foot at my site, so I guess under pressure I do pretty well.   I'm sure I've said it before, and I know I'll say it many times again in the future, but greetings are very important in Ghana.  It does not really matter if you are a total stranger, or are well-acqainted, you stop and greet. 
My late lunch consisted of whole fish pieces, fried yams, and SWEET POTATOES with pepe powder- delicious!!  I did not know that they had actual sweet potatoes here, so it was a great surprise.  And they were actually very sweet, even sweeter than at home.  The spicy pepe powder balanced nicely with the sweetness.  I really enjoy the pepe (any kind of spicy pepper that they grind, or put in dishes whole) that they add to just about everything- soups, stews, tomato sauce, on fish, yams, anything.  There are not many spices here, really none at all, but I think I can work with the pepe powder.
Cletus and Ran came by again and we walked to the nearby clinic to introduce ourselves.  We later walked through town to grab some dinner.  I wasn't very hungry since I ate a late lunch, but Cletus and Christopher insisted I eat, so I had a hard boiled egg and orange with Ran.  Our counterparts were craving hot tzet (the staple food in the north, made from maize, millet or guinea corn; in the south, you mostly find fufu or banku).  You eat all these foods the same way- grab a chuck of the mush with your fingers, dip into whatever soup you have with it (sometimes groundnut or fish), and eat.  I still have not tried tzet yet, but I'm curious to taste the food I will be eating a lot of the next two years.
I've already decided that I'll be living on eggs, groundnut paste, oatmeal and whatever fruits and veggies are in season that I can get my hands on.  I'm not a big fan of the overload of starches- rice, yams, cocoyams, plantains, tea bread/sweet bread, with every meal.
I think that my site visit went very well overall.  I did not have expectations of what would or should happen going into it, but I was happy with how it all worked out.  I spent a lot of time with the community, walking around, greeting, sitting, talking, drinking pito; I had very little time to myself, I was constantly busy with people.  I did not get to meet the chief of Kongo, or the District Chief Executive, but these meetings will occur as soon as I return for good.
First thing on my list to buy once at site is a bike.  I knew I would be buying a bike anyways, but I was actually very surprised by how spread out my community is.  I will be very curious to have Christopher take me around the ENTIRE community of Kongo West, so I can get a physical idea of the layout and size of the place.  I will have to dodge a lot of questions about why I am walking or riding a bicycle (everyone, and by everyone, I mean EVERYONE, thinks that I should be riding a motorbike, but its a Peace Corps rule that we cannot do so under any circumstance), but it really doesn't bother me at all.  Even Christopher did not like answering questions from the community as to why I was not riding a motorbike, but I even told him to tell everyone that I enjoy walking and biking, I enjoy the exercise.
Kongo West is a very beautiful place.  I love where I got placed, and I love the Upper East Region.  It is very hot and dry and dusty, and there won't be any rain for a while, but I already see it as my "home" for the next two years.  I cannot wait to get to site and start the real work.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

A Long Day of Travel

Friday, November 4, 2011:
3:15 AM- Wake up.  Finish packing.  Load up bags onto the Peace Corps bus and another tro.
3:50 AM- Squeeze onto a seat on either bus.  Depart for the Metro Mass station in Kumasi.
4:15 AM- Arrive at Metro Mass station.  Make sure we all have our piles of bags and congregate into different groups according to destination (Bolga, Tamale, Wa, Ho).  Gather each group's total money for the bus ride and get tickets with seat assignment.  Kumasi to Bolga=12 cedis.  My seat is 42; my counterpart's seat is 41.  Dawn and her counterpart are 39 and 40.  Unfortunately our seats end up being across the row, and there is another passenger between us.
5:00 AM- I buy some MTN credits since I ran out the night before.  We all huddle around our bus to Bolga with all our luggage in one big mass.  A woman comes around to each of us, looks are our pile of bags, then gives us a price that is not negotiated.  I pay 3 cedis for my box of books and two suitcases; some people had to pay 4 or 6 cedis.
6:00 AM- We start to board the bus- this takes a while.  There is no queue, you just push your way onto the bus, and you have to push hard or else someone will swoop in and climb onto the bus first.  There is a man on the bus checking our ticket and luggage receipts.  For how chaotic it is, I am surprised that your seat number actually matters, and people amke sure you are in your assigned seat.  Every seat on the bus is occupied; every little space underneath seats and by your feet and in the aisle is taken up too.  Once I am in my seat, I do not move.
6:20 AM- Depart Kumasi.  Some of the windows are open, and the very cool breeze if refreshing.  It is not often you feel cold in Ghana, so when you are, you embrace it.
7:20 AM- First pee stop....but I sure wasn't going anywhere.  I was just glad I used to toilet one last time before we left the hotel at 3:30 that morning.
8:20 AM- We pass through Techiman, where we will have some of our technical trainings the following week.
9:20 AM- We stop at a Metro Mass mandated bus stop to pee and eat.  After about 20 minutes we hear our bus driver honking at us to get back on the bus.  I quickly enjoyed my fried chicken and jollof rice, with cabbage salad and hot sauce.
12:15 PM- We pass through Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region, where one of the Peace Corps suboffices is.  I will probably spend a good amount of time there, since it is the closest regional office to me. The surrounding environment is changing from lush to dry, and the weather is changing from humid to dry.  The sun rays are becoming very intense.  I think I am sweating out of every pour in my body, but I don't care too much; I doze off like everyone else.  I am pleasantly surprised by how smooth the road is between Kumasi and Bolga, only a few rough patches near Techiman. 
2:00 PM- Drive into Upper East Region.  I fell in love with the area as soon as we got here.  It is beautiful- hot and dry- but beautiful.  Trees are scattered across rolling hills; tall, dry grasses cover the land.
3:00 PM- Arrive in Bolgatanga.  Gather our luggage.  Move it to a corner where someone will watch it for us as we grab some food to eat at Hi Taste Catering, Christopher's favorite chop bar in Bolga.  I have more fried chicken and jollof rice.  We run into a current PCV who is eating at the same place, which is a nice welcome to the area.  Christopher and Cletus (Ran's counterpart, who also happens to best buddies with Christopher since childhood) buy some food for Ran and I for our site visit.
5:00 PM- Ran, Cletus, Christopher and I climb into a taxi to drive to our sites.  The road to my site is actually fairly nice; there are a couple dirt road spots with lots of potholes, but overall not bad.  We pass Rob's site on the way. 
5:30 PM-  Arrive in Kongo.  Strap my luggage to a motorbike to be taken to my guest house.  My living compound isn't complete yet, so I stayed in a guest house building that is run by the Catholic church in my village.  There is a nice big bed, toilet and shower- very nice standards compared to the rest of Kongo.  I settle into my room and take a nice cold shower to get off all the grime from the long bus ride.
8:30 PM- Pass out.  I was supposed to get tea with Christopher, but I could not muster to energy to do anything but sleep.  Besides, I knew I had three long days at site coming up, and I would need all the energy I could get.

