It's about time...

Wow. First off, I'd like to comment on the hideous color scheme of this blog. It shows up as a soft, dull yellow on my laptop. I turned on the PC when I got home and I was immediately blinded by the sun. So much for my attempts at being patriotic.

I've suddenly become inspired to blog while reading a book called "The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi" by Salam Pax. He's an Iraqi blogger who got a lot of attention for his civilian, insightful blog during/after the Iraq invasion in 2003. It's really good and very eye-opening. He's an awesome writer and his humor/wit cracks me up. Read it!

So it's been almost three weeks since I've been back to America and already my time in Ghana seems like a distant dream. It's been weird being back, with pretty big culture shock. I walked into Walgreens on day two to make a quick bathroom run and was on one hand completely shocked by the accessibility of alllll this stuff neatly categorized in aisles, with set price tags, with such a variety to choose from, all the while being absolutely appalled by the prices. I think I was in Ghana Cedi currency for the first two weeks and refused to make many purchases, and if I did i couldn't do it without cringing a little inside.

It's nice to walk around invisibly. And man, coming home to mom's home-cooked meal was awesome. I'm still getting over all the nice cars on the road and all the iphones, ipads, ipods, i-whatever they have now. It also took me a few days to get over the left-hand rule. It's culturally disrespectful to receive or give items with your left hand because it's the "defiled" hand. I went to Kaiser when I got back and was signing a few forms and just before I had time to transfer my form from my left to my right, the receptionist took it from my left and I went "o! sorry..." pause. hm. inteeerrresssting...

Crossing the street has been a treat. In Ghana, (and in many other countries it turns out) pedestrians don't have right of way. It's like the live version of Frogger. Cross the street, if you dare. I walked out of 99 Ranch and just stood on the side of the road waiting for all the cars to pass before I deemed it safe to cross. Now imagine this: cars STOPPED! After you. No no, after you. Really, i insist. Well, alright.

It was so nice coming home. Minus the really cold weather that welcomed me back. "This is warm! It's pretty warm, really." Please. Now that the sun's out and shining you all are running for cover while i'm outside in the middle of the day helping the parental units tame some wild daisy bushes hardly breaking a sweat. hah. take that California.

Roi came back too. She spent a month in Guatemala and then some more time in Mexico. And my dad just returned from a trip to China. Ema is back from Italy as well, so it's been really cool having loads to share and loads to learn about other cultures.

Ah. inspiration depleted.

I love you, i hate you

Two posts in one day (Just cause it'll be my last chance to post before I leave). I'll continue posting when I get back to provide links to uploaded photos and maybe a blog or two about my transition back to America. A few friends and I complied a brief (and not at all complete) list of things we will miss and things we won't miss about Ghana:

I WILL MISS:

1. Ghanaian hospitality/friendliness

If you come to Ghana, you will be floored by Ghanaian hospitality. It is remarkable. They welcome you with open arms and are so pleased you chose to come visit and learn about their culture. Their generosity makes the transition period much easier.

2. Banku

I'll try to find a recipe for banku and stew. Yum yum.

3. Being a goddess

(I am personally unsure of whether or not I will miss it. This one is Ashley's point.) Non-black people are pretty idiolised here. People definitely treat you differently because of your lighter skin color.

4. Seamstresses

I will miss having easy access to talented, affordable, and accessible seamstresses. Two seamstresses come regularly about twice a week to ISH and there are seamstresses at all the markets who can custom make anything you want. It's pretty sweet.

5. The vivid culture

Ghanaians are so proud of their culture and roots. And they have every reason to be. I've definitely learned a lot from them about their culture and also learned to really value and appreciate my own.

6. Sense of community

Ghanaians are peaceful people and have a strong sense of community. They see people as their brothers and sisters. They have each other's backs even if they are strangers to one another. It's something I highly admire and will miss terribly when i get back home to America, where people are independent minded and have the pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps mentality.

7. Trotros

8. Cheap goods

9. The ease of traveling

10.Fanice

This is a popular brand of icecream. You buy them in small sachets and they can be found anywhere on the streets. SOO delicious.

11. Alvaro

This is equivalent to my Manzana Lift craze from Mexico. It's a fruit flavored soda. YUMM! my new favorite drink.

12. Laid back-ness

I think I've gotten way more laid back since I left America. Everyone here is so easy going and chill.

