After a several hour delay in the Accra due to the ash in London (yes, there was still ash in London like a month later), I made it home safely to Newton, MA. I arrived home and immediately gorged myself, obviously. Then, about a half an hour later, my dad tells me to go upstairs to my room because he has a present for me there. I open the door to my room and I see my brother on my bed with a camera and a chicken in the corner. I scream, of course. Apparently, my brother’s friend has chickens so my brother asked to borrow one as a nice welcome home temporary gift (we gave the chicken back).
Other than that, my adjustment back to life in the USA has been pretty smooth. I’m still amazed by the constant supply of water and power as well as the plethora of food options. And there has definitely been an element of shock; I don’t stand out any more and everything just seems to run much more smoothly. Also, it was really emotional to come back to America and reflect upon my past several months. I still sit here in amazement that I actually fulfilled my childhood dream. Not only did I survive 4 ½ months in Africa, I was able to maintain my level of observance. And on top of that, I even grew religiously (thanks to Rivky and Zahava). The three of us have taught countless Ghanaians, Americans, Togolese, and more about various obscure laws of being an observant Jew (Many Ghanaians now know that you can’t rip toilet paper on Shabbos). Though all Ghanaians have heard of Jews, most of them did not know what that means outside of the context of the Bible. One girl even told Zahava that she used to think negatively about Jews, and after meeting us she has changed her mind.
So in conclusion, my adventure to Ghana has clearly been a great success! Though there were definitely hard times, like not having water for days at a time, I am so thankful for this experience and that I was able to share it with Rivky and Zahava. I honestly could not have done it on my own and we were so lucky that everything worked out so well between the three of us. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that has permanently changed me (I don’t think that I can ever look at eggs or a faucet the same).
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The end of my Internship
As with many things, the last day of school at Tot To Teen School was quite different than the last day of any school that I have ever been to. The school basically has a dance party the whole entire day with a hired DJ not screening any of the songs. The DJ played the most popular Ghanaian and American music and the kids just danced the whole day in the courtyard of the school with basically no supervision. The teachers are busy finishing up grading all the work and some kids must sit there and help them to compile the grades. Other than the students helping the teachers, the kids basically just ran and danced around the school for a day making is complete chaos. Also, many of these kids can really dance, quite provocatively may I add. Many Ghanaians are really talented dancers (my Ghanaian friends always make fun of how Americans dance) and I learned that the talent comes at quite a young age. I spent the day taking lots of pictures (don’t worry, I will upload them finally when I get back to the States) and saying goodbye, which was sad.
Overall I had a great experience working at the school. I definitely learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence standing in front of the classroom. I was slightly nervous that I would begin teaching and realize that I didn’t like it and make a major career change, but that was not the case. Rather, I confirmed my love for teaching. Over the course of the semester I hope that I have taught the children well and that I have made a lasting impression. I think that I taught them most about life and America. There is a common misconception that everyone is American is rich and that whoever moves to America will be instantly rich as well. I tried to disprove this theory (especially to the teachers who are the main proponents). I think I definitely showed them at not everything is perfect in the USA (in fact, we are far from perfect).
Also, for the vast majority of the students, I was the first Jews they had ever met (as is true with most Ghanaians I meet). When I first told the students I was Jewish when I left for Israel I asked them if they had any questions about being Jewish. Most of them had heard of Jews before, but that was basically it. I gave a basic explanation about only believing in the Old Testament and a few more details. The kids asked lots of questions ranging in topics. One girl who had lived in America for three years asked me to discuss the Holocaust with the class because she knew that most Ghanaians do not learn about it. She had gone to school in New York City and began to learn about the Holocaust in 3rd grade. So even though the students are in 6th grade, they had never even heard of it and she thought it was important for the other kids to be more aware. I briefly explained WWII and the Nazi and concentration camps. They were really engaged and asked many questions, which is especially important because this may very well be their only exposure to learning about the Holocaust in a somewhat formal setting.
As you may have notices, in the end I had a great experience at my internship. I made many close ties with students and staff. Some of the male staff even wanted to marry me, which is not unusual. (I get proposals on a fairly regular basis, probably a couple times a week). I really did grow a lot and I was so thankful to the staff at the school for helping me to develop.
Overall I had a great experience working at the school. I definitely learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence standing in front of the classroom. I was slightly nervous that I would begin teaching and realize that I didn’t like it and make a major career change, but that was not the case. Rather, I confirmed my love for teaching. Over the course of the semester I hope that I have taught the children well and that I have made a lasting impression. I think that I taught them most about life and America. There is a common misconception that everyone is American is rich and that whoever moves to America will be instantly rich as well. I tried to disprove this theory (especially to the teachers who are the main proponents). I think I definitely showed them at not everything is perfect in the USA (in fact, we are far from perfect).
Also, for the vast majority of the students, I was the first Jews they had ever met (as is true with most Ghanaians I meet). When I first told the students I was Jewish when I left for Israel I asked them if they had any questions about being Jewish. Most of them had heard of Jews before, but that was basically it. I gave a basic explanation about only believing in the Old Testament and a few more details. The kids asked lots of questions ranging in topics. One girl who had lived in America for three years asked me to discuss the Holocaust with the class because she knew that most Ghanaians do not learn about it. She had gone to school in New York City and began to learn about the Holocaust in 3rd grade. So even though the students are in 6th grade, they had never even heard of it and she thought it was important for the other kids to be more aware. I briefly explained WWII and the Nazi and concentration camps. They were really engaged and asked many questions, which is especially important because this may very well be their only exposure to learning about the Holocaust in a somewhat formal setting.
As you may have notices, in the end I had a great experience at my internship. I made many close ties with students and staff. Some of the male staff even wanted to marry me, which is not unusual. (I get proposals on a fairly regular basis, probably a couple times a week). I really did grow a lot and I was so thankful to the staff at the school for helping me to develop.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Togo
On Sunday Rivky, Zahava, and I went to Togo, which is a small French-speaking country on Ghana’s eastern border. (BTW, none of us speak French which makes everything all the more so exciting). At the CIEE Olympics, we had a referee, Jean, who Zahava befriended who is half Ghanaian and half Togolese. We ended up arranging our trip with him and we were able to stay with him for a night. We took a tro-tro to the border town in Ghana, Aflao and Jean met us there. We dropped off our stuff in his little apartment and we went to cross the border into Lome, which is Togo’s capital. Jean is a soccer coach/manager (not really sure what the deal is) and thankfully one of his players took us around for the day on Sunday. The player (we were never sure of his name) is from Togo so his French is great and his English is not so great. Anyways, as we were going through the border control, it started POURING. And the border control is a little shack, so the water was leaking in. Luckily, I had my umbrella, but it kept getting in everyone’s way so I had to shut it. They told us we couldn’t cross because it was raining, but then they changed their minds and we were able to get through with minimal hassle.
In Togo, the predominate mode of transportation is motorcycles. They are often used as taxis, which is the best part of Togo. We took motorcycles in the rain to the Grande Marche, but it was pretty much closed. We walked around Lome a bit, but not much was happening because it was raining and it was a Sunday, but we saw some of the main things to see, including some political monuments. Lome is really nice. It is much greener than Accra and much smaller. Also, at some point over our stay in Togo, new president was supposed to be sworn in, and the opposition party had already announced that they were going to protest. They were unclear about when the swearing in would be or what would happen, so we were slightly nervous. But luckily we had this nameless guide the whole time.
After a few hours, we crossed back into Ghana to return to Jean’s apartment. He had just moved a week before we arrived. Zahava, Rivky, and I slept on one twin mattress on the floor and he slept on the floor in the common room. It was definitely cozy in that twin mattress. Jean was unbelievably hospitable constantly offering us whatever we needed and making sure that we were okay. It was really generous of him to host us like this and even have one of his players escort us.
The next day, we decided to go north of Lome to Mount Agou, Togo’s highest mountain. The player took us to the station and we were on our way, now with no French-speaker to help us. Rivky and Zahava’s two years of French was pretty useless at that point, but we did have a French dictionary, which was minimally helpful. Luckily, there was one woman on the tro-tro who spoke Twi, so I was able to communicate with her and tell her to tell the driver where we were getting off. After a couple hours of driving, we arrived at the base of the mountain and we got a guide to take us up and we planned to have a motorcycle take us down. We climbed about half way up the mountain in flip-flops (we were carrying all of our stuff including all of our food for days so we didn’t have room for sneakers), and then we decided to take a motorcycle for the rest of the way, which was amazing. We reached the top of the mountain and a man in a beater told us he was a soldier and we need to pay 2,000 CFA, which is about $4 because of something with our visa. Then he says if we had gotten the visa we would have had to pay 7,000 CFA, which made no sense. (Keep in mind no one really speaks English and we don’t speak French). Zahava asked where his uniform was, so then this other guy in a uniform came over and we eventually just paid him. We saw the view and we had a little picnic. We were able to pick fruit along our way up the mountain and we ate it at the top. After awhile, we headed back down the mountain on the motorcycles and I sat in the front and the driver sat in the back and helped me steer. They ended up taking us all the way to Kpalime (pronounced Palimay), which is the town we were staying in. We were pretty low on money at this point so they took us to three ATMs all of which were broken.
Anyways, we arrive at a relatively fancy hotel with minimal mold on the ceiling and they tell us the ATMs will be working in the morning. At this point we have VERY little money, not even enough to pay for the hotel. That night, we walked around the town and we met a Nigerian man, who spoke English and French, which was very helpful. We had planned to visit some cascades and he was going to take us, but since we had no money we had to go to the bank first in the morning, which opened at 8:00. We go to every single bank trying to use the ATMs, but every single one was broken (there were two or three in the town). We are having MAJOR communication problems and I’m just waving my ATM card around while everyone tells me all the machines are broken. I cried while explaining to the banker that I have no money, but he didn’t seem to care very much. Also, we had to get back to Ghana because Rivky had a final. We considered having someone wire us money (there were two Western Unions) but we had no phone to call. After two hours of trying to get money, we returned to the hotel still broke and we all gathered every cent we had and counted it on the bed. After discussing all of our options ranging from begging on the street to bartering our cans of tuna, we decided to try to explain to the receptionist (who doesn’t know English) our predicament and tell her we can only pay for part of the cost. We paid for more than half of the hotel, saving enough money to get us back to Ghana and we were out of there. We got motorcycles to take us to the Ghanaian border, which was about an hour and a half away. At one point, there was a random checkpoint where we had to give our passports (as if people are trying to sneak into Togo).
