I arrived at site a year ago now, right as harmattan was picking up. A year sure changes perspective.
Last year during site visit at the beginning of November, everything was already dead and dried out. This year, the rain continued on much long than last year (my landlord's wife said it rained up until the day before I cam back from my trip to Accra). Normally, I think the rain ends October or early November. Every time it would rain, I would always ask people, "Is the rain going to come more?" and they would say no. But then the next day or next week it would rain again. It really messed up households because they needed to dry out there corn and sorghum and millet. The transition between rainy season and hot season was pretty painful, and I didn't really know what to expect since I wasn't at site for that transition last year. It was very hot all day and night, nearly as bad as hot season, no relief at any point in the day or night.
So now we're in harmattan- the time when the winds blow down from the Sahara. Which means its getting COOL. Well, at least in the mornings, evenings and nights. And the middle of the days aren't that bad even with the piercing sun- the wind keeps it kind of cool and I am NOT sweating endlessly from every pore 24/7. People here are so cold that they wear full-on snow suits- its fantastic.
The cold nights are the best part I think, such a huge relief. (And all the bugs are GONE, so that and the cool nights compete for the best part of harmattan.) Hot days instantly become not so bad when you have a cold night to look forward to. I remember the first month or so at site last year- needing two layers of sheets at night, and having to where a long sleeve shirt and/or sweatshirt on my morning runs. We're almost there this year. But with dry season comes the mass burnings of fields, of every inch of land that doesn't have a house sitting on it. All the burning, combined with the wind, means that is it constantly, raining ash, literally. I will sit outside eating breakfast or dinner and I'll see these huge pieces of burnt grass flying all around me. And the winds kick up all the dirt, so everything is caked with layers of dust, not to be be washed away until the first rains come next year.
Dry season can also be confusing. Many days, the sky is just grey all day long. So the first thing that pops into my head is "Oh, how nice! Its foggy!" And then half a second later, I remember, Nope, its just the dust and ash. This confusion was worse last year since I hadn't experienced harmattan yet and I desperately wanted to see something I recognized. At home, a sky like this would just be foggy, and harmattan could definitely be just normal foggy San Francisco skies. This year I'm no tricked as much, but I still catch myself looking at a sky that is always reminding me that is is not the west coast.
In other news:
John Mahama is now president. He was the incumbent, in the NDC party, who took over the presidency when the late John Evans Atta Mills died in July. (He actually died the day I left for my trip home to the U.S., but I didn't hear about it until I got home.) The main opposition party was NPP, lead by Nana. And then there are way too many smaller parties to list (NDP, PNC, PPP, CPP....) The election day was actually very quiet, which surprised me. I did hear that the polling places were very calm and orderly, but I chose to stay away. There was a very heavy military presence in the area, all over Ghana, and at the polling stations, so this probably contributed to the calmness. The military guys in the Kongo area stayed at the Mission guesthouses right behind my house; I kept passing them on my morning runs.
Mahama is the first northern president in Ghana. Most northerners seemed to be NDC supporters, but of course that were very excited to have a northerner running for president. Now the John Mahama fabric has come out- I need to get me some!
We also celebrated Obama's re-election here in Ghana. I found out at 4 AM here that he had won, and a few hours later I got several calls from friends in town congratulating me and saying how happy they were. Everyone loves Obama here, so of course they were happy about his win, but I'm sure my friends in Kongo were even more happy because I told then I would them beer if he won. At first it sounded like a great idea, but of course word spread that I would buy these "Obama beers" for people, so I ended up getting a lot. But hey, it was worth it, I was happy and the celebration was nice. Now, if only I could get those six beers and goat I was promised....
(A few months ago, I happened to meet this announcer at the local radio station at a spot in Bolga with Christopher. The discussion got into politics. I avoid politics like the plague, here and at home, but he would not let it go. Funny enough, he was a Romney supporter. I didn't think it was possible for an African to NOT like Obama until I met this guy. Anyways, he insisted I vote for Romney. I basically said, fat chance. So then I told him, If Romney wins, I will buy you a beer. Then he countered that by saying, If Obama wins, I'll buy you a goat and six beers. Christopher was our witness, and we shook on it. Hey, I really wanted this goat and six beers, I wanted it to be official. And I told everyone in Kongo about it, I wanted people to get pumped! But in my head I knew that he would never follow through, as much as I wanted to believe it. So the day after Obama won, Christopher called him to remind him about our deal. Turns out, he would buy be two beers and give me the goat when I go back to America. Bummer. Should have seen that coming. Still have yet to run into this guy again, but now he'll just do best to avoid me.)