Counterpart Workshop, Monday Oct. 31- Thursday Nov. 3

Sunday the 30th we said goodbye to our homestay families for the next few weeks as we do our off-site technical training.  I was sad to say goodbye to Auntie Rose and the cat!  I'm very glad that we still get 2 1/2 weeks at homestay at the very end of training in December- they have been so kind and welcoming to all of us.  The morning we left was very interesting.  We were told that a Peace Corps truck would stop by each of the homestay towns and pick up our luggage to be driven ahead of us to Kumasi.  Mike, Chase and I live out in the boonies of Anyinasin, so the truck was going to stop by my house to get our stuff, instead of us having to lug our bags to the middle of town to be picked up with everyone else.  The one catch:  there was not the big truck that we were expecting to come get our things, it was one of the small Peace Corps vans.  So, all our luggage was thrown up on top of the van, and was at the very top of an already four- to five-foot high pile of luggage.  The entire inside of the van was jam-packed with luggage from Masse, so all of our luggage in Anyinasin got put on top of the van.  It took more than an hour for Toni to "secure" our luggage to the van, with one tarp and some rope.  As I watched the truck roll away, I gave up all attachment to anything I packed in my bags.  But I give Toni major props- ALL of our luggage made it to Kumasi, without any problems. 
The drive to Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, took about three hours.  We all PACKED into the Peace Corps bus, five to a row, instead of the usual four.  Since we didn't have a big truck to transport our luggage, everyone's extra little things got stuffed into the back row of the bus- water filters, med kits, mosquitos nets, extra bags of clothes and backpacks full of the 15 or so Peace Corps training manuals we were given.  Little did we all know at the time how important it is to get use to packing tons of luggage and people and animals and boxes into a very small space.  Other than that, the ride was fairly smooth- not too much traffic, the roads were very nice, but we did see one accident.  A van was completely overturned on the side of the road.  And accident clean-up isn't quite the same as in the States.  You see the sides of the road littered with mashed up cars.  I don't think destroyed cars ever get cleared away; they sit in the grasses that grow around them, constant reminders of dangerous driving habits that make a tro accident by far the highest safety threat to volunteers, over robbery and assault.
Once in Kumasi, we stop by the KSO (one of the Peace Corps sub offices), which is very cozy and comforting.  Its easy to see why people visit a lot to unwind and catch up with fellow volunteers.  I most likely will not end up at the KSO very often; the sub office in Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region, is about a three hour drive from Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.  From the KSO, it took us over an hour to drive through town to get to our hotel.  I did not expect Kumasi to be such a big city.  I did prefer it to Accra, but still not my favorite city in Ghana.  We certainly got spoiled for a few days at our hotel- running water, a shower (with water pressure!!), a flushing toilet, a mirror (now I know what I look like), A/C, a balcony, a bar right near a pool, wifi (?!?!)...I'm luckily not attached to any of these things, but its nice to have for a few days, so I'm not complaining!
The food has been fairly good, but I can't help but miss my homestay mom's cooking!  For breakfast we have had one or more of the following: oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, fried eggs, kwokwo (a soupy, millet-based porridge- definitely an acquired taste) or sausage.  For snack time the hotel has served us delish hot pastries filled with meat.  Ghanaians do not make any bread that is special, but when it comes to pastries, they can sure make some tasty treats.  Lunch has been fried fish almost everyday, banku with fish stew (I am personally a fufu fan, banku is not quite my thing, but it varies greatly depending on who prepares it, so some trainees love it), fried chicken, rice, kontomire stew (kontomire is the cocoyam leaf; I am starting to warm up to its intense green taste, but for being a green-tasting-veggie lover, I was surprised I didn't automatically like it).  For dinner we have had fried rice, rice, spaghetti, cabbage salad and tomato sauces.
On Monday, we met our counterparts- very exciting!  These are the people from our sites that we will be working with very closely for the next two years, and who will be our greatest assets for obtaining information on the community and setting up meetings and projects.  We all packed into the conference room at the Wadoma hotel and picked a seat around a big table- 25 volunteers, and almost as many counterparts (several were late to show up).  Then we were told to go look for our counterpart; we were not going to be told who he or she was.  So we all started introducing ourselves to the counterparts in our respective dialects in order to find our person.  My counterpart's name is Ayil Christopher (I just call him Christopher).  He is the assemblyman for my community, Kongo West.  (There is a neighboring community called Kongo East, and together they form the whole of Kongo, but I am specifically assigned to Kongo West.  Kongo East is still in the process of trying to obtain a Peace Corps volunteer for themselves).  There is one chief (nabaa) for all of Kongo, but East and West have their own assemblyman.  Kongo West is split into five sections, each of which has a subchief (bisnabaa).
After a few meetings I have come to learn a lot about my community, but there is still so much more I want to know- it is all so interesting!  And talking with Christopher about the community has made me so excited to see it, and meet people, and start working.  It seems as though one of the most important projects I will need to facilitate is mobilizing the women in the community that harvest and process shea.  There are other women's groups in the community that are very well organized- like the pito brewing group, and the food traders group- but the shea harvesters have no organization, and Christopher believes that bringing them together will help these women earn more money, and therefore help the community.  These people of Kongo are very poor and food security is a major problem, as it is with all of Ghana, and well, all of Africa.
We have meetings scheduled all week regarding site visits, HIV/AIDS education and preparing for both.  Friday morning we leave very early to travel to our site with our counterparts!  Christopher said it took him 10 hours to get from Kongo West to Kumasi, so I'm sure our travels will be very interesting.  We will then all be in our respective communities Friday through Monday, then we attend PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For Aids Relief) field activities, which is intended to give us experience in planning and carrying out HIV/AIDS education activities.   Since our sites are spread out all over the country, we are split into about six or seven PEPFAR groups.  All Peace Corps volunteers in Africa are required to do HIV/AIDS activities in their communities, so I am glad I will have a chance to observe what current volunteers are doing.
We are all excited to get out of these meetings and see our site.  I am excited to get out and start working, and I am very glad to start working with the all the women's groups in my community.  During my site visit, Christopher wants me to meet the chief, all five subchiefs, and the District Chief Executive, who Chris is related to.  I will also check my living situation, get an initial feel of my community and its members, check out the transportation situation, closest health centers, police station and plan an emergency route for the country's Emergency Action Plan.  There will be a lot more interesting information coming soon!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Homestay