Finally, we reach the Ghana border and are relieved to be speaking English again. We get on the first tro-tro to take us to Ho and there we find an ATM to get money from. There was a REALLY long line and everyone is looking at the person in front typing in the PIN. Finally, when it’s my turn, Zahava makes everyone stand back so I can type in my PIN without everyone seeing. As everyone is screaming and distracted, we successfully get enough money to get back to Legon.
In Togo, the predominate mode of transportation is motorcycles. They are often used as taxis, which is the best part of Togo. We took motorcycles in the rain to the Grande Marche, but it was pretty much closed. We walked around Lome a bit, but not much was happening because it was raining and it was a Sunday, but we saw some of the main things to see, including some political monuments. Lome is really nice. It is much greener than Accra and much smaller. Also, at some point over our stay in Togo, new president was supposed to be sworn in, and the opposition party had already announced that they were going to protest. They were unclear about when the swearing in would be or what would happen, so we were slightly nervous. But luckily we had this nameless guide the whole time.
After a few hours, we crossed back into Ghana to return to Jean’s apartment. He had just moved a week before we arrived. Zahava, Rivky, and I slept on one twin mattress on the floor and he slept on the floor in the common room. It was definitely cozy in that twin mattress. Jean was unbelievably hospitable constantly offering us whatever we needed and making sure that we were okay. It was really generous of him to host us like this and even have one of his players escort us.
The next day, we decided to go north of Lome to Mount Agou, Togo’s highest mountain. The player took us to the station and we were on our way, now with no French-speaker to help us. Rivky and Zahava’s two years of French was pretty useless at that point, but we did have a French dictionary, which was minimally helpful. Luckily, there was one woman on the tro-tro who spoke Twi, so I was able to communicate with her and tell her to tell the driver where we were getting off. After a couple hours of driving, we arrived at the base of the mountain and we got a guide to take us up and we planned to have a motorcycle take us down. We climbed about half way up the mountain in flip-flops (we were carrying all of our stuff including all of our food for days so we didn’t have room for sneakers), and then we decided to take a motorcycle for the rest of the way, which was amazing. We reached the top of the mountain and a man in a beater told us he was a soldier and we need to pay 2,000 CFA, which is about $4 because of something with our visa. Then he says if we had gotten the visa we would have had to pay 7,000 CFA, which made no sense. (Keep in mind no one really speaks English and we don’t speak French). Zahava asked where his uniform was, so then this other guy in a uniform came over and we eventually just paid him. We saw the view and we had a little picnic. We were able to pick fruit along our way up the mountain and we ate it at the top. After awhile, we headed back down the mountain on the motorcycles and I sat in the front and the driver sat in the back and helped me steer. They ended up taking us all the way to Kpalime (pronounced Palimay), which is the town we were staying in. We were pretty low on money at this point so they took us to three ATMs all of which were broken.
Anyways, we arrive at a relatively fancy hotel with minimal mold on the ceiling and they tell us the ATMs will be working in the morning. At this point we have VERY little money, not even enough to pay for the hotel. That night, we walked around the town and we met a Nigerian man, who spoke English and French, which was very helpful. We had planned to visit some cascades and he was going to take us, but since we had no money we had to go to the bank first in the morning, which opened at 8:00. We go to every single bank trying to use the ATMs, but every single one was broken (there were two or three in the town). We are having MAJOR communication problems and I’m just waving my ATM card around while everyone tells me all the machines are broken. I cried while explaining to the banker that I have no money, but he didn’t seem to care very much. Also, we had to get back to Ghana because Rivky had a final. We considered having someone wire us money (there were two Western Unions) but we had no phone to call. After two hours of trying to get money, we returned to the hotel still broke and we all gathered every cent we had and counted it on the bed. After discussing all of our options ranging from begging on the street to bartering our cans of tuna, we decided to try to explain to the receptionist (who doesn’t know English) our predicament and tell her we can only pay for part of the cost. We paid for more than half of the hotel, saving enough money to get us back to Ghana and we were out of there. We got motorcycles to take us to the Ghanaian border, which was about an hour and a half away. At one point, there was a random checkpoint where we had to give our passports (as if people are trying to sneak into Togo).
Finally, we reach the Ghana border and are relieved to be speaking English again. We get on the first tro-tro to take us to Ho and there we find an ATM to get money from. There was a REALLY long line and everyone is looking at the person in front typing in the PIN. Finally, when it’s my turn, Zahava makes everyone stand back so I can type in my PIN without everyone seeing. As everyone is screaming and distracted, we successfully get enough money to get back to Legon.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Trips of Reading Week
Finals here at U of G stretch over a four week period, so I've been having a lot of free time to travel around. Ghanaians study an INSANE amount before finals. Literally, they just study all day and don't really leave their rooms. We think they're crazy for studying so much and they think we're crazy that we don't study. But then I found out that the reason they study so much is that many of them don't go to class. I have one friend who literally did not go to one Stats class the whole semester so now she needs to learn all the material on her own. I wold venture to say that many of my Ghanaian friends miss about half of their lectures. I guess it makes it much easier to study when you actually show up for class.
Anyways, so with all our free time we have been traveling around. Last week, it was Yom Ha'aztmeut (Israeli Independence Day) so we made a fancy breakfast of crepes and wore blue and white (Zahava even wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and wore it as a dress) as we went to Mekola Market (the main market in Accra). As we were shopping there, people periodically asked about the flag and we explained to them that it was Independence day. (People are generally familiar with the Israeli flag because many tro-tros and cabs have them). Anyways, so a woman in the market stopped us and said, "Shalom, mah inyanim?" (Hi, how are you? in Hebrew) and I answered in Hebrew and she completely understood. She explained to us that her husband was studying in the Technion in Israel and she lived there for many years. In fact, all her children were born in Israel. It was crazy!!!! She said that she loved living in Israel. We told her that it was Yom Ha'aztmeut and we were celebrating. I ended up buying fabric from her, though it was not even such a great price.
The next day, we went to Shai Hills Reservation, which is about 50 KM from Accra. The guidebook did not give much information (like all guidebooks for Ghana) so we were not quite sure what to expect. It took three tro-tros to get there, but it was well worth it and we never even got lost. We got a two hour tour with a guide (which ended up being longer) and we fed baboons and did a little hike/rock climbing. The baboons were amazing. They are very friendly to people, probably because we feed them. I took TONS of pictures of the baboons. I really liked them and their red butts. We also saw the cave (which was more like an avalanche of rocks) were the Shai people hid from attackers. Rivky did the whole climb in flip-flops (except for the parts that she did barefoot) so that was quite the scene. When we reached the top of the climb, there was a great view. We were so happily surprised that we had such a successful day given the minimal information and last-minute planning. Props to us for pulling it off!!!!
Anyways, so with all our free time we have been traveling around. Last week, it was Yom Ha'aztmeut (Israeli Independence Day) so we made a fancy breakfast of crepes and wore blue and white (Zahava even wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and wore it as a dress) as we went to Mekola Market (the main market in Accra). As we were shopping there, people periodically asked about the flag and we explained to them that it was Independence day. (People are generally familiar with the Israeli flag because many tro-tros and cabs have them). Anyways, so a woman in the market stopped us and said, "Shalom, mah inyanim?" (Hi, how are you? in Hebrew) and I answered in Hebrew and she completely understood. She explained to us that her husband was studying in the Technion in Israel and she lived there for many years. In fact, all her children were born in Israel. It was crazy!!!! She said that she loved living in Israel. We told her that it was Yom Ha'aztmeut and we were celebrating. I ended up buying fabric from her, though it was not even such a great price.
The next day, we went to Shai Hills Reservation, which is about 50 KM from Accra. The guidebook did not give much information (like all guidebooks for Ghana) so we were not quite sure what to expect. It took three tro-tros to get there, but it was well worth it and we never even got lost. We got a two hour tour with a guide (which ended up being longer) and we fed baboons and did a little hike/rock climbing. The baboons were amazing. They are very friendly to people, probably because we feed them. I took TONS of pictures of the baboons. I really liked them and their red butts. We also saw the cave (which was more like an avalanche of rocks) were the Shai people hid from attackers. Rivky did the whole climb in flip-flops (except for the parts that she did barefoot) so that was quite the scene. When we reached the top of the climb, there was a great view. We were so happily surprised that we had such a successful day given the minimal information and last-minute planning. Props to us for pulling it off!!!!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Adventure to Kokrobite Beach
After our last week of classes, we decided to head to the beach.
