Finally, some time to write some entries in! Sorry it's taken so long, right from the start we started this three week orientation class which kept me occupied my entire time here. It ended up getting dragged another week because of a professor's strike and the mandatory Ebola screenings implemented by the school, but things have turned out fine (somewhat) and hopefully I can get a lot in today. I'll give more information on the strike and the whole Ebola ordeal later on. I will say this now though, Ebola is NOT in Ghana and is nowhere near Ghana and I strongly believe it won't come to Ghana.
I've had free days earlier but things always seem to pop up and I only end up getting a paragraph in. Like earlier this week on Tuesday, I was free all day but it started raining heavily and the power in the computer lab went out. Good thing my work got saved. But here's week 1!
7/26
Day of departure! Some of my friends and I went out to Denny's as a last meal kind of thing before I left, which was sweet. My dad and sister dropped me off at the airport, goodbyes were said, and I watched from the security check line as they both began to walk away. I was finally on my own. I breezed through security in a few minutes, thankful that I was traveling light and that I had tons of experience going through airports. I got to the main terminal and I have to say, the international terminal at LAX looks really nice now. I was impressed with all these high-end shops and restaurants and artwork, and walked around the terminal gaping most of the time. I decided to head over to the gate and immediately found two other people I remembered meeting from the orientation in Santa Cruz. We chatted a bit about why we were going to Ghana, what we were excited about, and gradually more and more people came and sat with us. It was nice to run into people in the group right off the bat so I could make friends even before I got to Ghana.
There isn't really much to talk about during the first flight from LA to Frankfurt since it was pretty standard in my case: no sleep, funky tasting food, and a large person seated next to me who was encroaching in my space. Once at Frankfurt, we ran into the other group flying from San Francisco and walked over to the next gate with them. Our layover there was about 3 hours so most of us got some coffee and used the wi-fi that was in the terminal. On the flight from Frankfurt to Accra, I was sitting next to a Ghanaian from Tennessee who was returning home to visit his family. We began chatting and he gave me a lot of advice about the food, people, things to see, even bargaining tips. Afterwards, he said that if he didn't have a broken arm, he would have loved to take us around Accra. This kind gesture caught me off guard at first because here was a guy I had barely just met on a plane and he was already offering to show me around. Little did I know, it would be the first of many offerings from Ghanians to show me around and help get me acclimated to Ghana.
7/27
We landed in Accra sometime at night and the moment I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and took one deep breath, I felt like I was in India. I smelled some combination of burning ash and gasoline that I honestly loved smelling whenever I was back in the motherland. I made my way through customs, found my baggage, and went outside with the group to find the orientation leaders waiting for us. They took us to the parking lot where we loaded our things onto the bus and drove off to campus.
I don't recall much from that ride since it was dark outside and I was pretty exhausted from some 17 hours of flying but when we got to campus, we unloaded our stuff into our temporary rooms in Volta Hall (we had been assigned to live in the all-girls dorms before moving to our permanent rooms). The room consisted of two parts. One part had two beds and two cabinets with a sink in the middle and the other part was were the desks were. My temporary roommate and I set up our things and went to the dining hall where we were introduced to the program staff, ate dinner (pizza and salad) and played several icebreaker games before finally going off to bed.
7/28
Breakfast was served in the dining hall at nine and after that, we went back on the bus for a tour around campus. The campus reminds me a lot of UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis mixed together. It has the greenery and abundance of wild animals of Santa Cruz with the flatness and size of Davis. The program coordinators showed us the buildings on campus as well as the gym and offices we needed to know. We also saw some of the restaurants on campus where we could get food. The school doesn't have traditional dining halls like back in the states where you swipe your ID card and you're in, so we either have to buy our own food or cook it.
Afterwards, we went to the Accra Mall which is a brand new mall that just opened only two or three years ago. It wasn't as big as the malls back home but it still had the same types of stores you would find in any other mall. There, we were able to exchange our American dollars for Ghanaian cedis and bought new phones and SIM cards so we would have Ghanaian phone numbers. I didn't need to do the latter part because I had bought an international SIM card from T-Mobile and I was also able to keep an American number. While the number works here, it has caused some problems with some of the locals here because they don't believe it works or they think I'm too cool to get a Ghanaian number and just have to keep my American number.
