I think of all the places AFS offered, I think Ghana is the place with the biggest "Culture Shock". I think the only place that could stand an argument would be somewhere in Central/South America. Other than the fact that English is the official language(which they barely use anyways) everything is different.
Family life is one of the biggest adjustments ive had to deal with. It seems like they dont spend much time together. At home in MJ we have dinner together as a family, here you eat when you want, where you want. Sometimes Kwasi and junior will eat in the hallways or outside. So its a bit different. Also it seems as though Kwasi and Junior do all the work. They cook,clean, do the laundry, etc. And they dont spend much time with their grandparents(my host mom and dad). Once they get done cooking and then cleaning everything up, they shower and then head to their room. I dont think theyre neglected or anything, its just different. I try and spend time with them at night playing cards or just talking with them because i semi feel bad for them.
My host parents are very nice and generous. But theyre a bit intimidating. They dont have a lot of emotion, and they dont speak very good english. At first it was like i didnt talk to them, but gradually ive been talking to them more and more. So itll get better the longer i stay here. My host dad is a Anglican Priest and they told me theyd be moving somewhere else on october 4th. Something with the church. But Adu,Kwasi, Junior and I will stay in Sunyani. Im still just as confused about it as you! haha
We have chickens here at the house. If youve ever lived with them youll know what i mean, and if you havent then be glad you dont. Every morning at around 4:30 they do there cockadoodledoo chant for like 30 minutes! Its so obnoxious! And sometimes in the middle of the day theyll go on a chanting rampage. its so annoying. Im glad i eat chickens. Kwadwo said when its time to slaghter them, i could have the honors. haha
The taxis are so funny here. The drivers honk for no particular reason. And most of the cabs have been used so much the speedometer and odometer( i think thats the one) dont even work. And there is no such thing as a smog test here, which is a good transistion to the enviornment.
Sunyani was voted the cleanest city in Ghana in 07. But its soooo trashy. I actually dont know what they do with trash, cause there isnt a trashman. I think americans needs not to worry about Americas environmental problems, but the rest of the worlds! Becasue i guarantee that the rest of Africa and most of the rest of the world is like Ghana.
I played futbol a couple times already. They take pick up games so seriously, even the little kids! But i guess they are purebred futbol players! Its pretty fun to watch the more experienced players.
The mosquitos were way overhyped by the doctors. I think ive been bitten maybe 5 times since ive been here. Not to say those 5 didnt have malaria, but i thought there would be swams and swarms of them.
The doctors gave me medicine for Travelers Diarehea(sp?). I think they gave me the wrong medicine. Ill try and put this in a non-crude way, I couldnt go to the bathroom to save my life! haha if you know waht i mean. the food here is just way different from my diet at home. Most of the foods here are very starchy, and there are no fruits and vegetables served usually. Also not to many dairy products are here. So its pretty different.
Well its dinner time.....time for more fufu. haha
Take Care!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
9-12-2008 Sunyani,Ghana
On Monday morning we were told the places we would be staying for the year. I guess i was supposed to go be in Accra, then i was moved to Nkoranza, then finally they told me i would be in Sunyani(which means slaughter elephants, i would later find out by one of my older host brothers.).
So the people going to Sunyani, Nkoranza, and Techiman had to get up at 3 am on tuesday morning. It wasnt to hard to wake up becasue i was pretty excited. It was me, Wess, Iris, Mari, and Amanda. And actually one of my host brothers,Adu, was going to ride with the people going to Sunyani, but i didnt know he was my host brother at the time. We arrived at the Intercity STC bus stop around 4 am or so. They weighed our bags, put tags on them, gave us our ticket and had to wait for our 5:30 am bus departure.
