Ghana be fun...

Another week, a language challenge…

I am never, ever going shopping on my own again!  I had a fairly easy task to complete at the shopping mall, in that I wanted a pack of 12 individual bottles of diet coke- or as I have realized I now have to refer to, coke cola light.  This was made even easier by the fact that all I had to do was go into one store and make the purchase.  However, I was working without taking into account my complete incompetence and total lack of any social skill or grace is a semi public forum. 

I am sure most people could walk into a store, collect the products required, and hand over the cash and leave.  But, no.   I started off by walking straight past the diet coke, and only managed to notice the regular coke.  Instead I decided to just collect twelve single bottles rather than a pack.  It was at this point that a very nice shop assistant decided to point out that I had I fact walked straight past the mutli-packs and helped me walk back, the entire length of the store, to find them.  He was very chatty and talked to me all the way round, helped me return the single bottles so the shelf and gave me a few pointers in Twi, the local language.  I already knew everything he was saying, suggesting that rather instead of getting flustered and feeling stupid I could have just responded, and participated in a pleasant conversation.

He obviously decided that making me go red, flustered, nervous and shuffling from foot to foot was quite funny.  By the time I got to the cash desk two other people had joined in, by asking me the questions he had been trying to teach me the answers to… they seemed to find my shuffling quite funny to.  In order to leave the store you have to present your receipt to the security guards on the door, and they (somewhat worryingly in my opinion) stamp your receipt with “Executed” in big red letters.  By the time I reached them however, even the security guards had a list of questions they wanted answered to before they would stamp my receipt!  I’m thinking it was a slow business day and they really need some entertainment before closing time!

This weekend started with an after school Ghanaian Culture event, which started off with some drumming and dancing, and followed with a panel Q and A.  I was more impressed by the idea that one of the guests was a tribal king.  I was then more than a little disappointed to learn that kinging was not his main job and he was actually some form of teacher/ educator as his main job, and had been part of a university education program.  On the other hand I am thinking this gives me real hope of being a part time princess and I could actually start wearing a tiara to class next week…

Back to the drumming though, and I am not particularly good at learning languages, so I have no hope of ever getting my head around drummed messages.  But Twi is a tonal language and as such can be translated into drumming by using two drums and making high and low sounds in longer and shorts bursts.  Apparently you can converse and talk through the drums by listening the tones that are being played.  Whilst I find this totally impossible- see above comments on not being able to negotiate the shopping mall, I have to say I am immensely impressed and completely in awe of those that can actually manage to do this.  I am also told- although I have no personal experience to draw on; some schools in Ghana have replaced announcements with drummed messages.  For example “kotoko, mommra”, roughly translates as “Everyone should come” and can be drummed at the start of school or after recess.  I have no idea how many people generally understand this as a from of communication and a language, or whether children respond to this as those in an American or British school might respond to a morning bell… I shall endeavor to find out over the next few weeks, and a little more research.  I wonder if Rosetta Stone has an online course in this? J

So, this weekend has been gloriously sunny and warm, it has been a great weekend for sitting by the pool and chillaxing.  A bit of reading a bit of exercise, some running, brunch outside at a French café- Delifrance, which was amazing.  I had a fantastic vanilla slice, which was enough to not bother with dieting for.  I am very excited about going back, especially if the sun is here to stay.  It was very European and great for people watching.  The sun definitely makes everything better.  Even the places that last week looked like run down shacks, and scrappy bits of left over land looked good.  The sun shining suddenly turns shacks into brightly colored little bars and shops, the left over pieces of land are filled with children playing soccer and laughing; they no longer look like rubbish dumps, trash heaps and scrub land, every where seems happier, tidier and much more like a vacation. 

The strange and interesting, can’t believe it fact of the day was the traffic directing.  At some point during the day there was an accident at a four way crossroads.  By the time I saw the road there was a mangled Audi sat in the middle of the junction, and four investigative police officers “investigating” by standing on one corner talking.  No one was directing the traffic.  All the lights were out, but as there were no traffic officers no one saw fit to direct anyone.  By the time I was returning from brunch there were six children who had decided, and taken it upon themselves to direct the traffic.  They had collected some tree branches and they were using them as flag, then they stood in the middle of the road waving cars through and around the glass and strewn accident debris.  I have no idea how safe this was, who was paying them, or even why they thought it was a good idea, but I’m not sure 12 year olds generally entertain themselves in this way.

