the first is a pic of my kitchen.

my all purpose table and my barely existing mattress.

September 7th 2009

Today I went to Bekwai to teach ‘computer’.  I showed Jacob a bunch of basics; we mostly focused on emails….the concept of, how to, email safety, etc.  By the end of the hour, I had the owner of the café, a pharmacist technician from Kokofu sitting and taking notes.  I believe that Jacob is the only person in my entire 2 villages with an email account, it is still difficult to grasp that fact.  John, the owner of the café, had a couple of questions for me.  John just opened up a yahoo email account earlier in August, and apparently he already forgot his password, but he did remember the security questions.  I walked him through the steps to change his password, but there is a reason that I am mentioning this.  John, clearly not too sharp with the web, literally made every mistake you can make.  He misspelled an answer for both of his security answers, and then when he was making a new password, he first tried using sequential number, then he tried to use his name, then he tried to use his username, and then incorrectly typed his password, and then of course, he didn’t realize that he had to log off of his email.  I’m pretty confident that he made ALL of the mistakes, in fact, I think I can base a few lectures off of what happened today.  It’s already difficult to teach Ghanaians the concept of ‘email’ or ‘the web’, but then there is this issue with the timing of their learning.  When I was taught all of these things, it was back in the day where fraud was less prevalent and companies were just beginning to device new scams.  Now, in 2009, every potential quirk has been exploited.  Spam, viruses, bad advertisements, etc is everywhere you look, so there is this need to teach newbie’s every aspect at once, so that they can stay safe.  John, obviously a successful Ghanaian, (whose first car was a 207 Benz), opened this email, but in no way is he being safe about it.  It’s even more amazing that someone who has no clue what he is doing, is still so interested in ‘the internet’, he literally bought 7 computers and a ton of peripherals to make this lab work, but he isn’t the one that ‘runs’ it.  I’m really impressed that he is so interested in something that IS in fact very much an important component of 2009 and the next 10 yrs even in Ghana.

There is one other notable experience that I had today.

For the past few days I have realized to minimize my water usage, that I would reuse certain water.  For example, I would reuse my used laundry water and maybe flush my toilet with it, etc.  I thought it was a pretty resourceful idea.  Of course, I found a big problem with my idea, and I found this out by actually making the mistake.  After I washed my clothes I went to dump the water into the toilet, but I forgot that the bar of laundry soap (key soap) was still in the bucket.  Of course, the bar was exactly the worst size possible; it was small enough to go in, and probably just the perfect size to give me problems bucket flushing my toilet for a few months, or until it dissolves.  There is no amount of money that anyone could pay me to go and pull out the bar of soap, it is in there until it dissolves.  I was thinking about pouring boiling water in to speed up the process, but I’ll give it a few days, I guess.

Late in the evening on the 7th, I had a great conversation, some might consider it a PC conversation, a grass roots conversation.  Jacob was asking me why would you volunteer, why would we come to Ghana.  Then he started asking me if it was possible for an orphan to be successful.  Of course, I explained to him that I believe it’s someone’s drive to do something that is most important, even more than their parents.  Jacob didn’t have the money to enroll into Senior High, and so he literally does nothing every day, he was told that he will have to wait, hopefully that means he will only wait for 1 yr and then enroll.  He then admitted that he was an orphan, and that the family he was staying with wasn’t his real family.

It was a really intense conversation, I found myself trying to convince this boy that even though I don’t know how, if he wants to get an education bad enough, then he will.  I have to believe this.

Here is my school

Gladys and her 4 Math teacher-Twi students: Dan, Kevin, Gladys, Jordan, Me (from left to right)

Paradise

more paradise

August 24^th 2009

I stopped into the Sub-Office in Kumasi today, and although this facility is the closest thing to civilization, we have couches and even our own internet without any charge.  But still it feels like a ‘constant fight’ against the internet.  The internet will be up, and then down for 30 minutes, or 6 hours, or 2 weeks without any sign.  The few PCV’s that are around when something like this happens just sit around hitting the refresh button….hoping…..usually its just a frustrating time without any success.  I’m still desperately trying to upload a few pics, hell even one pic, but it is just so damn frustrating, so bear with me.

Yesterday I had a heck of an experience talking to my ‘small boy’ as we call it in Ghana.  Basically most adults either have kids, or have some kid(s) who really take to them and kind of linger around wanting to help with absolutely everything.  Jacob is my small boy, and he is 16, and is in Senior High School in Bekwai, but lives in my town.  I guess his dad is the PTA chairman of the school, and the kid really impresses me in some ways.  He knows how to type with his hands on the homerow keys, he has taken some DOS classes, and other software classes, so he understands computers somewhat, and he’s really interested in learning more.  He’s already bugging me to teach him some ‘computer’ in Bekwai, which I have already and plan to some more, actually I plan on teaching a little tonight on my way home through Bekwai.  We started talking about random things that he had questions about.  He asked about the disaster in 2001 in America, and I explained to him as eloquently as possible, the concept of terrorists, and War, and all kinds of things that this kid has never ever had to think about.  We started talking about the U.S. and then geography came up, and he had told me that he had never seen a map of the world.  He was telling me all kinds of facts that his teachers taught him:

Jamaica is in Africa

China is the biggest country in the world.

If you are black, then you are African, and if you aren’t, then you aren’t African, so this includes all of the middle east and northern Africa as not Africa, and also he told me that if he went to Europe or America, that after about 20 yrs he would turn white, and I would turn black if I stayed here for 20 yrs.

He also told me that he has never gone past Kumasi, and he was only in Kumasi 1 time.  To give you perspective, Kumasi is about 20km from Bekwai, so this kid has never travelled further than 20km.  He has no idea what is out there in the slightest…..none.  Yet for some reason he wants to go to the U.S. and live there, not visit, but actually move there forever, that is quite a mentality.  When I showed him the map that I brought of the world, he wasn’t able to point out Africa, or any continent for that matter, he wasn’t able to find Ghana, or even South Africa.

I have a long road ahead of me.

Jacob has been nice enough to fetch water for me, and hopefully will continue to do so.  I feel really bad when I use any water at all, and so I tend to be less sanitary than anyone would be in America……washing things, me, toilet flushing, etc because all of the water that I use has to be brought from a borehole a couple hundred meters away.  I am feeling less guilty about it though, only because Jacob told me that every single day, he goes to fetch 10 even larger buckets than the 5 gallon bucket I have of water for his family.  It’s mind boggling to think about.

I just keep thinking to myself on so many different occasions, that no job in America will EVER……..EVER be anywhere as stressful as this job.  It’s quite a growing experience for me, this country tests my patience in ridiculous ways, in extreme ways, over and over again.

My school semester apparently doesn’t begin until Sept 15, but I guess the first week of school doesn’t involve having any classes, but rather the students clean the entire facility.  All of the teachers and anyone associated with the school is nowhere to be found, and I probably won’t be able to plan a single thing until the first day of classes.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to just sit around for another 3 weeks without any real objective, but I’m dealing with it.  I basically am learning what not to cook, and how not to do things, everything here involves doing something wrong before you learn how to do it right.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I would have liked to try and find someone to move the 3 computers that the ‘school’ apparently has, into the actual SCHOOL.  They are currently in 3 different teachers’ homes.  The school doesn’t have any room to put them, and more importantly, nowhere to lock them up overnight, so how I’m supposed to start this semester teaching ICT, only GOD knows.

Now, it’s about 6pm, the sun is already setting, and I am finally back home.  I had a mid-range Ghanaian stressful day, nothing too unbearable.  After sitting at the Kumasi Sub-Office (from now on KSO) for about 2 hrs, I decided to give up with the internet, I was able to socialize to a few of my friends who were in town buying supplies and had stayed the night, (there are about 15 places to sleep in the building), and don’t get me wrong, that was quite enjoyable, and refreshing, but refreshing my internet browser for about 90 minutes, and only catching 3 separate 30 second windows of connectivity, you can imagine that I was a bit frustrated.  I left the office at around 10am and headed into the main station, Kejetia, and from there me and Dan walked to Adanfo?, the main ‘bike’ area, literally about 3 streets in a row where there is nothing but bikes and bike parts’ EVERYWHERE.  I literally bumbled around for about 5 hrs, I was debating between a mountain bike and a road bike, or even something in the middle.  I saw some that I liked, but they weren’t perfect, and I couldn’t get the dealers to come down to the price I wanted, until I went back for the last time and I found something that I liked (for Ghana).  I don’t know too much about the specifications, but I would say that it is about a 1972 Schwinn.   It is a 12 speed, 27” and it looks all like original parts.  It has a candy blue finish and even had the original Schwinn seat.  I got him down to 62GHC and then bought about 10GHC in tools and spare parts.

