Back to basics

So I guess I haven't really described my living situation that in-depth, and I feel like that's pretty important to all of you understanding my new life in Ghana. I'm now in the CIEE office using their fast wireless internet and sitting in the air conditioning. It's quite lovely.

I live on campus in ISH (as described in the Jan 24 entry). For food, I eat mostly on campus as well. We have the night market. There I usually get egg sandwhiches for less than 2 cedis or $1.30. It's an omelet with onions, tomatoes and peppers, with Laughing Cow cheese spread on bread. The bread for the egg sandwich is literally a loaf of bread cut horizontal, not sliced vertically. I'm trying to limit my egg sandwich intake because eating eggs this much is great for protein, but not so great for my cholesterol. 

At the night market I also get beef or chicken kabobs, or the usual is some kind of rice with a piece of meat, plantains and noodles. I ate that twice yesterday, so I ended up spending about $4 on three meals yesterday including fruit in the morning. I've gotten used to the lack of variety, and lack of vegetables or nutrition. Cheese is something I really miss. At least I've gotten into the habit of taking my vitamins every day! If I eat elsewhere on campus it's usually more expensive. I've also tried Fufu which is just a ball of uncooked doughy-ness in a spicy soup. You pinch off a ball of the dough, dip it in the soup and swallow it whole. You aren't supposed to chew the dough because they just want you to taste the soup part. And you eat it with your hands! But only your right hand of course. Just another way to fill up on starches. There are a few other dishes like this with different flavor soups and doughs.

My roommate came on Friday night! Her name is Naa and she lives in Accra. She's a little quiet sometimes but mostly really friendly! I have to ask her to speak a little slower so that I can understand her English through her accent. I also need to keep up with my cleaning and tidiness. Naa swept the floor before we went to bed last night, and again at 7am when she woke up this morning. I hope to have some good conversations with her about Ghanaian life and culture, and meet some of her other African friends.

I've gotten used to only being able to take cold showers, but who would really want to take a warm shower here anyways? It's helped me take much quicker showers too. And I do my laundry by hand in buckets. When I waited to wash a weeks worth of clothes, it took me almost two hours. So now I'm trying to do it more frequently. I'll probably donate about half of my clothes before I leave here to come home anyways to make room for new things to bring home, and to dump the clothes that have gotten just too sweaty and dirty to wear again. I've also accepted that my whites will never be white again. There is too much dust and dirt. This also applies to the keyboard on my white MacBook, unfortunately. 

Sometimes I think my feet have gotten really tan, and then I scrub them extra hard and realize they're just dirt-stained. Speaking of tan, I really need to get to the pool and try to even out my t-shirt tan.

I wish I had packed more of my summer clothes that I wear at home, because on campus I really don't need to dress as modest as the clothes that I brought. And Ghanaians actually dress quite nicely, so I get a lot of looks in my super-casual tees and Birkenstocks. Luckily, there are many seamstresses here. So I can get a beautiful African-print dress or skirt in any style that I want for about $7.50 US. I'm going to be coming home with lots of pretty new clothes.

I have visited the SGI center (my Buddhist organization) twice now. The meeting I went to yesterday was a little different than the meetings I'm used to back home. It was almost three hours long! At the end of the meeting they had a contribution/donation period where everyone who attended put an envelope in a tray one at a time. Some aspects of it reminded me of a church service, very formal. This was surprising to me because it was a Buddhist meeting, but realized that it makes sense. Christianity is at the base of all of Ghanaian life it seems, so some Ghanaian culture has been incorporated even into Buddhist meetings. One part I did like was getting up twice to sing and clap during the meeting. Despite some of these structural differences (each time someone got up to speak, there was a call-and-response of "SGI: United! SGI: United! SGI: United, Strong, and Free forever!"), the philosophies of Nichiren Buddhism were the same of course. Remembering this has helped keep me centered and positive throughout the emotional ups and downs of this experience!

This was one of my less exciting blog entries, but it's important to share just the basics as well as the adventures.