The bus left about 6am. It was a 9 hour bus ride to go 250 km!!!! I was about to kill myself in boredom. I slept a little, and listened to my zune for as long as i could before i got sick of listening to music. They played the worst Nigerian movies imaginable. I could compare it to going to see D-Wars with some friends, it was such a bad movie we left within 15 minutes of it starting and went to see another movie. When were on the outskirts of Accra,the roads were about the bumpiest things ive ever been on. It was a dirt road, and you would go up and down for atleast the first 45 minutes of the trip. I thought it wouldnt stop, but it eventually did.
The roads were pretty narrow the whole way. Every half an hour or so, youd see a semi-truck tipped over on the side of the road, with its cargo scattered over the road. I was surprised to see all the little towns there were. I also loved the blanks stares peolpe would give us, obrinis(whiteman), as we passed by them in the charter bus. we stopped at one point, and the driver got out and had to check something outside of the bus. And the poeple would just stare at us. Not in a lethal way or anything, but i just couldnt help but laugh. its like theyve never seen a white person.
We stopped at a rest stop/ restaraunt. We all paid our 10 peswas to go pee, and then tried to find some food. I wasnt all that hungry so i just bought a huge 53 oz bottle of water for 1 ghana cedi, which is a freakin deal if you compare it to buying a 20 oz bottle of water for the same price in the states. Then I bought some like oreo type things, which werent even made in ghana(they were made in China, where else?) and the lady charged me 2 cedis. But i guess that was my fault for not bartering with her. But it was my first time buying something in Ghana.
I sat down with adu at a table. he had bought some fufu. its made of casava and plantains smashed together, with some spiced soup and meat. Its pretty much like eating a huge ball of unbaked dough. and im not talking chocolate chip dough or anyhting like that. haha. Its not bad tasting, its just very filling and heavy. I think itll be an something ill have to get adjusted to.
We eventually arrived in sunyani after a stop in kumasi. We got our bags and jumped in a taxi. me wess and iris kept looking back at the trunk becasue it was open, possibly letting our bags falll out. luckily they didnt. Iris was dropped off at her host dads computer shop, then we dropped wess off at his house, which he'll be living with like 12 other people. Then we got to mine and Adus house. Its a nice gated home. with like 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living, kitchen and dining room. Its a bit creepy though becasue there are windows looking out to the hallway from my bedroom. and they hallways are very big. prob 50% larger than and american residential hallway. I have a father who is an anglican reverend. a mother who stays at home and works at the market selling kids shirts on wednsdays, and two lil bros. Kwasi is 12 and Junior is 8.
They fixed me fufu and stew. I ate my first fish with the head on it. it wasnt to nasty actually. its different though. AFter that i was just sitting around for about an hour. I was so depressed at that time. I just felt so home sick and really just wanted to go home. Homesickness is really a terrible feeling if youve never experienced it. you feel pretty helpless. I almost to the point of crying. But luckily Adu and i went to Wess' house before i felt any worse. his house is about a 10 minute walk away. But he and his host brother had already gone to town. But me and adu stayed there and talked with the family awhile. the mother offered her daughter to me to marry. and actually i thought she was serious, then she laughed. i jokingly declined.
When we got into town, i got my cell ghanaian cell phone which was about 80 cedis. Then we went to a bar. you only have to be 18 to drink. so Adu ordered himself a beer and told me i could get one too. and i was actually pretty close to getting one. Then my morals kicked me in the crotch, and i just ordered a coke. lol. I did take a sip of his ghanaian beer and it was pretty nasty, im glad i stuck to the coke. After that we went to buy a internet card so i can have internet access at home. But i noticed i wasnt to depressed while i was in town. I think the trick is to keep my mind away from thinking about Mt. Juliet.
I came to Ghana under the impression that they speak english, I was a bit wrong. It is the national language(english) but everywhere you go, Town, the taxis, restaraunts, at home, they speak there native language, in my case its Twi, pronounced chwee. So i feel pretty confused most of the time. but i think after awhile ill start picking it up.