We went back to campus where we were able to rest for an hour, and then it was time for our first dance class. Most of you should know that I am not a dancer at all, but I tried to keep an open mind when I got to the studio and remain positive. Well, it didn't really work. That first day was so bad for me because I was still getting acclimated to the time change and I just wasn't into it. I think the instructor noticed this because he kept giving me weird looks while I was dancing and I tried my best to shrug it off.
We finally ended session an hour and a half later, went to eat dinner, and return to our rooms where I immediately went to bed, dreading the next three dance classes.
7/29
This day was a pretty calm day overall. Breakfast was slightly earlier at 8:30 and after that, we sat through lectures that discussed culture shock, challenges living in Ghana and the differences between American and Ghanaian values. A lot of Ghanaian values such as always using your right hand and addressing elders as auntie or uncle wasn't new for me because it was the same thing in Indian culture. In fact, being in Ghana has been like being in India: the smells, the giant crowds of people, the chaotic markets, the congested roads where traffic laws don't exist and drivers don't stop for pedestrians, the random animals running around the streets, the prevalent poverty and so much more.
The people treat us kindly for the most part and are interested in our backgrounds, but as foreigners, or as they like to call us, obronis, we are subject to special treatment because we are seen as rich and successful. Often times we get requests to take people back to America, so extreme to the point where some of the women in our group have gotten marriage proposals and countless amounts of phone numbers. Even I've gotten a few proposals to take people back to America (from guys, sadly), but I just laugh it off and say, "Maybe one day." Sometimes it's a hassle being the obroni because we have to convince the locals that we aren't made out of money, especially when it comes to bargaining for a taxi or for crafts. But it's understandable, because if we can afford to spend around $2000 to come to Ghana, why wouldn't we be able to pay a little extra?
After the lectures, we went to another smaller mall right across campus where we ate lunch and did a little shopping. I should've paid more attention to the prices there because when I bought my electric stove from there a few weeks later for 90 cedis (around $28), I found cheaper ones that had two stoves on them for 50 cedis (around $15) at other marts. You live and you learn, I guess.
Anyway, we returned and had another rest period for 2 hours, which is when I walked around campus with some other people from the group. We didn't stray that far because we had no idea where we were going still but it was nice to get a little feel for the campus and the surroundings. Afterwards, it was time for dance class again, and I'm proud to report that I actually had fun dancing! Unbelievable, right? We did some traditional Akan dances and I guess I finally realized that who cares what people think? If everyone else is dancing with you, it isn't so bad. That's not to say that I like dancing now, because I still don't, but at least I'm a little more comfortable with it if I have to dance. One of the orientation leaders who's my unofficial big sister, Mina, gave me a D for my performance. Guess I'd have to do better than that.
Afterwards, we got dinner and returned to our room, where I contacted family and friends to let them know I was safe. Then I went with some other people to check out the night market, which is basically a bunch of stalls near the International Students Hostel (ISH) that sells all sorts of things, from food to bug sprays. On the way back, we were walking through complete darkness since the campus doesn't have a lot of lights and I couldn't tell where I was going. As a result, I ended up falling into a gutter.
The gutters here aren't like back home where it's just a small depression on the side of the road. Over here, they're actually ditches, like two feet deep, sometimes even more. So when I fell in the gutter, I got a pretty bad wound on my left leg just below my knee, and my friends had to place their arms around me to support me as we walked back. My friend helped apply some rubbing alcohol and clean off the blood that had dripped down my leg and I put some Neosporin and a band-aid over it. I guess that was a pretty good introduction to the infrastructure here in Ghana.
7/30
Another relatively calm day. At this point, the schedule is starting to become repetitive: breakfast, lectures, lunch, more lectures, dance class, dinner. And that precisely what happened today. We did, however, have our first unofficial lesson in Twi, one of the main languages and most widely spoken one here in Ghana. It wasn't anything too serious, the professor mostly went over the history and syntax of the language. Afterwards, we went with our orientation leaders around campus to buy ingredients to make palaver sauce, which is basically green leaves, egg pieces and veggies thrown together into a stew and eaten with steamed yams. It's become one of my favorite foods here in Ghana, not only because its vegetarian, but also because it's really, really good.