Its amazing to me how some things in Ghana are expensive as hell, i.e. box of frosted flakes ~9GHC, but I was buying wrenches for 50Gp, and I bought a full size bike pump for 3GHC.  Brake lines were only 50Gp and a spare tube was only 1.5GHC.  I walked to the huge station, Kejetia, and had to wait for the next Tro.  He charged me another 2GHC just to put the bike on top of the tro, and even though it was only a 20km ride (maybe 40 minutes), of course in Ghanaian, someone had to go and stop the tro to stand on the shoulder of the road and pee, this time it was an older lady, and when they opened the sliding door, it just destroyed my seat.  My heart sank and I just shook my head the whole way home, I tried to get my 2GHC back, because to buy another will cost me about 5, but wasn’t successful, I guess I’ll have to taint the bike with ducktape, dang, oh well.  Disgustingly, I showed my bike to a few of my friends in town, (internet café guy Francis, convenient store guy Donkor) and got on and rode it home, it was only about 3km? I think?  The hills were pretty crazy, but I had no problem.

I bought a ROAD bike because my house and school are right off the main road that connects two big cities (Kumasi and Cape Coast), and I don’t realistically expect to be riding all over the country, but rather saving myself a ton of money by riding into Bekwai, instead of taking the 50Gp taxi each way.  Even Dan agrees, and he bought a mountain bike, that we may be the only 2 volunteers that could actually use a road bike because of this nice road, of course this means that cars whiz by at like 60mph, and there is actually a danger of being sucked into the road after a huge semi passes, but I have a lot of mass, so I should be ok for at least a few more months, and then I can just tie some weights onto my ankles or something.

I just can’t wait to tear apart my bike on a Saturday (or any day before the semester starts) and fiddle with something mechanical, some basic mind stimulation….in fact, I will probably do that tomorrow and find out what I did wrong, or what I forgot or messed up.  I don’t think anything is wrong right now, but I know its just a matter of a few days to figure out that I forgot something important.

Quick sidenote, Donkor, mentioned earlier as well as a few others in town really put me to shame when comparing clothes.  He keeps wearing the craziest things I have ever seen.  One day he was in white dress pants, a bright red long sleeve button up, and a tie, and it was like a Tuesday, nothing special.  I come rolling in wearing khaki’s that sometimes look like I rolled in the mud right before, I laugh all the time about it, and tell him that he must start washing my clothes or maybe give me some advice.  His Ghanaian wear is even more impressive, so I will work on that.  Not to give you the wrong impression, I am really successful at getting my khaki’s really clean, its just my idea of ‘dirty’ is far from the Ghanaian view, so I wash much less frequently.

I’m finally getting into some type of a routine, and it feels great, I ran a bit yesterday, and did some pushup the last few days, and this bike ride, it’s kinda nice to feel a little soreness in my muscles, a feeling that I haven’t experienced much while in Ghana.

I am at site finally!!!!  With the exception of only 4 PCT’s that left within the first 2 weeks of arriving in country, we all made it!!  Sixty three volunteers swore in yesterday at a 5 hr long ceremony that included the Ambassador of the U.S. in Ghana, a regional minister (like a senator of Ghana), and every PC staff member imaginable.  Our group displayed our language skills as well as our cultural skills as we performed skits exemplifying specific language competencies (going to the market, body parts, daily routine, introductions, etc) and then 2 different cultural dances where a few volunteers drummed as well.  Everyone was ready to move on to what we came here for, we anxiously got our travel funds and our bank account numbers as well as our official PCV identification cards.  That’s it, we are official, and we were now completely on our own to make it to site and to do everything and anything.  We will meet back in Kukurantumi in about 3 months for IST (In-Service Training) but until then we be mostly alone at site.  I will probably have the opportunity to see a few volunteers, but this is it, this is the real deal, I better get saddled up and ready for the ride.  Dan and I left for Kumasi at 4am this morning, only after walking a few km with my stuffed book bag, my Padua duffel back completely loaded, and of course my package from the parentals.  After getting to the station at around 4:40am, and walking through the rain, making me completely soaked (mostly sweat), we boarded the tro and after 4 hrs of nausea and pepto we were in the city, and needed to find another van to take us to Bekwai, and then we took a final taxi to our respective villages near Bekwai.  I’m pretty exhausted right now, it’s only 7:22pm, but I had a pretty successful day, I went out and bought my voltage stabilizer (regulator) and now feel so much less worried that my electronics might blow up due to voltage fluctuations.  I opened my package today, and dammit, I think my parents don’t want me to come back to the U.S. ever, because they loaded this box with more than I could have ever asked for.  I don’t think I have said “OH MY GOD” that many times in my life.  Jerky, cashews, nuts, powders for seasoning and sauce making, and cheese making, and my crocs for showering (thank God!!!), my hard drive with tons of tv to keep me somewhat sane!!  Absolute bliss to know that my hard drive didn’t break while in transit, so PHEW!!

Onto a much more interesting/funny section of my day experiences.

Today was filled with all kinds of goodies, all kinds of ‘firsts’ for me, I have to say, I could honestly have lived a good life without all of them, but nonetheless, they happened, so I will share.

Today I was in a passenger van (tro tro) and there was a goat in the van with us.  It screamed often and sounded like a child screaming for its life, it was tied to the frame of one of the benches in the van, and kicked and yelled the entire 4 hrs.  It also smelled like it was in a constant state of shitting, so that was good in a contained environment like a van, I think it added to the overwhelmingly pleasant feeling while riding in the tro.

Today I combined a loaf of bread, a packet of Dijon mustard, and a small slim jim to create one of the best tasting meals I’ve eaten in Ghana.   Just to make sure you are understanding, it was a full loaf of bread.

The other day I officially lost functionality of the button on my linen pants.  Now I no longer need to use the button to put my pants on or take them off.  I think I’ll wait till it gets ridiculous, and then I’ll go to the tailor to have my pants taken in.

Today I learned that DVD players here are amazing and that copyright laws apparently don’t exist in Ghana.  Dan and I looked at DVD players that had USB ports and memory card slots, with the functionality of copying any video to any other device, I am not planning on buying a DVD player, but it was really interesting to see.

I also met the woman the owns my house here, she is probably about 70yrs old and doesn’t speak a lick of English, and obviously doesn’t understand that I’m learning, but I guess she’ll be leaving soon.

August 16^th 2009

The woman who owns my house also likes to lock the door on the gate to my house, which is great.  I asked her to leave me the key, and she responded with “You didn’t tell me you were leaving”, to which I was thinking, “YOU NEITHER”.  She told me I need to buy a lock, which is the dumbest thing ever, I’m sure I’ll work it out.  Also, it seems she might be staying for a little, because I noticed some Ghanaian food products in the kitchen.

More to come….

August 17^th 2009

I spent all day today in Kumasi arguing and negotiating prices with sellers, it was a really good experience, I learned a lot about the real prices of things, and the ridiculous inflation that they propose for foreigners, it was a lot of fun.  I bought a hot water kettle, and some food flavor enhancers (jam, chocolate, powder hot drinks, tea, etc) I need to get a lot more here in Bekwai over the next few days.

I’m sitting outside my house at around 1pm, under our 2 mango trees after a eating my fill of ‘red red’ which is basically the Ghanaian equivalent of baked beans, and they take their red red with fried ripe plantains, which taste exactly how fried bananas would taste.  I also finished the meal with what I think was a whole potato (pretty rare to find) that was cut without any sort of rhyme or reason, and then fried, so basically Ghanaian fries, or chunks of fried potatoes, which was great considering I now have black pepper (thank you Ted and Nancy), and we also have ketchup, so I gobbled that down like it was my job.  I am probably about 90% over my cold which I caught my last day at my site.  I still have a bit of a headache, but its nice to be healthy again.  By the way, if anyone wants to catch me up with what is happening in Iran these days, I caught a glimpse of CNN the other day and saw that there are millions of refugees that have been displaced.

Now that I’m back in Kukurantumi and have been on my own for a while, I am really beginning to notice some of the luxuries that I have here.  Let me explain…My bed at my site is literally a 8 inch thick piece of foam, and it has to be at least 10 yrs old, because after about an hour of laying on it, I might as well just lay on the floor or the wooden beams directly, because the foam is practically useless.  My bed here has never felt so good, and that’s really odd, because I think I was complaining about this one when I originally slept on it, wow I guess everything is relative.  I guess that this mattress is just the high density version of what I have at my site, but it also has a fabric encasing.  I’m probably going to have to budget for a new mattress within the next few months, but anyways.

So, this entire week is basically a last ditch attempt to have all of the trainees pass the language test that will be given next Thursday.  Today we were slotted for 8 hrs of language class, which I was totally fine with, but most of the trainees have realized that if really wanted to, we could be just fine with only English, but I think that community integration will be much more difficult without a solid background in Twi.  I’m in a class with 3 other math teachers, and it seems that they are just trying to ‘run out the clock’.  It kinda sucks to have that attitude present in the classroom, but it is what it is.  The other guys are being so difficult to teach that our teacher let us come late to class, leave early, and she even cut back 2 hrs from our 4 hr afternoon session.  Every PCT has a different reason for being here, and a different approach and definition to being a successful volunteer, personally I’m really interested in other languages and so of course I’m going to excel in something that I enjoy.  I have no question that I will be fine for the Language test next week, but I would like to enhance my vocabulary over the next few days.