I take advantage(and so do you) of my washer and dryer. Here, you do it with your hands. Its very time consuming. Me and Junior did it. you throw your clothes in a bucket of water, then take every clothes piece one by one and wash it, then rinse it, then repeat, then hang them to dry. Its hard work. I feel like im living the indigenous life as J Boog would say.
speaking of living the indigenous life. Yesterday Kwasi shot a bird with his slingshot, feathered it, and then cooked it. half way through it getting done he rubbed it down with salt. and when it was done, i tryied a piece of it. it was a taste ive never tasted before. hahahahaa.
Later that day me wess, and bb(wess' host bro) went to Adus work. he works for the National Patriotic Party, the democrats of Ghana. Its election year so he works very hard. The 3 of us went to the market. I had to buy a towel and a mosquito net. The market is very very very cool. I enjoyed to hustle and bustle of it. Everyone says "Obroni etesen!" which meens white man how are you?! And by the way, its not offensive to call some one a white man or a black man(obibini).
See the thing is, i dont hold hands with people at home. for one thing ive never really had a girlfriend, so i dont hold hands with females. Im not gay, so that crossed out men. and im not a child so i dont hold hands with my parents anymore. so its a new thing when Adu or any other guy tries to hold my hand. Its extremely akward. But i know its just the culture. But when a guy tries to hold my hand i just try and slither away and let them hold on to my pinky finger or something like that. hahaha. Even wess told me the same thing. LOL
Anyways im about to go to a internet cafe, so ill talk to you soon.
Take Care!!!!
So the people going to Sunyani, Nkoranza, and Techiman had to get up at 3 am on tuesday morning. It wasnt to hard to wake up becasue i was pretty excited. It was me, Wess, Iris, Mari, and Amanda. And actually one of my host brothers,Adu, was going to ride with the people going to Sunyani, but i didnt know he was my host brother at the time. We arrived at the Intercity STC bus stop around 4 am or so. They weighed our bags, put tags on them, gave us our ticket and had to wait for our 5:30 am bus departure.
The bus left about 6am. It was a 9 hour bus ride to go 250 km!!!! I was about to kill myself in boredom. I slept a little, and listened to my zune for as long as i could before i got sick of listening to music. They played the worst Nigerian movies imaginable. I could compare it to going to see D-Wars with some friends, it was such a bad movie we left within 15 minutes of it starting and went to see another movie. When were on the outskirts of Accra,the roads were about the bumpiest things ive ever been on. It was a dirt road, and you would go up and down for atleast the first 45 minutes of the trip. I thought it wouldnt stop, but it eventually did.
The roads were pretty narrow the whole way. Every half an hour or so, youd see a semi-truck tipped over on the side of the road, with its cargo scattered over the road. I was surprised to see all the little towns there were. I also loved the blanks stares peolpe would give us, obrinis(whiteman), as we passed by them in the charter bus. we stopped at one point, and the driver got out and had to check something outside of the bus. And the poeple would just stare at us. Not in a lethal way or anything, but i just couldnt help but laugh. its like theyve never seen a white person.
We stopped at a rest stop/ restaraunt. We all paid our 10 peswas to go pee, and then tried to find some food. I wasnt all that hungry so i just bought a huge 53 oz bottle of water for 1 ghana cedi, which is a freakin deal if you compare it to buying a 20 oz bottle of water for the same price in the states. Then I bought some like oreo type things, which werent even made in ghana(they were made in China, where else?) and the lady charged me 2 cedis. But i guess that was my fault for not bartering with her. But it was my first time buying something in Ghana.
I sat down with adu at a table. he had bought some fufu. its made of casava and plantains smashed together, with some spiced soup and meat. Its pretty much like eating a huge ball of unbaked dough. and im not talking chocolate chip dough or anyhting like that. haha. Its not bad tasting, its just very filling and heavy. I think itll be an something ill have to get adjusted to.