Making the palaver sauce actually took longer than expected so we were able to rest for a little bit before dance class. Dance class was especially interesting for me personally that day. The instructor first split us up into three groups: singing, drumming and another group that did something similar to drumming but I forgot what exactly. It's okay though, it's not that important. Anyway, I went to the singing group and the instructor taught us this song where once he would say this special word (I think it was something like bombasa), one of us would have to give out an African country. Of course, knowing my geography pretty well, I gave it a shot and was able to rattle off around 20 countries before I couldn't think of any more in time. But this made him genuinely impressed and we kept having a go at it as well as singing other songs. He said this was all in preparation for a "big" performance tomorrow where he had invited around 200 people, but we all could tell he was joking. Thankfully, my moment of glory also caught the eye of Mina, who gave me a B+ for the day. I honestly would have taken that for dancing and left but I decided I might as well go for the A tomorrow, especially since it would be the last dance class. Also, my leg didn't really hinder me while I was dancing, which I thought was a good sign.
7/31
Same old, same old. Breakfast, lectures and lunch. The theme today was the development in Ghana and how even though Ghana is dependent on aid, Ghana still remains in debt because other countries such as the US and China continue to exploit the resources that Ghana has. It was a little complicated to understand and I could probably do a better job at explaining this but I'll come back to that another time. However one of the other things we learned was that even though Ghana has roads and schools and clean water, it's still classified as a developing country because it isn't as good as the West. It should be emphasized here that while poverty does exist in Ghana, that doesn't mean everyone is poor and all the children are hungry and malnourished. It's not the stereotypical Africa that we hear about when we watch The Lion King or Tarzan, or those commercials that keep featuring beady-eyed African children begging for food. Ghana and Africa can't be used interchangeably because Ghana is totally different from the whole entire continent of Africa. I've said earlier that Ghana is essentially like India, and when we think of India, we think of this big, prosperous country that's supposedly rising into a world power. That's not the same for Ghana though, and that's only because Ghana's economy isn't as diverse as India's. But in terms of internal development, I could make a case saying that Ghana is on par with India, or even China.
Anyway, after all the lectures we again had a little break before our last dance class. We danced, I did my country singing thing in front of everyone, and we all had a great final day. Everyone was sad that dance class was ending but I was secretly glad that we wouldn't have to dance anymore. It was fun and I learned that it doesn't matter what other people think of your dancing because everyone else is doing it and there really isn't a "right" way to dance, but it just wasn't my thing.
8/1
Looking back at this day, I don't really understand why we had to go to some random house in the outskirts of the city to learn the same things that we had been learning the past few days. We had to dress formally and be ready by 7:30 to leave and once we got there, we ate some breakfast before going inside the house where we sat at this conference table and began getting lectured again. The lectures went on for quite a while, until 4 o'clock I think. I took notes but as the lectures went on I slowly began losing interesting and started doodling on my papers, constantly wondering when lunch would be.
Afterwards we came back to International Programmes Office (IPO) where the program coordinators gave us some fake Ghanaian money (cedis) and we "purchased" some of the items that former students had left over for us. At that time, my priority was getting a bucket so I could shower without having to borrow other people's buckets, so I got that and a plate and bowl for food. Once that was over with, we came back to our original rooms in Volta and packed our things to finally move into our permanent rooms. During the application process, we had three choices of where to live: ISH, Volta Hall (girls only) and Legon Hall (boys only). At first, I applied for ISH but at the recommendation of my brother, I changed my housing to Legon Hall. I was totally fine with it too because I would be rooming with another UC/CSU student and we would be living amongst other Ghanians, so it would be a good experience. Also, from looking at the campus map, Legon Hall was more centrally located in campus compared to ISH, which was way off to the side.
When I got to Legon, the first thing we had to do was carry our belongings up four flights of stairs because our room was on the fourth floor, so that was pretty exhausting. But we got to our room and immediately my roommate and I threw our stuff on the bed and lied down to rest. The room was pretty nice at first glance. It was big and spacious with a balcony that had a nice view of campus. But the walls were dirty and the paint was chipping off in some places and there was an abundance of little critters like ants and lizards. That part didn't bother me though because I knew they wouldn't really get in our way. The only real problem though was the bathrooms.
