Watson

I am applying to do a Watson year. This means that I spend the year traveling and studying my own interests and the only rules are that I cannot go anywhere I have ever been before and I can't go home at all. I must be abroad for the whole year.

My plan is to go to Jamaica, India, Senegal, Cape Verde and Greece. I want to look at dance in the creation of identity and dance as an identity.

Ask me more questions if you want to know more. I would love to post my whole perposal, but it is 12 pages long. haha.

tata for now!!

new beginnings?

I am starting a new adventure, its called dance till you think you might die, and then dance some more. Dance in every country you can think of. dance till your blue in the face and your feet fall off. Whatever I do I am not allowed to stop.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I am a very lucky girl

I am a very lucky person for many reasons!

1. I got to have an amazing time in Ghana, full of things that made me not only think about the differences in cultures- and the similarities- but I also got to learn a lot about myself as a person; I got to think about the kind of person I want to be, and how to be that person.

2. On my way home I had fantastic time staying with many wonderful people and I am totally grateful to them for taking me in and FEEDING ME!!!!! and doing my laundry! Thank you to all of you who dealt with my culture shock of: it is sooo cold here, why does everyone look upset or sick, why can't I bargain for my taxi ride? It was a very good thing that I had places to stay; I don't think my culture shock would have gone over well if I had to pay for lodging. :)

3. I am lucky that I have friends that don't mind that I don't have a phone. I forgot my phone in Boston after my rush to get out of the house and to the airport and left my phone at my uncle's house. He is sending it to me, but this week has been one without my phone, which means I am more glued to my computer than ever. That's another thing that is very odd, HAVING MY OWN COMPUTER that I don't have to pay for, which I don't have to borrow, that's portable... it's crazy!

so yeah, these and other things are ones to be thankful for. I am home now, will be all summer, and this is the last posting. I would love to share more of my story, just ask me.

love to you all!

Blessed

Boston

I am a very lucky girl. I want to just state that out front. The reason I am so lucky is that the weather here in Boston has decided to immitate the weather of Ghana. It is warm and sunny here and has allowed for at least two full days of running around outside. Yesterday Patty and I went to the arboritum, the Jamaica Plain Pond, and another pond in which we saw turtles, fish and frogs. Today it's fun with Emma and after some shoe shopping and lunch who knows what else we will do! It has been so nice staying with Patty and seeing her in her real adult life! I am also very thrilled that she got into NYU grad school, and possibly more excited that she will be closer to Bard this following year, thus more visiting opportunities. As always she and I are having deep anthro discussions, mixed with snarky critques of urban outfitters clothes, and disscussions of food so I would say all in all a great time. I have to go but a deep reflection of what I learned in and from Ghana should be on its way shortly!

blessed

Hello from NY

I am in New York now, at Bard. It took me all day yesterday to get here, but now I am. On the way to campus I tried to bargain with the taxi driver, and he gave me  a look that said, "If you want to pay 15 dollars or less I can easily leave you on the side of the road and you can walk to campus," Life sucks sometimes! I bought a bottle of water, all the water fountains were broken, and it cost a dollar sixty; I asked the woman selling the water if she was sure! She looked as if I had insulted her intelligence, I had not meant to. 

Life is going to be different. I hope that at some point I will readapt, but I don't know if it will be any time soon. The people in England just looked so funny to me! They either looked depressed or sick. Everyone in western culture it seems is so focused on what they are doing and what is happening for them. There isn't a chorus of hellos as you walk down the street. No one rushes to help of someone trips. Its just strange to be back. 

Tonight is the tent party, so I am excited for that. Its the big party before the seniors graduate, and besides from shocking those friends I have already seen, I will hopefully freak out a few other friends there as well! I can't wait. Then on Sunday I am headed to Boston to see Patty and then home. 

More culture shock stories later!!  

I just want to say!

A huge thank you and hugs and kisses to Ghana the country and all the people in it for making my time there these past four and a half months truely wonderful. Of course there were challenges, everyone has them, but I can say that I have at least come away from Ghana to say that I am much more patient in terms of time! God bless you GMT! In Ghana if they say something starts at 2pm it means the thing will start at: 2, 2:15. 2:45, 3, and maybe even 4. If something is coming, it might not be coming for some time, or at all. So I have gotten used to waiting, not being incredibly crazy when someone is fifteen minutes or a half hour late. This does not mean that anyone should take advantage of this fact or me, but it has become normal for me to just wait for things.
So, knowing this, you will now understand how during my journey to England (where if I had just been coming from America I would be freaking out) I was cool. My plane ride out of Ghana was timely, which I did not expect -thank you Air Eygpt! I thought that because it was departing from Ghana we would never board on time, for lack of passangers to fill the plane- we left maybe two minutes after the scheduled time! Upon arrival everything was running too smoothly, lucky for me I learned that the public transport system from the airport to the trainstation was messed up that day, so I could feel I little more at home jumping from train to bus to train again. I did not complain or worry, and just said that I would get there when I get there, which definitly frustrated those I was traveling near. When buying a ticket for the train I learned there would be another transfer and another difficultly, and what worried me most was that my bag was so big that I had to lug it everwhere. I got some guys to help me with that! And while the train was completely messed up, it was still going to come that day, so there was no reason to worry! So now I am here in England; being here feels like I am in a hotel or a dream, where the bathrooms are really nice and I don't have to pay for internet.

More updates soon, I have to go throw all my clothes in the washing machine, SHALOM!!!!

the day after the most intense day!

Yesterday I had my Human Rights final and a meeting and some other stress crazy stuff. I think the final went well, and maybe the meeting too, but there is no real way to know for sure for either. And after both of those things I went home and passed out!!! This morning as I was trying on my dresses that are getting made for me at the shop the topic of discussion was my boobs. About five people all agreed that I needed to wear a foam bra at all times, and another three agreed that if I ate more Banku my boobs would be bigger. They also all agreed as I stood there in my new party dress that I didn't have a behind either and that banku would cure that too. Welcome to my life in Ghana.


On another note, today is my third to last day in Ghana. I can't believe it is almost over. Somethings are only starting! I am sure it will be a shock to get on a plane and end up in England! My friend went home on thursday and she called back to us and said that Ghana only seemed like a dream. I don't want that to be true for me, but I could easily feel that way too. I hope only to keep a constant bridge to Ghana and in that way at least never forget!!!

thank you Ghana for hosting me, loving me, and letting me have a great time!!!!