I'm not sure if I have made this clear, but it generally takes a long time to get to most places. Five kilometers could take easily half an hour. That being said, we knew it would take forever to get to this beach, but it got great reviews. Rivky, Zahava, and I started our day early in the morning and left to get a tro-tro to Circle (which is on of the main tro-tro stations) so we can get to Kaneshi Station . Meanwhile, on the tro-tro I ask the guy next to me to tell me when to get off for Kaneshi Station. Turns out, that the tro-tro wasn't going there so we had to get off at Circle and then go to Kaneshi (which is like ten minutes away). The guy sitting next, Moses, tells me that it's too far to walk and we needed to take a bus. Moses and his friend walked with us for about ten minutes through markets and sewage to the bus stop and ended up coming on the bus with us from Circle to Kaneshi Station. We were all pretty confused with everything and just went with it. We were escorted by two random men and they even paid for our bus! When we got to Kaneshi, they took us to the next tro-tro, where we had to get off at the police barrier (that was the landmark for our stop). Sadly, we lost our escorts at that point and we thought we were going to be on our own. But as we were getting off at police barrier, two men told us they were also going to the same beach so we went together. We had to take a taxi from the police barrier to the beach, but there were five of us plus the driver. Somehow, I ended up sitting on one of the guys laps (who was half my size) in the front seat of the taxi. My head did not really fit in the car, which was quite unfortunate and my knee was blocking the gear shift of the dilapidated car. Every time the driver needed to switch gears, there was my knee blocking his way so I would have to shift my weight every time, trying not to crush the tiny Ghanaian man. Along the way, we stopped so that the Ghanaians could fill their huge inner-tube with air at a pump. After the stop, I made Zahava switch and I sat on her lap and the tiny Ghanaian man went to the back. But the problems with my head and knee still remained. In addition, we had a HUGE inner-tube, which was just held outside of the window for the remainder ten minutes of the drive.
After two tro-tro rides, a bus, and a taxi we arrived at the beautiful beach with our new friends. We ended up spending the day with them. It was really great and relaxing. The Ghanaians, Zahava and I swam and lied out in the sun and got burnt (just Zahava and I got burnt, though the Ghanaians were very concerned about the burns). Rivky and I took a walk and she played volleyball with random men (she was great...she almost got her serve over the net) and we saw a fishing boat come in with tons of fish and women standing there wait to collect their fish to go and sell. It was really interesting to watch this all happen. They had lots of fish that we could have bought, but I did not really want to deal with cutting off the head and fins. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.
Anyways, after a long day, we traveled back to Legon on the same long journey. We had not had water since Friday (it was Sunday) and we were pretty sandy so we managed to get water from our friends who live in the next block. I was pretty heated about the lack of water (you can ask my parents about that...) but we eventually got water back, after four days without it. It was pretty miserable and incredibly unsanitary. It seems that they may be more on top of the water situation now and I've gotten to be really good about hassling them about it.
I'm not sure if I have made this clear, but it generally takes a long time to get to most places. Five kilometers could take easily half an hour. That being said, we knew it would take forever to get to this beach, but it got great reviews. Rivky, Zahava, and I started our day early in the morning and left to get a tro-tro to Circle (which is on of the main tro-tro stations) so we can get to Kaneshi Station . Meanwhile, on the tro-tro I ask the guy next to me to tell me when to get off for Kaneshi Station. Turns out, that the tro-tro wasn't going there so we had to get off at Circle and then go to Kaneshi (which is like ten minutes away). The guy sitting next, Moses, tells me that it's too far to walk and we needed to take a bus. Moses and his friend walked with us for about ten minutes through markets and sewage to the bus stop and ended up coming on the bus with us from Circle to Kaneshi Station. We were all pretty confused with everything and just went with it. We were escorted by two random men and they even paid for our bus! When we got to Kaneshi, they took us to the next tro-tro, where we had to get off at the police barrier (that was the landmark for our stop). Sadly, we lost our escorts at that point and we thought we were going to be on our own. But as we were getting off at police barrier, two men told us they were also going to the same beach so we went together. We had to take a taxi from the police barrier to the beach, but there were five of us plus the driver. Somehow, I ended up sitting on one of the guys laps (who was half my size) in the front seat of the taxi. My head did not really fit in the car, which was quite unfortunate and my knee was blocking the gear shift of the dilapidated car. Every time the driver needed to switch gears, there was my knee blocking his way so I would have to shift my weight every time, trying not to crush the tiny Ghanaian man. Along the way, we stopped so that the Ghanaians could fill their huge inner-tube with air at a pump. After the stop, I made Zahava switch and I sat on her lap and the tiny Ghanaian man went to the back. But the problems with my head and knee still remained. In addition, we had a HUGE inner-tube, which was just held outside of the window for the remainder ten minutes of the drive.
After two tro-tro rides, a bus, and a taxi we arrived at the beautiful beach with our new friends. We ended up spending the day with them. It was really great and relaxing. The Ghanaians, Zahava and I swam and lied out in the sun and got burnt (just Zahava and I got burnt, though the Ghanaians were very concerned about the burns). Rivky and I took a walk and she played volleyball with random men (she was great...she almost got her serve over the net) and we saw a fishing boat come in with tons of fish and women standing there wait to collect their fish to go and sell. It was really interesting to watch this all happen. They had lots of fish that we could have bought, but I did not really want to deal with cutting off the head and fins. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.
Anyways, after a long day, we traveled back to Legon on the same long journey. We had not had water since Friday (it was Sunday) and we were pretty sandy so we managed to get water from our friends who live in the next block. I was pretty heated about the lack of water (you can ask my parents about that...) but we eventually got water back, after four days without it. It was pretty miserable and incredibly unsanitary. It seems that they may be more on top of the water situation now and I've gotten to be really good about hassling them about it.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Volta Region
Last weekend CIEE took us to the Volta Region, which borders Togo. Rivky, Zahava, and I left on the Friday and the rest of the group joined us on Saturday. This trip was my favorite trip to far.
We came back from Israel right before and quickly cooked a little (without water) and brought lots of canned food. At 7:00 am on Friday morning our driver is ready to take us but there is no staff with us and no one knows who is supposed to accompany us (how typical). Thirty minutes later, we figure it all out and are on our merry way. We drive along some of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. Trying to drink from our water bottle was joke. We made it to our first destination- a monkey sanctuary with minimal bumps on our heads. We entered the sanctuary with a guide who gave us bananas and we fed the monkeys. Zahava was the bravest and went first and fed them without any hesitation, then I had the guide help me feed at first, and Rivky barely fed them. The monkeys say in the trees and we had to extend the bananas to them holding the bottom of the fruit tightly as the monkeys peel the bananas. It was awesome to watch their little hands peel and gorge themselves with bananas.
Afterward, we continued to Ghana's tallest mountain- Afadjato. It's 2900 feet and we started at the base which is at 900 feet. It took about an hour to get up and a less to get down, but it's REALLY steep and Rivky and Zahava weren't feeling well so they turned back and I continued with our guide and our driver. When we got to the top, we were able to clearly see Togo and the surrounding mountain range, though I was no overly impressed with the view. It was nice, but not particularly amazing. The climb down was definitely tough on my knees. Also, keep in mind that we started the hike around 12:50 PM, so the sun was beating down making it over 90 degrees. I actually have never sweat so much in my life. My clothes were completely drenched; it was as if I had jumped into a pool. It was disgusting.
From there we continued to the "hotel" in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hway). We wanted to stay in one room with a king size bed but they insisted that we had two rooms, which was annoying. We began to shower, but realized there was only one towel so we asked for another and they told us they only give one per room. So we had two towels for the three of us. Then, right before Shabbat, there was a huge storm and the electricity went out so we were planning on eating in the dark, but anyways in on of our rooms all of the light bulbs were out so that was not even such a problem. But eventually, the lights came back. In the morning, the phone rings to my room so I went to the front desk (which is like 10 feet away. Also they had called several times the night before and we just kept going to the front desk every time because it was Shabbat. I think they were pretty confused). Anyways, so I went to the desk and she told me I had to move to the other room and 3 people could be in the room after we had BEGGED to sleep together. This is so typical, whatever.
On Saturday Zahava and I walked through the town/village and saw all the hot spots of Hohoe, of which there were few. There was one shack playing some music...possible nightclub?
Then, on Sunday we went to Wli Falls, which was really cool. It's basically just really big waterfalls, which we swam in. It was really fun and refreshing. We hung out there for awhile and then headed back to the hotel, excited for our shower. We we arrived, they had taken our one towel. When we asked for a towel, the claimed there were none, but miraculously after much persuasion, the woman from the hotel found one clean towel for us. We showered and then loaded the bus to travel back to Accra.
We came back from Israel right before and quickly cooked a little (without water) and brought lots of canned food. At 7:00 am on Friday morning our driver is ready to take us but there is no staff with us and no one knows who is supposed to accompany us (how typical). Thirty minutes later, we figure it all out and are on our merry way. We drive along some of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. Trying to drink from our water bottle was joke. We made it to our first destination- a monkey sanctuary with minimal bumps on our heads. We entered the sanctuary with a guide who gave us bananas and we fed the monkeys. Zahava was the bravest and went first and fed them without any hesitation, then I had the guide help me feed at first, and Rivky barely fed them. The monkeys say in the trees and we had to extend the bananas to them holding the bottom of the fruit tightly as the monkeys peel the bananas. It was awesome to watch their little hands peel and gorge themselves with bananas.
Afterward, we continued to Ghana's tallest mountain- Afadjato. It's 2900 feet and we started at the base which is at 900 feet. It took about an hour to get up and a less to get down, but it's REALLY steep and Rivky and Zahava weren't feeling well so they turned back and I continued with our guide and our driver. When we got to the top, we were able to clearly see Togo and the surrounding mountain range, though I was no overly impressed with the view. It was nice, but not particularly amazing. The climb down was definitely tough on my knees. Also, keep in mind that we started the hike around 12:50 PM, so the sun was beating down making it over 90 degrees. I actually have never sweat so much in my life. My clothes were completely drenched; it was as if I had jumped into a pool. It was disgusting.
From there we continued to the "hotel" in Hohoe (pronounced Ho-hway). We wanted to stay in one room with a king size bed but they insisted that we had two rooms, which was annoying. We began to shower, but realized there was only one towel so we asked for another and they told us they only give one per room. So we had two towels for the three of us. Then, right before Shabbat, there was a huge storm and the electricity went out so we were planning on eating in the dark, but anyways in on of our rooms all of the light bulbs were out so that was not even such a problem. But eventually, the lights came back. In the morning, the phone rings to my room so I went to the front desk (which is like 10 feet away. Also they had called several times the night before and we just kept going to the front desk every time because it was Shabbat. I think they were pretty confused). Anyways, so I went to the desk and she told me I had to move to the other room and 3 people could be in the room after we had BEGGED to sleep together. This is so typical, whatever.