I went over to take a look and the first thing that hit me when I walked in was the smell. It smelled so bad to the point where I had to hold my breath as I walked past the stalls. I then realized it was smelling because the toilets couldn't flush, so there was still human excrement sitting in the toilets. I guess this is what my brother meant when he said I would be squatting a lot. The other thing I realized was that the shower stalls had no shower curtains. This stressed me out a little bit because I was not used to showering without privacy but as I'm writing this four weeks later, it really isn't a big deal. Maybe it's because the other students haven't moved in yet but if they're all doing it, then there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. I just had to suck it up and realize that this is what I signed up for. Other than that, the bathrooms had a lot of sinks, toilets and stalls so it didn't seem like I would need to wait for something to open up in the mornings.
Afterwards, I got ready and went out to meet with the group for dinner, where we talked about our new rooms and when we came back, I decided to shower just to get a feel for showering in those stalls. The water was extremely cold (colder than those ice bucket challenges) but it felt good after a long and warm day. Another thing I realized was that our building didn't have any wi-fi, so if I needed Internet, I would have to go out and get it. This didn't bother me much because I didn't have my laptop but it would be nice to be able to lie in bed in the mornings and check whats going on in the world on my phone.
8/2
Today was a pretty cool day. We got breakfast back in Volta and went on the bus to tour around Accra. Accra could be said to have "turned it's back to the sea" because it doesn't really take advantage of its seaside location. I read somewhere that the water is too shallow to have any ports so maybe that's why. But it's not like Los Angeles where you have a lot of development and fancy beach houses along the coast. In Accra, it's mostly poor fishing communities that are along the coast. I'll write down the places we visited and give a short description of each.
8/3
We were supposed to go to the beach but since it had rained pretty heavily last night and into the morning, I didn't think we were going. I was wrong. We left for Bojo Beach, which is this private beach resort just on the outskirts of Accra. Of course, I was wearing jeans and a shirt, so I ended up rolling the bottom of my pants up and just dipping my feet in the water. It got worse when all I had for lunch was fries and salad because I couldn't eat the rest of the food since it had meat. Being a vegetarian in Ghana hasn't been too bad since IPO does a good job of catering specifically to our needs, but on my own, it's been difficult. You really have to specify that you don't want meat or fish in your food, because fish isn't considered to be meat in Ghana. But I'm surviving so it's not like I'm starving! Later on we played volleyball for a long time which was a lot of fun. It got me thinking about trying to join one of the sports teams on campus, either for volleyball or basketball. I'd have to look in to that later.
We came back to campus and had dinner at IPO. Then, there was an optional movie we could watch and I decided to stay since I had nothing else to do and I didn't think I had seen the movie. It was called 12 Years a Slave, and it turns out, I actually had seen it. Once the movie was over, the mood in the room was very quiet and it soon became emotionally charged when people started discussing the movie. Some people had broken down crying and others were at a loss of words. I personally felt somber and quiet but not as bad as the others. We discussed the film and how slavery has impacted all of us, even if we aren't directly connected to it for another two hours because a lot of us really had a lot to say, especially the African Americans in our group. It certainly set the tone for next week, when we would be visiting the slave castles in Elmina, a former trading post set up by the Portuguese.
Again, sorry this was super long and late, but I really had a lot to write about and little time to write it. I still have a lot more to say for the other weeks so hopefully I can get on those posts soon, but this should keep you all satisfied for now. Please feel free to ask me questions or give me feedback on my stories or writing style, I appreciate it!
I've had free days earlier but things always seem to pop up and I only end up getting a paragraph in. Like earlier this week on Tuesday, I was free all day but it started raining heavily and the power in the computer lab went out. Good thing my work got saved. But here's week 1!
7/26
Day of departure! Some of my friends and I went out to Denny's as a last meal kind of thing before I left, which was sweet. My dad and sister dropped me off at the airport, goodbyes were said, and I watched from the security check line as they both began to walk away. I was finally on my own. I breezed through security in a few minutes, thankful that I was traveling light and that I had tons of experience going through airports. I got to the main terminal and I have to say, the international terminal at LAX looks really nice now. I was impressed with all these high-end shops and restaurants and artwork, and walked around the terminal gaping most of the time. I decided to head over to the gate and immediately found two other people I remembered meeting from the orientation in Santa Cruz. We chatted a bit about why we were going to Ghana, what we were excited about, and gradually more and more people came and sat with us. It was nice to run into people in the group right off the bat so I could make friends even before I got to Ghana.
