Off to the Village!

Tomorrow we are off to the village!  I am excited, nervous... a new adventure awaits! I will most likely not be near a computer for the next 2 weeks, so don't worry if you don't hear from me! I will miss Kumasi so much, especially the dancing, the silliness, the constant laughing, my wonderful homestay family, my friends...  but I am ready for a new chapter of this beautiful, enlightening journey. Peace, love, and happiness to you all!

Life in this Ghana

I titled this post "Life in this Ghana" because every morning during what my teachers call "Life in this Ghana" we share our trials and tribulations during our time in this beautiful land! The past few days I have really felt settled in this new city, and now in just a few days we will be off to the rural villages. The days go by so quickly here, they are so full that as soon as I get home I am exhausted!  The heat takes so much out of you, and on top of the heat we are walking everywhere and dancing every day... it's a lot, but I love it!  Feeling tired, though challenging, means the day was full of life.
I laugh so much here. It's that big belly laughter that comes from the core, the kind that tickles your insides and forces tears from your eyes.  Every day.  Either from my hilarious teachers, from my friends, from the events that occur during the day.  It helps that we are all a bit dehydrated all of the time and feel a bit drunk, delirious and giggly, particularly after 12 noon.  We laugh at pretty much everything, make fun of ourselves... it's such a hilarious time.  Today a group of about 7 of us got drinks after class at the gas station/restaraunt in my neighborhood, and we laughed and talked for a couple of hours after dancing.  Life is very simple, yet so beautiful here. 
Ghanaians are some of the friendliest people I have ever met.  The other day on my way to see the Priestess again, I was very early and decided to sit on the curb of a gas station as I was waiting for my friends (you don't sit on the curbs close to the street because they smell strongly of urine).  The man pumping gas told me to sit in his seat, and I tried to politely say that it was his seat and that I was content on the curb.  Well, he insisted that I must sit in his seat, so I did and we ended up talking for 30 minutes about all of the regions in Ghana that he has been to (and that I will be going to very soon).  Sitting at a gas station in America, it would be very unlikely that anyone at all would strike up a conversation with a stranger! But people here are beyond friendly, and I love it.  I make new friends every day.  The only time making good friends is not the best situation is when it is a man who you did not realize is interested in you, and will call you at least 10 times each day until Papa Atah pretends to be your father and tells the man in his deep voice that you are his daughter, and that you got married yesterday.  This has already happened multiple times on the trip. It's hilarious, and we all crowd around to listen to the conversation.
I went back to the Priestess on Sunday, and the experience was incredible.  It is difficult to remember everything that happened there, but Nana told me that she had a dream about me the night before I came to see her again.  She told me that the spirits love me.  She lit a piece of paper on fire without a match or flame of any kind in order to summon the spirits... I took a warm herb bath in water that was heated without a fire... just some snip-its of the spiritual energy at work.  Nana kept hugging me, she is really an incredible woman.
I have only really written of the positive experiences here, because life is overwhelmingly beautiful here in Ghana.  But of course every traveling experience has some challenges, and the biggest challenge here has been the food. It is very difficult being a vegetarian, but even if I wasn't following a vegetarian diet, the food has been rough on everyone's stomach.  The food is so spicy, and just so different than American food.  I have really sensitive taste buds, so sometimes my friends will think a dish is not spicy at all and my mouth will be on fire!  Its actually pretty funny. Usually if I try a new food I get sick to my stomach, and because of the heat I am usually a bit nauseous and not very hungry.  The malaria medicine also contributes to nausea.  It has gotten better and I have learned how to speak up and make sure my homestay family makes food that I can eat and digest, but food in a new country is always a challenge.  However, the fresh mango, pineapple, and avocado are daily aspects of my lunch, which is my favorite meal of the day! Once we get into the rural village, we will have someone that SIT employs to help cook for us, and then we will get much more choice in our food.  This is our last homestay (unless we choose a homestay for our last month ISP time), so the choice in what we eat will be much greater in a few days, and offending the homestay family because you cannot tolerate the food will no longer be an issue! 
The heat is also something to get used to, and by now my skin is so dark!  My sandal tan lines are hilarious.  We sweat pretty much every minute of the day and night, but it really has been just a matter of being under the shade of a mango tree in the middle of the day, drinking enough water, and taking care of ourselves.  But we have the support of our group and our teachers, so the food and the heat, although challenges, are really not too intense in the grand scheme of life here.  Sending you all my love!

Meeting a Traditional African Priestess!

Today was so intense, we met a traditional African Priestess and the experience was out of this world, magical.  It is difficult to explain every aspect of the experience, but I will try my best.  We drove an hour outside of Kumasi to the shrine where the Priestess and members of her community live.  We asked her questions while she was her human self, and she was a sweet woman who hugged me very tightly.  We danced to the sound of drums with Nana (the name for one who communicates with the spiritual world) and our father here in Ghana, Papa Atah.  Then, Nana entered her room and entered into a trance, possessed by one of the traditional African spirits.  She came out with white powder all over her body (a sign of spiritual possession), a black and white outfit, and a red hat.  She was smoking a cigarette, because this particular god liked cigarettes.  Nana gave us all hugs and danced in trance.  She was then possessed by another spirit, and she changed outfits to fit the personality of this new god from the North, who spoke a language that not even Nana in her unaltered state knew how to speak.  This spirit greeted us and danced, and during this time of possession Nana's eyes had an intense yet far-off look, tinted red.  I was not scared, I was simply in awe.

