Hello again, everyone! Today was the second day of my classes and I think I’ve finally gotten my schedule figured out, though it is still tentative for this week. I am for sure taking two classes at the NYU campus: Society, Culture, and Modernization in Ghana (which counts toward my Anthropology major) and Global Connections: Accra (which is taught by the former mayor of the city who will take us around and give us tours for some of the classes). I am most likely taking the language class, Twi, since it also gives us more information about the culture of Ghana along with the learning to speak the language. Plus the people here love it when you can speak some of their language to them, so I feel like I should at least try.
As for the classes at the other campuses, I am taking a history class at the University of Ghana called Black Diaspora, which basically talks about the Atlantic Slave Trade and the impacts it had on the African continent. It will be interesting to get an African perspective on it, so I’m excited for that class; also because the professor seems very knowledgeable about the subject and lectures very well. I love the campus of this university as well since it is huge and very natural looking with trees and plants everywhere, though it does not look fabricated like many campuses in the U.S. that look too perfect to be natural if you know what I mean. Anyway, I tried a class at Ashesi University today with a few other people called Africa in the International Setting, but none of us liked the professor because she treated us almost like we were in high school. There was too much focus on writing a thesis and a correctly formatted paper, and we are all sick of that since we had writing classes our first couple years. So instead I’m going to try out a dance class tomorrow morning and see if I like that; it will be nice to have something not academically challenging as my fifth class anyway since I don’t want to be overwhelmed, especially since I will also be doing community service.
Speaking of community service, I signed up for an autism organization for children where I will hopefully be working with autistic children and becoming more familiar with the disorder. I feel very passionate about it since Jacquie has been such a big part of my life and is very dear to me, so I want to make a difference in the lives of other children who suffer the same disorder she does because it makes me feel as though I am helping her too. This also reminds me of how I miss my family, though I do not feel as homesick as I used to since I am becoming accustomed to being away from home for long periods of time. Plus I am so blessed to have Daniella, one of my dearest friends, and other great people here that I am slowly getting to know that keep my mind off home. I feel much more acclimated here than I did when I first went to Florence, and I seem to get along with people much better too; but that might be because we were forced to constantly be together the first week of orientation. In any case, I am so thankful for the people I’ve met so far and am looking forward to spending the rest of the semester with them.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Adjusting to a New Culture
Sorry it has taken me so long to write; the internet connection here has not been ideal, plus the orientation schedule has kept us all extremely busy this week. I guess I left off on last Tuesday when we took the tour of the city with the former mayor (who is actually one of the NYU professors as well), so I'll continue with what I remember starting Wednesday.
We woke early again and left on our bus at 8:15am to visit Ashesi University, which is a small private school in Ghana that we are allowed to take a few classes at if we wish. I still have not decided if I am taking one there, but I'll get back to my tentative class schedule later. After receiving a short lecture on the aims of the school and touring around the three main buildings, we went back to the NYU Academic Center for a discussion on the "Cultural Do's and Don'ts" of Ghana which included using only our right hand to hand or receive things from people, not offering to go out with someone unless you intend to pay for him/her, and calling elders "Auntie" or "Uncle" as a sign of respect. It may take awhile to remember these customs and many more that were explained to us, but I feel that many Ghanaians are understanding of our cultural ignorance and are willing to help us feel at home here. Afterwards we took our first tour of the University of Ghana, Legon, where most students here are taking at least one class because there are so many offered. As opposed to the 400 students at Ashesi, Legon is a public school comprised of over 30,000 students and offers a much larger selection of classes. We spent a few hours there registering in their system, since everything unfortuately for us takes much longer to process here than in the U.S. (another aspect that we will be forced to get used to), though we had to return the next day to actually register for the particular classes we wanted to take.
Immediately after returning to the Academic Center, we had a quick discussion about our internet connection with the IT director that ended up being a waste of time, especially since we were all exhausted. We then we took a trip out to Koala market in Osu, a different part of town, where we chose from a selection of imported products that were mostly too expensive for our student budget, so we did not get much besides essentials like soap and laundry detergent, as well as pasta for Daniella and me to cook with this weekend. We discovered that we will probably have to return there for other necessities like olive oil, since the outdoor markets did not supply any, but otherwise I would prefer to do most of my shopping at the cheap outdoor markets where we can bargain for many of the products.
Dinner that night was at Tante Marie again where we were served more Ghanaian food like rice (the most important food here, I've discovered), some sort of stewed meat, salad, and banana crepes for dessert.
