Sick and Accra

Tro-Tro to the Market:
OVERLOAD OF SOUNDS, TASTES, SMELLS, AND SIGHTS.
We walk from the University to the tro-tro station which is only at 10-20 minute walk in the humid weather. We then get intense looks from people around us. We manage to find several tro-tros to give all 16 of us (3 Ghanaian students) to a place called 37th. This is an area with a wonderful vegetable market and a market for random things. One of the Ghanaian guides is from there. Then we go into this market and find the “tro-tro station”, which is nothing like the United States. It is just a chaotic bunch of 15-passenger vans smooshed together. We found one tro-tro that would take all of us (all the vans have extra seats in the walking area making it more of a 20-passenger van. We then made the sweaty and sticky 30 minute journey to Medina Market, which is the most practical market for a group of to go and get fairly inexpensive food for the next four months. I got my VERY FIRST COCONUT AND COCONUT MILK IN AFRICA. It was splendid! The man WAY OVER CHARGED ME…which I found out after, but hey next time I will know. We walked through all the shops and IT WAS PACKED. Every Wednesday and Saturday the market is booming with people because those are the market days in Accra. I waved and smiled at all the little kiddos who’s reaction was a smile and some certainity why I was waving at them. I CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK. It was full of life and passion. Everyone seems to have purpose here with the socialization and community as the main focuses. After this trip I knew that Ghana is the place for me. I KNOW I AM MEANT TO BE HERE! ☺



FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
My overall favorite part of the day (besides being in Ghana and embracing every moment) is at the end where I can strip my sweaty and interesting smelling clothes and SUBMERG myself into a COLD SHOWER. What I thought several days ago about the showers were WRONG; I LOVE THE SHOWERS TO NO END. It is the best and most calming feeling I have the entire day. It reminds me showers I have after runs, where I am COVERED in sweat. The best part is, when I take these cold showers, I will sleep soundly because the coldness will last me until I get to a “sleepful” state. On really HOT DAYS I don’t think even the slightest appeal of a hot shower will come to mind.

Thursday Jan. 26 BUT ACTUALLY SICK DAY
Theme: Hey, Soul Sister by Train
Brothers and Sisters all over the WORLD

After this day I felt like Train’s song meant my mood. Ghanaians refer to their close friends as brothers and sisters. I think this is one of the best ways to describe such a successful community focused environment.

Today we checked some classes, got lectures about being safe and NOT GETTING SICK, and went shopping at some “targets” of Accra. I was able to get a cutting board, knife, and some other utensils. For some reason TODAY I WAS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. I hit a wall and I did not want to do anything besides lay in bed and feel sorry for myself. It was like I couldn’t move. I also had a terrible stomach-ache. ☹ It made the day very unbearable, but I was able to push on through.

CHANGE IN TWO COURSES!!!!
They didn’t have two of my courses so here are the new ones below:

HISTORY 308 HISTORY OF AFRICA UP TO 1800 (3 CREDITS)
The course treats in considerable detail a wide variety of subjects, including the East African and Indian Ocean trade; trade and politics in the Zambezi valley; the trans-Saharan trade; the Sudanic states and the Moroccan invasion; developments in the Mahgreb during Ottoman rule; religion and conflict in Ethiopia; interlacustrine cluster if states: Iwo, Bacwezi, Bunyoro and Buganda; Luba and Lunda states; pre-European trade and society in Southern Africa; San and Khoikhoi; Nguni and Sotho chiefdoms; Dutch settlements; Boer dispersion and Khoisan resistance; the roots of the “native problem” and prelude to the Mfecane and the Great Trek.

STUDIES OF RELIGIONS 346 ISLAM IN GHANA (3 CREDITS)
The origins and development of Islam in Ghana. The origins, nature, and characteristics of Islam in the Volta Baisn. Islam in the North
, Asante, and on the coast of Ghana. Islam and national politics; Islamic literacy tradition; Islamic organizations; Islamic leadership; inter-religious relations; Zongo and national development; etc.

Friday Jan. 27 LAUNDRY DAY AND FREEEEE DAY!

Thank GOODNESS FOR MY LUCK AND HEALTH I was able to sleep in and then attempt to do my laundry. Hand washing is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT! It is so so so so so so so CHALLENGING! I did figure it out on my own, but BOY DO I HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR WASHERMACHINES NOW! I felt like a true Ghanaian attempting to tame these clothes. After a successful clothes washing and hanging. Emma, Kaite (both WONDERFUL ISEP FRIENDS), and I made a FRUITFUL FRUIT SALAD. We cut up pineapples, mangos, and apples and made a masterpiece. IT WAS EXTREMELY FILLING. Then I checked my email, thanks to the WONDERFUL KATIE-EMMA COMBO letting me borrow their internet and I was informed by my mother that I needed fat to go with my Malaria pills so Katie and I sprinted to my room and had a spoonful of peanut butter. YUM AFTER LITTLE PEANUT BUTTER…JENNIFER KOLLER WOULD BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS PEANUT BUTTER. ☺ After that we re-check class schedules around campus, truly a full day adventure! I had roasted plantains and ground nuts (peanuts) for lunch. IT WAS SURPRISINGLY FILLING. On Thursday I was VERY FRUSTRATED BECAUSE MOST OF MY CLASSES HAD TO CHANGE…but I kept telling myself TIA TIA LOVELY, TIA (TIA = This is Africa). Friday I had a much better attitude about all of this…partly because I hasn’t feeling AS sick. We had an LONG JOURNEY dinner to “TIME OUT”, a restaurant on campus WHERE THE CLERK STOLE 20 PESOWE from me…which really frustrated me…just because I am an obruni (white person in TWI) doesn’t give you that right…yes I am still bitter. This was my first dinner without the gracious ISEP MONEY. Thursday was our LAST DINNER PROVIDED. The night market, which is a market RIGHT next to ISH (International Student Hostel), has food, but we shouldn’t eat it right off the bat or we will get sick. So that’s why we went to “TIME OUT”. Just thinking about what I am blogging. THERE IS SO MUCH LINGO AND WORDS I AM LEARNING over this past week. It is wonderful. It has been OFFICALLY 7 DAYS SINCE WE GOT HERE…WOOT WOOT! ☺ ☺ ☺ ;) Well, off to bed to PREPARE FOR A JOURNEY OUTSIDE OF ACCRA, GHANA…INTO THE WILD…OR OTHER AFRICAAAAAA.