I Found Paradise

It has been a while, but I wanted to gush about Green Turtle Lodge, where I spent this weekend.
On Thursday after Drumming, we (the usual Annie, Ezra, Lissy, Erin plus Kype and Levi. Others from CIEE were meeting us there, so we were going to have quite a group) took an STC bus for 5 hours to Takoradi, then a trotro to Agona, then a taxi to Green Turtle. We arrived after dark, so we couldn't see much, but immediately started our tabs. They served us dinner (the best omelette and toast I have had in Ghana, and I have had A LOT of omelettes and toast), coktails, showed us our tents (on the sand but inside of a big wooden structure. we had small mattress pads inside the tents, we brought our own sheets. we were literallly on the beach, next to the waves, listenening to the sounds of the ocean but protected from the winds), then we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the night. there are straw mats to bring onto the sand, lanterns to give light. the stars were absolutely incredible. the waves were huge and perfect pipes. i easily could have passed out on the beach, but eventually i went back to my tent.
friday morning, i greeted the day with the first real coffee i have had in ghana (poured myself from a french press) and the house special breakfast: french toast made with bread they bake themselves and served with caramelized bananas and local honey. of course everything is added to the tab, so i literally don't walk around with anything but my bathing suit and sunglasses. no keys, no phone, no money, so refreshing. then to the beach to boogie board, body surf, and relax in the sun. i skipped lunch because i was still full from breakfast, but started cocktails around that time. we played a game of volleyball, then red rover, then back to the beach. dinner was stir fried vegetables with chicken and steamed rice (some others had marsala), more drinking, more relaxing. at the main bar/restaurant area there is a pool table, a fooseball table, ping pong, scrabble, uno, and trivial pursuit. of course more wave watching and star gazing, card playing, then bed.
saturday, i woke up early to go an a canoe tour with Lissy. We walked on the beach for a while, eventually reaching the small fishing village of Akwidaa. We walked through to a river, got on a canoe, then toured the mangrove forests growing out of the mud on either side. We saw a salamander probably 2 feet long, lots of crabs, but not much wildlife. I think you can see monkeys if you go even earlier or right at dusk. When we finished the canoe tour, our guide asked if we wanted to see the village and of course we did. He is from the village and took us around, then took us through a plantain, banana, and pineapple farm, up to an old abandoned fort. It was really cool, and the branches growing in the stone walls made it easy to climb all the way up to the top. When we got back to Green Turtle, we joined others for breakfast (home-made granola with banana), then back to the beach all day. reading, listening to music, etc. eventually dinner time and it was the best food i have had in a really long time. sometimes i tell myself that certain meals are really good. usually they are good on Ghana standards, meaning they are kind of similar and good and spicy but not extraordinary. my coconut chicken curry with rice was incredible on any standards. then i split banana fritters with annie and again, amazing. after dinner, back to the sand and the stars and the waves.
Sunday we decided not to leave early as planned. I had my first scrambled eggs of Ghana for breakfast, then an amazing tomato cheese panini for lunch (again on bread they bake themselves). We left around 2 with a South African who drove us to Takoradi, then caught a Metro Mass bus back to Accra.

About green turtle: www.greenturtlelodge.com

If I ever get married, I want it to be here. No joke.


On a completely different note, the school I am working at has a website also: http://www.ananimemorialschool.org/
That was rough for a while, but has been looking up recently. I stay in the nursery classroom with the teacher instead of being alone with the kindergarten class the whole day. More materials have been popping up (construction paper!!! pencils!!! notebooks!!!) and the younger kids are easier to manage. Mom decided that we should fundraise for the school and has recruited Dad and Grandma to the cause. Some possible uses for money: install a running water pipe (GH1200), toilets, desks (GH50), sponsor a child's tuition for a year (GH90), fix the roof which has holes in it, pay the teachers (who haven't been paid in 4 months), a polytank to collect rain water (GH600). Mr. Anani (the principle) has already blessed my whole family for their consideration of the children. Almost direct quote.

Aya centre is closing up, so I have to run to Terrific Tuesday with Ezra (buy one pizza get one free!). Peri Peri here I come.

Love to everyone!

