WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP!!

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  Kumasi, Ghana
Monday, September 5, 2005

Week two of classes ended a little uneventful. Only one class has a reading list, the rest are "coming" maybe. But I went to the library and picked up my one book and a couple of books that I think may really come in handy for my thesis. My class content is still pretty elementary but I have hope that it will become more challenging as the weeks pass. Still no Ninny but her friends are still expecting her. So here's the synopsis of my week:

Monday- Fairly uneventful had class in the morning and this time the prof actually showed up, which is always exciting.

Tuesday- I had my one morning sociology class. There are about 300 people in the lecture hall and it's the one class where the prof hasn't pointed out all of the Obrunis (white people) which means that he may not see us (there are only four of us). As a result this prof doesn't ask us for our "expert" opinions on the state of the West. This lecture he talked about the massive amount of pollution that exists particularly in Canada. It was really funny because all I could think about is how often we complain about the pollution in Accra. The exhaust that comes out of the cars is grey to black and it's all you can smell. My favourite is when they burn garbage everywhere, especially when it's on campus. But I understood that the wealthy are wasteful and sure Canada has its pollution problems, but the difference in air quality from Accra to even Toronto is massive. After class I had the day off so I just got some reading done. The girls and I made a beans and veggie stew and had a communal dinner, it was fabulous, I am dying for some Western food (mmmmm...vegan cheese...olives...). After dinner Afam called so my friends and I decided to head over to his house for the pool party. Afam is a journalist for Vision newsletter, a paper for African refugees. We ended up meeting a ton of journalists and people with the most exciting international lives. Lucas and I sat drooling over people from Japan Times who travel to different countries every few months reporting on the industrial sectors for Japanese foreign investors, they had amazing stories. Gray if you ever want to do journalism in Africa just let me know. I also met Sewee who is the nephew of Ghana's President. Sewee and Afam came to pick me up in Sewee's black convertible BMW, his weekend car, I've been told. I'm sure he thought that he was super impressive and he certainly had the attitude to believe that I would be totally amazed with all of his bragging, but I could get past the feeling of disgust thinking of all the people who suffered so that he and his family could live in this type of luxury. Although not all governments are corrupt and sometimes people come about money honestly, this boy didn't earn it through his intelligence. Sewee ended up giving me a permanent VIP pass to the most exclusive night club in Ghana. It costs 70000 cedi to get in, so if anyone ever wants to party in Ghana, I'm your woman.

Wednesday- classes began at 7:30 am and continued in the afternoon. The ISHers went out to party on the beach, the weekly Wednesday night activity, but it's not so much my scene so I stayed in to start some fun Ghanaian Culture reading. I am learning about why I can't use my left hand, what the gender roles are, and how to insult people (only as a last resort for very forward men).

Thursday- last day of the week for classes for me. Thursday's class was political science of underdevelopment. Although the class was more exciting than a discussion on "what is a theory" we had to write verbatim the definitions of several words that the Prof feels may be important. 2 hours of dictation! Thursday nights the international students and I go to By wells, a local bar in Osu. Its always live highlife music, which is a mixture of Jazz and reggae. The beginning of the night started off with a slower band whose lead singer is an 80 man with a voice like Barry Manilow, he's fabulous. This 60 year old women and her son were dancing to his music. It was a dance that I have only seen in movies depicting black communities in South USA 70 years ago. This woman could move! It was fabulous. My journalist friends ending up joining our table with two gentlemen who use to be lead singers in Ghana and Togo's top bands 30 years ago; they are local high life legends. Joe and I decided to dance. We ended up dancing with the 80 year old singer; I think we made his night! The Ghanaian men, especially the rastas are really excited to teach you their moves so Joe and I spent most of the night getting dance lessons, it was hilarious. When I got back to ISH I found my Ghanaian friend Priscilla quite ill. She had left the hospital that morning not being able to handle the desperate conditions that some things were in. She doesn't live in ISH but at another residence on Campus that has a 12 curfew, so she had no where to sleep. I didn't want her trying to find somewhere while she was ill so I made her take my roommates bed for the night.

