to Cape Cod we go...

Ah...I love Bill Gates! Microsoft Word is truly worldwide!!! I can now type daily on my laptop in Ejura and upload it here in Kumasi!!! So, it's Thursday night...a little early for my weekly update, but Katy, Maaike, and I are on our way to Cape Coast this weekend. We took an early exit from school and are spending the night in Kumasi before heading out on a bus at 6 am tomorrow.

Here's the lowdown from this week:

Sunday, September 30

Ok, after spending some time on the phone with a Microsoft person, I have finally activated the Word program on my computer. Yahoo! I think now I can type here and successfully upload to my blog. So…get ready for longer blogs! Don’t feel bad if you can’t read them all…I tend to be a bit wordy.

Yesterday was a pretty good trip to Kumasi. We all got more money, ate at Vic Baboo’s again, and spent some time on the internet. Vic Baboo’s is a funny place. It is a restaurant owned by Indians, I believe. They have a big menu, which includes American-type foods, Indian food, Chinese food, and plenty of cocktails. Yesterday I had a half-pizza (a whole pizza is about the size of a dinner plate). I ordered the spicy beef. Bad idea. When Vic Baboo says “spicy,” he means spicy. I thought my lips were going to fall off!!! I only ate two tiny pieces…and I had to drink so much water, that I had to stop, for fear of using the restroom at Vic Baboo’s (it’s not so pleasant)! I then ordered a cheese omelet grill sandwich, which sounds really good, doesn’t it? It was good, but nothing I would ever eat in America. It was a couple of egg whites fried up, with some white cheese melted, and fresh onion and tomato sliced on top. The bread was probably what you would find in the week-old section at the grocery store, reduced for quick-sale. It was all about the color of the aforementioned porridge, made by Sala’s mother. Nonetheless, it was delicious! It surprises me how quickly my standards of “acceptable” have changed.

The tro-tro rides have been fairly uneventful lately. Nothing compared to our 12-hour tro-tro marathon to and from Sunyani. We did discover, recently, though, that Africa is not as pollution-free as one might think. After our journey to Kumasi last weekend, we all noticed the inside of our nostrils were black. I’m pretty sure it was from all the diesel exhaust we breathed in during the trip. One interesting thing about tro-tros…we pass through several police checkpoints and toll booths on the way to Kumasi. At each of these stops, there are women carrying goods in bowls or on trays on top of their heads and they rush the tro-tro to sell their items during the stop. Bananas, kenkey, apples, water, donut balls, whatever you might want. It’s a mad frenzy of buying and selling. But, it’s pretty convenient, if you need something. And, yes, it’s true: women (and men) carry everything on their heads here. I cannot believe some of the things that are carried. Bowls and buckets of water, bowls of bananas, trays of carrots and apples, candy, personal items like razors and soap, benches, bundles of wood…everything you can think of. They walk up and down stairs, along the muddy, uneven paths and never once have I seen anyone drop anything. It really is quite amazing, especially given the fact that almost all the stairs here are different heights and I have stumbled many times on the stairs and the paths…when I’m not carrying a thing! I even saw a lady carrying a watermelon on her head the other day. A whole, round watermelon on her round head. Just walking down the street. For real. Apparently the Africans are aware of some Physics laws that we Americans are not.

Sidenote: Anyone at Nelsen - the 7th grade social studies department has a video series called, “Families of the World.” There is a video on Ghana. If you watch the segment of the little girl named Deborah, you can see EXACTLY what it is like in rural Ghana. The houses, the school, the landscape, the people. It’s so cool to have watched that with my students for the past three years and when I arrived here, it’s just as the video portrays.

I apologize for not posting any pictures yet. The computers and the internet here are a bit slow, so I spend all my time reading and writing emails. I will try to get some up here for you to see in the next few months. I also apologize for this blog being so random. I write things as they pop into my head, so it doesn’t always follow a logical pattern.