Thursday we were allowed an extra hour to sleep, since we did not leave until 9am for our Medical Care lecture followed by a meeting with most of the NYU professors that introduced themselves and which classes they will be teaching. We then had lunch at Ashesi University where we would be eating if we take classes there, and returned to our dormitories to rest until dinner at 7pm and Sunshine Salads. One of my favorite meals so far was that night since it was all Indian food with basmati rice, salad with chickpeas and other vegetables, a chickpea curry-like dish, samosas, and paneer. I am loving having these two restaurants as our meal plan for the semester, since not only do we get a variety of food, but most of it is delicious as well! So after dinner we were taken out by our CRA's to a bar for a couple hours where we had drinks and danced with Ghanaians, which was a lot of fun. This one Ghanaian guy danced with me twice, though he didn't really talk to me at all which I found strange; he simply gave me a quick hug after each song ended and walked away. I also got hit on a few times by this Ghanaian woman, which was very odd since homosexuality is very taboo here, and a man lectured us on important things to remember while in Ghana after we told him we were American. He also expressed his great love for America that we've noticed is prevalent throughout the country since Obama visited in July. There are still thousands of posters everywhere saying "Akwaaba (welcome) President Obama!" so in contrast to the indifference that we experienced in most of Europe, the people here love us for being Americans.
Okay, I realize that this post is getting too long, so I will try to make the last few days brief. Yesterday we woke and went to a national art museum, though unfortunately I was feeling pretty sick and could not stay for the tour, so I was taken back to visit the nurse and then go back to my dorm to rest for a few hours. Around 1pm I was feeling a bit better and so joined the group as they departed for the University of Ghana for the third time (since I forgot to mention we returned there Thursday to register for our classes) to get our ID cards, though to our dismay we discovered that we cannot get them until next week. So instead we waited on the bus as a few in our group still had to register for classes, and I started feeling pretty sick again from the bumpy ride and lack of food all day. We finally returned home around 4:30 and I ate a little bread before lying in bed for another few hours, missing dinner since I had no appetite, and then I managed to finally talk to my dad on my new Ghana phone. One of the CRA's had very nicely asked the restaurant to prepare a chicken soup for me, so I sipped on that with some rice until I started to feel much better. A few of us girls then decided to watch When Harry Met Sally downstairs in the common area, which was really fun and a nice relief after feeling miserable all day.
Lastly, today we were allowed to sleep in until 9am and spent a couple hours in a two markets that were a lot of fun because everyone was very excited we could speak a little of their language and we got to practice our bargaining skills. We also just got to see the busy center of Accra where everyone does their shopping and spends most of their day, so I am looking forward to going there more often. I am loving this country increasingly more the more I see of it and its people, so the idea of spending four months here is not as daunting as it seemed at the beginning. In fact I am extremely excited to become more acclimated here and to really understand and experience the everyday lives of Ghanaians, if not most of Africa, so that I know my time here will have been worth it. I will let you know of my schedule next week once I have decided exactly what classes I'm taking and what organization I will volunteer for, but for now thanks for reading and I hope I've given you a positive perspective on Ghana so far!
We woke early again and left on our bus at 8:15am to visit Ashesi University, which is a small private school in Ghana that we are allowed to take a few classes at if we wish. I still have not decided if I am taking one there, but I'll get back to my tentative class schedule later. After receiving a short lecture on the aims of the school and touring around the three main buildings, we went back to the NYU Academic Center for a discussion on the "Cultural Do's and Don'ts" of Ghana which included using only our right hand to hand or receive things from people, not offering to go out with someone unless you intend to pay for him/her, and calling elders "Auntie" or "Uncle" as a sign of respect. It may take awhile to remember these customs and many more that were explained to us, but I feel that many Ghanaians are understanding of our cultural ignorance and are willing to help us feel at home here. Afterwards we took our first tour of the University of Ghana, Legon, where most students here are taking at least one class because there are so many offered. As opposed to the 400 students at Ashesi, Legon is a public school comprised of over 30,000 students and offers a much larger selection of classes. We spent a few hours there registering in their system, since everything unfortuately for us takes much longer to process here than in the U.S. (another aspect that we will be forced to get used to), though we had to return the next day to actually register for the particular classes we wanted to take.
Immediately after returning to the Academic Center, we had a quick discussion about our internet connection with the IT director that ended up being a waste of time, especially since we were all exhausted. We then we took a trip out to Koala market in Osu, a different part of town, where we chose from a selection of imported products that were mostly too expensive for our student budget, so we did not get much besides essentials like soap and laundry detergent, as well as pasta for Daniella and me to cook with this weekend. We discovered that we will probably have to return there for other necessities like olive oil, since the outdoor markets did not supply any, but otherwise I would prefer to do most of my shopping at the cheap outdoor markets where we can bargain for many of the products.
