So I’m really sorry for not writing a new blog for a while. I’m going to blame it on the ridiculous amount of homework that we have to do although I know it’s no excuse. I apologize! The past two weeks have been really hectic, filled with assignment after assignment. This past weekend was a blessing though, literally. I’m going to take a second to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to my Canadian friends. It was definitely a weekend to be thankful for everything in my life. I am so thankful for my family and friends, old and new, wherever you are from and live, I don’t know where I would be without you all in my life. So now that that has been said, what new adventures have I been getting myself into?
Well, no crocodiles were involved these past two weeks. I have been adopting some more Ghanaian trends including a new accent and a new hairstyle. This weekend was as eventful as ever, filled with a Mountain Paradise, a Monkey Sanctuary and Thanksgiving Dinner.
So first off, I guess I should start with Mama Hetty’s Birthday. It was Mama Hetty’s birthday last week and so my roommate and I decided to give her a little something from where we come from. So we went to Shoprite, a grocery store in the mall and bought a chocolate swiss roll, an éclair and some candles. We had also made her a card-something we were both pretty proud of. Nadine drew, I coloured (in the lines of course!) When we got home from school the next day, we put the candles on the roll and the éclair and took them out to her, singing Happy Birthday. She was so happy! I think it was also the first time she had had candles and cake though because when I held it in front of her to blow out, she took it from me and put it on the table with the candle still burning. We had to explain to her that you have to close your eyes, make a wish and blow them out. She really, really enjoyed it. Even her 4 year old grandson, Nana Kwame, got involved and helped her blow them out. For the rest of the day he went around the house saying it was his birthday even though it isn’t until July. Mama Hette opened the card we made, kissed it and then hugged us. It was just nice to show her one of our traditions as she has been showing us so many of hers. It really was wonderful and we even got some cake!
In Ghana, the women here really put a lot of effort into the way they look, especially their hair. So I couldn’t come to Ghana and not get some braids. I opted for braiding my own hair with some fake hair but stayed away from the weave. Anything that involves a needle and my hair just doesn’t sound like a fun time. I went with two of my classmates, Andi and Dorothy to a real African house behind a church to get our hair done. When we got there we chose the hair colour that we wanted our braids to be and they started working. We had one person working on our hair at a time and to my surprise, it was pain free! The only pain was from sitting on the wooden stool for such a long time. What we thought was going to take two hours ended up taking 6. My hair alone took 4 ½ hours. That was definitely the worst part. They did put 2 wigs of fake hair into my hair though. Below is the final product.
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| Before.... |
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| During... |
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| After! |
And this is what it looked like when I took it out! Afro much?
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| Mama Hetty, Nana Kwame |
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| Nana Kwame |
The Accent. So after being here for 7 weeks, it comes to no surprise that I have picked up a Ghanaian accent. Someone noticed it about 2 weeks ago and let’s just say, it’s not pretty. It really is awful. It only comes out when I talk to Ghanaians but I’m sure by the time I get back to Canada I’m going to have it. People are going to have to teach me how to speak again because not only do I change how I say words but I also change the way that I speak. It really is awful. I hate it. Even my roommate and classmates make fun of me. The funny thing is that I noticed that our non-academic coordinator, Sheena spoke like I do in the first few days of orientation and continues to do so now. I remember thinking, Sheena, what’s wrong with you? Speak English. I really didn’t like it. Guess I spoke too soon.
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| The Road of Death |
Mountain Paradise Lodge. It literally was a mountain paradise. We had the choice to go on a field trip to the Volta Region to a lodge in the mountains to have a period of reflection, seeing as we have been here for about 7 weeks. I thought it was a great idea and couldn’t wait. Plus, we were going to see the monkeys after! So we left the school at 7:45 (originally supposed to be 7-African time? ) and made our way 3 hours to the Volta Region. When we got to the bottom of the mountain, some girls wanted to walk up so we dropped them off and continued our way up. Sheena arranges these trips for us had called ahead to check the condition of the road to make sure that it would be safe enough for the bus to go up and she was assured that it was. As we had reached the point where we were about to start climbing the hill though, we ran into some construction. They were redoing the road and when I say that, I mean literally redoing the whole road. The part of the road we were about to climb in the bus was taken up by a bulldozer who was laying fresh dirt as the road. We were seriously considering getting out and walking but decided against it. In front of us was a 45 degree angle incline going straight before turning left and the winding road began. On the right of that was a much more gentle incline that was a little more windy that connected to the main road. We all thought that we would clearly be taking that road instead of the straight one. Ghana still continues to surprise us however, as our bus driver just took a run at the 45 degree incline. Of course the bus stopped about halfway and then the wheels stopped and the bus began to slide towards the right. A bus full of mostly girls in this situation makes for an interesting time. Val and I were holding hands, freaking out along with the majority of the bus. One of the Ghanaians, Nana Kojo, had gotten up out of his seat at the back of the bus and was at the door ready to jump on out. We backed up and took the road to the right and it was much easier.
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| Val and I |
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| Ice Breaker and some laughs at the top |
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| Susan, Dorothy, Sheila, Elise, Lynsey, Nana, |
Monkey Sanctuary. After the mountain reflection, we headed down the road to see the monkey sanctuary which was really the main reason why I had come. I wasn`t really there for the reflection but I have to say, I am really glad that we did it. So the monkey sanctuary is an eco-tourism project in which all the money generated goes towards the community. There are 4 mona monkey families that live in the forest and people can go and see them in their natural habitat. On the way to the sanctuary we stopped for some bananas to feed them. I was so excited. We made our way to the family that we were going to visit and were given two bananas each. I would guess that there were about 10-15 monkeys in the family and they were all adorable. Next step was to put the bananas in our hands and hold them out. The monkeys then proceeded to jump onto our arms and eat the bananas out of our hands. It was incredible. To see their hands and feet that close was incredible. They were so gentle too. They all peeled the bananas with their hands and then either ate the bananas just like that or ripped pieces off and put it into their hands. We were covering half of the bananas with our hands so they wouldn`t take them out and run away and one monkey lifted my thumb up so that he could get deeper into the banana. It was so gentle. Like I said before, it really was incredible.
