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Today I am sitting in my livingroom with a warm breezeblowing in the screen door. It’s lovely. I am not sweating. The air is moving and comfortable. It’s just plain lovely! It’s the Hamattan.

Last week I felt the Hamattan for the first time. There was a staff meeting at noon. We were sitting out under a tree. As I have said before it’s almost always cooler to be outside than inside because there is usually some air moving. And there was a breeze. It was strong enough to make me look up for storm clouds. But no the rainy season is over and there were not storm clouds. But it felt nice to sit there in the breeze.

The meeting went on and on as they do and I was frustrated to have to walk home at 2:00 pm, the hottest part of the day. Yuck I thought, figuring when I left the shade of the tree it would get hotter. I walked waiting to begin wiping my face and wishing for some shade but the breeze kept up. It was blowing the tree limbs and the grasses. My skirt was fluttering. I felt cool. Then I wondered “Is this the Hamattan?”. I walked the rest of the way home.

Perpetua was plucking leaves and cutting them to dry. I sat down beside her. We chatted for a bit. There was a particullarly strong breeze and she said “The Hamattan is starting.”

It can begin any time of the day. It often begins around noon. Today it started around 10:00 am. It usually ends around supper and then for some reason it gets hot. Or maybe the house is just releasing the day’s heat back inside but boy it’s warm going to sleep after the nice breeze. Then it cools down sometime after midnight. Sometimes about 3:30 am I turn down the fan because I am cooler than I like. This is just the beginning. Perpetua says I will need a blanket at night.

-vc

Breakfast 7:00 am

Gari and Yazik with fried ingredients.

The gari and yazik are prepared with water and oil but not cooked. You mix them with the liquids until they are damp and will clump together easily when pinched. As an American I try to do this mixing with a fork but always end up using my fingers to get the right consistancy. The meal is eaten with my fingers. Tea and water to drink with my malaria and depression meds.  I eat in my living room facing the door trying to get some of the morning breeze.  The BBC Network Africa was on the radio this morning.
Gari is dried casava. Yazik is powdered ground nuts. The fried ingredients are tomatoes, green peppers, onions and garlic.  Ingredients are everything we call     vegetables. Vegetables in Ghana are leaves. Breakfast is usually a big meal because it is cool and I feel like cooking.
As I was preparing my breakfast I also took out some dried sardines and put them in a bowl for Shadow the cat. As I came into the livingroom with my breakfast she was meowing at the door. So I let her in and she came to the place where her bowl usually is.  I got her bowl for her. She munched a few sardines and started meowing. She kept coming to my table and meowing so I thought  I would give her some gari. (When I don’t have fish I give her gari). She ate the pinch of gari down greedily. So I shared a few more pinches. Then I gave in and made a little for her. This cat is truely Ghanaian if she wants gari more than she wants fish! But she did eat some fish after she had her gari.
On slow mornings, like today, I find something to do while I finish my tea and listen to the radio. Today I decided to blog. After breakfast I clean the floor where the cat ate and I wash dishes. I almost always do dishes after each meal for fear of bugs. I clean the floor for the same reason. After breakfast today I will mark tests.

Lunch 12:30 pm

Two tomato sandwiches, ½ a tomato and a cup of homemade limeade.

I have learned to eat a light lunch. One day at noon I ate a heavy meal, gari, sardines, tomatos and onions, then walked to class at 12:30. My body rebelled. It said “What are you doing to me I am already working overtime trying to cool you down when you crazily go out at this time of day and now I have to digest food as well.” Luckily my food was not rejected but just given a very hard time going through my system. I was sure glad class was over that day!  So now light lunches.

Today I also read a book Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone a pure mindless thriller. Just what I need with 212 tests to correct and 220 photos to edit! Then I had a nap. My favorite after lunch activity.

Dinner 6;15 pm

Bean leaf soup.

Yesterday at market I bought bean leaves. I have forgotten the local name but they look pretty much like all the other ‘vegetables’ I have eaten here. I cut them and waashed them yesterday because they wither quickly without refridgeration. Then I cooked them with onion, garlic, palm oil, salt and pepper. It’s amazing what does not spoil without refridgeration. Tonight I added white sweet potatoes, more salt, margarine, and some yazik. Right now it’s simmering and I am very hungry. I will eat it with bread and margarine and some water. I will probably read my book as well.

That’s what I eat on a typical day in Sandema, U.E.R., Ghana, West Africa.