Dinner that night was at Tante Marie again where we were served more Ghanaian food like rice (the most important food here, I've discovered), some sort of stewed meat, salad, and banana crepes for dessert.
Thursday we were allowed an extra hour to sleep, since we did not leave until 9am for our Medical Care lecture followed by a meeting with most of the NYU professors that introduced themselves and which classes they will be teaching. We then had lunch at Ashesi University where we would be eating if we take classes there, and returned to our dormitories to rest until dinner at 7pm and Sunshine Salads. One of my favorite meals so far was that night since it was all Indian food with basmati rice, salad with chickpeas and other vegetables, a chickpea curry-like dish, samosas, and paneer. I am loving having these two restaurants as our meal plan for the semester, since not only do we get a variety of food, but most of it is delicious as well! So after dinner we were taken out by our CRA's to a bar for a couple hours where we had drinks and danced with Ghanaians, which was a lot of fun. This one Ghanaian guy danced with me twice, though he didn't really talk to me at all which I found strange; he simply gave me a quick hug after each song ended and walked away. I also got hit on a few times by this Ghanaian woman, which was very odd since homosexuality is very taboo here, and a man lectured us on important things to remember while in Ghana after we told him we were American. He also expressed his great love for America that we've noticed is prevalent throughout the country since Obama visited in July. There are still thousands of posters everywhere saying "Akwaaba (welcome) President Obama!" so in contrast to the indifference that we experienced in most of Europe, the people here love us for being Americans.
Okay, I realize that this post is getting too long, so I will try to make the last few days brief. Yesterday we woke and went to a national art museum, though unfortunately I was feeling pretty sick and could not stay for the tour, so I was taken back to visit the nurse and then go back to my dorm to rest for a few hours. Around 1pm I was feeling a bit better and so joined the group as they departed for the University of Ghana for the third time (since I forgot to mention we returned there Thursday to register for our classes) to get our ID cards, though to our dismay we discovered that we cannot get them until next week. So instead we waited on the bus as a few in our group still had to register for classes, and I started feeling pretty sick again from the bumpy ride and lack of food all day. We finally returned home around 4:30 and I ate a little bread before lying in bed for another few hours, missing dinner since I had no appetite, and then I managed to finally talk to my dad on my new Ghana phone. One of the CRA's had very nicely asked the restaurant to prepare a chicken soup for me, so I sipped on that with some rice until I started to feel much better. A few of us girls then decided to watch When Harry Met Sally downstairs in the common area, which was really fun and a nice relief after feeling miserable all day.
Lastly, today we were allowed to sleep in until 9am and spent a couple hours in a two markets that were a lot of fun because everyone was very excited we could speak a little of their language and we got to practice our bargaining skills. We also just got to see the busy center of Accra where everyone does their shopping and spends most of their day, so I am looking forward to going there more often. I am loving this country increasingly more the more I see of it and its people, so the idea of spending four months here is not as daunting as it seemed at the beginning. In fact I am extremely excited to become more acclimated here and to really understand and experience the everyday lives of Ghanaians, if not most of Africa, so that I know my time here will have been worth it. I will let you know of my schedule next week once I have decided exactly what classes I'm taking and what organization I will volunteer for, but for now thanks for reading and I hope I've given you a positive perspective on Ghana so far!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Introduction to Africa
It is my second day in Ghana, and I am still exhausted from the long flights and jet-lag since leaving LAX Saturday evening. After bidding farewell to my family (especially the cats who I dearly wish I could take with me), I hopped in the car with my luggage and father who drove me to the the airport. We stopped on the way to get some sushi as my last meal in America and then arrived about two hours before my flight left for London Heathrow at 5:35pm, but to our dismay had to stand in line for 45 minutes just to leave my bags with security after checking them. I then managed to get through security in a record 20 minutes (for LAX, I mean) and found my gate just as it was beginning to board. The 10 hour flight was not as bad as I was expecting, since I spent most of it either watching movies on the individual screen provided or attempting to sleep (though uncomfortably), and plus I am quite used to long flights across the Atlantic by now after travelling to Europe many times.
Anyway, I got to London and waited until the gate appeared for the 7 hour flight to Accra, Ghana before making my way there and meeting up with my very good friend Daniella, who I was ecstactic to finally see after 6 weeks. We had reserved seats together on this plane and so passed the time catching up and watching movies together before we landed in Accra and met up with the rest of the NYU in Ghana group. After loading all our suitcases on top of and inside the bus that we now take everywhere, we drove to our dorms (I was changed from the larger one, Church Crescent to the smaller one called Solomon's Lodge) and were given a short tour before going out to get something to eat. We didn't get back to sleep until after 11pm (4pm CA time), so I had not properly slept in over 24 hours and was ready to pass out.
