Tangled. In. My. HAIR.

Hey All,

So I realized its been a little while since I updated the ‘ol blog so I thought I would try and get something out there. 

Things are going pretty well here.  This week has been an odd one in that I’ve actually only worked 1 day this week.  The work situation is interesting and given its current status I’ll save the explanation for another post.  However, I can say that when work was cancelled on Monday, then on Tuesday, I was beginning to get a little bored.  Don’t get me wrong, I wrote some e-mails, worked out, taught a bunch of little girls some cheerleading moves (Thanks CHS pep-band!), and watched part of the African Cup, so I’ve still been having an interesting time.  Wednesday I did outreach with a different outreach office (same NGO) and it was actually pretty good.  Mostly because I got the chance to talk to some of my coworkers which was nice, one of whom is actually familiar with the type of research I was doing at Linny and OHSU.  I honestly wasn’t expecting that. Today, being Thursday (as I’m writing anyways) I, again, did not have work.  This is due to the fact that (you called it Kelsi) I’ve managed to contract some sort of food/water born illness.  I suspect that this is due to the unexpected culprit of tofu.  I should have known better than to eat Ghanian tofu.  BUT, do not fret loved-ones-of-Lily, I expect to be back to work tomorrow morning.  

Yesterday one of my coworkers asked me if anything had happened to me since I’d gotten to Ghana where I’d thought “Oh my god, that was weird.” The only thing I could think of at the time was the woman in the tro-tro getting her hands thoroughly tangled in my hair as she tried to give it a feel.  I realized on later reflection that my inability to think of the weird things I see is that they are actually becoming normal to me.  So I did my best today to think of some of the things that I’ve become used to that a month ago I would have thought were super, super strange. 

• Grown adults completely forgetting themselves and; touching my hair, proposing, chasing my car, asking to take photos with me, becoming so nervous when I speak to them that they begin to barf, etc. 
• Driving a taxi through a group of small children on the street and simply leaning on the horn to tell them to move.  (This goes hand in hand with driving without a working speedometer, and/or backwards through a public market.)
• Public urination.  Oh you thought only men could do that gracefully?  Think again.
• People who have cell phones and a facebook account but no running water or electricity. 
• The AMAZINGLY high prevalence of people with lazy eyes, and albinos.  So.  Many.  Albinos.
• A goat in your “shower”.  Paired with someone catching a chicken for dinner out of the sewer, and I’ll go ahead and throw in the seemingly intercontinental love of hotdogs, the all-day food. 

And as a quick note, I want to say that I’ve now officially bought my obligatory pair of developing world knock-off ray-bans. 

PLUS I JUST GOIT TO SKYPE WITH SOME OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE.  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!   

FEARS FACED

Hey Everyone!

            So this is an impromptu blog update given the fact that I hiked all the way to the internet cafe and WOOPS the internet is down.  My god, how do people here survive the day?  The internet is down, the air-conditioning in the cafe is only partially on, and earlier, I stubbed my toe.  But seriously folks.  Today is a pretty sweet day.  It is my first day of just relaxation work because I have a meeting in cape coast so I didn't have to take my hour long tro-tro ride to the outreach office in Mankessim.  I am attaching a map of the central region, which is where I am, so that you can see where I am.  I work anywhere from Cape Coast through Mankessim, Ajumako, and eastward to the boarder of the region.   Given the fact that our office, just like all others in Ghana run on GMT (or Ghana Man Time) the work that I would generally get done in about an hour is literally an all day assignment here because; I'll get there when I get there, my tro-tro's door fell off, I ran into a friend, I forgot to come in, I had washing to do, MY weekend is still happening, etc. So anyways, I had about 20 minutes of writing/ internet work to do and thats it, so they said I could work from home.  Meaning I slept in, worked out (FINALLY!), wrote emails, read, and slowly wandered over to the internet cafe. 

            So let me pick something to report on today.  I shall pick.... transportation.  Transportation is an entirely different animal over here.  Where as on my way to OHSU I picked up the streetcar at exactly 7:13, in the mornings I wait by the side of the road for a tro-tro going my direction passes.  I yell at the mate (or guy who opens the door) and if he hears me/ gives a care, they pull over and let me in.  The bus/van-thing, or tro-tro is normally designed to seat about 15 people, but maxes out at say 20.  Both sides of the road are more than available for use by the driver, as is the shoulder, which is an acceptable way to avoid slowing down for speed bumps.  Depending on the time of day, where you are, and if the tro-tro driver wants to pick you up, it can take anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour to get a tro-tro going in your direction.  As for taxis there are two types, drop taxis, and share taxis.  Drop taxis cost more and will bring you directly to your destination, where as share taxis are a flat rate and will drop you in the general vecinity of your destination if the driver happens to be going that way.  I will admit I am struggling a bit with the dependability of these forms of transportation, but so far have had no real issues with the actual use of them.  They are a death defying adventure at times, and I think the left side of my body is becoming notably more muscular due to bracing for what seems like inevitable impact with on coming traffic. 

