Vacation!

So I took about a month of to travel to Kenya, around Ghana, and chill in Accra to take a break from site, and to see family. I'm still composing a complete correspondence of the months travels, so I'll wait on that. But, school will be starting next Tuesday; also no other teachers are in my town. I showed up at my town and people asked "Kofi, where have you been? And why are you here? School doesn't start for another week!". At least I'm getting back in the groove of village living. Vacation was good though... the food alone probably added about 10 pounds to my frame. So to counterbalance that, its time to exercise!

July

Greetings! Its finally time for another blog update. This term at school is still ongoing; we are on a trimester system here, so this is the third term (but uninformed students consistently misspell it as 'terd'), and I've decided to start playing football (soccer) with my students on Fridays. Another teacher, who could play semi-professionally, is on the opposite team as me. Now I played soccer (football) when I was younger and was decent, but simply put this teacher puts me to shame. Even the students, at 13-17 years old are good. Take my school of about 100 students, and pit them against regular middle school in the US... these kids would dominate (assuming they had working-condition footwear!) I am better than most of the kids, however I dont have cleats (a major disadvantage, including this past time when we played through a major rainstorm.); ergo three times running now, my fellow teacher's team has beaten my team (though we are closing the gap).
The semester is almost over, and the coming term break means vacation!! Seeing family again, travelling, hooray!!

So recently I went to a small town called Saviefe Gbedome. My town is Saviefe Gbogame (Gbogame meaning big town), but Gbedome is an extremely small town situated about a 2 hour walk away (FYI - the initial G is silent, so Gbedome is sounds like beh-do-meh). Through fields, bushes, and a river we made it to Gbedome. I know a man who has two wives (one in Gbogame the other in Gbedome.. maybe to prevent fighting?) and is from Gbedome, so I at least had a guide and a person to stay with while I was there. Among the other interesting things about the town, it had a town map like this: --|--|--|--|--|-----|------| where everyone lives along one road, and isn't clustered like a traditional town. I find this funny because even though the town is only about 200 people large, it takes 8 minutes to walk from one side of the town to the other! I met multiple people with multiple wives (a status symbol), had multiple libation ceremonies (always a crowd favorite), had multiple talks about how to develop the town, and met many, many men who were trying to give their daughters to me (either to wed or...). Overall, the town was idyllic: in addition to sweeping the entire town everyday, there is not a speck of trash to be seen, or goat poop to be had for such a large area.
Other exciting things going on: there was a funeral two weeks ago, and besides having a great time dressing up in my traditional dress, I met some other white people in my town! Turns out they are working in the town next to me, but commuting from Ho (~40 minutes) everyday to help build a school. Cool. So occassionally I ride my bike down (when I'm not teaching, of course) to their place to say hi and help with a few small things, like carrying cement on my head.
Temperature right now is pretty lax... still about mid 80's highs and mid 70's lows.
Also of notice: The guy who has one wife in my town and the other in the Gbedome recently had a 'bush accident'. I came to school one day and I hear "Sir! Sir! Mr Holy has been shot! He shot himself in the face!". He was making gunpowder for a gun (because bullets are about a dollar... too expensive), but the gunpowder ignited and went off in his face. I went to see him - not a pretty sight. I've been reassured that he will, in fact, be able to see again but I'm not as certain as others that this is the case.
I went to a wedding... which really is a treat, because like most Ghanaian celebrations there exists a veritable cornucopia of potentially edible substances. I stocked up and only ate one meal that day, with banku, okro stew, and some rice. I suppose thats all. Next weekend there is an 'excursion', as termed by my fellow teachers at the school, and we will be travelling to a national park.

