Whenever I go to the internet there is a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I ought to post to this blog. But every time I go to make a new blog post, I can't think of anything to say. Finally I figured it out.
I don't have anything to say because nothing surprises me anymore. Yes, things continue to happen in Ghana that are crazy and culturally different and sometimes outright absurd, but the absurdity has become so commonplace that I don't bat an eye. Instead I laugh, say "TIA" to one of my friends and life goes on.
Every single day continues to be an adventure, but the adventures have changed. Rather than feeling thrown into a culture that I can barely grasp, I'm throwing myself into different situations willingly and meeting people daily. Sometimes I give them my number, sometimes they give me theirs; I usually have little choice in that respect.
Recently every time one of my friends has mentioned our end date, I cringe and tell them we can't talk about it. When I was on the phone with my dad the other day he tried to bring it up and I quickly butt in that if there was one thing we couldn't talk about, it was me coming home. I can't think about going home yet, not when I finally feel like I've started to find a home here.
Three months is just not enough. I thought I understood the culture over a month ago, but I was just starting to get it. Pieces of the cultural puzzle are just coming together now, and every time one falls into place I feel like I have a revelation, and I get slightly more attached to this country.
But there is so much more to learn. If everything is starting to come together after three months, think what I would learn in six months! Many of my friends can't stop talking about getting home, seeing their family, eating American food, sleeping in their own beds, listening to American music, shopping in malls - just today we discussed Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom Rack - and I just want to run in the opposite direction.
My number one rule is that I can't let it get me down, and I'm not. I'm enjoying every minute of my days left in Ghana, ignoring the future and not letting anyone tell me the countdown.
A quick day-in-the-life:
I'm currently in my Independent Study Period of my program, which means living on our own and doing our own specialized projects. My project is the perception of leadership in the rural Ashanti villages and how chieftancy fits into a modern democratic system. Half of my project is in Kumasi and the other half was in the villages - I went there a week ago to live and do interviews with the community members.
Now that I'm back in Kumasi, I wake up every morning in my hostel; a room with a fan, private bathroom, and my favorite girl Tess, that costs me 2.50 Ghana cedis a night (approximately $1.62). I roll out of my mosquito net and go next door, where my friends and I have a stove and gas canister that we bought in order to make breakfast and dinner. We boil hot water and enjoy a cup of coffee and milo before eating oats and starting our day.
From the hostel I usually go to campus at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). It is there that I meet with professors and conduct interviews with government officials; where I type, eat lunch and meet my friends, Ghanaian and American.
By around 5:30 I begin journeying back home - usually I walk a lovely back road route from campus to the hostel - sometimes I make it all the way there, sometimes I get picked up by people driving by who offer me a ride for free. I was even offered a ride on the back of a bicycle, which I graciously declined. I don't even want to imagine how that may have turned out.
I usually make most of my friends on that walk. Yesterday I met Wiredu and Franklin, the day before Clinton, who picked me up in his taxi for free and we traded drivers licenses. It is these experiences that are priceless that I never want to stop having. Networking in Ghana is simple - talking to strangers is commonplace and offering a helping hand, even when you don't need one, is expected.
The adventure of dinner begins between 6 and 7 and we all sit around in a circle, blasting music through speakers that I brought and sharing the adventures of our day, whether it was what you did or who you met. Everyone always has something to contribute, because there is no boring day in Ghana.
You couldn't have one if you tried.
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