Labadi Beach

I can already see that I’m going to fall behind on posts...it is inevitable, (Mr.Anderson), but in an effort to put that off as long as possible, I wanted to make a quick post about my weekend. And. The BEACH!

Apparently Labadi Beach is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon, after five hours of church of course. So, when in Rome; I went to the beach this past Sunday! (But not church). I was meeting some friends of mine there, but I arrived early, so I was on my own for the first hour while I waited. This, of course, led to a couple funny situations.

First, I was swarmed by a group of girls from Nigeria, who all insisted on taking individual pictures with me. Why, you ask? That was my first question, but I still haven’t the faintest idea. (Nick/Jake-Am I finally getting recognized from my VinoDivino Ads?!). I was not, by any means, the only Obrueni on the beach. But, “Because we want to,” is the only answer I received. Anyway, after taking about a dozen pictures, they dragged me halfway across the beach to try and find seats, but the beach was packed! After a little while of searching, I excused myself to go wait for my friends up by the entrance. I was worried we would have trouble spotting each other.

On my way back, I was swarmed this time by a group of horseman. No, that’s not a typo. There were about six or seven young guys on horseback, riding up and down the beach, giving rides to people who paid 5 Ghanaian Cedi. The horses are pretty small, and the beach was very crowded, so I must have missed them in the beginning. Anyway, horses vs. having my picture taken? Anyone who’s met me knows there’s no contest…the horses were a much more welcomed distraction while I waited for my friends.

While they were mostly interested in trying to get me to ride, I did find out that the horses are imported from Sudan, and kept at a barn not too far from the beach. The horses are also drugged pretty heavily, to make sure that they are “safe” for tourists. (The animal lover in me cringed, but what can you do?) The riders got bored of my questions eventually, especially when they realized I wasn't interested in riding, and decided to race each other up and down the beach, in and around people walking to and from the water. Barrel-racing with people, I guess.

Still waiting for my friends, I started to feel a little awkward, as everyone in the vicinity was staring at me, standing on my own. So I ended up walking over to the girl selling water, and sat with her for a while. This might seem a little odd-- but from my experiences in Africa, strangers are viewed as friends you just haven’t met yet, and the girl selling water, whose name was Yauada (sp?), seemed happy to have some company. People kept asking her if she was only selling water, or selling “the Obrueni,” too. She finally answered that if you buy enough water, you get the Obrueni for free! I had a lot of fun talking to her.

But my friends finally showed up! Both of them are friends of mine from my semester in Niger. One is living in Accra now, the other was just visiting. We had a lovely afternoon walking up and down the beach.

Other lessons I've learned thus far:

- Jellyfish are way bigger in Africa.

-There is an exponential relationship between the time it takes you to wash your dishes, and the number of ants found on said dishes when you finally wash them.

-Contrary to popular belief, roosters do not crow at dawn, but rather, whenever they damn well please. (Or at least the bastard rooster by my apartment does.)

- Just like in Niger, the meaning of the word “now,” is always up for interpretation.

AND. There is GUINNESS in Ghana. Hallelujah, amen.

What's in a blog?

I don’t know of to kick this off, I've never kept a blog before; how do these things normally begin? A mission statement? A famous quote? A celebratory 5k?

I guess I could start by saying that I’m safe and healthy in Accra, Ghana. I’ve almost been here a full week, spending the first few days in a hotel while I looked for an apartment. And happily, I just moved into a one bedroom apartment yesterday morning! I don’t have pictures yet, but it's right by the beach, and modestly furnished—a bed, wardrobe, couch, coffee table, kitchen table, 3 chairs, fridge, hot plate, and small kitchen utensils, including a butcher’s knife that was first used to decapitate a cockroach in my kitchen. And no, I didn't eat it.

But what DO you eat?! That seems to always be the first question. I've been able to sample a few of the traditional dishes so far. First was Kinkey, a large doughy ball of corn paste that is dipped in spicy red-pepper tomato sauce. The Kinkey I had was served with whole fried mini-fish, also meant to be dipped in the spicy sauce. The phrase that comes to my mind when describing what it’s like to eat a whole fish in one bite, is like the sour patch kids commercial, but instead of, first its sour, the its sweet, I’d say, first its chewy (and salty), then it’s crunchy (and salty).