On Saturday Zahava and I walked through the town/village and saw all the hot spots of Hohoe, of which there were few. There was one shack playing some music...possible nightclub?
Then, on Sunday we went to Wli Falls, which was really cool. It's basically just really big waterfalls, which we swam in. It was really fun and refreshing. We hung out there for awhile and then headed back to the hotel, excited for our shower. We we arrived, they had taken our one towel. When we asked for a towel, the claimed there were none, but miraculously after much persuasion, the woman from the hotel found one clean towel for us. We showered and then loaded the bus to travel back to Accra.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Passover in Israel
Needless to say, being in Israel was great. I saw lots of friends and family, but more importantly I ate a lot and consistently had running water. I seriously forgot what it's like to not have to worry about the water running out at any point. It's really reassuing to know that I will have a toilet with running water. Back to the food...not only did I eat a lot, the food was actually good (it was quite disappointing returning to canned beans for Shabbat dinner). Before Passover began, I made sure to eat as much Chametz as possible including, but not limited to bagels, shwarma, pasta, and pizza. Over Passover, I was still impressed by the food. I stayed with Rivky and Zahava's sister for the first Shabbat and I spent the seder with Sandy, Arlene, Tamar, and Jonah (aunt, uncle, and cousins) at their friend's gorgeous home, which was really nice. Most importantly, the food was great. Then I went to Aviel's dorm at Hebrew University (friend from high school) and spent several days with her and our other friend, Plasky. We relaxed a lot, ate great food, and walked around. We went to Tel-Aviv for a day, which was fun. I had pizza and I actually couldn't tell that it was kosher for Passover. It's amazing the thing you can do with potato starch. Then, for the next Shabbat, I went to Raanana to Karen Seidenwar's family, one of my closest friend's from seminary and I spent several days there with her and Aviel. I used to go to her house all the time when I was in Israel and it was really natural going back.
The flight back to Ghana was fine. Nothing too eventful. Going through passport control is different in Ghana. I'm not sure whether the guard was joking or not, but he was trying to convince me that my visa wasn't acceptable for students, but I convinced him otherwise. If he was joking, it certainly was not funny. After I got through immigration, some man kept asking "to be my friend" and when we can meet again. I told him he can come to Legon to see me and he can find me there (keep in mind there are about 30,000 students here). Oh I was back in Ghana!!!!
When I returned to the dorm, surprisingly enough there was no water.
The flight back to Ghana was fine. Nothing too eventful. Going through passport control is different in Ghana. I'm not sure whether the guard was joking or not, but he was trying to convince me that my visa wasn't acceptable for students, but I convinced him otherwise. If he was joking, it certainly was not funny. After I got through immigration, some man kept asking "to be my friend" and when we can meet again. I told him he can come to Legon to see me and he can find me there (keep in mind there are about 30,000 students here). Oh I was back in Ghana!!!!
When I returned to the dorm, surprisingly enough there was no water.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Trip to Israel!!!
I couldn't have left Ghana at a better time: there was no water and the electricity was about to go off for a 12 hour block. I could not have been more excited to leave. I got up early in the morning and took a cab with my friend Jenny, who was on my flight to Israel, and we went to the airport. As always there was horrible traffic and it took about 30 minutes to go about a mile (no exaggeration). The airport was fine...the departures section is MUCH nicer than the arrivals. There was even air conditioning! My visa has expired and I couldn't have submitted it for renewal because it would not have come back in time for my trip to Israel, so I had to pay a small fine. Jenny tried flirting her way out of it, but it didn't really work. Rivky and Zahava didn't have to pay anything...I think I just got unlucky. Anyways, I flew through Ethiopia, which was really cool. I am now inspired to travel there!!! It's really different than West Africa. (Keep on the look out for a future blog). The best part of the flight was the kosher food, which was even meat!!! Airplane food has never tasted better. No Joke, I have a new found appreciation for it.
We landed in Israel and it was GREAT. Though there was slight culture shock because the guards we certainly not flirting with us, it was amazing and I could not have been happier to land in Israel.
We landed in Israel and it was GREAT. Though there was slight culture shock because the guards we certainly not flirting with us, it was amazing and I could not have been happier to land in Israel.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Visit to my hometown (A.K.A. Kumasi)
In Ghana, everyone is associated with a tribe. I decided to become an Asante for many reasons (though the main reason is that I speak Asante Twi and Asantes are strong). Anyways, so CIEE took us to the capital of the Asante Region, Kumasi. At one point, the Asantes had an empire that was bigger than Ghana and they fought the British colonists fiercely. They are probably the most powerful and populous group in Ghana.
Anyways, so last Friday we went to their capital, which is about 4-5 hours north. We visited the chief's palace, which was somewhat interesting. I think the best part were the peacocks roaming around and we even saw one open its tail, which was AMAZING. Then, we went to a market, which is the biggest market in all of West Africa. It was pretty big and crowded and very overwhelming. Everyone is shoving you every which way and screaming. The aisles are tiny and there is practically no room to breath, let alone walk. I ended up buying some fabric which I intend to make into a skirt. The most common way to buy clothes is to buy the fabric and then bring it to a seamstress. Then, Rivky, Zahava, and I went back a little early for shabbos. We ate a gourmet meal of hard bread, canned beans, and yam balls with a superb sauce and we had the same for lunch. Pretty fancy if you ask me. We slept a ton over shabbos in the luxurious air conditioning and enjoyed each others' company. Unfortunately, the rest of the group went on a exciting adventure to a lake and a village that we could not partake in.
Then Sunday morning we trekked back to campus and the bus literally stopped 7 times in a 4-5 hour drive for people to go to the bathroom. But at least I got to enjoy the A.C. on the bus for more time. Simple pleasures in life... AND we bought 15 bananas for 1 cedi (which is like 66 cents, but it's the small kind of banana).
Anyways, so last Friday we went to their capital, which is about 4-5 hours north. We visited the chief's palace, which was somewhat interesting. I think the best part were the peacocks roaming around and we even saw one open its tail, which was AMAZING. Then, we went to a market, which is the biggest market in all of West Africa. It was pretty big and crowded and very overwhelming. Everyone is shoving you every which way and screaming. The aisles are tiny and there is practically no room to breath, let alone walk. I ended up buying some fabric which I intend to make into a skirt. The most common way to buy clothes is to buy the fabric and then bring it to a seamstress. Then, Rivky, Zahava, and I went back a little early for shabbos. We ate a gourmet meal of hard bread, canned beans, and yam balls with a superb sauce and we had the same for lunch. Pretty fancy if you ask me. We slept a ton over shabbos in the luxurious air conditioning and enjoyed each others' company. Unfortunately, the rest of the group went on a exciting adventure to a lake and a village that we could not partake in.
Then Sunday morning we trekked back to campus and the bus literally stopped 7 times in a 4-5 hour drive for people to go to the bathroom. But at least I got to enjoy the A.C. on the bus for more time. Simple pleasures in life... AND we bought 15 bananas for 1 cedi (which is like 66 cents, but it's the small kind of banana).
Monday, March 22, 2010
Be our guest
After our great weekend in Sewfi Wiawso, we invited some of the kids to come visit us in Accra. Anthony, who is 22, Patrick, who is 20, and Sara who is 17 all made the journey down here last weekend. Patrick had been to Accra once and the other two had never been. They had been to Kumasi a couple of times, which is the second largest city in Accra, but they had never really seen anything like Accra. There are small skyscrapers here and tons of cars and traffic, which is very different than any other place in Ghana.
Also, though they are practicing Jews, they had never experienced an Orthodox Shabbat. We made challah, which they had not seen and traditional Ghanaian food for dinner and lunch. We did all the prayers in Hebrew and helped them to follow along. Also, we sang zmirot (traditional songs sung at Shabbat meals) and they were able to sing with the transliteration. Then, at the end of the third meal of Shabbat, they told us the Hebrew songs they knew and we all sang together. They knew Oseh Shalom, Adon Olam, and a couple more.
During dinner at one point another Jewish, but not observant, girl from CIEE walked in and introduced herself and told Patrick, Sara, and Anthony that she was Jewish. After she left, they questioned why wasn't she observing Shabbat with us, why wasn't she eating and singing with us. We explained that she's Jewish but does not practice the same way that we do. They did not really understand that if she had the opportunity to practice like us, why wouldn't she? Though the Jews of Sewfi Wiawso are not traditionally observant, they uphold certain principles and strictly abide by their practices. They were really baffled by the idea that this girl chooses to not practice; it was almost unfathomable to them.
Since Sefwi Wiawso is landlocked, they had never seen the ocean so after Shabbat we decided to take them there. There was a little restaurant/bar that has chairs on the sand that we went to and just relaxed. At first only Patrick was willing to put his feet in the ocean, but after much coaxing all three of them went in. It was really exciting for them to see the ocean for the first time, though it was at night. Also, for some reason there were tons of pigs roaming the beach. There were families of pigs, babies to old fogies just walking on the sand. As you can imagine, I was not so happy about the pig situation but somehow I made it work. Presumably, someone owns the pigs and lets them walk around at night, but why the pigs would choose to come to the beach is beyond me.
Also, though they are practicing Jews, they had never experienced an Orthodox Shabbat. We made challah, which they had not seen and traditional Ghanaian food for dinner and lunch. We did all the prayers in Hebrew and helped them to follow along. Also, we sang zmirot (traditional songs sung at Shabbat meals) and they were able to sing with the transliteration. Then, at the end of the third meal of Shabbat, they told us the Hebrew songs they knew and we all sang together. They knew Oseh Shalom, Adon Olam, and a couple more.
During dinner at one point another Jewish, but not observant, girl from CIEE walked in and introduced herself and told Patrick, Sara, and Anthony that she was Jewish. After she left, they questioned why wasn't she observing Shabbat with us, why wasn't she eating and singing with us. We explained that she's Jewish but does not practice the same way that we do. They did not really understand that if she had the opportunity to practice like us, why wouldn't she? Though the Jews of Sewfi Wiawso are not traditionally observant, they uphold certain principles and strictly abide by their practices. They were really baffled by the idea that this girl chooses to not practice; it was almost unfathomable to them.
