Happy New Year Folks!!! Yep, you haven't heard from me in a while but i's not because I've been overly busy. I've just been hanging out and readjusting back to home. Just like my experience coming home last Christmas for three weeks, I've simply slipped back into life as it was before I joined the Peace Corps.
In the days leading up to when I was leaving Ghana, I rememeber thinking and planning out how I wanted to incorporate some aspects of my Ghanaian lifestyle into my American life. My plans were to buy a bike to continue exercising, practice that Ghanaian hospitality, take bucket baths from time to time as well as handwash some clothes just to keep up the skill (it sounds stupid but you never know when you'll need it). I also wanted to continue to make Ghanaian foods.
Now that I'm home, I can evaluate my plans and match them to what I'm actually doing now that I've been home. I have to say I haven't lived up to my own expectations. The things I have succeded in are handwashing clothes from time to time, cooking Ghanain food, and......well, that's about it. And these two things I've done just a couple of times. My American lifestyle is so easy, I get lazy and don't do the things I wanted to keep up. For instance, let's compare taking a bucket bath and a shower. It's soo much more comfortable, especially in this winter time, to let a nice showerhead spray you with hot water and you soap up and warm your body, as opposed to a bucket bath where you have to pour cup-fuls of water over your body to get wet. When I think about it, I can either have a constant flow of hot water running over my body or pour cup-fuls one at a time over me....hhmmmmm.. I think I like option number 2.
I was actually doing well on the bike thing though. I even went shopping with my little brother for a bike and decided I wanted to wait until I start working to buy it. So that dream hasn't completely failed, it's just on hold for a little while. I have been walking though every once in a while to get a little exercise.
As for cooking Ghanaian food, that can be a difficult one because of all the food options I have here: Popeyes, Pizza Hut, Wendies, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Thai restaurant, Indian food places, etc.............. it's very very hard to chose Ghanaian foods over fast food that I don't even have to cook myself (laziness, I know!). But these things have taken a toll on my body. I've gained 6 pounds from all the fast food and sweets I've been eating and I think it's having an effect on me. So now I've decided to cut out fast food from my diet completelyand eat less fatty, oily, cheesy and sweet things and add Ghanaian dishes to my diet (I'm by no means perfect with Ghanaian cuisine, but it'll due).
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Needless to say, I do miss Ghana and my friends. I miss riding my bike everyday, spending time with my friends and the kids coming to my house anytime they hear music playing from my room. I miss the orphanage kids coming to my house, holding out their hands asking me, "Sister Nneka, give me mishkirit" (translation: Sister Nneka, please give me biscuits aka cookies).
Waking up to the sound of school children and the bright sun early in the morning definitely top the list of things I miss. The beautiful scenery and our support group for people living with HIV/AIDS.
I miss striking up conversations with strangers and playing with people's babies and kids on the bus. (Notice how I didn't say I missed riding the bus? 'Cuz I don't).
Fresh pinapple and pawpaw, hhhmmmm...
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Relating my experience to family members here at home has been a big learning experience. I learned that the Ghanaian way of life was practiced just a two generations ago when my grandmother and her 12 brothers and sisters were young. My great aunt told me they used to go and fetch water from a pump, wrap up a cloth and place in on their heads just before putting the bucket on top....just like they do in Ghana. My grandmother and her family used to cook with charcoal stoves even when my mom was a little girl. Women used to wet-nurse their nieces and nephews.
The biggest similarity though is in the foods. Ghanaian food and some Caribbean foods are almost alike, only adding or omitting some ingredients. For instance, callalou is made with Okro and other leafy greens similar to Okro soup made in West Africa. FuFu is similar to a thing we have called Fungi made from corn meal. Gingerbeer is made in both places almost the same way, among other types of foods.
I've found our Caribbean customs to be just the same as Ghanaian customs and culture: (1) Greeting is very important, whether you know the person or not; (2) You respect all elders; (3) Children are their parents and other adult's gophers; (4) Older siblings look after their younger siblings (this one is kind of in almost every culture) ;(5) Shaking your hips and butt to calypso/soca sounding music (more common among Francophone countries); and (6) Ghanaian pidgen English and West Indian Patios are very similar.
I'm definitely blessed to have had these experiences and relate them to my own family. It kind of pieces the puzzle together.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Well folks, that's my little tid-bit. I know it sounds like I'm rambling out of order but it's late and I wanted to make sure I wrote this blog. Any way, I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned for the next entry.