Last day in Accra - tomorrow we leave for Nkawkaw. I decided that since my blogs have been a little vague I'll try to end this section of the trip with an actual account of what I've been up to. Might be easier now that I'm starting to kind of settle in and be a little less overwhelmed by the mere fact of actually being here.

Monday:
First full day in Accra. Woke up, went to the bank to cash travellers checks/change American money to Ghanaian. This took a ridiculously long time since we have three people in a our group who can cash the travellers checks. I should clear up about the cocoa we ate for breakfast, mentioned in the last blog - this is not some chocolate and milk mixture of deliciousness...its a yellow, spicy porridge that has been likened so far to both chai and warm lemonade. It's actually not as bad in Ghana - however I have residual memories of throwing it up during orientation so its kinda hard for me to stomach. It's the only thing so far that I really can't stand though, so I figure that's not bad.

Next we went to Nkrumah Circle (my spelling is probably way off) which has a trotro station, and kinda a huge outdoor market. The street vendors sell just about anything; clothes, food, deodorant, soap, watches, pens, washing machines (not kidding). Many of the areas we go to are like this - full of shop vendors calling out and grabbing. The first day was definitely overwhelming. It's also normal for people to grab your wrist to get your attention which can be a little off putting when it keeps happening. Sometimes I feel like I'm in some medieval movie scene, as the prisoner getting pulled through the crowd of peasants, who grab and jeer - that's putting it way too dramatically...it's more the sense of all the attention and feeling a little lost. I'm pretty sure none of them are waiting to see me hanged or anything though. Just curious, or want us to buy things.

We had to go to another bank as well on Monday to cash more checks. It's kind of weird going from the streets into these banks. Sitting waiting for the others, I felt like I could be in North America. There was water, air conditioning and everyone is wearing suits or business casual wear. It made me really think about globalization and how western culture/buildings/fashion/ etc are becoming so predominant. It's weird, especially somewhere like a bank, which seems like this bizarre symbol of like, 'progress' or development, or financial success or whatever...and that's the place which so far has seemed most North American. I think it speaks volumes about how culture and class are tied together, and how people imbue certain cultures with certain values. It seems like there is still this colonial-esque idea that to become more successful is to become more Western, and it makes me sad...because it equates "development" with cultural conformity. Of course, this isn't universal and is based on one hour in a Ghanaian bank on my first day in the country so lets not get carried away...just...thoughts.....

I don't remember what else that day held in store. We ate street food for lunch, and dinner - Watchey for lunch (rice beans and crazy spiciness) and Rice for dinner (again, with much spiciness!). Both meals were pretty good. You can either eat it right at the stand, or take it home in a plastic bag. Also, I guess I should mention, water comes in these little square plastic bags - you just rip off a corner and drink it by sucking it/squeezing the bag. Personally, I love it.

Tuesday:

Yesterday...let me think..the days seem so long and I lose track....I do remember it being insanely hot - even moreso than the day before. We went to Kaneshi (don't trust ANY of my spelling btw) market - which is this big indoor market. We at Banku for a breakfast, which is like a big dough ball made from kassava, which you rip off pieces of to dip in stew or sauce - we had groundnut (peanut) and it was amazing. The market inside was a little less overwhelming than the outdoor ones, I think mostly just because it wasn't as busy inside. We walked around for a while then met up and bought cloth to wear out of the baths. In the villages, people usually wear cloth, like a sarong, kind of like a robe, too and from the baths. Our facilitators helped us out by telling us what was appropriate to buy so we didn't end up getting hugely expensive cloth to wear just to the baths, making us look super rich/pretentious.  For lunch we were on our own, so we went in search of Red Red (beans, with fried plantain). It ended up kind of a giant goose chase, and we ended up giving up and eating watchey again.....right across the street from a red red stand. Darn. But, live and learn. Also demonstrates how easy it is to just become dependent on guides - so its good they've been making us to more and more on our own.

And thennnn, National Museum. I'm not sure how much I really absorbed as I find the heat supremely exhausting to be honest. I remember there was a fan in front of the musical instrument exhibit though...stood there for a bit....There was some interesting stuff on the slave trade which was very interesting, since it was very specific to Ghana. I do like museums though, so I enjoyed myself. And it was also nice to just kind of walk around and read in a quiet building for a bit.

So that night, it was rice again for dinner, then Internet cafe to do my work placement stuff and a brief blog check in. We treated ourselves to fruit for desert and I ate an orange the Ghanaian way: you buy it peeled, then they cut a whole in the top and you basically just squeeze the juice into your mouth. The pulp isn't really eaten (though I had a bit of mine..which was difficult). I half felt like I was in some kind of Tropicana commercial "fresh orange juice, straight from the fruit to your mouth" or whatever. Have to say, it was amazingly delicious, and super refreshing after all the spicy eating. Then we played the bean game and had kind of just a fun relaxing night. yay!

