New Host Family

I just wanted to let everyone know that on the 10th of November, I switched host families. I am now in a much better place but sadly, since it is on the opposite end of the city than I was previously, I had to switch schools. But truth be told, the switch is still in progress, and thus, I am school-less again. It is a blessing I had the foresight to pack a ridiculous amount of books. I want to thank everyone so, so much for their prayers & messages, I cannot even begin to explain how much I appreciate them.

I now live with a wonderful host mom, an 8 year-old host sister, and my host mom's sister.

Our Zoological Adventure

On Thursday, the 8th of November, (Yes, I am super behind times due to lack of internet.) Sarah, Nans, and I decided to visit the Kumasi Zoo since we are on a short vacation from school for Midterms. 

I highly enjoyed the Zoo, which is located in Center of Kumasi and actually holds a large amount of free green space which is not in ample supply in the rest of the city. The most interesting animals in the zoo were not actually part of an exhibit but were hanging from the trees. I am talking about bats, there more bats hanging on this tree than I had ever seen in one place before. They were tan in color unlike the brown bats that I know from back home and were chirping incessantly which mildly confused Sarah & I who could not understand why they were awake.

But other than seeing animals in the trees, wandering peacocks, and caged lions, the most exciting thing happened when we reached the chimpanzees. There was a chimpanzee there that I swear was a character out of a storybook. Swinging around, rattling his cage, and well causing mayhem for visitors. Instead of butchering the moment with words, watch this video to see the chimp in action.

After the chimp swung up and gave us a shower of spit, I decided to keep a safe distance from the cage. Sarah sadly did not share the same amount of caution I exercised and ended up getting poop flung on her. Yes, you read correct, the same chimpanzee that had just spit on us, picked up his own poop and threw it at Sarah. It landed on her shirt, leaving a lovely reminder of our morning adventure too close to the chimpanzee’s cage.

My Classes at SIMMS

My Classes at Simms:

My classes are:

IRS (Islamic Religious Studies): This class is by far my favorite class. Since it is an elective, there are only 5 of us. This I believe is due to the fact that everyone, excluding me, takes the subject that correlates to their faith. Thus, almost everyone is in the CRS (Christian Religious Studies). When the students found out I was taking IRS instead of CRS many were aghast and confused why the Christian Obruni was taking the Islamic Studies Class but I am so glad I did. I came here wanting to learn as much as I can about Islam, which is one of the main aims of YES, and am so happy to be in this class.

English: Really basic English grammar which at first I was appalled at the level of this class but then I realized, wait a second Lydia, stop being so critical, this isn't their native language what are you thinking? Our Madame, is a very interesting teacher who takes pleasure in punishments. She has made this girl who said leopard wrong write an apology letter for her and then had her read it in front of our class five times before telling her that it was not the correct way to write a letter and thus she had to write a new one. She had also pounded the class captain’s head & shoulders with a marker, and made some of my classmates who arrived to class late kneel at the front of the class for the whole 80 minute class period.

Literature: Well, I am supposed to have Literature but due the teacher being on maternity leave, I have yet to have a literature class. Here the idea of Substitute Teachers does not exist. If there is no teacher, then the students are obliged to sit in the classroom and study for the whole period. If the students get too noisy usually another teacher will come and cane or threaten to cane some members of the class.

Social Studies: We have been learning about the values, faults, & characteristics of each type of leadership there is which is pretty self-explanatory but my last class was the most interesting since my teacher has now started a unit on development and was discussing how the attitudes of people had to change in order for development to happen. It was very interesting for me to hear him point out the "faults" in Ghanaian society that need to be overcome in order for Ghana to develop. Some such things were Ghana's attitude towards public property as not their problem and their lack of a strong work ethic like Americans have. The last point got me thinking since, as a American I am very proud of the American work ethic for hard work=success but his statement made me wonder; at what point does development start changing culture? Ghanaian culture has its’ own values and way of life yet by assimilating with Western ways in order to develop, the quality of life may go up but will the quality of happiness go up? Development is a very interesting thing and I am not sure how I feel about it. Coming from the developed world, I have definitely reaped the benefits of living in a developed nation but sometimes I wonder if it is really a good thing.

Economics: Pretty basic Economics information such as the finding the equilibrium price, etc. The most interesting part is the few times that my teacher mentions facts about Ghana's economic system compared to the West.

