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.