Since Sefwi Wiawso is landlocked, they had never seen the ocean so after Shabbat we decided to take them there. There was a little restaurant/bar that has chairs on the sand that we went to and just relaxed. At first only Patrick was willing to put his feet in the ocean, but after much coaxing all three of them went in. It was really exciting for them to see the ocean for the first time, though it was at night. Also, for some reason there were tons of pigs roaming the beach. There were families of pigs, babies to old fogies just walking on the sand. As you can imagine, I was not so happy about the pig situation but somehow I made it work. Presumably, someone owns the pigs and lets them walk around at night, but why the pigs would choose to come to the beach is beyond me.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sefwi Wiawso cont.
When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The community does not observe Shabbat like we do, so there were some difficulties with that. They use electricity so when the left our rooms, they left the lights on so we had to sleep with them on. Luckily, they also left on the fans, though.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. The synagogue is a small building with a few rows of benches. There were about eight men, a couple of women and lots of children. There was one man who led the service using a Sim Shalom siddur (Conservative prayer book) in English. He read several psalms and went through most of the service. The whole congregation they recited Shma together in Hebrew. For the Torah service, the leader took out a mini-Torah, like one used in a children’s service and brought it around the room for people to kiss. He then read verse by verse out loud in English from a Hirsch Chumash, explaining in GREAT detail every verse and then he repeated in Twi. He then did the same for Haftorah. As a side note, it was EXTREMELY hot and the fans were not on. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the service due to the heat. The service was concluded with a song in Twi, which I now know.
We went back to our rooms to find the fans had been turned off, so at this point I was pretty aggravated with heat. We ate our lunch of bread and canned food and we then took naps. I think the sheets were drenched in sweat when I woke up. There was one eight-year-old girl there, named Rachel, who hung around us. She was incredibly sweet and adorable. Rivky taught her to sing a Hebrew song (Modeh Ani) and she sort of taught us a song in Twi. She showed us how she’s learning the Hebrew alphabet and how she can write her name. She was our guide throughout the weekend.
We concluded Shabbat and afterwards, we hung out with all the kids in our rooms. We got to know them well and eventually we invited them to come to us for Shabbat (foreshadowing for the next post!).
We woke up a few hours later (at 4:30 AM) to begin our journey back to Accra, which luckily took only eight hours, as opposed to thirteen. Again there were some problems with chickens. The bus from Sefwi Wiawso to Kumasi was fine. From, Kumasi, we took a deluxe tro-tro to Accra. We had made French toast a few days earlier and were planning on eating it for breakfast on Sunday (it has not been refrigerated for three days and though it tasted a little off surprisingly no one got sick). Anyways, so I had to do a ritual wash of my hands before eating the bread so as I got off the tro-tro to wash, a woman got on with a live chicken in a plastic bag with its head sticking out. She put the chicken on the floor EXACTLY where I was sitting and Rivky told her that I was sitting there, but the woman did not move it. Meanwhile, I had already washed my hands, which means I cannot speak so I’m motioning vigorously to move the chicken, while half laughing half crying. I jump onto Rivky and the whole tro-tro is laughing at me. Eventually, the driver moved the chicken to the back seat (which is where my bag was so I was not too happy about that either), and we were on our way. The driver made it back in what seemed like record time. No exaggeration, he passed every single car in front of him at every single point possible. Luckily, we made it back to Accra okay and when we took the tro-tro from Accra to Legon, the same chicken lady was on it with us!!!! It must have been fate!
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. When we finally arrived at the village, several children came to carry our bags and bring us to where we were staying. We stayed with a large family in their little housing complex. There are lots of bedrooms surrounding a grassy area that has some roaming chickens and goats. There is an area used for cooking with large pots and a little outhouse. The reasons there are so many bedrooms is because there are many people. There is one husband, two wives, and eleven kids, though some of the kids are married so have moved out. I'm not sure how many family units there are like this, but there are about 100 members of the community in general.
We went to the room were staying in, which is also the common room of the house and the father, Joseph, recited the traditional Friday night blessings in English (Kiddish on Coke, motzei, etc) and sang a couple songs in Twi praising God. They did not eat a meal though, they eat just had a bite of bread. Then, they left and we settled in a little bit and ate a gourmet meal of bread and canned food.
The community does not observe Shabbat like we do, so there were some difficulties with that. They use electricity so when the left our rooms, they left the lights on so we had to sleep with them on. Luckily, they also left on the fans, though.
The next problem we faced was the bathroom. To begin, it's a stone seat on top of a large hole in the ground. There is no running water. Second of all, we had to walk outside in order to get to it and we had to bring our own toilet paper, but there was no eruv to carry it. We were very creative and made belts, scarves, and necklaces. Also, because of the way the stone is designed, we cannot squat or else we would miss the hole. So we lined the stone with TP and hoped for the best. Later when we returned to Accra we told our Ghanaian friends about this and they were horrified. Apparently you are supposed to stand on the stone and then squat. But no one explained this nuance to us. As you can imagine, we greatly limited our trips to the bathroom.
The next day, we went to synagogue, which was in a small building about ten minutes away. The synagogue is a small building with a few rows of benches. There were about eight men, a couple of women and lots of children. There was one man who led the service using a Sim Shalom siddur (Conservative prayer book) in English. He read several psalms and went through most of the service. The whole congregation they recited Shma together in Hebrew. For the Torah service, the leader took out a mini-Torah, like one used in a children’s service and brought it around the room for people to kiss. He then read verse by verse out loud in English from a Hirsch Chumash, explaining in GREAT detail every verse and then he repeated in Twi. He then did the same for Haftorah. As a side note, it was EXTREMELY hot and the fans were not on. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the service due to the heat. The service was concluded with a song in Twi, which I now know.
We went back to our rooms to find the fans had been turned off, so at this point I was pretty aggravated with heat. We ate our lunch of bread and canned food and we then took naps. I think the sheets were drenched in sweat when I woke up. There was one eight-year-old girl there, named Rachel, who hung around us. She was incredibly sweet and adorable. Rivky taught her to sing a Hebrew song (Modeh Ani) and she sort of taught us a song in Twi. She showed us how she’s learning the Hebrew alphabet and how she can write her name. She was our guide throughout the weekend.
We concluded Shabbat and afterwards, we hung out with all the kids in our rooms. We got to know them well and eventually we invited them to come to us for Shabbat (foreshadowing for the next post!).
We woke up a few hours later (at 4:30 AM) to begin our journey back to Accra, which luckily took only eight hours, as opposed to thirteen. Again there were some problems with chickens. The bus from Sefwi Wiawso to Kumasi was fine. From, Kumasi, we took a deluxe tro-tro to Accra. We had made French toast a few days earlier and were planning on eating it for breakfast on Sunday (it has not been refrigerated for three days and though it tasted a little off surprisingly no one got sick). Anyways, so I had to do a ritual wash of my hands before eating the bread so as I got off the tro-tro to wash, a woman got on with a live chicken in a plastic bag with its head sticking out. She put the chicken on the floor EXACTLY where I was sitting and Rivky told her that I was sitting there, but the woman did not move it. Meanwhile, I had already washed my hands, which means I cannot speak so I’m motioning vigorously to move the chicken, while half laughing half crying. I jump onto Rivky and the whole tro-tro is laughing at me. Eventually, the driver moved the chicken to the back seat (which is where my bag was so I was not too happy about that either), and we were on our way. The driver made it back in what seemed like record time. No exaggeration, he passed every single car in front of him at every single point possible. Luckily, we made it back to Accra okay and when we took the tro-tro from Accra to Legon, the same chicken lady was on it with us!!!! It must have been fate!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Journey to Sefwi Wiawso
This weekend, Rivky Zahava, Zahava’s friend and I went to visit our fellow Jews in Ghana in a village called Sewfi Wiawso (pronounced Seshwi Wiawsho, but the sh also includes a whistle noise…as you can imagine, when we were telling people where we were going, they had no idea what we were saying so we have a piece of paper with the name written down). This village is not predominately Jewish, but does have several families and is the largest Jewish community in Ghana (apparently there are others…)
The journey was a long one to say the least. It took us almost 13 hours to get there. We left our dorm at 6 AM, got to the bus station at 7 AM and waited. There are no schedules here; you just need to wait for the buses to fill up, so we ended up waiting about three hours. Keep in mind that it’s Friday so we were concerned about making it in time for Shabbat. Anyways, so after the long wait and the traffic we arrived in Kumasi (one of the biggest cities in Ghana) more than 7 hours later, a trip which should take 4 hours. We got off the bus and were immediately surrounded by people who wanted to carry our bags or take us in their cabs. We hurriedly got in a cab that took us to the next bus station. At this point, time is definitely of the essence. The driver guarantees us that he is leaving in 10 minutes, which of course did not happen. We board the bus to take us to the village, filled with Ghanaians and a live chicken (there are tons of chickens always walking around and I strongly dislike them, so on the bus, Zahava stood next to the chicken as I passed it on the bus.) About 30 minutes later, we left only to turn around again. Everyone was screaming in Twi so we had no idea what was going on. Turns out, one person did not pay so we all had to go back. Meanwhile, the sun is slowly getting lower and lower and it becomes pretty clear that we will not be there before Shabbat.
In the meantime, the people of the village are consistently calling me to ask where we are but they do not speak English well, my phone is really bad quality, there’s music blasting, and everyone on the bus is screaming. As you can imagine, this was a slightly stressful situation.