Thanksgiving Dinner. So keeping with Canadian tradition, Sheena and the school had organized our very own thanksgiving dinner on Monday night. Everyone had been looking forward to it all weekend and anyone who knows me, knows how much I love food so I couldn`t wait. Of course, it would never be as good as my mum`s roast potatoes or my dad`s turkey but this couldn`t calm my excitement! We showed up to the lodge at school right on time, 5:30 with hungry bellies as many of us hadn`t eaten very much all day so that we could eat lots at dinner. Of course, dinner wasn`t actually served until 7:30/8. We really shouldn’t expect anything less at this point as nothing is ever done or ready on time in this country. When will we learn? Our dinner was interesting. It was great to spend it with the group of people that I did but the food was nowhere near as good as back home. We had salad (with no dressing), a turkey (with gizzard as the stuffing instead of real stuffing-this was the real disappointment for me), mashed potato (delicious!-forgot how much I missed potatoes), cranberry juice and some weird gravy. We were all a little disappointed that’s for sure, but the night was not without its excitement. Turns out, we had paid for two turkeys and were only getting one. Sheena was really furious at this point, especially as we had waited at least 2 hours for the food. Nevertheless, they brought out dessert. This made the night all worth it. They had made apple crumble and were serving us ice cream. After a few helpings of that and some extra mashed potato I was full along with everyone else. To our amazement, they brought out more food. They brought out sliced bread (which was frozen), another salad (with dressing this time) and some fried chicken. It really was a laughable situation. We were then told that we had to eat it all because it had been paid for. Of course, they were not about to stuff it down our throats but we felt obligated to eat some more. So we did. Well, I did something a little different. There was quite a lot of squares of apple crumble left and they were just going to be thrown out so I grabbed a few napkins and wrapped some in napkins. Brought some home for Mama Hetty and her sister and had some today at school as a snack. The night had not gone as planned but nothing ever does here. We all still had a good night, great company and still managed to laugh about it.
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| Thanksgiving Dinner |
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| Apple Crumble anyone? |
On the theme of thanksgiving….
A Few Things I Never Thought I Would Miss:
-Getting into a car knowing that you would get out at the end of your journey.
In Ghana, every time you get into a car or trotro, you are never really sure if you will live to get out at your destination. I mean this sincerely. They have traffic rules here but they are more like “guidelines.” Also, if you are lucky enough to get into a cab with seatbelts, chances are they won’t work. Let’s just say, a lot of praying occurs.
-Clean Air
On the same note, I miss sticking my head out of the car window and breathing in fresh air.
Every time you do that here, you choke on the smog and smoke that comes from the cars. Ghana has taken using cars until they break down to a whole new level. Black smoke comes out of every other car from broken mufflers. The worst is when the window handles are broken and the windows are down so you have no choice but to silently suffer.
Plumbing
Running water. People, if you have this. Don’t take it for granted. I didn’t realize how lucky I was until I came here and have to bucket shower and have no running water. Let’s just say it makes life interesting. The toilets at school never work either. It can get a little gross!
-The Library
I don’t like the Trent Library by any means. It is small, hot, there are no outlets to charge your computer and it is always busy. But being here, I miss it. I take back every negative thing I have ever said about that library. Here, there is a library on campus but you aren’t allowed to take your bags. So, we have all turned the conference hall into our own workplace which works fine, except that they lock it up at 5 pm. Trent Library, I miss you.
-Time
Alright, so I knew that when I came to Ghana everyone would be on African time. I just forgot what that actually means. Everyone knows that I am almost always late for everything, no matter how much time I plan to give myself to get there early. So, naturally, I thought that I would fit right in! Funny thing is, I had to come all the way to Ghana to be early for everything! I am at least 30 mins early for class every morning and that is just the beginning. It is a little frustrating here sometimes though when you plan to be early or plan to be ready for something and it is pushed back because someone is late. For our field trips, we always leave at least 30 mins later than originally planned.
-Potatoes
I never realized how much I love potatoes until Ghana. There are no potatoes here. They eat cassava and yam instead which is still good but it doesn’t compare at all. Nothing can beat a baked potato with melted butter, alphagetti and grated cheese. Oh, and pringles too!
Now, while I miss these things a lot, Ghana isn’t Canada. I never came here expecting for my life to be the same. On the contrary, it is nothing like my life back home but that doesn’t mean that there are not great things here. There are. They are just different. This experience has shown me what I do take for granted and miss. It’s a learning experience that comes with no potatoes, no running water, no library and scary taxi rides. You know what though? I wouldn’t have any of those things if it would mean that my experience here would be different.
Things I Did Expect to Miss and Still Do: Have to give another shout out to the most important people in my life; my family and friends. I don’t know where I would be without you guys. Thanks for helping me think I could get here and for helping me to believe in myself enough to be doing as well as I am.
Until next time, which hopefully won't be as long as it was this time,
Jozi
I guess Jozi deserves an explanation. Ghanaians have a really hard time pronouncing my name. I’m not sure why but they do. So I had to come up with something else because Mama Hetty couldn’t say my name. Now, when I introduce myself to Ghanaians, I go by Jozi. Even my classmates have picked it up. Whatever works!