            Ok, the internet is still down so I'll continue I guess by talking about... TOUCHING A CROCODILE. Yes folks, its happened.  I touched a crocodile.  Ok, the day also consisted of a wonderful rain forest canopy walk, but lets be honest, thats not important right now.  I have mentioned before my totally rational fear of crocodiles AKA modern dinos, but never did I think that it would take only a week for me to encounter one in real life.  I wrote in my journal that it felt like cold armor and fear, but that may have been my projection.  Everyone teased me about being so scared, but I did it, and thats what matters.  (Also, I'd like to point out that it is in fact nature's perfect killing/eating machine, and that it is TOTALLY reasonable to not want to be near it.)

Ok, the nice guys in the internet café gave the obruni lady the only working computer to use, so I will be on my way. 

Much love for everyone, and if you’re one of the ones experiencing a new day of snow, please go out and enjoy some of it for me!

Ghana week 1!

Howdy all!  I’m sorry for the delay in putting up another post and/or responding to your emails.  I have spotty access to the internet at best. 

So!  Ghana! Yeah! Its cool.  I started work on Monday (kinda.  No one showed up but me so I went home.) and so far it has been interesting.  I’ve gone to an HIV/AIDS support group (all in fante so that was a long 4 hours), on rural outreach, which was pretty interesting, and to two days of Ghana Health Service’s district annual reviews.  The people I work with seem really nice, and they obviously genuinely care about the work they are doing in their communities.  They don’t exactly talk to me much, which I guess is understandable because they mostly talk to each other in fante, which, again, I don’t speak.  They two districts seem to be kinda bickering over me which I don’t quite understand yet given the fact that for a while I wont be much help to anyone.

My home stay is great, Auntie Doris likes to feed me a lot, and what at first felt like extreme bossiness now feels more like the constant advice of a mother (hey mom!  I love you!) and this is starting to feel like a nice safe place to come home to at night. She has two children, Rosemond, and Jude.  They are nice kids, 13 and 8 years old respectively.  Rosemond likes to read and I’ve got her hooked on country music already. Jude apparently likes to talk in class (he is getting a thorough lecture as I type this) and is a sweet little dude if not a little… annoying.  Their house is really nice by Ghana standards and I have a nice little room to myself with an international outlet, a big bed, and that.  I’m even getting good at the daily bucket showers J

I think so far my biggest difficulty has been race based which I really wasn’t expecting, and was likely out of naivety if I’m being honest with myself.  Children follow you and wave, which is fun and cute, however people also point, stare, and openly talk about you in front of you.  While much of it is due to novelty there are also conceptions that whites come here to give out money, and a couple of other not so nice things.  I genuinely miss being able to walk down the street without strangers running up to touch me.  I equate it to being a pregnant celebrity with a slightly sordid past.  People kinda like the idea of you, want to touch you, say whatever they want about you, and recognize you from a distance.  It has made me realize how much I appreciate privacy and anonymity. 

I have been journaling a lot (total success I’d say given my past failures at journaling) and because I have so many things I want to tell you all I think I’ll just take a couple of thoughts out of my journal. 

“I think Ghanaian tro-tro drivers could really get into formula D”

“Deet cannot be good for me”

“Why does it always smell like someone is hot-boxing a car near by?” –later- “It’s trash.  Burning trash.”

“Do you like fish?  Would you like to be buried in a giant pink fish?  Can. Do.  They are sold on the street near my work.”

“Today I made a small child cry.  Evidently I scared the crap out of him.”

“They farm bamboo in rural Ghana and when they are farming it, it smells like freshly cut grass.  Riding through the fields in the outreach truck reminds me of riding to the coast with Dad.”

“How did I not notice that they were passing out Guinness at the meeting today?”

“I think I’ve eaten at least one hot dog every day since I got here.  Definitely unexpected.”

On Saturday we are going to Kakum national park, which should be really fun! And a last minute picture addition that you've all been waiting for!  In order: the view from my room, Ghana health service meeting, crabs, the "shower", the view from the porch. 

Love you all!!!!!!!!!

Thats how I got to Africa

And now I shall, with great enthusiasm, reenact my harrowing story of traveling to Ghana.  Ok, honestly it wasn’t that bad, and I’m feeling pretty darn good. 

