I got on the Internet three times in Three Days !!!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

As I sit here trying to describe my life in Africa my emotions are spinning and I do not truly know if I am getting across the most essential things about my trip. It is true that the bowl I just ate oatmeal from that has been sitting next to me for about two minutes is already covered in ants, the floor has dust all over it because the hostel is all opened and the dirt is constantly coming in, I can look around and count at least two lizards climbing on my wall, and I have sweet dripping down my face even though I am sitting under a fan performing no physical tasks. Although these are details that may affect my life, they are certainly not the most important things about my journey.
I want to ensure that everyone understands the dynamic in this country. Everyone is hospitable, they invited you into their homes even if you don’t know them, they bring you to their churches, invite you to their weddings, they walk you to your destination when you are lost, they lend you shoes when yours break, they smile as they pass you, and they ask you if you need help understanding the professor. It is not just a kindness it is a way of living. Since most Ghanaians are not time conscience that do not have an issue spending a great amount of time helping others. In the United States we are always on the go, so making time to help a random stranger may not be at the top of your priority list. It is sad to admit that when Ghanaians travel to America they find the people rude and standoffish. Although this may be true in their eyes as a culture we understand that someone on the street is not going to walk twenty minutes out of their way to bring you to where you want to go, they may just point their finger in the direction you need to walk. This may not seem like a big deal to us, but to people who have the value within them to help others in distress it appears to be rude. Although I know that I cannot change the atmosphere of the Unite States and make everyone take a deep breath and just try and relax, I can do one thing. That is as an individual take other people into consideration more often. When someone needs help I will try not let my first thought be, do I have enough time to adequately assist this person. My first thought should be, do I have the skills necessary to help and if I do I will immediately go and be a service putting aside other plans I may have had for the day. It is these things in life that should be most important, not completing everything on your to-do list if it means shunning someone else away.
Additionally, my measure of productivity is vastly different then that that I use at home. When I wake up mop, do laundry and make lunch I feel as if I have accomplished an amazing amount. Where as at home, everything takes about the quarter of the time because we have machines, running water, and supplies necessary to compete things efficiently. It is nice to feel achieved and when I return to the US I hope to hold true to this. The little things are important and accomplishing small daily tasks in a timely manner should be appreciated. We should all learn to understand that others do not have the luxuries that we do and we should be conscience of how easy some of our tasks are in comparison to others with fewer amenities.

To tell you a little about my day, I woke up and decided to clean my sneakers. I bleached them for a couple of hours and scrubbed them with a hard brush. When they are completely dry I will soon find out if it paid off. I have done this in the past and the end result was them drying a nice brownish color, so I am crossing my fingers that the result this time is an improvement. I then went to class at 11:00 and after I got to use the Internet for the second time this week. Since there is no Twi class today I got to spend hours in the CIEE office with none interrupted Internet. After the Internet I went back to the room to get dinner and once again head off to dance. I am struggling with figuring out the music for the new dance, but I know I will eventually get it down. I just need a couple more weeks to practice.
We walked straight to a show after dance that consisted of musicians from all over the world playing the most interesting instruments. The performance was outstanding, it is incredible the way in which they were able to make such different music styles sound phenomenal when put together. The show lasted for several hours and we were full of bug bites and ready for bed when it was time to walk back to the dorm. When we arrived at the hostel it was after mid-night, so I headed straight to bed.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I had a very typical Wednesday; I attended classes and went to my meeting with my advisor. Like a typical Ghanaian my advisor showed up thirty minutes late, a great improvement from him not showing up at all last week. After I saw him he said he would be right back and hopped in his car and left for another fifteen minutes. When we returned I handed in my paper and he asked me to come back the following week so we could review it. Just to inform you, his office is over a thirty minute walk each way from my hostel, so the entire process took over two hours and the entire purpose was to hand in a paper, which I completed over two weeks ago. However, it is things like these that I have gotten used to so I was not even annoyed with the situation.
After I got back to the hostel it was time for me to get dinner, change and once again proceed to dance. Our performance is quickly approaching and still the individuals in the production where not all in attendance and those that were seemed scattered. We are not prepared to perform, although I was in high spirits after rehearsal on Monday I am once again under the impression that we will not be successful in completing the dance on time. I would think that I would be used to bad conditions after doing the Nutcracker for so many years; however, the feeling I get is different. With Nutcracker the performers would focus and many would work tirelessly to attempt to receive better parts and I knew that in the end Evelyn would pull it all together. In this case everyone is disrespectful, no one shows up, and those who do show do not focus. In addition I enjoyed Nutcracker greatly, I am not sure why I just become overwhelmed at Atsu’s practices. I have been given the lead spot, I get to take control, and he almost always gives me the responsibility of teaching and running practice. Under normal circumstances in dance I would be thrilled, but the result in this case is vastly different. Instead of enjoyment, I become agitated because no one listens and the dancers are just not good enough to perform the piece adequately. In dance at home if someone is not dancing up to par they are removed from the part or if someone is not listening they must leave the room that is not how things function in my current rehearsal. I just cannot wait for the performance to come and these practices to be terminated.
Practice did eventually end and I was able to get back to the hostel and shower before joining a drink up that was taking place in the TV room upstairs in my hostel. We danced for a bit and then it was time to pond the birthday boy. The boys were so evil, they brought him into the bathroom, filled a huge bucket and processed to take smaller buckets full of water and pelt them at him. The water was whipping him so hard, my body was beginning to hurt for him. The process seemed evil and there was nothing I could do about it. Finally he was able to escape by running full speed out of the washroom and down the stairs to get changed. After he returned we cleaned up the mess and proceeded to bed.