I think I mentioned before that when it rains in Ghana, everything stops.  It has rained mostly at nights, and in the late afternoon/early evening, often when I'm eating dinner.  So I had been pretty lucky not getting caught in the rain. Well, come Monday, I got caught in the pouring rain!  Cara and I arrived back in Anyinasin at about 5:30, after we had gone to the internet cafe in New Tafo after training classes.  As soon as we got out of the taxi, it started to POUR.  We live too far out to have made it home quickly, so we took shelter under a tin roof and decided to wait it out.  By about 6, the rain was not even being to slow down, but it was also getting dark...so we had to make a run for it!  I gave Cara my umbrella since she had her computer with her, and I have my handy little backpack rain cover.  I'd say my house is about 1/3 mile from where we took cover, so by the time I got home, I was soaked!  My homestay mom thought it was pretty funny that I got stuck.  It was pretty amusing, and really fun actually.  It reminded me of getting soaked riding my bike in Davis when it would rain...well, minus of course the bike...
On Tuesday, my homestay mom surprised me with a gift- she had had a dress tailored for me!  I thought it was so sweet of her to do that, and the dress is really cute!  (I look like a REAL girl when I wear it haha)  The dress is purple, with black and white designs on it.  She wanted me to wear it the next day, but we were to go to a tree nursery for technical, so I needed to wear my boots, but I assured her I would wear it Thursday.  Come Thursday, my mom was thrilled when she saw me in her dress, and I got some extra stares and laughs and greetings on my way to language class.  I still plan getting dresses made for me, but I haven't had the time to go do that.  Ghanaians are very particular with their appearance-  they are always well dressed and professional.  We have been told many times that the biggest complaint of Ghanaians about Americans is their appearance.  Women are supposed to wear skirts or dresses, and men should wear trousers and collared shirts.  I think I have done a good job of looking nice everyday, but it has certainly taken some adjustment for me to wear skirts and dresses everyday.  The only time I can wear shorts is when I am working, or playing sports...so as you can imagine, I look for these opportunities every chance I get, haha.
Friday I wore the dress again because we had a family picture taken- me, my brother and Auntie Rose (the cat didn't make it into the picture).  The night before, I went on a walk through town with my mom the find the "camera man."  It was beautiful night- no clouds or fog, just a perfectly clear sky, all the stars shining brightly.  It was the first night that it was cloudless; most nights have been overcast and raining.  Ghana is littered with garbage everywhere you see, and you cannot trust any of the water you see around you unless its from a satchet or filter, but at night, when its clear outside, the sky looks beautiful and hundreds of fireflies light up the path around you.  Now I just need to learn what stars I'm looking at...
There is this amazing snack in Ghana called "bowl fruit."  Basically, its a fried ball of sweet bread- oh so very satisfying as you're riding in the bus or at technical training.  Everything in Ghana is fried or cooked in oil, MASSIVE amounts of oil, usually palm, but somtimes vegetable.  All the soups and stews I've had are dripping with the bright red palm oil, but it hasn't particularly bothered me like it has other people.  I think the only thing I've had that wasn't cooked in oil is these black-eyed peas my mom cooks up every few days.  Almost every meal I get some type of meat too- usually chicken or mackerel, or both.  A few times I've had some other type of light fish, I think tilapia, since it is so common here.  So far, I haven't eaten anythign I don't like, its all been delicious and different and interesting.  Last night my mom mashed up this concoction for her and her brother- there was garden egg (eggplant), onion, salt and pepe.  They scooped it up and ate it with boiled plantain.  I had eaten mackerel stew for dinner, so I didn't try it, but it looked good!  I'm still not eating enough, according to my mom's standards.  At every meal, I always get "EAT ALL!!"  I know I will never eat enough for her, even though I always tell her I am very full, and I never am hungry!
One afternoon we got done with training early and I needed a workout.  Bormally I do body weight exercises in my room, but that day I decided to go outside and use the step for stair cardio...and then once I started I remembered why staying in my room was a good idea.  All the kids who walked by stopped to watch me and yell "OBRONI!" at me, and a few sat on the grass and just stared.  And then they yelled to all their friends and everyone passing by that there was this obroni doing something strange...so that was a first and last, until I get to my site, and then I will just have to get used to all the kids watching me workout.  Someone said that you will be like Rocky, with all the kids following you as you run through town.
Another interesting thing in Ghana:  you see men walking down the street holding hands, purely as friends going somewhere together, not even any hint of something more than friendship.  Homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, as it is many places in the world, so any type of physical contact between men and between women is just part of the culture. Ghanaians are very touchy people though; I've met many women who will just keep hugging me, and many times you will shake hands with someone and they will not let go of your hand for the whole conversation.  However, you do not see couples openly show their affection- I have not seen anyone kiss each other, even in the big cities.  For as many marriage proposals I've gotten, you would think you would see more open displays of affection between men and women.
My mom makes a living by selling at her store, and from her farm, which she tells me has plantains, bananas, cocoyams and cocoa.  She keeps wanting to take me to see her farm and work on it, but I have class all day, everyday, so I haven't seen it yet.  At her little store, where I eat all my meals, she sells all kinds of household goods- laundry detergent, key soap (for washing clothes), t-roll (toilet paper, or as my mom calls it, "shit sheet"), canned mackerel, tanned tomatoes, cigarettes, vitamins, batteries, flashlights, diapers, biscuits, sandals, chilled water satchets, tea, coffee powder mix...and lots more.  This morning as I ate breakfast, I decided to look at where my breakfast came from: one orange, white bread and eggs- local, tea- packaged in Dubai, sugar cubes- France, milk powder- New Zealand.  I also know that the batteries and shoe polish come from China.  I still want to see where the canned tomatoes, carrots, green beans and mackerel come from, and the rice.  But I'd say a good portion of what I'm eating is probably raised not too far from where I am.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Gurune Lessons