In more interesting news, I am planning on getting 2 more shirts made early next week, and then I’ll have 3 Batik shirts, and the next step is to get some dark dress pants made, which I will use for travel instead of the khaki linens.  My clothes got so dirty just from travelling in these tro-tros that I will be designating darker pants just for travel, so I don’t have to scrub the hell out of my clothes all the time.

July 31^st 2009

Wow, it’s already the 31^st of July, and yesterday I experienced a ‘first’.  I hope it wasn’t too boring to read yesterday’s entry, because I was in a real funk all day.  I guess 2 months is right around the time that it took me to get a bit homesick and kind of have a ‘low’.  Yesterday I sat down to blog a little and nothing was coming to me, it was really weird.  On a sidenote, after talking to a lot of volunteers who have already been here for a while (a year or almost finishing their second year) they all agreed that during your service you will have some clearly awesome times, and of course you are going to have those less than ideal times, and sometimes it can clear up really quick, sometimes it could be a few weeks long, but once you come out of it, everything goes back to normal.  This was definitely the case yesterday and even for the past few days, just a general ‘bad feeling’ about being back here in training, and still being in limbo, not yet actually impacting too many kids.

Today I was able to get to an internet café, and surprisingly even through the extremely heavy rain, I was actually able to skype laura for a bit, and capture a bunch of photos of what she looks like.  Of course we talked for a while, and it was really great, it got me totally out of that funk that I was in. I walked home while it was drizzling a bit, and then took a taxi to my junction, and of course it then began to downpour, and I still had about a km left to walk, so I arrived home completely and utterly drenched, don’t worry I took a picture to capture the feeling.  Thank God for my little sister, Agyei waa, who brought in my clothes off of the clothesline and I was able to shower and get into some DRY clothes.

I want to explain the process of scrubbing the hell out of clothes.  Yesterday I finally faced the reality that my white t-shirt and khaki linens that I used for travelling from my site back to training were completely disgustingly covered in all kinds of dirt and crud.  I really had no idea of the different systems that Ghanaians had in place to take care of stains.  First off I used a couple different soaps, a powder detergent in which I soaked the clothes for about 30 hours, then I used a special ‘key soap’ (the bar of soap used to scrub) and worked on all the tough areas for a while.  Then I was told to do it all again in another bucket of water with detergent.  Then I instead of rinsing in clean water, there is stuff called ‘blue’ which is basically a blue chalk but is a really deep blue color, only a few pinches of this stuff discolored the entire bucket of clean water into a deep ‘grape soda’ color.  Of course I was skeptical that this would clean my clothes, and not completely ruin them.  After I dunked my t-shirt into this bucket and swirled it a bit, it definitely remained a ‘sky blue’ color.  The principal of this is that the soaps that are used are typically yellow, and the sun will also contribute to the overall discoloring of whites and light colored clothes into a yellowish or even brownish color, and this blue will counter the discoloring of both of these things.  My shirt and pants haven’t been cleaner, and so I will definitely be using this on my few white t-shirts that I badly soil.  By the way, I looked up what was in this ‘blue’ stuff, and it’s just sodium nitrate, so basically nothing different than any other soap or detergent, but obviously it was laced with some serious pigments.

Today, for dinner I had ‘emu tsuo ne nkatekwan’ which is (rice balls and groundnut soup), and I don’t think I have described ‘rice balls’ yet.  Basically on my plate was a softball size lump of starch that was previously regular old white rice.  Here in Ghana, they have figured out how to take perfectly good rice and turn it into a starch ball, I guess they just cook it and then add more water to it, until it keeps absorbing the water and eventually will turn into a a sticky mess that they ball up and serve.  I couldn’t do it, I tried really hard, but knowing that they have somehow managed to ruin rice, to ruin perfectly good rice which I love, I could not finish this huge mass.  I am a texture guy, I don’t really like the texture of tomatoes or cantaloupe, or watermelon, or raw dough like masses of starch.  I really like the texture of rice, but not the texture of rice impregnated with way too much water.

I know this should have been included in a much earlier post, but I have finally gotten around to it.  In Ghana, as I have said previously, the day on which you were born is really important, and almost all parents know this for their kids, often times the kids are called by their day name for their entire lives, so if you are interested, go on the computer and go and change the date and time, and go way back in history to see what day you were born on, and here is a chart that explains it:

I am Sunday born, so I am Kwasi Chris.  One of the trainees’ name is Amanda in America, but she hates that name, and goes by Ama as a shortened version of her American name, but she is also a Saturday born girl, so that’s kinda interesting how that worked out..

Here are a few of my relatives and their full names including day names and other random clauses that I don’t understand totally.

Willhelmina Yaa Agyei waa Woode (youngest sister)

Mame Yaa Afreh Karikari (cousin)

Cecilia Abena Ampofowaa Agyei (younger sister)

Anthony Baffour Kwaku Dokyi Agyei (second oldest brother)

Ivans Ampofo Kwaku Agyei (my oldest brother)

Kwasi Chris Ampofo Agyei David Oseredczuk

Helena Ama Agyei (my mom)

William Kwasi Agyei  Paa Wills (my father)

Alice Ama Nyawaa Agyei

August 4^th 2009

Yesterday I ate a white guava fresh off the tree.  I didn’t know that Guava’s are not only be green with a red center, but they can have a white center.  It tasted like an apple, so it is really possible that my family gave me the wrong name for the fruit, but it was pretty good, it had a pine-sol kinda taste to it, but I figure it had some fiber in it, so I ate it.

I also had a hell of an experience as I was walking home from language class.  I met these women, probably all of them were about 40yrs old or something like that.  There were 3 of them, and they of course were talking and laughing at my introduction, laughing at the fact that I speak their language, so it was nothing unusual, it was the typical interaction with a Ghanaian.  About 5 minutes into the walk, they were only about 15 ft away from me, and all 3 of them just stood right in the open, right on the shoulder of the paved road that we were walking along, and they just spread their legs, like one foot about 2 ft in front of the other, and then just started to pee right there.  Two of them had long dresses on, and they didn’t bother to adjust their dresses at all, one of them squatted way down to the ground because she was in a short skirt, it was so random, but at the same time it is so common here in Ghana, in fact, I have heard stories about people getting out of a van because they really had to shit, and they would just shit roadside,  I haven’t seen this yet, but I am confident that I will soon.

Today was the 2 month mark of me being here in Ghana.

A few days ago, my brothers invited me to go with them to CRIG, (Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana), which by the way, did you know that Ghana and Ivory Coast make up about 25% of all Cocoa produced in the world.  Basically, CRIG is a country club, it even has a few schools within its compounds.  There was a 9 hole golf course, and an in ground pool that even had a diving board.  There were a few tennis courts, a TT table, and even a snooker table.  I swam for hours under the cloud cover, it was much needed.

Language test to become an official PCV tomorrow at 10:30am, and then one week before I’m off to site (for a while).

It’s Sunday, and I’ve been at my site now for 3 days, during which I have been overwhelmed with things to do. I spent the first day just brainstorming ways I was going to make this place look like it was lived in, and how I was going to make my room functional for all of the things that I needed. After a day of planning, I rigged up some clotheslines and made a long list of little things that I was going to need to buy in Bekwai.
Cups, buckets, clothespin, garbage cans, a laundry basket, all kinds of soap, silverware, a mirror, some basic Tupperware, basic food, etc.
I went into town and just talked to anyone and everyone who started to stare at ‘beautiful’ head as they call it. I made some good friends with shop owners, and after really negotiating prices and making 2 stores compete over my business, I got to the bottom of it, and found out who is honest and who was trying to cheat me. I even bought some chocolate chip cookies while I was there, they were made in London, it was a brand called “Maryland” and I ate an entire sleeve for breakfast the other day. Nonetheless, I returned home, and now a few days later, I have almost everything that I will need, shy of another table for all of my books and maybe another stool.
I forgot to mention that the entire first day I spent meeting both villages: Sanfo and Aduam, and they held some town meetings where they introduced me to the chief and the rest of the town, it was really impressive. Every opinion leader in both villages has been exactly what I hoped for, they have been really excited for me and I can’t wait to deliver, to get out there and contribute. Our school even has 3 computers, which I will be using to teach ICT (Information Communication Technology). My headmaster told me that the kids are really well behaved, but he said that the intelligence level is not very high, so I guess that I have my work cut out for me, and I’m happy that I’m somewhere that I ‘m needed.
My site is directly across the street from the school, and is one of very few 2 story buildings. Of course, as a PCV, I only occupy a small percentage of the 1st floor of this building, but the house is really nice. I have one main room, probably about 10×12 with a wood plank that splits it into 2, and a cloth roomdivider hangs from it, dividing my small octagonal table ‘living space’ and my bed. In my room, I have a tiny bathroom that has a small area to shower and an actual toilet. Now, the people who own this house were connected to the neighbors’ water tank, and thus all of the sinks and toilets worked, but they have recently disconnected from the supply, and since no one else lives here, it will be hard for me to try and build a relationship with the owner to try and coax her into reconnecting it. Instead of flowing water, I have kids fetch water, and use buckets for everything from washing hands, to flushing the toilet. Ten feet behind the two story building, is another flat that houses my counterpart Timothy, and currently his wife also, but she lives in nearby village, Kokofu, and coincidentally it is the same village that my friend Dan is located. My neighbors recently married, and its tradition that the woman stays for at least a few weeks after marriage, and I guess they will spend most of their lives apart, except between school terms. Timothy’s wife, Fostina is a seamstress, and she will be leaving for Kokofu 2 days after I leave to travel back to the Eastern Region to complete my final two weeks of training.
I think I will be sharing many meals with timothy and even my Headmaster, Asante Kofi Bruce, who lives very nearby in Aduam.
Did I mention that there is a concrete wall that surrounds my house and Timothy’s flat? It’s pretty impressive.
I bought another phone number and want to explain a little more about that confusing situation.
As of right now, I have two SIM cards, one from TIGO and one from MTN, both competitors, and I think that I will soon buy a ZAIN card as well.
My numbers are:
MTN: 0540565592
TIGO: 0279265458
I may even get a 4th number, because SIM cards are only 1.5 GHC and I’m just trying to experiment to see which network has the best coverage and the best rates to the U.S.
If you are using the numbers above to call me, it won’t work, you must dial 011 to signify that you are trying to call out of the U.S., and then you must dial the country code, which for Ghana, is 233, then you remove the first zero in any of my phone numbers, and it will work.
I can only have one of the numbers active a single time, so eventually I will stick with one company, and I could just say call me on my TIGO number, but at the moment, I have been switching because the TIGO number has no reception in my bedroom, and there is an MTN phone tower literally across the street. I will post this info in the ‘about’ section on this page, so that you don’t have to scroll and search for the info, but it will be right at the top of the webpage.
I will be leaving here on the 28th, and will be stopping by in Kumasi to use our PC sub-office with free internet, but must keep moving because I have a 3 hour drive back to Kukurantumi to complete my last 2 weeks of training. On August 13 I will be swearing in as a volunteer, and the following day or so, we will all leave for site, but I think I will travel through Cape Coast, to see the beach and take a day off (or 2), and then around the 16th I will be back at site to start preparing for the new term that begins in September.