this was writen on May 7th

Last night I got home from Benin and Togo. I was expecting to have to jump the gate to my house, which I have already had to do twice, but my lovely host sister Rachel was there in the yard to open the gate and greet me with a hug; I got home a day early to everyone's surprise! They were all happy to see me, and I them and my bed, which I needed! My roommate came home, I told her that I didn't pay any money to stay in Benin, she asked me how and told me she was jealous, and we went to bed. Before all of this it was Sunday and I was boarding a tro tro at 8 in the morning to go to Lome, Togo. As I boarded the car I was stuffing my face with Kosi: a doughnut like food with onions and salt and some times spring onions. Lauren, the friend I traveled with was eating Bo fruit, which is a legit Ghanaian doughnut. Doughnuts in the morning, there is nothing better! As we were getting settled a man came onto the tro to preach the word of God, because those who were traveling where missing the Sunday morning service. It was hilarious; the majority of those in the tro tro were Muslim and then there was Lauren and I. He kept saying "Can I have an Amen," and all of us would grumble into our shoulders! Finally he got off the tro and we got on our way. At the border I had to fill out a million forms, buy a one week Togo visa, and dodge the rain as it began to pour! We finally got a car going to Coutenou and through the rain we drove. I was convinced; as we drove along side the ocean through Lome, that it was a gross city, but Lauren assured me that it was beautiful in the sun (she has been there many times and should know.) In Coutenou we found some food and tried to find a phone, as our Ghana phones no longer worked. We needed the phone in order to call the person Lauren had talked to on Couchsurfing.org about a place to stay in Coutenou. Alright, I must explain: Couch surfing is a website where you can find a place to stay for a night for free in any place in the world. What happens is you go on the site and you look up the city that you want to go to. Then you look at the people listed who are listed for that city and thus willing to give you a place to stay for the night. Those listed have a place for you to sleep and are generally willing to show you around their city if you want. The idea is that you will surf there one time and maybe these people will stay at your place or someone else’s place another time and it all evens out and everyone creates a smaller world where you get to meet and stay with interesting people create friendships all over the world and not lock yourself into a hotel room to not learn about the culture. I think it is my new favorite thing. The first night we stayed with a lady on couch surfers, she is Italian and speaks perfect French. She teaches school in Coutenou and is pretty cool lady! Also, her house rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The second day, the first real day we were there we went around Coutenou ON MOTORCYCLES instead of trotros or taxis (those don’t exist in Benin) saw the city and ate a lovely breakfast of French bread and coffee and egg. The Beninese are so French! Then we wandered to markets and parks and when we got hungry, more French bread and this time amazing avocado salad and fruit. This is when I started to need to work on my French, and quickly, because even asking how much a zemmijean (motorcycle) ride cost required French! We had also planned to go out of Coutenou to see another city, as we had seen the city a bit the day before, but my ATM card failed to work many times over and Lauren’s ATM card got stuck in the ATM so we were stuck! We were only stuck till three though, because the Bank ended up being really quick to retrieve it (Unlike in Ghana where it would have taken three days) and that evening we were on our way to Porto Novo. Porto Novo is the capital of Benin and completely cute. It’s covered in churches and small pink houses with small wood shuttered windows, think Portuguese or Spanish! We were dropped at a hotel, which people swore up and down was the cheapest of the cheap, but let me tell you, for a college it was crazy spendy. We told them we couldn’t stay there and we went to stay at the other hotel they recommended. L’Hotel etait ferme!!!!! They were doing road work in preparation for the 50th anniversary or Benin’s independence and the hotel was closed because no one could get to it. So as we talked in very bad French, which did get better as the trip went on, Lauren continued to refuse the expensive hotel and before I knew it we were invited to stay at one of the contractors rented houses for the night. I say rented because he is from Coutenou, but has been working 6 days a week in Porto Novo for a few months so he rents from a family that lives there. That night we went from stay in the Italian Lady’s palace to staying on a cement floor in a guy’s rented three-room place. It was not bad though, we got to play with a bunch of funny French speaking children, eat what seemed like Spanish rice, and I took out my Ananse braids that were killing me. They were cornrows and I had a fro, it was great! In the morning, after not sleeping at all: I was on cement; we went into town and got coffee. Beninese people are obsessed with the stuff! We saw churches and some of the most beautiful Mosques I have ever seen. We got lost, and then found by too many men who wanted to marry me or thought I was gorgeous, which just gets annoying after a while! And then we got ripped off when we went to a stilt village that didn’t even need to be on stilts. It was nice to be on the water though!!! Then to a museum we didn’t actually go to, bought some music, ate some strange yogurt/ ice cream stuff and a ton of fruit and then back to Coutenou to call Sir Rubin! I call him Sir because the first time we saw him he road up to us like a prince in dress clothes on a motorcycle to save us from the horrible men who wanted all of our contact information! Rubin is in his late 20’s from Benin, recently graduated from the University there, and the best couch surfing host in the world. He was super nice, has great friends that we got to meet and chill with, has a huge bed that Lauren and I got to use, helped us with our French, which was getting much better by that point, and we helped him with English. He took us our to dinner with his friends, where we ate something that reminds me of white Jell-O, but did not taste that way, with peppa (pepper) and had a generally great time, and then road back to his place, on a motorcycle. It had rained again and that night driving back dodging the puddles was like motocross! So much fun!!! The following day Rubin stuck us in a shared cab heading to Quidah to meet up with his friend who would show us around. It was so funny, in all our time so far in Benin we had only seen maybe five tourists excluding ourselves, in Quidah the count went up to 11 in one hour. His friend was really nice and showed us the sacred forest that had many modern shrines to voodoo gods and many many mosquitoes, he also showed us the auction site, slave walk and the launching point for the slave ships heading to the Caribbean. He said, “vous ne allez pas parler englais aujourd’ hui,” and we tried our hardest to only speak French. Forced to remember in order to communicate I got really good, again. Don’t ask me to speak when I get home! When we got back from Quidah we were going to make Guacamole for Rubin and company but the avocado went bad, so they cooked us a dinner from Cote d’Ivore a cassava cous cous with sautéed tomatoes and onions, peppa, and fish. It was delish and super easy to make elsewhere. I taught them the card game spit, Lauren taught them spoons, which they loved and then we went back to his place in order to sleep and be up again in time to catch an early car to Lome. We spent only a day there and that was really enough. We went to a voodoo market and looked at it from the gate. We really didn’t want to pay to look at a bunch of dead indangered animals. We saw Lauren’s boyfriend’s mom and walked on the beach, and then it was time to head home. On the border the man checking our passports, when Lauren went to the restroom asked if he could follow her there. I said No way, he said he was a man of power and an African man. When Lauren got back he insisted that we stay at his house when we come again to Coutenou, hell no, and that I was the one he really liked. Armed with good bread with amazing avacado salad in it, and fanyogo vanilla (frozen vanilla yogurt) we made our way back to Accra.

Yet another show!

So last weekend I had one of my huge shows for the semester. It was the one about the golden stool of the Ashanti's choreographed by my friend Diana who is in her final year of her undergraduate degree. We performed three shows as custom Thursday, Friday and Saturday. However, as I have told you about every other show here, something crazy always happens on the first night. This shows catastrophy the first night was the sound, which was playing everything but what it was supposed to be playing all at the wrong time. Kinda a mess for the dancers huh. And the drummer forgot to drum, which was exciting, and a man was supposed to play the bell in another dance and he forgot. So it was a tech dress rehearsal with a paying audience. Kinda a mess wouldn't you say! However, by the last night we pulled outselves together and ended up with a fantastic and entertaining show we could all be proud of!

this weekend I have another show, in which I am Ananse the spider King, as well as a civilian. I am very excited about my roll but I also have to say that I will be glad when this show is over! being in three very intense productions this semester (while very fun) have become rather overwhelming especially in the time of finals and I am very excited for my trip however brief it is to Togo and Benin next week. I feel like some time outside of Accra is very well deserved at this point!

I will see some of you very soon and I will see some of you in a month. Keep in mind I am freaking out about your gifts, and I am also freaking out about how to take Ghana home with me!!!

lots of love!

This weekend I...

Was on African television, got attacked by a monkey, drank Starbucks coffee, went to the longest church service of my life, ate Chinese food and chocolate cake, and was told that I look good in traditional Muslim clothing.

I guess I better explain!

On Friday of this weekend my friend Faisal invited me to a program with his dance company called Africana Dance Ensemble. Just so everyone knows, a program is anything you go to: a play, a dance, a concert, a soccer match etc. The dance company is full of awesome and fun people whom I met at the beginning of my trip here, but have not been able to get to know very well, because of schedules, until now. Anyhow, I knew this program would be live at a TV station, but I did not know that I would be sitting in the audience (during their performance) which was also covered by the cameras! My friends danced an awesome and crazy war dance from South Africa. It was completely amazing to watch my friends do such a high energy dance live for cameras, and it was doubly amazing being there to cheer them on and make funny faces with them as they warmed up on stage. My only issue was that I sat next to a man who did not want to watch the show, he instead wanted to talk to me about getting his hair to be like mine (which is to my boobs now) and about what shampoo I use. Thank you Ghanaian man for trying to ruin the moment! After the show, as we waited for the bus to come to take us back to where they practice, the youngest member of Africana at the age of 17 taught me about being a Muslim, and a Muslim girl in Ghana, and tied scarves around my head just like she ties hers. After she tied it she showed everyone in the company my new do, and they all thought that it looked perfect on me. The funniest part was that all the guys were the ones that said it looked so good.

Saturday I read an entire book in one day and felt very good about myself.

