I finally managed to get a picture up on my profile! That is me with the monkey that bit me in Cote d'Ivoire (before it attacked me). I know by this time it is too late to even bother with more pictures since I will be returning home next weekend, but I just thought I would give you a small preview. I apologize once again for the delay in writing, but this week has been so hectic that I am surprised I have even found this short time to post. We are in the midst of final exams and writing our last papers, as well as other projects many of us are involved in like community service, internships, and documentary films. Yesterday I spent the entire day between rehearsal for our dance performance, which was last night, and writing a 10 page paper due today that was not even assigned to us until Monday afternoon. None of us understand how most of these professors expect us to commit so much time to each of their classes, especially when we are in our final days here and want to enjoy Ghana as much as we can before we leave, so forgive me if I sound frustrated at this time. Hopefully by the end of next week when all of my academic work is finished I will have more positive relfections on these classes and the professors. I will say that all of them have been great up until these finals when they suddenly got very strict, and that I enjoyed learning from them throughout the semester, especially the dance instructor who is a well-known choreographer throughout the entire continent of Africa. I hope to get a film of our performance last night from one of my friends, since I think it went very well and was so much fun that I will want to have a visual memory of it forever; plus I want to show it to those of you back home who are interested in seeing a contemporary African dance performance. Our associate director actually arrived too late last night and missed the performance, so she asked us all to reinact it tonight at our Farewell dinner that they are hosting for us at the restaurant where we ate on our first day here, called Headlines Hospitality. Unless we throw a going away party ourselves next week, this will probably be our last gathering of everyone in the program including the staff, which will be both sad and wonderful to celebrate one last time.
My other classes are pretty much over now, except for a 6 page paper I have to write for one of them due next week, and I have to say I enjoyed them but was a little disappointed with the way some of them were carried out. Especially the University of Ghana class- Black Diaspora. First of all, it took about 20 minutes to get there every week, which normally would not have bothered me except for the fact that we had to go there about 3 times the first couple weeks just to register in the class and I had to return another time to get my student ID that was only available on one particular day of the week. Then we had to go to a tutorial to discuss the readings from the lectures, which made sense, but NYU decided that for some reason we needed more credit for this course so they created another recitation that we all had to attend each week for two hours to discuss slavery issues and anything else in Ghana that has impacted us. It was fine at the beginning until we started receiving assigned readings and a presentation at the end that most of us did not have time to coordinate, though we were forced to somehow make time in our schedules. What was most disappointing about the course itself, though, was that the majority of our readings were photocopies from American high school textbooks rather than scholarly articles written in Ghana and we learned more about African Americans than the natives of Africa. Luckily our final was last week, so I never have to return to University of Ghana, although I am a bit nostaligic now since it is a beautiful campus and I spent so much time there this semester.
My Society, Culture, and Modernization class has been fairly easy compared to my others since our papers due every other week have been almost free-writing about certain topics he gives us without any strict guidelines. Our final paper due next week is on any topic of our choice, and I and another student have decided to write about our personal experiences in Ghana and how our views have changed since the beginning of the semester after traveling and meeting more people. It should be the least stressful of all my finals, especially since it will allow me to reflect on my time here in a more concise manner since I have not been able to really do that yet.
Unfortunately my dance class is not yet finished after our performance this week since we also have a written final next week on the differences between the different African dances. We have all agreed that this class has been a bit too demanding for a dance class, since we also had a short paper due a couple weeks ago and practically all of yesterday was devoted to rehearsing. Otherwise, I should have some time next week to do some of the last few things I want to like shop for gifts/souvenirs and spend time with my friends who I will not see nearly as often next year in New York.
Since this may be one of my last posts, I want to quickly mention my trip last weekend before I forget since it was one of my favorites. We went on a four-hour drive to a rural area where the largest waterfall in West Africa lies, called Wli Falls, and hiked through a forest filled with butterflies and wild fruits (pineapples and bananas, though none were ripe enough to pick) to reach the falls. It was beautiful and I took many pictures and even a short video so I can always look back on the experience. We all came in our bathing suits and waded into the water, which was just deep enough for us to swim around, then we swam under the falls themselves for an even more exhilirating experience. I cannot express how I felt standing under there screaming and laughing with my friends; we all agreed that it made us feel like small children again who were stress-free and without any worries at all except for maybe falling on the rocks. I only wish we could have stayed longer.