Wow, long day today. I’m laying in my bed sweating, it’s only 5pm, I just came back home from Accra. I had to go to the dentist because I guess I’ve been brushing too much and too hard as a result of my whole body being dirty. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but one of my teeth was becoming a little sensitive, because of some slight gum recession. I didn’t want it to become a problem, because I don’t want to go to the dentist here for anything too serious, even though PC has the best medical team anyone could have. Everything is all taken care of now, but I had to drive in yesterday night, before it got dark, because its not too safe to travel alone at night. Even though the drive is only about 40 miles or so, it still took over 3 hours. Accra, the capital is a great place and a horrible place. It has some of the best western foods available, luxuries, but it has so much traffic and other unwanted city type things. I came in last night and was able to use the internet at the main PC office, and just went on facebook for a long time trying to chat with people, I didn’t go to sleep till almost midnight, which is ridiculously late for me. I woke up early and continued the internet thing, posting some pictures on ‘photobucket’, then went to the dentist, and after I spent 3GHC on a freaking burger, it didn’t have cheese, but it was so good it was ridiculous. As if my day couldn’t get any better, I came back to the office and picked up my package from my parents. Three hours of travel later, and passing out a few times in these tiny vans to help the time pass faster, I find myself here in my bed. I opened my box and I’m pretty sure angels singing glorious songs. There were beef jerky angels, and almond angels, and even koolaid angels.
I need to explain something very clearly.
Those of you who know me, definitely know that certain things definitely get me excited, sometimes a good ice cold beer, or some wings, or a moving song, or something like that. Over the past 6 weeks I have realized that all of these lowlights and highlights in my life have only been a small section of my full range of excitement. If my overall emotional and physical responses both positive and negative were put on a 1-10 scale, I would say, that all of my experiences, including going to Italy, and Las Vegas, and any other awesome place, or most of the things that I experienced were only on the 3-5 scale, but here, I really start to move further away from the norm. For instance, arriving here after the long flight, and the vaccines in D.C., and then getting here at 8am, with very little sleep, and meeting our trainers and waiting around for a couple hours, and then coming to the office to watch a foreign ceremony and in really hot tropical weather, and not know what is going to happen in the next few hours, or the next few days, or the next few weeks. That experience alone, was probably more stressful than anything I’ve ever experienced. Often times with travel in Ghana I experience similar experiences, truly testing my absolute patience limit, and my tolerance levels just keep expanding, I find myself handling things much better than I would have in America.
Anyways, back to my point, talking to people online, or reading some emails, or receiving a package, honestly sometimes makes me smile harder than I have ever smiled in my life. I honestly have no expression that can express how I feel sometimes over here. When people ask me, well how is it, is it different? I can’t even attempt to answer that question without a few hours of talking. Opening that package and seeing some foods that I ‘liked’ in the states, and now they’re like gold plated miracles of joy. Hahahaha
There is something about it that really keeps me goin inside, it’s almost as if my family is right behind me every step of the way, I’m feeling pretty good right now.
July 17th 2009
Finally a restful day. We had language our Small Community Outreach Project (SCOP) this morning at 7:30AM to the Opass Primary student body. We discussed the methods of transferring germs, and the importance of washing your hands, we even had a demonstration for the kids. Then came back home, talked to Dan about the finer things in life: women, food, capitalism?. Everytime any 2 volunteers start talking about foods from the States it always ends the same way, “what the hell are we doing to each other!!!!” and that usually causes the discussion to come to a screaming halt with a quick change of topics, hahaha. Seriously though, it’s nice to think about all the things we miss, and embrace, we then went to language class. At 10am we were actually done for the day. I literally spent the day laying in bed sweating, listening to some music, and I even watched the movie, ‘Taken’.
This week blew by in a flash, I can’t believe it’s already Friday evening, and on Sunday I will meet at least one teacher from the school that I will be working at for the next two years. We have a workshop for 3 days at Bonsu College which is about 20 minutes away from our homestay families, but we will be taking all of our luggage with us, since our counterparts will be offering assistance in lugging, and then on Wednesday we will be off to Kumasi (or our respective schools/villages). This is our ‘site visit’ and will be 6 days long. We will be able to scope out our homes and identify some of our immediate needs, as well as any concerns that we may have with our housing. After the 6 days, we travel back to Kukurantumi and will stay with our homestay families for another 2 weeks exactly, during which we will be finishing up our medical education, and touch up our language skills, for me that’s ‘Twi’, but there are a lot of other languages that other trainees are learning including: Dagbone, Ga, Ewe, Dagaare, Gunja, etc. I’m really excited about the next week or so, it’s going to be long awaited exploration.
I’m going to go and rub cortisone on about 40% of my body, since most of it is riddled with mosquito bites and random itchiness.
Ok, well, while rubbing cortisone all over me, I remembered something that I wanted to discuss.
I’m just gonna throw it out there: Capitalism
So, before I came to Ghana, I thought I knew about capitalism, and I knew that it was something that I really didn’t want to be such a big part of, and I guess I just was in awe of how many people have made it such a success and have let it completely rule their lives, I guess it sounds negative, but when you look at it objectively, it does in fact rule ones’ life. Of course, I owe everything that I’ve ever experienced to it, and I wouldn’t have had anything like the life I have had thus far, if it weren’t for all of those people, both in my life, and before my life to work their asses off for as long as they did.
I also had my opinions and assumptions about Africa, in general before I came, and I feel like I have a much more valid standpoint on both of these issues, now having lived in such a ‘backwards’ country, in terms of looking at it from an American standpoint.
I’m going to address my new standpoint on both of these issues at the same time, because they are very closely related. Ghana was a country that supplied the majority of slaves to Europe and America, and factually, they are very responsible for what happened, as much as the foreigners who came and continued it. Before any Europeans were here, there was quite a large use of slaves within the ‘Gold Coast’ and Ghanaians actually captured and sent their own people to other countries for profit, it is really horrific story to learn about, but very educational to say the least. Struggle ensued for the entire 400 yrs that the slave trade went on within Europe, Africa, and even the Americas, but finally the gold coast realized, after the war, that Africans were equal to Europeans, and no longer will they stand for British control in their country, and so finally in 1957 Ghana became independent. Peace Corps became involved with Ghana in 1961, and it was the first country to ask for help, and it was in the form of math and science teachers. Looking at the country and the progress it has made since then is what I want to focus on.
In my opinion, the difference between Ghana and America is infrastructure. I think that most of the differences that we speculate are mostly cultural, and have no real significant impact on the development of a country. Countless times, I look around this country and see so many similarities: cellphones, transportation, people trying to make an honest living, etc. The big difference are in the small things that we take for granted in America. I know that sounds mega cliché, but let me explain. When you take your garbage and throw it into a dumpster, or out to your lawn for pickup, or when you flush your toilet, and know that you won’t have to deal with the stink, or the bugs, or when your power goes out, and you know that there are crews out there bustin their asses trying to get that power back on as quickly as possible. When you turn on your tap, and drink some water that is not only good for you, but it actually helps to strengthen your teeth (fluoride). When you call your town maintenance crew, complaining of that small pothole right in front of your house, and the crew comes out within the week to fix that per your request. How about using a lawnmower instead of swinging a machete while your bent over for 8 hrs a day. How about buying a couch, or a bed frame that was made in a matter of hours at a factory, instead of knowing that someone literally cut all the wood with a handsaw and it took them about 1 month to make. How about going to a mall, where you can not only pick out one of a thousand shirts or pants, but you can actually be picky about brands and subtle style differences. How about having the possibility to recycle plastic, somewhere you can actually send it, so that it isn’t buried after one use. How about preservatives in bread, so that it lasts for more than 2 days without getting moldy, that is an amazing luxury that we have, so that we don’t have to go and buy bread every 3 days. Anyways, what I’m getting at is, if it weren’t for those workers who go out every day and lay asphalt, and work in factories, and take your garbage, and fix sewers, and build and install sewer systems and repair the electrical grid, or the people who think about building nuclear plants, or dams to generate energy for us, if it weren’t for their unbelievable stamina to go to work every day, we wouldn’t be the same. If it weren’t for these people, we would be exactly like Ghana, and I mean that literally. Ghana is democratic, they are safe and secure, people are free to say and due as they please, most people are just trying to better their families and give their kids more opportunities than they had, honestly everything else is exactly the same. Looking at a rural village, you can definitely see a difference, because you have wastewater flowing every which way, when it rains, there is no place for the water to go, so it just floods and creates huge potholes, and messes up the roads really bad. Schools have huge piles of garbage near the schoolyard, and then every once in a while, someone burns it, because this is their method of disposal, creating thick black smoke and engulfing the nearby houses with stink. People urinate and defacate wherever they please, because besides latrines near houses, there are no other options. Stagnant pools of water are everywhere, because there are no regulations on draining naturally flowing streams and minimal amounts of surveying of the land before building. I can go on for days about specific things that I notice, but it all comes back to the typical American worker, and the man power that we have, without them we would literally have the same problems that we do here in Ghana.