13. Freshness of foods

14. Drinking out of bags

After a month of buying bottled water, all the Obruni's switched to the common way of drinking water - out of plastic sachet bags!

15. Professors

16. Ghanaian music

17. Safety

Ghana is extremely safe. I can walk outside by myself at night and feel completely safe and comfortable. There's little to worry about rape, assault, and the sort, like in the States. The only thing one has to watch out for is getting robbed. Even still, Ghanaians have an extreme disgust for stealing. They will chase after a robber and beat him to the point of death if authorities do not interfere in time. A few of my friends have even witnessed this. It is so heavily looked down upon.

18. Free time

19. Thunderstorms

20. Hawkers

So convenient to have hawkers. You can do all your shopping from a tro-tro/car. And it's so cool how they carry everything on their heads!

21. Twi

I'll miss Twi and Pigeon English! And Ghanaian slang, which I AM bringing back to the States.

I WON"T MISS:

1. Open sewers

2. Absence of toilet paper in most bathrooms

Always remember to carry some tp on you.

3. Ghanaian creepy men

4. Mosquitos

5. Fufu

Like Banku, but without flavor, and is not as sticky. Most people love it. I'm not one of them.

6. The heat

7. Getting onto tro-tros

8. Taxi drivers

9. Bargaining for everything

10. Unpaved roads

11. Skin color-based attention

12. Unpunctuality

One disadvantage to ghanaian's laid-back manner is their tendency to be late. It's instilled a horrible habit in me! =P Hopefully I didn't get too affected by this.

13. Chicken and rice meals

14. Lack of food variety

15. Cheesy American pop/country

16. Ghanaian education system

They like to call it "Chew and pull." Basically cram everything in your head before finals and then spit it out during exams. Contrary to American's system of critical thinking-based learning.

17. Patriarchal society

18. Age-based respect

(Another one of Ashley's. I for one don't mind it as I feel Chinese culture is like this as well). There is a lot of mannerisms when it comes to age. You must respect your elders, even if you don't agree with on issues.

19. Not being able to walk around barefoot at home

(This is Jean's. It's so dusty that it's better to just wear shoes inside the room. Although Glenda and I had a no-shoes policy and we swept regularly, our feet still got dirty.)

20. Ants!

21. Lack of customer service

In America, customer service is highly valued. Not so much a concern here. You'll still receive it of course. But it's not a high determining factor for how business performs.

OK. signing off folks. It's been AMAZING. Thank you for following my adventures (stay tuned for pictures). I had such a blessed opportunity. I will never forget my time here. I will definitely come back in the future. If you guys get the chance, please visit Ghana. It is a beautiful country.

See you on the other side. =)

Fulfilling some promises

Alright. So i remembered I said i'd update you on all my classes. So i wanna at least fulfill one promise I made on blogger. =P Just a brief update on my other two classes I took.

SOWK: Working with persons living with HIV/AIDS

This class was my favorite class at the beginning of the semester. The professor didn't appear to be the typical Ghanaian professor, focusing merely on dictation method. She engaged with students and encouraged a lot of discussion and brought up very interesting issues related to HIV/AIDS. We even visited an HIV/AIDS home for a class field trip and got to talk with victims about their experiences. After about a month and a half, the class sorta died, and she started giving us random ridiculous busy work, and pointless class presentations that would take up all of lecture time. I was pretty disappointed.

