August 11, 2011: Trotro Ride & Medina Market

So Reggae Night was fun. We ended up going to La Beach. The plan was to get a bunch of taxis, but Jenna and I ended up being left behind by accident because we ran back inside to grab our stuff. Obed ended up picking us up with a friend since he was going too. The situation actually worked out better than we hoped because Jenna and I got to experience a little bit of the local life, going to two local bars before La Beach. We also experienced a local drink, called Judgement Day (I don't remember the Twi name they use). It was this really spicy drink with ginger and gin in it. The band at La Beach was really good and everyone just had a fun night, dancing, and hanging out.

Today we were taken on our first Trotro ride. A troro is a popular mode of transportation around here. They have large vans that seat about sixteen and they pack everyone in. It only costs between 20 and 50 pesewas, in general. They go to all different places and they can be overwhelming in the sense that there is no orderly fashion to which people enter so if you want a seat you have to more or less push your way on, and god forbid you need to get off to let someone out for their spot you need to be quick at getting back on before someone takes your place. But its very convenient. And the ride itself is strangely familiar with its jolting and chaotic traffic patterns. It reminded me of being in the IH.
So we took the trotro to Medina Market first where there was literally anything and everything you could imagine. They sold fruits, vegetables, pigs feet, fish, live crabs and snails, clothes, jewelry, cleaning supplies, shoes, school supplies, and almost anything else you could ever need. It was crowded and we were called Obroni alot. Obroni means white person and obibini means black person. Obroni isn't meant to be a negative term, at least not in most cases, but more of just an observation. We were told to just smile, wave, and keep walking showing that it doesn't bother you.
After Medina Market we went to 37 Military where you can get trotros and taxis going almost anywhere. Its the central hub for them. We also were shown a large vegetable stand and another grocery store. From there we went back to Legon, where campus is. But I see many trotro rides in my future.
One very strange thing we have noticed about our ISEP group is the number of multiples in our families. I have the twins, Zurha's younger brothers are twins, Wilder is a twin, Jenna is a triplet, Vanika is a twin, and there may be one or two other people with twins in the family, but its very unusual. Twins in Ghana are dresses in the same color, and if you are a twin or the parent of a twin you wear white for the mourning period after the death of the twin.
Whenever you are in a vehicle and you are stuck in traffic or at a light men and women alike walk through the road with items on their heads selling stuff to people right through their window. One woman on our trotro bought a water sashae. Its kinda cool being able to grab a bag of plantains chips or a fresh banana or even a bracelet right from the seat of your car. It also has never ceased to impress me the items that woman carry on their heads. They carry boxes with meat of pastries in it, or huge stacks of cloth or water. Its really amazing!
Tomorrow we are going to Cape Coast Castle and staying over nights in the area and then on Saturday we will be going to Kakum National Park. Right now I'm going to pack. Shouldn't be too hard for one night.

Peace.
Katie

August 10, 2011: IPO Orientation & Campus Tours

For the past two days IPO, the international Programs Office, has been putting on their overall orientation for all international students. It consists of safety tips, helath issues, cultural expectations, registration for classes, student life and regulations, and all other related topics.
Here are some thoughts I jotted down during the orientation:

• Always greet right to left because it has the more natural flow


• The women wear the most beautiful fabrics that are so vibrant and reflect how full of life they are


• Everyone is incredibly patient and willing to help. Not once have I sensed that they were sick and tired of our questions despite the same ones being asked a million and a half times.


• Titles are extremely inportant to Ghanaians, such as Professor, or as they say here, Prof.


• Ghana is in fact a developing country so many of the amenities I take for granted in the States will seem like luxuries here, such as a warm, not even hot, shower or laundry facilities, or clean drinking water.


• A note on water: We were started off with bottled water, but the pipe water at uni is apparently safe to wash fruits and brush your teeth in, so I have started doing that, although I don't straight up drink it. Also, I just bought what they call sashae (not sure on the spelling, but its pronnounced like the sashae dance step) water which is a little bag of water. They are packaged by the same company I buy bottled water from, Voltic. A large pack of about 40 sashaes cost 1.50 GHC so less than that in USD.


• Ghanaian society is very family oriented so people in the streets refer to everyone as brother, sister, auntie, and other endearing terms.