Settling In

I finally have time for another update. I am currently waiting to take my first Twi test, and although I feel I am able to use certain phrases in real life, it certainly isn't an easy language to be tested on.
Classes have started, and I like what I am taking so far. I need to make sure I am not overloading and won't get in trouble at Northeaster, but I am taking Xylophone, Drumming, Music of West and Central Africa, Sociolinguistics, Development Studies, and Twi. My internship will start any day now, so I am just waiting for the call.
I have been a little sick, but nothing out of the ordinary given my surroundings and diet. It is getting hotter and walking outside everywhere makes me tired during the day. Soon (hopefully) the school pool will open and it is right by my dorm. Currently there are tadpoles living in it, but apparently when the dry season starts and the weather gets "nice" they will open it to Legon students.
Tomorrow I might skip Music class to go to the funeral of one of the UPALS from last year. He took me and my friends to the beach a couple weeks ago. His father was a chief, and many of the students are going. Funerals are supposed to be big parties. Saturday I think we will go to another beach, hopefully a lot cleaner than the last one. Sunday we are going to the Ghana Blackstars football game against Sudan, which should be really fun.
CIEE has all of these trips planned for us for the semester. Last weekend we went to the Aburi botanical gardens, the Tetteh Queshie Cocoa Farm, and a wood carving village. Next weekend we have an overnight trip to the Central Region.
Except for the UPALS, who are supposed to be our friends, I still haven't made any Ghanaian friends. I talk to people when I am on tro-tros or at bars or in class, but I dont want to give out my number because people end up getting harrassed. Pretty soon into a conversation with a guy, he inevitably asks for your dorm and your room number and your phone number, which is much faster than the way I am used to things happening. Some people this year and others from the past have been followed, called every hour for weeks, etc so we are kind of set up to be isolated simply by protecting ourselves and our privacy.
I have been writing a lot in my private journal (that Rael got my for my birthday). It is crazy how much ends up coming out once the pencil hits the paper. I am remembering things that I had forgotten about when I was a youngster in San Francisco. Stepping away from the environment that I have almost always been in helps me see it differently. I had similar times in Boston, but since I didn't write anything down, a lot of my realizations just came and went.

Things I miss (not in any particular order):
hot showers
burritos
family and zoe
sleeping in without the sounds of chickens
sunsets over the ocean
somewhat reliably scheduled buses
Weeds
having an oven to bake
the shade of being in a forest

Things I know I will miss when I get home:
mango
pineapple
kelewele
chicken
not having to be anywhere on time
taking classes just for fun (Xylophone!)
having lots of time for recreational reading (I've read 5 books since leaving home, 4 in Ghana)

I am going to switch to a laptop for my skype date. maybe more later.

Finally Here and Finally Writing

I have been in Ghana for a little over a week now, and although I have been writing in my personal journal almost every day, I haven't shared anything on here.

I arrived in Accra, the capital, where our orientation took place at a nice hotel. After a couple days of lectures on things we already (were supposed to) read in the program handbook, we ventured out into the city in small groups, accompanied by U-PALs (Ghanaian students who show international students around and are somewhat responsible for them). Accra is pretty intimidating, busy, kind of smelly, and a lot to take in all at once. We walked around, noticing some important buidings, but more just getting a feel for the city.

Tuesday August 11, we moved into our dorms in Legon at the University campus. I am in the International Hostel, but some others are in regular housing or in homestays. Rooms are very nice, shared with one other person. Most of us are in rooms with others on our programs, but others are sharing with people from UCs, other internationals, or Ghanaians. Generally speaking, the dorms are great. However, running water has been less than reliable, and the kitchens we have available are really just rooms with counters and a hotplate.
The campus is huge, beautiful, and getting easier to navigate. When we leave the gates, there is a tro-tro (unofficial mini-bus taxis that get crammed with people) station, where we can fight our way to catch a ride to Accra, the beach, the mall, or other places around the area.

During our first few days here, we had more orientation and guest lectures about Ghanaian politics, history, etc. Then, registration was completely backwards, with students running around for 3 days to each department building to see what courses are offered, paying dues, but not knowing when classes will be. We were constantly told that the times would be up later that day, or by Friday at the latest, but they weren't. The first day of instruction was supposed to be Monday and we were not to miss the first class, so again we circled campus, figuring out where to go. Nothing was posted for my classes, and for those whose classes were that day, no teachers showed up. Tuesday afternoon, I finally found out that times worked out for the classes I wanted, and so I will be taking:
Sociolinguistics
Children's Literature
African Drumming
Sociological Foundations for Development Studies
Introduction to Twi Language
I am also doing an internship at a bilingual school as part of the Development Studies Track.