-vc

Shadow is a small tabby cat with white paws and a triangle of white hair on her chest. The first time we met she ran from me. Well Dizzy had picked her and tried to hand her to me. So Shadow was terrified! The second time we met I was sitting outside on a stool and she sat out of reach and watched me. I talked to her and assured her I would not grab her.  The third time we met I was sitting on a stool outside and she came a bit closer. I held out my hand and again talked to her reassuringly. In a few visits she was coming to my outstretched hand to be petted.

After getting close enough to pet her for a few days I noticed she was pregnant. Then I decided she needed some extra food. I put out my leftovers after my evening meal. One day as I was putting out food she peered into my house. I held the door but no dice she was not coming in. So again step by step I coaxed her in. One day I held the door open and let her walk in. That day I made the mistake of shutting the door. She freaked and jumped up on the screen! I let her right out. (I probably mentioned this before.) Then I go the great idea of putting her food in my living room in view of the open door. I propped the door open and let the cat come in. She was fine. So for three or four days I would leave the door propped. Then one day I closed the door. She didn’t even notice because she was exploring the bedroom. but whenever she wants to go out I let her out right away.

Now most mornings and evenings she meows at my door to come in. Sometimes it seems she wants to be petted as much as she wants to eat. This week she gave me the ultimate sign of trust and turned on her back to let me rub her belly.   I do not think she will ever want to sit on my lap. I picked her once and put her on my lap but she really does not like to be picked up and jumped right down.

I have discussed with her that she has three new kitties and that she should introduce me to them when they are ready. I have even suggested one would have a good home here.

-vc

For the first time since I have been in Africa I wanted to watch TV tonight. Even during the Olympics I did not care if I saw them or not. But I had such a busy weekend and was so busy today I just wanted to veg in front of the TV and watch something. Preferably something mindless!

I am taking photos of the Form 3s (seniors) to put into their electronic WAASCE file. The WAASCE is comparable to the SAT only it’s for all of West Africa not just one country.  I also judged a debate on Sunday and had two classes this weekend. So for my sanity no more weekend classes.

I am just a sucker for the kids. They want to use the computers so badly. The Form 3s (seniors) don’t even have ICT so I have agreed to one class a week with two of the five. I am sure the others will follow soon.

Last night at 7:30 all the computers were off. I was hungry and tired because I had been at the debate most of the afternoon. When I was closing the windows in the lab one boy turned on the computer again. I turned around when I heard the start up music and I said quite firmly “You are turning on a computer! Didn’t you just hear me say don’t mess with a 50 year old who’s tired and hungry?!” Everyone else laughed then he said sheepishly “At least you know I know how to boot it up!” Even I laughed!

So tonight I wanted to veg out infront of the boob tube.

-vc

Why do we have bugs?

Why do spiders spin their webs across the paths I walk on everyday.

Why did a colony of ants find a hole in the cement near my door dig into the dirt and live colonize my doorway?

Why did the same colony of ants leave 3 weeks later?

Why did a colony of ants nest under the table I was using in the bathing room?

Why did they swarm up the wall yesterday as I was bathing?

Why didn’t I run screaming from the bathing room when the ants swarmed up the wall?

Why do bugs have to fly into my face?

Why don’t they just die in this heat?

Why do they have to swarm around the light outside my door that I leave on when I will be coming home after dark?

Why haven’t I heard one mosquito buzz since I have been in Africa?

Why do the flies like my ankles?

Why did the bug stuck in my hair Sunday night wait until I was almost asleep to make itself known?

Why are there so many?

-vc

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday dear meeeeeeee! Happy Birthday to me!

This ocassion of my birthday reminds me of how many people I have that love me and care for me. I smill as i remember the party for my 50th last year!  Thank you all for the support you have given me so I can have my 51st birthday in Ghana of all places!

love

vc

Almost before I woke up today I was thinking of breakfast. I had PawPaw (papaya) sauce and eggs all I needed was fresh bread from Perpetua’s bakery and I was ready to go with French Toast. So I got up quickly. No lounging in bed listening to BBC this morning.  I went out to get the bread and Madua said to wait small small and it would be done. Lucky for me I know what wait small small means.So I decided not to wait.

Dizzy came by and I asked if she wanted to cook breakfast with me. I told her I was having eggs. She came and helped. I made up a name for the eggs we were cooking. I told her they were Christmas eggs because we put red tomatos and green peppers in them. I was more excited about the name than she was.Maybe that’s good that Christmas isn’t such a huge deal for her.  I also fried up the rest of the tomato. A left over from when I didn’t have a fridge to store the cut tomato in.

I had eggs,  tomato and tea. Dizzy had milo and small small eggs. She would have her breakfast later at her house. When we finished I had to bathe and get ready to go to town with the Presby students. It’s Presbyterian but they call it Presby here.