I gave out four guinea fowls for the holiday season to thank people for welcoming to Kongo and for being so hospitable. The first went to my landlord, who lets me fetch water from his house and doesn't make me pay. And his wife and kids are the cutest and they are so nice to me. The second went to Christopher's auntie who runs the pito bar. She always gives me free pito, and she and her husband and kids are just so sweet. The third went to Christopher's uncle who has given me lots of guinea fowl eggs and was very concerned about me getting guinea fowl eggs to my family when I went home in July . (Needless to say, the eggs didn't make it out of Kongo, but it was the gesture that I appreciated.) He makes a lot of dirty jokes, but hey, he's an old man, I'll let him, and only him, have his fun. The last went to the chief of Go-seung. He has given me plenty of guinea fowl eggs and several guinea fowl, so I wanted to thank him for the holidays.
Christmas at our Tamale suboffice was great! It was very festive- we even had a little decorated tree and a couple stockings hanging around. All the volunteers contributed delicious food, we had a two-yard fabric white elephant, wrangled a goat, and watched Christmas movies. We had a full house, which was entertaining, and getting into the bathroom to shower or use the toilet was fun! It definitely beat spending Christmas alone like I did last year. But I couldn't stop thinking that for the holidays next year I'll be HOME!!
Friday, December 28, 2012
The Wild World of Accra
I don't think there's a place in Ghana that's as polar opposite to Bolga as Accra. Accra is big, bustling, people everywhere, cars everywhere, money all over. Bolga is small, quiet, much more a center of poverty.
I traveled down to Accra in November for Thanksgiving and my mid-service medical appointments. Although this was my fourth time in Accra (the first time when we arrived in country last October, and then when I left for and returned from my trip back home in the summer), it was my first true Accra experience. All three visits before I was only in Accra for a total of about 4-5 days, and all I could say I checked off my Accra To-Do list was go to the mall and see a movie. This time I had a full week in the capital city, and it will probably be the longest I'll be there until I leave.
Luckily I had Kyndra with me to help me navigate Accra, and more specifically Osu, the area of Accra where the U.S. Embassy is, where the Peace Corps office is located and where a lot of ex-pats live. So its a very nice area. We arrived the day before Thanksgiving and stayed with the homestay families that the office set us up with. I've always heard great things about the ex-pat families that PCVs have befriended, but I swear I hit the jackpot with my homestay. The couple I stayed with were so very welcoming and friendly and interesting and they just let me have free rein of their house. The husband, Steve, works for USAID and the wife, Nansie, is a tutor for international students in the area.
I was the only PCV at this homestay, which at first made me feel a little awkward, but I quickly came to enjoy the hospitality they gave all to me. First thing I was shown was my room: A/C and a down-comforter. Awesome. Second stop on the tour: TV. Awesome x 10. After a long day of travel, I pampered myself with a SHOWER, then proceeded to take advantage of the TV before dinner. SPORTS! COOKING SHOWS! GLAMOROUS PEOPLE ON PROJECT RUNWAY! OH MY!
Come dinner time, I was offered a beverage: water, soda, wine, Corona. Wait, HOLD UP, did you just say CORONA?!? Oh, yes, that just happened. And that was the exact moment when I realized I had hit the jackpot- clearly these are my people. In any other situation, I would have taken the real, bottled wine. But this was no ordinary situation.
Over a dinner of baked chicken, green salad with real, crumbled cheese, grilled veggies and bread with real butter, I got to know more about the ex-pat life in West Africa and their kids, and they peppered me with questions about Peace Corps, my projects, my site, and my experience. I definitely told them some thing about my time here that surprised them! It was so nice to sit down at a table, have a lovely meal and have a great conversation. It surely made me miss dinner time at home.
After dinner, I watched a soccer game with Nansie, and then I was convinced to go salsa dancing with my homestay brother, Daniel. (He's actually a Ghanaian who has known this family for a long time. He's a musician and photographer, and is soon going to marry his American girlfriend.) I'm so glad I made the decision to go out, it was the right one! Its been since I was in Costa Rica three years that I last salsa danced, and I forgot how much I had to practice at it, but it was so much fun. I definitely did a lot of watching, but for me that was even more fun than actually dancing. The Ghanaians were such good salsa dancers- then again I shouldn't have been surprised since they are amazing dancers anyway. We even ran into a group of PCVs that came to this same salsa place, its definitely a popular spot.
