A Day in the Life

Sorry Kids. I never blog. I wake up every morning to the sounds of my household, the babies crying, the loud TV, people sweeping and talking and whistling outside of our window. But I always assume it's before 6 a.m. and fall back asleep as late as I possibly can, which sometimes is 10. Not so bad eh? After opening up my eyes and shifting around, my roomie and I usually converse about our wishes for an oatmeal breakfast, sighing when it turns out to be bread and margarine. Our morning routine varies, but most of the time outreach doesn't begin until after noon, so sometimes we treat ourselves with a walk to the roadside for oranges, or we go up to the filling station for ice cream and hit the internet cafe (I know, I know, I should be blogging, but there is so much email and gchat to contend with). We have also somehow worked our way into hanging out in the interior family room, which we thought was off limits to us visitors, but now we watch American films in the morning and at night, with Ebenezer and the kids. You have no idea how appealing ANY movie from home can be when you've been gone for 5 weeks. I watched Uptown Girls the other night, and I think it may be my new favorite movie. So, we kill quite a bit of time in the mornings, buckets baths, reading, TV, playing with the little ones and the animals.
Our family is pretty well-off in Ghanaian terms. Both the parents have income...Papa is a track coach and a Marshall in the fire brigade and Auntie Dinah sells her bread. All of the kids go to school, and Wazozo, the adult nephew (who I have never mentioned before) that stays with us also works in the fire brigade, and makes television antennas. He is always singing and respects our privacy. He is also always working on home improvement projects on the property. I know at first I made the place out to be the most rustic, uncivilized residence (ok, so I did wake up with a bug crawling on my arm and a rash), but they keep the place in order. They are planning on installing windows and doors (no more chickens in the house), and in the time that we have been there, have made space for a garden and planted trees around the perimeter of the house. They sweep the yard every morning to clear away chicken doo, and burn the papers from the outhouse. By American standards, it is hard-going, but compared to other homes around, it is quiet nice.
An interesting cultural condition here is that many families have children living with them that aren't actually kin, they just take them in and usually, they are like servants for the family in exchange for food and shelter. This is also true of my family...they have 3 youths living there that are relatives or randoms, and they do take up most of the domestic chores, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, caring for the kids etc. They do this without complaint or resentment, and the fact they are being sent to school is an added plus, because many of the Ghanaian servant kids are just used for work and not cared for by the family, like ours are.
The animals are also part of the family. Again, it is a far cry from the lifestyle of American pets, but the dogs are fed, mostly scraps, and touched and named. Ten Thousand is the favorite, a little brown and white mutt with pointy ears that wears a little shell necklace. He follows around the town wherever we go, and smiles. Georgina is the momma dog, currently pregnant and very loving. Her two grown pups live there too, Little Boa, a sweet golden retriever-looking guy who likes to speak, and King Tut, (who we named cuz she looks Egyptian) who never lets us touch her and hates people. Evonce is the alpha male, he is bigger than the others, scruffy, white and people-friendly. There are 2 kittens, I like the orange boy cat and I let him into our room because I saw a mouse in there the other night. So you see, we have plenty of animal affection and entertainment around the house too!
You see, here in Africa, I have found small pleasures for myself, little things that bring me comfort and joy. I also have a few things that drive me up the wall... and the list is as follows:
*I enjoy the markets; having little stalls everywhere, selling everything, so whether you want coke, toilet paper, sandals, or an avocado, you can go to the roadside and find it. The markets are eclectic, fun, hectic; there is a huge secondary market here, so that good-will clothes from the US find new life being sold as African commodities. I keep imagining that I will see a pair of shoes that I have donated somewhere. I find it amusing.
*I eat ice cream almost everyday, it is pasteurized, and sweet and cold. I usually get it from the filling station, which is another pleasure, because it is air-conditioned, sells snickers, and cookies, and Lemon Fanta and has very sweet women working there (Esther, always says she loves and misses me, and my favorite quote ever from her is: I love your mouth. It is too small.).
*I love the kids here. They make me feel like a rock star, calling out and waving to me wherever I go, smiling with glee if I talk to them, running up to hug me or shake my hand. I love Edward and Edna, our family kids, I love having them in my lap, sharing cookies with them or looking through a magazine with them. I am so going to miss being surrounded by children, not only the school kids, but children in general, who are so abundant and outgoing here.
*I have mixed feelings about the tro tros. In a way, I love them. The rides are cheap, from 30-60 cents a pop, you can always catch one and go where ever you want. Witnessing the interactions of people and the scenery in a tro tro is often a pleasurable way to pass the time. The operators' obsession with filling every single seat of the vehicle can be trying, because they will stop every six feet if they have to, just to pick up a passenger. If you get a good one, they are blasting reggae and you'll have a window seat. If you get a bad one, you are straddling a bench and the fold-a-seat, listening to Ghana talk radio really loud. They drive like crack-heads, weaving to and fro all over the road. In the slowness of Accra traffic, this is manageable, but on the open road, I sometimes feel like I am in a death trap. Sometimes the passengers get into arguments with the driver and/or money collector and yell loudly in Ga. It usually passes quickly, and I think it's funny for some reason. I know I talk about them all the time, but tro tros are a big part of my daily life here in Ghana.
* I love going to the city. Accra is busy, and dirty, and noisy, but it has sorts or sights and places to go. We eat out at least once a week, we have one place for hummus, another for pizza, a salad restaurant and our favorite soft serve stand, Frosty Bites. I hate to admit that we never go out for local food, because we get it at home, and we don't really like it...except for my new love of chek-chek, a plate of fried rice, fried chicken, and coleslaw that you get at "fast food stands". I get it in our home town of Dome, at this little shack that has a table and a tv, and is always playing movies. Accra has Mokala market, the largest in Ghana, museums, forts, and indoor plumbing.
*I love that everyday I see something strange, thought-provoking and exotic. For example, this evening, Becca and I took a long walk through Accra, and we happen to see the sky turn black with swarms of bats. Literally thousands of huge bats, the size of pigeons, covered the sky from every direction, floating over the trees and traffic, chasing invisible prey in the form of mosquitoes. It was so amazing to watch, I can't even describe it. At our school outreach, we witnessed the children lining up to be spanked with a stick, spared on the presence of a clean handkerchief. I have seen a man clinging to the back of a semi-truck, going full-speed down the highway. Goats that I thought were cute until they ate each others' feces. A nude man bathing at the beach and looking at me with an incriminating glare, for taking pictures of the ocean. These aren't all good sights, but they sure stay with me.
*I hate the noise here. People don't shut up. They speak loudly, whether you are on the phone, or in a restaurant, tro tro, or on the street. Music and television are blasted at full volume. There is a lack of solitude that comes with all this noise. You are sitting next to people all the time, or they are approaching you, or walking next to you, or just living in the same house with you. Alone and quiet time are hard to come by.
* I hate the constant grime. The streets are filthy and littered with trash, the sewers are open, goats, dogs, chickens, and most likely humans, shit wherever they please, and that is often where you are walking. There are no emissions regulations and the roads are smoggy. It is very dusty here and I too am constantly filthy. This is the result of constant sweating combined with blowing dust. Ew. You can never have enough wet wipes or purell.
It is currently 9:30 at night and I have 7 minutes of internet time left. I can't include it all--I leave tomorrow for Mole National Park, the wildlife reserve that houses elephants, baboons, antelope etc. It is 16 hours away. So, I'm in for quite an adventure. I'll tell you all about it upon my return! (and I'll talk about last weekend's hiking excursion, as well!) Ta ta for now!