I Can't Sleep/Ghana!

I can’t sleep, and I figured since tomorrow is Neptune Day I should probably write about Ghana before I have to write about Ghana AND Neptune Day.

Ghana was really great. There were two points where I was pretty sure I was going to die, but I had a really wonderful Ghana experience.

Here we go.

DAY ONE: A group of 5 of us set out into the city of Accra: Andrew, Hayley, Alyse, Kellie, and me. We went to the Arts Center, which I thought would be something totally different than what it was. It ended up being pretty similar to the souks in Morocco, except the people here were WAY overly nice, which sucks way more than it sounds like it would. In Morocco it was easier to haggle aggressively if they were being aggressive, or to leave a shop without buying something if they were being jerks. But here they were just so . . . nice. “My sister, you are welcome here. Come look at my store, just for you. . .” On and on and on. I now understand the meaning of “kill them with kindness.” Their kindness was exhausting.

Anyways, somehow the 5 of us got separated, and Alyse and I became our own separate unit. We wandered around the Art Center some more and got some cool jewelry, gifts, and awesome little shaky ball instrument things that I’m determined to master before getting home. The guy selling them gave us like a 30-minute lesson, which was really cool. Then we had some street food (roasted plantains – delicious!) and jumped in a cab to bring us back to the center of town.

We didn’t really know what to do in town, so we ended up finding an outside café to sit at and watch the world go by. She had strawberry ice cream and I had pineapple juice. Wonderfully refreshing. While we were sitting there, some guy took a picture of us from his car. I thought that was kind of weird, but then again we were taking pictures of other people too, so I guess it’s only fair they reciprocate. Then we wandered a bit around the side streets until we ended up at a little street vendor. We were getting hungry, so we asked her if there was anywhere near by we could get some good food. Her response surprised us both: “Ya, let’s go.”

Alyse and I kind of looked at each other and then decided to follow the lady who had already grabbed her purse. We went through gates and neighborhoods until we came to a tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The woman sat down with us and asked us what we wanted. We said we trusted her choice, and she ended up ordering something that I can’t even pronounce, let alone spell. We had really great conversations with her while we were eating. She told us about Ghana and Ghanaian culture, which was awesome. She taught us our African names, which are based on the day of the week you were born. My name is Yaa, which means “Thursday born.” Apparently each name has an accompanying personality, and I like the personality she described for me. She was just a really interesting lady in general. Her name is Sarah, but it’s not pronounced how we say it in America.

When the food came, I was surprised. It was one large bowl for the three of us to share with a big ball of dough in it. Like when Dad makes pizza and there’s that ball of pizza dough in the bowl rising, it looked like that. But the dough wasn’t alone. Also in the bowl was two kinds of meat (goat & dry fish) and a broth that covered everything. It was SOUP that you’re supposed to eat with your HANDS. How do you eat soup with your hands?? Well, she showed us. And laughed at us when we failed at it. You just kind of reach in and break off a chunk, but we would string it out instead of breaking off a chunk all at once. I guess we have a ways to go in the art of hand eating, but we improved by the end of the meal.

Then Sarah showed us her beauty parlor, which was cute. There was one thing that I thought was particularly interesting. She showed us the advertisement that she was having made for her parlor and none of the pictures featured African women. They were all Caucasian-y. Is that the standard of beauty in Ghana? I hope not.

Then Alyse and I went to a Welcome Reception at a local college. It was cool, but probably not a highlight. Got to meet some local students, which was interesting.

DAY TWO: Up early, early, early to board a bus to Togome Village. When we got there, the entire village population greeted us. It was really cool, and the kids were really cute. They put on dance performances for us (so cool!!!!) and did a whole naming ceremony where we each got a bracelet and a pot with our name written on it. Like I said before, mine is Yaa. Then we got assigned to our separate host families. I got assigned to a girl who I thought was a bit older than me but turned out to only be 16.

After being assigned, we left to go get lunch at a mess hall. Lunch = fish that TOTALLY still looked like fish. I’m still not used to eating food that’s looking at me . . . but I’m getting better.

Then back to the village to spend time with our families. Some people went to work with their host parents, but my host dad worked in the morning and was done for the day. He preferred to sit and watch tv. We (We = me & Ashley, the other girl assigned to my family) sat and watched in his little hut with him and his 18 month old son for a bit, and then asked if we go play with the kids outside. He said sure.