Now all the Twi I learned in the first few days here is gone from my head to make room for Gurune!  Last week we started lessons with our instructor Ida.  Tuesday through Saturday we had language from 8-12 and 1-230, then a short technical training lecture each afternoon.  Its an exhausting schedule!  This week will be just like that as well, but then on Sunday we leave our homestays to go travel around the country for a month to do our hands-on technical training and visit our service sites.  So its a crazy busy two weeks, but then after it will be mostly technical training, and just a little language.
We have our lessons at the Presby Church in Anyinasin, where my homestay is.  After the first week of training, I can now greet someone in many different ways, introduce myself, say where I'm from, what I do, where I live, what I like, where I'm going, what I'm doing, and I can count to 20.  Greetings are very, very important here in Ghana, so lots of attention has been paid to how you greet people in your community and anywhere you go.  Especially in our communities its going to be very important to greet and get to know everyone we come across so that people know who we are and what we are doing.  If you don't greet someone, they will probably not like and in the future won't try to help you if you need help.  Even as I walk to and from my homestay and class, I am supposed to greet everyone I pass by.  It is hard to now though, because I am no longer learning Twi, but I try to at least say hi and ask how people are.  If possible, I walk with another person who is actually learning Twi for their site, so then that person can talk more with the people we pass and greet.
The church is about in the middle of town, so we get a lot of school children that pass by us.  It is so hot that we have to keep open all the windows and door, which means periodically Ida has to go out and shoo away all of the kids that are yelling "Obroni!!" from the windows.  We also get a lot of farm animals interrupting our conversations.  The goats and sheep and chickens and ducks all freely roam around town, so especially in the mornings, the goats and chickens make a lot of noise.  
Richie Rich from Brooklyn had his 31st birthday today, so on Saturday we all went to have a drink at Chase's mom's spot in Anyinasin, which is right down the street from where my homestay is.  (In Ghana, they call bars "spots").  Luckily there weren't any funerals or weddings in town this week, so it was very quite and we had the spot to ourselves.  It was a nice way to relax after the long, intense week of language training.  But like I said before, Ghanaians go to bed very early, so we all left the spot at 9 so that our homestay moms wouldn't get mad at us and worry!
On Sunday we had another free day, but this time I got out of going to church.  Our whole group took a field trip to Boti Falls, about an hours drive from the hub site in Kukurantumi.  We saw two different falls, which were beautiful, and we also got to go on a hike, that had some great hills we had to slide down and climb up!  It felt good to get outside, and sweat from actual physical activity for a change.  We got some beautiful views of the area...unfortunately, trash was littered everywhere, as it is all over Ghana.  For me, that has been the hardest thing to get used to here in Ghana.  There are no trash cans and no trash collection services, that I know of.  If you have trash, you just throw it on the ground.  I still cannot just throw things on the ground yet, so I have my own little trash bag going in my room.  I know that they burn some of their trash, but most of it just ends up in ditches and waterways and on the street.  My homestay mom will just throw trash out of her store, and every morning you see her and everyone else sweeping up the garbage that accumulates in front of their houses and stores.  At breakfast each morning, as I'm eating my egg sandwiches and drinking tea in my mom's store, and visiting with the cat, I see her sweep up all the garbage.  I'm actually not really sure where she dumps it.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

FUFU!