Sunday I woke up, got showered (after waiting in a long line for the shower, I was behind Auntie Julie who takes about an hour to shower,) and put on my almost acceptable "church outfit" and went to Holy Trinity with my family. They are always asking me to go to church with them, and I have only gone once before so I thought that I would go one last time before I leave and that would be fine. Little did I remember that service is in three languages and lasts three hours long, at shortest. AHHHHH. After that I rewarded my good church behavior with Mounds (chocolate and coconut anyone!!!) The rest of the day was rather dull until i was pleasantly surprised by chinese take-out, very expensive here, and chocolate cake for my Auntie Edith's birthday and her cousins one year anniversary. We all sang, ate too much and had a great time. Then Kierstin my dear friend came over, we watched American movies, slept in in the morning, made Starbucks coffee in a french press (both sent to her by her parents) and watched the Bank Job. I had rehearsal later that day and nothing else very note worthy.

Monday I had rehearsal for my composition project for class and went to visit Faisal at his shop. It was there that I got attacked by the monkey that was attached to the tree by a rope. The monkeys already hate me, but Faisal convinced me that they would like me if I put yogurt in my hand and fed it to them. So I did so, and at first it was the most amazing thing. And then the monkey thought that I had more and jumped on me, hung from my pocket and scratched me and yelled. I almost fell down the hill, and yelled at Faisal for tricking me. Now I have a cool story to tell, so I guess I should have thanked him instead.

This week I have tests in my practical (dance and drumming subjects!) wish me luck!!!!

What do ya say...

As my time here comes to a close I am obviously getting the question "are you ready to leave Ghana?" more and more frequently. My answer is, " I am ready to go home." It is not that I haven't had a great experience here, but I am missing my friends, my family and my school. I am missing my clothes and being able to talk on the phone without having to worry about having enough credit. But there are also things in Ghana that I will definitely miss upon my return to the cold. I will miss all the awesome people that I have met here, and the great dance teachers. I will miss the food and the funny things people say! Things like "I am coming" which actually means they are not coming, "it's finished" for its gone, or done and "It's nice, but I don't like it." At first I was so baffled by statements like these, but there is a certain charm in them once you expect them. Also what will I do when everyone is on time. Here you plan that everyone will be half an hour late no matter what, at home it is not the case.

before I go I have much more to do, but always in my mind is my flight home and seeing all of you!

Monday I will tell you all about the rehearsal process in Ghana, and then you will never hate rehearsal ever again.

back from Kumasi...

And now for the Morning Report!
"To lay before my ruler all the facts about his relm to fill him in on all the beastly news"... "Chimps are going ape. giraffes remain above it all. Elephants remember though just what i can't recall. Crocodiles are snapping up fresh offers from the bank, showed interest in my nest egg but quickly said no thanks. we havent paid the hornbills and the vultures have a hunch that not everyone invited will be coming back for lunch...."

So after that happened we went to Kumasi for the weekend. The drive there is 5 hours long and it was so nice to just look out the window at the small towns flying by, do some reading for class and then, because of those readings, fall asleep for an hour or two and have a lovely nap! Upon arrival in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region we went to the palace of the Ashanti king and the Ashanti Kingdom museum to learn about the largest population in Ghana and the kingdoms rulers and history. We also learned about the history of the stool, the gold and the black (ask me later) and the most rocking woman ever Nana Yaa Asantewaa who stood up and asked her fellow men why they were not fighting for their Kingdom against the British, when the British had already captured their King. She then led the men in battle against the British, hid the golden stool, caused a lot of uproar and was imprisoned! This was in the 1900's. After the museum (where we traded in our aweful tourguide for a good one) we went to the largest market in West Africa, and oh my god it was huge!!! I got tons of fabric and some jewlery, but my friends got some crazy things including Obama biscuits, snails, blackberries (which are nothing like the ones we get at home,) and unidentifiable candies that tasted like nothing. I really enjoyed that each vender was much more relaxed than the ones in Accra. They would let you take your time and look around. They might try to be extra helpful and even if you are not sure you wanted something they would find it for you anyway, but if you said mehw3 (I am looking) they would leave you to your shopping. I guess these vendors learned that when dealing with white people the best way to make money is to let the American or European take their time. The other thing i really liked about this market was that they didnt try to rip you off like so many other places. For example my friend was buying snails and the woman quoted 5 cedis for one snail and then laughed like crazy. Because she laughed he knew that that was crazy and worked the price down to 2 cedis for 6 snails. People would also say a price and then say that it was not the final price: the final price is whatever you wanted to pay, within reason. I wish we could have stayed longer to explore the market more (even after getting my hair caught on a fish that was sticking out of a bowl on a womans head as she walked by,) but we were on schedule. That evening we had dinner at the hotel and the cook prepared my friends snails in a soup. The evening continued in a very relaxing way with airconditioning and movies and CNN on tv. That night in our airconditioned hotel room my friend and I froze. The most we ever use to keep cool at night is a fan, so we went from not sleeping under anything to sleeping with our sheets, our blankets, and our wraps to keep warm it was not a pleasent feeling to be so cold. The next morning we went to the Kente village to try our hands at weaving and learn about the history. I really enjoyed weaving and it reminded me of those times at Camp Namanu were you could elect to go weave in the weaving house and make your own rug or something. If you know what I am talking about imagine it five times more complex. there are levers to be pulled, some you pull with your toes, things to be flipped and many strings to be passed over or under in order to make some of the most beautiful designs and patterns. If you want to know more about Kente..... Google it! or wait for me to get home! After the kente village we went to the Adinkra symbols village where we got to see how they made the dye they used to print awesome and incredibly meaningful designs on cloth to originally be worn at funerals, but are now worn all the time. There are symbols like the moon that mean loyalty or faithfulness because the moon is in the sky every night. Or symbols like the two fish: when one fish bits the other does too, so it is a symbol to remind those to be harmonious. There are so many more and I will be bringing home a book of the symbols to show people. This weekend was a weekend of learning and shopping and...... shopping. After all this shopping we went to a lake that was created by a meiter, simular to Crater lake. A few friends and I went out in a canoe, and then the water was so tempting that i jumped in and swam back. I did not realize that this lake would have a current, or how far out I was. It was a good work out and the lake was beautiful and relaxing. That night went to dinner at a really fancy chinese restaurant, which looked like it was going to have great food and didn't. It's always funny when you think to yourself, "yeah I would love some chinese right now" and then you have chinese and you think to yourself, "this food sucks why didn't I have rice balls with ground nut soup or Kenkey or any other traditional Ghanaian food." That night Abena, the woman in charge of our trip took us out for a while to get drinks and listen to live music, which sounded like a fusion between latin jazz and Twi, and then back to the hotel for a thriller movie with Alicia Silverstone.... A+, and more CNN. The following day, Sunday, two friends and I went to the cultural center, while everyone else swam or slept at the hotel. We got lost on the way but it was really fun and I found that I really like Kumasi. We also found out that Kumasi has a zoo and were wondering if they had American animals there instead of African ones: the inverse of our zoos at home. The cultural center was nice and I would have liked to be there on a week day to see all that was going on. We went to the museum and ran around a bit and then had to be back at the hotel to join the bus and be on our way back to Accra. I am so thankful for all the trips that CIEE provides. The drama and the stress of Accra and Legon get so intense some times that an escape is so appreciated. We are now in our last week of classes and you all have to wish me luck because despite the fact that I have attended class I feel like I have learned NOTHING.,.. we shall see!

I'm singing in the rain!

Thursday night we opened our show "The Future of Dance" in the Sullivan Drama Studio/ Amphitheater. The energy was high and the audience was loving what we did. Everything was going so well. The emotion in the dance that I am in "A tribute to a Legend," a dance mourning the loss and celebrating the ex- head of the dance department who recently passed, was beyond with some of the mourners actually crying. My favorite dance, Manipula, was so on point with the two witch characters and the men dancing so strongly, and Kofi's energy was so high that he twisted his ankle in excitement. He is fine, and the show was great. AND THEN the "Witch of Sohu" happened. The witch comes up out of the floor with red lights and smoke calling her spirits and her, as my teacher calls them, "witch babies" to dance, and it just so happens that as she called them to dance she also called the rain. It came a little at first and we continued on with the show, but then it got serious and the sky opened up and nsuo to (water fell) at the same rate as a waterfall from the sky. And the dancers continued. The lights went out and the show continued by flashlight!!!!! It was amazing! As we went to bow the stage was a lake as was backstage. The rain lasted for maybe twenty minutes but it was more serious than any Portland rain I had ever experienced.

