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Published: September 19th 2008
Ok, first things first:
Will someone tell Nanny that when I was showing off pictures of my lovely family, friends and boyfriend to one of my new friends here he said, “Oh, that is your grandma? She looks like she is 45.”
A couple of nights ago I went salsa dancing, haha. Who would have thought? And, there are, in my inexperienced opinion, some very talented salsa dancers here in Accra. Although, the fact that I would have been unable to recognize the salsa before that evening may make me unqualified to make such a statement. Either way, salsa dancing takes place every Wednesday outside of a hotel around Accra, so perhaps by the time I reenter Pittsburgh I will have found my rhythm. We ended up getting to the hotel right after the lessons had ended, so when a guy immediately came up to me and asked to dance I told him that he probably did not want to dance with me, being that I was clueless (although, secretly, I figured I could just do some variation of the POLKA, shaking my hips a little more, and maybe no one would know the difference??). Luckily, this guy ended up being helpful, not pushy, just very fun and teacher-ish. When I asked him how he became such a good salsa dancer, he preceded to pull out his wallet, which contained his VIP Salsa Dancing card for a salsa lesson/club, which I found hilarious. Later, in the evening the fun, helpful, teacher-ish dancers seemed to disappear, and the “too close for my comfort” salsa dancers seemed to enter the dance floor, so I retreated over to the other American students who were also first time salsa-ers; so the group of us, I am sure, created quite the comical corner as we tried to teach each other the moves that our more experienced partners had shown us earlier in the evening. Hm, also, there was a random pet snake there that night that kept finding its way onto people’s necks who were standing by me. And, there is a girl here from Venezuela who lives in my hostel and is an AMAZING salsa dancer, so she offered to give lessons in ISH (international students hostel.)
Yesterday, a group of us girls went to Osu, the part of Accra that attracts the most ex pats. We went to a not for profit, fair-trade store that employees Ghanaian women, and it had really cute things. However, the way I see it, almost everything we buy here is a direct transaction between the buyer and the sellers - if you have a few bottle of nail polish, you are a pedicurist; if you put up a sign saying you can fix mobile phones, you do, etc. Osu has a lot of areas that look a lot like a strip of a western city. We even passed a (closed) coffee shop with drip coffee!!!!! If I ever end up there while it is open, what a luxury it will be. (The one thing I crave here more than anything is being able to get drip coffee in a to-go cup! Luckily, we boil water in ISH and make instant coffee and have reading parties almost everyday, BUT, almost everyday as I am busy between classes I fantasize about having a travel mug!) The palm trees on the side of the road and the Wranglers jeans store (!) in Osu make me feel like I could be walking down some old strip of road out west, and then I am brought right back to Ghana by the street-side salespeople who pull at my arms, insisting that I have enough money to buy their goods; so I revert back to clutching my bag and insisting that I am not interested in their watches/bracelets/woodcarvings/shoes/paintings/bananas/chocolate/etc. We did end up finding a Lebanese grocery store in Osu, where two servings of cheddar cheese is $6.50 (the only other cheese I have seen here is Laughing Cow, un-refrigerated), a gallon of ice cream is $18, and a large box of Frosted Flakes is $9. I did end up finding a large gab of oats and chocolate for $4, (very pleased about that : ). )
However, by far, the most noteworthy memory of yesterday was our tro-tro ride back to Legon from Osu. By far, this was the most barebones tro-tro I have ridden in since being here: hardly any covering on the seats, mostly foam and metal; the floor was corroded in parts where I could look down and see the road, etc.) Well, as we are on the main highway back to Legon, the tro-tro breaks down. A group of men who are walking beside the road kindly pushed the tro-tro off to the side of the highway, where our driver proceeded to open the front door and toss the front seats of tro-tro outside. Luckily for him, the four front seats were not at all attached to anything, so he could easily toss them right on outside without having to mess with the inconvenience of safety. He was then able to easily lift the floor off, and threw some of that outside too. Next, I hear my friend say, “Is he tearing wires open with his teeth?” to which I replied, “Well, yes, I suppose he is.” With wires in mouth and duct tape in hand, our driver stuck his head down into the floor of the vehicle and within minutes was throwing the floor and seats back in. Then (this got me the most) he yelled out and picked up more passengers, before checking to see if his plan to wire and tape the vehicle back together was successful! Well, he must have done it before, because the engine started right back up, and we were off again. Actually, instead of taking the main highway, we took a detour through corn fields and mini lakes back to Legon, so basically, for the 45 cents I paid for the ride, I got an educational and scenic tour. No complaints here!
In my one USAC class, where just our group of 10 is being taught by the head of the History department here, I am learning a good deal about the slave trade(s), its effects on Western Africa, colonialism, its effects on Western Africa (socially, economically, politically). Most nations in Africa have had independence since the 1960s/70s, so the effects of colonization still is a major part of African history. Too much to write here, but I am learning more in that class than any other so far. He is also an engaging lecturer who enjoys class discussion and disagrees with the mere dictation that most of his collogues use to teach. In my other classes, we are expected to copy, word for word, the information being read by the lecturer. In fact, when a girl asked a question in one of these such classes, the entire room of students moaned and began to make disapproving comments, very odd.
Tomorrow, one of the USAC students and I may try to go in town to an internet café, that supposedly has fast internet, so my goal is to upload some photos!
I have been trying to keep up on news here in Ghana. If anyone is interested, I usually end up reading http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/ for the weekly news stories, especially political news. Sometimes the stories worry me, but I know it is best to stay informed.
Nothing major planned for this weekend, but next weekend I do not have classes Thursday-Sunday, so hopefully some traveling will be done…maybe Togo! (we have to get our visas extended while we are here, and if we leave the country and come back in, the visa extension is automatic and free.
Apparently, there is a hostel here on campus with a guy who has a satellite…which means Monday Night Football!!! The Steelers play at the end of this month, and the games start here at midnight Ghana time…I can’t wait!!
Love love love,
Kristin
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kimi
non-member comment
oh dear...
oh dear those tro-tro's sound a bit too much for me to handle...glad you are still in one piece! also i cant wait til you come home and tell me all about what you are learning in your classes!!!!