One of the most popular foods people make in Ghana is fufu.  I've had it a few times at homestay, and I'm sure I will be eating a lot more of it.  Fufu is basically mashed up cassava or yam or rice, or a combination of those, which is formed into a sticky ball.  It is served with soup, and to eat it, you grab a piece of fufu and dip it in the soup.  Auntie Rose has made a groundnut soup (groundnut paste, tomato, meat, pepe, oil) whenever she has served me fufu.  I actually really like it, even though it is very filling and it expands in your stomach.  Another dish I have had is cabbage soup- cabbage, chicken, mackerel, tomato, pepe, green peppers, greens beans, oil- and that is very good too!  I think just about everything I have had is made of tomato, pepe, mackerel and chicken, with a huge side of starches and carbs- rice, yams, plantains, cassava.
The first Sunday of homestay was another free day, but it really wasn't a free day for me- it was a very busy day!  First thing in the morning, all 12 of us in Anyinasin went to meet the chief at his "palace."  All of our homestay moms met us there, and as each of us introduced ourselves to the chief one by one, our moms came up with us.  My mom is the chief's granddaughter...soo basically I'm royalty.  We exchanged gifts of "schnapps" (a very potent alcohol, similar to rubbing alcohol), then the chief said prayers for a successful service and welcomed us into his village, saying we were now a part of the community.
After meeting the chief, it was time for church.  My mom insisted that I go, so I didn't argue, I will go once!  I got on my nice white dress and walked to this open cement structure where the Presby church meets.  All the women wear beautiful white dresses with black designs, and the men wear big sheets around them (like togas).  There was a lot of singing and dancing to music provided my the choir and high-school aged band (three trumpets, two trombones, and a tomtom, bass drum, snare and cymbals).  The service was about 2 1/2 hours...it was all in Twi except for a few English phrases he threw out there for me, and based on that I think the service was about the importance of paying your taxes and about being a good Christian.
After a snack of bananas and groundnuts back at the house, I did my laundry!  Luckily I was able to do it in peace, no one came to help and no one watched and laughed as I scrubbed my clothes.  Next we went to the funeral (s).  Apparently, there were three funerals in town that weekend- one of the ladies was 110 and one was 93.  Funerals last all weekend here in Ghana, Friday through Sunday.  There is a covered meeting area in the middle of town where chairs where set up, with an open dancing area in the middle, and a DJ and announcer, who talked a lot.  I didn't completely understand what he was saying, or what was going on, but I think money was being collected for the three people who died.  At one point, Josh from New York, Mary from South Carolina, Caitlin from Oklahoma and me got up to dance- all of the women loved it, and it made my mom homestay mom really happy!  Everyone loves watching us dance, and I bet it looks really funny!  I've already kind of gotten used to dancing with thousands of eyes on me.
Eventually it started to rain.  And when it rains here in Ghana, everything stops.  You don't do anything, you don't go anywhere, you just huddle under the tin roof of a store and wait until it stops.  So when it started to rain, my mom and I went to her sister's store and drank a Guinness.  Almost everyday since we arrived it has rained.  It starts at all times of the day and night, but usually it only lasts for about 30 minutes.  Its also very humid, and if you get stuck it the sun, it is hot!  The sun rays are very intense, so you sweat instantly!  At night it sometimes can cool down and feel nice, but a lot of the time I don't think the temperature changes much from day to night.
And after last weekend, I have decided that I am now "married."  Marriage proposals started to flood in on Sunday, and I really would rather not deal with it at all....so I just switched my ring to my ring finger, and tell everyone I left my husband back in California!  If you say you're single, men will just bombard you with proposals and attention- and I don't want any of that.  So now I need to come up with a good lie, so if anyone has suggestions for a name for my "husband" and maybe a career and anything else, write me a letter!