• During the section on student policies for conduct we were introduced to a common form of social justice preformed by students on campus...throwing people into the pond outside the library which is overgrown with weeds and definitely doesn't look like a place I'd like to venture into. In the outline of what is expected from Junior Stundets at UG it clearly states "It shall be an offence for a Junior Member to: v. Throw any person into ponds in the University"


• Abortion in Ghana is illegal and Ghanaians are very political. My student leader, my mamma, Awushi, a fourth year political science student here, told us that Ghanaians will discuss politicts everywhere and they are very aware.


• Football, or soccer, is the national sport here and Ghanaians are very intese about their team, the Black Stars. The Black Star is supposed to represent the unity and power of the black diaspora everywhere. As you could imagine it was a very joyous day when Ghana beat America in the World Cup this past year. I myself am trying to go to their game vs. Swaziland in September.


• Ghanaians all have a day day which is derived from the day that they were born on. For example, Fida means Friday so a boy would be called Kofi and a girl Afua. I was born on a Monday which is Dwowdo so my day name is Adwoa ('dw' is pronnounced with a 'j' sound like in jet). Let me know if anyone wants to know their day name!


• Ghanaians have a one year long mandatory civil service period where they can be placed any where in the country and work on any project from teaching to working for a business.


• I have been asked about what Ghanaians do for malaria, and I learned that they are partially immune to it, and many get it a few times a year.

In addition to the orientation we got the official campus tour. I was so taken aback by the beauty of this campus! I have to admit I think its more beautiful than UVM campus, and i love my campus. The Blame Library is the largest in West Africa and its this massive white cement building with red bamboo looking roof and a stretch of green lawn decked with statues sprawled in front of it. The natural vegetation seems to naturally grow as if the campus and the vegetation naturally belong together. The library has open windows that creates a fresh circulation of air throughout. They still use a partial card catalougue. All the buildings on campus have the same, in general, white cement and red bamaboo roofs (when I say bamboo, its not literally bamboo, it just has the look of it). There is a central road that splits down the center making it a little easier to get your bearings. Everything is open and greeen and I just can't possibly fully describe it. The Registry sits up on a hill above campus and as you walk into it it is like walking up to a palace. It has a tall tower in the back bearing the Black Star symbol, and it has marble floors, and black accents, and stautes of important people. Its really elegant! There are a lot of places to eat on campus and some of them, like Odo Rise at Akuafo Hall (one of the residences for students), are really cheap. A meal there consists of as much food as you want for about $2 GHC. I got two large scoops of rice with red red, a bean based meal, and plantains and coleslaw for that amount. Also located in Akuafo Hall is Tacobell which is not like the American Taco Bell as we had all been decieved to think. Its this little lounge type place where you get similar meals.

Its hard to really describe everything in full. Things like that are meant to be experienced, so a few pictures will have to do the trick.

Today we was a little bit slower, with less stuff planned. We registered as official students at UG and got our ID cards and we were given time to go around to look at timetables and class offerings. Their system for registering is much different than what any of us are used to. We have to physically go to each department on campus and look to make sure our courses are being offered and then we have to check the timetables to find out where we have class and who the professor is. We only meet once a week for each class for about two hours. Many of the timetables still were not posted. We were warned that some may not even be posted until classes actually start. We also have to register at the general office for each department, then register online, and hand in our final list of classes. So technically, the first week of classes you are just trying them out and you are not registered until you hand in you final registration form which isn't due until September 26. Its like an add/drop period. Some people are stressed out about the system, but there isn't much you can do, so I'm not going to get myself too worked up.
Tonight all of the ISEP group and a whole lot of other people at ISH are going back to La Beach where we were on Sunday for Reggae Night. Either there or Tawala Beach. They are supposed to have a live band and it opens right to the beach. Right now I'm just uploading my new Ghanaian and Nigerian music from Obed, another student leader here although he actually graduated. So I'll leave it at that. I think I wrote a lot. Hopefully it was at least semi interesting!
Peace.
Katie (Adwoa)

August 7, 2011: Day 3 in Ghana

Today we were taken to a discount market. They sold everything form furniture to groceries to books to swing sets! It was basically this huge warehouse. The power went out a few times. When I was waiting to check out the power cut out and so the machines went and I had to wait for it to kick back in. I just found it interesting because you could tell it was such a normal occurance there.