Joseph,another teacher, was going to go in with us, I went to the dining hall about 8:30 am and no student was in sight. So I sat on a bench under a tree. There was a cool breeze and i could watch the kitchen staff work. One woman was winnowing the corn. She used two calabashes and lifted one high above her head and poured the corn into the other. The other was in a big metal bowl. I think in case the corn missed. As she poured the corn i could see the chaft blowing away. We were supposed to be at the other High School at 9:00 am but I am getting use to African time and always enjoy a chance to watch whatever is happening around me.

Joseph came about 8:45 am and some kids started showing up. The bus arrived around 9:30 am. And off we went. Joseph was a great tour guide. He pointed out all the places of interest. He said the Good Family Guest House is very good, running water and all. I even saw a satelite dish on the roof. (hint hint)  I also learned three new buili phrases.

We arrived at the school. We greeted the ministers and one of the other teachers then we boogied out of there. With extra classes afternoons and evenings we teachers don’t have much time to prepare lessons during the week so we both wanted to get back to do some work. But as we drove through town I asked the bus driver to stop at Good Family Grocer. Good Family is quite a local conglomerate in Sandema. Guest house and grocer. Jospeh thinks they are making another guest house as well. Anyway I picked a few things at the grocer and we headed home.

I prepared for next week for the next couple of hours until my stomach started grumbling. Then I made cabbage, tomato and green pepper salad with vinegar and mayo dressing. I realized I never got my bread so I went out to the bakery and bought a fresh loaf of sugar bread. I ate a thick slice of that with my salad and a cup of water. Cold water from my refridgerator.

The girls came to fill my water barrels while I was eating.

After lunch Dizzy and I played outside for a while. She had blown up an empty water sachet and made a balloon. We tossed that around. Then I saw her mom and asked when they wanted me to set up their new computer. Mr. won a best teacher award and a new computer was one of the prizes. A gas range with four burners and an oven was another prize. He hadn’t gotten a table for it so that would wait. Then I asked Perpetua if she would let me learn how to pluck the ground nuts off the plants. They had pulled them all up today and were going to pluck them this weekend. She said she would call me.

So Dizzy and I headed off to see the work on the new boys dormatory. On the way we stopped in the fields and talked to her dad.  He showed me how to harvest the ground nuts. It’s best after a rain because the ground is soft and then they come out easier. You just grab the plant and tug gently and the nuts and roots come out. He is worried about the harvest this year. the goats got into the ground nuts too much and the weeds were overgrown because of so much rain. When he pulled up some plants the ground nuts even looked scarce and small to me a novice.

We moved on to the construction site. Of course this is a slow process with watching butterflies and picking flowers and talking about the boogy man in the glen of trees. I can’t remember her name for the boogyman but I will report that later.  However much progress had been made on the dorm. The cement was in all the trenches and many cement blocks had been laid so I could see them above the trenches.

Then back to work for me and to play with someone else for Dizzy. I finished my prep for the week and took a short nap. When I woke up it was very cool. Then I heard a very loud crash. The rain was coming. And did it come. My favorite kind of rain. Well I gave myself a treat and worked on some puzzles and listened to BBC while it rained.

After the rain was over Madua came by on a bike and said I should try to ride. I did. First time wimping out at a mud puddle. But the second time I road right through and on down the lane. It felt pretty good to be on it. I think I’m gonna have to get me one. Madua also tried a couple of times. After that harrowing experience I needed a drink. One Sprite please Carl!.

It was still overcast and cool so Dizzy and I drank my Sprite outside. Then I went back in to listen to BBC some more.

At suppertime the cat, Shadow is her name, came to my door. I gave her some veggie stew. I came in and put the rest of the veggie stew on the stove. She was at the door crying so I opened the door and in she came. Because she was spooked the last time I shut the door I propped it open and she stayed in. She wanted to be petted and then she wandered around my house. Cats are curious.I gave her some more soup and she ate it all. The door was still open but I was worried about bugs so when she was in the kitchen I shut the door. When she came in the livingroom she did not freak that the door was closed. The last time she lept up to the screen and yowled.

Then I got so cool that I had to put on my one and  only sweatshirt. I must of worn it for 45 minutes.

Now I am settled in bed. My stomach is full. The kitchen is clean. The cat is out. I am ready for a good book.

My days are simple here. I walk, I cook, I eat, I bathe,I teach, I play, I read, I photograph…  I am allowing myself to be in the moment. I am learning to relax when I have to wait and to enjoy the things around me.  And to take opportunities to get to know the people around me. All is well.