Core Maths: A.k.a. Basic Algebra. This class is so easy it's sad. The math we are doing is stuff I had to do in my head last year. This class for me has consisted of my teacher writing the problems on the board which I copy down and finish within the first five minutes of class which gives me a whole period to read. The class is given about 20-30 minutes to finish the problems and then the teacher explains the whole procedure for the rest of the class.

P.E. (Physical Education): The BEST Class EVER! Sadly, I only have it once a week but I love it so much. There is a special uniform for this class as well which I don’t have but I have been able to borrow some of the other girls extra uniforms the past two classes. We usually end up playing football (soccer) and at the end of class their “cool down” consists of singing and dancing! How awesome is that?

Science: Science is broken down into four different introductory courses in Biology, Physics, Agriculture, and Chemistry. Agriculture is my favorite but all we have done is learn the advantages and symptoms of deficiency of a whole long list of elements. AS for Biology, it's so basic that even though I didn't have any notes and had only been to one class before we had a test I easily got a 100. Which seriously impressed the teachers but it was so simple, how could I not get a 100. Also here, it is totally acceptable to cheat blatantly obviously during tests which I didn't do but about everyone else in the class did. 

Eid Al-Adha

On the morning of October the 26th, I woke up early in order to meet Sarah in Kejetia, the largest tro-tro station in Kumasi. After we met up, we traveled back to Old Tafo where my friend Samira, who is a YES Alumni, lives. We were heading to her house since she graciously invited us over to celebrate Eid with her family.
Eid Al-Adha is a Muslim holiday to celebrate the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. One starts the day by dressing up in their best clothes and heading to the mosque for a special prayer. As we were hurridly getting ready at Samira's house I was reminded joyfully of preparing for Christmas Eve service. The Eid holiday seemed to be similar to Christmas Eve in that it involved attending a place of religion for a special service and includes a big meal.
When we arrived at the mosque, running late, there was already a mass of people there. I looked out on a sea of white, transluscent swaths of cloth partially masking the vibrant colors of everyone's finest dress. The prayer on Eid is special since there are two prayers the first of which includes 7 "Allah Akbars", which means God is Great in Arabic, for the congregation to repeat and the second prayer includes 5 Allah Akbars. Praying in front of the Mosque with Sarah and all the Ghanaian ladies was a very powerful experience. Listening to the beautiful, alluring chant of the iman dance it's way into your soul as you kneels down and humbles yourself before God is extremely moving. Here I was in the middle of Western Africa, one speck on the ground, one of many, who are all the same in God's eyes, all thankful for his blessing of life. That day I truly felt extremely blessed and lucky to be alive spending my time with Sarah, Samira, Rukiya, and the rest of their wonderful family.

The other part of Eid Ahda involves butchering an animal in the halal way and then cooking a huge meal. This part is only obligitory if one has the means to pay for the animal. Those who do butcher the animal are supposed to divide the meat up, giving some of it to their neighbors and the needy. They did not have an animal to kill which was completely fine by Sarah and I.

School

I attend Simms Senior High School in Faowade and I am enjoying myself immensely. I was put in Form-2 which is the Ghanaian equivilant to sophmore year, which amounts to extremely boring classes due to the rudementary subject matter. Although the subject matter in most classes is extremely dull, I am learning many things from being and observing students here.
Here in Ghana, instead of choosing each individual class, one chooses their "course" and each course has it's own group of subjects that the whole class takes. I was put into 2A2 which is the General Arts course with a Religious Studies Class, Language Class, and Literature class. Each track, or course as they are called here, has one class per grade which results in extremely large class sizes. My class has around 70 students all crammed into the most uncomfortable wooden desks imaginable. I share a desk with my friend Priscilla which I really appreciate although my butt does not.

One thing I love about school here are the uniforms which although unflattering on me, do look nice on the Ghanaians. My school has 3 uniforms for the week, all of which I do not possess yet. The Monday & Tuesday wear is a cute maroon 50'seqsue dress while the Wednesday & Thursday wear is a pink blouse with a maroon pencil skirt. Friday wear consists of dress made out of a pretty blue print with the schools name & emblem on it. The other two uniforms also have the school's crest sewn onto them. There is also a maroon vest with dimonds on it as well as a warm up jacket and an house uniform, all of which I have yet to receive.

