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.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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!
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