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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.