MEZMERIZE ACCRA
If you were a rapper on the down slope of your career, what would you do to reinvent yourself? Make a cameo at the Ghana Music Awards? Ja Rule was thinking EXacTly the same thing! TODAY, the "Livin it Up" master will in fact be making an appearance in Accra at the lesser known (but still popular among sub-saharan traditional-hiphop/rap fusion music lovers) Ghana Music Awards! I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish by doing this, but I know I'm trying to get tickets and bring a sign that says "put it on me" in big letters.
In honor of JaRule, I will name all of my subject headings in this entry after his songs. You can bypass this by avoiding reading the subject headings.
NOT QUITE LIVIN IT UP
So my two friends and I have been residing in the lovely YMCA Accra. The accomadations are pretty nice and we have a kitchen we can use (cockraoches included, of course). Now, there is an airconditioner in the room but we use it minimally at the YMCA's request. However, our 'landlord' still likes to come to our room roughly three times a day to tell us to turn it off. We then proceed to show him that is it not on at which point he claims that we turned it off when we heard him coming. We have encountered a variety of other ridiculous situations with this man and now he wants to overcharge us even more. So I think we will leave, but I'm not sure where we will stay. Possibly in a cheap hotel or in a hostel farther out of town which will be very inconvenient.
IT'S MURDA -PAIN IS LOVE
I had visitors yesterday!! A family friend, Lisa, came with her mother to tour Ghana. Lisa was on a similar SIT program four years ago and so we got to compare notes. We went out to dinner and then to an African drumming/dance performance. Lisa confirmed my suspicions that people in Cape Coast are extremely aggressive in comparison to other parts of Ghana. I haven't talked much about my honest impressions of the country, but I was quite upset with the people in Cape Coast and my subsequent perceptions. In Cape Coast, it's like they can get away with murda. However, I am starting to separate Cape Coast culture from Ghanaian culture which is extremely helpful for my state of mind.
ALWAYS ON TIME
Guess who is always on time? Chabad! By searching the Chabad website I found that there is a Chabad in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they organized for a Rabbi to come host a Passover Seder in Accra. So my two friends and I got to go to a kosher seder that was led by a hilarious New York Rabbi. They brought us famous Shmura matzah and even hired a chef! We were a small group, but it was really nice to have a Seder here. There are a few African Rabbis in Ghana (Lost Tribe stuff) but we weren't able to travel to get to them which I'm sure would have been very interesting.
RACE AGAINST TIME
The end is near! I am almost done with my research and about to start writing my paper. Speaking of my research, I recently interviewed a man who explained to me, "you know why we have a water shortage in Accra? It's because we don't have enough trees here. The trees are like people who call for water when they are thirsty. The government must plant more trees if they want it to rain."
And I will close with that.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Where are you going??
BACK TO THE 90's
Once upon a time, I realized I was on the Oregon Trail. My friend Will came down with Typhoid fever. No, seriously. It's really rare for travelers to get it, but he did. We should never have tried to ford the river.
ACCRA
We are finally in Accra! Getting here only took 4 hours longer than it should have. My friends and I are staying in a hostel and bumming around/avoiding doing research. There are about ten goats living outside our room which means that we own livestock/we're rich! The food here is soo much better-I actually had pancakes the other day. The people are still crazy though. The head of the hostel comes to our room at least three times a day and asks us a variety of pointless questions: where are you going today? are you here? why didn't you leave?. I am at the University of Ghana right now doing some internet research/writing my blog. This month I am researching alternative sustainable sanitation efforts. I don't know what it means either.
FANTE
In my fante lessons, I have learned that there is no word for "feel". They literally cannot express feelings. That is why people don't hug here.
I'm going to go stop for supplies.
Once upon a time, I realized I was on the Oregon Trail. My friend Will came down with Typhoid fever. No, seriously. It's really rare for travelers to get it, but he did. We should never have tried to ford the river.
ACCRA
We are finally in Accra! Getting here only took 4 hours longer than it should have. My friends and I are staying in a hostel and bumming around/avoiding doing research. There are about ten goats living outside our room which means that we own livestock/we're rich! The food here is soo much better-I actually had pancakes the other day. The people are still crazy though. The head of the hostel comes to our room at least three times a day and asks us a variety of pointless questions: where are you going today? are you here? why didn't you leave?. I am at the University of Ghana right now doing some internet research/writing my blog. This month I am researching alternative sustainable sanitation efforts. I don't know what it means either.
FANTE
In my fante lessons, I have learned that there is no word for "feel". They literally cannot express feelings. That is why people don't hug here.