Oh, guess who is back in town? That’s right, the tree farmer, Tchwumel (I call him Chewy). Dada has a little shop in town and we stopped by there on our way home from Kumasi last night. We were just leaving and I heard somebody saying my name. I looked over and saw Chewy standing on the side of the street. I was surprised to see him…as he hasn’t been by in almost three weeks. Apparently, he has been in Accra for awhile. He promised to stop by today…

We also have another friend named Eric. He has finished SSS (Senior Secondary School) and will be heading to Kumasi soon to take more classes. He comes by the house and plays guitar and keyboard almost every night. He’s a funny kid and helps us figure things out around here.

People have asked what they might send in a package here. I posted a comment, but I’m not sure if it showed up. Some ideas I thought of: any type of magazines, bars of antibacterial soap (for the shower), little bottles of hand sanitizer, hard candies or gummy candies (Werther’s, Swedish Fish, Gummy anything), card games, soduko or puzzle books, envelopes (like to send letters home in), any type of snacks; especially protein, like nuts, pepperoni, beef jerky, or protein bars, fruit leather, anything “cheesy.” We eat very little cheese products here…so we’re all craving cheese (or at least the taste of cheese. =) Oh, and speaking of cheese products and protein, I don’t think I’m losing much weight here. All we eat are carbs and we lay around a lot! I think we might have to go for some walks or start doing yoga at 5 a.m. with the boys and Dada. They take it very seriously, though, so I’m sure we’d be immature and a distraction. Also, this is a strange request, but I’d love to have some photographs of you all! In my hasty rush to get outta Seattle, I only grabbed a handful of photos. I have tons of wall space in my room and a roll of masking tape, so I’d love to plaster the walls with the faces of all my friends and family!

Tuesday, October 2

So, I am on my fourth schedule at school now. I am now observing in P3 in the mornings and teaching Art and English Grammar/Composition in the afternoons. Still not quite right, but getting closer. Today I observed in Kwame’s class, P3. I watched his teacher teach Math for two hours, followed by another two hours of English. I am going to talk to Dada one more time and tell him what I will teach, as opposed to being flexible and able to teach anything. I just am not so excited about teaching P3. I haven’t worked with little kids since I student taught, and I really want to work with the older kids. Plus, Dada keeps saying some of the older kids in P5 and P6 need remediation.

Today I received an Ananda Marga (the religion that Dada and the boys practice) name from Kwame. My name is Mishan. It means “good flower.”

I switched rooms this afternoon…and moved into the empty room that Katy deserted. All three of us girls were sharing one room and it was a little crowded. I thought it was silly to let an empty room go to waste! The last time I shared a room with two other people was the summer I worked in Alaska, when I was 18. It’s nice to have a little more space and the ability to have some time alone.

Wednesday, October 3

Well, I did my remediation today with four students from P5. My conversation with Dada went well and I think my schedule is on it’s way to being workable. Yesterday didn't work out so well, as he only gave ME the new schedule, not the teachers. So...they weren't expecting me. Slowly, slowly.

We’ve finally discovered meat in Ejura. On recommendation, we tried beef kabobs the other day. They were…mostly edible. Chunks of beef and onion (!) spiced and grilled over a fire. They tasted good, but were a bit chewy. Last night we ventured out to “Confidence” Restaurant, where we ate fried chicken, rice, and SALAD( !!!) for about the equivalent of a dollar. Pretty good deal and it tasted good, too! I invited our friend Eric to go with us to dinner. When we all put our money out, I noticed Eric wasn’t putting any money on the table. Luckily, I quickly thought that maybe because I had invited him, I was supposed to pay for him. I threw another Cedi (dollar) on the table. I think that was my first date in Ejura. Good thing it only cost me a dollar! Speaking of dates, the tree farmer did NOT show up on Sunday, as he had promised. I’m done with him! I don’t have time for these games!