I really thought I was going to be able to better express the previous thought, but to me, it’s really interesting to be a part of something like this. I’m sure over the next few weeks/months I will probably be able to add to this and maybe drive the point home with a potential action plan for the country, but this concept of comparing and contrasting is a huge part of what the hell I’m doing over here, and what difference I can try and make and be for these people, sustainability in the classroom, as well as in the villages and big cities is the name of the game.
July 17th 2009
Today I realized I forgot to discuss a few interesting topics from a few days ago. We learned all about the ‘naming’ ceremony, where the parents will officially celebrate the birth of the child. At birth, the parents give the child it’s day name and there are 7 of them for men and 7 for women, (I am Kwasi, because I was born on a Sunday). About 8 days after the child is born, there is a huge village celebration when everyone wears all white, and they have rituals that are very close to baptism, they put some water on the lips of the child, and some liquor on the lips of the child, and there is a lot of symbolism involved. The liquor is to tell the child, here is a drink that we have in our village, and now you are one of us, but they give them water as well, to say, here is water, be sure to know the difference between water and liquor and stay away from liquor. They even have different names for twins if they are the same sex, or if each is different. They have a special name for the child, if the mother or father passes away before the child is 8 days old. Also, we learned that if the mother tries to have a child, and the child dies very very young, then the next time she has a child, there are some incredible rituals that are carried out to prevent the spirits from taking the child. Apparently they name the child some awful name, like: garbage, or ugly, or something like that, which is to tell the spirits that this child is not good, and encourages the spirits to leave the child alone, it’s all to ‘fool’ the spirits. It doesn’t hold the child back at all if they are named something obscene like ‘garbage’ apparently, there are successful parliament members with names like this even. Also, they set the child on a large pile of garbage, obviously everything is well choreographed and timed out, so that the child is safe, but the child taken from the mother, and put on garbage to tell the gods that there is nothing to see here, and to continue on, without taking the child. Someone then brings the child back to the mother after the spirits pass by. I want to make it clear, that people here practice Christianity and still uphold some of their tribal cultures as well, they practice both in harmony, but I thought the story was really interesting to learn about. By the way, if you want to know what your Ghanaian name is, just tell me what day you were born on, and if you were a twin.
Another story I remembered was about the chief in a nearby village called Maase. Apparently in the 50’s the chief of the village passed away, and so a relative was named ‘acting chief’ until they found a replacement, but for 40 yrs, that never happened, finally in 1998 he passed away, and he has not been buried yet, because of a disagreement that the community has. They have taken the body and kept it frozen somehow for that past 11 years. It was really hard to discern the truth, but apparently there is an argument about where this ‘acting chief’ is to be buried. The family wants him to buried in the royal cemetery, but some of the community has accused this man of being from a ‘slave’ descent which is a huge insult and would mean that he cannot be buried in the royal cemetery. The feud got even more heated when the caretakers of the cemetery literally built a concrete wall around the cemetery, with the exclusion of this ‘potential grave’ for the frozen body. The village is still very much functioning, there are others who are running the village, but it was really odd to hear that the body is frozen?!?!
These two stories were from our PPP (Personal Presentation Project) that we were all assigned to complete on topics of our choosing, and I chose to do ‘Batik’.
Batik is the process of dyeing fabric using a process of applying wax to areas of the fabric, and then dipping the fabric, and then once the fabric is dried, they remove the wax to expose unstained portions. Typically there are 3 colors that are applied each with a layer of wax applied in between, which is exactly the same process as staining easter eggs, in the traditional Ukrainian style, known as ‘pysanky’, so that was pretty cool to research and learn about. They even use a similar tool to apply the wax, that has a wooden handle and a small metal cone that the wax is melted through and aimed towards the fabric, and they also use metal stamps that they dip in the wax, and then on the fabric. What is really interesting is that Batik originated in Indonesia, and is very prominent in Asia, the Caribbean, West Africa, and the South Pacific.
So, today one of the volunteers received a package, and inside was a block of New York Extra Sharp Cheddar, still sealed, and it was totally fine!!!! He shared some of it, and my GOD was it good, dangit why can’t Ghanaians like cheese?
July 20th 2009
So, yesterday was really long, we got to Bonsu College after three and a half hours of waiting for the bus, because it was late. We all have literally brought everything with us, we will be staying here until Wednesday morning, and will take all of our stuff to site. I had a great convo with my buddy Jason from YALE last night, and slept pretty well too. Today was really long, and out of all 28 teachers, I was the only one whose counterparts didn’t make it, so I sat there for a couple hours while everyone else mingled with their headmasters and counterparts, it was kinda sad, but eventually they came, and they kept stressing how amazing my accommodations were, and how they have prepared everything for me, so we’ll see how he defines ‘everything’. I will say that the two of them seemed really happy to be working with an American, it seemed like they were as suspenseful as I was when we first met, but I think they will be awesome resources for me, and will enable me to create some lasting impressions on these kids. My past experience meeting headmasters (principals) has been really discouraging, most of them just listen, take notes, and don’t execute anything, I’m not sure if it’s laziness, or whatever, but it doesn’t seem to be the case with Mr. Kofi Bruce.
July 21th 2009
I had a great opportunity to learn more about everything today. I learned that my accommodations at my site include a 2 story building, of which I will live on the first floor. I guess that I have a real toilet, without running, water, so I will have to bucket flush, and a room to take bucket baths in. Of course to all of you reading this, it may sound like I drew the short stick, but I feel so lucky to have a real toilet, I’m thinkin that someone here at PC really like me, because it seems like I have a lot of luxuries. I also found out more about the nearby city, Bekwai, cell phone coverage is good, and internet is fast in Bekwai. I am a 90 pesewas trip away from my friend Dan, and a few others are within an hour, so that’s really great news. I also found out that Jason, my friend from YALE, although he will be living way up in the Upper West, it’s only about 6-8hrs away, I really thought it was going to be about 20 hrs, so I will definitely go up and visit him as much as possible. Back to my site, I guess that I have a few different rooms all to myself, which is ridiculous and awesome!!!!
Today was a huge drag, because everyone just wanted to be at site already, we have waited 7 weeks already, and wanted to just be at our sites instead of this training stuff. I had a really good convo with Matt from Texas, the guy I sat next to on the plane, and Georgette from Georgia. We were talking about how surprised we are that we already have a dramatically different perspective/appreciation for America. Personally, I didn’t have too much appreciation for most of the stuff that I had in America, but now I feel like I have a great respect for a lot more. We were talking about those subtle differences that we have noticed, that we took for granted but never will again. Anything from the guy who restocks toilet paper in bathrooms, to sewers that actually remove waste from sight. It was nice to see that we are all in agreement, that one week by ourselves will do so much for us, and we are all so ready for it. Many of us have considered the past 7 weeks as a form of ‘summer camp’ because we are all together, and we are all forced to interact with each other, this includes those few people that we would never hang out with outside of training. We are all aware that this is not what we came to Ghana for, and are ready to finally experience that very thing.
Well, I’m going to go to sleep, since it’s already 8:53pm and I am setting the clock for 3:30am.
July 22nd 2009
I’m here!!!! It was a pretty long morning, I was awake at 3am in anticipation and curiosity of how the travelling would unfold. Last time we were told that a bus would be leaving at 2pm and it actually left at 5:30pm, so I was wondering what time the bus would actually leave. We actually left around 6:30am, and I have nothing to complain about. My site is near Kumasi, the regional capital for the Ashanti Region, it is closer to Bekwai than Kumasi, it is a small village right between Sanfo and Aduam, so the school is called ‘Sanfo Aduam JHS’ (the ‘du’ is pronounced like a jw). I am lucky in regards to how little I had to travel to get to my site. Some of the volunteers have been placed in the upper west or upper east with another 8-12 hrs of travel from Kumasi, so they won’t actually arrive at their site until tomorrow, because we don’t travel at night to stay extra safe.

