Classes/Stuff

Well its still hot here, no surprise there. We have had running water for the last week though so that is exciting. Classes are finally beginning as well which is cool. It’s nice to have something to do and start to get into real life here. I don’t know for sure what I am taking yet but so far it looks something like Industrialization and Development, Human Rights in Africa, Political and Economic Reform and Democracy in Africa, West African Drumming, West African Xylophone, Traditional African Dance, and Spanish. The Spanish class is interesting because Spanish is not a very useful language in this region of the world so people aren’t all that familiar with it. I’m in a 400 level class since that is the hardest one they offer and most of the students still struggle with basic conversations. Even the teacher confuses the genders of words. It’s a really small class though so its easy to meet people and I am happy to stay practicing so that I don’t lose everything I learned in Chile. My other classes seem cool too. I did sign up for the Dance class with Oni, the dance instructor from orientation that I loved so I’m really excited for that. Drumming and Xylophone are also really cool. They are so relaxing and fun. Its cool to be able to take those classes here since they generally aren’t available or open to students that aren’t in the art or music departments at UCLA.

We’ve been keeping pretty busy outside of class as well. Last week we went to Reggae night at Labadi Beach which was really cool. They have a stage right on the sand where they play live music and that is pretty much the only thing lit up so its really serene and fun. And the weather at night is perfect. Its perfect for walking around in a dress or tshirt without feeling the tiniest bit too hot or too cold. Plus the beach was full of real Rastafarians which is quite a sight to see. It was just really chill in general. This weekend we also went to go explore a new area of Accra with a Ghanaian man named Justice who my roommate Anabel had met on the plane. He picked us up on campus and took us to his flat in Tema, a neighborhood in Accra, where he lives with his mom when he’s not at sea (he is in the marines). They we went to his uncle’s house where his aunt made us some delicious Red Red with yams, plantains, and some sort of eggplant salad thing. After that we went to see the marine academy where he is currently earning his master’s degree before going to visit his sister and brother-in-law at their home, and then his brother-in-law’s mother at her home. We basically met all his family members who were all equally sweet and welcoming. They were all so happy to meet us. It was just funny because we all felt to some extent like Justice’s new toy or something that he was showing off to everyone. It was really cool to see the way in which each of them lived though and talk to them a while. I think everyone we met individually asked each of us if we go to church. That is a pretty common question here but I still haven’t mastered a good response. If I say I don’t go to church than I feel like I have to endure their insistence in going to church with me one time. If I say I do go to church than I have to deal with the same thing. Lately I have been saying that I am Jewish, or that my family is Jewish. Usually that works because people sort of just accept it and respect that you have different beliefs and therefore do not go to church but Justice’s brother had never heard of Judaism before so that opened up a whole new can of worms. I pretty much just explained that Jesus was a Jew and left it at that.

It really is a very Christian country. Its kind of surprising since the traditional tribal culture is still very much alive. Historically in many parts of the world I feel as if the choice was to pick one or the other, the old or the new, tradition or modernity. Here both carry on strongly though. The women in particular are very Christian and very conservative on a whole, which makes it difficult to meet them and make friends because they don’t really do anything except go to class and go to church. The rest of the time they stay in their rooms. Many of the men on the other hand, are much less conservative and generally very outgoing, although sometimes they come on a bit to strong. They way the men and women interact here is actually very interesting and kind of sad in my opinion. Many of the women who come to school here, the most educated women in the country, aspire to nothing other than getting married when they graduate. And many of the country’s politicians actually come to our campus to scout out future wives because the women here are young, gorgeous, and highly educated. There is even a “Preparation for Marriage” class offered in the Home Science Department. I considered taking it just to see what it was all about. Its just so strange to me because people don’t marry because they love and care about someone here. They marry to have a partner in life to raise kids with. It is all about the kids. In some regards it does actually make sense, especially considering how frequently Americans divorce because our reason for marriage is based on a sentiment that is not stagnant, that changes constantly in every interaction and life experience. It still seems so unfulfilling though. Justice even told us a story about how his uncle had previously been married to a Nigerian woman but they constantly fought because they couldn’t have children. She blamed it all on him so he made her take a fertility test, and when it was shown that she was the one with fertility problems, he divorced her for embarrassing him. Now he is remarried to a much younger woman and they have a six-year-old daughter (the uncle is probably 60 years old now). It’s all weird too because historically women were very powerful. Among many of the tribes here, the royal bloodline was matrilineal, passed down through the Queen Mother. The sons of the king had no particular importance. And it’s weird because men still tend to carry very high regards for their mothers and aunts and sisters, they just don’t translate that into respect for their wives.

The other cool thing I learned from Justice was about a particular tree near Tro Tro stop 37 in downtown Accra where there is a group of trees that are constantly full of flocking and flying bats at all times of the day. We had seen it before on our way to Osu (also in Accra) and had wondered what the deal was because it was so strange to see. Apparently there is a legend that one time a chief was sick so he was taken to the hospital right next to the trees and the whole flock of bats came with him. He ended up dying in the hospital so the bats never left because they are still waiting for him to leave. Justice told us too that they have tried poisoning the bats, cutting down the trees, scaring them, shooting them, and just about everything imaginable to make them go away but they won’t leave.