Eventually, we arrived in the village, about 20 minutes after Shabbat had started. Surprisingly, there is no eruv and we have bags to carry. (On Shabbat, you cannot carry bags in a public domain so we could not carry our bags off the bus). Rivky had called her rabbi and he told us to carry the bags, but don’t stop walking with them; we needed to be continuously walking. So we got off the bus and began to walk in circles. Not only are we the only white people, but we are literally in the middle of the street walking in circles. Everyone was shouting at us “Oboruni, what are you doing?!” (Oboruni means white person). Taxi men were grabbing us and we just kept walking. There was one persistent guy who kept grabbing us and we kept walking away from him, but turns out, he was the person from the village who had come to take us back. I’m pretty sure EVERYONE thought (and maybe rightfully so) that we were absolutely insane.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
The journey was a long one to say the least. It took us almost 13 hours to get there. We left our dorm at 6 AM, got to the bus station at 7 AM and waited. There are no schedules here; you just need to wait for the buses to fill up, so we ended up waiting about three hours. Keep in mind that it’s Friday so we were concerned about making it in time for Shabbat. Anyways, so after the long wait and the traffic we arrived in Kumasi (one of the biggest cities in Ghana) more than 7 hours later, a trip which should take 4 hours. We got off the bus and were immediately surrounded by people who wanted to carry our bags or take us in their cabs. We hurriedly got in a cab that took us to the next bus station. At this point, time is definitely of the essence. The driver guarantees us that he is leaving in 10 minutes, which of course did not happen. We board the bus to take us to the village, filled with Ghanaians and a live chicken (there are tons of chickens always walking around and I strongly dislike them, so on the bus, Zahava stood next to the chicken as I passed it on the bus.) About 30 minutes later, we left only to turn around again. Everyone was screaming in Twi so we had no idea what was going on. Turns out, one person did not pay so we all had to go back. Meanwhile, the sun is slowly getting lower and lower and it becomes pretty clear that we will not be there before Shabbat.
In the meantime, the people of the village are consistently calling me to ask where we are but they do not speak English well, my phone is really bad quality, there’s music blasting, and everyone on the bus is screaming. As you can imagine, this was a slightly stressful situation.
Eventually, we arrived in the village, about 20 minutes after Shabbat had started. Surprisingly, there is no eruv and we have bags to carry. (On Shabbat, you cannot carry bags in a public domain so we could not carry our bags off the bus). Rivky had called her rabbi and he told us to carry the bags, but don’t stop walking with them; we needed to be continuously walking. So we got off the bus and began to walk in circles. Not only are we the only white people, but we are literally in the middle of the street walking in circles. Everyone was shouting at us “Oboruni, what are you doing?!” (Oboruni means white person). Taxi men were grabbing us and we just kept walking. There was one persistent guy who kept grabbing us and we kept walking away from him, but turns out, he was the person from the village who had come to take us back. I’m pretty sure EVERYONE thought (and maybe rightfully so) that we were absolutely insane.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Purim in Ghana
The Fast of Esther was on Thursday, which was also the same day as my Twi final and I had to teach in the morning. I was slightly nervous about fasting in the 90+ degrees weather with all this activity, but I knew that if I didn’t feel well I could break the fast. Luckily, I made it through the day with no water and no food.
On Thursday night, Rivky got a call that there was going to be a megillah reading in Accra on Saturday night! We knew another girl who was going so immediately after Shabbat, we rushed to hear the megillah in a random neighborhood. I cannot even tell you where we were, whose house we were at, who even read the megillah. All I know is that I showed up at some random guesthouse, which used to house the KJB, and now a random secular Israeli lives there. There were about twenty people there, mostly secular Israelis, a few Ghanaians, and some university students. A British man read the megillah and our mission was complete.
Meanwhile, we decided to host a Purim party that we called for 9:30, but we didn’t even get back until 9:30. Luckily, no one is ever on time in this country so people ended up coming closer to 11. We made TONS of Hamenstachen (I didn’t actually partake in the making because I was at my internship so props to all of Pentagon who helped!) of really creative fillings including pineapple and mango. The pineapple was surprisingly really good! Anyways, the party was a great success, with lots of music and people (though nothing could come close to comparing to Ghanakah). And I forgot to mention, that on Saturday during the day, we had no water and no electricity so we were worried that we were going to have to cancel the party, but the electricity came back, though we had no water for three days.
Anyways, the next day we attempted to make a gourmet breakfast in honor of Purim, but it didn’t come out so well. Our program had arranged to take us to the beach for the day, which was really nice. Rivky had arranged with her rabbi that we would call into his megillah reading in Baltimore and listen over the phone. But the problem was that we were on a beach with blasting music, wind, and waves so hearing was a potential problem. But have no fear, because Rivky found the ideal place for a megillah reading. There was this makeshift wooden bar that was not in use, so we sat under the bar to protect ourselves from the wind. As we were waiting for the reading to begin, a host of fishermen came pulling in their nets shouting, as Rivky was on the phone with the rabbi’s seven-year-old son trying to coordinate. He asked what the noise was and Rivky tried to explain that we were on a beach with fishermen. Our perfect place wasn’t so perfect anymore. As we were searching for an alternative location, the fishermen left, so we got our bar back! Our little shack protected us from the wind and we miraculously could hear every word of the megillah and we even booed at Haman’s name.
On Thursday night, Rivky got a call that there was going to be a megillah reading in Accra on Saturday night! We knew another girl who was going so immediately after Shabbat, we rushed to hear the megillah in a random neighborhood. I cannot even tell you where we were, whose house we were at, who even read the megillah. All I know is that I showed up at some random guesthouse, which used to house the KJB, and now a random secular Israeli lives there. There were about twenty people there, mostly secular Israelis, a few Ghanaians, and some university students. A British man read the megillah and our mission was complete.
Meanwhile, we decided to host a Purim party that we called for 9:30, but we didn’t even get back until 9:30. Luckily, no one is ever on time in this country so people ended up coming closer to 11. We made TONS of Hamenstachen (I didn’t actually partake in the making because I was at my internship so props to all of Pentagon who helped!) of really creative fillings including pineapple and mango. The pineapple was surprisingly really good! Anyways, the party was a great success, with lots of music and people (though nothing could come close to comparing to Ghanakah). And I forgot to mention, that on Saturday during the day, we had no water and no electricity so we were worried that we were going to have to cancel the party, but the electricity came back, though we had no water for three days.
Anyways, the next day we attempted to make a gourmet breakfast in honor of Purim, but it didn’t come out so well. Our program had arranged to take us to the beach for the day, which was really nice. Rivky had arranged with her rabbi that we would call into his megillah reading in Baltimore and listen over the phone. But the problem was that we were on a beach with blasting music, wind, and waves so hearing was a potential problem. But have no fear, because Rivky found the ideal place for a megillah reading. There was this makeshift wooden bar that was not in use, so we sat under the bar to protect ourselves from the wind. As we were waiting for the reading to begin, a host of fishermen came pulling in their nets shouting, as Rivky was on the phone with the rabbi’s seven-year-old son trying to coordinate. He asked what the noise was and Rivky tried to explain that we were on a beach with fishermen. Our perfect place wasn’t so perfect anymore. As we were searching for an alternative location, the fishermen left, so we got our bar back! Our little shack protected us from the wind and we miraculously could hear every word of the megillah and we even booed at Haman’s name.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Internship cont.
Though this could come across as a shock, I LOVE my internship. I love teaching and getting to know the kids and the other teachers. So far, it has been a great experience. I've taught several classes by now on informal letter writing. We practiced writing thank you letters and a letter to someone in America. The letters are HILARIOUS to read. I crack up the whole time in the corner while grading. First of all, almost every sentence mentions God or the Lord or something related. Ghana is an EXTREMELY religious country so it fits. Also, they have really funny/cute expressions that they use. They often write, "I hope you're fit as a fiddle," meaning I hope you're doing well. I was so confused when I first read this. Also, when the kids were writing letters to "pen-pals," I told them to pick one specific cultural difference and explain it. In Ghana, everyone is named after the day that they were born. I'm Tuesday born, so my name is Abena. One kid wrote, "The common names in Ghana are Abena, Kofi, Ama, (etc. these are all day names). The common names in America are Bruce, Yamit, and Richard." I died when I read this. If only he knew that there are no other Yamits in America.
Another really cute aspect is how this kids ask to go to the bathroom. They generally say, "Can I go urinate?" which was unexpected. Sometimes the boys ask to go to the gents. I had to go to the bathroom the other day for the first time so a teacher sent a student to go show me the teacher's bathroom. I was really impressed that they have their own bathroom because it's not uncommon for schools to have no bathrooms at all. So we go in the regular bathroom (which is co-ed) and she just points to a specific stall and tells me that's the teacher's bathroom. It wasn't any different than any other stall. And then of course, the sinks didn't work.
Another really cute aspect is how this kids ask to go to the bathroom. They generally say, "Can I go urinate?" which was unexpected. Sometimes the boys ask to go to the gents. I had to go to the bathroom the other day for the first time so a teacher sent a student to go show me the teacher's bathroom. I was really impressed that they have their own bathroom because it's not uncommon for schools to have no bathrooms at all. So we go in the regular bathroom (which is co-ed) and she just points to a specific stall and tells me that's the teacher's bathroom. It wasn't any different than any other stall. And then of course, the sinks didn't work.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Cape Coast
Water update: We have not had water for almost four days now. I cannot do laundry and we cannot wash dishes. People have been buying bags of water that are meant for drinking (like choco b'sakit) and using them to bathe. Bottom line, we need water need water.
Anyways, last weekend we went to Cape Coast, which is about 4 hours away. Rivky, Zahava, and I were taken a day early and we got a private tour. We took a van that seats twelve people and schlepped our food for three days.
One of the most popular tourist sites is there- Elmina Castle, which we visited. This is one of the main forts that the Europeans used to keep the Africans in, before they boarded the ships to the New World. Generally, the slaves would stay in the "castle" for about a month in dire conditions before they were transported. The castle was fairly small and not much remains there. Our director was with us and asked how it compares to concentration camps in Europe. (Many people draw comparisons between visiting the camps and the castle because many African Americans are descendants of people who once inhabited the castle). The two experiences are completely different. Not much is known in terms of numbers regarding the castle and it's very small, as compared to the camps, which are massive. The camps are have extensive collection of artifacts, whereas the castles were basically empty rooms. However, many of the same emotions are felt at both types of cites and the focus on how humanity could have watched idly.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel and ate shabbos dinner, which could have been better, and just relaxed on Saturday.