SOWK: Women's and Children's Rights and Protection

I took this course just for the heck of it. The first couple weeks were please-shoot-me-in-the-head boring. The lecturer has the most monotonous voice and simply read us the Ghanaian Constitution word for word for 2 hours a week. =P But then we got into some VERY heavy issues. Out of all my classes, I think i learned the most about Ghanaian culture in this one. A LOT of very heated gender debates. I was so surprised by what the men in the class were so willing to say. They probably would never get away saying it in America. Stuff like, women set themselves up for rape, guys need sex, guys can't handle a woman being more successful in work and education than them and get jealous or angry, how women are expected to do domestic chores, how it is socially acceptable for men to have multiple partners, even in marriage, but women can be severely punished/stigmatized if they did the same, etc. I understood coming to Ghana that it is a patriarchal society, and i definitely see and hear about it everywhere I go here. It's very apparent. Like at the night market, all the food stalls are run by women. But the BBQ, media, and shoe repair shops are run by males. All taxi and tro-tro drivers are males. The night market is FULL of male customers. Probably 90% male to 10% females. The reason being, most Ghanaian men don't know how to cook. And all the women are in their rooms cooking their own dinners. But anyway...this class gave me even more insight to all these gender-related issues, and I got to hear it straight from a male mouths. I know, half of you guys are probably think I'm crazy for taking this class, being a femi-nazi and all. That's why i had to go to class with a bag of plantain chips to munch on, so to prevent myself from saying something stupid/offensive in class. I was so grateful for a lecture on feminism, where an empowering guest lecturer seriously challenged the men in our class about gender expectations in the society. Ghana is modernizing fast. More women are getting educated and getting jobs. How are they expected to continue carrying out traditional roles while doing everything else? It'll be interesting to see the change. Of course not all men are crazy dominant and controlling and believe all those things i talked about and not all women here are submissive and dependent on men. Most educated women challenge the system. I wish i could write more about this. I have SO much to say and i've had so many analytical discussion figuring all this out. I'd love to talk more with you about it. So call me up and we'll chat over a meal or somethin. =)

Anyway, on top of all the gender discussions, i learned a lot about some of the issues women and children (mostly in the rural areas) in Ghana deal with. Things such as trokosi (where a virgin girl is sent to a shrine for a lifetime of servitude to atone for a family sin), witchcraft (In certain northern regions, the belief of witchcraft is highly prevalent. Elder women are falsely accused of witchcraft and are exiled to witch camps), child betrothals, female genital mutilation, etc. So interesting. All these things are banned according to the constitution of course. As they are old traditions, it's still slowly being controlled and phased out in certain areas.

Aren't you guys proud I survived in a patriarchal society without getting myself in too much trouble? =P Although gender equality hasn't been perfected in America, I do appreciate how far it's come.

T-minus three days

Whirlwind fury! Glenda left yesterday. It was pretty heartbreaking seeing her off at the airport. Two more girls left today. It'll be my turn soon! I've already started packing. In the mean time...

I went to Reggae Night yesterday on the beach. I enjoyed it very much. It was very Berkeley, with the hippie Rastas, live reggae music, and peace and love. It was a super nice night out on the beach, complete with a cool breeze. Funny, one Ghanaian rasta came up to me and thought I would be cold saying "Oh! Sorry oo. You didn't bring somethin heavy." HAH...brotha. i'm from California. This is perfect weather for t-shirt and shorts. There was a beautiful lightening storm later on, forcing us all to go home. I could use some more beach before I go.

Ghanaian Men

My friends and I have decided to collaborate on blog entries. The following is written by Ashley.

"So one of the biggest things I deal with here in Ghana is men. Due to my looking like a stereotypical white American lady (I’m half Filipino but no one believes me) I get a lot of attention and to be honest its really annoying. Anywhere I am it could happen. Sitting on a tro tro a guy can sit next to me and it always starts the same, “I like/love you” then something along the lines of, “you will be my wife/I am going to marry you.” Excuse me? Don’t you need to know a girl’s name first? Or one of my favorites, “Obruni! Obruni! I will marry you someday!” Well send the place, time and date to me via e-mail (because you are not getting my phone number and calling incessantly at odd hours) and I shall show up in a wedding dress.

One thing I have learned in Ghana is that even though most Americans couldn’t point out Ghana on a map Ghanaians idolize America. They want to get there so bad but visas are hard to acquire so marrying into America is another valid option, on top of this having a white wife/girlfriend is a status symbol.
“Know what? Ok. I will marry you. Even though you are only using me for my skin color and citizenship, there is no way you can find a job that can support us as a family so we will probably rely on my paycheck. There is a good chance you will cheat on me a beat me because that is common among Ghanaian men. BUT, I heard black men are ‘big’ so yes. I will marry you and you can come to America and we shall have pretty little multiracial children.” If I said that to the next Ghanaian man who proposes I wonder how he will react.
I should make it clear, not all Ghanaian men are like this. I have plenty of Ghanaian friends who are guys that haven’t asked me to marry them (…at least seriously…). And the thing about beating/cheating, it is more common here then it is in America but like in America there are good guys and bad guys. The good Ghanaian men are just as extreme as the annoying ones. Some guys I have come across only want to help. You ask them where the internet café is and not only will they tell you but they will take you there too with no expectation of reward. They are respectful, sweet, and usually the ones you want to give your number to (even though you don’t get an opportunity). I am amazed constantly at the helpfulness of both Ghanaian men and women that you just don’t see often in America.
The last thing I have to say about Ghanaian men is there version of masculinity. Men hold hands here are with other men and I have seen guys wear what I think is girly print or cuts. [Joy's insert: But it's not considered gay, as an American would probably automatically assume. In fact, male homosexuality is illegal.] From the relationships I have seen (with both American and Ghanaian women) they tend to be chauvinistic and controlling. On the other hand they are overly romantic in what most Americans see as a cheesy way. It’s all interesting.
All I know is if one more guy asks me to marry them I am telling them I am a infertile lesbian. Maybe it will work?"