Also, one last side note. I learned that people from Niger and people from Nigeria are both called “Nigerians” but people from Niger pronounce it “Nee-jer (J like a French J) – ians” while those from Nigeria call it “Nai-geer-ian”.

Akwaaba

Well, after 16 hours flying to Dubai where we had a 12 hour layover, followed by another 9 hour flight to Accra, I finally made it to Africa and it is exactly as I had pictured it. They welcomed us at the airport with big banners that read “Akwaaba” (Twi for “Welcome” to a land of red red dirt, decorated with sparse eucalyptus trees and white buildings remnant of the colonial era. The campus here at University of Ghana in Legon is actually very pretty in its own way with its quaint colonial style buildings and tree lined roads. The actually city part of Accra is fairly dirty as it is littered with trash and people pretty much pee freely anywhere but it has its own charm with its women selling goods out of big baskets that balance on their heads and everyone dressed in clothing made of vibrantly colored cloth. It is hot as hell though. Very very hot. Always. And very very humid. Last I heard, it was 84 degrees with 84% humidity and I have been told that we are in the cold/dry season. I can’t imagine what April with bring for us. After being here a little over a week though I am starting to get used to it a little bit and getting settled in in general. All of last week everyone in my program had been staying together in the International Student Hostel (Ish) on campus but a few nights ago I moved into my permanent room for the semester in one of the Ghanaian dorms, Volta. Only four of us actually got to move in here while the rest stayed at Ish because there weren’t enough rooms open and they couldn’t kick out Ghanaian students for us to stay here since its cheaper and many Ghanain students can’t afford the more expensive alternative. I am happy to be living here though, even though it is famous for not having running water or electricity. I had to take a bucket shower my first night here which was interesting but now that we’ve only had running water one of the nights here so far, I am starting to define my technique. Its not so bad actually. And now, the one time that we did have running water, I was unusually appreciative of the resource and extremely careful to use as little as possible. I feel like everything will be that way for me when I finally get home though. It is really not so bad to get by here but the fact is that that is exactly what you are doing, just getting by. There is cheap food and clean water and decent shelter but it lacks all the amenities we have at home for comfort like air conditioning and running water and vegetables and nice beds and TVs. And its interesting because as white people, here called obrunis, the people here are very aware of that fact and very aggressively go after us to try and sell us their goods or use their services. Many times, children have come to greet us when we get off the bus and they hold our hands and ask our names and then when we finish doing whatever activity we were going to do, they come back to us with some good that they personalized with our name, telling us we need to buy it since they can’t sell it to anybody else. Its kind of sad really. Many of the street vendors just pull out a mosquito net at night to hang over their table and they sleep on the ground underneath. It is definitely a different world here.

I am really enjoying everything so far. I live with a girl from Watsonville/Cal named Anabel who is pretty nice and everyone in the program is really cool on a whole. I think it takes a special type of person to want to come here and do this for this long. And we have done some cool things with our program in orientation. We had a bunch of lectures on language and culture and history and had a few really fun West African dance classes. Our teacher was so cool. He was this older Ghanaian guy with graying hair, a drooping gut, glasses, large crooked white teeth, a goofy smile, and he literally walked with a cane until he started dancing as if he was cursed with boogie legs and had to walk with a cane to walk normally. Plus he spoke like a guru, always giving us wisdomous advice such as “you have to look beyond the boogie to see humanity”. He cracks me up. I am going to try to take a class with him during the semester. Beyond that though, we also got to go on a few field trips. We went to Kumasi for a weekend, about 2 hours north of Accra, where we went to a couple different really cool craft villages to learn about/buy traditional kante cloth and woodwork. We also went to the Cape Coast and Elmina to go on a canopy walk in the rain forest which was pretty cool, and then to see St.George’s Castle where they used to export a lot of goods in the colonial era, including slaves. The tour of the castle was really interesting but totally weird. Before starting, they separated all the white and black students in our group into two groups to take the tour separately in a very sly way, although it was totally obvious. Nobody understood why so I was the ballsy one that decided to ask the question, to which our tour guide replied that it was a coincidence. That was obviously untrue though so we asked a guide from our program after who told us that two years ago, the black students got mad at the white students for not being serious enough and asked them to leave the castle, at which point a huge fight broke out. Its still so dumb though. I really can’t believe they did that. First of all, they were talking all about how the history is important so that we can share the experience and learn from each other’s perspective and make sure that it won’t happen again but how do they think we can possible do that if we can’t interact. Plus, it was dumb because many of black students, also have European ancestors. And it is not tally implausible that the white students don’t have African ancestors. And color doesn’t determine who is affected by it. Yohanan, a black student, is from Ethiopia, a country whose people were essentially completely unaffected by the phenomenon. Plus, it was a huge crime against humanity, we were all affected by it. We should all learn to see it as such. Anyway though… that is it for now I guess. School starts on Monday so I will just be finalizing my classes and exploring and all that this week but I am excited!

Peace.