After salsa dancing closed down for the night, we went to the nightclub Eppos. When we got there at midnight, the dancing hadn't started up yet, so we had some particularly sandy street meat and drinks out on the street by the bar area. Daniel at one point turned to me and said, "There are a lot of gay people that come here." I was already getting that idea, but when he confirmed it, all I could think was AWESOME. Homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, but at least in Accra these people can find a place to go have fun and be themselves. That made me happy. Too bad Accra is about the only place in Ghana you could get away with it. We even joined up with a group that had been at the salsa dancing place. I definitely made up for all the dancing I have not done the past 14 months!
Thursday was a lazy day before the feast. I watched some TV while eating pancakes and drinking coffee, and eating American junk food snacks. Mmm. At one, I went over to the ambassador's house for Thanksgiving! What a big, amazing celebration it was! Pre-dinner drinks (I went with some real sangria), followed by feasting, finished off with dessert and coffee. We were treated to all the classics- turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, creamed cauliflower- I was in heaven. It was all so fabulous, the cooks did a great job, and there was no shortage of anything. The ambassador paid for the meal out of his own pocket, so needless to say we were all very, very grateful for his generosity. And he was a PCV once too, so he understood where we were coming from.
I thought about Thanksgiving a year ago, the feast we had in Kongo with our then-training group. I thought about now thankful I am for all this- the new friends, the amazing, crazy, unforgettable experiences I've had this past year. But I thought most of all about family and friends at home- how thankful I am that they have supported me throughout this whole process, no matter how difficult it has been for them.
After dinner lots of people continued the party- we went to Ryan's Irish Pub to watch live NFL, then to Duncan's for 1.50 cedi beers and shwarmas across the street (not like we needed more to eat, but they were pretty darn good!!)
I had a weekend to kill between t-day and mid-service medical appointments, which were Mon-Wed the following week. Luckily, my homestay offered to let me stay with them for the weekend, and they would have let me stay as long as long as I wanted, literally. Who knows what I would have done otherwise, I would have figured it out, but I'm very glad it worked out the way it did because it helped me save a lot of travel and lodging expenses. Then again, running around Accra isn't exactly a money-saver.
Friday was another lazy day watching NFL college games from the day before. For lunch, my homestay parents introduced me to this amazing Cote D'Ivoirean restaurant, Clarissa's, in Osu. They lived in Cote D'Ivoire for a long time before coming to Ghana, so this is one of their favorite places to eat. And now it is my favorite place in Accra (I went there three times in 5 days- hey, I don't know when I'll be back!). We got a bunch of attieke (I'm not sure of the spelling), which was a couscous-like grain and poulet (grilled chicken with this amazing, fresh salsa of tomato, onion and hot pepe). All of that was mixed together and topped with a green or red sauce- heaven. The chicken was grilled wonderfully, and the fresh salsa and sauces added great flavor to the initially plain grain. (The next day I had the same thing, but with the grilled tilapia- equally as fantastic.) I won't be in Accra much this last year in Ghana, but I know I will eat here every time I am.
Saturday I continued my tour of Accra nightlife. Daniel and I started at the jazz club +233 where we met up with a bunch of his friends. It was great to see live music again! (Well, I guess I do see a lot of live music in my village- the local guitar, talking drums and traditional singing, and the clapping and dancing- but outside of my village I haven't been to any performances.) I've missed going to concerts. The band was very good, and the trombonist was especially great.
At midnight the jazz ended, so then it was off to see all the other nightclubs- Duplex, Eppos again, and then another one...forgot the name. Eppos was definitely very straight this time, so maybe Wednesday was the exception.