Coping Strategies

Living in Ghana there are a few tricks of the trade to survive day to day life. Maybe not day to day in my village, but travelling around where I'm just another foreigner, coping strategies are a necessity. I talked about last time how if a small child stares at me I stare back at them until they get embarassed and look away. Some of these coping strategies are benign (long-term psychological impact of staring at small kids are inconclusive), but some are a little more malicious... I tend to gravitate toward playful banter.
Clarifications resolved via a question and answer format, GO:
Q: What do you do when someone asks you for money, beer, or food?
A: You flip back on them by accepting their nonexistent offer of money, beer, or food.
Q: What happens if you're feeling especially conversant that sunrise?
A: Ask unknown people to dash (give a small amount) you random things. (this has worked for yours truly with beer, soda, liquor, meat, and market transactions)
Q: What if you get thirsty waiting inside a vehicle for it to fill up?
A: Shuffle cries of 'pure wata', 'hey!', and hissing in a cacophonous symphony to emphasize your thirst. Alternatively, saying what you want to a seller or driver will cause them to cease all other willpower-related functionings and single-mindedly search for your designated item of interest.
Q: Do you go to an unknown person when they call you to come over?
A: No! Say you are coming to them and walk away. Really, people appreciate this joke (You are fooling me!).
Q: How can one build relationships in a village quickly and easily?
A: Buy rounds of moonshine!
Q: What is the easiest way to force people to smile?
A: Greeting them in the local language
Q: Fastest way to get introduced to sisters, nieces and daughters?
A: Me le sro di. (I am looking for a wife)
Now, onto the less-friendly retorts. I tend to find going to certain areas of the country I get harassed more, and these (unfortunately) become more standard.
Q: How do you react to someone is hissing and saying 'White person!' while you know they possess absolutely nothing of interest?
A: Ignore them and pretend you are deaf.
Q: In the big big cities (repitition for emphasis), when young children ask for money, how can you survive?
A: Transform into a freight train that runs beggar kids over for breakfast.Very effective.
Finally, as is common in many parts, people constantly ask
Q: "Where are you going?"
A: "Crazy!"
I know some people coming may find this short list of coping strategies beneficial to the spotlight that will shine upon them during their glorious adventure to Ghana.

Nothing in particular but Ghana

So being in Ghana is quite different than being in the United States, and there are some (surprising!) things that I miss about good ol' USA. They range from the ordinary (un-potholed roads, pizza) to the not-so-surprising (air conditioning, cold drinks) to the ridiculous (on-demand food, meals where starch isn't the central colorie provider). The food is one of the biggest things. Disclosure: I love to eat. And I'll eat everything. But food here can taste the same and carries the same character (carbs with a soup or stew as a side). Pizza in the village? Nonexistent. The only time people reliably eat spaghetti or pasta is when making a variant of a Ghanaian dish, Waakye (or Watsi [wah-chi]).
Another thing I miss about the US is simple radio programming (and a radio for that matter – I guess I could buy one here) like NPR. Science Friday, This American Life, Marketplace... these mystical programs can only be descibed as exotic and are found wanting in my soul.
Sports – this one is a combination of sports on television like football and tennis and also playing sports like racquetball or disc golf. Sure, I suppose I could build a 40 ft x 20 ft x 20ft box in my village and teach people how to play, but the difficulties involved would be too easy to overcome. Since I am more of a sports guy than an endurance person (like running – ick) I can tell that part of me is getting out of shape and underused. So I started doing P90X (the X is for Xtreme!!). Then I accidentally deleted the workout videos and am currently back to square one.
Finally, I suppose interacting with people that I can relate more with than just the weather or apkoteshi is something I do miss as well. Real Conversations? They can occur, but usually it goes like this when I try and talk about something serious, like amending the school discipline techniques: "Its our culture, and we need this."
A final difference is that there are a few people who don't agree with consuming any acohol at all, and visibly show that other people shouldn't either. These people mystify my imagination. If this person has seen me drink a single beer, I am accused of 'boozing' and being drunk (after one beer? Negative). This is different than abstainers in present-day US, and reminiscent of prohibition-era teetotallers. To cope with this phenomena, outdoor bars (called 'spots') usually have a optical-blocking scheme of some kind, like vertical wooden slats (or, as is more common in my village, spots are located in someone's living room behind closed walls).
I'm not ready to go back to the US yet, but I think I will be by the end of my service here. I can tell I make a difference in people's lives, and to spread word about American culture and its differences with Ghanaian culture, but there are simply things that I want to enjoy. Why do laundry by hand when I can have a washing machine do the same thing with far less effort? It builds character.
Being a white person in a black country has its ups and downs. Case and point is attention received when I'm doing absolutely nothing interesting. Small children enjoy staring at me, so I turn it into a game: I stare at them in the eyes until they feel shy and look away. I like to think of it at practice for staring down students in the classroom environment. On the flip side, people are almost always respectful and accommodating to my needs (or, I daresay, whims).
NOTES:
There's a song here that is from Nigeria, but contains a line "It's all about the benjamins baby"... are there $100 bills in Nigeria? I didn't know 'benjamins' was a common system of currency.
People have no reservations about stating truths in a straightforward manner ("Mike! You are looking fat! Ghana is good for you!" and "You always eat groundnuts, so I will call you groundnut man").