There isn't really much to talk about during the first flight from LA to Frankfurt since it was pretty standard in my case: no sleep, funky tasting food, and a large person seated next to me who was encroaching in my space. Once at Frankfurt, we ran into the other group flying from San Francisco and walked over to the next gate with them. Our layover there was about 3 hours so most of us got some coffee and used the wi-fi that was in the terminal. On the flight from Frankfurt to Accra, I was sitting next to a Ghanaian from Tennessee who was returning home to visit his family. We began chatting and he gave me a lot of advice about the food, people, things to see, even bargaining tips. Afterwards, he said that if he didn't have a broken arm, he would have loved to take us around Accra. This kind gesture caught me off guard at first because here was a guy I had barely just met on a plane and he was already offering to show me around. Little did I know, it would be the first of many offerings from Ghanians to show me around and help get me acclimated to Ghana.
7/27
We landed in Accra sometime at night and the moment I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and took one deep breath, I felt like I was in India. I smelled some combination of burning ash and gasoline that I honestly loved smelling whenever I was back in the motherland. I made my way through customs, found my baggage, and went outside with the group to find the orientation leaders waiting for us. They took us to the parking lot where we loaded our things onto the bus and drove off to campus.
I don't recall much from that ride since it was dark outside and I was pretty exhausted from some 17 hours of flying but when we got to campus, we unloaded our stuff into our temporary rooms in Volta Hall (we had been assigned to live in the all-girls dorms before moving to our permanent rooms). The room consisted of two parts. One part had two beds and two cabinets with a sink in the middle and the other part was were the desks were. My temporary roommate and I set up our things and went to the dining hall where we were introduced to the program staff, ate dinner (pizza and salad) and played several icebreaker games before finally going off to bed.
7/28
Breakfast was served in the dining hall at nine and after that, we went back on the bus for a tour around campus. The campus reminds me a lot of UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis mixed together. It has the greenery and abundance of wild animals of Santa Cruz with the flatness and size of Davis. The program coordinators showed us the buildings on campus as well as the gym and offices we needed to know. We also saw some of the restaurants on campus where we could get food. The school doesn't have traditional dining halls like back in the states where you swipe your ID card and you're in, so we either have to buy our own food or cook it.
Afterwards, we went to the Accra Mall which is a brand new mall that just opened only two or three years ago. It wasn't as big as the malls back home but it still had the same types of stores you would find in any other mall. There, we were able to exchange our American dollars for Ghanaian cedis and bought new phones and SIM cards so we would have Ghanaian phone numbers. I didn't need to do the latter part because I had bought an international SIM card from T-Mobile and I was also able to keep an American number. While the number works here, it has caused some problems with some of the locals here because they don't believe it works or they think I'm too cool to get a Ghanaian number and just have to keep my American number.
We went back to campus where we were able to rest for an hour, and then it was time for our first dance class. Most of you should know that I am not a dancer at all, but I tried to keep an open mind when I got to the studio and remain positive. Well, it didn't really work. That first day was so bad for me because I was still getting acclimated to the time change and I just wasn't into it. I think the instructor noticed this because he kept giving me weird looks while I was dancing and I tried my best to shrug it off.
We finally ended session an hour and a half later, went to eat dinner, and return to our rooms where I immediately went to bed, dreading the next three dance classes.
7/29
This day was a pretty calm day overall. Breakfast was slightly earlier at 8:30 and after that, we sat through lectures that discussed culture shock, challenges living in Ghana and the differences between American and Ghanaian values. A lot of Ghanaian values such as always using your right hand and addressing elders as auntie or uncle wasn't new for me because it was the same thing in Indian culture. In fact, being in Ghana has been like being in India: the smells, the giant crowds of people, the chaotic markets, the congested roads where traffic laws don't exist and drivers don't stop for pedestrians, the random animals running around the streets, the prevalent poverty and so much more.