I had brought a jump rope to give to the kids, so I broke it out and we played with it. They were really excited, and they totally showed me up, which was a bit embarrassing. I got the chance to help make food, which was cool. Although I don’t think I was much help at all. It was the most aggressive cooking that I’ve seen in my life. There was this huge bamboo stick almost as tall as me and you smash it down into a stone pot to turn pieces of cassava into mushy dough stuff. That dough stuff, I later learned, is what was in the soup I had the day before. After awhile, the dad called us in to join him in eating, and we had the same soup stuff I had eaten the day before, except this time the meat was different. There were whole fishes about the size of French fries, and you just pick them up and eat them whole. Crazy. I was pretty proud of my eating-soup-with-hands ability. And my spicy tolerance. I’m definitely improving as an eater.

Then a neighbor girl who had been hanging out with us a lot brought us down to the waterside where (to my surprise) she asked if we wanted to ride in a canoe. My response: yes!! (Ashley said no, but later wasn’t given the option of staying). So I rode in a legit canoe in a river neighboring a village in Ghana. How cool is that! It was a little nerve racking, though, because I had my camera AND my passport on me – the two things I was not willing to let get ruined. And the canoe was kind of unstable. But it stayed afloat and upright the whole time! The ride was absolutely beautiful, too!

We rode to the end of the village and then walked back to the house. On the walk back, I got to see people making canoes, pots, and fabric. They make fabric using their toes!! At one point we came across a group of people with coconuts. They split one open and handed to me, then they were dead silent as I drank it, awaiting my response. When I said, “it’s good!” they were all very excited and enthusiastic, which I thought was fun.

That night we basically had a huge party with food and dancing. The dancing is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s like the chicken dance, except cool. Don’t worry, I have videos.

Then we went to sleep. I slept on a mattress that was a maximum of two inches thick without a blanket of pillow. And let me tell you, whoever said that roosters crow at sunrise is an absolute liar. They crow all night long.


DAY THREE: Waking up in the morning was weird. I’ve woken up to a lot of different sounds in my life, but I’ve never woken up to a cacophony of roosters, goats, and yelling in a language COMPLETELY foreign to anything I’m used to. It was a pretty cool experience.

After breakfast we loaded up the bus and headed off to the tallest mountain in Ghana. None of us really knew what to expect. We didn’t know if it would be a hard hike or a leisurely stroll up a nicely paved path. It turned out to be a brutal hike practically straight up. Take your stair climber, set it on “extreme,” and then do it a whole mountain’s worth. Ya, it was like that. After ¼ of the way I was ready to turn back. My friend Brittany decided after a bit (1/8 or so) that it wasn’t for her. I saw her taking a break, but I didn’t realize until it was too late that she had decided to quit. I felt bad leaving her, but by the time I realized I couldn’t turn back to go wait with her. We weren’t allowed to hike alone in case we fell. Then my friend Makenzie said she needed a break, and I wasn’t going to be a bad friend this time, so I waited with her for awhile with 3 other girls. After pressing on a little farther, she decided that she just wasn’t a mountain climber, but encouraged us to go ahead. One girl with asthma and no inhaler decided she couldn’t go on any farther, so Julie and Makenzie stayed behind while another girl and I pressed on.

And on. And on. And on.

That mountain was freakin’ huge. And steep. And rocky.

At one point we got to a sign that said, “Don’t quit now, quitters never win. You’re 600m from the summit.” This is after we had been climbing FOREVER on what was supposed to be a 800m mountain. And we were 654m from the summit?? What?? (This was the first time in Ghana that I thought I was going to die. Not exactly at that exact moment, but pretty much during the whole ascent.) I decided that it was a typo of sorts and we pressed on. Shortly there after we arrived at a sign that said “You made it!!” Turns out the deceiving sign had meant you had TRAVELED 654m already. Someone should change that. It’s very discouraging.

Anyways, we joined the rest of the group at the top, and it was AMAZING. Panoramic view all the way around. We could see villages, mountains, a waterfall, and pretty much all of Ghana. It was really fantastic. We took lots of pictures, soaked in the view, and then headed down.

When we got down about ¾ of the way, ¼ from the bottom, we passed Brittany. She was on her way up with Tom, our adult leader. “You headed up?” I asked. “Yep. I’m going to make it to the top.” I couldn’t leave her again, so I turned around and headed up the mountain. Again.

