Still Alive!

8 July 2008, 06:08

Sorry that I haven’t updated in so long. Things occur to me, but in a passing way, and I find that I often don’t have time to update when I’m actually on the internet (or the link is too slow, or whatever).

The research is progressing, and although things are difficult, I’m hanging in here. Clvrmnky is coming for a visit in August, and I am very much looking forward to that.

I will try to have more of an update over the next few days. If you are going to send a birthday greeting, don’t send e-cards, because I may not be able to load them up, but an nice chatty email would be most welcome :)

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All roads lead to home

14 May 2008, 07:48

I’m starting to learn my way around Kumasi, which is to say that I am learning routes more than logics. Kumasi is hilly, and the roads twist and wind due to both social and environmental factors. Over the past few weeks I have realized that there are 4 ways to leave my school: left then right; left then left; right then right, and right then left. And I have realized that to get me home, different cab drivers have taken each of these options. Further more, if you go right then left, you get to a traffic circle from which you can take three of the four feeder roads to get to my house. Yes, that’s right, all roads lead to me.

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Surprises

8 May 2008, 11:35

Today as I passed a Kinkos sign, I was reminded of the most surprising thing that I’ve seen in Ghana. It took a moment to register, because I’m so used to seeing the icon, but once on a trotro, I passed a Canadian Tire sign. I located it later, and it definitely uses the logo, and it definitely doesn’t have anything to do with the Canadian Tire corporation.

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Wanted: Stout Divorcee

28 April 2008, 05:47

When we were in Accra, we were passing by a government building and were called over by the police. I felt a little nervous, but not very because in my experience police often use their position to strike up conversations with interesting passers by, and as two (young and marriageable) obruni (white people) we usually qualify.

Sure enough, the police officer told us that his boss wanted to see us, and when we got to the boss, he struck up the usual conversation: where are you from, what are you doing here, are you married? I replied that I was married and my friend had a boyfriend, and he asked me to find him a wife. I told him that I’m a little older so, so all my friends are married, but I’ll look for a wife for him if he wants. He replied that he wanted an older woman, a divorcee from Canada, who was stout and strong with wide hips. She should be 40-50. She should send her picture and then he will send his picture, and she can come to Ghana, and he will show her around before they travel back to Canada.

So, if that sounds like you, and you want a Ghanaian husband, leave a comment and I’ll send you his address (he specifically wanted Canada, but I’m sure he’d take a wife from America or the United Kingdom as well).

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Aaaaand she's back!

24 April 2008, 10:25

Sorry, my extended absence has generated a few concerned emails prodding to find out if I’m still alive. I had something in my stomach (probably giardia) and the treatment for it was promptly followed by the cold that I get that’s all my own, where I lose my voice, and then feel like crap for a week and a half. I’m finally back on my feet, although not a hundred percent, and trying to get back into the swing of research.

I’ve realized that this year I will miss clvrmnky’s 40th, my sister’s 30th, and my grandfather’s 90th. How much does that suck! Well, clvrmnky and I have decided to rally. His birthday is early in the midwinder bonanza, so we’re going to celebrate it at the end of the season with a “40th New Year’s Party”. Yay! I know that has nothing to do with Ghana or research, but it’s what’s making me happy right now. You’re all invited!

Anyway, here’s an anecdote. Today as I was walking down the road a woman with a bottle of water on her head and nothing covering her chest came up to me and started talking. She was speaking a mix of English and Twi, and she didn’t sound at all crazy. However, the type of nakedness she was displaying is a universal sign of being “mad” in Ghana. I was curious, but I couldn’t quite figure out what she was saying. She was the most coherent “mad” person that I’ve seen, though.

So I’m walking along, and these two guys stop us and start telling her to speak English. But then they change their track and start asking me if I don’t know she’s mad. I said that I didn’t know what she was and they became very offended, saying that people in Ghana don’t dress like that and basically that I should know better than to think that of Ghanaians.

I find it very interesting that “madness” takes this very particular form in Ghana. I was talking to a woman who told me that in a period of extreme duress she began to disrobe and try to leave the house (she was restrained by relatives). She said she could tell what she was doing but she couldn’t stop herself.

And lastly, here is a sober thought. I just found out yesterday that despite six years of public education, the maid at my house is unable to read, unable even to easily identify the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet. I am now teaching her to read.

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