Also all of you, have a good Easter weekend. Unlike at home Easter is a national holiday here. We have Friday off from school as well as Monday! And then next weekend we go to Kumasi with CIEE.

I have so much to do before I leave and only 6 weeks left. wish me luck!

I would like to say that....

I LOVE THE LIGHTING DESIGNERS AND LIGHT TECHS AT BARD SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Last night was the last tech/ dress rehearsal before our show "The Future of Dance" Opens in the outdoor drama studio/ theater tonight, and oh my it was a bit of a mess. and that is an understatement in american standards. the previous night my professor had said that call time was 3:30pm so that we could finish costumes and hang lights so that when it got dark at 6:30 we would be ready to go. I arrived at 3:30, because he told us he would hit us with water sachets if we didn't do right, only to find another dance group in the space, a theater class in the space, props everywhere and not a dance professor to be found. My friend and I decided to give it an hour and then come back to see if any progress had been made. At 4:30 the director of the program was still not there and non of the dancers were there as well. At 5 people began to trickle in and the start time was set for 6pm. By 6:30 or 7 everyone was dressed in costume and looking great and ready to dance. Then we were informed that the lights were not right and that they didn't have a dimming board and other important lighting equipment. We then sat around for maybe 2 hours waiting for the lighting people to hang 20 lights (something they should have done earlier that day.) Then they had to focus the lights= more time. It was probably ten by the time we started our first run through with lights, which failed because the lighting people had not been watching the dances and thus didn't know the specials, important parts of the dances, and even which parts were group vs. solo work. So then we did notes and tried to run through the blocking that means we did what we did the first day of rehearsal, again. We finished around 3 in the morning and then argued for half an hour about where people were going to stay because it is dangerous to go off campus so late at night.

all in all it was a long night that would have been a few hours in the states. And if you think that my frustration and shock with this experience is purely because I am American, ask some of my Ghanaian friends what they thought of the day!

missing and loving Brian, Jeff, Moe, Kendra and everyone else in the PAC much love!!!!

Dance Shows: and more important things

I was not going to post before this weekend and my first of three big dance shows for the semester, but I found myself sitting in the computer lab with nothing to do and feeling like I needed to talk to people from home. So here I go- continuing my one way conversation with all of you!

As I sit here one of Ghana's favorite American hip hop songs has come on the radio, it is called "All The Above." I never heard this song before arriving here, and now I cannot go a day without hearing it about five times. I wonder, is it as popular in the U.S. as it is here? There are a few other American songs that get played on repeat everywhere I go, including "Forever Young" as well as maybe 5 Nigerian songs that dominate everyone's playlists, radios, and pen drives ( the favorite way of storing, playing and sharing music here.) I promise to bring those songs home!

I also am working on bringing some Nigerian movies home. People take them very seriously here, including my host sisters, but they are probably the funniest genre of movie I have ever seen. Their budget is slightly higher than that of Breakfast Club and always include, a king, a betrayal, a fight, a conflicted man (always played by the same man no matter the movie,) witchcraft or a ghost or a curse (some include: cartoon snakes in peoples mouths, glowing green people, and lightening bolts that look like they have been drawn on the screen,) and fantastically horrible sound effects. Don't believe me just Youtube it, or wait for the real deal! They are all the same, despite the title and are all very cheesy and loved. What are better, or worse, than Nigerian movies are Ghanaian movies. These films have titles like, "She is Not My Wife 1 and 2," and if Nigerian films had a baby with dubbed Tella Novella, which is also very popular here, that would be a Ghanaian film.

Also, as most of you know I have a summer skirt and dress collection that is completely illogical for the amount of sun that I usually see at home, sorry that collection is growing. This is due to two factors here in Ghana. Firstly, the fabrics here, whether Batik (spelling) or printed, are some of the brightest, most fun that I have ever seen. You have to be careful to buy the ones made in Ghana; do not buy the Chinese imitations that are cheaper and thus appealing, because they are horrible quality. The Ghanaian ones are all beautiful, some are very funny with bowling pins, high heels, telephones, and bird cages printed on them and some very skillfully dyed. (I am working on learning how to do this type of dying so that i can do it at Bard.) And most fabrics are only 4 cedis a yard which is 2 dollars and 70 cents a yard!! Secondly, there are seamstresses everywhere you look. On the walk to my house from school there are 6 shops with multiple people working away on anything from mens shirts with paisley to woman's church outfits covered in sparkles (Ghanaians love to sparkle: men and women.) My house also has about six seamstresses working at the shop so there is that. Not every seamstress is good, but most are fair (they are working on very very old machines.) However, something that all of them are awesome at is looking at a picture and making the outfit in the picture. They can look at the most complex outfit, and without a pattern they can make it!

With these two things at your finger tips wouldn't you come back with a suitcase of brand new clothes?

So the important things are the things that I will bring back to the states to show all of you. I think I will also bring some musical instuments (am contemplating how to make a drum my carry-on.) If you want anything, at all, please let me know. Bootleg videos are pretty good, as are beads, cloth, hand fans etc.

miss and love you all, thanks for tuning in!

three shows, two choreography projects and finals

So school ends April 16 and then I have a month of I don't know what sprinkled with finals, which is actually more I don't know what. Until then, I have a performance called The Future of Dance to be presented the 1,2 and 3 of April. It is a very bold statement to say that this performance is the complete future of dance, but it is possibly part of it. I am in a dance called Tribute to a Legend that is for a professor who died recently. Originally this dance came from my composition class and was very much our work, by this i mean that you could clearly see each of us and our personalities in the work. At the first rehearsal the director of the show scrapped all our movements and started to re-choreograph our dance taking up everyone's time for many rehearsals. Finally in class we solidified a dance to his liking, which will get videoed and shown to all of you! I am pretty happy with it, and it opens the show. We are rehearsing for this show three hours a day everyday for three weeks, it should be good!

I am also doing two choreography projects of my own this semester that I will be graded on. My first question is, how will I have the time to create these dances-among the other rehearsals and classes I have- and my second question is how in the world do you grade art? The dances will be a group piece on my experience (a broad overview of my experience) in Ghana, and I am unsure about the solo, so if you have any ideas!

I have a final in Philosophy which could be on technology and development, or how to make Kenkey. A final in Human Rights where we have learned the same thing every time we go to class: Africa is the poorest and the richest continent, it is the most diverse with the shortest and the tallest people, human rights is a western concept projected onto Africans, and the only reason that the leaders post independence didn't lead with human rights in mind is because their colonial teachers and predecessors didn't teach them about HR. Questionable teaching... I think so!



On another note I am going to a wedding tomorrow which should be fun.


I would love to talk more and more but we are being served chilled chocolate milk and I really must get some.

will write for real on monday!

Mountains, waterfalls, monkeys, oh my!

This weekend was one of the most beautiful weekends of my time here. With little sleep the home stay group boarded the bus at seven am on Saturday and headed to the Volta Region. After a four hour bus ride, during which we bought bread and other snacks from people at the side of the road and headed deeper and deeper into what can truly be called a jungle, we arrived at the Monkey sanctuary. There we got out stretched our legs and FED MONKEYS! They were very little monkeys with long tails called Mona monkeys and very entertaining (pictures will come.) After the monkeys we went to the hotel for lunch and then headed to this amazing waterfall. We had to cross 9 bridges that crossed a twisty rainforesty river. Upon arrival at the waterfall pictures were taken and swimming soon after. Don't worry I have photos. The next day we went for a hike, yes a real honest to God hike. We hiked up the tallest mountain in Ghana. The mountain is called Afadjato (pronouced like it is spelled) located in the northern portion of the Volta Region near a town called Hohoe (pronounced Hohoi.) It takes 45 minutes to climb/hike this mountain, whose peak reaches 2,900 ft. (Let's compare that to Mount Saint Helens, whose new peak reaches 8,365 ft.)

