Going Ghana-na's!
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2010
1
3
8
Trip End
May 17, 2010
Legon, Ghana
Thursday, January 14, 2010
ANYWAYS!
I arrived on a hot afternoon, and as soon as I stepped out of the plane the humidity hit me. Its exactly what I imagined it would feel like stepping off a plane into Ghana. I got picked up by the university and dropped off in my room at the hostel. They gave me a student handbook, said "look it over", and that was it. It was pretty lonely at first because i was one of the earlier people to arrive, and a lot of the other international students came in big groups with people they know.
But eventually I figured it all out and things became easy.
Signing up for courses is very different from home, you actually have to run around to each department you want a course from, and fill out a form. You need passport photos and all that good stuff. Lots of running around campus. The campus is pretty big, there are 26-30 000 students. There are open gutters, the sidewalks are paved with stones that are quite bumpy, drivers are scary. Overall, it is quite the mental feat just walking from one location to the other – at least initially.
There are markets everywhere, some small, others huge, and all of them are quite difficult for your senses to fully take in. The coolest thing is that people in markets carry EVERYTHING on the top of their heads – bottles of water, textbooks, glass boxes full of pastries, deodorant, bras, toothpastes – even a fridge! You could sit in one place all day in a market and anything you could possibly need for that whole day would pass by on someones head. It actually makes a lot of sense because it builds muscles in your whole body, and it keeps the load directly on your center of gravity, so you can bear more weight. Much better than backpacks pulling your shoulders to the ground all day...
In terms of washing clothes, handwashing is the norm here. Which is fine by me. I have decided it builds character. I could pay someone else to do it for me, but I wont, because the possibility of telling my children how I “spent 5 months in Ghana washing my own clothes!” when they act up is too juicy to resist.
So... funny story. The power ran out. For four days. And no power means no water. So people took bucket showers, but I was too lazy so I just snuck in to another residence building and used their showers. Muahahaha.
Speaking of showers, a few of us were eating dinner at a market near the hostel, and suddenly we notice everyone running back to their homes, and in 30 seconds we are the only people in the market, other than the shop keepers. Then a wind comes down the deserted street and kicks up some red dirt. We were all confused about what was happening, and then suddenly it started to rain. Hard. I guess in hot countries where it doesn't rain regularly, Mr. Man-in-Sky decides it would be most efficient to deliver a years amount of rain in one go! It was absolutely insane. 5 seconds in the rain and you would be soaked through. So we gathered under a canopy and were about to make a run back to our hostel, when a shiny white bus pulls up, and offers us a ride. There were two possibilities: 1) the driver was just a super nice guy and was offering a ride, in which case I was in heaven, or 2) the driver was a mass murderer and was going to kill us all, in which case I would end up in heaven. So it was heaven either way, and we all jumped into the bus!
Another night while the power was out, I was lying in bed having a hard time sleeping because it was so hot (and my fan was not working). Suddenly someone started banging on all the doors shouting “ALL STUDENTS, ALL STUDENTS, GET OUT OF YOUR DORMS RIGHT NOW!!! ALL STUDENTS MUST EVACUATE THEIR ROOMS IMMEADIETLY!” Now at this point i was kind of scared because in a strong Ghanian accent, “all students” kind of sounds like “Arsalan”, so I thought some guy was running around the hostel in the middle of the night (4 am to be exact) screaming “ARSALAN, ARSALAN, GET OUT OF YOUR DORM RIGHT NOW”. So I started to try to figure out what I had screwed up so quickly that they were already going to send me back to Canada....
Anyways so we all left our rooms and gathered in the parking lot outside, everyone in their PJs and foggy mental states. They announced that a major earthquake was about to hit Ghana, and they had heard this one the radio. So of course everyone says that you can’t predict earthquakes and some of the fancier American’s tried to contact their geology profs at home.... pfft. I was just happy I had my flashlight with me – its one of those earthquake preparedness ones that you wind, it also has radio, and an alarm thingy, and it can charge cell phones –bring on the earthquake, I was ready baby!
There was no earthquake. We went back to bed. Everyone was slightly cranky the next day. I was happy because I still had my flashlight (though I did pack all my valuables in a bag that I can quickly grab on my way out of the room should there be another 'earthquake’).
PS - There are pictures of babies below, because they are cute and I love them. Vote for your favourite one in the comments section!
Comments
B-A-R-N-G-A
JEALOUS....this sounds so awesome!
sounds like a blast! Me and Azzra are going in the summer!! :D
Awww...I miss and heart you!!
Hahaha predict earthquakes! Love it!
We miss you!!!
Went to Nakuru and thught about you when the view was breathtaking. Your camera would hav gone wild.
Love you. Stay safe.
We "travelled" with you, and had fun. We are back home and waiting for you.
Per Gulzar, we love and miss you.
Good work!.