Less than a week!

Ugh. I cannot believe I will be leaving in less than a week. Even though I had two weeks of nothing before leaving, all my travel plans fell through. We were planning on another trip to Togo, but realized our visas expired. Then we were all ready to go to a small beach resort last weekend, but that morning I woke up with a cold. Well OF COURSE i would, i started the trip being sick, i've gotta end it the same way. It's not bad at all. Just sniffly. I know I've gotten sick a few times, but I"M NOT NORMAL! There are loads of people here who haven't gotten sick ONCE. So don't let that scare you from coming here. =)

We've been keeping ourselves busy, but some days we simply lounge around and don't do much. The other night we had a "Christmas" party for Phebe where we presented her with all our going away presents. Twas fun. I'm starting to put together all of my goodbye presents, letters, and photos. It's hard to do. I don't know what to say or write. I've never lived in a place for this long and had to leave not knowing when I will come back and see my friends again. I'm going to miss Ghana sorely. I'm trying to soak in every moment of this place.

I've had so many discussions about what it will be like going back, being separated from the people who shared this experience with me, and returning to friends and family who can only understand my experience second-hand. One of my largest fears is going back to America and getting caught right back up in American pettiness. I guess time will tell.

"It's been long time, oh"

It's been nearly a week since i finished finals. I thought i'd have more free time to catch up on blog entries, but that was an obvious fail. I've been going out doing last minute shopping, went to the art center, medina, and koforidua. Went to the movies, and watched Date Night. Oh man. frikking hilarious. Took Junior, the guy who works at the eatery at ISH, out to Chinese food one night for his birthday. It was his first time eating Chinese food! Then smoothies and salsa dancing afterwards. Salsa's a popular scene among the youth here. The club was full of Ghanaians and they were all PROs at salsa dancing. There was a circular dance floor that is slightly lower than level ground (the opposite of a platform...), that only fit about 3 couples, The best dancers dance down there and people watch from above. I was absolutely mesmerized. Salsa is so stinkin' sexy!

Yesterday I witnessed a University of Ghana protest march on campus. (Ah...felt at home =P ) But what a commotion! It was a protest put on by Commonwealth boys. Commonwealth is an all boys hall on campus that can be equated to an American fraternity. Apparently the school is going to turn commonwealth into a mixed graduate student hall, which was the reason for protest. I wonder why large protests never occur on campus concerning larger issues like child labour or something.

I just returned from my internship. It was a slow day. I only saw two patients. One of the things I enjoy most about the internship is being able to see the same patients from week to week and witness their healing process. There is one patient who had back pains and wanted surgery. He was advised to find a surgeon in the UK or the States, but he decided to go for convenience rather than quality, so he had a poorly qualified Ghanaian doctor operate on his spine and he got pretty messed up and hasn't been able to walk for two years. But today he was able to stand up and walk a few steps with help, and without pain! It was really cool to see. It is also frustrating when patients don't take the necessary steps in doing their home exercises, so their conditions don't get any better, and sometimes gets worsen. Vicky and I went out for a lunch break (banku + palm nut oil stew + crab + okru), and along the way stopped to do a bit of shoe shopping. =P (Like i said. it was a dead day at the clinic.) I hung out with Agnus when I got back. She is the professional masseuse at the clinic, AND she has diamond studs on her teeth. We worked out in the gym, and I taught her some yoga. In return for my yoga lessons, she gave me a ridiculous 10 minute massage. I'll be visiting the clinic once more before i leave. =(

ABOUT A WEEK AND A HALF LEFT. I'll try to cram in more entries because I don't think people will be interested in catch-up-entries about Ghana once I'm back home. =P