Mom, you thought that the hike that we did with Breezy where he decided not to go any further was strait up and down, just wait for the pictures of this place-we were climbing stairs with hands and feet.

It was a beautiful weekend of nature, villages, distilled palm wine, and cute cute animals.


well now I am back in the city and in too many dance productions! More updates soon!

Sushi With Larry

I will start with who Larry is... because I know you all are wondering. Larry if I am correct is either a friend of Grandma Sandy or the son of one of Grandma Sandy's friends in Florida. He grew up in Schenectady and went to the JCC with Stephen Jacobson I think (don't quote me on that.) He is a retired Banker and has worked most of his life in banks in Africa. He has three grown kids and lives in San Francisco.

The point of all this is that when I decided on coming to Ghana, my grandma- and the rest of my family- started the search for people they knew or sort of knew that had been to Ghana, lived in Ghana or are currently in Ghana. My family wanted me to have people to talk to, to prepare me for my trip ahead, and to have contacts while I am here. VERY SWEET I THINK. One of the people that came up on this list, other than Carol Brown, Uncle Ed's friend, Kaylee from Dance West, and plenty of others was this man named Larry.

Larry as I learned comes to Ghana for a week every three months for a meeting with the bank and doesn't mind taking poor college students out for a nice meal. In our email correspondence before his arrival, which my mother initiated(thanks mom,) he asked me if there was anything that he could bring me from the States or from Heathrow Airport. I responded that the only two things I really missed and wanted from the States were sushi and my mom and that I knew that both were not possibilities.

To my great surprise Sushi is a possibility in Ghana at one place, Monsoon. Not knowing what to expect in conversation or food I invited my friend Kierstin along, to which she said, "you owe me" and then later said, "nevermind" in regards to her previous remark. Larry picked us up outside the Canadian Embassy (near my work) in an air conditioned car with a driver. I felt truly conflicted... inside this car we were transplanted back to America where you wear seat belts, but we were still in Ghana where I haven't worn a seat belt yet and I am pretty sure that they don't exist in most cars, so the dilemma was do we wear seat belts OR NOT! Going to Monsoon was like going to a restaurant in the states and the sushi was to die for. We had a rainbow roll, spicey tuna, and tempura (Thank you Larry!) We had academic meaning full conversations about Human Rights, Uganda, presidencies in Africa and corruption... and other things we as people don't like to admit exist. On the way home Kiersten and I impressed Larry by directing the driver to our houses in Twi: fa bankum (take left) fa nifa (take right) ko anim (go strait) ha (here) ho (there) gyia (stop.)

overall A+ evening, despite the fact that I missed Kenkey Monday.

GHANAIAN GUYS.... since I know you all are curious

Let it be known that in order to write this blog I had to consult my dear friend Kierstin and others on the matter, because this breed of man is not easily defined.

So we could compare Ghanaian men to those in America, we could merely list their characteristics, or we could give you a few common scenarios were Ghanaian men are involved, or we could do a bit of each, which I think is probably the best option in order for all of you to understand exactly what we mean when we say "Ghanaian Guy."

Some basic characteristics are:

• Bold/ forward to the max (some not all)
  
• Confident in their wooing skills, and their ability to be your husband, at a moments notice.
• Muscles, muscles, muscles.... need i say more
• generally sincere and sweet, but watch out for the Oburni hunters (will define later)!
• touchy, feely in the sense that they are always holding your hand, putting their arms around you, holding your waist etc. -let it be known that this is often happening in a friendly manner, between friends
• Very eager to know all about you- this pertains mostly to girls
• they are your friend, you have no choice! If you have met and made eye contact there is no way out!
• they all know how to dance, even if they say they can't, and can all dance very well.
• in their minds there is no reason why they should not: ask where you live, ask for your number, ask for your email address, ask for your facebook name, ask for your hand in marriage even if you are married, pregnant, or 12.
• they are horrible at judging ages
• they are respectful

Now that you have some of the basics let's create some scenarios:
(let it be known that these stories are based on true life experiences and the names of these men have been changed to protect their egos.)

1. After one rehearsal with this group of dancers this boy, we shall call him Kwame, grew particularly interested in this one girl, a friend of mine, to be called Liz. After complimenting her on her dance skills, which were not that great, he continued to shower her with praise of her amazing I.Q., which he has no knowledge of her intelligence and her fabulous singing voice, while he has never heard her sing. Once on break Kwame was glued to Liz's side. He was quick to ask her about her contact information in Ghana and the U.S. and began to plan how he would contact her months later when she had arrived home.

2. This story is called "the speed walking story." I would like to mention that the names of the people involved in this story don't actually matter as this story could be applied to many different situations and people. In this particular story there was no exchange of names. It goes like this. The white girl was walking home at 9:30 pm from her tro tro stop along a very lit street. Because it was late she was walking the normal American pace rather than a slower Ghanaian pace. Part way along the street she was met by a Ghanaian man who was incredibly out of breath. As she continues to walk towards her home the man said to her, "I saw you from afar when you got off the tro tro and I was amazed by how fast you were walking. I thought to myself that if a woman can walk that fast I, a man, should be able to walk that fast too!" Let us keep in mind that he was dying and that the girl was perfectly fine. at the end of the street as they split ways he asked how he would see her again, and asked for her number. She skillfully replied "I walk this walk every day" he was shocked "how about you meet me, or happen to see me and we will walk it together." She never saw him again.

unfortunately we are out of time for today, but this will be continued tomorrow for your and our amusement.

Birthdays

So it is 12:40 pm here and it is Meg Leonard's birthday. However, to call her right now would be the most unwelcome birthday surprise ever considering that it is 4:40 am in Oregon. Also it must be said that while that is a completely horrible thing to do to some one in the States: call someone at 4 am on their birthday, here in Ghana that is totally acceptable because people get up at 4 anyway!

So I wont call her now: I will wait till a more resonable hour, say 7 am! until then I will tell you what they do for birthdays here in Ghana.


YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE A BIRTHDAY IN GHANA!!!!!! because....

Many people including your closest friends: throw water on you, throw dirt on you, throw dirty handwashing water on you, throw yogurt down your pants and down your shirt, throw unopened water saches (a plastic bag of water) at you, they tackle you if you run away, and put a bucket on your head.

it is humiliating, disgusting, and the only good thing about it is that it happens to everyone.

So Meg be happy you are not in Ghana today so that you can avoid the torture called Ponding and happy birthday.

Where is my head???

Recently, no, my whole time in Ghana has been rather unacademic. Recently I was told that I have to write a paper, literally 2 pages long, on whiether I think that ethnicity is a human construct or not. I wanted to laugh, I thought it was a joke. I have done no homework since being abroad (not even homework that I have for Bard or that I know I will have for Bard, senior project and the like, next year,) and I can't imagine starting now. Whoops!
The adventures continue to be very interesting, and some rather odd, but there is nothing better than letting your brain rot in the 90 degree heat of equitorial Ghana.

On another topic of brain rot I feel that my boldness and stuborn attitude towards life is on a slippery slope heading towards the exit, never to return. What I mean by this is that never before I got here would I allow another person to make my evening, day or weekly plans, but here I seem to be the tag-a-long for many activities, though not all. Also at home I have never been guilted into doing things I do not want to do, but i feel like my moral strength is slipping away. I have agreed to be a dance teacher, where a person said to me, when discussing schedules, " you can only come from 12-2 what do you want to do? clean my floors?" and instead of standing strong I found myself bending to help and accomidate this person who had insulted me and is not paying me.

WHERE IS MY MORAL FIBER????

Also if you ever want to be challenged religiously, come to Ghana. If you are not religious you better have a really good reason why you aren't.