And fishy. Oh so fishy. Mind you, this was at 10 in the morning. One of my co-corkers told me that eating the fish brains improves his own brain. So move over Wheaties, this is the real breakfast of champions.

Another dish I’ve tried is Banku. Very similar to Kinkey, Banku is again a large doughy ball dipped in sauce, but it’s made with ground corn and cassava, making it a little smoother and sweeter. And there's plenty of West-African standard dishes—like rice and beans, rice and chicken, rice and fish, rice and goat, rice and rice…you know. But Ghana’s unique twist on those traditional dishes is in their spicy pepper sauces. Much spicier than a lot of the dishes I had in Niger.

The city itself is huge. Wayyy bigger than I was anticipating. And the most annoying part: NOTHING is walkable. As someone who very much enjoys walking, this is a nuisance because traffic here is unbelievable. Picture the beltway during rush hour, with only one lane open…and sheep running across said lane. Luckily, my commute is opposite of most people’s, as I live close to downtown Accra, in a neighborhood called South Labadi, and my office is East up the coast away from Accra in a neighborhood called Teshie. But trying to get to meetings downtown or to project sites has been a nightmare.

Speaking of nightmares, I had a friend suggest that I keep this blog as a dream diary—since the main side effect of the antimalarial I’m taking (mefloquine, as listed in my blog’s title), is intensely vivid dreams, which for me usually manifests itself as me “waking up” from a dream, but having another dream, and not be able to determine whether I’m really awake or not. But I have heard stories of people having severely violent or psychotic dreams while on this drug. Fortunately that’s not the case for me.

But anyway, dream tangent aside, because I can’t walk anywhere, I use the public transportation system, which is actually really fun. When going to work for example, I take a commuter “bus,” which is actually an old five-row construction van (very similar to bush taxis in Niger) called a tro-tro. There are several different tro-tros, each going to a different final destination. Every tro-tro driver has a helper, who collects money and yells out the final destination. There are also different hand gestures that represent each destination, since streets are often pretty loud. After getting off the tro-tro in Teshie, I then take what’s called a “last stop” taxi. This means that it’s a flat rate taxi that always runs the same route and drops passengers at different points along the way.

I’m finding that it’s much harder to go exploring when you’re by yourself, especially being a girl. So far I’ve been controlling my stubborn tendencies to go out on my own (you’re welcome, Dad), but it certainly makes learning where everything is a little slower. My coworkers have been very helpful in this regard. They’ve been really willing to show me where things are and take me places, and the first few days, my coworkers took turns babysitting me to and from the office (in the tro-tros and taxis), just to make sure I wouldn’t get lost.

The job itself is awesome, and they’ve had lots for me to do right away, which has made it much easier to get in the swing of things. First on the agenda: The organization I’m working with is trying to expand their programs North of Accra, into the Volta region of Ghana. Next week, I’m going on a trip to Volta to help finish the hiring process for eight new peer educators, and one outreach coordinator, and then help run the three day training workshop for those hired. This week, I’ve mostly been working with the Strategic Information Officer to revise the peer education training materials, and put together the program.

Other fun things about Ghana:

The word for white person is “obrueni,” which kind of sounds like jebroni, so it always makes me laugh.

There is a very heavy Christian influence, not only in the population but in the way stores and things are named too. My favorites thus far, are the “God is my provider Sewing Center,” the “By His Grace Plumbing Company,” and the “God is King Chop Bar.” (Chop bar is local slang for restaurant).

The beach. I love being a 2min walk from the beach. (Take THAT, Becky)

Alrighty, I think that’s sufficient for a first post. Lots of love to everyone from Ghana!

(Also, sorry the picture qualities are not so great. I've been using my ipod to take photos since it's so much easier to carry than my camera. But I'll take some real pictures soon)