Hello World!!!!

Lots has happened since I last wrote.  We have been busy this week with projects and presentations to our communities and our fellow trainees.  Busily researching, Dan and I presented a self made video using our cameras and my laptop as well as some Chicago background music on the topic of ‘Batik’.  We discussed the origins and procedure to create Batik clothing and fabric.  I still have another presentation later this week, we will hold an informative session on good hygiene for the community members here in Kukurantumi, just to try and make an initiative before all of us go our separate ways.  The other evening I got fed up completely with sweating myself to sleep each night, and decided that I was going to cut my hair.  Of course here in Ghana, for all age students (both male and female) as well as ALL men, there is only one hairstyle.  Its basically a military buzz cut, and so that’s what I got.  It cost me 1GHC and it was pretty damn scary, the barber new what he was doing, and was good, but unfortunately I don’t think a single barber in Ghana has a sharp ‘clipper’ and so it took quite a while, and didn’t start looking evenly cut until he took everything except for a 1/8” off.  Initially, all I could do was laugh at myself, I just kept saying ‘OH MY GOD!!!!” but it sure is much cooler, and almost every single PCV has this done, because 2 yrs is a long time to not get a hair cut, and no one knows how to cut hair except buzzing it all off.  The PCT’s are slowly all getting their hair cut and now I have too!!

I finally found a good internet connection (relative to the others).  I was able to actually load pages successfully, I checked my email, sent some emails quickly, so the next time I went I tried to upload pictures onto facebook, but before they finished, the upload failed, and so none of them were successfully posted.  I tried about 4 different times with varying quantities of pictures, I tried only uploading 2 pics by the end, and they failed, so I will have to brainstorm and figure out if there is a better service to use to post pictures easily, maybe using picasa, or something.  I also have one more viable option, to use facebook’s old style of uploading pictures.  I’m sure I’ll figure something out, and I’m trying to have it somewhat organized for people to look through without being totally lost.  The reason why this internet café is so quick, is because it is the only building in the town that is 3 stories high, and the café and satellite are on the top floor, I literally think that it has the strongest reception because of how high it is, also it’s only 1 week old, and not many people know about it.  I’m sure when I move to Kumasi, that I will find the biggest and best means of internet access, hopefully my learning curve will be faster than 6 weeks.

One of my favorite things to do when I get home here in Kukurantumi is have fun with the locals and with my Ghanaian family.  Most of what I do, only I would find funny, but I have made them laugh quite a bit, which is nice to see that my ability to entertain transcends languages.  I often come home and just walk up to my younger sister, Yaa (Thursday female born), and just say ‘WHY?’.  In America this would definitely be socially unacceptable, but here, many people just ask me, why?, which to them means, why are you home, or why do you want to know, or why do you ask, or something like that.  They are big proponents of shortening both words and sentences, and using the context to describe something.  Many words here have the exact same spelling, but absolutely different meanings, for instance, PAPA, depending on the stresses and tonality, the word can mean: father, good, and ‘to fan something’.  Another example is the word ‘wanim’ which means to forward, and also means ‘face’.  So, they will come up to me, maybe while I’m washing my clothes, and ask me ‘why?’ to which I get confused and just answer a random question, I’ll say something like ‘I am from america’, and sometimes they get it, but usually I’m just laughing my butt off, it’s as if I’m living a scene from ‘The Office’, and only I get it, so its pretty awesome.  My mom today went to the saloon, yes that is the correct spelling for Ghanaian English, and she came back with a totally new hair style, actually long hair down to her shoulders, and I said, “Are you ok?  Is something wrong? Why? Tomorrow when I come home, your hair will be very very long, maybe it will be to the floor.” They seem to get a big kick out of this.   I woke up this morning expecting my typical breakfast which has been some bread that she presses together with some type of mixture inside, which is usually comprised of a fried egg, some onion, green pepper, but lately she has been upgrading the mixture.  She put some baked beans in there, which weren’t bad, they really had no taste or texture inside the bread, the only way I knew that they were there was because I saw them as I bit into the sandwich.  The past week I’ve noticed some type of meat, which I think is mutton or some type of goat, and it’s kinda like sausage, but just much much worse, I’ve been eating it because I just sort of close my eyes and pretend it’s not there, but today I had to jump ship.  I had a sandwich this morning that had a fish taste to it, but I told her that I do not want fish, because I just don’t want to deal with it, so I knew she wouldn’t just make me fish, and this is when I realized the rumor was true.  My mother had made me a sandwich with a lot of stuff, and now she had put sardines into it, which, let me explain the legend.  A few other volunteers explained to us trainees that Ghanaians don’t consider sardines as part of the fish family.  When you ask them where do sardines come from, they say it’s from a can, and if you ask them where the can comes from, they have no answer, so hypothetically there is a tree somewhere that sprouts cans of sardines, end of story, next question.

I ate one of the sandwiches, and just decided it wasn’t worth it, so I stopped, and ate some bread instead.  Wow, do I have some fish hurdles to jump through over the next 25 months.

I ate some chicken and joloff rice today for lunch and that was pretty good, it was well seasoned and the chicken was an actual chicken leg, so that was good.  Today for dinner I had Banku again, and honestly every time I put a lump of carbohydrates whether it be: fufuo, banku, or kenke into my mouth and just squeeze it down without chewing, it just feels like I’m puking inside.  If you chew this stuff, it just gets stuck inside your mouth, and you can’t get it out, so it’s advised to just squeeze it down, but that is exactly the same process you use to puke, so it’s not so enjoyable yet.

I had a pretty good day today, I was able to go to Tafo for the first time.  It is probably about 1 mile away, but I had no idea, so I took a taxi and had no idea where the hell I was going, so the driver ended up taking me 2 towns to far.  From Kukurantumi, the next town is new tafo, then mid tafo, and then old tafo, and they took me all the way to old tafo.  I felt like an idiot, of course I was still in a weird funk from being so tired because of the cockroach situation.  Luckily after being able to empty my email inbox, and sending a few emails, my mood significantly improved.  I walked home and on the way, I spoke and try to bargain with a whole bunch of street vendors, both for me to practice bargaining, and to legitimately learn the prices of products that I will need when I move to site.  Things that we don’t really think about, like a garbage can, toilet paper, silverware, bowls, pots, a fan, the Ghanaian math and science teaching textbooks, even a small fridge.  I learned a couple new porridges that are sold, instant hot cereals are really popular at the market.  There is no fresh milk or cheese here, but there are plenty of dehydrated milk substitutes that can be made into drinks, cereals,etc.  I got a good opportunity to try out some language, see how some of the locals ‘see’ Americans.  Most want to simply talk to me, and tell their friends that they spoke to an Americans, some of them have dreams to come to America, and frankly Ghanaians don’t pass up an opportunity, so it could be a serious possibility for some of them.  Others like to say ridiculous things, make ridiculous prices for items and see how I react, how I mess with their heads as well.  A very common wake to joke around in Ghana, is to call someone your wife, or ask how much to buy or sell your wife, and usually Americans just respond with….’she’s too much’ , or ‘you don’t have enough money’ , or ‘I already have 7 wives at home, you will be 8’.  There are a lot of marriage proposals in both directioins, and honestly it’s kinda fun to joke around with the locals, in a way that they really enjoy and understand.

I came home, bought a fanta, boy was it good, and then I stopped by the PC office to see if there was any mail, or any news.  I was able to get my weekly allowance of 14GHC, and spoke with Grace, the training director, she told me that she had just heard that Obama will actually be able to speak to the PCVs this Saturday.  Originally we were told that Obama would not have time to meet or talk to us, but his plans changed, and on his way to the airport, he would stop at the Embassy and say a few words to just the volunteers.  Everyone was so excited to hear the news, this means that instead of having sessions all day Saturday, we will be travelling the 4 hours to Accra, and will meet our President.  Practicuum will be cancelled for Friday, so that our sessions on Saturday will be pushed up to Friday.  I checked to see if my package came in the mail, and still has not, but hopefully this Friday or Saturday I will find it, since I will be going to Accra, I hope we will have an opportunity to go the PC headquarters.

July 9^th 2009

Today I had to repeat our lecture on HIV/AIDS.  Arjun and I are co-teaching both the form 1 students and form 2 students.  It’s amazing how explicit we are with definitions and all kinds of sexual activity, and I would normally be feeling pretty awkward about it all, but when I look at these kids and can tell them that they are lucky that Ghana’s AIDS prevalence is less than 2% of the adult population, and compare it to south African countries like Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Zambia that have prevalence rates of 20-35%, that I forget any awkwardness and I just tell these kids how to stay safe and be healthy.  Teaching about 14-17yr olds is not that awkward here, because these kids are basically pining for knowledge, and although there were some chuckles, most of them honestly looked like they wanted to learn this material, so I think we did a really good job of making them aware and keeping the prevalence levels down here in Ghana.  Throughout our service, we are required to continue to supplement our teachings with the occasional HIV lecture, which I will be happy to do.