I'm going to go stop for supplies.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
"We're the muffins in the muffin joke"
I spent the past week and a half in Accra and Cotonou, Benin. Much ridiculousness ensued:
DEPARTURE
I left early on a Monday morning with my big red hiking backpack. As I walked pass the makeshift taxi station at the end of my street, I was stopped by a man sitting with his boy. The man asked if I was leaving town and for how long. Upon my response, the man glared at me and angrily asked me why I did not introduce myself to him and ask him how he was doing before I left Cape Coast for two weeks. I quickly apologized profusely for not sharing my life story with him before departing and asked about him and his son. What an embarrassing social faux-pas!
ACCCRA:
Accra was a whirlwind. We honestly all went through culture shock being in a city where there were vehicles from after 1983 and roads that weren't made of dirt. Let me tell you now that you take pizza for granted. My friends and I went to a pizza place (called 'pizza inn' next to 'creamy inn' and 'chicken inn') and it was no joke an emotional experience. People shed their first tears.
I had incredible ('real') food after that which of course made me feel really sick because I have been living off of fish and rice for 2 months.
We went to two museums in Accra and learned about Kwame Nkrumah who was Ghana's first President. Nkrumah was famous for his pan-african ideas. Unfortunately, he was corrupt and was overthrown by militia. However, the citizens of Ghana tend to breeze over this fact as demonstrated by our tour guide who declared that Nkrumah was one of the world's greatest leaders and can be compared to the likings of Mao Ze Dong, Castro, and J.F.K.
There's a strange Asian influence here. Most of the world leaders have pictures of them on display with Mao Ze Dong next to them. Also, all of my pirated dvds have Asian subtitles.
ANOTHER TAXI STORY
Since there is no night life in Cape Coast, my friends and I decided to venture out to explore Accra on our last night. I am too angry to write about the debacle of an afternoon that led up to the taxi ride, so just assume that we were already in a bit of a bad mood. We had heard of a club and upon entering a taxi, the driver told us "yes, i've seen it, it is not far from here." We drove around and arrived at a club that was not the correct one but he assured us that he had "seen the club many times and would get us there." He asked for directions and took us across town to the shopping district. Upon realizing that we were not in the right place, he asked again for directions and said "i promise, I have seen it, I know it." During our tour of Accra, our driver told us that he had traveled to Spain last year and preceded to pop open his glove compartment and show us his photo album. Each picture showed him on a boat with an expanse of ocean behind him. Apparently, each new picture was a different country that he had visited.
We finally arrived at the apparent club at which point the driver demanded that we pay TRIPLE the fee because he didn't know how to get there and he used extra gas in the process. We paid double the price because we were feeling nice and he had showed us his life travels.
So we walked up to the club entrance where we were told that flip flops were not allowed and the cover fee was the equivalent of about $80. We all laughed. And then they suddenly let us in for free, flip flops in-tote (I don't ask questions). Inside the club, we found ourselves to be the only ones there, except for seven grown men napping in arm chairs. My friend Ariel and I got into a fight with the DJ. And then we went home.
Oh Ghana.
Three of my friends got malaria the next day. Here, malaria is treated like the common cold. It's a very "walk if off" attitude. Meanwhile, my friends had fevers and were hallucinating. Naturally, we had a 9 hour bus ride that day to Benin in at least 90 degree heat, and when I asked my director to put on air conditioning for the girls with Malaria, he said "this is not necessary."
BENIN
The fan in our room didn't work so we didn't sleep for most of the trip. However, Benin was amazing. Mostly because of the fact that they were colonized by the French and NOT the British. For some reason, this made the culture much less harsh and much more vibrant. I got to exercise my french which was fun and I also got to ride on a Moped! (Mopeds are taxis there). Also, Benin adopted french food so I ate AMAZingly there. There were some issues that occurred however I will talk more about them when I am home and my mother can't worry (I'm FINE, I wasn't anywhere near the open fire). Benin really was beautiful though. The colors there are extremely vibrant and the people (at least seem) much nicer and calmer. Then we came home on a 12 hour bus ride and spent 3 hours going through Togo borders (for a country that is falling off the map, they have a huge narcissis complex and getting in is like trying to order from the 'under 12' menu at Friendly's (near impossible in case you didn't get that).
BACK IN CAPE COAST
When I returned to my host home, my host mother happily exclaimed, "you have gotten fat! Benin must have been very good"
I have three close friends from my program here: Ariel, Alanna, and Shira. Unfortunately, Shira is going home because of complications with her malaria :(
Anyways, I'm sure I am forgetting things that I will add later, but that's all for now. This is my last week in Cape Coast and I am hoping to move with my friends Ariel and Alanna to Accra!!