While Nana was possessed by this particular spirit, we were able to have individual consultations with her and ask any questions we wanted.  The waiting period was nerve-wracking, and I went into Nana's room for a consultation second to last.  There were two interpreters in the room, one interpreting from the language of the spirit into Twi (the language spoken here), and one from Twi to English.  The meeting with Nana was nearly indescribable.  I gave her a long hug when I entered the room, and she told me that the spirits really loved my energy.  She said that I have a spirit originating from India that protects me wherever I go, and will continue to protect me my whole life.  She had no idea I had gone to India.  Nana also told me that I have the ability to connect with the spiritual world, and she asked me if I wanted that ability to become clearer.  I said yes.  She said that if I went back to see her again, and if I wanted this, I would take a bath in special herbs and would then have the clarity to see into the spiritual world.  She told me that I would be able to see what was going to happen to those around me after this bath. 

Nobody else in the group got a proposition like this.  Two of my friends were also told they could come back for healing having to do with their families, but my proposition was about my clarity to see into the spiritual world-- a whole other can of worms.  I think I am going to go back this weekend and take the bath.  If nothing happens, it was an experience. And if I am able to reach a greater understanding of my connection to the spiritual world, that would be life-changing. Our program directors have said that there are many specific cases where Nana has been right about what would happen to their students, from a student getting a bad case of malaria but being ok to a student breaking a bone during the trip.  Who knows what will happen, but I am so intrigued and everything feels so right to me, so I must go with the flow of this life.  I am thinking very seriously about having an incredible journey during my Independent Study Project and studying traditional healing amongst traditional Priests, Priestesses, and Diviners here in Ghana.

Still loving my group, my hilarious program directors (I have never laughed so hard in my life than I have at some of the things our program directors say!), and loving life here in Ghana... Peace to you all!
 

Kumasi

Hello from Kumasi! We are settled into our new city for the next 2 weeks until we head to our rural village homestay, which I am so excited about. The peace and quiet of the village will feel so blissful after the chaos of the cities here! My new host family is WONDERFUL, I have a huge family. I have an 8 year old brother, a 10 year old sister, a 27 year old brother named Morrison who I've been hanging out with (along with his friends), a 30 year old sister Tina, and some other siblings who have been in and out who always sit down to talk to me. Our parents are not home because they work on a cocoa farm for a few weeks and then come home soon, so I will meet them before I leave.  My room is on the outside of the house, and I have my own key and a key to the gate, so I have a lot of freedom here which is so nice.  I also have a picture of Bob Marley on the wall... awesome.  The only difficult thing is the bathroom, one bathroom for all of us that doesn't have any lights in it and it is outside, so going in the middle of the night is a challenge. We also don't have a sink so I brush my teeth outside, but it's pretty fun spitting in the hole haha.  We have a little kitten and some big watch dogs, and my host sister  said the neighborhood is very safe because they have volunteer patrol men at night.  I also live in walking distance to 3 of my friends from my program, which is amazing.  We go home together and walk to each others' houses before big rainstorms... I love this place!
We have been learning Twi and will be taking Twi classes in the morning, and 4 hours of dancing in the afternoon while we are here. At the end of our two weeks we will be putting on a performance! My host brother's NGO put on a Gospel Rock show last night which was interesting... the cultural music and dance was amazing, but the Gospel was... something I wasn't used to.  But thus far Kumasi has been filled with positive energy, always moving until I hit the pillow. Love you all!