On Sunday, we went to Kakum National Park, which has a canopy walk. It's basically a series of bridges that are high above most the trees. The bridges connect from tree to tree and are basically made from ropes with narrow wooden slates to walk across, so it feels very unstable. But, since the canopy walk was build in '95, no one has fallen off. Supposedly there are animals there. We saw ants. I really enjoyed the walk, though if you have a fear of heights, you may have a heart attack. My director says it's therapy for those who fear heights--so Mom, I think this is your excuse to come to Ghana.
Anyways, last weekend we went to Cape Coast, which is about 4 hours away. Rivky, Zahava, and I were taken a day early and we got a private tour. We took a van that seats twelve people and schlepped our food for three days.
One of the most popular tourist sites is there- Elmina Castle, which we visited. This is one of the main forts that the Europeans used to keep the Africans in, before they boarded the ships to the New World. Generally, the slaves would stay in the "castle" for about a month in dire conditions before they were transported. The castle was fairly small and not much remains there. Our director was with us and asked how it compares to concentration camps in Europe. (Many people draw comparisons between visiting the camps and the castle because many African Americans are descendants of people who once inhabited the castle). The two experiences are completely different. Not much is known in terms of numbers regarding the castle and it's very small, as compared to the camps, which are massive. The camps are have extensive collection of artifacts, whereas the castles were basically empty rooms. However, many of the same emotions are felt at both types of cites and the focus on how humanity could have watched idly.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel and ate shabbos dinner, which could have been better, and just relaxed on Saturday.
On Sunday, we went to Kakum National Park, which has a canopy walk. It's basically a series of bridges that are high above most the trees. The bridges connect from tree to tree and are basically made from ropes with narrow wooden slates to walk across, so it feels very unstable. But, since the canopy walk was build in '95, no one has fallen off. Supposedly there are animals there. We saw ants. I really enjoyed the walk, though if you have a fear of heights, you may have a heart attack. My director says it's therapy for those who fear heights--so Mom, I think this is your excuse to come to Ghana.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Start of my Internship
I started my internship this week, which entails teaching composition (aka writing) in a private school to upper elementary (8-11 year olds). So far, I have just been observing, but starting on Tuesday I will begin teaching.
Needless to say, this school (as are all schools in Ghana) is extremely different than in the States. The most notable difference is the use of caning. The teachers all have sticks that they hit the children with, which is really hard to watch. If a child doesn't listen or disrespects the teacher or any other number of offenses, s/he will most likely be beaten with the cane. On top of that, it is not just one or two smacks; rather the teacher generally beats the child several times. When this happens, I generally look away, literally holding back my tears. I was discussing this with my supervisor upon being asked some of the differences between Ghanaian and American schools, I told him about this difference. He basically just nodded and asked, "Well how you do discipline kids who do not listen?" And I told him that we have other forms of punishment, that does not involve physically hurting someone.
Other than this, there are tons of other differences. Whenever I enter the room, the children all rise and recite in unison, "Hello madame. We welcome you to our class" (or something to that effect that is a little longer). Also, though this is a private school where most of the children come from wealthy homes, the classrooms are pretty basic. They are basically a square room with old wooden desks and a chalkboard. Basically, the room looks like how I would picture a classroom in the early 20th century.
On Tuesday for my first day of teaching, we will focus on informal letter writing. I was basically given a syllabus and told to teach it. There is not much room for my personal creativity, but we'll see what happens.
Despite the differences, I enjoy the school so far. I really like the other staff and feel very comfortable there. I have a lot of leeway in terms of my hours and what subject to teach, which is great.
Needless to say, this school (as are all schools in Ghana) is extremely different than in the States. The most notable difference is the use of caning. The teachers all have sticks that they hit the children with, which is really hard to watch. If a child doesn't listen or disrespects the teacher or any other number of offenses, s/he will most likely be beaten with the cane. On top of that, it is not just one or two smacks; rather the teacher generally beats the child several times. When this happens, I generally look away, literally holding back my tears. I was discussing this with my supervisor upon being asked some of the differences between Ghanaian and American schools, I told him about this difference. He basically just nodded and asked, "Well how you do discipline kids who do not listen?" And I told him that we have other forms of punishment, that does not involve physically hurting someone.
Other than this, there are tons of other differences. Whenever I enter the room, the children all rise and recite in unison, "Hello madame. We welcome you to our class" (or something to that effect that is a little longer). Also, though this is a private school where most of the children come from wealthy homes, the classrooms are pretty basic. They are basically a square room with old wooden desks and a chalkboard. Basically, the room looks like how I would picture a classroom in the early 20th century.
On Tuesday for my first day of teaching, we will focus on informal letter writing. I was basically given a syllabus and told to teach it. There is not much room for my personal creativity, but we'll see what happens.
Despite the differences, I enjoy the school so far. I really like the other staff and feel very comfortable there. I have a lot of leeway in terms of my hours and what subject to teach, which is great.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Shabbos!!
Cooking for shabbos can be really difficult. The first couple of weeks we didn't have a refrigerator so we had to just leave out the food we prepared in the 90 degree heat + humidity (not to mention the fact that we don't have running water half the time). Every week something has gone wrong, but we have really improved out skills and we're close to being true Ghanaian chefs. This week we truly had a feast!!! We made challah, Tilapia, yam balls, sweet potato balls, salad, and cookies. (In Ghana, yams and sweet potatoes are very different. Yams look like tree trunks on the outside and taste like regular potatoes and the sweet potatoes look like regular potatoes but turn green when they are exposed to the air. They are sweet, but not as sweet as American ones). It was a major success!!!!
Tonight Ghana is playing Egypt in the finals, so we're going to watch it. (I know it's surprising that I'm willingly going to watch a sporting event)
Tonight Ghana is playing Egypt in the finals, so we're going to watch it. (I know it's surprising that I'm willingly going to watch a sporting event)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Classes and Tro-Tros
We have now gone several days without water, but luckily I learned last night how to wash my body, shampoo and condition my hair with half a bucket of water. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.
Now classes are getting into full swing. As of now, I'm taking memory (psychology) and Africa and the Global World (poli sci). My Twi is developing very quickly and as a matter of fact, I have my first test in a matter of hours. The truth is, it's not such a hard language. There is no gender in the language and the grammar is fairly straight forward. Additionally, I met with my internship adviser and I am excited for that. I am teaching English at a school to lower primary (which is like 6-7 year olds). I officially start on Tuesday, which should be exciting. Generally, Ghanaians do not speak English at home, so there could be a major language barrier between the kids and me. But since, I'm practically fluent in Twi and my pronunciation is superb, I should be ready to go. Also, I need to do 135 hours of my internship, but the school for some reason goes on a month long break, I'll be missing a lot of time. But my supervisor said not to worry about it.
To get to my internship, I must take a tro-tro, which is Ghana's public transportation system. Tro-tros are vans which are COMPLETELY run down. Basically just imagine a jalopy and then a downgrade and that's a tro-tro. The tro-tros are privately owned but there are specific routes that they follow. There is a driver and a "mate" collecting the money. They are extremely stuffy and they always begin to drive with the door opened. Depending on where you are sitting, when you want to get off, five people may have to get off to let you off and then get back on. Often times, the seats are broken. And of course the driver's skills are impeccable. They can somehow manage to squeeze through the tiniest spaces going way too fast. But the most amazing part of it all is that the pedestrians are not killed in the process. To sum it up, if you are a nervous driver, the tro-tro industry is not for you.
Now classes are getting into full swing. As of now, I'm taking memory (psychology) and Africa and the Global World (poli sci). My Twi is developing very quickly and as a matter of fact, I have my first test in a matter of hours. The truth is, it's not such a hard language. There is no gender in the language and the grammar is fairly straight forward. Additionally, I met with my internship adviser and I am excited for that. I am teaching English at a school to lower primary (which is like 6-7 year olds). I officially start on Tuesday, which should be exciting. Generally, Ghanaians do not speak English at home, so there could be a major language barrier between the kids and me. But since, I'm practically fluent in Twi and my pronunciation is superb, I should be ready to go. Also, I need to do 135 hours of my internship, but the school for some reason goes on a month long break, I'll be missing a lot of time. But my supervisor said not to worry about it.
To get to my internship, I must take a tro-tro, which is Ghana's public transportation system. Tro-tros are vans which are COMPLETELY run down. Basically just imagine a jalopy and then a downgrade and that's a tro-tro. The tro-tros are privately owned but there are specific routes that they follow. There is a driver and a "mate" collecting the money. They are extremely stuffy and they always begin to drive with the door opened. Depending on where you are sitting, when you want to get off, five people may have to get off to let you off and then get back on. Often times, the seats are broken. And of course the driver's skills are impeccable. They can somehow manage to squeeze through the tiniest spaces going way too fast. But the most amazing part of it all is that the pedestrians are not killed in the process. To sum it up, if you are a nervous driver, the tro-tro industry is not for you.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Electricity and Water (...or lack thereof)
Currently, I have no electricity or water in my suite. Friday night during our tisch (A.K.A. when random people come over to hang out in our suite) the electricity went out in all the common space. That includes the kitchen, bathrooms, hallway, and dining hall. We spent the rest of the night in the dark hoping it would one day come back on. Then, on Sunday morning at around 9, the fans in the bedrooms suddenly stopped working, which means that instead of being 100 degrees, its closer to 200 (no exaggeration). So now the whole suite had no source of power.
