Hi guys :)
It's not week 4, my half-way mark. I must confess, I've been counting down the weeks to come back. This might be surprising to hear, and it's kind of disappointing to me to realize this, but I think it's for various reasons:
1. Getting sick
2. Being the only American on the team (now they've lovingly started quoting American Pie around me. "One day at band camp...like, Oh. My. Gosh." whenever I walk up. Get a new movie!!)
3. Being in a new location without a familiar face for the first time ever.
4. Adjusting to 2 different cultures- UK/European, and Ghanaian. Interestingly, much easier to understand the Ghanaians than the Europeans- less verbal talk and more body language.
When people ask if I'm having fun here, I answer that I am surviving. Bc really, it is a day-to-day adjustment, still. It's gotten easier now, and THANK GOD I am feeling much better physically, so I think this next month will be alot smoother. I know I'm learning alot, and I DO appreciate and treasure this experience, though I've not had much time for hindsight appreciation as again, everyday has its own adventures in just living.
Speaking of adventures, here's a couple snapshots. Some are totally ridiculous.
Snapshot #1: We went away last weekend to a Botel. Not Motel or Hotel, but Botel. Not sure what it stands for- maybe bed and breakfast? Slept in the cheapest lodging- 12 of us guys and girls stayed in a room that had 12 beds dorm style. It was fine until the morning we were leaving and one of the girls had the bright idea to take the pillow cover and sheets off her bed. You'd think she was penniless or something! Actually, it's because our sheets and pillow cases at the compound aren't that great, and it's come to this type of desperation. This of course, snowballed other people in with her and some pillowcases and sheets went into their bags. I debated whether I should have said something or not, but I didn't...and of course the manager of the Botel discovered the missing sheets and called our staffer James who was with us. REALLY felt bad for James- he was disgraced by our teammates' actions and now Gap Sports has a bad name there. Long process of searching through everyone's bags, then apologizing (the staff were MAD, and rightly so.) It must put a bad taste for foreigners in their mouths. :P Great...perpetuating a chasm.
Snapshot #2: Over the weekend we also went to El Mina Castle (Portugese built) which in time started housing slaves for exporting to Europe. It was really intense being there. We had a very thorough tour and stood in the cell rooms where the slaves slept. It smelled quite awful in there, and I couldn't imagine being one of the 150 women sleeping on hard rock floor with little ventilation. I'm sure I would have willed myself to die like many of them did.
Snapshot #3: Kakum National Park- Only a little bit of Ghana's natural rainforest is left. At this park, we walked in the canopy walk amongst the treetops. Funded by Canadians, built by an American. I've done something similar in Vancouver, so I wasn't scared but it was really challenging for some teammates!
Snapshot #4: Today's adventure. This morning heading to school the tro-tro Phil and I were on got a flat tire. Walked up to the main road on the muddy path and got a taxi to school. Was of course, late. Had 54 kids in the room (thankfully not 70!) Decided to do a picture alphabet and have them draw in their own composition books. Unfortunately I don't know how to best distribute the colors (crayons, markers, etc.) to them so put the bin of colors on the desk. Told them to use them but PUT THEM BACK when finished. You can just imagine the mad dash to the desk. It was insane! No amount of yelling could help. So I gave in and used the Ghanaian method of retaining order- taking the long reed stick and wacking it across the blackboard. The kids all got silent, but only for a little. They calmed down and VERY QUIETLY (!!) focused on their work after getting a fistful of colors. Thankfully the teacher helped maintain order at the end, and most of the colors were put back in the bin.
On the way home, Phil and I encountered a crazy Ghanaian man. And I mean he must have been mentally not there. He was wearing a floppy hat, a flourescent yellow worker's vest, and no pants. Just green briefs. Yes, I've retained all these visuals from my brief glance at him. I asked Phil- why is he not wearing any pants? as we both walked towards him. She had no clue, and as he was passing us, I side-stepped to avoid him. Unfortunatly he went straight towards her, grabbed her and demanded her water bottle. It happened very fast bc when I turned around, he was already walking away. She was fine, it was more funny than scary- to be accosted by a pantless man, mugged for water!
Will be ending this long entry now.
Thanks for reading, agh, homesick!
~T