My mid-service medical appointments were uneventful. But that of course is good, I am healthy. I will not be one of those people med-evacuated to Senegal, Morocco or South Africa, no sirree! I am very grateful for my health, for sure. It was just me and Dennis (also from the UE) hanging out at the office for our appointments. We tried some restaurants in the area, got egg sammies down the street every morning, navigated our way to our dentist appointments, and I even took him to Clarissa's! Daniel wanted to continue our going out every night, but I had to decline. Accra is way too expensive, and after three very full nights of clubbing, I was beat. Not so much physically, but mentally. It took a lot of energy to be in a big, crazy city, to adjust my perspective to the atmosphere. No doubt I had a blast, it was fun to go out again, stay up til the wee hours of the morning, feel like a girl again, but the three nights is the entirety of my nightlife experience in my whole service. (I have yet to go out in Bolga, but really I have no interest whatsoever in seeing what its like.) The life couldn't be more opposite to the one I lead in Kongo where I got to bed at 8:30 after reading a book by candlelight.
The week in Accra was fun though. Tiring, but fun. I had enough excitement to last me the next nightlife-less year-ish. I now know a great ex-pat family, I can now say I've experienced Accra, and now the north looks even more bleak that it did before, but even more so than ever, I know the north is my home here in Ghana.
I traveled down to Accra in November for Thanksgiving and my mid-service medical appointments. Although this was my fourth time in Accra (the first time when we arrived in country last October, and then when I left for and returned from my trip back home in the summer), it was my first true Accra experience. All three visits before I was only in Accra for a total of about 4-5 days, and all I could say I checked off my Accra To-Do list was go to the mall and see a movie. This time I had a full week in the capital city, and it will probably be the longest I'll be there until I leave.
Luckily I had Kyndra with me to help me navigate Accra, and more specifically Osu, the area of Accra where the U.S. Embassy is, where the Peace Corps office is located and where a lot of ex-pats live. So its a very nice area. We arrived the day before Thanksgiving and stayed with the homestay families that the office set us up with. I've always heard great things about the ex-pat families that PCVs have befriended, but I swear I hit the jackpot with my homestay. The couple I stayed with were so very welcoming and friendly and interesting and they just let me have free rein of their house. The husband, Steve, works for USAID and the wife, Nansie, is a tutor for international students in the area.
I was the only PCV at this homestay, which at first made me feel a little awkward, but I quickly came to enjoy the hospitality they gave all to me. First thing I was shown was my room: A/C and a down-comforter. Awesome. Second stop on the tour: TV. Awesome x 10. After a long day of travel, I pampered myself with a SHOWER, then proceeded to take advantage of the TV before dinner. SPORTS! COOKING SHOWS! GLAMOROUS PEOPLE ON PROJECT RUNWAY! OH MY!
Come dinner time, I was offered a beverage: water, soda, wine, Corona. Wait, HOLD UP, did you just say CORONA?!? Oh, yes, that just happened. And that was the exact moment when I realized I had hit the jackpot- clearly these are my people. In any other situation, I would have taken the real, bottled wine. But this was no ordinary situation.
Over a dinner of baked chicken, green salad with real, crumbled cheese, grilled veggies and bread with real butter, I got to know more about the ex-pat life in West Africa and their kids, and they peppered me with questions about Peace Corps, my projects, my site, and my experience. I definitely told them some thing about my time here that surprised them! It was so nice to sit down at a table, have a lovely meal and have a great conversation. It surely made me miss dinner time at home.
After dinner, I watched a soccer game with Nansie, and then I was convinced to go salsa dancing with my homestay brother, Daniel. (He's actually a Ghanaian who has known this family for a long time. He's a musician and photographer, and is soon going to marry his American girlfriend.) I'm so glad I made the decision to go out, it was the right one! Its been since I was in Costa Rica three years that I last salsa danced, and I forgot how much I had to practice at it, but it was so much fun. I definitely did a lot of watching, but for me that was even more fun than actually dancing. The Ghanaians were such good salsa dancers- then again I shouldn't have been surprised since they are amazing dancers anyway. We even ran into a group of PCVs that came to this same salsa place, its definitely a popular spot.
After salsa dancing closed down for the night, we went to the nightclub Eppos. When we got there at midnight, the dancing hadn't started up yet, so we had some particularly sandy street meat and drinks out on the street by the bar area. Daniel at one point turned to me and said, "There are a lot of gay people that come here." I was already getting that idea, but when he confirmed it, all I could think was AWESOME. Homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, but at least in Accra these people can find a place to go have fun and be themselves. That made me happy. Too bad Accra is about the only place in Ghana you could get away with it. We even joined up with a group that had been at the salsa dancing place. I definitely made up for all the dancing I have not done the past 14 months!