We eventually arrived in sunyani after a stop in kumasi. We got our bags and jumped in a taxi. me wess and iris kept looking back at the trunk becasue it was open, possibly letting our bags falll out. luckily they didnt. Iris was dropped off at her host dads computer shop, then we dropped wess off at his house, which he'll be living with like 12 other people. Then we got to mine and Adus house. Its a nice gated home. with like 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living, kitchen and dining room. Its a bit creepy though becasue there are windows looking out to the hallway from my bedroom. and they hallways are very big. prob 50% larger than and american residential hallway. I have a father who is an anglican reverend. a mother who stays at home and works at the market selling kids shirts on wednsdays, and two lil bros. Kwasi is 12 and Junior is 8.
They fixed me fufu and stew. I ate my first fish with the head on it. it wasnt to nasty actually. its different though. AFter that i was just sitting around for about an hour. I was so depressed at that time. I just felt so home sick and really just wanted to go home. Homesickness is really a terrible feeling if youve never experienced it. you feel pretty helpless. I almost to the point of crying. But luckily Adu and i went to Wess' house before i felt any worse. his house is about a 10 minute walk away. But he and his host brother had already gone to town. But me and adu stayed there and talked with the family awhile. the mother offered her daughter to me to marry. and actually i thought she was serious, then she laughed. i jokingly declined.
When we got into town, i got my cell ghanaian cell phone which was about 80 cedis. Then we went to a bar. you only have to be 18 to drink. so Adu ordered himself a beer and told me i could get one too. and i was actually pretty close to getting one. Then my morals kicked me in the crotch, and i just ordered a coke. lol. I did take a sip of his ghanaian beer and it was pretty nasty, im glad i stuck to the coke. After that we went to buy a internet card so i can have internet access at home. But i noticed i wasnt to depressed while i was in town. I think the trick is to keep my mind away from thinking about Mt. Juliet.
I came to Ghana under the impression that they speak english, I was a bit wrong. It is the national language(english) but everywhere you go, Town, the taxis, restaraunts, at home, they speak there native language, in my case its Twi, pronounced chwee. So i feel pretty confused most of the time. but i think after awhile ill start picking it up.
I take advantage(and so do you) of my washer and dryer. Here, you do it with your hands. Its very time consuming. Me and Junior did it. you throw your clothes in a bucket of water, then take every clothes piece one by one and wash it, then rinse it, then repeat, then hang them to dry. Its hard work. I feel like im living the indigenous life as J Boog would say.
speaking of living the indigenous life. Yesterday Kwasi shot a bird with his slingshot, feathered it, and then cooked it. half way through it getting done he rubbed it down with salt. and when it was done, i tryied a piece of it. it was a taste ive never tasted before. hahahahaa.
Later that day me wess, and bb(wess' host bro) went to Adus work. he works for the National Patriotic Party, the democrats of Ghana. Its election year so he works very hard. The 3 of us went to the market. I had to buy a towel and a mosquito net. The market is very very very cool. I enjoyed to hustle and bustle of it. Everyone says "Obroni etesen!" which meens white man how are you?! And by the way, its not offensive to call some one a white man or a black man(obibini).
See the thing is, i dont hold hands with people at home. for one thing ive never really had a girlfriend, so i dont hold hands with females. Im not gay, so that crossed out men. and im not a child so i dont hold hands with my parents anymore. so its a new thing when Adu or any other guy tries to hold my hand. Its extremely akward. But i know its just the culture. But when a guy tries to hold my hand i just try and slither away and let them hold on to my pinky finger or something like that. hahaha. Even wess told me the same thing. LOL
Anyways im about to go to a internet cafe, so ill talk to you soon.
Take Care!!!!
Monday, September 8, 2008
9-08-2008 Accra,Ghana
I arrived in Accra, Ghana at about 20:30 local time. It was about a 6 1/2 hour flight from London. The plane was slightly smaller than the first flight which i think was a Boeing 747, so this one i think was a 767, but im no plane expert. I slept maybe 2 hours and ended up watching The Happening, which sucked. Im glad i didnt watch it at a theater, i wouldve wasted 7 bucks. But I also watched Ironman which was the third time a saw it, and still liked it.
