October 5-15

Monday, October 5, 2009
In class today we were informed that we have an exam next week which is worth 50% of our grade. I’m glad that the readings for class were just made available last week! So looks like I have a lot of learning to do about international economic relations….
I also took a nap today which is very out of the ordinary for me. I may say I’m going to take a nap but that usually just means me laying there relaxing but no actual sleep. I didn’t even mean to fall asleep but then hey 2 hour nap!


Tuesday October 6, 2009
Class today was really horrible and boring and long. I almost didn’t go to the second one. I was really tired again today so I read a lot and nothing really interesting happened. I went to bed at 9:30!

Wednesday October 7, 2009
Left this morning for global civic volunteering! This was my first time going by myself but I made it there without having to call for directions or anything! I started off teaching the really little kids and then after the first break I worked with the young but slightly older kids. It an extremely trying day- the kids were all different ages and at all different levels of education. These factors plus the fact that they have different teachers every day (so no one knows where they’re at or can review from the day before, etc.), that every day new kids join the classes and some leave then also, some are embarrassed because they don’t have enough money to buy writing pads or pencils equals a very disruptive, inattentive class. It’s not their fault at all but it’s really really frustrating trying to talk and teach when kids will jump up and start screaming and hitting each other at any moment. I especially felt bad for the kids that actually really wanted to learn- they looked like they were about to cry anytime class was disrupted and they knew that they were only learning a small fraction of what they could be learning if they were in a class that was better behaved. I’m not sure what the solution is but they need a more consistent teaching style. The volunteers are just given a book and said to go teach but if the volunteer knew in advance what they’d be teaching then we’d have time to come up with some more creative and fun way for the kids to learn- then maybe they’d pay better attention and would learn more because it would be somewhat fun instead of just a person (with no teaching experience what so ever) to stand in front of them and read the book as they go along. Ah. One funny moment when I tried really hard not laugh was when the one pudgy kid (very, very few chubby kids in Ghana) passed gas in class- this made the whole class erupt in laughter, I was trying to get them to settle down when the sweetest and one of the smartest little girls in the class, Ester, said to me “But Madame, the fat one spoiled the air”. It was hilarious.
Other crappy thing about teaching in Ghana is the caning. Whenever kids are bad the other kids yell at me “madame, madame, you must cane him!” I’m not hitting the kids and the other Ghanaian volunteers laugh at me for that. But apparently if I don’t cane them I’ll never get their respect (according to the children). But no, I refuse to hit the poor little Ghanaian children that can’t afford to go to private school like the rest of their peers. Nope.

On the way home I bought a snickers, a can of coke zero and a mini bottle of wine to ease my exhaustion with the day. These are all pretty pricey items here but was some of the best spent money ever.

Thursday October 8, 2009
Medical geography was canceled this morning so I slept in some. The water’s been out for a day so I was hoping it would work this morning but didn’t. I really wanted to shower and do laundry but oh well! Still super tired and am started to get worried i have some sort of illness- I fell asleep in a chair today with my shoes on and everything… bleeehh?
Malina went to doctor and has an ear infection and she’s never had one before! I can’t believe that! I get them at least annually! But anyway, she doesn’t get sick much so when she does she worries a ton so I had to assure her that it would be fine and that yea it hurts but it will go away with the help of lovely antibiotics.

Friday October 9, 2009
YAy water! I did laundry and Malina and I tried to decide if we wanted to go on a day trip tomorrow- decided not to because I’m still so tired and she has the ear infection (and the medicine makes her feel super nauseous) so it wouldn’t be good to get sick while hiking through the jungle. So yea. We hung around and were lazy- I’ve been really lazy this week. But we went to the food festival on campus at night with Patrick, Jeff, Nathan and Haylee. It was like if the North Carolina state fair was transformed into a Ghanaian event. So much food and drinks and music. I also sampled palm wine for the first time. It’s so gross. It smells really bad which makes it a lot harder to drink too but the Ghanaians were drinking it like it was pbr. We were sitting with 3 of Jeff’s graduate school Ghanaian friends and having a good time. Nathan, Patrick and one of the Ghanaians got into a battle of who is the most manly. They said Patrick was like a girl because he ate ice cream and that was a “treat for the females”. Patrick said he was just so manly that he had to tone it down by eating ice cream. Then Nathan got into it and it got pretty foul. They were talking about girls of course and who had the biggest balls. The highlight of the conversation was when the Ghanaian (who I feel really bad because I can’t remember his name) said “if I had a girlfriend I’d have her pregnant in a week”. I suppose the ability to impregnant a woman is in fact the definition of a man… but it was funny. Malina and I left because it was really loud and neither of us felt super great. We went to bed early again. She and I sound like such an 80 year old couple. Erin would be disappointed in me.