The people treat us kindly for the most part and are interested in our backgrounds, but as foreigners, or as they like to call us, obronis, we are subject to special treatment because we are seen as rich and successful. Often times we get requests to take people back to America, so extreme to the point where some of the women in our group have gotten marriage proposals and countless amounts of phone numbers. Even I've gotten a few proposals to take people back to America (from guys, sadly), but I just laugh it off and say, "Maybe one day." Sometimes it's a hassle being the obroni because we have to convince the locals that we aren't made out of money, especially when it comes to bargaining for a taxi or for crafts. But it's understandable, because if we can afford to spend around $2000 to come to Ghana, why wouldn't we be able to pay a little extra?
After the lectures, we went to another smaller mall right across campus where we ate lunch and did a little shopping. I should've paid more attention to the prices there because when I bought my electric stove from there a few weeks later for 90 cedis (around $28), I found cheaper ones that had two stoves on them for 50 cedis (around $15) at other marts. You live and you learn, I guess.
Anyway, we returned and had another rest period for 2 hours, which is when I walked around campus with some other people from the group. We didn't stray that far because we had no idea where we were going still but it was nice to get a little feel for the campus and the surroundings. Afterwards, it was time for dance class again, and I'm proud to report that I actually had fun dancing! Unbelievable, right? We did some traditional Akan dances and I guess I finally realized that who cares what people think? If everyone else is dancing with you, it isn't so bad. That's not to say that I like dancing now, because I still don't, but at least I'm a little more comfortable with it if I have to dance. One of the orientation leaders who's my unofficial big sister, Mina, gave me a D for my performance. Guess I'd have to do better than that.
Afterwards, we got dinner and returned to our room, where I contacted family and friends to let them know I was safe. Then I went with some other people to check out the night market, which is basically a bunch of stalls near the International Students Hostel (ISH) that sells all sorts of things, from food to bug sprays. On the way back, we were walking through complete darkness since the campus doesn't have a lot of lights and I couldn't tell where I was going. As a result, I ended up falling into a gutter.
The gutters here aren't like back home where it's just a small depression on the side of the road. Over here, they're actually ditches, like two feet deep, sometimes even more. So when I fell in the gutter, I got a pretty bad wound on my left leg just below my knee, and my friends had to place their arms around me to support me as we walked back. My friend helped apply some rubbing alcohol and clean off the blood that had dripped down my leg and I put some Neosporin and a band-aid over it. I guess that was a pretty good introduction to the infrastructure here in Ghana.
7/30
Another relatively calm day. At this point, the schedule is starting to become repetitive: breakfast, lectures, lunch, more lectures, dance class, dinner. And that precisely what happened today. We did, however, have our first unofficial lesson in Twi, one of the main languages and most widely spoken one here in Ghana. It wasn't anything too serious, the professor mostly went over the history and syntax of the language. Afterwards, we went with our orientation leaders around campus to buy ingredients to make palaver sauce, which is basically green leaves, egg pieces and veggies thrown together into a stew and eaten with steamed yams. It's become one of my favorite foods here in Ghana, not only because its vegetarian, but also because it's really, really good.
Making the palaver sauce actually took longer than expected so we were able to rest for a little bit before dance class. Dance class was especially interesting for me personally that day. The instructor first split us up into three groups: singing, drumming and another group that did something similar to drumming but I forgot what exactly. It's okay though, it's not that important. Anyway, I went to the singing group and the instructor taught us this song where once he would say this special word (I think it was something like bombasa), one of us would have to give out an African country. Of course, knowing my geography pretty well, I gave it a shot and was able to rattle off around 20 countries before I couldn't think of any more in time. But this made him genuinely impressed and we kept having a go at it as well as singing other songs. He said this was all in preparation for a "big" performance tomorrow where he had invited around 200 people, but we all could tell he was joking. Thankfully, my moment of glory also caught the eye of Mina, who gave me a B+ for the day. I honestly would have taken that for dancing and left but I decided I might as well go for the A tomorrow, especially since it would be the last dance class. Also, my leg didn't really hinder me while I was dancing, which I thought was a good sign.