We had lunch at this place called the Guest house. Its sort of campus (i think) but its not in the central area where all the departments and lecture halls are. Everyone in ISEP is meshing really well and there are so many different people with different backgrounds. This one girl Katherine spent the past two months in eastern Africa, I think Tanzania and maybe Kenya. She was volunteering at an orphanage and then at a refugee camp. Jenna is this awesome chick from California and she says things like "dude" and "whoa" a lot. She was a nanny in Germany this summer and took a course in Spain, so she spent lots of time in Europe. Kelly from Utah and her parents are archaeologists which is pretty awesome. She is studying theatre. Zurha is originally from Somalia but lives in Virginia. And those are just a few of the awesome people I have met (not to mention just the awesome Americans).

This paragraph is for Alex Price if you are reading: There is an Alexandria in my group who eerily reminds me of you from ther mannerisms to her face and hair right down to how she dresses. Its like a little bit of home sometimes. Afterall, everyone has a twin somewhere in the world!

After lunch we went to La Beach, literally a beach. It was here that everything began to fall into place. The beach was beautiful with its vibrantly colored buildings and tables and umbrellas. There were people drumming and dancing or otherwise just hanging out. The currents are extremely strong so only a small section was used for wading and swimming.

The most beautiful moment to me however, was when Jenna and I wandered over to a not-so-populated section of the beach, where they had some Ghanaian music playing. Its called hiplife, a combnation of hip hop and a more traditional music called highlife as well as some reggae influences. Its really beautiful. There were only a few people dancing, but they were just enjoying themselves. But it was this young boy who came dancing down the beach towards us. He couldn't have been more than ten but he had some sick dance moves and boy did he know it! He slowly moved closer to where Jenna and I were and stood to the side. So Jenna and I went over to him and had him show us some dance moves. Soon our whole group came over and we were all dancing, but it was so simple, and fun. Everyone was just ejoying themselves, enjoying the music, and enjoying our new home.

After the beach we were dropped off at the hostel and given packed dinner from Tasty Treats, an on campus place. There a few seamstresses who come around to the hostels and make these beautiful dresses and other items, so one of them was here tonight. Joanna, the seamstress here tonight, and I bought a beautiful pre made romper that just happened to fit. It cost 12 GHC (currency: Ghanaian Cedi) which is probably about 10 USD. The equivalent of our cents is a pesewa. Joanna is the sweetest woman and when I asked her her name she told me we would be great friends and I will come to her home for an African meal. That is just the level of friendlieness you encounter here.

And to end that perfect day a few of us from ISEP sat in the grassy courtyard in the hostel and just hung out under the open sky. I'm waiting for the sy to clear up more so we can see stars! We played card games and Jamison played his Ukalale. It was just a wonderfully familiar feeling and I felt more at home today than I have so far.

I haven't really described much about the setting I am in yet so I will do a bit of that now. As I have said, I am in the International Student Hostel 1, or simply ISH 1. You pull up to this four story building of white cement and walk into a front portal where there is a front desk where someone is always stationed. There is also a guard stationed at all hours outside the hostel doors. When you enter the actual hostel grounds its a large square complex with a central courtyard. The rooms go all around the complex on each floor and each floor has bathroom facilities although I am learning the gender line for bathroom usage is a bit blurred. The first floor has a small place to eat with tables and chairs set up outside it, and there is a small store where you can buy toiletries and snacks and units for your phone (their equivalent of minutes). There are also laundry lines set up and the water tanks for when water is not available via shower head. The second floor has an internet cafe where you can access wifi for 1 GHC, which is about 66 cents. The actual 'cafe' is small with about seven computers set up in it to use. Each floor also has kitchen facilities.

The rooms themselves have a small twin bed, maybe even a bit smaller than a twin, a bureau closet, a comfy chair, a desk and chair, and a night table. The furniture is clearly used, but not in bad condition. Each room also has a porch that looks outside the hostel, although the ground floor ones, where I am at now, are enclosed so you don't get that open feel the other porches on the higher floors have.

The bathrooms do not have toilet paper or soap, as most don't in a lot of places you go.