On a slightly more reflective note, I have just been to a chilli party, which has made me realize that while the weather is brightening up here, and cloudless blue skies and 90F have been the order of the day, with many more (hopefully) on the horizon other parts of the world are getting ready for fall, leaves will be starting to change in New England, crisp mornings will be starting with a chill soon, and perfect autumnal days will be on the way… Somehow it seems odd that all the noise this week has been coming from the church and their harvest festival.  They really have been incredibly loud with continuous noise from dawn ‘til, I would say dusk, but really it is much closer to midnight. I find it slightly hard to reconcile songs and snippets of hymns I know so well from growing up with brightening weather and gloriously hot days, and the end of the drizzle and the cold.

Ghana be fun...

This time…

So, taxis- no still means no!  It really doesn’t matter how many times you beep at me, or ask me if I want to go somewhere, if I didn’t the first time you asked me, chances are I’m still not going want to get a ride after another three steps.  I really don’t think it matters how good the price is, if I want to walk the 100 yards along the road I probably will.

Dinner was good- went for the roast again, I have decided I can quite get used to that!

I also managed to get four days without seeing a strange man peeing in a ditch, so progress is being made.

It really is a different adventure every day!

Ghana be fun...

Pimms and Proms

This week has been a fairly normal one, a very British one and, not a hugely busy one, and so a fairly short and perfunctory blog entry.

The weather has finally seemed to be picking up, and it has at last, started to brighten up in the afternoons. Ghana has a fairly tropical climate with a rainy season lasting from April to September, and the lowest temperatures being felt in August time. So having had a couple of afternoons with blue skies, few clouds and hot sun has actually made a pleasant change from the gray clouds, and while not cold, the definitely cooler temperatures hovering around the mid 70sF. I am actually starting to look forward to some sunny afternoons by the pool in the next few weeks.

The weather was certainly on target for the school picnic this weekend. It was sunny, it was warm, it was a great day to be outside and there was a delicious breeze blowing that cooked things down to a very bearable temperature. I’m not sur eth picnic food was quite the way to go, and seemed to be typically Ghanaian chicken and stuff, but mainly chicken.

Parties have also seemed a theme for the weekend. A birthday party on Friday night, and my own Pimms and Proms party on Saturday; having decided to introduce the concept of the Last Night of the Proms it seemed only fitting to also go full on Brit Expat and have Pimms to drink. The bunting was FedExed in, the cups and napkins had a Union Flag printed on them and al was well. I’m not sure which was more amusing-seeing a room full of people waving flags, singing Rule Britannia, Pomp and Circumstance, and Jerusalem or having hit upon the idea of removing the water bottle from the water cooler in the kitchen and filling it with Pimms. The Pimms will probably be running through the water cooler for quite some time, and could certainly still be tasted after the new bottle of water had been added this morning.

The weekend and the Brit Abroad theme ended with a Sunday Roast and a bit of sport, Wales lost, Button was second but my lunch was amazing, and I took the opportunity of being the only girl in a room of 35 men to indulge in a man sized portion of chocolate brownie and ice cream for desert. After all, if you can’t beat em…

Ghana be fun...

What’s that noise?

In all honesty it could be absolutely anything- this has got to have been the nosiest week of my entire life! I was hoping that some of it was down to the end of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid… in fact I am still hoping that this might be the case. My house is neatly positioned between two mosques, with a church making the apex of the triangle. Sunday morning services have been enjoyed on a few occasions- in fact I think tomorrow might see a four mile run being completed whilst I partake of the free morning worship opportunity provided by the loudspeaker system the church has thoughtfully had installed… maybe next time they will use the money to build walls, or a roof, or something useful. But the last week to ten days has also included a call to prayer at about 3:15am every morning, and a hugely entertaining warbling/ caterwauling competition between the two mosques. One will start, yell loudly for ten minutes and then the other will holler back in reply. I know cell phone technology isn’t all that here- and there is no official iPhone provider, but honestly, I have checked the signal and it is good. Turns out the networks aren’t that busy at 3:30 in the morning. If you co-ordinate you can also use your off peak free talk time on MTN to MTN phones then too J I know BT say, “It is good to talk” but I think you are somewhat missing their point- they weren’t referring to microphones over a two block radius!