7/31
Same old, same old. Breakfast, lectures and lunch. The theme today was the development in Ghana and how even though Ghana is dependent on aid, Ghana still remains in debt because other countries such as the US and China continue to exploit the resources that Ghana has. It was a little complicated to understand and I could probably do a better job at explaining this but I'll come back to that another time. However one of the other things we learned was that even though Ghana has roads and schools and clean water, it's still classified as a developing country because it isn't as good as the West. It should be emphasized here that while poverty does exist in Ghana, that doesn't mean everyone is poor and all the children are hungry and malnourished. It's not the stereotypical Africa that we hear about when we watch The Lion King or Tarzan, or those commercials that keep featuring beady-eyed African children begging for food. Ghana and Africa can't be used interchangeably because Ghana is totally different from the whole entire continent of Africa. I've said earlier that Ghana is essentially like India, and when we think of India, we think of this big, prosperous country that's supposedly rising into a world power. That's not the same for Ghana though, and that's only because Ghana's economy isn't as diverse as India's. But in terms of internal development, I could make a case saying that Ghana is on par with India, or even China.
Anyway, after all the lectures we again had a little break before our last dance class. We danced, I did my country singing thing in front of everyone, and we all had a great final day. Everyone was sad that dance class was ending but I was secretly glad that we wouldn't have to dance anymore. It was fun and I learned that it doesn't matter what other people think of your dancing because everyone else is doing it and there really isn't a "right" way to dance, but it just wasn't my thing.
8/1
Looking back at this day, I don't really understand why we had to go to some random house in the outskirts of the city to learn the same things that we had been learning the past few days. We had to dress formally and be ready by 7:30 to leave and once we got there, we ate some breakfast before going inside the house where we sat at this conference table and began getting lectured again. The lectures went on for quite a while, until 4 o'clock I think. I took notes but as the lectures went on I slowly began losing interesting and started doodling on my papers, constantly wondering when lunch would be.
Afterwards we came back to International Programmes Office (IPO) where the program coordinators gave us some fake Ghanaian money (cedis) and we "purchased" some of the items that former students had left over for us. At that time, my priority was getting a bucket so I could shower without having to borrow other people's buckets, so I got that and a plate and bowl for food. Once that was over with, we came back to our original rooms in Volta and packed our things to finally move into our permanent rooms. During the application process, we had three choices of where to live: ISH, Volta Hall (girls only) and Legon Hall (boys only). At first, I applied for ISH but at the recommendation of my brother, I changed my housing to Legon Hall. I was totally fine with it too because I would be rooming with another UC/CSU student and we would be living amongst other Ghanians, so it would be a good experience. Also, from looking at the campus map, Legon Hall was more centrally located in campus compared to ISH, which was way off to the side.
When I got to Legon, the first thing we had to do was carry our belongings up four flights of stairs because our room was on the fourth floor, so that was pretty exhausting. But we got to our room and immediately my roommate and I threw our stuff on the bed and lied down to rest. The room was pretty nice at first glance. It was big and spacious with a balcony that had a nice view of campus. But the walls were dirty and the paint was chipping off in some places and there was an abundance of little critters like ants and lizards. That part didn't bother me though because I knew they wouldn't really get in our way. The only real problem though was the bathrooms.
I went over to take a look and the first thing that hit me when I walked in was the smell. It smelled so bad to the point where I had to hold my breath as I walked past the stalls. I then realized it was smelling because the toilets couldn't flush, so there was still human excrement sitting in the toilets. I guess this is what my brother meant when he said I would be squatting a lot. The other thing I realized was that the shower stalls had no shower curtains. This stressed me out a little bit because I was not used to showering without privacy but as I'm writing this four weeks later, it really isn't a big deal. Maybe it's because the other students haven't moved in yet but if they're all doing it, then there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. I just had to suck it up and realize that this is what I signed up for. Other than that, the bathrooms had a lot of sinks, toilets and stalls so it didn't seem like I would need to wait for something to open up in the mornings.
Afterwards, I got ready and went out to meet with the group for dinner, where we talked about our new rooms and when we came back, I decided to shower just to get a feel for showering in those stalls. The water was extremely cold (colder than those ice bucket challenges) but it felt good after a long and warm day. Another thing I realized was that our building didn't have any wi-fi, so if I needed Internet, I would have to go out and get it. This didn't bother me much because I didn't have my laptop but it would be nice to be able to lie in bed in the mornings and check whats going on in the world on my phone.
8/2
Today was a pretty cool day. We got breakfast back in Volta and went on the bus to tour around Accra. Accra could be said to have "turned it's back to the sea" because it doesn't really take advantage of its seaside location. I read somewhere that the water is too shallow to have any ports so maybe that's why. But it's not like Los Angeles where you have a lot of development and fancy beach houses along the coast. In Accra, it's mostly poor fishing communities that are along the coast. I'll write down the places we visited and give a short description of each.