Random thoughts:

• Ghanaians speak English with what they call a full pronnunciation, meaning they pronounce every single letter so instead of saying thing with the 'th' sound they pronounce it as if it were ting, with the t and h pronnounced seperately


• They drive on the right side of the road, despite having been a British colony


• Using your left hand to give or recieve items as well as to eat or gesture is a major insult. if your right hand is occupied you must either support the left with the right or simply say "I am not giving this to you with my left"


• An even bigger insult is smelling your food. Awushi, my student guide, couldn't even tell us what it means and she wouldn't mimick what she meant because it was that big of a taboo.

Well thats it for tonight.

Peace.

Katie

August 6, 2011: Day two in Ghana

Akwaaba! It means Welcome in Twi, the local dialect here in the greater Accra area. I am once again traveling to a far off place, and wanted to keep you all connected in! I'm going to cheat a little and backtrack on my days, writing each one as if it is present tenses because I have been keeping them in a word document, but internet isn't readily available so this is the first I've been able to start this baby up.

I have lots on my mind, and lots to share, so I will either bore you to death, or bore myself to death of typing, so I may just break up everything up and save things for later posts...either that or my one hour internet connection kicks me off first.

So I am writing this particular post as if it was 8/6, so Saturday. Here we go.

Right now I am in midst of my orientation program through the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP). It will last right through next week and through next weekend. The program is made up of students all over the U.S. and its lead by a group of Ghanaian students, leaders, and organizers. They have all been just so warm and welcoming, helping us all out. Most of us came in on group flights form the states and were all picked up in a big bus where they loaded our luggage onto the top of the bus and strapped it down. After we were placed in our temporary rooms, since most of us are getting Ghanaian roommates (myself included) we were taken to the mall to get phones/sim cards/other stuff we might need. Then later they prepared dinner for us. We had jollof rice among other things which is a traditional dish in Ghana, and more generally in West Africa. I'm not sure exactly what goes in it but its had some vegetables and onions and such in it. They also served plantains! Delicious.

Today we had another full day from 7am until dinner time. My day started off with a shower out of a bucket. Needless to say, water here is not reliable. There is not always running water. That is when you fill your bucket with water form the huge water tanks in the back of the complex (side note: International Student Hostel 1 or ISH 1 is where I live). So after a strangely familiar and comfortable 'bath' (Caroga Lake bucket baths) we headed onto campus where we received an orientation on safety, hygiene, and culture. The classroom was nice and open with a breeze coming in. I looked out the window at some point and noticed this massive bird trying to pick up an entire plastic bag full of something and fly off, however the bag was too heavy so he dropped it. It was quite entertaining seeing this bird lift off with a plastic shopping bag as if it was off to the market.

Our walk to the orientation building was through campus, but I am reserving all judgements until our actual campus tour.

After our brief orientation in the classroom we were taken on a bus tour of the greater Accra area. The Uni is in Legon which is about a five minute ride away from Accra, the capital. We were shown where the hospital, the post office, and other such facilities are located around the city. Although, city is a very relative term. You mustn't think of it as skyscrapers. Its a very relative term. The streets are crowed with people selling everything you can imagine and bartering is perfectly acceptable if not expected. Part of the trip was letting all us Americans loose in one of the markets to test our survival skills. Definitely an experience. Within seconds of stepping off our bus we were being approached from all sides by the men selling various items. And they are persistent, asking you your name and telling you they will give you a special price because you are friends. They are friendly, and harmless, but it was a very overwhelming when you tried to explain you don't plan on buying anything and yet they still push. But my goal is to perfect my bartering abilities by the end of the trip!

For those who don't know where exactly Ghana is, its a small country in Western Africa along the Gulf of Guinea. It borders Togo on the right, Cote d'ivore (The Ivory Coast) to the left, and Burkina Faso to the north. It was a British colony and it has a proud history of being the first African country to gain independence from colonial rule. Kwame Nkrumah is the first president of the Ghana and it is his mausoleum that we visited today. The location of the mausoleum is an area that Europeans had been given exclusive access to so that when Nkrumah led Ghana into its first republic he reclaimed the the area giving a speech in the park, and sparking a renewed African identity.

Its still been a crazy whirlwind of events and information and names and more information and so many names!! But I am going to leave it at that for now!

Peace.

Katie