Africa - Week 7 - Just a Short One This Time

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 12:26pm

Dear Friends,

It seems its that time again and I’m a little behind so this may be a shorter update. I don’t know where this last week went! Seems to have flown by way too quickly. It was a busy week with 3 quizzes and a paper, a thunderstorm, trip to the market with pizza for lunch, church, small small language learning and lots of other things. They say ‘small small’ when they mean ‘a little bit’. Its kinda fun to pick up some of these phrases. One of the first things I noticed upon arriving here was how they say “I’m coming,” when they are leaving. I had no idea why they were saying that and then leaving. Makes no sense!! But I soon learned that it meant I’m going and then coming back. “I go come.” “How?” I guess that one means ‘How are you?’ I’ll add more as I remember them or learn them.

So I knew about one of my quizzes that was scheduled this week. It was in my deviance and social problems class on Monday which is basically a criminology course and really good. We were able to use our book and notes so that was nice. The quiz consisted of about 10 short answer questions and we had 45 mins to complete it. I think I did pretty well on that one but we will see. I sure hope so since it was open book. Haha! No excuses there.

My second quiz was in Ghanaian Culture on Tues. and didn’t know about it till the night before when Colleen, who is in my class, reminded me. Shoot!! Why can’t I remember these things??!! Guess I need to be better at putting them in my planner. Hard to get in the habit of that since the dates here are subject to change. No excuse, though, for not remembering. Spent some time studying for it and then got up early the next day to do some more studying. Then I noticed, on our syllabus, that we had an assignment due that day too. Shoot shoot!!!! How on earth did I miss that too???!!! Oh, Cat, you are not doing so well right now! Quick panic about that then resignation that there was no way to do the research and write it in 2 hours. Just gonna have to suck it up and tell the prof that we didn’t do it. Uggghhhh!! Hate that!! So frustrated with myself about that. Guess it’s a lesson in . . . well something I’m sure. . . To not be so hard on myself about something that was only worth 10pts or 10% of my grade and by this point there was nothing I could have done anyway. This quiz was an essay question about a reading we had done and talked about in class. They don’t tell you anything about what the quizzes or tests might be on so its hard to know what to study. At home, they usually give us an idea of the subjects that will be covered on a test. Not so here. You just have to know it all and hope you remember it when you get the quiz in whatever form it comes. Hmm. I think I did ok on that but not the best. We will see how it gets graded.

I’m waiting for grades on these to see how I stack up against the students here or how they grade us obrunis. LOL!! Sometimes we get a free pass or the like for being international students. Thank goodness for that! Sometimes we need that since we are still trying to figure out their system of education and everyday brings new revelations and frustrations. After that class we talked to him and he said to turn it in the morning. Whew!! That’s better than not turning it in at all for no grade. Not sure how much might be taken off for it being late. We shall see. I was able to get some research done and turn it in the morning. Hard to do in such a short amount of time, mostly because I needed some specific info on local ethnicities and that’s hard to find online sometimes. I did as best I could in that short timeframe. Hope it was ok.

The third quiz was in my Poverty Studies class on Thurs. Again, I failed to recall that we were having a quiz this week in this class. Someone reminded me, thankfully. This is my favorite class and its not too big and the professor is really good. I was less concerned about this one than I was about the other 2. I had 3 hours between my first class and this one so I went to the library and studied/dozed off for that time. Yes, I still sleep lots here, though not as much as at home. Too much to do all the time and I get enough ‘resting’ in most days that I don’t need a nap all the time. ‘Resting’ meaning sitting in the shade or in our room under the fan not moving until the sweating subsides somewhat and you feel a bit less gross. This was another essay question with 45 mins to answer it in. I think that time frame is pretty standard for quizzes. I feel more confident about this one than the others. I knew the answer and felt pretty articulate in explaining it. We will see what the prof thinks. We are also working on a group project in this class, of which I’m 1 of 5 group leaders. For it we had to pick 20 African countries and then pick 10 social poverty indicators, 10 economic indicators and 10 demographic indicators, find the info on each indicator for each country, rank the countries, and present it to the class. We are working on compiling all the data for each country at this point. I love it!! Such an interesting project and I’m learning a lot! Love it!! Ha!