Okay, that's all for now, but I will hopefully write one more time next week before leaving Ghana to say my final farewells and give one last reflection on my experience here. Ciao for now!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Our Final Weeks...
We have really begun the countdown to our departure from Ghana now with just a little over 4 weeks left. I cannot believe nearly 3 months have gone by since I stepped foot off that plane and entered Africa for the first time, yet here I am. Anxiety is starting to kick in as I realize there is still so much I want to do before I leave and that time with my new friends is now diminishing, as we all know we will not be able to see each other nearly as often in New York next semester. We are all very much looking forward to going home, but I also know that leaving Ghana will be very difficult since it has been the cause of enormous growth in all of us.
I apologize for not updating as often, but the internet connection has actually gotten worse and I have just not had many chances. So you may have to wait to hear about much of what I have left out until I get home, but for now I will just mention the more significant events that have taken place recently or will happen soon. Last weekend we threw a birthday party for one of our group with a plethora of food and dancing, which was a lot of fun and what I hope to do for my own birthday in a few weeks. Then on Sunday night a small group of us went to a new Italian restaurant for dinner called Leonardo da Vinci’s that had amazing service and delicious food (and not just because we miss Italian food). We received a complimentary starter of bruschetta and then all shared an octopus salad and caprese salad before our second course of many pastas. We split a dish of cannelloni with meat sauce, four cheese risotto, and gnocchi with shrimp and tomato sauce that just melted in your mouth. Plus they were constantly replacing our bread that we used for dipping in the sauces, so by the end we were all extremely full. We still managed to each down a cappuccino from a real Itaiian espresso machine, however, which was a wonderful ending to the weekend. I feel only slightly guilty that I spent a couple hours at an Italian restaurant while in Ghana, since I do not feel that I can completely immerse myself in the African culture at every moment of every day or I would go crazy.
Although our long weekend trips are over, we still have couple day trips this semester to some picturesque areas of the southern region of Ghana. This past weekend we took a day trip to Aburi Gardens, a botanical garden a couple hours outside of Accra that is beautiful. It was filled with exotic trees and plants native to Ghana, many of which are used to make herbs and spices that we learned about and got to experiment with. We smelled the bark of a tree where cinnamon comes from as well as the leaves used to make allspice, and then tasted the outside of a cocoa bean (the inside of which is used to make chocolate). After the tour we had the freedom of riding bikes around the park for an hour before eating lunch and heading out to a craft market where we bought some souvenirs. It was a very enjoyable day, and definitely not as exhausting as most of our other trips that required at least a day of travel.
This weekend I am going with one of my classes to a rural village a couple hours east of Accra where the professor grew up to witness the rural life of Ghana. I am very excited since I know it will be a unique experience.
The volunteering at the Autism center is going fairly well, by the way, though I am a little frustrated with the attitudes of some of the staff. Many of them are not very friendly to me unless they need me to do something and they will often ignore certain children that get violent and start running around uncontrollably. I have not been trained in how to deal with this behavior so I know that I cannot do anything to help control them, but I wish the staff members who obviously do this for a living would make more of an effort to teach these children that it is wrong to hurt themselves and others. Otherwise, I do enjoy having some of the children come up to me and just lightly touch me out of curiosity or give me a hug in affection, which makes my going there worth it in the end. I am not doing anything of great significance for the center, but I am spending some of my free time just sitting and coloring with these children that often do not receive any other love or affection from family or the rest of the community. It is rewarding enough to know that my time with them is appreciated.
Today is registration day for next semester, and everyone here is even more stressed than usual since we are unsure whether or not the internet will be working at the time we all need it. I am still finalizing what classes I want to take, but I am pretty sure they will all be for my major and minor, which are Anthropology and Psychology respectively. My choices for now are Anthropology of Language, Anthropology of Science, Medical Anthropology, and Cognitive Neuroscience, though I am trying to find a way to change one of the Anthropology classes to a Psychology class that fits in my schedule so I am not taking too many scientific classes. They all sound very interesting, though, so I will let you know once I have made my final decisions and am safely registered.