When we landed we got out of the back of the plane, and went down the stairs to the tarmac. I could smell the pollution already. I also noticed there was no "High-Tech" equipment to transport luggage from gate to gate, just John Deer Tractors. The 4 of us got into the immigration line. They checked our passports, Visas, and looked(but not inside) of our immunization record. Mari, Alyssa, and I were able to get through without a hitch. But Wes wasnt able to get through because he didnt have an address. So we told him we would find and AFS staff member to help him after we got our luggage. I went to the extremely crowded luggage belt, looked around and saw my bag sitting beside of the belt. I quickly grabbeid it and was happy that it didnt get lost on the flight like it did in JFK. I waited for the girls to get there bags. Mari got hers, ans said shed go find someone from afs to help out wess. but right as she left he came out of the line. I think he must have found an adress or somehting of that sort. As i started walking toward him i noticed two men holding hands. I remembered it didnt meen your were gay, it was just the culture. It was still a bit wierd though. We finally got our bags and proceeded outside. when we got out side there were literally hundreds of people behind police fences. They were all screaming and shouting. they were watching a soccer, or i guess futbol, game. We saw the AFS piece of paper above everyones head. We walked to it and a man and woman gave us handshakes and led us to a white bus that held probably 20 people. as i was walking this random man grabbed my bag and took it to the bus, put it in there and walked away. I was kind of wierded out. but it was the beginning of "African Hospitality". We drove a while and arrived at the "PinkHostel". I ended up rooming with Wess, Pierre, and Boris. It was a very small room with a small bathroom. that night i had a very lonely night. i was sad becasue i wasnt at home. but luckily i fell asleep quite fast.
I got about 9 hours of sleep. so i felt real good that morning. we went downstairs and had breakfast. it was a very basic breakfast. eggs, toast, and rice krisp cereal. Kweku, the AFS volunteer(who was a very cool guy), started the orientation at about 10. We mainly talked about saftey and other things like that. by nooon we were on our way to Bojo Beach. I forgot my trunks, so i just wore some gym shorts, as well as wess. As we were waiting for the bus i saw my first lady carrying something on her head. my mouth dropped(not literally) when i saw her. It was one of the coolest things ive ever seen. she was carrying peanuts on a platter. It seemed like an art to me. being able to carry that, have a child strapped to your back and being able to walk normally. id say thats an art. As we got on the bus Kweku had a bag full of something. i wasnt sure at the time, but it ended up being bags of water. they were purified water in a sealed plastic bag. about the size of a sandwich bag, probably 15oz. You just bite a tiny hole in a corner and suck water out of it. bad thing is you cant really set them down, w/o it falling over.
We must have drove about half an hour. the ride was insane. It seemed to me that there was a lot of poverty but maybe its just a standard for ghanaians. whey they saw a van full if white people they would wave and say hi. there were so many people selling things on the street, lots of people were carrying things on there head, which still to this point amazes me, and probably always will. When we would stop(which wasnt often because they run red lights frequently and they dont stop for people. its like they speed up when they see people coming. haha) people would come up to the bus and try and sell things through the window. they were very nice though. they would try and start a conversation with you. they sold food,and different odds and ends. from mentos to screw drivers and huge pictures of jesus to q-tips. They came up to the windows and would wash the windows while stopped, for just a few peswas. Ghanaians are crazy drivers. but its funny when all you can hear sometimes is horns from cars.