-vc

 Yesterday was a busy day. I got a lot of photography work done. I visited with some of the kids and adults in the area and I finished the book I was reading. I never got around to dinner until about 7:00 pm.

I did the dishes and decided to take my bath and go to bed and listen to BBC. The only fan I have is a ceiling fan in my bed room and I love laying on my bed with ribbons of cool air fluttering over my body from it. It’s even better just after I have had a bath. So I was psyched to get clean and relax. I had my towel wrapped around me and went into the bathroom to get the bucket. I wanted to put my “four scoops” of water in it. I leaned down and saw  A HUGE BUG. IT WAS A COCKROACH. IN MY BATH BUCKET!

First I ran screaming from the bathroom and closed the door with emphasis.  Then I remembered I am a Peace Corps Volunteer and I signed up for hardship. So no bath tonight. I can sacrifice. NO. Where’s that independant spirit? I can do this. So I went for the can of bug spray. It was empty the last time I used it but I was hoping for some settling or condensation or anything so I did not have to do hand to hand combat with this Cockroach monster. I located it in the back of my closet. Shook it with all hope and prayer. NOTHING.

Still I headed into the bathroom again. Armed with and empty can of bug spray is better than not armed at all. I held my towel on with my left hand and  I aimed the spray into the bucket and fired. Nothing came out but the cockroach jumped around in the bucket at the noise. I made it to the door before I gather my courage again and went back to the bucket. I held the front of my towel tight with my left hand and  I picked up the bucket with my right hand. Tipped it away from me. No cockroaches flying into my face thank you very much.  Then took the bucket to the door and gently tossed it outside. NOT! I threw that sucker as far away from my front door as I could.

 

57 uses for Heinz 57

I left the buck

et outside. Closed my outer door. Closed my screen door and heaved a sigh of relief. Then something jumped on the screen and OH NO the cockroach was on the screen door INSIDE. It must have jumped out of the bucket. I ran for the nearest heavy object – a bottle of ketchup. I wacked that bug only to miss and have it jump onto the floor. I started to wack at the floor with the bottle but then imagined the glass bottle hitting the cement floor and ketchup splattered everywhere. The cockroach jumped again.

Ok so I screamed again. And ran to the bedroom. Closed the door so the cockroach would not get in the bedroom. I readjusted my towel. I looked at my shoes. Were are my hardsoled winter boots when I need them. All I had was sandles. ewe what if I stomped and the roach jumped up on my foot. So I took my sandal off my right foot and put a sock on it. Hey cotton between me and a cockroach is better than a cockroach on my bare foot. Then I took my right Teva (they have the thickest soles.) and put it on my right foot. Then I went out with ketchup bottle and my right foot as weapons.

Where was that bug? I held the towel with my left hand and shined the phone flashlight wiht the other hand. I looked and looked   everywhere. I finally found it in a corner behind a chair. But my nerve left me. There was no way I was going to step on that thing. Then it jumped again. I grabbed the nearest thing  - a book. I know I am a librarian. Books are sacred.  So you must know how desperate the situation was for me to grab a book. I threw the book onto the floor and luckily onto the roach. With my right foot I stomped the book once. Well really three times. Then I lifted the book.

It was still moving. Crawling along the floor. I knew I was close to winning the battle and in very little danger of it flying at me so I searched for another weapon to finish him off. I took my small side table. Removed the cloth and turned it upside down. I smashed it down on the roach. Better to overkill I thought. I kicked the table into the corner and stomped on it. Using my armored right  foot of course.

Then I went back to the bedroom to regroup.  No live cockroach in the house now. Good thing. bucket somewhere in my yard in the dark. Not so good thing. Me in only a towel Even more not so good. Well it was dark so I went out to get my bucket.  I know you might be thinking that another cockroach was in the bucket but I retrieved the bucket without incident and without anyone seeing me in my towel.

When I came back into the house I decided I could not deal with the clean up so I just left the debris of the battle as it lay. Tomorrow would be soon enough to clean it up.  I bathed. Listened to BBC and went to sleep.

When I woke up the first thing I wanted to do was to take pictures of the battle ground and of my kill. The battle ground was still the same but the roach had disappeared but for one wing. I know he was dead so now I am worried about some bug in my house that would eat a cockroach. It’s gotta be grosser than a cockroach to eat a cockroach don’t you think?  I will sleep with my right sock and Teva by the bed and the ketchup bottle handy.

-vc

Ghanaians and Americans are separated by a common language.