I apologize for not updating as often, but the internet connection has actually gotten worse and I have just not had many chances. So you may have to wait to hear about much of what I have left out until I get home, but for now I will just mention the more significant events that have taken place recently or will happen soon. Last weekend we threw a birthday party for one of our group with a plethora of food and dancing, which was a lot of fun and what I hope to do for my own birthday in a few weeks. Then on Sunday night a small group of us went to a new Italian restaurant for dinner called Leonardo da Vinci’s that had amazing service and delicious food (and not just because we miss Italian food). We received a complimentary starter of bruschetta and then all shared an octopus salad and caprese salad before our second course of many pastas. We split a dish of cannelloni with meat sauce, four cheese risotto, and gnocchi with shrimp and tomato sauce that just melted in your mouth. Plus they were constantly replacing our bread that we used for dipping in the sauces, so by the end we were all extremely full. We still managed to each down a cappuccino from a real Itaiian espresso machine, however, which was a wonderful ending to the weekend. I feel only slightly guilty that I spent a couple hours at an Italian restaurant while in Ghana, since I do not feel that I can completely immerse myself in the African culture at every moment of every day or I would go crazy.
Although our long weekend trips are over, we still have couple day trips this semester to some picturesque areas of the southern region of Ghana. This past weekend we took a day trip to Aburi Gardens, a botanical garden a couple hours outside of Accra that is beautiful. It was filled with exotic trees and plants native to Ghana, many of which are used to make herbs and spices that we learned about and got to experiment with. We smelled the bark of a tree where cinnamon comes from as well as the leaves used to make allspice, and then tasted the outside of a cocoa bean (the inside of which is used to make chocolate). After the tour we had the freedom of riding bikes around the park for an hour before eating lunch and heading out to a craft market where we bought some souvenirs. It was a very enjoyable day, and definitely not as exhausting as most of our other trips that required at least a day of travel.
This weekend I am going with one of my classes to a rural village a couple hours east of Accra where the professor grew up to witness the rural life of Ghana. I am very excited since I know it will be a unique experience.
The volunteering at the Autism center is going fairly well, by the way, though I am a little frustrated with the attitudes of some of the staff. Many of them are not very friendly to me unless they need me to do something and they will often ignore certain children that get violent and start running around uncontrollably. I have not been trained in how to deal with this behavior so I know that I cannot do anything to help control them, but I wish the staff members who obviously do this for a living would make more of an effort to teach these children that it is wrong to hurt themselves and others. Otherwise, I do enjoy having some of the children come up to me and just lightly touch me out of curiosity or give me a hug in affection, which makes my going there worth it in the end. I am not doing anything of great significance for the center, but I am spending some of my free time just sitting and coloring with these children that often do not receive any other love or affection from family or the rest of the community. It is rewarding enough to know that my time with them is appreciated.
Today is registration day for next semester, and everyone here is even more stressed than usual since we are unsure whether or not the internet will be working at the time we all need it. I am still finalizing what classes I want to take, but I am pretty sure they will all be for my major and minor, which are Anthropology and Psychology respectively. My choices for now are Anthropology of Language, Anthropology of Science, Medical Anthropology, and Cognitive Neuroscience, though I am trying to find a way to change one of the Anthropology classes to a Psychology class that fits in my schedule so I am not taking too many scientific classes. They all sound very interesting, though, so I will let you know once I have made my final decisions and am safely registered.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A Spirtual Journey
I realize that I have not posted in awhile, but it has gotten increasingly difficult to take the time to sit down and write these past few weeks with all my activities and the internet not functioning often. In fact, I have not used the internet much at all except to check and respond to emails since that is my first priority, and it is actually very refreshing. I like not being dependent on it all the time and being forced to find other ways to occupy my time such as going out to a market, reading and drawing, or spending quality time with my new friends cooking, watching movies, or just talking. I am definitely learning to better appreciate the most important aspects of life; the things that make me happy.
This past weekend was probably the most amazing experience I have had since being in Ghana thus far, though I am afraid that once again I will be unable to explicitly describe how it has affected me since I am still trying to figure that out myself. I just know that my spiritual and belief systems have shifted greatly and that I feel much more inspired to make a positive impact on the world before I die. We took a 12 hour bus ride to a town in Northern Ghana called Tamale that was actually very different culturally than the southern region where we live. I won’t go into details, but I found the people to be less obtrusive and more genuinely friendly while in Accra they only seem interested in us because we are foreigners and can offer them opportunities and large amounts of money according to their conceptions. We left Accra at 4:30am Thursday morning and arrived in Kumasi 5-6 hours later for our halfway stop to stretch, use the restroom, and get some snacks before continuing up another 6 hours to Tamale where we arrived at about 5pm. The women at the guesthouse where we stayed had prepared us a simple meal of pasta with tomato sauce when once we rested about an hour in our rooms, which was a very nice change from jollof rice and plaintains that are always served here in Accra. The next morning we woke early for a breakfast of warm baguettes and then went to a Muslim mosque where we were given a tour and had the opportunity to ask about the customs of Muslims in Ghana, which was very interesting. After that we went to a medical clinic started by this doctor who was the only surviving child of a very poor family and had the most inspiring personality and philosophies on life. Just listening to him speak about how he loves helping the homeless (who are typically shunned in Ghanaian society and thought to be “mad”) and how he relies on the charity of others for his funding rather than asking for money from those who are not willing to give it. He also explained how he feels all religions are related and have common beliefs, which after thinking about it myself, I also think is very true. I cannot explain everything he said or how he said it, but he was the most genuinely selfless and happy person I have ever met and was an inspiration to all of us. Whenever I start to lose faith in humanity, I will always think of him and remember that those types of people actually do exist in this world.