Saturday October 10, 2009
Malina and I walked to the mall today to go to shoprite and see a movie. When we got to the movie theater the one we wanted to see wasn’t working and the woman tried really hard to sell the other ones, “this is a really great movie, I know you’ll enjoy it so much”. I had already given her my money when we inquired about the first movie and then when I told her we’d come back later she said “oh, then let me just keep it for you.” The woman wanted me to leave my 10 cedi with her. She crazy.

Sunday October 11, 2009
Today I studied all day for test tomorrow. I’m super tired and worried I have malaria. Lots of people have been getting it recently. Bummer.

Monday October 12, 2009
The test that was previously going to be 50% of our grade didn’t actually count for anything! He didn’t even take it up! Oh silly Ghanaian school!
After the fake test I went with Patrick to the bookstore and got a book and then headed to the student clinic where I began the worst doctor experience of my life. See tomorrow’s entry for the details regarding day two in doctor hell.

Tuesday October 13, 2009

Today is one of those days where I hate Ghana. As I walked to the hospital (the one off campus) at 745 this morning to collect my lab results I notice that people that I walk by seem to genuinely hate me. The look of utmost disdain on their faces as I walk by, even as I give a little smile and a small wave and they just continue to stare with such anger and abhorrence. This happens to me often but then there are usually also the times that people smile back and ask how I am. Today I didn’t see any of the nice people. I handed my paper to the laboratory men and waited outside the way they told me. When they called my name they called me by Elizabeth (my middle name) so didn’t answer or even notice them giving out the results (I was reading during my long wait) and then he shoved the piece of paper under my face angrily telling me “this is you- listen”. So then I got to walk back to the clinic on campus and made it there around 9:30ish. Then I got to have my only positive interaction of the morning. The woman that works in the filing and was very nice to me yesterday greeted me with “hello sarah” today. She remembers me because I am, of course, the only white female that came in yesterday. Her name is also Sarah and I am thankful for her positive demeanor and patience with my questions about what the hell I’m suppose to do. I wait in the long line that fills the benches- a line that shifts every time a person goes into the room where the lone nurse works. The nurse spends an average of a minute per person so you move a lot. At 11:30 it was finally my turn- the nurse tells me my throat is better today (as if she knows, she just thinks it sounds better- in the clinic they don’t actually look at your throat or take your temperature or blood pressure or any of that silly stuff) but I tell her that my back is more sore and I haven’t had an appetite for a few days and that things that didn’t bother me too much on Sunday were much worse yesterday. She neglects these facts and tells me she doesn’t think that I have malaria. She gives me a piece of paper and tells me to go. Doesn’t tell me what is wrong with me, just that in her opinion I don’t have malaria. My tests came back negative but the parasite often “hides” so you can’t see it when viewed under a microscope. So, maybe, maybe not. Every person I know that has had malaria also had their tests come back negative. Anyway, I then ask her if I’m suppose to go to the next room over and she says yes (of course she wouldn’t of told me this if I hadn’t asked). I wait in the line for the next room, where they write the prescriptions and i finally hand my paper over. She looks at it and says “but you don’t have anything to pick up! Did you not come by yesterday!?” I tell her no because the nurse just told me to go to the main hospital for testing. She then starts to yell at me “No, no, no you were suppose to come by here! Why didn’t you come- you should have known!” Literally, yelling at me as I feel like I’m going to pass out. As most of you know, whenever I’m angry, sad, tired or frustrated my body automatically starts producing tears (it’s embarrassing and annoying). I’m trying not to cry because they don’t cry in Ghana and I tell her quietly that I’m sorry but that I didn’t know I was suppose to go by there, I was just told to go to the hospital. She tells me that this is my fault and that because I didn’t come by yesterday I will just have to walk to the hospital again so I can pick up the prescription (not sure why I can’t use the pharmacy directly next to the clinic where everyone else I know has gone- maybe the extra walk to the hospital in the 100 degree heat while I have an un-known illness and am being prescribed three medicines that I don’t know what they are is just a fun little treat from her). I hate Ghana and I miss UNCW’s Student Health Center- at least they’ll talk to you there and ask you questions about how you feel and I don’t know, do things like actually take your temperature and blood pressure and actually think about what could be wrong with you before writing out a list of prescriptions. Sorry to vent, but I feel like shit. No, I feel like I did when I had mono. Can’t wait for the rest of the day! And I missed class to wait in the stupid line. Blech.