The air pretty much smells of firework smoke, burning plastic, and trash. but then there are times where it smells so good, from different foods. pretty much every alleyway have stands in them. im not sure if anyone buys anything, becasue it seems like everyone is selling something.
we eventually got to the beach. it was a private beach,and was only a few cedi to get in. we had to get in a long boat to take us over to the ocean part of the beach. it was pretty oldfashioned. but it was fun.we all got dressed, or i guess undressed, and got in the water. it was warm and very trashy. it had all kinds of trash coming up onto the sand. but other than that it was very nice. we kicked the soccerball and played volleyball, normal beach activities. haha.
when we got back to the hostel our dinner was waiting. it was delicous. it was a type of rice with very hot chicken. spicy hot btw. oh and for lunch we had a mixture of black eyed peas, onions and rice with fish. that was also very good. i asked kweku how much it cost. he said about 2-3 cedi, approx 2 american dollars. but if you were to buy it in america, he said, it would be well over 6$.
We all had a great conversation afterwards. just learning about each other and i guess bonding.
yester day 9-9-08, we went to kwekus church. it was massive. The sermon was about 120 minutes and had well over 2000 people in it. and that was only the first service. I enjoyed it, there was lots of singing and dancing. i think i threw in a couple american dollars while the offering went around.
for lunch we had yams, plantains, and spiced beef. and for dinner we had a spicy noodle type dish. they were both very good. the way im eating right now, i dont think ill loose a pound!!!!! Ill gain it!!! hahaha. We went by the american embassy in accra. it was huge. the other americans thought it was ridiculous to have it that big. i think they were embarrased by it. personally, i wasnt embarrased at all. theyre not just going to build it for nothing, its there for something important. and dont you thing ghanaians might be happy america has a presence in ghana? because america is the worlds strongest and richest nation, we have responsibilites to help out other smaller nations. kind of like a "big brother". i dont know. maybe its just me.
but american politics are so prevelent here. someone asked one of the americans after church, "Hows Bush?". and on the radio they speak twi. so youll hear twi words then barack obama, then more twi words then mccain. Its kind of funny.
So i just exchanged some of my american dollars. i exchanged 250 american dollars and got back 275 ghanaian cedi. it was 1.1 $ to 1.16 cedi.
Well thats all for now. Take care!
9-5-2008 London Heathrow International Airport
These past few days have been a rush. I arrived at NYC's JFK Airport. I went to go get my bags, but of course, the day before my first international flight, they loose my luggage. So I filled out the necessary paperwork, told her where id be staying and she said it would hopefully be there by tommorrow. So I tried not to worry about it. I found the Airtrain to take me to the rental car/ hotel shuttle pickup spot. I asked a man with TSA and he pointed me in the correct direction. If i hadnt asked him i would have been going around in circles. So i was happy that i asked. The hotel shuttle picked myself and about 5 other AFSers up and took us to the hotel. When I got there I registered with AFS and told Renee, the AFS registrar, that my bags had been lost. She was very very nice and took care of everything. She called delta and got everything worked out, updating me on where my bags were every once in a while. I met so many AFSers. NYC was the departure gateway for Italy (65 people), Spain(30),Portugal(15), Turkey(10), South Africa(2), and Ghana(4).It was really just a review orientation of what i already knew. Ghana's group is i guess pretty cool. Mari is from Maine, Wesley is from Washington state, and Alyssa is from Oregon, and obviously me. I had to share a hotel room with a guy from NC and he was going to Italy. I think his name was Jeff. He was a nice guy, but it was kinda akward to sleep in the same bed with someone you dont know. hahaha. At about 24:00 I got a call from Renee telling me that bags were downstairs. I was soooooooo relieved!
We were the last to leave from the hotel on Thursday, which was about 19:00, and our flight was at 22:30. They flight was decent. I slept a good bit, and they served good food for an airplane. It was a 6 1/2 hour flight, the longest flight ive ever been on. Luckily I kind of begged my way to an isle seat! haha. Well my flight is about to take off from LHR. So Take Care!
We were the last to leave from the hotel on Thursday, which was about 19:00, and our flight was at 22:30. They flight was decent. I slept a good bit, and they served good food for an airplane. It was a 6 1/2 hour flight, the longest flight ive ever been on. Luckily I kind of begged my way to an isle seat! haha. Well my flight is about to take off from LHR. So Take Care!
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