Well, I cut it a little short in my last post, so I’ll try and fix that.  The internet experience today was really bad.  I mean it was really bad, I was trying to update my antivirus, and all I needed to download was 600kb, which in my apt in akron would have taken about 3 sec.  It was seeming to take about 12 minutes, but every few minutes, the connection would cut out, so it took me probably about an hour just to update my antivirus.  I hope that sheds light on why I haven’t posted any pictures yet.  I have actually been trying to learn organic chemistry, it was just something that I always had an interest in, and I have been trying to find some free ebooks on different university sites, and I was given the advice to use MIT, but I found a book from CalTech, but the book is from 1973, and just downloading the ~1.4Mb chapters takes 10 minutes or so, basically, if anyone has found a really good site for an organic chemistry book, please let me know.  In my 2 hours online, I wasn’t able to download even 1 more chapter from the book, so I have the first 4 chapters already saved on my computer, but I just finished chap 2, so hmmmm.

Changing pace…..

I think that a really solid motto for the next 2 yrs will be ‘NEVER TRUST A FART’

It was really good advice from the movie “The Bucket List” and boy is it true, especially with all the worms and different diseases that can make you sick here in Africa.  Unfortunately, on the ride home from the internet source, I began to feel kind of nauseous, I thought it was just the extremely bumpy road, and the extremely loud radio that was blaring some talk show, or religious sermon, or hell maybe it was soccer match, honestly, everything that is broadcasted here, the broadcaster is just screaming and causing an obscene amount of noise.  I got home and I was pretty hungry, keeping in mind that I ate nothing in the city, except for 1 water sachet, I was just trying to not spend money, but also trying not to ingest any bacteria from street vendors.  I got home and started to eat some pasta, which is definitely one of my favorite meals here, comparatively, even though its basically a package of RAMEN noodles supplemented with some fresh meat and veggies.  I couldn’t get past 3 bites, I just couldn’t take any food.  I went and showered and laid down, it was only about 6, and boy I was in for quite a busy night.  I probably visited the facilities upwards of 12 times, and they were more uncomfortable than anything that I have ever experienced.  I got so weak from all of the activity, that I managed to fall asleep for a few hours, only to wake up a few more times.  Well, the good news is that I didn’t make the BINGO board, but my system is completely empty, I mean totally empty.

July 2^nd 2009

I woke up and decided that I wasn’t going to be doing anything due today.  Everything still hurt, cramps really bad, it was really miserable.  Of course, its not like I’m special, everyone gets sick, and it was going to happen, and it will happen again, probably worse, but that’s ok.  I can get sick in any country, so I just have to deal with it, make good choices, drink water, monitor myself correctly and get better.  I’m pretty sure that either I had Giardia, or Dysentery, either one, who cares, it really was miserable.  By 10am I got really hungry and so had some plain hot tea and plain white bread, probably half of a loaf.  That didn’t help the situation at all, so I was back to the facilities a bunch more before the afternoon.  The cramps are getting better, and I feel like I’m getting better.  Of course, I will continue to monitor, but I’m sure I’ll be fine in a matter of a day or 2.  I’m missing some language classes, and some general teaching stuff, but I’ll have to do some reading on my own and try to get better for tomorrow.  Well, I’m going to review my Twi notes, and I think maybe I’ll read chapter 3 in o. chem.

July 3^rd 2009

Back to classes and sessions, I’m feeling great!!  I had a huge breakfast that included fresh eggs fried, with onions and peppers.  I put the egg omelette in between some WHEAT bread.  WHEAT BREAD!!!!! It was amazing, I ate about ¼ the loaf of bread, and took a few slices for afternoon snack.  I’ve definitely recovered from the misery that I experienced 2 days ago.  I had 4 hours of Twi classes, and my counterparts were pretty miserable during the 4 hours, but I’m really excited to learn the language, so it was no problem: sorry dan, Kevin, and Jordan.  I came home for lunch, and was served ‘red red’ (ray ray) which is typically served with ripe fried plaintains, that taste a lot like bananas, so you use the plaintains to scoop the beans (red red), and its actually really good, even though I’m a texture kind of person, I’ve jumped over that obstacle, because of the nutritional value of beans, and the fact that I don’t want to be 120lbs when I leave Africa.  The plaintains are nice and sweet, did I mention that they are fried, which makes any food better.   Although, there is definitely a problem, when someone is getting better from intestinal problems, and then they digest beans, remember the motto for the 2 yrs is “never trust a fart” and honestly, no one can hide it, but beans produce a lot of post digested gases, and one can never be too sure, but we must always refer back to the motto.

Today was a pretty decent day, it was hot, and there was no relief, even when I came home for lunch, I don’t even have a fan, so I was just trying to mentally cool myself, and calm myself down, so that I could look somewhat presentable for the rest of the afternoon.  The math teachers were going to teach individually to a group of 5-10 students, in 20 minute chunks, something that was totally useless.  Typically volunteers are able to teach a small group first and then the entire, class, but because of the schedule and the fact that we already taught entire classes of 40 students, teaching 5 really gave us nothing, we should have just focused on teaching full classes, because this is quite helpful.  Nonetheless, I gave a lecture on the ‘number plane’ which I’ve never heard it been called that in all my many years of math experience.  I was introducing the X-Y plane coordinate system to the students, basically adding a second dimension to the one dimensional number line that the students already knew.  The lecture went well, even though the students never hear of this topic before, I felt that after the 20 minutes, they all really understood the topic.  The group of math trainees then went to the local ‘spot’ and had a well deserved beer or 2.  Hell, it’s Friday, and we’ve all been here for 1 month, we’ve been away from everyone that we love and know, and even though many of us have been sick, some sicker than others, we are healthy and happy.  We are all having the time of our lives, learning and experiencing the unthinkable, what could be more worth celebrating.  Let’s not forget that tomorrow will be July 4^th, and we are definitely missing out on some American celebrations back home.

We had some great conversations at the spot.  Guillermo was able to talk to the ‘spot’ manager and apparently we are going to be able to celebrate the 4^th of July in a truly proper way, we are going to eat hot dogs (sausages) and even ketchup!!!!!  OMG, it’s going to be amazing, somehow, Guillermo was able to get his parents to buy 80 hot dogs and a few other people are going to bring ketchup and mustard!!! Holy Hell!!! Mustard!!!! Never have condiments sounded sooooo good!!!!  Nonetheless, tomorrow is going to be really awesome, we have  a full day of sessions, including a medical session on sexual harassment and another precautionary rabies shot, we’ll be done by 5 and eating HOT DOGS!!!

I had some interesting nostalgic thoughts today at the spot, I realize that just like college, some of the people that we were going to become close friends with, are going to be friends that we will have for the rest of our lives.  Some of these people that are sitting at the table with me drinking some beers, I’m going to know in 30 yrs, I’m going to introduce to my kids and maybe even grandkids, and say lines like ‘my friend from peace corps’.  It’s really something to be able to identify this at such an early stage.  I always knew that I would shape my life the way that I wanted it to be, but in reality, it’s really happening, I’m actually in Africa, meeting people from almost every state in the U.S. and I know that they all share so much with the way that I think and act.  I kinda get goose bumps thinking about how these people are awesome.  They are lucky enough to be able to join me in such an adventure and opportunity.  They are all so strong and driven to do this, to wake up everyday and execute, it’s really astonishing and motivating.

So, there are a couple random things that I need to discuss: soap.

I have been using body wash that I brought with me, it is actually Dial body and hair wash, which I bought because I wanted to be less maintenance, and just have one all purpose soap that would take care of my entire body.  I’ve been using it here and it’s kind of the exact opposite of what I thought it would be.  I’m pretty sure that my whole family looks at it every time they shower and they think something like ‘what is this American using?’ this is mostly because they use a simple bar of soap, and don’t need anything special for their hair.  Honestly, I guess I’m just really ignorant, but I have no idea how locals wash their hair, or even take care of it, with all due respect, it’s different than my hair, it doesn’t need to be shampoo’d or whatever.  Anyways I’ve been wondering what the heck I’m going to do when my body wash runs out, which is going to happen really soon.  I obviously can’t rely on my parents are anyone to ‘ship’ me soap, that’s just ridiculous and not practical, so I’ve been observing the different types of soaps out there, and my mom got this ‘lime’ soap, that I’ve been using, and wow, I’m really impressed with it.  I, first of all, really like lime, I like limeade, and lime flavored coke, I like Gin and Tonics with lime, and Rum and Cokes with lime, I just really like limes.  I’ve been using it and really like it, so I’ll hopefully be able to find it in Kumasi when I leave in August.  This still doesn’t’ solve my problem about taking care of my hair, or does it.  I actually tried using a bar of soap to wash my hair, and even though it’s really awkward, it actually does the job, oh, you surfactants, I guess you’re all the same when you look at your chemistry.