However, we had to be up early Monday morning so my roommate, Sarah, and I woke and showered, then joined the rest of our dorm-mates in the kitchen downstairs for a quick breakfast with a choice of: tea/coffee, yogurt, bread with jam and peanut spread (which is similar to peanut butter but not as sweet), cereal, and fruit juice.
We then started our strict orientation schedule that we have planned for the week beginning with a long discussion of safety and security while living here and a tour of the academic center (with refreshments in between!) and then a huge lunch of typical Ghanaian dishes like fried plantains, peanut soup with chicken, eggplant cooked in a tomato sauce, mashed up corn that was soaked in water for three days and then pounded, joloff rice, and a few other dishes that I can't quite remember. They all have Ghanaian names, but I have yet to learn and remember those as well.
That night we also had a large buffet of Ghanaian dishes at one of the restaurants where we have a meal plan three days ago called Tante Marie. The other is Sunshine Salads, where I will be eating tonight for the first time and onward every Tuesday and Thursday.
Today we woke even earlier to walk down to the Academic Center at 8am for a long lecture on the history of Ghana by one of the professors here who actually used to the be the mayor of Ghana, and then we were given a tour of the city on a bus that took us into the oldest section of Accra where we were allowed to get off and view where slaves were kept in dungeons before being shipped off the continent, as well as a view of the ocean. It was interesting to see all the poverty around the area and we felt like we were intruding since many people lived right where we were walking through, but our guide assured us that they live very openly and are more in awe of our appearance than annoyed. The children were all adorable though and ran after us waving as we boarded the bus and drove away.
We then returned to the Academic Center for a quick course on the Twi language, which I can tell will be difficult since it is not really similar to the romance languages, but I am looking forward to the challenge. After only a couple days here, I am beginning to fall in love with this entirely new culture that Ghana embodies and am excited to see more as time goes on.
Anyway, I got to London and waited until the gate appeared for the 7 hour flight to Accra, Ghana before making my way there and meeting up with my very good friend Daniella, who I was ecstactic to finally see after 6 weeks. We had reserved seats together on this plane and so passed the time catching up and watching movies together before we landed in Accra and met up with the rest of the NYU in Ghana group. After loading all our suitcases on top of and inside the bus that we now take everywhere, we drove to our dorms (I was changed from the larger one, Church Crescent to the smaller one called Solomon's Lodge) and were given a short tour before going out to get something to eat. We didn't get back to sleep until after 11pm (4pm CA time), so I had not properly slept in over 24 hours and was ready to pass out.
However, we had to be up early Monday morning so my roommate, Sarah, and I woke and showered, then joined the rest of our dorm-mates in the kitchen downstairs for a quick breakfast with a choice of: tea/coffee, yogurt, bread with jam and peanut spread (which is similar to peanut butter but not as sweet), cereal, and fruit juice.
We then started our strict orientation schedule that we have planned for the week beginning with a long discussion of safety and security while living here and a tour of the academic center (with refreshments in between!) and then a huge lunch of typical Ghanaian dishes like fried plantains, peanut soup with chicken, eggplant cooked in a tomato sauce, mashed up corn that was soaked in water for three days and then pounded, joloff rice, and a few other dishes that I can't quite remember. They all have Ghanaian names, but I have yet to learn and remember those as well.
That night we also had a large buffet of Ghanaian dishes at one of the restaurants where we have a meal plan three days ago called Tante Marie. The other is Sunshine Salads, where I will be eating tonight for the first time and onward every Tuesday and Thursday.
Today we woke even earlier to walk down to the Academic Center at 8am for a long lecture on the history of Ghana by one of the professors here who actually used to the be the mayor of Ghana, and then we were given a tour of the city on a bus that took us into the oldest section of Accra where we were allowed to get off and view where slaves were kept in dungeons before being shipped off the continent, as well as a view of the ocean. It was interesting to see all the poverty around the area and we felt like we were intruding since many people lived right where we were walking through, but our guide assured us that they live very openly and are more in awe of our appearance than annoyed. The children were all adorable though and ran after us waving as we boarded the bus and drove away.
We then returned to the Academic Center for a quick course on the Twi language, which I can tell will be difficult since it is not really similar to the romance languages, but I am looking forward to the challenge. After only a couple days here, I am beginning to fall in love with this entirely new culture that Ghana embodies and am excited to see more as time goes on.
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