Friday- We both woke up at 6 the next morning (a whole 4 hours of sleep) and I took her straight away to the hospital. They gave her some more tests and had results of her last one so I waited in the hallway for her. The condition of the hospital wasn't as bad as I expected but it certainly was not up to Canadian standards. Beds were made of steel with no mattresses and all the sheets were stained. I did get to see the maternity ward (they just received their first ultrasound machine) and mom the babies are BEAUTIFUL! No worries, I won't bring any home. When I got back to Campus Mike and I took off to find our way down to the STC station (bus station like a Greyhound). We were sent to buy tickets for the soccer game on Sunday. We managed to get 8 tickets at 130,000 cedi each (18 dollars Canadian roughly). The trip is four hours so a special trip was arranged 'cause you can only purchase tickets in Kumasi (where the game was being held). We had a really tough time communicating to the ticket agents what we wanted. We were bounced from one person to another and the line ups looked like Wonderland's. By the time we got back to ISH it had taken 5 hours! I had just enough time to change into pants and a sweater (it really is cold season) and head off to Assasse Pa for some vegan food. 12 of us sat out on the patio sharing stories of home and drooling over our western food, I finally got Olives!! We all decided to split up afterwards. Some of us went to the Living Room which is a Ghanaian "movie theatre". You have to rent a room that has a couple couches and a TV. Then you order which movie you want to see. The movies are all bootlegged and have been video recorded from the back of a theatre, its pretty funny. You can then order room service with all kinds of snack food. I went with a different group to Champs, a Canadian sports bar in the middle of Accra Ghana! It is the Friday night hot spot for all Westerners and Ghanaian elites, maybe because its karaoke night. I figured I'd give it a try, although I don't know how I feel about coming to Ghana to experience western culture. However when the US marine got up on to stage and sang "American Idiot" my night was made! Sorry if that offended anyone, but he didn't see the irony at all, he thought it was a great song because it had hometown lyrics! John and I decided to skip Tantra, the dance club that everyone was off to next and we headed back to ISH. Saturday I got up and checked out John and Joe's new mopeds which I have yet to ride on but can't wait to give them a try! We just hung around for a bit in the morning and then decided to take off to the concert. Now they promoted it as "the entire world is watching" but in case you missed it Ghana hosted West Africa's biggest Charity concert. They called it "Africa Standing Tall Against Poverty". It was hosted by the Global Coalition to End Poverty and Oxfam. They had African artists performing from 12pm-3am for free. When we arrive at 4 the place was still pretty dead so the girls and I decided to head over to Mukola Market. Meghan and I managed to find an electrical element so I can boil water and drink Nescafe, the only coffee available in Ghana, grrrrr. After a couple of exhausting hours of being yelled at by every stand we passed saying "Obruni, come by something from me" or by being shouted "I love you" at, and our least favourite having our hands or arms grabbed so people can pull us over to their stand or profess their undying love, we managed to get out of there. Although I am sure the majority of people think they are funny or nice or that there is nothing wrong with yelling and pulling at us, I think it's sometimes really sad. People want us to buy things from us because they need the sale; men yell I love you because they want a better quality of life. People don't realize how much culture they will lose if they westernize. However, by the time we got back to the concert things were really hopping. Kinsley, a local Ghanaian who has made friends with one of the ISHers decided to take me as his dance partner for the night. Now I've seen Kinsley dance before and I knew how out of my league I was but he didn't seem to care. I was tossed and turned from one end of the massive Independence Square to the next. All though dizzy, sweaty, and tired, I had so much fun! It was the first time I didn't even try to take the lead (I know you don't believe me Kyle) 'cause I never knew what to expect next. The music was all high life and Hip life (rap and reggae). The music was really good; most of the customs and dancing though was pretty western. My oldest sister Dana, who thinks its hilarious to go to the bar Sin City in Peterborough because women wear white spandex pants, would have really enjoyed the girl that came on to stage in her bright yellow spandex pants and made her behind giggle for a good three minutes. Women in Ghana tend to have very full bottoms and they are quite proud of it, and the crowd certainly loved this woman! An hour before we left I received a phone call from Joe, who in typical Joe fashion had managed to meet some people who knew some people and the next thing I know we're all backstage. We ended up going to the top of the massive arch that overlooked the ocean on one side and the concert at Independence square on the other. It is the same location that the President of Ghana makes his speech from on Independence Day. It was a spectacular view! We got home well before the party ended as we had a 3:50am departure time.

Sunday- I woke everyone at 3:40am. We jumped in some taxis and headed over to the STC station. Everyone slept on the way up, except me, still can't sleep in vehicles. I just looked out the window and watched the sun rise and the fog dissipate from valleys filled with lush green and palm trees. I love the Ghanaian landscape. We arrived at the stadium at 9am and managed to tickets in a fairly good section. We had a ton of time to kill so we headed into the city in search of some food. We found an outside bar where you buy food from women on the street with pots and pans and you buy drinks from the bar and sit at the bar. I am still sometimes confused by the systems but everything's pretty relaxed and they are really forgiving of tourists. The food was pretty bad, but the kids definitely made up for it. All the children of the street vendors just hang out some of them as young as one and some help their parents by serving food. The bar turned its music for us and we watched the kids, who were watching us with such excitement, all get up and start to dance. Meghan and I jump from our seats and ran over to dance with them. Before you know it we're having 13 children, 7 Obrunis (us), and the children's parents/grandparents all dancing with us on the sidewalk. Cars were all honking their horns and cheering. My dance partner had the smoothness of Chase (for my readers from PHC or Alexander) which is stunning for a boy of 6. After our 15 minute dance party and the Obrunis being taught all of the local moves, we ran into the bar and bought fanta drinks for all of the kids. I think the community really enjoyed us being there, I even had one of the women who worked at the bar come over and kiss me on the lips (a little unexpected and unwanted but everyone there thought it was pretty funny). We headed back to the stadium all of us in our newly purchased Ghana Black Stars jerseys, flags, hats, etc. We had everyone honking and yelling "Thank you for supporting". I felt like we were the main attraction in a parade! By the time we got into the stadium the seats were almost full. We ended up in the front row but at least in the shade. It was another 41/2 hours until game time. Most of us just slept. I ended up being the designated mom and held on to everyone's purses, clothes, etc. I went out at about 3 to grab some food and got caught up in a police fight, which I will spare my parents the details of, but I would suggest avoiding those whenever possible especially if you're a white girl. Lucky this kind police officer spotted me and got me out of the mess. I don't know what happened to my food but I managed to come out with my purse (which almost didn't happen) and relatively unhurt. The warm up to the game was tons of parades; people wearing pant and little else running around the track, school bands, etc... The crowd was already enthusiastic. The game started at 4:30 and in Black Stars scored two goals. At the end of the game we beat Uganda and won our spot into the World Cup!! Of course a party began right away and massive flat bed trucks were driven into the stadium with huge sound systems and speakers on them. The entire stadium was cheering, dancing, and singing. I really wanted to join the party and dance with them but it was fairly dangerous. The guys I was with really helped me and the other girls get out of there and onto the bus. I opened the window and danced in my seat. I got a hundred hand shakes, cheers, thumbs up, and even a couple attempted kisses. People were so excited!!

We got home at 12am, tired, dirty, but still excited. GO BLACK STARS GO!!

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