At least the Eid holiday (and extra day off) gave me a chance to catch up on all the sleep I missed out on from the wedding I attended at the weekend. Well attended might be the wrong word, it was broadcast at full volume from the church, so loud that even the radio in the lounge was drowned out by the happy celebrations. Going out to avoid this joyous occasion wasn’t an option as the 3 million invited guests seem to have spilled out onto the street and turned the road into a party/ parking lot blocking it for anyone else. Who knew you could just go around erecting marques in the middle of public streets… upcoming christening? I know a great spot on the M6 we can use for the party! So, whilst I assume my invitation to the wedding was lost in post (well- Ghana doesn’t actually have mail) I still got to experience the day- best wishes whoever you are.

Whilst writing this I can hear the base pumping through the house from the bar a few blocks away, and random cheers as the soccer progresses- in fact I could probably tell you the score if I cared to pay attention, and I have come to the conclusion that it isn’t just noise, but rather the type of noise. I have lived in cities before, I have lived in busy places before, and I have never been bothered by the cars constantly driving past, or the trains rattling over bridges, and the occasional shouting in the street or siren was understandable but here it is non stop… and I can only put it down to the fact it is constantly changing. Cars and trains may be loud, but they also have a fairly steady pitch and rhythm and it becomes (pretty quickly) something that one can choose to ignore. It is still noise, and visitors may comment on it, but it becomes a white noise that fades and blends into the background the longer you listen. Here it is music and voices, a constant changing of rhythm, beat, and cadences. It is never something you can become accustomed to, and I can physically feel my ears straining to keep up with those changes and my brain always wanting to separate the sounds and react to them. Hopefully I will just fall unconscious soon through sheer tiredness, I would try alcohol, but there is no way I am dealing with the hangover head and that freaking non-stop cacophony of eternally frustrated souls.

Beep beep, beep beep, another of the many sounds in this rich and delightful tapestry of noise, but in this case it may be a welcome one… it is the taxi! This can be an interesting experience. I have no idea what most of the vehicles actually are due to the fact they were made, on the road in Europe or the US, discontinued and shipped to Africa before I was even born. I do know that I am constantly surprised and impressed that they continue to run, and that despite the fact they are often missing valuable features, windows for example (today’s was to be found in small broken shards on the floor, rather than the frame) or windshield wipers, brake lights (who needs them- they are really overrated, I have a reflective disc- what? You have no lights at the front to shine on my reflective disc…) they can be picked up fairly easily. You can tell a taxi because it has orange wing panels, thinks it can go wherever it wants, and beeps incessantly. I am not really sure why they beep. I originally thought it was to show they were available, but they also use the same signal to show they already have a fair. Then again they also have a light that says “Taxi” on top of the cab, but again this just seems to be stating an occupation as it has no connection as to whether the driver is available or not.

Today I have taken three cabs. The first was driven by a great guy who was very friendly and couldn’t do enough to get me where I wanted to be, very cheap and a great guy- no haggling, offered me a price that was actually lower then I would have expected after the to and fro of guess how much I want to pay, and dropped me in the exact place I wanted to be, the second was slightly over the odds, but was the only man who could read the map and the business card and actually knew how to get to the spa, kinda felt he had to have the money and that is was after all only a difference of 70c, and the third was a law unto himself! He was nuts, totally certifiable, and probably worth a whole blog entry of his own.

But at least taxis mean you don’t have to drive your own car and find somewhere to park. I do not have a car, and it is probably best I don’t get one. There are no sidewalks here and the street is lined with the open gutter system. If I manage to get to work on just one day when I don’t see some guy peeing (although my personal favorite last week was the guy who turned from the gutter toward the road to shake his post pee genitals- seriously, he was worried he might get more urine in the open sewer????) Anyway, my parallel parking method is to keep going until I hit the curb- here not so much. So, Wednesday being the Eid holiday meant a small group outing to a Pizza Place. The (Lebanese) pizza was awesome, in fact it was rated as the number three thing to do on a list of thirty eight things to do whilst in Ghana. Not places to eat, please note, but things to do. I’m not sure if this makes it outstanding pizza, or more likely just that Ghana as a whole has few things to do. An equally fabulous pasty followed this, purchased from a (Viennese) bakery, so fabulous in fact that I went back today and had lunch there, and very nice it was too.

Just in case you were concerned- my furniture has arrived as promised. Also in just under two weeks, and I got to ride in a flatbed truck so old and scary that I don’t even want to recollect it. Needless to say, I have never had to avoid a police road block before on roads so bad and in a truck in such a bad state of disrepair that people over took us walking (with parcels balanced on their heads) before. The furniture itself- great tho, then again with three brothers making it (Godfred, Dodfred and Rodfred- I swear to God (or Allah, I am a little confused as to who listens to me more at the minute) how could it not be.