On a different note while speaking Twi, the local language, makes others completely thrilled, be careful how much you say they will think you are fluent and then will continue talking to you at hyperspeed, and you will be stuck- smiling and nodding. And then hopefully you at least know the word for wife, so that while you are smiling and nodding away you don't happen to agree to marriage, yes sportsfans it still happens all the time. Last night a road patrol officer asked me if i was married. I said yes! and he laughed.

I am off to spend time with cute kids who don't mind that my brain is gone. I will let you know tomorrow if it is back, and if it is not, any suggestions on how to keep it in my head would be more than welcome.

sometimes you just have to put things in words: ta ta for now.

yebehyia bio

and all that...

This is a favorite phrase of my Human Rights in Africa professor and a perfect title for this blog.

Yesterday my fellow ciee students and I (thats more than 50 white students in one place) went to the beautiful and magical Bojo Beach. There we relaxed, drank soda, swam, built sand castles and played in the CIEE Games. These games included soccer, which I played (can you imagine,) lime and spoon, sack race, relay run and maybe a three legged race. My team was the green team and frankly I have no idea if we got second, third or fourth because as soon as I was done with my event i jumped into the ocean. The water was beautiful and clear and incredibly salty and the sand was so nice. The beach set up was glorious. when you arrive you have to cross a bridge to this in between island and then from there you take a 2 second boat ride to the beach itself. My friend Max actually walked across the portion we boated but either way it was lovely, if not a bit silly. Apon arrival we walked into this canopy area that had a bar and a farely extensive kitchen. People ordered food and I got a pinapple soda, which is a magical thing in its own right and we set about preparing to relax not to be pushed into these games. The games ended up being fun but as I said the water was the highlight. The waves here are huge!!! I also did some body surfing and got the best ride.

On a completely different note i think i will be doing a gospel music video while i am here in Ghana. It sounds rediculous I know, but my friend is doing the choreography and needs (white) dancers.

I am also teaching dance classes here. I dont know if i have said this yet. but its been really cool so far. the kids are so willing to learn and energized. I am thinking to teaching them the "brain dance" people from leah's class please tell me what you think! I am doing a ballet class and a hip hop/ modern class. Its pretty fun, and i have a class today!

Also this is funny but after so much Banku and kenkey and palm nut soup and Okra soup it was time to find other places to eat. My favorite place, i think, is a place near work called Melting Moments. They serve real mac and cheese!!!!

all things gold....

A list of all things golden in Ghana-

I saw Beauty and the Beast performed at the drama department two weekends ago. The golden moment was seeing my friends dressed up like silverware and my friend Phillip playing the town drunk. Two other golden moments in the play were, the attempted british accents and my friend Ernest playing the most perfect Ghanian Gaston imaginable. Other than that the play was kind of laughable (and sadly not in a good way.) Also audience participation is something that Americans just don't understand, and thus we bash it, but more on that later.

Another Golden Moment of Ghana, or moments, are the pool parties! Ghanians love to go to a hotel for the afternoon and just pay to use the pool, and I don't blame them. You get to to sit around a beautiful pool, swim, drink and eat good food and generally forget that you are in a mass polluted third world city. If you get the chance i would highly recomend trying it. I got to accompany friends and the other players of Beauty and the Beast to the cast party at the Airport West Hotel Pool.

That same weekend (02/20/2010) I saw the Vagina Monolouges. That was a wonderful Golden and progressive moment for Ghana; however, the audience (the night i went) was the greatest gathering of white people I had seen in my time in Ghana since my last group outting. Also it amazed me that they put a butch character on the stage (GHANA IS HOMOPHOBIC) but the director removed the lesbian monolouge from the play. Things to think about... thanks Ghana.
Something Golden... VM had a soundtrack and a slide show included.

As of Monday I was so full of golden moments, some of which I have not mentioned yet, but Monday and Wed. brought even more.

Monday I found out that i have two internships one working at the orphange, which is reading to kids and giving them attention, helping with spelling and sounding out words and simple math. these kids are GOLD my new favorite there is named Isaac and he is a goofy six year old boy who likes to read and play and is a general monkey kid but super sweet.

I also am teaching dance at an afterschool program called Hop Inn and it will be my job to make a sustainable dance class/ program there through advertising, class demand etc.

GOLD MOMENT... they sell deep fried BATS at the Market, and people eat COW SKIN which looks like a chew toy you give to a dog.

GOLDEN THING... people wear dresses made out of fabrics with lights, birdcages, high heels and other random objects printed on them, in entertaining colors.

Gold... people drink ice cream, juice, water, yogurt, and other things out of plastic bags that you rip a hole in the corner of with your teeth.

all for now and more later.

the funny thing is...

The funny thing is that my life here models that of my life at home. I take dance classes and a composition course: in which we get prompts like "life super highway," "if you are pressed with time do you, work feverishly or slacken slacken the pace?" "childs play" and "make a phrase based on a bodily shape."

I take Human Rights class
I take an extra course of interest
I work with student choreographers (i just learned that i have a 5 minute solo based on spiders for one of the dances i am in.)
and I work with childern.

life is so simular but life is also so much more difficult. I have found what to eat that suits me. that to get my attention people hiss, make this really loud kissy noise, or call obruni. I am ajusting to the pace at which things get done here. GMT was once greenwhich (spelling) mean time this is the time zone that Ghana is in; however here GMT is Ghana Man Time (almost an hour later.) The fact that toilets hardly ever work, let alone have toilet paper. that the power just goes out for hours at a time and there is nothing that can be done about it. All of That I am fine with, I am even learning to accept that while i think a lot of their views are wrong they are a product of where these people have lived, grown up, been taught etc. and that me talking at them wont change anything and that my view is mine and a product of my upbringing and so is that fact that i think its right.

what i cant seem to understand here is PHD or Pull Him Down syndrome. When a person sees another person doing well and feels like they don't deserve it they say yes i will help you and they end up ruining the project on purpose that they promised to help. or a singer is having a performance and some one is yelling over the singer so that it is almost irrelevant that the singer is singing. this is PHD. People come to rehearsal and sit and laugh at the choreographer. people say "like hell am I going to do that dance move"

these are things that are not everywhere but they are starting and i think that i have to understand them or find a way to avoid them before they drive me mad. its the simple disrespect of fellow student, TA and teacher that baffles me.

life away from that subject is GOOD. my last day of TWI is today and i have my final exam. I wish the course was longer, but i think that i now have more courage to ask my fellow students about things concerning the language that i wouldn't have felt comfortable asking before.

also I am seeing Vagina Monolouges performed here IN GHANA! I never thought it would happen and i am very excited to see how it is presented and how it is recieved. more on that on monday.

nothing else for now.

lots of love

little kids rock...

I started my internship yesterday and its so rewarding. I am working at Osu Childrens' Home(an orphange,) specifically working in their library. I do things like homework help, reading to little kids, helping with reading, word pronounciation and creating simple math. My goodness the kids are so cute the kids that come to the library are anywhere from 5-15 years in age and mostly boys. They are all so full of energy but thats part of the fun. Yesterday I ended up reading the same book about three times and helping a girl with multiplication problems. It was really fun -I am going back on Friday. More later, I am late for class!

I posted photos!

firstly i would like to say that i have started to put up some photos of my adventures on facebook, and you should all go look at them!

secondly I would like to say that the snack food in Ghana is to die for and that being here has actually reconfirmed my love for yogurt by introducing me to Drinkable Yogurt, in flavors like pinapple, and vanilla with millet (no idea what it is, but i love it!) other snacks include, cookies ranging from waffers to the spiciest ginger cookies you will ever eat, these tiger nuts that taste as coconuts should, peanuts or ground nuts, a million good drinks from soymilk to pear flavored soda, grilled plantain, killywilly (fried plantain with ginger, pepper and other things) fruit of every sort, etc etc etc.