Thursday was a lazy day before the feast. I watched some TV while eating pancakes and drinking coffee, and eating American junk food snacks. Mmm. At one, I went over to the ambassador's house for Thanksgiving! What a big, amazing celebration it was! Pre-dinner drinks (I went with some real sangria), followed by feasting, finished off with dessert and coffee. We were treated to all the classics- turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, creamed cauliflower- I was in heaven. It was all so fabulous, the cooks did a great job, and there was no shortage of anything. The ambassador paid for the meal out of his own pocket, so needless to say we were all very, very grateful for his generosity. And he was a PCV once too, so he understood where we were coming from.
I thought about Thanksgiving a year ago, the feast we had in Kongo with our then-training group. I thought about now thankful I am for all this- the new friends, the amazing, crazy, unforgettable experiences I've had this past year. But I thought most of all about family and friends at home- how thankful I am that they have supported me throughout this whole process, no matter how difficult it has been for them.
After dinner lots of people continued the party- we went to Ryan's Irish Pub to watch live NFL, then to Duncan's for 1.50 cedi beers and shwarmas across the street (not like we needed more to eat, but they were pretty darn good!!)
I had a weekend to kill between t-day and mid-service medical appointments, which were Mon-Wed the following week. Luckily, my homestay offered to let me stay with them for the weekend, and they would have let me stay as long as long as I wanted, literally. Who knows what I would have done otherwise, I would have figured it out, but I'm very glad it worked out the way it did because it helped me save a lot of travel and lodging expenses. Then again, running around Accra isn't exactly a money-saver.
Friday was another lazy day watching NFL college games from the day before. For lunch, my homestay parents introduced me to this amazing Cote D'Ivoirean restaurant, Clarissa's, in Osu. They lived in Cote D'Ivoire for a long time before coming to Ghana, so this is one of their favorite places to eat. And now it is my favorite place in Accra (I went there three times in 5 days- hey, I don't know when I'll be back!). We got a bunch of attieke (I'm not sure of the spelling), which was a couscous-like grain and poulet (grilled chicken with this amazing, fresh salsa of tomato, onion and hot pepe). All of that was mixed together and topped with a green or red sauce- heaven. The chicken was grilled wonderfully, and the fresh salsa and sauces added great flavor to the initially plain grain. (The next day I had the same thing, but with the grilled tilapia- equally as fantastic.) I won't be in Accra much this last year in Ghana, but I know I will eat here every time I am.
Saturday I continued my tour of Accra nightlife. Daniel and I started at the jazz club +233 where we met up with a bunch of his friends. It was great to see live music again! (Well, I guess I do see a lot of live music in my village- the local guitar, talking drums and traditional singing, and the clapping and dancing- but outside of my village I haven't been to any performances.) I've missed going to concerts. The band was very good, and the trombonist was especially great.
At midnight the jazz ended, so then it was off to see all the other nightclubs- Duplex, Eppos again, and then another one...forgot the name. Eppos was definitely very straight this time, so maybe Wednesday was the exception.
My mid-service medical appointments were uneventful. But that of course is good, I am healthy. I will not be one of those people med-evacuated to Senegal, Morocco or South Africa, no sirree! I am very grateful for my health, for sure. It was just me and Dennis (also from the UE) hanging out at the office for our appointments. We tried some restaurants in the area, got egg sammies down the street every morning, navigated our way to our dentist appointments, and I even took him to Clarissa's! Daniel wanted to continue our going out every night, but I had to decline. Accra is way too expensive, and after three very full nights of clubbing, I was beat. Not so much physically, but mentally. It took a lot of energy to be in a big, crazy city, to adjust my perspective to the atmosphere. No doubt I had a blast, it was fun to go out again, stay up til the wee hours of the morning, feel like a girl again, but the three nights is the entirety of my nightlife experience in my whole service. (I have yet to go out in Bolga, but really I have no interest whatsoever in seeing what its like.) The life couldn't be more opposite to the one I lead in Kongo where I got to bed at 8:30 after reading a book by candlelight.
The week in Accra was fun though. Tiring, but fun. I had enough excitement to last me the next nightlife-less year-ish. I now know a great ex-pat family, I can now say I've experienced Accra, and now the north looks even more bleak that it did before, but even more so than ever, I know the north is my home here in Ghana.
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