Celebration of Life

Before posting about inspiring things occurring here in Ghana, I thought I\d post quickly about an experience that happens to me (and many white young women) multiple times per day... having men give me their phone numbers.  It\s hilarious, I have gotten two numbers today just on my walk home from school (which when it is light out is so pleasant, everyone waves hello and is so friendly... it\s just the way of life here).  The man will say something like \Hello, I would like to be your friend,\ and will ask for my phone number.  I will then proceed to say that I do not have a phone here, and the man insists on giving me his number and makes sure that I understand that he wants me to call him.  It is pretty funny, the men here are way too forward for anyone to think that this is an attractive gesture. Oh well! Maybe I\ll collect all the numbers and make an artwork with them at the end of the trip!
On Sunday we went to our first Ghanaian funeral, which is genuinely a celebration of life.  The whole community comes together under one of the large, beautiful trees that exist here, and play music, dance, and sing.  The celebration continues all day and into the night.  The music is repetitive and puts you into a relaxed, almost trance-like state.  It is so powerful, and in the beginning I was so captivated that I felt as if I was meditating on the vibrations.  This meditation continued but was infused with dancing, clapping, and singing... if I was guaranteed to have a funeral like this, I would be so content! Although death in America seems more scary and saddening than anything else, I feel that taking the chance to celebrate each life is such an important thing to do, and a funeral seems like the prime opportunity to bring a community together and honor life.
On Friday we are off to our second homestay in Kumasi, which is a city that is supposedly a hub for visual arts... I am so excited!  Yemi, our Academic Director, asked me what I was looking for during my next homestay.  I told him that I wanted Kids! And a loud family!  I didn\t realize how much I missed having a talkative, lively family until I was in this homestay where the family is very quiet, which is what some people prefer... but not me.  I appreciate everything they have done for me, but I am excited for my next family.  I feel that the staff of my program takes great care to make sure we are all doing well, and I feel extremely nurtured.  I really dont worry about much here, because I know if I need anything they are here to support each of us in any way we need. 
Finally, I just want to take the time to tell everyone back home to make sure to appreciate basic things like water, and electricity!  Our electricity was out for 2 days, and although bathing with a flashlight was a really funny experience, sleeping without a fan blowing the warm air around was tough!  But honestly, getting used to life here has been so smooth, thanks to my group, my program staff, and the attitude here in Ghana to go with the flow of life, and just enjoy! Love

Art All Around Me

It is sometimes difficult to remember what to write about because each day is so Full! On Friday after Twi lessons half of our group went to learn about African sculpture, and half learned how to do Batik, and we will switch on Monday. I went to this sculptor\s house, his name is Kofi Setordji and he is a well known African sculptor and artist. The land upon which he resides in Ghana is one of the most peaceful, serene places I have ever been to.  Immediately upon entering I felt as if I had dropped into meditation, and as we all sat down listening to the quiet around us, we discussed what we believe comprises our identities.  Then we painted all together on a large canvas to create a collective piece responding to this question.  Kofi built his house and his art studio, and he created art all around his house, even up in the trees that he planted on his land! It would be incredible to somehow work with him for my ISP... so many ideas already! On Saturday our group decided to go to an Art Market in the morning, which was extremely chaotic because all of the artists there follow and try to bargain with foreigners.  I love to be friendly but sometimes this works against me, because by the end of our time at the market all of the artists knew my name, some whom I hadn\t even met... I\m not sure why but it was really funny.  Afterwards we went to the beach where everyone dances in the water, plays soccer, and plays music... enjoying life.  A few of my friends and I went to dinner after the beach, and laughed until out stomachs hurt. Today we are going to a funeral, a celebration of life, and Papa Atah (our Papa in Africa) told us that we should try the gin we will be given, but he told us not to take more than 2 shots or else we would have to sleep there! The sense of humor of most people here in Ghana creates a really wonderful energy in this beautiful place.
The Tro Tro rides have been a bit difficult, squished like sardines and sweating in traffic while riding on bumpy roads, sometimes without traffic signals. I almost passed out the other day in the Tro Tro, but thankfully my friends helped me to get water (people sell water to Tro Tros that are stuck in traffic through the window).  The water situation here is difficult, bucket showers and no electricity have been a wake up call for me to appreciate what I have in the states.  However, going with the flow of life here is very easy for me, so it\s all good without these things (drinking water is not too hard to find, just water to bathe is).  I think this go with the flow attitude has allowed me to meet very interesting people here, like the sculpture artist I talked to for almost 2 hours on the Tro Tro the other day.  Just opening myself up to the flow of experiences that are coming towards me and flowing through me, the Universe seems kind if you remain open and free of judgement. That seems to be the key to enjoying life here!

In the Cafe Next to the Monkey

I am currently writing in the Internet Cafe at the University, which is located next to a monkey on a leash attached to a tree. Life is wonderful. Yesterday we had Twi lessons, lecture on the geography of Ghana by a very important local leader, drum lessons all afternoon. Today we had a lecture on religion in Ghana, which interests me immensely, and on the educational system in Ghana. The lecture on religion made me realize that I may want to do my ISP on spirituality in Ghana, learning about deities, festivals involving Kings and spirt possession... very similar to what I have been studying in some of my World Arts and Cultures classes. I feel so liberated walking to the taxi rank in the morning, taking the 50 peswa (about 30 cent) taxi ride to the University, and then walking on the large campus by myself. Everyone on campus is SO friendly... about every third person says goodmorning. Tomorrow I'm taking an African dance class after lectures, which I am so excited about! I am still adjusting to my homestay, it is a bit difficult because it is not very common for the homestay family to eat with you, have long conversations with you, etc. Saturday everyone wants to get together and go to an art market in Accra, to the beach, and then out dancing... and then Sunday we are going to a community to do some more drumming and dancing. I am glad that I have a full day outside of my homestay family where I am comfortable with my friends in my group and people that I meet at the University.  It's not that my family is not friendly, because everyone is having this experience, it's just a cultural difference.  Anyway, I hope you are all well, love from Africa!