The second six days in Ghana

Our program here in Ghana, Natural Resource Management, is actually a kind of new group.  Before our current group of trainees, they used to do Small Enterprise Development (SED) and Environment separately.  Now they are grouped together, which makes sense since Ghana has such a vast amount of important natural resources that need to be conserved and that can be better developed to support the Ghanaian people.  At my site I will be working mostly with the environmental side of things- establishing tree nursuries, planting trees, supporting dry season farming, supporting youth and women's groups, promoting environmental conservation activities, and promoting alternative livelihood projects such as rabbit rearing. 
Last Monday afternoon we went to the Deputy Chief of Missions house in Accra for the reception of our Peace Corps group.  The DCM is second in command after the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.  Unfortunately we didn't meet the ambassador because he was out of town, but we should meet him later on sometime.  I didn't talk to the DCM directly, but I did talk more with our trainers and our Country Director, Mike.  The reception was near the U.S. Embassy, which we got to drive past to look at.  For a second there it felt as though we were right back in suburbia America, with the walled communities and tightly packed houses and apartments.  It would be very easy to stay in a cushioned American bubble in this two-block radius of Accra.  And so in one of these very nice, air conditioned houses with a huge yard, we had our last few cold beers (and we all keep saying that each beer is our last, but we've had a few of these "last beers").
On Tuesday it was time to leave for our training site, Kukurantumi.  The drive was about 2 1/2 hours, and we went almost directly north of Accra.  This is my mistake- I told evreyone that Kukurantumi is near the Togoan border, because this is the only Kukurantumi Google knows about...this is FALSE.  If you look on a map, Kukurantumi is north of Accra, approximately halfway to Lake Volta in that area.  The drive was very beautiful, very lush, lots of banana and plantain trees everywhere, not unlike Costa Rica.  On the bus ride all of the guys were asking Dan about football scores, so I found out the 49ers are 4-1??? (I know by the time this post gets up it will be different, but I was still pleasantly surprised, and not surprised that it would happen when I'm gone...)
The training staff in Kukurantumi are all very nice and welcoming.  We have a group of technical trainers, and then a group of language/cultural trainers that do the language classes.  They care very much about teaching us as much as they can before we go to site so that we know more of what to expect, and how we should act so as to not offend our communities and integrate into the Ghanaian culture. 
The day after arriving in Kuku, we got placed in our homestays!  Our group is staying in two towns about 16 km from Kuku, Masse and Anyinasin.  To get to either town from the Peace Corps hub site, you walk to the Tafo Junction, grab a cab to New Tafo (45 pesewa), then get a cab to either Masse or Anyinasin (1 cedi).  The trip takes about 20 minutes each way, which isn't too bad, but if you can't find any taxis in your homestay town, then it can take a while to get to the office.  On Thursday morning, we all decided to take a tro from Anyinasin to the office, so all 13 of us crammed into the tro, four to a row, along with two other men and four school kids in the trunk..it looked pretty funny.  Buut it only cost 1 cedi to get from homestay to the office, instead of 1.45, so it was worth it.
Before getting placed in our homestays on Wednesday, we had a cultural fair, where the trainers presented Ghanaian clothing and jewelry, art, daily household items and food.  I don't remember a lot of the nams of the foods we had, but there were tigernuts, groundnuts (like peanuts), and various sweets- spicy plantains, spicy groundnut paste, fried balls with coconut, raw and baked coconut.  There were also three drinks- one sweet one made of corn, one water based with lots of spices in it and one milk-like one made of millet.
In the afternoon, our parents started arriving one by one.  They were supposed to get there by 1, by Ghanaians aren't too good with being on time, so our meeting started a bit later than that.  After having an open conversation about homestay, and the difficulties faced due to misunderstanding, we started pairing off!  My homestay mom is Auntie Rose.  She lives in Anyinasin, has four children and nine grandchildren, and three siblings, I think (I don't really know who are her actually siblings because everyone she introduces to me is either her brother or sister, haha).  My new name is Afia Ako.  Afia means that I was born on Friday (I was actually born on Sunday, but since she was born on a Friday I guess it means I was too), and Ako means youngest born.  "Britney" is just a hard name to say no matter where I go, so I'll take whatever name I'm given.
So Cara and I and both of our moms packed ALL of our luggage and mosquito nets and med kits and water filters and lunch pails into one little taxi, trunk overflowing.  I received my huge box of books already (it only took three weeks to get here?!?), so now I have a lot of things to lug around, when originally I thought I did such a good job of packing light.  My room at homestay is very cozy, and I do have access to electricity which I don't really use except for the light, but I am certainly not complaining.  I settled into my room, met some of the neighborhood kids, and met the family who lives in Auntie Rose's guest house.  The two little kids I see every morning are named Nasiri and Obama.
I told my mom I wanted to learn to cook, and that I will eat anything- she seemed happy about that!  For the first dinner, she made a fish stew and boiled cassava.  The stew had tomato sauce, pepe, mackerel and oil.  To eat the stew, you scoop it up with the cassava with your right hand (you only eat with your right hand, NEVER the left...and for everything else, you only use your right hand- to wave at someone, to give someone money, to shake hands with someone).  Ghanaians only eat with their hands, and families tend to all eat out of the same bowl together.  Its just me and Auntie Rose though, so I always get my own bowl of food.  Except of course when her cat wants to come join me at dinner!  They are very paranoid about us petting any animal...but come on, when your homestay mom's cute little cat warms up to you and eventually is rolling around in your lap, what am I supposed to do?? He is very sweet though, and I always throw him some of my dinner so then Auntie Rose will think I are more than I did, hahaha.  Ghanaians serve A LOT of food, so I never eat everything on my plate, even though Auntie Rose is always insisting "EAT ALL"!!
After dinner, its bucket bath time!  I actually like them a lot, they are very refreshing after a long day of sweating.  I've gotten really good at only using about 3/4 of a bucket of water to bathe and wash my undies.  (You are supposed to wash your unmentionable in the shower because Ghanaians do not openly wash and dry them outside.  And little kids and homestay parents tend to want to do your laundry for you, so it is not appropriate to have them wash your delicates.)  Then after bathing, I study, write, and by 8:30 or 9, its bed time!!  It get dark really early here, by about 6:30 you need a flashlight to walk anywhere, so people go to bed really early here.  Aaaand then they get up really early, about 4:30 or 5.  Luckily I don't need to get up until about 6ish, but I'm always semi-awake from 4:30 until I get up because there is so much noise anyways (farm animals everywhere making noise, people blasting the radio, taxis honking).  I don't mind though, I have gotten into a kind of routine here, so getting up early and sleeping early have become a comforting norm.
Fun Fact:  Cara, from West Virginia (in her own words, she is the definition of West Virginia white trash haha), and I were both born on Father's Day, one year apart.  So, I found my Peace Corps soulmate/twin!  Dawn calls us salty and saucy.  I can handle that.  Saucy is close enough to sassy. 
One thing that I do wish I could be good at by the time my service is over is dancing like the Ghanaians.  Even little kids, who can barely walk, just start dancing and grooving, all smiles and laughs, whenever they hear a beat they like.  They look so cool when they dance, and they have so much attitude too, I love it.  One morning at the taxi stop in Anyinasin, Mike from Arizona gave his phone to a little boy who was listening to a Michael Jackson song on it.  This little kid danced around for 20 minutes, and it was so exciting to watch...I want to be able to dance like these 5 year-olds!  Even when all the little kids start yelling "OBRONI! OBRONI!"  they start dancing around.  (Obroni=white person, obibini=black person...whenever kids yell obroni at us, we just yell obibini right back.  Its not an insult, just a fact.  Walking past schools is always funny, because you get tons of school kids yelling obroni at you and waving.  Its pretty cute, even though getting referred to as "obroni" everywhere you go gets to be a bit much sometimes).  A few times on my way to the taxi stop, I've had school girls follow me, and ask me my name.  Its really sweet and cute.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Site Announcement!