My school not only has it's own emblem, it has it's own motto, and school song which we sing during morning assembly which occurs on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. Assembly consists of saying the Lord's Prayer, the Ghanaian pledge, singing the national anthem & the school anthem, and mainly is teachers telling about all the rules that were broken and other rules that need to be followed which is then preceeded by threatening the students with caning. During my first assembly, one teacher who was preaching about the need of baggy non-form fitting uniforms, said that he was going to come around for inspection and threaten to strip anyone naked who was not following the rules. He then preceeded to rant how he didn't care if the purpetratior was a female or not, he would still personally strip them naked stressing that being a girl was no way of immunity to the punishment.

M'damfo the Plantain Seller

On my way home from school, I pass by this place called Atimatim Junction which is where a road branches off toward Atimatim. At the branch off there is a tro-tro "station". It is called a station but it is not a station in the Western terms of the word. It is just where a lot on tros wait on the road for passengers and thus, due to the passage of people, there are a group of women selling food at little stands or on their head by the side of the road. On of these sellers sells plantains and is the sweetest lady ever. I am not sure how it started but everyday after school, I come up to her and shake her hand as she called me M'damfo, which means my friend, with a huge smile on her face. She then proceeds to ask me how I am in Twi, and usually teaches me some twi words. She is the sweetest lady and whenever I ask to buy a plantain, she refuses money and gives me one. Her kindest means so much to me and my daily interactions with her always makes my day. One day while I was sitting learning Twi from M'damfo, eating my delicous roasted plantain, a man would not leave me alone continually saying that he loved me in Twi. To which I keep on replying "menpeyo"-I don't love you. This was working so m'damfo showed me how to say it; to shout it with vehemence which I did to the amusment of everyone around. It is moments like this and people like her that fill me with happiness and remind me why I am here. Friendship is not an exclusive bond for people of the same nationality, age, or race, it is for anyone who shows kindness to another person.

One Month Anniversary in Ghana

I'm going to start off my blog by saying that everyone should check out my fellow YES Abroaders blogs. They are all wonderfully written and explain Ghana much better than I can.

Here is Sarah's: http://www.lifehomeandabroad.blogspot.com/

Emily's: http://goneghanaian.tumblr.com/

Jeneni's: http://jeneni.tumblr.com/

Ann Elise's: http://annelisetoghana.blogspot.com/
Oh and check out my tumbr, I put some pictures up there: http://ghanagoforit.tumblr.com/

My lovely view from the porch complete with a rainbow.

The other day was my one month anniversary being here in Ghana. I cannot believe it has only been a month. This month has been the longest, hardest, most overwhelming, exciting, and astonishing month of my life. I have yet to start school here, much to my chagrin. I swear I must be breaking some sort of record for how long an exchange student goes without actually being a student. It is all because I do not have a uniform and even though I have sat in the headmaster's secretary's office for hours on end on multiple occasions, I am not much closer to getting to school than I was before. All the other exchange students have been in school for weeks now and I am still school-less which gives me ample time to get bored. And with boredom comes homesickness.

This first month, I have been suffering from an intense case of homesickness. Everything in here in Ghana is so different, which I knew it would be, but I couldn't even imagine how different it was. The hardest difference was the stark contrast of my host family compared to my natural family. Being here has truly taught me how blessed I was to have my upbringing and has given me insight into my own values that I didn't even realize I had as an American. In the U.S., time is money and spending time with someone means that you care about them. I came from an upbringing where family time was of the utmost importance and it was a requirement to be part of certain family activities such as eating and attending church together. My natural family spends a long time preparing healthy meals and spends at least an hour each night around the dinner table eating, talking, and usually finishing a crossword puzzle. Here, I eat alone for every meal. Until coming here, I did not realize how much value I put on eating with people. As in a book that I read for English class stated, eating together is very sacred, and inviting people to have a meal together is allowing someone to an intimate association with you. Eating together gives you time to connect since you are partaking in a common activity. Yet, here in Ghana, eating together is not often done since people eat at the time of their convenience which makes sense since people arrive home at different times and leave for work at different times, but at first it was something that I had a very hard time adjusting to.

Another thing I had a hard time adjusting to is people not asking me about my day. I did not realize how that American value is embedded in my psyche. I was raised to believe that expressing interest in someone's day shows that you care about them. I did not realize how I placed knowing the going-ons of someone, however trivial they are, as a way of caring about someone. Like I said, I am constantly learning about my values that I didn't even realize I had. At first, the lack of people caring about my day hurt me and I felt personally afronted by what I felt was a lack of consideration of my well being, but then I realized that it wasn't their lack of caring, it was just a cultural thing that I had been raised to expect as a sign of caring. Here people ask, "Are you fine?", which I believe is their way of caring. They don't need to hear about your day-it was probably pretty mundane and boring. As an American, I want to share my experiences with people since sharing is caring, but here that might seem silly. Who knows, I am still new to this culture, so I have yet to have a really comprehensive view of how to show someone you care, but hopefully I will learn the Ghanaian way of caring.

