The Adventures of the Yellow Shorts: A Smorgasbord

I literally just walked through a raging river to get to this computer. Along the way I fought mud holes, oncoming traffic and saved candies from utter destruction. I am now drenched.

When it rains, it pours. At least that's true for Ghana - it was the first time I have ever been cold since being here and it's already over. The rain usually lasts 30 minutes to an hour and I was lucky to be sitting under a canopy with my friends when it hit. The water rose to our ankles before finally calming down and draining - but not enough for me to avoid the river.

Confession: I had a huge splurge last night. I spent $13.77 on dinner. Horrible, right? On average I spend $1.98. Well, I'll tell you why: I had a cheeseburger. It was worth every penny.

So I suppose we ought to address the food now. I really had no expectations - I had heard of "fufu" but had no inkling of what it was and had otherwise been told rice and beans. Well that's true - there is rice and beans, tons of chicken and tilapia- beef and pork are rare, though I know that some have goat meat (my homestay family has goats for eating and selling).There is fruit, though Ghanaians don't eat very much of it - the mangoes are to die for, the bananas are tiny and delicious, the pineapple has no acidity and you can eat it for days. There are virtually no vegetables. If you ask for a vegetable, you're often given a strange look - it's just not done, and rarely offered. One of my classmates found a cucumber stand by her house - every day she collects cash to buy cucumbers for those of us with a vegetable deficiency. Lastly, everything has a lot of spice.

Alright, so here it is. Fufu, banku and kenkey. Fufu is cooked cassava and cooked plaintain that has been beaten with a long rounded pole. It's pounded together to get rid of all of the chunks and to turn it into a starchy, sticky consistency. It's rounded into a ball, placed in a bowl and covered with "soup." Usually it's a spicy mixture with either fish or cow's leg (avoid cow's leg at all costs - it's skin and veins, no meat).

To eat it you use your hand to pull off a piece of the fufu, soak it in soup and swallow it whole. The fufu itself has no taste - it's not meant to. Instead it's a filling vehicle for the soup. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm really not a fan. There is absolutely no comparison of food that I have ever eaten, and they always serve so much. I've eaten it three times, every time with a great deal of effort.