Ok I have to jump ahead in my blogs because site announcement is too exciting to wait to post.  On Saturday we had what we call   site announcement ceremony.  We all gathered at the Kukurantumi office around a map of Ghana that the trainers drew on the ground with chalk.  Then they called out each of the six regions that volunteers are going to and announced each person one by one.  I am going to be in the Upper East region in a village called Kongo!  I am very close to the regional capital, Bolgatonga, and also to the Burkina Faso border.  We are assigned our service sites so early in training because there are so many dialects we could potentially learn that they need to start language training as soon as possible.  Thee trainers have been observing us since we arrived in Ghana, and we had site interviews last week to further determine where each one of us will go.  My site dialect is Nab't, but I will be learning Gurune with the five other volunteers that I am being sent to the Upper East region with.  I guess that Gurune is widely understood in that area, and my community will be able to understand me. 
Joining me in the Upper East are: Barbara from Austin, TX, Dennis from Bend, OR (originally MN), Dawn from Portland, OR, Ran from Chicago and Rob from SF (originally Indiana).  Currently there are seven Peace Corps volunteers in this region, and according to the map we were given, I seem relatively close to three of them, and I should be fairly close to Rob and Dawn as well.  I have heard that the volunteers up here are pretty tight knit, since they are so far away from everyone and everything.  From the start of the program, I had a gut feeling that I would be in the north somewhere, so my prediction was right!  Now I will get to adjust to the dry heat...and to prepare, Cara shaved my head today!  I already could not stand even having the little hair that I did.  A shaved head is so liberating and COOL. 
 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

I am in GHANA!!