Food here is very good, spicy, cheap, but not much variation. I eat a lot of jollof rice (spicy fried rice), beans, fried plantains (kelewele), cole slaw, grilled chicken, and egg sandwiches. Right next to the International Hostel is a large outdoor market with many little stands that sell fresh fruit that the sellers cut into little pieces, and all of the other foods mentioned. I can usually eat for less than 2 cedi per meal, and there are 1.45 cedi to the dollar. I went in with some friends in my dorm, so we now have a pot, plates, and spaghetti that we can make for ourselves. I also have bread, crackers, and ground nut paste (like peanut butter) in my room. I definitely never go hungry, but it is a lot of starch. There is more variety in Accra, but on campus it is pretty limited.

I have gotten pretty used to being called obroni, especially by kids. It translates to white person, but isn't really an insult. It is just fact.

I just had my first Twi class yesterday, and I am enjoying it more than most because of my Lingusitics interest and background. It will be good to be able to communicate with locals in their own language, even if just a little bit. They will appreciate the effort. I just finished my first Development Studies class, and it will be very hard, but interesting. We are going to be reading a lot, and comparing what we learn in class to what we experience in our various internships at schools, afterschool programs, hospitals, orphanages, NGOs, AIDS clinics, women's right organizations, refugee camps, autism clinics, etc. It is a small group of people (much smaller than the regular University classes, which can be as big as 700) all on my CIEE program, but from colleges all over the US.

I have been spending almost all of my time with four people in the international hostel, Annie, Lissy, Erin, and Ezra. We are all Development Studies and we seem to work well as a group. The three girls are from Tulane and Ezra goes to BU. I made other friends during orientation, but unfortunately the homestays tend to socialize with themselves and same thing with people on campus. Homsetays are in East Legon, and range from walking distance to a 2 hour tro-tro ride away. They also range from mansions with pools to unfinished houses without running water. I am glad I chose to be on campus. I am hoping that once people have their class schedules set, I will be able to see the homestays during the day when they are on campus and have breaks.

This post was pretty dry and more just logisitcs, but I still don't feel that much has happened. I am feeling more settled and am glad that classes are starting, and I am happy with my group of friends. As the internship starts in the beginning of September, and as I go into Accra more, I will get more of a sense of life here, because people on campus tend to be pretty well off and it is kind of sheltered. Now that I have access to free (and pretty fast) internet at the AYA center, where I have Development Studies and Twi, I will be able to post more as things progress.

Love to all at home,
Mara

Going

I leave San Francisco tonight to start my adventure.  I'm trying to think of one trip at a time to make it seem less daunting, but I am packing for all of them at once.  I will need very different things for the isolated house in North Carolina, the noisy bars of New York City, the swanky streets of Paris (trying to look fabulous in all of the pictures I take at various tourist spots) compared to the dusty towns of Ghana (where I will be washing all clothes by hand and purifying all water).  I want to set out some goals that I could periodically look back on:

1.  Appreciate the amazing opportunity you have to see all of these places.

2.  Meet locals and learn about real life in each place.

3.  Be adventurous with food.  Eat meat if necessary or if so inspired.

4.  Try to speak every language you come into contact with...even if only a phrase or two.

5.  Don't shop as the main activity in any place.  There are plenty of cheaper, more interesting things to do.

6.  Write down recipes you want to try and cook for yourself when you can.

7.  Read a lot.

8.  Write a lot.

9.  Take a lot of pictures, but not pictures that every other tourist will have of themselves.

10.  Remember to be open-minded.

11.  Enjoy the outdoors.

12.  Be safe.  When going out, have a buddy and be responsible with substances.

13.  Go to classes.  Try to be involved and engaged.

14.  Send postcards.

15.  Try a new art.  Drawing, dancing, drumming, anything.

16.  Don't second-guess or wonder what if...?  You are where you are and you are staying.

17.  Think of home and know they're thinking of you.  But savor your time away; it's important.

18.  Keep track of logistics in Boston.

19.  Think of the future, but live in the present.

20.  Be young, be carefree, be happy, be excited, be affectionate, be generous, be who you want to be.

And very soon, off i go...