I Held a Crocodile's Tail

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HELLO!

I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last entry! I promise I have good reasons, though, so here goes...

I went up North and stayed with all members of Biano's immediate family for a week. We left at 3pm (supposed to be 1pm, but there were problems with the bus) on Thursday the 13th(?) for Bolgatanga (the capital of the Upper East region which is the most northeastern part of the country, near where Burkina Faso and Togo meet the corner of Ghana). We got there at 7am Friday. It was long bus ride.

I'm pretty sure I took a nap Friday morning and that we stayed pretty local Friday. Biano's home and Mom are in Bawku, but his dad's church, their rented house, and his dad and two brothers are in Bolga (short for Bolgatanga) so we started there.

Saturday we took a day trip from Bolga to Paga where the sacred crocodiles. For a relatively large amount of money we got to go over to the pond with a guy with a stick and another with a live chicken. Four small/medium sized crocodiles came out of the water and the man with the stick let us walk around and hold the tail of one of them. It was brief but a pretty cool photo-op. Then the man with the chicken tossed it to the croc who munched away happily before sliding back into the pond.

After the pond we visited a slave camp (historical site) and got a tour. It wasn't far from the pond and was pretty interesting. At the end they had two guys demonstrate "drumming" and singing. I put the drumming in quotes because instead of drums they used two small rocks to hit a little boulder- and it made the coolest sound! I tried to sneak a video but my camera batteries were dying. :-(

Saturday night we went to choir practice. It was fun. I didn't do much, just sat and listened. I think it was really nice for Biano to be back with his friends and family, though. It might be as long as a year since he last went home.

Sunday was good despite the five hours at church. We got there on the early side (I looked lovely in my traditional skirt and top) and sat/stood through preaching, Sunday school (adults and kids), singing, more preaching, and blessings/ the spirit making people fall down. The singing was nice. Biano sang a song (which I found funny because he kind of closes his eyes and withdraws a lot of the time when he sings in front of people). The preaching was pretty interesting but very long. The cool part was that Biano's dad spoke English but then had a guy translating what he said into Frafra (one of the local languages). I have both the singing (inc. Biano) and the sermon recorded in short videoclips on my camera.

For the record, I just used the "My family is Quaker. Here's a little bit about Quakers since you've never heard of them before. They're Christian." approach. It worked pretty well. Biano's older brother said I need to make sure I go to church every Sunday when I get home so I can make sure I'm living my life according to God's will. We'll see about that, but I highly doubt it. It was very strange to be in a house that believes in the devil and in people who through god's power can perform miracles like causing lost limbs to miraculously regrow.

Sunday late afternoon we took a trotro with Biano's mom to their home in Bawku. We were there Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. I met Biano best friend from growing up (they were SO cute together- chattering away in pidgin the whole time), watched two depressing movies about the Rwandan genocide (Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April) plus a movie about the Bushmen (The Gods Must Be Crazy), visited Biano's mom's shop, saw Biano's primary school and got mobbed by schoolkids, and visited Biano's grandmother's house. Did I mention we rode around on a motorbike? Can anyone picture Anna on a motorbike going, say, 60km/hr without a helmet? Me neither. But I did. And it was awesome.

Biano's grandmother's house was a highlight for me. She was out in the field when we got there picking beans with the other women (they leave them in the field until they dry, then they collect them). She only speaks Kusasi so she welcomed me in Kusasi ("Ken ken") and then the only other things she said to me were "You are welcome," "Come," and "Thank you." She was really cute. And her house is a typical mud/clay house in the village. There is a main rectangular building plus a few small round huts that all open into a little courtyard and are connected by clay walls so that's all one house/compound. It was pretty awesome, especially to think that that's where Biano's family comes from and now he's this very Westernized, formally/Southern educated guy.

After Bawku we went back to Bolga for a night before taking an all-day (8 or 9 hour) bus across the northern part of the country to Wa (the capital of the Upper West region). Biano's sister goes to Wa Polytechnical Institute. She came with a friend on motorbikes to pick us up from the bus station. We went back to her dorm, then went for a ride around the campus (which is a good distance from her dorm). The campus was very odd; there's a huge tract of land with only a few buildings, and the buildings are all very spread out. Once it develops more, it'll be a huge campus.

We spent the night in her dorm (I was in her room, Biano was in a guys' room across the way) before heading back to Accra the next morning. We left at 8:30am Friday (the 21st?) and got back to campus at 11pm. It was a long day. Lunch was really good, though. We had a 15min stop in a small town and got oranges (only 5cents up North), bananas, and fried yam. It was cheap and yummy.

Now that I'm back in Accra, finals are in full swing. I had a few days off (basically a long weekend) before having one exam a day for four days in a row. I finally finished this week's exams today. Now I have an exam Tuesday and then ten days to use as I chose before heading home at 11pm on December 13th.

So I'm doing well, but I'm busy. These past four days have been completely dominated by my exams with a few breaks to hang out with Biano or friends. This weekend I'm going to Madina with Biano, which should be fun. We both have studying, though. I don't want to study/take my last exam. It's on the history of Ghana up to 1800. I have a lot to memorize and I don't wanna! Oh, well.

So I'm alive (I know Mom was worried about that) and happy and working hard and having some fun, too.

I'll update at least one or two more times in the next two weeks, I'm sure. And then I'll be heading home!

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day of family, friends, and food! <3

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