The African languages pronounce every letter of a word. This makes total sense to me why is the letter there if you don’t pronounce it? Just to mess up those of us who think spelling should be logical! And although I sometimes understand the word used I don’t at first get the meaning becuase like any dialect of a language the words take on their own meanings or they will use a word I know in a way  I would not normally use it. So sometimes even when I am speaking English with my Ghanaian neighbors and friends we don’t understand each other.

I want to state clearly that I am not making fun but documenting differences between our two languages. I don’t think language can be right or wrong. Language is used to communicate and is created by the people using it.  So what if we in America have turned many nouns into verbs i,e, friending. If we all understand that’s what matters. So writing this is also helping me to understand my new dialect of english better as well.

In Ghanaian English

Prouncing every letter

Film is fil emm
Peace Corps is not Peace Core but Peace CorPs
Salmon is not samon but saLmon
Debt is not det but deB T

Words with slightly different meanings or used in an unfamiliar way.

I am not going to class but I am “for: class
“I coming” is said as you are walking away from someone intending to return.
I don’t have a lot of candy I have “plenty toffee”.
Simona will often “take the lead” on market day. She will go to town before me since I have classes then we will meet up somewhere in town.
I “follow” the bus to town I don’t take it but I am still riding the bus to town.
I say “thingy” they say “dis ting”
I say ‘whatchamacallit” they say “dis ting”
I say “you know the” they say “the dis ting”
dis ting is another wonderfully versatile phrase. My Peace Corps Polo shirt says “Doing Dis Ting in Ghana since 1961”

Dizzy does not tell me to “take” the flower but to “collect’ the flower,

:eh heenhh: is my favorite conversational interjection. It is said in a variety of tones and with a variety of accents. It can mean “see” or “it is like that” or “yes’ or express doubt or surprise or anger. I cannot say it anyway near correctly but I still try because it is so fun to use.

“A taawlllllllll “instead of at all is also another favorite of mine but I don’t use it cause I really can’t say it right. But I love to hear it. It’s not good a tolllll. Someone will say.

-vc

Today I got my refridgerator up and running. It brought on all kinds of questions about sharing my things, I put the fridge in the spare bedroom. The only other plug was in the livingroom and I had visions of little kids always opening my fridge and asking for the contents. So I was thinking the contents of the fridge are off limits. Out of sight out of mind.

These thoughts brought up the whole dilemma of people wanting things. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer for goodness sakes I want to save the world so it’s very hard saying no. I do it but i feel terrible. People in my circle of friends here don’t  do this. It is bascially strangers who see my white skin and make assumptions about my wealth. It happens everywhere. I am in town ,or on a bus or in a store even here on campus some workmen have asked and someone assumed I would bring copies of Microsoft XP and MSOffice with me for the schools computers. Sometimes they ask for big things, can I have your camera sometimes they ask for little things a .50 pesowa bag of sugar or for money. I always say no to them. The camera is an easy on. Somethings I can’t give away Peace Corps says my med kit is only for me.  It’s the small things that really make me feel bad.

Some PCV’s don’t give anything to the children in the neighborhood. Well from the story of bubble gum Sunday you know I do. I also give them pencils and sometimes food. But I give it to children I know and have a relationship with. Like I would with any other neighborhood kids. Sometimes I offer sometimes they ask. Sometimes I say no when they ask. Sometimes I say yes. And from the sardines and gari story you know they are also giving to me. Dizzy especially always has some thing to offer me.  I think Oh I want to buy the kids back to school things like pencils, erasers etc. or wonder what cool fun things I could find in town for the kids.

So should I have bought sugar for the workmen at the new boy’s dormitory?  This one guy said to me we need sugar for our coffee buy it for us. And I said I need a new refridgerator will you buy it for me? It’s just that a total stranger assuming I should buy him something really irks me. Who knows I may have made them something and brought it to the site after I visited a few times and they answered my questions etc. Or some of the 30 pack of water sachets that simona gave me from her uncle’s factory could have ended up there and cold to boot since i have a fridge now.

I guess I want to see a need and offer to help instead of it being assumed because a person has a need I will fill it. But also I want to enable people to help themselves. I told one girl to come over and she could do some work for me and then she could buy the flip flops herself.
I am in many ways a teacher not just in the classroom. And I never like giving the answer to students but helping them to figure it out.

Then I wonder if there is some kind of cultural misunderstanding on my part. Maybe the language is just more direct here and my perception of a rude abrupt request is just the way people ask for things.

I think this is a dilemma my heart and head will battle with the whole time I am here.

-vc

Update 26 Oct 08 My fridge is not running. I have to get a repairman to look at it. Drats!  Cold water was sooo nice!