Also big news! I was in my first dance performance in Ghana today! I told you all about that workshop that happened on friday, we took all of that material and then other material as well and the school, Noyam Dance group, Ghana national dance ensemble, and one other group along with the leaders of the workshop put on a show today. it was really amazing. this performance had this wonderful theme of what people can do when they are given the tools and it was both breathe taking and inspiring. i am so happy that i got to be a part of it. sadly i have no videos of the dance that i was in but i have some rehearsal footage of the things other people were doing.

so Basically it was a great day! and i might get a job with a dance company traveling around the world and empowering dancers, that wouldnt be a bad thing at all!

the group they are from is called Battery dance

walking on air...

this weekend i have to say has been the trippiest (is that a word?) of the whole time here so far. on friday we had an all day, and i mean all day, dance workshop with two dancers from Brooklyn. it is so strange coming from the states where we have foreign choreographers and dancers coming to teach us, and then going to another country where people from the US are foreign but being an american recieveing those "foreign but not foreign to me" choreographers. the workshop, though was great regardless. they gave us lots of tools and means for creating movement and spit us into many different groups, and then spent the following day putting all the material we made (about two hours worth) together into a half an hour piece. I missed that portion of the workshop because i was at Cape Coast for the weekend with my group.

Oh My God Cape Coast was cool. i want to go back, on the first day we were there we went and saw Elmina Castle. the largest and oldest of the slave castles. I have tons of pictures that i will post so do not worry. it was built by the Portugese and then taken over by the Dutch. the Cape Coast Castle, which i didnt see, was the British Slave castle, not too far away. they are haunting, even as they glow and sparkle white in the beach's mid day sun.

after that we went swimming in the ocean. the water was the cleanest and the brightest blue that i have seen in Ghana so far. I absolutely loved it; however, the water was salty enough to pickle your eyeballs. after swimming and dinner there was more swimming (in a pool) arguements with the hotel bartender and then bed.

the next day we went to the canopy walk at this amazing park. most people were freaking out, and i was having a blast. my friend Mickey and I were singing and dancing on the bridges and then getting yelled at by our fellow cieers. i have this really good picture of him play falling and he has a good one of me hanging upsidedown.


after that it was rice balls (tasty despite how strange they sound) and veggie stew, then back to campus. I have a performance for that workshop on Thursday so talk to you after that. all is fine for now!

since you all asked for food....here it goes

there is an obsession with carbs here, but people dont really realize they are carbs. they are staples if anything.


they are rice, jollof rice (which is rice with a red tomato like sauce mixed into it. very spicy and very yummy,) this beans and rice thing (which is rice and black eyed peas no sauce but very tasty,) fried plantains, yams (in many styles, but they taste and look more like potatoes rather than american yams, except that they are in raw form as big as my leg,) a variety of spagetti things yumm,

and then the things that i am still having a hard time eatting:

fufu, which tastes like nothing and is the texture of un cooked bread dough, banku which tastes like sourdough bread dough, and kenka which i havent tried yet. these are all eatten with soups like groundnut soup, okra soup, palmnut soup etc. each of these are also served with a hunk of meat or fish in them and are all slightly slimy. groundnut tasts like fishy peanutbutter, orka is just slimy and palmnut i dont know about. you eat all of this by the way with your hands. there is an art to it i guess but to me it just looks messy and strange.

there are then those things that i put on rice and yams etc. that i really enjoy, that is spicey cabbage, this spinach thing, curried veggies, veggie stew, red red (black eyed peas in a red spicey sauce with onions and peppers. tasty.


all for now.

some basics.....

the family I live with consists of ten people who are slightly related to one another. this is the ghanian way it seems,

Mommy and Daddy of the house are Auntie Grace and Challey (charelly: which means friend, not actually his name but thats what everyone calls him)

then there is Uncle Albert (creepo of the world) who is some how related to Aunty Grace but I am not really sure how. he is 34 single and has lived there for a long time. he claims to have a really important job but i mostly see him on the couch in the dark playing on the computer or watching movies. he also like to pinch people and act like he is a really important/ smart person.

Auntie Julie is the only hired and paid help in the house. she isnt related to anyone but is from the same place in ghana as the rest of the family is from: the Volta Region she sings a lot and doesnt speak english, and is unfortunately fat and thus is always called the Big One or the Fat One. poor auntie Julie. (however, it seems that fat doesnt have the same negitive connotation that it does in the US)

then there is Anna, I think she is hired but possibly not paid help. she came from Togo with a relitive of Auntie Grace and speaks little to no english, some french and Ewee/Evee however you say it. she's 21 and really funny, and thinks its crazy how long my hair is. she tells me this every day by pulling on my braids or ponytail. its kinda a pain but its also funny. I speak a little french with her and want to do so more.

Rosemon is a sweet 21 year old who came to the house only a few months ago. I think she is a cousin of someone in the house but it is unclear. She has a sister who is 17 living in Cape Coast, and she wants to start university next year to study acting and business but her dad wants her to join the army. i dont think the army would suit her at all. she is the sweetest natured stringbean of a girl.

then there is Rachel, not to be confused with the american rachel who i room with at the house (also from my program.) this rachel is 21 and basically runs the kitchen. during the day she works in the fabric shop attached to the house and in the morning and night she is the boss of auntie Julie, Anna and Rosemon in the kitchen. Also if the american rachel and i need anything from Oatmeal to hangers we ask her. (dont bother Grace with the little things!!!) she also loves to party and go out and i think 85% of her friend base is guys over the age of 25. There is a really low key bar accross the street from our house and we go there with her a lot just to chill out outside away from the family and the heat of the house. this girl has more clothes then i would know what to do with, acts 26, and is "boss lady."

Alex or Aunty/ Uncle Alex, depending on what you feel like calling him at that moment is 24. he is finished with College at Legon and is doing his social service. In Ghana as long as you do a social service your schooling is paid for by the country (or something like that) he was a geography major and as his social service he is a Teachers Assitant and department employ for the Geography department at the university. he is really nice, quiet but funny, and a die hard fan of football (soccer) and the Ghana Black Stars, the Ghana national team which just came in second in the African Cup of Nations.

then there are the little girls. they are 11 and 12 i believe and named Abigail and Stephanie (respectivly.) they go to a really intense private school, and have really cute uniforms. other than that they are normal preteen girls. they love hannah montana, and disney channel, want to eat ice cream all the time, love to dance and have crushes on the guys their age at school and church. they are endless entertainment.

and thats the fam. + me and Rachel Ehrman- Dupre from north carolina and at school at Occiedental. bio major pre med. lady!!!


loving here. more soon.

the mall in ghana sucks

at the mall in ghana it is royally crappy and i hate it. the end!

classes and teachers

so i havent writen in a while but i have more hurt spots on my hands from laundry and the like. who knew doing your clothes could be such a challenge. I think that i have finallized my class schedule. it sucks but i think it will be alright. it gives me no time to travel but the classes are good and i am doing some other interesting things on campus anyway so maybe traveling is not as important. i am in two student productions for the semester. one is a masters students work on possession dances and the dance he is making is following that model. the other is a senior project that they started last semester and i dont know what it is like yet but will learn tomorrow. all i know is that there is a lot of front rolls. hehe. i am taking dance technique, traditional african dance(and learning a dance that i learned part of in high school,) dance composition, drumming (the most dull classever but i need a music class for the dance major at bard) human rights in africa, which should be cool, and philosophy and the contemporary african experence. please dont mind the spelling in all of this. this last class would be so cool if we could hear/ understand the teacher. i am thinking of calling him Mr. Mummbles, i am calling my dance teacher Prof. Doesnt Talk. its funny i knew there would be a language barrier from twi to english but not english to english.
i have met two wonderful dance friends here so far that are at the university with me. they are in my dance classes and are sweet sweet girls. its funny thought because girls here are typically more reserved then boys so you become friends with boys first, like my friends Lenny, Ernst, and Faisal (also from dance) but these two are so fun. one is named Ama and the other is Suzette. they both are funny as all get out (you would love them) and both have british accents from living in england for some time. suzette is always talking about going back there, and ama is jamacian ghanaian (she is lighter and no one believes that she is african.) the three of us are a sarcastic mess!

i think people think that is cool that i can do the dances here but also most people in the university have not been dancing that long, only since their freshman year.

my composition teacher mentioned John Cage yesterday, that was cool, and i am just trying to make it through without eatting banku or fufu or anything else that resembles uncooked dough. till next time!

more from the past...