Alright- I’m more calm now. I went to the hospital to get my prescription. When I walked in a girl that had been at the clinic earlier noticed me and told me to go to the records office first. I thanked her profusely, once again confident in the goodwill in man. If she hadn’t told me I would have had to wait and then gotten yelled at (which I saw happen to many people who did make that mistake) and then gone to records and then to get it filled. It takes about an hour to get it filled and they didn’t have one of them so I was told to go to a different pharmacy to pick it up. I googled it- selerite or selevte (can’t read the handwriting) and neither of them come up so I don’t think I’ll go get it. They also prescribed me a painkiller I’ve never heard of so I might just do ibuprofen and the amoxicillin I was given. WOOOOO.

Interesting note about Ghanaian culture:As I’m on the internet right now in the hallway of my hostel, I can hear someone watching a gilbert godfry stand up performance…. I was unaware that he was popular here

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This morning I woke up to people chanting in a circle in the fields next to ISH at 5am. That was interesting. But after a while I fell back asleep- I didn’t have to get up early because I didn’t go to global civic because I still feel pretty rough and want to give the medicine a try. So took it easy most of the day. I went and mailed some stuff and going to the post office on campus is always an adventure because the women there want you to find them an American man so that they can get married and move to the US. Today they asked me why I liked my name. It was an odd question seeing as they didn’t even know that I like my name. it was just “What is your name”- I told them and they laughed and then asked “Why do you like your name?” and then they tried to talk to me in Twi and just laughed at me a lot. I smiled back so that they wouldn’t charge me extra  I also did laundry! Woooo! One of the cleaning ladies was also washing clothes and she told me that she liked my bucket and said that I will give it to her when I leave Ghana. I guess that’s cool with me. She also wanted my cell phone but I told her I’d have to think on that. Today was also my last Twi class ever. All we did was review and I will miss Kofi, he’s my most entertaining and nice teacher (tikya in Twi).

Thursday, October 15, 2009
This morning in medical geography I found out that my teacher knows my name! We were looking at global patterns of breast cancer and he points out that rates in the US are higher than in Ghana and he goes “Sarah, your from the US, why is that?” I told him there were a lot of factors but I didn’t really know. He didn’t know either.
After medical geography I had plenty of time to study for my Twi final but I ended up procrastinating- the exam was actually pretty hard but seeing as it’s a class that I’m not even going to get credit for I guess it doesn’t really matter.

Malina and I have affectionately named our party-going neighbors Club ISH. While I am all for a good time, I don’t see why it has to happen every single night at very large volumes in the room right next to mine. I can hear every single thing they say including, “TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS!!! (giggle, giggle, giggle)”. So, tonight, when we all have to get up in the morning and be on a bus at 7am for a 6 hour drive, I don’t see why partying would be the best idea. It’s not like you can sleep on the bus, the roads are way, way, way too bumpy. But tonight club ish went hard. Around 1:30 (after they had already gotten yelled at by the porter) I went and knocked on the door. To this they responded by going “Ahh, shhhhh” and then turned off the lights. Cool guys. But, since we don’t have real windows, just screens and I know they can hear everything I say, and kindly addressed them with “Guys, it’s Sarah, it would be really cool if you could please be quiet now cause I really want to go to sleep”. They didn’t respond but since Malina could hear me and Ana, who lives on the other side of club ISH, could hear me- I know club ish could hear me. But they were quiet for about 5 minutes and then the party started up again. Once they were finally quiet and went to sleep Malina and I couldn’t because we were so pissed and had our angry adrenaline running. Lameface.

---

---