- 37th - Basically a vegetable market along the main road that is popular with foreigners because they have vegetables you wouldn't normally find anywhere else such as avocados, cauliflower, chili peppers and more. I forgot why it's called 37th though.
- Du Bois Center - WEB Du Bois' house transformed into a museum. We had to pay to get a full tour so we just stood around and took pictures outside the building.
- US Embassy - We didn't go inside the embassy, the bus just drove past it so we knew where it was. But there were signs on the back side saying "NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED" and one of the security guards stopped us because he claimed that one of us sitting in the back side of the bus took a picture. I was sitting in the back but he said someone with a large camera supposedly took a photo so I was excused to go. He ended up taking two people with him inside the embassy where they had to show him proof that they didn't take any pictures or video. It was all a strange ordeal. When the two people came back, the group gave them a round of applause for getting in trouble I guess.
- Independence Square - This is the world's second largest public square, behind China's Tiananmen Square. It's the host of a lot of national events, such as independence day. There's also this imposing arch called the Independence Arch which is pretty much similar to the Arc de Triomphe.
- Jamestown - Jamestown is the oldest community in Accra. There's a big market there where the vendors are super aggressive in trying to get you to buy something. They'll grab your arm, pull you to their shop, ask you where you're from and all that so you really have to be on guard sometimes. I ended up buying a Ghana FIFA jersey with a little bargaining of course. One guy dragged me over to his drum shop where he made drums and kept showing me different ones and having me play them a little. I was in a hurry to leave because we only had 10 minutes in that market and I knew I was going over. When I did get my chance to leave, I couldn't find the bus or anyone from my group anywhere and I guess I made my panic too visible because the vendors began closing in on me. But thankfully, one of the orientation leaders came back and pulled me away from them, and the bus was standing not too far from where it had dropped us off. I came back on the bus to another round applause from the rest of the group.
- Artist Alliance - This was an art museum in Jamestown that had a lot of paintings and sculptures for sale at ridiculous prices. I guess this was more for show than for actually doing some shopping.
- Kwame Nkrumah Masoleum - A memorial to Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana. Outside the memorial were two pools with statues and at the center was a giant statue of him. Inside was his tomb, along with his wife's.There was also a museum that had pictures and artifacts documenting his life.
8/3
We were supposed to go to the beach but since it had rained pretty heavily last night and into the morning, I didn't think we were going. I was wrong. We left for Bojo Beach, which is this private beach resort just on the outskirts of Accra. Of course, I was wearing jeans and a shirt, so I ended up rolling the bottom of my pants up and just dipping my feet in the water. It got worse when all I had for lunch was fries and salad because I couldn't eat the rest of the food since it had meat. Being a vegetarian in Ghana hasn't been too bad since IPO does a good job of catering specifically to our needs, but on my own, it's been difficult. You really have to specify that you don't want meat or fish in your food, because fish isn't considered to be meat in Ghana. But I'm surviving so it's not like I'm starving! Later on we played volleyball for a long time which was a lot of fun. It got me thinking about trying to join one of the sports teams on campus, either for volleyball or basketball. I'd have to look in to that later.
We came back to campus and had dinner at IPO. Then, there was an optional movie we could watch and I decided to stay since I had nothing else to do and I didn't think I had seen the movie. It was called 12 Years a Slave, and it turns out, I actually had seen it. Once the movie was over, the mood in the room was very quiet and it soon became emotionally charged when people started discussing the movie. Some people had broken down crying and others were at a loss of words. I personally felt somber and quiet but not as bad as the others. We discussed the film and how slavery has impacted all of us, even if we aren't directly connected to it for another two hours because a lot of us really had a lot to say, especially the African Americans in our group. It certainly set the tone for next week, when we would be visiting the slave castles in Elmina, a former trading post set up by the Portuguese.
Again, sorry this was super long and late, but I really had a lot to write about and little time to write it. I still have a lot more to say for the other weeks so hopefully I can get on those posts soon, but this should keep you all satisfied for now. Please feel free to ask me questions or give me feedback on my stories or writing style, I appreciate it!
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