I guess I’m eating Banku tonight, and I think I’m going to insist that I get a large serving of fruit every meal from now on: pineapple, mango, starfruit, coconut, papaya, oranges, etc.

Wow!!!! So I just finished my Banku, and honestly, I just had the greatest moment in my life.  My father bought a few things today, he got some cocoa powder for making hot chocolate, and some pure cocoa powder with nothing added, that also can make really good hot cocoa when sugar is added.  I got pretty damn excited about those two things, I actually poured myself a cup of the cocoa, and it was fantastic.  Let me expand a little on when I say ‘cocoa’ powder.  What I guess I need to stress about this experience is that Ghana is the world #2 exporter of the Cacao pod, and they are only second to Cote d’el Voire, the country directly to the west of us (Ivory Coast).  Both countries have optimal climates to grow cocoa, but unfortunately they are not able to really capitalize on products, but instead just the raw goods.  I really think that some legitimate businessmen should come in here and selflessly help this country capitalize on such a valuable western and European commodity.  I would estimate that my house is located about 5 km from the cacao factory, and this both of the things that I mentioned were from there.  Of course, I wouldn’t be a good writer if I just told you all the best things first, there is one more item that was purchased.  Basically it is the equivalent of nutella, but instead of hazelnuts, groundnuts or peanuts are used.  I read the label of ingredients: sugar, oil, cocoa, peanuts, a few other stabilizers.  This stuff was probably in the range of 400 times better than nutella, probably because my body was craving a familiar taste, and also probably because the cocoa that was used was probably no more than 2 weeks old from picking.  I am so excited about waking up tomorrow and taking that with me for a snack and lunch.  It’s really amazing how the little things really make all the difference here.

I gotta be honest, I don’t think I’ve been this excited in Ghana thus far, so what a great surprise for me!!!

July 4^th 2009

Happy Birthday America?!?!?

Unfortunately, this beautiful Saturday was not going to be relaxing at all, we had a full schedule planned, so I was up at 6am, and I invited my friend, Dan, from Texas to come over, to try and help his digestive system.  He’s been a bit ‘stopped up’ for the past month, and has only used the toilet a total of 4 times.  It’s been 9 days since his last visit, and apparently he claims that it’s because of the change in diet, specifically the lack of coffee.  Apparently, in the states, he would drink about 4 cups a day, and I guess that coffee helps with that?  So, I invited him over, since my family has instant coffee, (better than nothing), unfortunately by the end of the day, nothing changed, but at least I tried to help.  We had a few medical sessions on sexual assault and precautions and some basic information on the topic, then we had our second Rabies vaccine, and then our second Hepatitis B vaccine.  I didn’t realize, but the Rabies shot is one of those “into the muscle” shots and it can make your arm kinda sore from the liquid absorbing into the muscle, so that was a bit uncomfortable later in the day, but whatever.  We had a few more sessions on vacations spots in Ghana, popular site among volunteers, and cool things to see if we find some time.  We finished the day with a session on drumming and dancing, and it was the first time that I have seen any local dancing, it was really quite interesting, more of a body gyration, than dancing, and the drumming had no real meter.  I was really trying to tap my foot to it, but I’m pretty sure that it legally had no meter whatsoever.  I’m sure I’ll get used to it, and maybe even try it by the end of the my service.

Luckily after training was over we had arranged to eat some hot dogs at the local ‘spot’.  We asked the owner to buy some bread and ‘sausage’ which looked exactly like hot dogs, and he even acquired 5 bottles of ketchup.  About 40 volunteers and trainees killed probably 100 hot dogs in less than an hour.  Never has ketchup tasted so good, and it was HEINZ ketchup at that!!!

It’s been a month, and most of us have been eating authentic Ghanaian cuisine regularly, but it was so nice to have some American flavor once again.        Mom, Dad, if you get a chance, you should go to Panera, and snag a few (a bunch) of those GULDEN SPICY BROWN mustard packets (I don’t know why I remember that random fact about Panera), I was thinking, even if I don’t have a fridge, those packets will not spoil.

I guess, tomorrow, we will be going to see a waterfall that’s only a few km away from the hub site, so we will meet at 9am.  I’m definitely excited about the trip, apparently we will be able to hike a little and were advised to bring some bug spray, and sunscreen (parsol).  The really interesting part, is that we shouldn’t wear shorts, so that means that I will be hiking in Khaki linen pants tomorrow, so that’s gonna get messy and dirty and smelly really quick, but whatever I’m in Ghana!!!!  The worst part about having this awesome opportunity, is that I really need to wash my clothes, so I have set my alarm for 5am, and will prep the washing before the sun rises, and get all that done before I go.  How many of you are waking up at 5am to do your laundry?

July 5^th 2009

I woke up really early, at around 5am, and did my laundry, it took me well over an hour.  I can say that I will not be washing my bed sheets this well ever again, that’s a lot of fabric to cover with only 2 hands, and a small bar of keysoap.  I got ready and went to the hub office, luckily only a few hundred meters away.  We piled into this Mercedes van, which was nothing like you could picture, it was probably the size of a 15 passenger ford van, it was really dilapidated, and instead of 15 people, it fit 8 rows of 5 across, so we can assume, that I was lodged into the seat, and every time (every 3 ft) that we hit a pothole, my  knee just got more and more bruised.  We went and saw ‘BodiFalls’, and some of the trainees went on a hike to see a large rock.  After climbing down the 250 stairs to the base of the falls, we were met with tons of mist and quite a powerful sight and sound.  We lingered down there for about 20 minutes, and got some group photos, we really enjoyed ourselves.  The wildlife and foliage in Africa is really intense.  Everything that is in view of the sun is absolutely covered in green…..moss, trees, leaves, etc.  Had a good time, but I decided that I was going to hike the trail, we were required to wear long pants, and I only have khaki’s so I am pretty happy with my decision to just sit and talk to the trainees.  We got back around 3pm, and I was pretty exhausted, but I found myself just wandering around at my house, kind of restless, because I really needed to burn some calories, and get myself exhausted, so I went for a jog.  It was such a nice change to actually put on some cross-training ‘new balance’ shoes and run a couple of miles.  It was really great to actually sweat for a reason.  I came back, ironed my khakis for tomorrow (mom, don’t get any ideas,….i’m not ironing anything when I get back to the states).  I cooled down with some water, and then showered and laid down, but I continued to bead with sweat for about an hour.  Teachers have practicum this week, so I’ll be teaching 2 different classrooms a total of 14 periods this week.  I will start with a lecture on percentages and another on vectors for tomorrow, and I wrote those lesson plans and am all ready for tomorrow.  This upcoming week is packed, but it looks like I might have some free time on Wednesday and Thursday in the afternoon, so if I post this on Wednesday, look out for my rapid return on Thursday (cross my fingers).

Looking a bit into the near future, after this week of practicum, we have another week full of sessions, and then the Wednesday after, we all go visit our actual ‘sites’ for 6 days, we move most of our luggage, and will live out of a bag for only a few more weeks here at training.  It will be so awesome to finally see ‘my place’ to begin to learn how close I am to things and other people.  Everyone is really excited for training to be over, and to move to our sites.

July 6^th 2009

Good day at school today, I did a lecture on percentages and another on vectors, I will be continuing these two topics for the rest of the week.  I came an hour early to Twi lessons, and learned a little extra.  We went out for a beer at the spot again, spending another 1.5 GHC, which is way too much, but I guess I really need a beer after sweating all day.  While at the bar, we were discussing how we could make fufuo better, and we decided that we were going to slice up the huge ball of carbs and dip them in batter and fry them.  We figure with the combination of some type of seasoning or condiment, that it could actually be the best meal here, of course we would still need to find a solution for the protein source, but one thing at a time.  I came home to the best surprise I could have ever imagined.  After telling my dad that I liked ketchup on hotdogs, he went out and found ketchup, as well as some type of steak sauce, it was some generic brand, but tasted exactly like A1.  For dinner, I had boiled yams, and this green leaf stew, that kind of resembled cooked seaweed or cooked spinach, if it were a normal situation in America, I would have not touched this meal with a 10ft pole, but after adding some steak sauce to the yams, I seriously gobbled the entire plate up, it was amazing, because the green stuff had to have been loaded with vitamins and even protein, so even though I only tasted steak sauce, I got the nutritional value of a lot of other nutritious things.  I also ate an entire starfruit, which tasted as good as it looked.  If I had to describe it, it would be a mix between a pineapple and an orange, with a hint of cherry, I really enjoyed it, and the skin was a little on the tough side, so that means I will either get really sick from consuming the skin, or it is full of nutrients, I’m hoping it’s the latter.  I’m really looking forward to the tasteless carb balls in the future, since I will have A1 sauce to enhance it’s nothingness.

July 8^th 2009

I woke up this morning at around 1:30AM because a cockroach was running on my arm or bed, I’m not sure, but I freaked out, and threw it across the room and then killed it, unfortunately I was not able to sleep for about 2 hrs after that.  FUN IN GHANA!!!!