Catching Up...Thoughts :)

The night I arrived at school, ISEP gave us boxed dinners.  After unpacking my things, I sat down to eat.  That first night was an introduction to many of the next week’s dinners: rice, a few vegetables, chicken, and fish.  It was pretty good, and I hungry, so I didn’t complain.  Initially, I only registered that there was meat.  While eating the piece of chicken and rice, I kept tasting/smelling this smoky flavor, but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  I finally turned to the other piece of “chicken.” And then my brain went, “More chicken. Just kidding! Fish head!” Complete with teeth and eyes.  Welcome to Ghana.  It was pretty good and I have gotten tilapia, the fish of choice raised here, on several occasions since.  But this difference threw me.  Fish is always served whole, usually with the guts cleaned out.  It’s kind of like a game. How quickly can you pull the meat out with as few bones as possible?  You either get jollof [spicy] rice or fried rice.  Vegetables don’t seem to be as important to, or at least not as much of a staple in, the diet.  Rice is the main staple and is at every meal like bread in the U.S.

I’ve been told that there’s an American grocery store with American brands, products, and such.  I might have to at least stop in later in the semester.  All Needs on campus, Maxi Mart, and other grocery stores have some things that are similar like candy and soda, among other things, but they taste different.  I’m pretty sure they flavor foods with sugar cane rather than the high fructose corn syrup we use.  Dining dollars aren't a thing.  Rather you pay for your food whether from one of the restaurants on campus, central caf, the night market close to the ISH, street vendors, or some place in town.  Students usually cook their own food.  Sound bad? Eating locally/as a Ghanaian does, rather than buying American snacks [darn], is ridiculously cheap.  The conversion rate is about US$1=GH¢2.  (¢, cedi, pronounced the same as a music c.d.)  I can easily eat a meal for under GH¢4.  cuh-razy.

So much learning…the thing is you begin to realize that every part of your day has to be done differently, or at least initially thought through and processed.  You must take your own toilet paper to the bathroom and throw it away in the trash can because the plumbing has potential to get backed up.  The water isn’t potable, so you must always have bottled water with you.  Now that it’s been a few weeks, and we’ve started adjusting to the food/environment, we can drink sachets, plastic bags that hold about 500ml. of water.  You can either do laundry by hand or pay someone to do it.  To do it by hand requires a bucket, laundry soap, a bar of soap for trouble spots, and time.  Having someone else do it is about ¢2-¢5.  Eating means making sure you have ingredients, or are thinking on the way home from so you can stop and buy in advance, and starting to cook before you’re starving because preparation and waiting for the hot plate to heat up takes time (you’ve no idea how well I’ve experienced this this past week).  A simple “hello” can turn into a minute long greeting that frequently ends in asking for your contact information and running away as quickly as possible.  Getting to class on time means leaving the ISH 30 minutes in advance because it takes 20 minutes to get to main campus.  And those of you who know me know that I’m habitually late. Wooo.  Maybe I’m just meant to be on Africa time? :P  

One of the reasons I chose to study abroad through ISEP in Ghana was for their Global Exchange Program (GEP).  The program helps set up volunteer opportunities between participants and local non-profits.  Monday, we’re going out to visit Beacon House, a children’s home.  We’re also going out to Mawuvio’s (sp?) Outreach Program, in addition to about 4 others, next week.  School is supposed to be free and compulsory for grades 1-6(?), but there are also small fees in the better schools and uniform fees for all.  Frequently, parents keep children at home because they’re needed to work and help bring in money.  MOP is one of many programs that provides schooling to kids who can’t afford the basic school and uniform fees and provides a meal each day.  Kelly, a girl from my school who came to UG 3 semesters ago, worked at MOP and got me excited about the opportunity to work with others!  She has been great in answering my questions and mentioning some of the things many others didn’t know about until they got here (the strike for instance).