There was a thunderstorm one night, like a real storm with thunder, lightning, and rain for an extended period of time!! There was actually a downpour for maybe 20-30 mins! I loved it!! Not only because it cooled down quite a bit but because I love storms! It was so nice to be kinda cold!! So refreshing. People here tend to be scared of storms and don’t like to be in the rain, which is fairly normal I suppose, but it means that shops aren‘t open and people are late for class if they show up at all, on account of the rain. I think the mud will be pretty bad when the rainy season comes since the roads are mainly dirt and people where sandals and flip-flops almost all the time. On Sundays, they all get dressed up in the most beautiful clothes and go to church. I love to see everyone in their Sunday best. The clothes are so interesting and stylish, even for the guys. These guys know how to dress!! Wow!!

I went to church this morning to a Pentecostal church with a friend of mine. I went a couple weeks ago, too, but we had missed the start then. The worship songs are not generally in English so not sure of the words at this point but the rest of it is usually in English, though it can be difficult to understand even then. It’s a pretty big church and I think I’m the only white person there. I haven’t seen any other white people there but we normally sit toward the back in a huge auditorium so who knows. People are very welcoming and happy to have me there. That helps. I’m getting used to feeling like I’m always on display, though I still don’t like it. There is no escaping it here so I am learning to cope as best I can. I try to be friendly but not overly with most people since if you are too friendly, they might want to take you home to their family and send your family goats or schnapps or something. Yes, schnapps is one of the many things a family may ask for from a potential son-in-law. This is obviously a big change from previous generations and bridewealth regulations or the like. They still have the bridewealth traditions here and they vary by tribe. I’m learning about some of it in my GH culture class, as well as from conversations with people. Its so interesting! Right. Where was I?? Oh yes, church. Right. It was nice to go this morning. The building they use is one of the lecture theaters on campus so its just a short 20 min walk over there which is nice. You can also take a taxi over if you are running late. There are taxi spots in front of the dorms and around campus which can be handy but I don’t take them around campus much unless I’m late for something.

On Friday, Abby and I went to Kotokuraba, the market in town, for some grocery shopping. There are a couple stores that are similar to ones at home without the fresh produce section and on a much smaller scale but its nice to go there and get a lot in one spot rather than going stall to stall trying to find all that you need. Find of the week was a jar of Dijon mustard!! Mustard is hard to come by here and we found some and its really good!! I made a veggie sub sandwich the other day with mayo, mustard, Laughing Cow cheese which is the only thing we can find here for cheese so far, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers on a white hoagie type bread. It was really good! There is a stall where we are able to get a lot of veggies so we made that our last stop before going to the Castle Restaurant for lunch. We were really hungry and tired after that expedition and pizza sounded pretty good. I had a chicken one and Abby had one with ham. Mine came with too many onions and peppers as well but it was pretty good. It’s a nice treat once in a while. I’m still working up to eating more local dishes.

People here are very helpful in teaching you their language which I love. I can’t wait to learn more of it. There are 3 main ones I want to have a good grasp on before I leave: Twi, Fante, and Ewe. My friends David and Selorm are both Ewe but also speak the other 2 so I’m getting some good lessons. They are very patient and make it fun. Some of the international students that are living with families get lessons as part of their program and I’m a little jealous of that but I just have to learn as much as I can by whatever means I can. I can’t wait to be able to have a good conversation in their language, any one of them. You learn so much about people through their language. I’ll share with you small small as I learn. Haha!

I’m planning a trip to Kumasi next weekend. Kumasi is 5-6 hrs north by bus from Cape Coast and is the tribal capital of the Ashanti region. I’m so excited to go, and for Independence weekend no less. March 6 is their independence day and it will be really cool to see how they celebrate here. I’m also looking forward to doing some shopping there since they have better prices and more crafts. I haven’t done much shopping yet so it will be fun and its close enough to go back to another time. We may also get to learn some batik and get to make some fabric while we are there which will be so cool!! Can’t wait!

Alright, I think I’m calling it quits for now. Need to go take a walk and get away from this noise if I can. I pray you are all well. As always, thanks for your letters and notes and everything. I sure appreciate it. Love you all. Take care and God bless!!