And we made it to the top.

Still beautiful.

After our trek down, we all loaded into the bus and headed off to see the monkeys. They were awesome! We fed them bananas.

Then back on the bus to drive home.

I had been feeling increasingly sicker since the first day in Ghana. It started out as just a head cold thing, but on the bus ride home I was pretty miserable. Extremely miserable. This is the second time I thought I was going to die. I could barely move without feeling like I was going to puke everywhere or like my insides would just explode. I had to concentrate on keeping my insides inside.

Waiting outside to get onto the ship I couldn’t even stand up.

When I walked into my room, my roommate asked if I was okay and I could barely put the words together to say, “No, I feel like death.” I stood in the shower for a little bit, kind of shampooed my hair, but then gave up. Conditioner, soap, or combing out my hair was completely out of the question. I stumbled light-headedly into bed. All I wanted was a hug from my dad and for my mom to sit with me on the couch. I tried to call home, but my phone was dead. I had to be a big girl.

DAY FOUR: I woke up at 5:15am this morning to see if there was any possible way I would be able to make it to my scheduled 5:30am trip to the canopy tours and slave dungeons. After struggling to walk to the bathroom, I decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for me to be walking hundreds of feet up in the air, even if I was strapped in. It just wasn’t going to happen, so I went back to sleep.

A couple hours later I had ANOTHER new waking up experience. My bed was shaking. Sometimes that happens because my bed is right above the motor, so I’ve kind of gotten used to being jostled awake but then lulled back to sleep by the motor. But this shaking was different, and it was accompanied by moans coming from next door. I guess you could say my neighbor had a very good morning.

I was planning on staying in bed all day. My plans changed, though, when my roommate was involved in a miscommunication and ended up not having anyone to go into the city with. She really wanted to go, and it’s not safe to go alone, so I put on clothes and agreed to accompany her. There were a couple things I wanted anyways – art, lapel pin, and postcards.

I was very impressed with us and our efficiency. We took the shuttle into the city and from there went to Global Mamas where I got some cool gifts (Mom, be excited!). Then we walked down the main street. I guess my feeling horrible made me a better barter because I didn’t really care about being nice. Once word got out on the street (and it does!) that I was looking for paintings, people would come up to me with stacks for me to look through. I would look through and then, if I didn’t like them, I would just say I didn’t like them and move on. I ended up with two REALLY cool painting that I’m very happy with! In one shop I saw a lapel pin. I hadn’t seen a single other one in all of Ghana, so I was pleased to come across it. It was in a set with cuff links, but I didn’t want the cuff links. He wanted me to pay 5 cd, but I only wanted to pay 2. I paid 2. Obama is a HUGE deal in Ghana – almost a bigger deal than in America. Everyone wears Obama shirts, dresses, etc. He’s on billboards, cups, in windows, pretty much everywhere. A large reason is because he was recently in Ghana, but another reason is because they love him. I wanted some Obama-y to commemorate that part of Ghana. I found this one obnoxiously Obamified shirt (that I’m wearing right now) that I really liked. He wanted 30 cd for it, but I only wanted to pay 10. I paid 10.

After walking the street, we jumped in a cab and headed to the mall. Kellie was able to find all the clothes/shoes she wanted/needed pretty quickly. We stopped by a bookstore where we bought some postcards (Ghana doesn’t have very good postcards. I think that’s the general consensus). Then we stopped by Game which, surprisingly, is more similar to Target than Gamestop, and we stocked up on sodas and food. I mostly stocked up on Sprite and salteen crackers.

Then we took a taxi home.

Good day! It was a really good day. I’m glad I didn’t sit in bed all day. It was nice to get out one last time.

When we got home I looked for the stamps I had purchased for like two hours. Then I prayed. Then I found them. (Thanks God!) Then lots of post card writing.

We met for dinner at 6:00. I had split pea soup and a roll. I wanted to go to bed right after, but for some reason didn’t. Somehow it was 9:00 and then I really wanted to go to bed, but Andrew wouldn’t let me. He taught me how to play chess instead. I’m going to be good by the time I get home (Dad, Kerry, & Chris – be ready).

Then I came in my room to go to bed. Now it’s almost midnight, and I’m still not asleep. I need to go to sleep. Neptune Day tomorrow.

Night all.
Lots of love.

Happy Birthday Jazmin.