There are many animals that roam around Ejura. Goats, chickens, ducks, and sheep all seem to wander freely, without owners. There are lots of baby animals, too. Donkeys frequently walk through the yard. I think they belong to the neighbor…as they are guided by the neighbor boy, who we call “Hoodie.” He’s one of the hooligans. There are also lizards, cats, and dogs here. There are two cats who live at the house. They are pretty small - they look like kittens, but I think they are full grown. When we first arrived, the boys told us their names were Lemon and LaLa. Then they remembered that Lemon died…so they said the cats’ names were Tara and LaLa. Tara was a previous volunteer and we figured out that LaLa really meant Laura, who was also a previous volunteer. Unfortunately, before we figured it out, we named the other cat TinkyWinky. So, now we have two teletubby cats; LaLa and TinkyWinky, who are the smallest, scrawniest cats you’ve ever seen. Ah, the irony. The neighborhood animals can be quite loud and disturbing, especially early in the morning. The other day we were all awakened to the sound of two bleating goats. It sounded like a mother goat and her baby had been separated and they kept screaming, one after the other, so that they could find each other. It was like a bad game of Marco Polo and it seemed to go on for hours.

The Namaskar House (where we live) is quite the neighborhood hot spot. There are always a million kids over here playing games in the yard or just hanging out. Yesterday, I counted thirty kids after school. We’ve joined in on some of the games. The boys love to play a game with rubberbands. You play with two players. Each had a handful of rubberbands. You toss one out, and it becomes the target. Then, one at a time, you throw another rubberband. The one that lands the closest wins all the remaining rubberbands. It’s actually kind of fun and I’ve even won a few games.

I shouldn't have been so non-challant about our tro-tro rides...I said earlier they had been uneventful. Murphy's Law kicked in as we arrived in Kumasi this afternoon. As Katy and Maaike were getting out of the jalopy, Katy slammed Maaike's finger in the door. Naturally, she started hyperventilating and all 20 passengers from the tro-tro gathered around her as she freaked out. Katy and I had no idea what to do, and luckily, a nice man and his wife led us through the chaos of downtown Kumasi. He pulled Maaike along by one of her good fingers and Katy and I tried to keep up. Thankfully, it's not hard to keep track of the white people here...as you just look in the crowd of heads...we're pretty easy to spot! The man dragged Maaike to a pharmacy (chemist), where they put some muscle relaxer ointment (like Tiger Balm, I think) on her finger and gave her some powerful pain killers. Her finger isn't broken, but it looks pretty nasty. She's feeling much better now...I think the African pain killers must be pretty good. The nice man then got a taxi for us and we headed to the bus station to find out when our bus will leave tomorrow. I told the taxi driver we were going to Cape Cod, instead of Cape Coast. He looked a bit confused. But, we figured it out...and will head to the bus station at 5 am tomorrow. We are staying at the Presbyterian Church Guest House tonight for a mere three dollars each. Not bad.

It will be nice to get out of town for awhile. The power had been out for about 24 hours by the time we left this afternoon. Oh, and also, we have a new friend named Rashid, who is apparently an acquaintance of David, the cook. He likes to come over and stare at us obrunis. Staring is not rude in Ghana. But, he's more of a "leerer," and stares at us constantly. He just sits on a bench and watches everything we do. Plus, he tells horrible jokes that last over five minutes and no one can understand his English. Today, while he was watching me do my laundry, I practiced a little reverse psychology on Rashid. We all stared at him. For a LONG time. He totally squirmed in his seat and then I told him David was calling him to help in the kitchen. He went away temporarily. So...we will have five days without Rashid.

Thank you, Nelsen girls for more goodies!!! I was quite the celebrity when two packages showed up for me yesterday!!! You don't even know how much I appreciate the thought and time and money that has gone into the packages you've sent. Akwasi (one of the boys) told me, "Wow - people love you," as I was opening the packages. Everything you sent is perfect and will be used and shared!!!

I miss you all and wish I could come home for the weekend. Instead, I am off to Cape Cod Coast. I will write again when I can!!!

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