To begin, I found out that a good way to give one’s self a heart attack is to accidentally set one’s watch two hours ahead when its really only a 1 hour difference.  Guess what, when you only have a 1 hour lay over, it makes a HUGE difference. 

On my way to DC from Denver I sat next to a man who said he was in realestate in Dubai, but spent most of his time studying for his PhD in poli sci, and teaching under privileged children ju jit zu.  Barney?  Barney Stinson?  No?  Sorry, my mistake. 

Now to DC.  Cabin pressurization. It’s important.  Our plane didn’t have it.  I was asleep by the time we taxied from the gate and was massively confused when we were back at it when I woke up.  About 3 hours later I was standing outside of the DC airport at approximately 2 AM wearing clothing fit for Ghana waiting for a ride to a hotel.  Anyways, I found the other girl who was on my plane that is with my program and we got a crash course in getting to know each other by sharing a hotel room and getting to experience the slightly stressful experience of a massive delay. (She is Canadian everybody.  ‘Aboot’, and ‘eh’ kind of Canadian.)  However, the hotel was pretty cush, and I got to call and wake my loved ones up, then sleep in until 11.  I managed to sleep for most of the flight and when touching down in Accra I got a pretty amazing view of the countryside.  It’s very overcast here, and pretty hot especially given the fact that was only about 7 AM.  Its also dusty, but as much as I’ve seen, significantly cleaner than Italy.

The woman I sat next to on the plan (named Alberta) was a native of Ghana and she and I talked quite a bit about the country, my program, and all sorts of things.  She wound up giving me here number and telling me to call when I got a phone.  What you should be taking from that is that everyone so far has been AMAZINGLY nice.  We did go through the whole delayed flight bonding situation, but in addition to that everyone has been very kind, and not at all shy about talking to each other.  I thought we were traveling with a big group who knew each other, but they just all acted like friends even though they were strangers.  That’s kinda cool.  

Anyways, it is about 9:30 here in Accra while I’m writing this and we are waiting at what is basically a bed and breakfast until another member of our team shows up.  Before I go, I just want everyone to think on the fact that my first meal here was (wait for it) eggs, tomato, and a hot dog.  Just think on it. 

Special shout out to one Kelsi Kruger; the stars here are amazing.  

Akwaaba Y'all

Alrighty everyone, pre-departure countdown has officially reached the point of including half day increments.  It is t-minus one and a half days until I jet off for Ghana and I thought I would procrastinate real preparations by writing a post, and updating everyone about travel plans.  

I'll be headed out early Thursday morning with only 30 some hours of traveling until I touch down in Accra.  I'll be arriving around the same time as a couple of other girls who will be working in Cape Coast as well.  I had the realization the other day that given our upcoming shared experiences I can likely look forward to making some really spectacular friends on my adventure as well.  We will be picked up by our program director and driven about two hours west to Cape Coast where we will meet out host families, and probably crash pretty hard.  

Before I leave I wanted to share a couple of serious (ok, maybe not all of them) thoughts with my friends and family.  

• Learning a new language is intimidating.  English is the main language spoken in Ghana, but given my position doing outreach I'll be encountering enough other dialects that I'll be assigned a translator.  However, we are also expected to learn some Fante.  Now, mepa wo kyew understand that latin based languages have come to me rather naturally.  However I am kose to report that Fante is nothing similar to any language I'm familiar with.  I expect to rapidly make myself out as an obvious obrundi.  
• Crocodiles.  This may be a reoccurring theme of my posts.  For those of you who don't know about my totally rational fear of crocodiles, alligators, and all other current day dinosaurs, you've been warned.  
• Spicy foods and I are really good friends.  Its a really good friend sort of love, but the kind where you probably don't want to spend all of your time together.  Ghanian food is known for its use of scotch bonnets, an incredibly spicy pepper. For a reference point, jalapenos hover around 3000 on the scoville scale for peppers.  Scotch Bonnets hit between 100,000 and 350,000.  I guess this is challenge accepted.  
• It is incredibly difficult to say goodbye to the people you love.  Through out the past couple of weeks I've had the pleasure to spend time with many of those people in my life who mean the very most to me.  The amount of support that I've experienced has been a terrific surprise, and the kind words are all cherished.  From the repeated goodbye hugs, and surprise parties, to the words of wisdom, and genuine interest you all have been wonderful.  I guess that is why I blame you for making it difficult to say goodbye.  Why do you guys have to go around being so gosh darn nice?  Luckily, that also means that I've something wonderful to look forward to on my return.  

Well y'all, I should get back to documenting my experience of witnessing excitement meet nervousness in a huge explosion of adrenalin.  I'll send word of my safe arrival as soon as humanly possible.