After that emotional and spiritual activity, we went in three different groups to visit Diviners, which are like psychics or fortune tellers, but much more respected here in Ghana. Each person in my group of 10 was “divined” separately, yet most of us received similar fortunes and advice that could either be very vague or very specific but not be attributable to that particular person. For example, Daniella was told that she would fall in love with an African American man when she returns to the U.S. and move with him to another state, when anyone who knows her well enough is certain that she will never leave New York, especially for another person since she is very independent. I was basically told that I am very healthy and will live a long time, but that I worry too much and it is affecting my studies. However, everything will turn out well as long as I pray and perform this ritual he described for me: I have to find five different grains (rice, corn, etc.), four cocoa nuts, a piece of cloth, and some mutton and give it to a pair of twins. I had some trouble trying not to laugh as I was told this, especially since the translator who transmitted the information to me did not believe in anything the Diviner was saying and basically spit it out at me quickly as though it had no value. That definitely ruined the experience for all of us, so we exchanged stories afterward and had our laughs then. It was an interesting experience, even if I felt it was a waste of time, because those spiritual men are so highly regarded in this society and a major part of the culture in Ghana.
The next day we took a 2 hour bus ride east of Tamale to a slave camp where many slaves were captured by different African tribes before being transported down to the coast. It was a very emotional experience looking at the beautiful landscape and imagining all the horrible things that happened there, especially since it was extremely hot and humid as well. I do not feel like delving into my feelings on this topic at the moment, since it is still fresh in my mind and very sensitive, but at some point I would like to tell all of you about it who may never get a chance to come here and experience it yourselves. We then took a trip out to a rural village where a group of widows (who are very badly treated in Ghana because they are usually thought to have murdered their husbands) get together to weave baskets and fans and other beautiful objects in order to make money and help raise their children. They were all extremely friendly and lovely women, and it was wonderful to spend time with them and their children as we know that they receive very little generosity elsewhere. We all purchased some things from them and then made our way back to Tamale for the night where we brooded over the fact that it was Halloween and we were missing it entirely. A member of our group did perform a ghost story on the spot for many of us that did scare us quite a bit, but that was the extent of our Halloween celebration this year. We are hoping to celebrate some more this week by watching scary movies and making candy (since most American candy is not available here), but otherwise we will just have to live without a major holiday for one year.
On Sunday we left again at 4:30am and arrived back in Accra before 5pm, which was surprisingly nice, so many of us just relaxed before going out to dinner since we did not have much food to make at home. I went with Daniella and a now good friend Joey to an Italian restaurant called Leonardo da Vinci’s, which was a wonderful experience after not having gone to a good restaurant in a long time. The service was great and our pasta dish that we ordered was delicious, plus we were given bread and bruschetta free of charge when we sat down. The three of us are hoping to go back there again soon, since it was almost like being back in Italy but without even leaving Africa.
This weekend we are throwing a big birthday party for a member of our group, which should be very fun and a nice break from all this traveling. Otherwise, I am just keeping busy with my classes and volunteering and spending time with my wonderful new friends here, so there is not much else to tell for now.