Water is a whole other issue. About 40% (seriously no exaggeration) we do not have running water. When this happens, we go to spigot outside, fill up bucket, and schlep the water to the third floor. Usually, we won't have water one day and it will come back the next and then we won't have it the next...it's a cycle. I have become quite an expert of taking showers in a bucket. As a matter of fact, we have not had water in the shower since Wednesday. Tonight, though, I broke down and showered in my counselor's suite, who did have water.
These experiences really makes me appreciate the small things in life, like being able to brush my teeth and not worrying about the rotting soy milk in the refrigerator.
Water is a whole other issue. About 40% (seriously no exaggeration) we do not have running water. When this happens, we go to spigot outside, fill up bucket, and schlep the water to the third floor. Usually, we won't have water one day and it will come back the next and then we won't have it the next...it's a cycle. I have become quite an expert of taking showers in a bucket. As a matter of fact, we have not had water in the shower since Wednesday. Tonight, though, I broke down and showered in my counselor's suite, who did have water.
These experiences really makes me appreciate the small things in life, like being able to brush my teeth and not worrying about the rotting soy milk in the refrigerator.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Earthquake in Ghana
A couple of nights ago, I was peacefully sleeping in my bed when I hear banging on the door at 4 AM. My roommate, Courtney, asks me what we should do and I tell her not to open the door, because the person might have a knife. Luckily, the door-banger was Zahava, our suitemate, who was unarmed. I quickly put on a skirt and rushed outside to wait for the infamous earthquake. Everyone was outside waiting in the middle of the night (though it was practically morning for Ghanaian because they typically wake up around 5). We waited on the curb of the road for about a half an hour in our pajamas for the earthquake, but it never came. Turns out, the earthquake was just a rumor that spread throughout the whole Greater Accra Region. I guess rumors really do spread quickly. We all went back upstairs to our rooms, only to be awakened shortly thereafter by the chicken who wander around outside our dorms, but that's a daily occurrence.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Beach
Yesterday went to the beach, which was really fun. It was extremely hot as always but a good time was had by all. There were tons of people trying to sell things to us from bracelets to chairs to manicures. Everyone greets us because they can tell we’re foreign and they all ask us our names, where we are from, etc. I have the same conversation about 50 times.
While swimming in the water, we met several of the young Ghanaian men. After trudging through the garbage composed mainly of plastic bags in the shallow areas, we went where the waves were HUGE with our new Ghanaian friends. They asked us to make babies with them so that their babies could be white. We explained to them that, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
On the way home, we fit seven passengers in a cab, which was quite an accomplishment. Zahava and I sat in the trunk of the station wagon waving to everyone behind us.
While swimming in the water, we met several of the young Ghanaian men. After trudging through the garbage composed mainly of plastic bags in the shallow areas, we went where the waves were HUGE with our new Ghanaian friends. They asked us to make babies with them so that their babies could be white. We explained to them that, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
On the way home, we fit seven passengers in a cab, which was quite an accomplishment. Zahava and I sat in the trunk of the station wagon waving to everyone behind us.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Moving in
On Sunday we moved into our dorms. It's pretty basic, but totally fine. We sleep with mosquito nets and it is extremely hot. The campus is HUGE. Barnard's campus takes about five minutes to walk from one side to the other; here, it takes possibly an hour in the scalding heat.
Yesterday began registration for classes, which is an incredibly stressful situation. First of all, you must walk from department to department and wait in line and write your name on the list. The lines can take forever and you need to just wait. But meanwhile, as you wait in line to sign up, you don't know the times of the classes so you could be signing up for conflicting class times. There's no way to know beforehand. Also, there are finals on Saturdays and they make absolutely no exceptions. Seventh Day Adventists sued the university over this a few years ago and lost. A preliminary schedule will come out in a couple weeks when I can still drop and add so I will have to chose my classes based on that. There are many more complications with choosing classes, so the end result is a big headache.
Yesterday night I had quite an exciting evening. I came to Ghana thinking I would have extremely little food. I was a little unsure how I would survive. But my friends and I ventured to the "western supermarket" and found TONS of kosher food. It was truly unbelievable. We were ecstatic. They had everything from yeast, to pasta, to soy milk, to cereal and much more. There is even cream cheese!!! Then, we made our first supper. We had omelets and yams and oranges. It was the best meal I have had in over a week.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Airport Adventures
Some of you may know that I have quite the unusual route to Ghana. I flew from Boston to Toronto to Brussels to London to Accra. Each time I had to go through security and my carry-ons had unconventional things in them, like an electric tea kettle. So here are the highlights from each airport:
1. Boston- My peanut butter was confiscated, which was tragic. I was planning on eating that one jar of peanut butter for many meals throughout my adventure. The security guard took the peanut butter and told me I couldn't take it. When I tried to explain that this peanut butter was my only source of food he laughed and told the other guard. He said creams are not allowed and it says "creamy peanut butter," therefore I could not take it. I then proceeded to call my parents and cry.
2. Toronto- I took Jet Air, which is an Indian airline. The passengers travel in clans with an unbelievable amount of luggage. It seems that many of them literally packed up their whole lives and checked in on the plan. Then for boarding, the airport personnel announced "rows 30 and higher; we are ONLY boarding rows 30 and higher." This announcement was made several times because the vast majority of people in line was not in row 30 or higher. One guy argued that rows 30 and higher means rows 1-30. Somehow, I just don't understand how numbers less than 30 are higher than thirty...
3. Brussels- While going through security there was a list of things you can't bring. They listed shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, and drippy cheese.
4. London- Basically London was a disaster. First of all the airport was FRIGID. Mom- I needed my second sweatshirt there. Second of all, our flight left about 7 hours late. We boarded two hours late and then we had to sit on the plane for 5 hours as we waited in line to have a plane de-iced. Though there were some good times. The flight was predominately college students and there was free alcohol so it turned into a partaaaay. It was quite the seen. I ended up making friends with the girl sitting next to me, with whom I have multiple mutual friends. Quite the small world!!!
Unfortunately, Chartock, I could not take pictures of the airport in Ghana because it's illegal. But I'll tell you this, the Accra airport is like no airport you've ever seen. It sort of feel like an unkempt public school. The walls are painted bright colors and its a cement building with low ceilings. The bathroom has two stalls with broken seats a bugs crawling all over. There was soap in a water bottle. Claiming my lost luggage was a whole other ordeal, taking about an hour in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity. Finally, I filed the claim, met up with my couselor, and passed out at the hotel after traveling for almost 48 hours.
1. Boston- My peanut butter was confiscated, which was tragic. I was planning on eating that one jar of peanut butter for many meals throughout my adventure. The security guard took the peanut butter and told me I couldn't take it. When I tried to explain that this peanut butter was my only source of food he laughed and told the other guard. He said creams are not allowed and it says "creamy peanut butter," therefore I could not take it. I then proceeded to call my parents and cry.
2. Toronto- I took Jet Air, which is an Indian airline. The passengers travel in clans with an unbelievable amount of luggage. It seems that many of them literally packed up their whole lives and checked in on the plan. Then for boarding, the airport personnel announced "rows 30 and higher; we are ONLY boarding rows 30 and higher." This announcement was made several times because the vast majority of people in line was not in row 30 or higher. One guy argued that rows 30 and higher means rows 1-30. Somehow, I just don't understand how numbers less than 30 are higher than thirty...
3. Brussels- While going through security there was a list of things you can't bring. They listed shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, and drippy cheese.
4. London- Basically London was a disaster. First of all the airport was FRIGID. Mom- I needed my second sweatshirt there. Second of all, our flight left about 7 hours late. We boarded two hours late and then we had to sit on the plane for 5 hours as we waited in line to have a plane de-iced. Though there were some good times. The flight was predominately college students and there was free alcohol so it turned into a partaaaay. It was quite the seen. I ended up making friends with the girl sitting next to me, with whom I have multiple mutual friends. Quite the small world!!!
Unfortunately, Chartock, I could not take pictures of the airport in Ghana because it's illegal. But I'll tell you this, the Accra airport is like no airport you've ever seen. It sort of feel like an unkempt public school. The walls are painted bright colors and its a cement building with low ceilings. The bathroom has two stalls with broken seats a bugs crawling all over. There was soap in a water bottle. Claiming my lost luggage was a whole other ordeal, taking about an hour in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity. Finally, I filed the claim, met up with my couselor, and passed out at the hotel after traveling for almost 48 hours.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Anticipation! It's makin' me wait, keepin' me late!
As I ponder my departure to a foreign land full of malaria, Twi, and taro, I would like to thank Julianna for the title of this blog. Without you, it would be impossible for me to so cleverly update you on my potentially life-altering, exotic future endeavors. Of course, there are the inevitable worries: no electricity, British imperialism, and of course, the lack of high quality Kosher food.
Ever since the seventh grade, I have been determined to experience Africa first hand. I wanted to live in the land, to understand the culture, to be ingrained in the powerful history of Africa. Now, in these tumultuous times, I will rise above each and every AIG executive and Roberto Micheletti* to achieve something more, to make this world a better place. I will finally be able to pursue my dream, and I am forever indebted to those who have made this experience possible, especially my seventh grade English teacher.
I sit upon my comfy bed here at 54 Ballard on the eve my departure, my heart heavy with trepidation accompanied with an odd, yet simple grace of eager anticipation. Though I am tired and seem to have a bit of a cold, I know that any qualms and anxious sentiments will disintegrate into the warm sun of Western Africa.
Ever since the seventh grade, I have been determined to experience Africa first hand. I wanted to live in the land, to understand the culture, to be ingrained in the powerful history of Africa. Now, in these tumultuous times, I will rise above each and every AIG executive and Roberto Micheletti* to achieve something more, to make this world a better place. I will finally be able to pursue my dream, and I am forever indebted to those who have made this experience possible, especially my seventh grade English teacher.
I cannot say for certain how Ghana will affect me, nor can I predict how I will affect the proud nation of Ghana. For now, I will leave you with this ancient Ghanian proverb: One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine.
* The leader of Honduras' de facto government following the nation's sad and unfortunate coup.
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