Thursday, March 31

Thursday, March 31, 2011

I woke up early this morning to get ready for work, I knew I would need to iron my clothes and clean my dishes so I left time. However, I was not ready until 6:50, so I left my room ten minutes later than usual. Thankfully, I still arrived at work right on time and I was able to stop on my way and get the battery in my watch changed by the man I bought it from. When I arrived at work I went immediately into a meeting that I was assigned to writing minutes at. It was suppose to start at nine; however, as usual it began at around ten fifteen and it lasted until after one. At the termination on the meeting we were given refreshments, which consisted of a piece of fried chicken, a muffin of some sort, and a meat pie. It was delicious and I was ecstatic to receive food considering I was starving by the time the meeting was over. In the future I will prepare and eat before the meeting since I am now aware it will last until past one.
I worked for about an hour longer before I ran out of things to do and decided to head back to school. I went straight to the CIEE office to use the computer so I could figure out which classes I want to take for next semester. Although I still do not know all four of them I am closer to figuring everything out. I left the office with just enough time to make it to my room, change, and proceed off to dance class on time. We did not learn anything today that I did not already learn on Saturday, so it was essentially a review. However, it was a great workout because we danced for almost the entire time with little interruption.
When I returned I learned that some of the girls decided to play beer pong and flip cup in the kitchen, it was very successful and reminded everyone of home. It was the first time we played beer games in Ghana, although like usual I used water and there was music and dancing to go along with the games adding a Ghanaian flair. It was extremely interesting to teach the Ghanaians how eat game worked; I think we greatly intrigued them. Afterwards, four of us went out to a bar/restaurant, Epos, to just hangout and talk for Kenny’s last night in Ghana. It was relaxing and the topic of conversation- politics- was very interesting. We arrived back at the hostel right in time for Peter to jump on the bus going to mole and for me to sleep two hours before I had to be up to go to Volta the following day.

Differences between the US and Ghana

Bathing- Many times Ghanaians will turn the water off while they are putting soap on and during most of the time they are bathing. This is rare in the United States because we have warm water, so if we turned the water off we would freeze. Since in Ghana the water we are bathing with is cooler than the actual temperature it makes little sense to let the water run while you are not using it. Also, they always refer to taking a shower as bathing, I think it is because in Twi the word for bath and shower is the same, so people do not differentiate between the two.

Healthcare- There is national healthcare, but it is very limited and medication is hard to obtain. There is no 911 or ambulances to bring you to the hospital if there is an emergency. Access to individuals in rural areas and in villages is very poor and many people die needlessly because they are unable to make it to the hospital.

Prayer- We pray before Atsu’s dance every week as a group, my teachers refer to God in every class, we talk about the bible constantly, and when people from the program mention their names locals will say that is in the bible. It is interesting how prayer and the Lord is involved in every aspect of many of the Ghanaian’s lives. Many people pray every time they get in a car or trotro to ensure that God will protect them on their journey.