This past weekend was probably the most amazing experience I have had since being in Ghana thus far, though I am afraid that once again I will be unable to explicitly describe how it has affected me since I am still trying to figure that out myself. I just know that my spiritual and belief systems have shifted greatly and that I feel much more inspired to make a positive impact on the world before I die. We took a 12 hour bus ride to a town in Northern Ghana called Tamale that was actually very different culturally than the southern region where we live. I won’t go into details, but I found the people to be less obtrusive and more genuinely friendly while in Accra they only seem interested in us because we are foreigners and can offer them opportunities and large amounts of money according to their conceptions. We left Accra at 4:30am Thursday morning and arrived in Kumasi 5-6 hours later for our halfway stop to stretch, use the restroom, and get some snacks before continuing up another 6 hours to Tamale where we arrived at about 5pm. The women at the guesthouse where we stayed had prepared us a simple meal of pasta with tomato sauce when once we rested about an hour in our rooms, which was a very nice change from jollof rice and plaintains that are always served here in Accra. The next morning we woke early for a breakfast of warm baguettes and then went to a Muslim mosque where we were given a tour and had the opportunity to ask about the customs of Muslims in Ghana, which was very interesting. After that we went to a medical clinic started by this doctor who was the only surviving child of a very poor family and had the most inspiring personality and philosophies on life. Just listening to him speak about how he loves helping the homeless (who are typically shunned in Ghanaian society and thought to be “mad”) and how he relies on the charity of others for his funding rather than asking for money from those who are not willing to give it. He also explained how he feels all religions are related and have common beliefs, which after thinking about it myself, I also think is very true. I cannot explain everything he said or how he said it, but he was the most genuinely selfless and happy person I have ever met and was an inspiration to all of us. Whenever I start to lose faith in humanity, I will always think of him and remember that those types of people actually do exist in this world.
After that emotional and spiritual activity, we went in three different groups to visit Diviners, which are like psychics or fortune tellers, but much more respected here in Ghana. Each person in my group of 10 was “divined” separately, yet most of us received similar fortunes and advice that could either be very vague or very specific but not be attributable to that particular person. For example, Daniella was told that she would fall in love with an African American man when she returns to the U.S. and move with him to another state, when anyone who knows her well enough is certain that she will never leave New York, especially for another person since she is very independent. I was basically told that I am very healthy and will live a long time, but that I worry too much and it is affecting my studies. However, everything will turn out well as long as I pray and perform this ritual he described for me: I have to find five different grains (rice, corn, etc.), four cocoa nuts, a piece of cloth, and some mutton and give it to a pair of twins. I had some trouble trying not to laugh as I was told this, especially since the translator who transmitted the information to me did not believe in anything the Diviner was saying and basically spit it out at me quickly as though it had no value. That definitely ruined the experience for all of us, so we exchanged stories afterward and had our laughs then. It was an interesting experience, even if I felt it was a waste of time, because those spiritual men are so highly regarded in this society and a major part of the culture in Ghana.
The next day we took a 2 hour bus ride east of Tamale to a slave camp where many slaves were captured by different African tribes before being transported down to the coast. It was a very emotional experience looking at the beautiful landscape and imagining all the horrible things that happened there, especially since it was extremely hot and humid as well. I do not feel like delving into my feelings on this topic at the moment, since it is still fresh in my mind and very sensitive, but at some point I would like to tell all of you about it who may never get a chance to come here and experience it yourselves. We then took a trip out to a rural village where a group of widows (who are very badly treated in Ghana because they are usually thought to have murdered their husbands) get together to weave baskets and fans and other beautiful objects in order to make money and help raise their children. They were all extremely friendly and lovely women, and it was wonderful to spend time with them and their children as we know that they receive very little generosity elsewhere. We all purchased some things from them and then made our way back to Tamale for the night where we brooded over the fact that it was Halloween and we were missing it entirely. A member of our group did perform a ghost story on the spot for many of us that did scare us quite a bit, but that was the extent of our Halloween celebration this year. We are hoping to celebrate some more this week by watching scary movies and making candy (since most American candy is not available here), but otherwise we will just have to live without a major holiday for one year.
On Sunday we left again at 4:30am and arrived back in Accra before 5pm, which was surprisingly nice, so many of us just relaxed before going out to dinner since we did not have much food to make at home. I went with Daniella and a now good friend Joey to an Italian restaurant called Leonardo da Vinci’s, which was a wonderful experience after not having gone to a good restaurant in a long time. The service was great and our pasta dish that we ordered was delicious, plus we were given bread and bruschetta free of charge when we sat down. The three of us are hoping to go back there again soon, since it was almost like being back in Italy but without even leaving Africa.
This weekend we are throwing a big birthday party for a member of our group, which should be very fun and a nice break from all this traveling. Otherwise, I am just keeping busy with my classes and volunteering and spending time with my wonderful new friends here, so there is not much else to tell for now.
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