January 18 at 12:31pm
on sat. i was hanging out with friends on campus and eatting lots of fresh fruit and an egg sandwich and three of my friends here and i i decided to go to the beach. this beach is called "la bodi beach" took the tro, again, and got dropped off at a stop half an h0our away fromthe beach for some reason. once we got there we went to the la bodi hotel, payed the guard to let us on the beach (he quickly pocketed the money for himself) and we were on our way. the sand was beautiful the people were nice and while the water had some trash in it it was clear blue. Just so you know, the way to get beach vendors away from you is to tell them you dont even have enough money to get home. they feel bad for you and leave you alone. in the evening we left, full of sand, and salt and satisfied. sunday some of us went to the Ossu childrens home. its an orphange that some of us will be working at this semester. the kids are real sweet and in need of direction. more on that later, but it should be good. then we had another welcome meal and now its monday and classes are starting. hope everyone is well and love you tons.

January 25 at 12:45pm
this weeks success stories in no specific order:-getting amazingly soft dance/genie pants made for me at the shop attached to my house-getting attacked by a disgusting bout of food poisoning which caused me to throw up into the gutters on friday morning on my way back from a friends house (we were going to pick her up so we could all walk to the bus for a feildtrip, i said i felt sick and was going to go home... on the way x,y, and z.)-getting a war wound (a cut on my finger) from doing laundry, but being very successful at washing my clothes in a bucket non the less. -taking my first drumming lesson from a Ghanian friend named Jimi and of course getting a battle wound from that as well.and then almost missing the welcome dinner because i didnt leave my drumming and hang out session on time. - going to the haiti relief concert at alliance francais here and ghana and listening to many famous ghanian singers for only 5ghc, which equals maybe three dollars.

January 25 at 12:55pm
-being able to say things like Y(backwards 3)K(backwards c) shiashi which means we are going to shiashi (a tro stop)or Medin (backwards 3)mo ne panoo daa = i eat rice and bread everyday. or mep(backwards 3) abor(backwards c)b(backwards 3) ne ankaa. =i like pinapple and oranges.

that... and more

this is the first three weeks worth of updates in one post!!

January 8 at 1:02pm
je suis ici! im here in ghana, i am at a really nice hotel right now and i have met a few of my fellow ciee travelers all is well. today we took a long walk in the sun to an internet cafe where i am writing to you from. the weather is hot and sweaty but i wouldnt have it any other way. I am working on getting a phone but this is best for now. the flight was fine but long, and no i did not sleep because there were two screaming babies on my flight fro frankfurt to Accra. Tamsin met me at the airport which was so nice, and i got all my luggage and there werent any issues. thank goodness. i think i like it a lot here so far. we have orientation all weekend and then we pick classes on wed. and classes start monday. on the tenth or eleventh i meet my host family and im so excited. please everyone keep me up to date. i love and miss you all. ♥ claire

January 9 at 9:06pm
So today was the first day of orientation and people are still arriving. It sees so crazy to think that I have already been here three days. tomorrow i am getting a phone and today i ate the biggest mango at lunch, it was so sweet and creamy just like a mango lasse (the indian drink.) it was totally amazing. i also tried this fruit that looked like the south american bread fruit but it tasted like sour patch kids, so sour. i learned about my host family today and i meet them tomorrow. they have a clothing store and lots and lots of family members. i am also living there with one other ciee person, i am the only one to do it that way. i am going to bed i will write more tomorrow!

January 12 at 11:48am
so today is the third day with our host family. they are so sweet and really warming up to rachel and i. she is my roommate in the house. its funny her best friend lived in that house the semester before and there is another rachel in the house who lives there. the little girls are so sweet. they are named abigal and stephanie. its crazy at this house all the timethere are so many family members to keep track of and some help and then the workers. the mom/ aunt named grace has a faberic shop where she and her workers dye, stamp and then sew fabrics int clothes. i am so excited to learn how to do it. and then a can bring it back to bard and we can have the most fabulous costumes ever! the campus is the biggest place in the world. you have to take shuttles everwhere or else you will always be late. there is also a market on campus called the niught market and some of the dorms are half an hour a way but still on campus. i on the other hand walk and take a tro tro to school. i dont really have to take the tro tro (a small bus with a millon seats and people basically sitting on one another. its an experience) but the road is getting expanded and its not safe to walk on that portion of the road.mom, i like the name ruby and i like the name rumor and phoebe. ta ta for now! computer time is up. its 50peswes for half an hour.

January 12 at 6:09pm
no pictures yet, computers are are slow and thus it is hard to upload photos also i feel like in most situations its really inappropriate to take photos. like on the street with peoples stands or at the tro tro stop. i have some pictures of my host family and will have more but for now there are not a ton due to courtesy. i had my first twi (pronounced like tree) class today. i learned how to say
wo din de sen? =what is your name?
me din de claire= my name is claire
na wo nso e? = and you?
yefre wo sen? =we call you what?
yefre me claire = we call me claire
wo he te sen? = how is your body/ how are you? ete sen?
me ho ye.= my body/ i am good. eye.
and thats all for now. about to walk home with some friends i live near, and of course... take the tro tro.

January 14 at 5:07pm
today i am writing from my friend Courtneys computer rather than the internet cafe on campus and i have to say that it is such a relief. in the internet cafe it takes 20mins to load a page and as you type the words dont appear and then when you are done typing the letter slowly fill in. today we went to the first coco farm in ghana. it was up in the mountains and it was so refreshing to get out of the city and see the rural part of ghana for a change. we saw how cocoa was made and we got to eat some of the final product. its nuttier than normal chocolate but very tasty. we also saw a group of preschoolers playing with blocks at school. they were very cute but the people in our group ambushed them with cameras and poses. that wasnt to cool in my book. then we went to this wood carving place where we got an introduction to woodcarving and mask making. interesting note: out of one log they split it in half and make one half a male mask and the other half a female mask. so cool. after that adventure of learning and buying we went to the mountain gardens which have these trees that are not very old but look like they are dinosaur trees. lots of pictures will come from these adventures. going home soon. dinner last night made me so sick. i could not even smell if for fear of throwing up. something like rotten fish. thinking about it makes me sick too. hopefully it will just be plantains or red red (black eyed peas and red sauce) tonight. thats whats good. yams are good to but totally different than what we get in the states. anyway more on food later.ttyl

January 18 at 12:18pm
so far i am registered for "human rights in africa," "dance technique 2," "basic drumming," "traditional dance 2," and "twi (pronounced like tree)," and politics of identity in ghana." there are other really interesting courses i would love to take, like african lit, the development of tourism in third world countries, comparitive religions, religion and human rights (only offered in the fall) and the list ogoes on. i also want to take classes that i have already had and compare. but i wont get credit for them so its a no go. as far as adventures go i have had so many already. on friday i played hooky from a lecture on politics in ghana and went to meet Tamsin and Faisal and Tamsin's friend Isaac at a tro tro stop called shiashi (i am sure that i am spelling that wrong) and we went to Faisals shop at this artists community, off the beaten path. this place is beautiful. there aer all these shops of wood carvings and drums that the artists make, and paintings and jewlery. there are monkeys there and the people are so nice. its crazy because it is literally off the high way but it is so peaceful. from there we went to see Faisals dance performance with africana dance ensemble at the comunity center. and oh my goodness they are amazingly talented people. it is a mixture of dnacers drummers and everyone sings. they do traditional dances and perform the compunity and other schools. that night was we were running back to the 37 station the clouds started to swirl and the bats, which live here like the birds, begain to circle and it poured. 37 was a lake, people were elbowing each other to get on the tro and the mate, who is the guy who calls the stops, sat on my lap because there wasnt any room. this put everyone in stitches, i was an obroni (white) chair. good fun, i think it is my best story i have to tell ghanians so far.