Maadwo!  (Good evening!) I am in Ghana and I certainly feel like I am in the right place.  From the moment we got off the plane in Accra, the heat and humidity greeted us, which was very different from the cold and rain at our layover in Frankfurt.  I am one of 25 volunteers in the Natural Resource Management program, which is a combination of Small Enterprise Development and Environment.  About 18 of us are environment, the rest are business/finance.  Its a very interesting combination, but it makes sense considering Ghana's vast natural resources.  And we are from all over the U.S.- WA, OR, CA, TX, WV, OH, NY, IL, OK, SC...its so cool to meet people from all over!
The first few days was a lot of sitting and waiting....at JFK, in Frankfurt, on the 7 1/2 and 6 1/2 hour plane rides, on the bus rides to and from the airport, but we all arrived with all of our luggage Thursday evening, Oct. 6.  In Accra, were were greeted by several Peace Corps officials, and our PC Volunteer Leaders (PCVLs) Daniel and Mikey, who herded us through the airport, to the truck were our luggage was thrown into, and then onto our PC bus.  All 25 of us got packed into the bus, and headed to Valley View University, a Mormon college, in the Greater Accra region.  Already there have been so many things that have reminded me of my experiences in Costa Rica: the drop seats in the bus, the very rough roads full of potholes, the huge amount of poverty in a very big, sprawling capital city, the heat and humidity, throwing away toilet paper in the rubbish can, not the toilet....so in a strange way, I have felt somewhat comfortable in this very foreign place.  Except of course when I go into the middle of a bustling trotro station, or market, full of food and household good and clothing, and I am the only white person.  I don't know if I have ever felt quite so exposed, even with all of the traveling I have done in my life. 
On Friday, our first full day in Ghana, we got up early and packed ourselves back into the us to head to the Peace Corps headquarters in central Accra.  It was a two hour drive, and the traffic wasn't even as bad as it usually is.  Right when we arrived, we had our welcoming ceremony, where representatives from the traditional, Muslim and Christian faiths said prayers for our arrival and safe, productive service, and welcomed us into their country.  Then we had the first of many medical appointments and safety and security sessions.  Most of the first few days of training have concentrating on these issues primarily.
On Saturday, we did what we call "Accra Quest."  We split into groups and got a list of tasks of things to do or see in Accra.  My partners were Richie Rich from Brooklyn and Diana from Cincinnati.  We has to go to Kaneshie market and STC station.  Just the ride from the college into town was an experience by itself.  We walked out of the gates of VVU, then crossed the rode to wait for trotros (vans).  Each of these vans carries about 15-20 people to various locations within Accra.  It took us about 30 minutes to get one of these tros because either the ones passing us were full or going to the wrong place, or other Ghanaians waiting pushed their way on before we did.  Ghanaians are all very welcoming and helpful, but if they need to catch a tro to get into town for work, they will not wait in line.  So, after a lot of hand signaling, and finding out we needed to get to the Medina station after asking a Ghanaian also waiting for a tro, we crammed onto one and started the two hour commute into town.  It was a weekend, not even a weekday, adn it took that long.  I heard that about 1 million people come from the Greater Accra region into the city everyday for work.  That just sounds like a nightmare...like L.A.
To pay for your ride, you pay the mate.  The driver just drives, you don't talk to him- you talk to his "mate" and tell him where you need to go.  The total cost of our trip was about 1 cedi, 50 pesewa (100 pesewa= 1 cedi and currently, $1=1.5 cedis which I heard is the highest rate anyone has seen here for a while). The drive from VVU to Medina station was about one hour, then at Medina we navigated through the tons of tros and taxis to get to a bus to Kaneshie.  And there aren't any signs on the cars, you just have mates yelling at you where they are going, or we just kept asking Ghanaians and they pointed us in the right direction.  From Medina to Kaneshie was another hour...and once we got there, we were thrown into this bustling expanse of markets!  Even along the drive, you seen markets and little shops everywhere, and at every traffic stop, or when you are stuck in traffic, you have women everywhere with goods on their heads that they want you to buy.  and you can find anything on their heads that you find in a market- plaintain and banana chips, popo (papaya), oranges, boiled eggs with hot sauce, water satchels (they sell filtered water in 500-ml bags), baked sweets, gum....everything.  I successfully bought plantain chips for 50 pesewa and a water satchel for 10 pesewa out of a trotro window!
Ok.  So we got to Kaneshie market with abotu two hours to explore the area before we would need to commute back.  This market is a huge maze of every type of market stall you could think of- veggies of all kinds, fish, live little crabs in a basket, all kinds of meats (and lots of pigs' feet!), soap and detergent, shose and sandals, and I could go on for a while.  So there were tons of markets outside, and then there was also a 3-story cement building filled with little stores as well.  Food was at the bottom, household good were the next floor up, and clothing and fabrics were on the top floor.  All I got was laundry detergent, but that is very essential.  We walked around for a bit, then crossed the busy intersection to find a bus that would take us next to the STC station.  We found out this is were the luxury buses pick people up to take them to main cities all over the country, like Cape Coast and Kumasi.
From there we made our way back to the Medina station, then back to the Adenta station, and finally back to Valley View.  Each group had different tasks, so when we all got back together we had a lot of interestign stories to tell each other.  The one thing that rang true in everyone's stories was the kindness of the Ghanaians and their willingness to help us get where ever we needed to go.  So although I felt a microscope on me, it was comforting to know that you could walk up to anyone and ask for directions or help and they would gladly do all they can.  And luckily most people speak English in Accra.  Mikey and Dan even described Accra as "basically America" because all signs are in English and probably most people will understand you.  Another sidenote:  Richie Rich needed some cigarettes, but anywhere we went you couldn't find them.  Then one man he asked said that the Ghanaian government put out an anti-smoking campaign and told everyone that it was bad for them and makes them sick.  So I guess that worked-  I have not seen a Ghanaian smoke, even in the huge capital of Accra.  And this man said that if people do see you smoke, they won't like you.  I thought that was really interesting. 
We had our first Twi ("chree") lesson with Taj soon after arriving in Accra.  I've been amused with myself because apparently my brain automatically functions in Spanish no matter what foreign country I'm in.  When I want to translate something, I think in Spanish, so now trying to start to speak a completely different language had been intense, but very interesting.  The pronunciation is the hardest, but now I know how to greet soemone:
-Maakye!/Maaha!/Maadwo! (Good morning/good afternoon/good evening)
-Ye-nua/Ye-Ena/Ye-agya (Hello, depending on the age of the person who greets you)
-Wo ho te sen?  (How are you?)
-Me ho ye.  Na ho nsa e?  (I'm fine. How are you?)
-Menso, me ho ye, paa.  (I'm fine also)
So there's lesson #1 in Twi! More to come!
Sunday we had our first free day.  We did get a few Ghanaian life skills lessons from Dan and Mikey though.  With the first half of their bucket full of water, they demonstrated how to take a bucket bath, which we'll be doing at our homestays and probably at our sites.  The second half of the bucket of water was used to show us how to properly hand wash our clothes.  Just hand soap, no washboard, just our hands.  All my laundry piled up from Philly and then Ghana, so it took me a while, but it was just another good lesson in patience.  I also got to work out and play some soccer with a few of our Ghanaian volunteer trainers!  By the end of my service, I plan on being realllyy good at soccer!! Haha.
 Now this brings me to food.  So far, breakfast has been oatmeal, usually with something else, like an egg frittata-like dish, a hotdog and baked beans, or salad.  Lunch has been rice, fried chicken pieces, sometimes salad or an orange, and a fish or tomato-based sauce.  Sometimes the dishes are spicy, sometimes not, but nothing has been too spicy for me so far.  Dinner has been either fried chicken or spaghetti with meat sauce, and one night we had fried fish balls, and rice, always rice with every meal (another similarity to Costa Rica).  They also have fried rice, and I've had this rice and bean mixture, along with fried yams.  (They fry almost everything).  I've really enjoyed the foo though.  Next on my list to try is the papaya!  The oranges and bananas (small ones, not like at home) have been delish!  For snack time, we have the oatmeal crackers/biscuits and a juice box.  We haven't really had any dessert, but one night we had fried bananas, YUM!
Now for music:  I haven't heard too much yet, sorry Mom and CMS band students!  I've heard some hip-hop life music, and other music which I think is more traditional.  But I know very soon I will learn a lot more about the music, both with drumming and dancing, so that will be fun!
Aaaaand that was the first six days of Peace Corps.  Training is supposed to be crazy and hectic and nonstop.  Once I get to my site, there won't be any structure to the day at all, it will be much more relaxed and mellow.  But for now, there is so much to learn!  There will be another loooong blog to come shortly, I hope!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

It is Time

Tomorrow I am heading to Philadelphia with my mom to visit the city for a few days before I meet up with my Peace Corps group on Tuesday.  My bags are not packed yet, and I think it will still take a while longer to get it all organized.  It has taken me all summer to clean up my room, and that job will definitely not be completely done by tomorrow morning.  I did not expect it to take so long to wade through 23 years of accumulated things.

I am excited for my Peace Corps experience to finally get started.  It doesn't quite feel real yet, but I think on Tuesday it will, with all the excited and nervous feelings I will have. After over a year of applications and interviews and medical forms and talking about it and waiting, and then more waiting, it is time.