Akwaaba!!
Well, I've officially been in Ghana for 6 days now! I waved goodbye to Gautham at JFK Airport, after spending an incredible week touring Boston and New York, meeting his fantastic friends (Yeeha! is by far the greatest game ever) catching some comedy, some Beauty and the Beast on Broadway! and seeing the Statue of Liberty. Basically, it was very very difficult to leave. Through the departure process I've realized I am so blessed to have so many people in my life that love me enough to let me go and who support me in the excitement of this adventure. As they say in Ghana, "Ko bra" or "go and come back with blessings" :)
Immediately after going through security at JFK I met a girl from my program who happened to know someone I went to high school with. We started chatting and within 30 min we were joined by 10 others on the same program. All are awesome, hailing from many different universities across the U.S. Lots of art majors, anthropologists, and writers.
There followed a 12 hour plane ride with a 4 hour layover in London. Fortunately, the plane food was decent (complimentary wine with dinner) and 18 movie options on personal tv screens. British Air is the way to go if anyone is traveling abroad any time soon.
We stepped off the plane in Accra into a wave of sticky heat, lugged our overstuffed bags to the bus and made our way to a hostel.
We've been starting all our mornings with drumming and dance. It's unbelievable. No fancy steps to memorize, you just sort of move to the beat. After that, we had a pretty involved orientation, learning everything from cultural taboos to the language. Apparently, crossing your legs is a no no, as is gesturing with your left hand, shaking a group's hands from left to right, and giving the thumbs up sign. Language class has also been a part of these lessons. Twi is very fun to learn. It's a tonal language so the same word, like "ko" has three different meanings depending on the pitch of your voice. No need to memorize past tense vs. future tense you just speak lower if you went there and higher if you're going there. The best part is, because it's tonal they can use drums to communicate as well. If they drum out the syllables of a word in line with the desired pitch they can communicate things like dance moves or beat out people's names and have them start dancing. For now, learning Twi is difficult enough, so we'll leave drum for some other time.
I just started my first home stay with a retired preacher and his wife. The first thing I was asked when I sat down in the taxi with him is "Do I think the Bible is the absolute truth?" Answering that is something I'll reserve for some other blog. We've already had some great conversations about religion. I have an hour long commute to classes, so I take the tro-tro or bus all the way. It's wonderful because the music that is most popular now is the stuff I love the most. Celine Dion happens to be a huge pop icon. Boys to Men, All for One, and other similar sappy greats fill the radios. It's wonderful. I was on the tro-tro and Celine came on and the people around me started singing along, so I of course join in as well. It's a great way to bridge the gap. Because I certainly stick out, although always calling attention to yourself because you're white doesn't have to be all bad. Here people will call out "Abruni! Abruni!" which means white lady. So the response is "Abibini" which basically is saying "and you're black." It's difficult getting used to race not being as taboo.
Anyway, that's all I have time for now; the clock on this Internet cafe's computer is steadily counting down. I love you all. I miss you immensely, but I am so excited to be here. I cannot wait to discover what all Ghana has to offer.
Immediately after going through security at JFK I met a girl from my program who happened to know someone I went to high school with. We started chatting and within 30 min we were joined by 10 others on the same program. All are awesome, hailing from many different universities across the U.S. Lots of art majors, anthropologists, and writers.
There followed a 12 hour plane ride with a 4 hour layover in London. Fortunately, the plane food was decent (complimentary wine with dinner) and 18 movie options on personal tv screens. British Air is the way to go if anyone is traveling abroad any time soon.
We stepped off the plane in Accra into a wave of sticky heat, lugged our overstuffed bags to the bus and made our way to a hostel.
We've been starting all our mornings with drumming and dance. It's unbelievable. No fancy steps to memorize, you just sort of move to the beat. After that, we had a pretty involved orientation, learning everything from cultural taboos to the language. Apparently, crossing your legs is a no no, as is gesturing with your left hand, shaking a group's hands from left to right, and giving the thumbs up sign. Language class has also been a part of these lessons. Twi is very fun to learn. It's a tonal language so the same word, like "ko" has three different meanings depending on the pitch of your voice. No need to memorize past tense vs. future tense you just speak lower if you went there and higher if you're going there. The best part is, because it's tonal they can use drums to communicate as well. If they drum out the syllables of a word in line with the desired pitch they can communicate things like dance moves or beat out people's names and have them start dancing. For now, learning Twi is difficult enough, so we'll leave drum for some other time.
I just started my first home stay with a retired preacher and his wife. The first thing I was asked when I sat down in the taxi with him is "Do I think the Bible is the absolute truth?" Answering that is something I'll reserve for some other blog. We've already had some great conversations about religion. I have an hour long commute to classes, so I take the tro-tro or bus all the way. It's wonderful because the music that is most popular now is the stuff I love the most. Celine Dion happens to be a huge pop icon. Boys to Men, All for One, and other similar sappy greats fill the radios. It's wonderful. I was on the tro-tro and Celine came on and the people around me started singing along, so I of course join in as well. It's a great way to bridge the gap. Because I certainly stick out, although always calling attention to yourself because you're white doesn't have to be all bad. Here people will call out "Abruni! Abruni!" which means white lady. So the response is "Abibini" which basically is saying "and you're black." It's difficult getting used to race not being as taboo.
Anyway, that's all I have time for now; the clock on this Internet cafe's computer is steadily counting down. I love you all. I miss you immensely, but I am so excited to be here. I cannot wait to discover what all Ghana has to offer.
posted by Lisa | 8:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home