TODAY!!
I actually slept horribly last night...my mind was going a mile a minute, thinking about back home and going back, and missing certain people and just not capable of shutting down. Then it started to rain really loudly and that kind of kept me up as well. Anyway, I slept kind of late this morning, which was ok. We did have to pack up and change rooms though which was a little chaotic. Everyone had cocoa for breakfast, with bean biscuits - but my amazing group got me an extra biscuit so I didn't eat any cocoa. I had a taste, and I think I could work my way up to tolerating it so we'll see if I get it in the village.

We were in charge of getting the trotro to our next destination, which took some asking around. Then we visited the Kwame Nkrumah Museum which was great (Nkrumah was first president of Ghana, see more here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah:. A lot of the exhibit is outside in this great garden, with a huge statue of Nkrumah, and a huge memorial where his remains are buried. The exhibit was mostly made up of quotations from him which was interesting, to see at tiny bit of his perspective on imperialism, neo-colonialism, development, nationalism and pan-Africanism - mostly from the 1960s. He's an interesting figure and I'd like to learn a bit more about him. He was hugely influential in garnering Ghana's independence, and as I said served as the first Prime Minister. He was also responsible for the building of the Volta Hydroelectrical Dam, as part of his goal of industrializing Ghana so it could become more self-sufficient from the West. He ended up becoming kind of a dictator (well, not kind of, he was one) and being ousted by a coup, but he's kind of made a come back as a national hero. Given this come back I'd like to see if his ideas are still really popular, or if his comeback is more about his status as a nationalist hero. Interesting things to think about...

For lunch we had Kenkey - which is like Banku, but somehow different.....I'm not a huge fan. We had it with pepe, which is kind of like salsa...really spicy salsa. Yeah, the spice is a big theme here. I'm waiting in anxious anticipation for my mouth to get used to it - hopefully by the time I come home I'll be able to compete with my Mum for being able to eat the spiciest food. An ambitious goal, but hey, I've got five and a half months to work towards it! 

This afternoon we went to the cultural centre...which is kind of just another outdoor market, but with more of a focus on art and music. One of our facilitators spent some of her free time during her program apprenticing at one of the drum shops, so we kind of got introduced. We also go treated to some drumming lessons, which was pretty cool. I couldn't help thinking to when my choir did a concert of Ghanaian music in high school, complete with drumming and dancing. The comparison of all these middle class white kids, learning from a white lady drummer to just sitting with these young Ghanaian men in their drum shops is kind of too much. I loved doing that concert, and I find it hard to find fault with North Americans who are exposing themselves to different cultures and appreciating Ghanain music...but there's also something uncomfortable about it. We did a workshop on cultural appropriation before leaving, which also made me think of those concerts. I don't know. Even the time those guys took to teach us some drum rhythms doesn't come close, I'm sure, to when they drum themselves. I know it sounds amazing and its crazy to watch their hands, but other than that I feel like I don't really know whats going on - the history, the cultural meaning etc. I had such a great time, but also felt so much like a white tourist getting a drum lesson. It's tough. I'm not really sure what else to say, but it's something I'm going to keep thinking about. When I come back to Accra I think I'd like to go back and look around more, at some of the other stalls as well and kind of check out how much of it 'traditional' and how much is touristy stuff based on traditional art.

After our visit, we went down to the beach just to have a look. There was a lot of garbage and feces on the way down...and a lot of garbage that was visible in the water. It was neat to see the view of the coast though, and all the fishing canoes out on the water.

OK! That's my itinerary so far. And that took 45 minutes, which is insane. I feel like that may have actually just been even more boring than me just rambling out thoughts but there we go. Kudos if you read the whole thing. My time is again almost up, so here are just a couple of other random thoughts:

Thinking about economics: It's odd to walk through the markets and see so many people selling the same thing and not many people buying (at least that I could notice). It makes me really wonder how much street sellers make in a day, especially since a lot of what is sold appears to be products which they themselves have had to buy (rather than making themselves even). It seems such a contrast to the Canadian malls in which I've worked retail for so long. Knowing daily goals for Old Navy and Teaopia, I know that there's no way these people are making that much. Obviously I have no idea how much they do make, but I'm also betting its less than I would make even working at these mall stores at minimum wage.

Ok, so only one random thought for today. I'm excited to get to Nkawkaw, and then village placements. I still feel like that's where it all will actually begin. But I think it will also be really interesting to come back to Accra in January with a bit more insight perhaps. Anyway, that blog took most of my time to peace out for now folks.

Love,
Jac