DEPARTURE
I left early on a Monday morning with my big red hiking backpack. As I walked pass the makeshift taxi station at the end of my street, I was stopped by a man sitting with his boy. The man asked if I was leaving town and for how long. Upon my response, the man glared at me and angrily asked me why I did not introduce myself to him and ask him how he was doing before I left Cape Coast for two weeks. I quickly apologized profusely for not sharing my life story with him before departing and asked about him and his son. What an embarrassing social faux-pas!
ACCCRA:
Accra was a whirlwind. We honestly all went through culture shock being in a city where there were vehicles from after 1983 and roads that weren't made of dirt. Let me tell you now that you take pizza for granted. My friends and I went to a pizza place (called 'pizza inn' next to 'creamy inn' and 'chicken inn') and it was no joke an emotional experience. People shed their first tears.
I had incredible ('real') food after that which of course made me feel really sick because I have been living off of fish and rice for 2 months.
We went to two museums in Accra and learned about Kwame Nkrumah who was Ghana's first President. Nkrumah was famous for his pan-african ideas. Unfortunately, he was corrupt and was overthrown by militia. However, the citizens of Ghana tend to breeze over this fact as demonstrated by our tour guide who declared that Nkrumah was one of the world's greatest leaders and can be compared to the likings of Mao Ze Dong, Castro, and J.F.K.
There's a strange Asian influence here. Most of the world leaders have pictures of them on display with Mao Ze Dong next to them. Also, all of my pirated dvds have Asian subtitles.
ANOTHER TAXI STORY
Since there is no night life in Cape Coast, my friends and I decided to venture out to explore Accra on our last night. I am too angry to write about the debacle of an afternoon that led up to the taxi ride, so just assume that we were already in a bit of a bad mood. We had heard of a club and upon entering a taxi, the driver told us "yes, i've seen it, it is not far from here." We drove around and arrived at a club that was not the correct one but he assured us that he had "seen the club many times and would get us there." He asked for directions and took us across town to the shopping district. Upon realizing that we were not in the right place, he asked again for directions and said "i promise, I have seen it, I know it." During our tour of Accra, our driver told us that he had traveled to Spain last year and preceded to pop open his glove compartment and show us his photo album. Each picture showed him on a boat with an expanse of ocean behind him. Apparently, each new picture was a different country that he had visited.
We finally arrived at the apparent club at which point the driver demanded that we pay TRIPLE the fee because he didn't know how to get there and he used extra gas in the process. We paid double the price because we were feeling nice and he had showed us his life travels.
So we walked up to the club entrance where we were told that flip flops were not allowed and the cover fee was the equivalent of about $80. We all laughed. And then they suddenly let us in for free, flip flops in-tote (I don't ask questions). Inside the club, we found ourselves to be the only ones there, except for seven grown men napping in arm chairs. My friend Ariel and I got into a fight with the DJ. And then we went home.
Oh Ghana.
Three of my friends got malaria the next day. Here, malaria is treated like the common cold. It's a very "walk if off" attitude. Meanwhile, my friends had fevers and were hallucinating. Naturally, we had a 9 hour bus ride that day to Benin in at least 90 degree heat, and when I asked my director to put on air conditioning for the girls with Malaria, he said "this is not necessary."
BENIN
The fan in our room didn't work so we didn't sleep for most of the trip. However, Benin was amazing. Mostly because of the fact that they were colonized by the French and NOT the British. For some reason, this made the culture much less harsh and much more vibrant. I got to exercise my french which was fun and I also got to ride on a Moped! (Mopeds are taxis there). Also, Benin adopted french food so I ate AMAZingly there. There were some issues that occurred however I will talk more about them when I am home and my mother can't worry (I'm FINE, I wasn't anywhere near the open fire). Benin really was beautiful though. The colors there are extremely vibrant and the people (at least seem) much nicer and calmer. Then we came home on a 12 hour bus ride and spent 3 hours going through Togo borders (for a country that is falling off the map, they have a huge narcissis complex and getting in is like trying to order from the 'under 12' menu at Friendly's (near impossible in case you didn't get that).
BACK IN CAPE COAST
When I returned to my host home, my host mother happily exclaimed, "you have gotten fat! Benin must have been very good"
I have three close friends from my program here: Ariel, Alanna, and Shira. Unfortunately, Shira is going home because of complications with her malaria :(
Anyways, I'm sure I am forgetting things that I will add later, but that's all for now. This is my last week in Cape Coast and I am hoping to move with my friends Ariel and Alanna to Accra!!
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