I have spent most of my time in the house in a living room area where my host sister and the "house help" also spend their time at home. They entertain themselves by watching T.V. which consists of African Movies, Ghanaian music videos, hilariously dubbed Latin American soap operas, and one news channel whose international news was that Chris Brown appeared in court. Another thing that I really valued in the U.S. was being connected & in the know of what was going on in the world. At home in America, my family does not have T.V., but we always have the radio playing NPR, and each morning, I read the newspaper during breakfast. Also, I would religiously watch Al Jazeera online to know more about what's going on in the world. Here I often feel very far away from the world. When I didn't have a modem, I had no international news, and the first week that there were Muslim protests I didn't even know about it until my family back home contacted me to see how the situation was in Ghana. Here in Ghana, I do not believe the news of the Anti-American protests ever reached the populous's attention. If people did get wind of it, nobody cared since they are too concerned with surviving each day to get riled up over such issues. The main focus in the news here has been the prayer for a peaceful election here in December.

Ghanaian Muslims are some of the nicest people I have met here. I have often spent time with Samira, a YES alumni, and her family who have so graciously allowed me to spend time with them to escape from the boredom of having nothing to do. On the second Friday of intense Anti-American protests, I spent my day with a Muslim family, learning how to pray, and then attending a mosque to pray. There was not even a hint of animosity in anyone there that I was a white, presumably American girl, praying at their mosque. They were there to worship Allah and to humble themselves before Allah, not to create a fight over the righteousness of their religion or their anger over the defacement of their religion by some hateful people. Given, the news of the video probably had not reached their ears, but being here in Ghana, I have never felt that there was any animosity towards me from Muslims.

Samira and her sister, Rukaiya. They are my saving graces here.

Rukaiya and I after we prayed at the Mosque

Being here has already taught me to be more independent. In America, I relied on others, but here I have increasingly been relying only on myself. Here I have figured out how to take tro-tros, how to get around my area, and how to get to know my neighbors on my own. Back in the U.S., we rely on rules & regulations, taking comfort in following them. Here there is a sense of freedom that I have not felt in the U.S. At first it was shocking, but there is something exilerating about the blatent disregard of regulations. What I am talking about mainly concerns roads & driving. The tro-tros, which are the best way to get around, would never, ever pass an inspection in the U.S. to deem them street worthy. Another example of this is the way my host dad drives on the wrong side of the road to bypass the traffic honking and pointing to his sticker stating he works at the hospital anytime anyone questions him. (I believe he is pretending to be an ambulance)

Another thing I love here is the sense of community I feel when I walk around with Samira greeting everyone with "Qualaffia" or "Salam Allah kum" (please disregard my butchered spelling) or the joy children get from acknowledgement from the Obruni Abena. (Note: Obruni=Foreigner/white person and Abena is my day name). I love the call to prayer and the fact that everyday there is a God Sky. I love that there is fresh fruit to buy everywhere and how independent I can be here. I enjoy the new plants and the fact that everyday I see something new that I didn't know about before. Now that some of the foreigness of everything is dulling into a backdrop of the semi-familar, I hope to make a routine for myself and become more purpose driven, hopefully I will start school soon which will give me something to do.

Mary and I pounding fufu

See Mom, Dad, & Melody-I am not crazy for not liking the seeds in cucumbers. Here in Ghana they cut out the seeds!

Cheesy picture of me being super excited over salad.

Grinding some pepper :)

My beautiful host mom. I respect her so much. She is the manager of a bank and has to travel around with an armed guard while on business. Talk about a strong African woman. On the weekdays, she doesn't get home until it is way too late to cook, but on weekends she has cooked up some delicious meals.

Ghana is very incredible and I love it so much here, but I have really struggled with this intense homesickness. I have missed my family, my church, and my access to news so much. I have been so blessed to have grown up in the place I did with the people I did and attend the church I did. I do not know if I could do this without the support of my wonderful family and church- you guys have helped me so much. Thank you!

Sarah & her host brother on a walk we took the day I visited them.

The Europeans and I at our weekend Twi lesson