Local School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

So here's a little parable about the spiritual conflicts of a society. During our term break, there was some motor oil spilled outside of the teacher's lounge and the headmaster's office at our school. My thought process = Hmm that's odd, but whatever. Local teachers' reaction = we will not teach until the perpetrator is found and brought to justice because the oil may be a sign of a curse.
Ok.
We just had a meeting about this situation at the school. Until we had this meeting, where it was revealed that the local church and church members came to pray to Jesus to counteract this lesser traditional belief, the staff members refused to enter either room. Since all of the log books and grade books were in the rooms, who went into the danger zone to collect them? Students. Thankfully, the belief that spirits exist are compatible with Christianity (according to the Bible, from locals vehemently protesting "it's true!") is widespread. It is the opinion that Jesus is, in a sense, the supreme spirit with power over all other minor spirits; therefore praying to Jesus gives power over minor spirits. Also, pouring libation in the form of local gin is the same as Jesus in driving out evil spirits.
From a historical perspective, Christianity was only introduced about 120 years ago. People had their traditional beliefs and deities before then, and when they converted to Christianity the easiest way for people to accept it (and convert) was simply to keep many traditional beliefs but put Jesus and God at the top of the Tower of ethereal Power.

Sad News: I got cut from a piece of glass and it started to become infected. While still oozing pus, I no longer have a fever.
Avg daytime high:84
Avg nighttime low:74

Term break!

Check it out: The past few weeks I've been traveling around Ghana enjoying a variety of activities. First, I went to a paragliding festival in Mpraeso, Eastern Region. Besides possessing cool weather (always a bonus!) I went paragliding for thirty minutes! Pretty cool stuff. Also the scenery is fantastic with rolling hills, forests, sheer rock faces. Next I took a ferry to see some friends in Donkorkrom, in the middle of Volta Lake. The Afram Plains area in which they live has some real pretty sights, more typical of what you would expect of 'Africa' – some open spaces, fairly flat, and very rural. From Donkorkrom, I went with a buddy across a different ferry and to Hohoe in Volta Region, and in the same day went to Wli waterfalls. Wli is an awesome (and supposidly largest) waterfall in West Africa, with an intense hike to the upper falls. The next day, I went with two friends to Amedzofe, about a two hour hike from the road to the top of the mountain with some spectacular views. A quick roundup of the rest of my trip includes ubiquitious dashes:
-Jasikan in northern Volta (used a computer!)
-Dzita on the beach in southern Volta (great getaway spot and played bunches of board games)
-Aflao near the Togo border (delicious baugettes with avocado filling!)
-Ho, my market town
At Ho we had an All-Volunteer Conference for all Peace Corps Volunteers in Ghana, with most of PC staff as well. We had a poker tournament with about 20 people, and I ended up splitting the pot for first place! Tons of fun. AllVols taught about PEPFAR funding (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), and hopefully with a little determination and effort, there is a plan for a plan for a workshop about educating teenage girls about HIV/AIDS and gender empowerment. I do have a little bit of a hangover from seeing so many Americans the past few weeks; its nice to be back at my site but also sad to be away from friends I've reconnected with. School resumes Monday!!


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