Akwaaba!

To all my readers, you may be happy to know that I have comfortably settled to Africa. I am staying in the International Student Hostel (ISH) with fellow “abronies” (white folk) and students from Nigeria and Ghana. For the past two weeks I have gotten a chance to explore the city of Accra and its surrounding communities such as Akrapong, Jamestown, and Medina. This week my classes started with a schedule in African Politics, African Literature, People’s and Culture of Ghana, Twi (the vernacular language), and African drumming and dance. Most of my meals are bought at the local markets and include an egg sandwich for breakfast, red red and avocado for lunch, and some sort or chicken and rice for dinner. I have gotten into a routine of running a few miles every morning following my breakfast and before my cold shower (as there is no ‘hot water’ option here).

Ghanaian culture is very different from anything I have experienced in my life. I would consider myself pretty well traveled and able to cope with changing cultural contexts, but Ghana is so far removed from how I have experienced the world thus far. So much so that for once in my life I find solace in making a trip to the mall and absorbing the familiar traits of western consumerism. In light of these new experiences and observations (which are too many to explain in this post), here is a list of some observations I have made in my brief time in Africa.

1. For the first time in my life, I am part of a racial minority, and find myself clinging to my own familiar race... White Americans.
2. When in doubt, use your right hand.
3. The critique of Barack Obama being a “fad” takes on new meaning in a country where everyone adores him, simply for being a man of African decent.
4. There is something to be said about having the ability to create music in a rhythmic and beautiful way. I observed this from the improvisational drumming tangents that my drumming instructor performs in class.
5. Poverty, as I have grown up to understand it, is not as much of an objective term as I had thought.
6. It turns out that meat can very well serve as a side dish for meals, and doesn’t need to always be the main course.
7. As fun and cost effective as bargaining with a street vender is, has anyone considered the ethics around it? I hadn’t.
8. Washing a load of laundry by hand can be a very tiresome but satisfying process.
9. Males have a serious advantage in this culture when it comes to bathroom accessibility, as everywhere and anywhere is a potential urinal.
10. Why don’t more people own goats as pets in the United States? They are adorable.
11. Time spent on the computer can be so much more productive when you don’t have access to Facebook or the internet.
12. Smell is a vivid way of experiencing things, but that experience is a bit too vivid in certain areas of Accra.