The Age of Discovery and A World of Difference
Sunday, August 27
Well, this weekend is hashing to be not so bad. Although I am still disappointed that my plans fell through, I am definitely making the best out of a "bad" situation.
Friday was typically lazy, as the last few days have been. I tried to begin my reading for one class, but the photocopies that we received included none of the 110 pages due for next week. Awesome. There was a part of me that was definitely frustrated, and then I remembered what country I'm in and laughed it off.
With no reading available, I started reading a book for pleasure: "Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris. I have heard good things about Sedaris books and actually looked forward to reading it. After 40 pages, however, I was thoroughly disappointed. Maybe he was a little too hyped up for me. I don't know.
With little to do, there are few options here in Legon. Duncan and I made the decision to go to Rich Love for a late lunch. We had always noticed that oftentimes, a group of people would collectively eat out of one massive bowl. We decided to give it a try, ordering our favorite -- Beef with green pepper sauce and fried rice. When we asked how much it cost, we were appalled: 20,000 cedis (just over two dollars). A plate usually costs 15,000 and this was easily 3 or 4 times the amount of food. Starving, we finished it. It took us at least 5 minutes just to see the bottom of the bowl; it was like digging to China.
After digesting, a group of us -- myself, Chad and Kevin went downstairs to kick around a soccer ball. We were immediately joined by a group of 7 Ghanaians who wanted to play. This had disaster written all over it. Us obrunis held our own. I even got an assist, left-footed nonetheless, on a goal by another obruni. Clearly, Americans don't suck as bad as our World Cup team displayed this year.
On Saturday, we had exactly one mission: trying to watch baseball on MLBtv.com. We found an internet cafe -- Busy Internet Center -- down by Nkrumah circle, a 25 minute drive from Legon. While the facility was spectacular, we were still not thrilled. Not only was wireless not officially available, but we had to pay 18,000 cedis, just shy of 2 dollars, for an hour. Outrageous.
Half way through my hour, I got a little message on my computer: wireless networks found. Great. After finishing up my hour, I asked the person at the desk if wireless was free. He said no. Once again, outrageous. He said that we were paying essentially for the facility -- the A/C, decent bathrooms, etc. I asked him where the wireless was coming from; he said at the restaurant next door...and it was FREE! Whhhhaaaa?!? "But you don't get the air conditioning," he said. That is laughable.
Today has been very chill. Much to our surprise, we were not awakened at 6 AM by a Jesus preacher. It was really nice to sleep till 10 without disturbance. Once again, Duncan and I headed to Rich Love to enjoy a monster bowl of food. So satisfying.
Upon finishing, we rendezvoused over to a Palm Wine bar. Duncan is doing his research project on palm wine, which obviously has its benefits. He bought a one-and-a-half liters of the stuff. He'll have to drink it fast because it spoils quickly.
Tonight, we are on a mission to try MLBtv at the wireless internet place. Not a bad game to catch -- Yankees/Angels. It is a huge test for Wednesday as the A's (Zito) vs. RedSox (Schilling) will be playing. It would be such a treat to watch that. Pray to the internet gods for us.
We did learn however that there is a sports bar in Osu that will be airing World Series games. What a treat that will be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While life is starting to feel somewhat normal here, I can't help but recognize how different life is for people, even for my friends abroad.
One of my best friends, Joe, is in Rome for the semester. (Joe is keeping a blog at jshaperoinrome.blogspot.com if you want to check it out another study-abroad experience). After reading through his most recent post, I think I got more culture shock from that than I got from my month here. Joe noted that most people don't smile:
"Our school teachers told us never to smile to Italians because they will take it as a come-on or will totally ignore you. Italians don’t smile at each other and I found that very weird. I find myself catching a little smirk here and there but will work on it."
I find that the exact opposite is true here. Everybody smiles and it's the easiest way to break the ice. A smile -- even to a complete stranger -- breaks all of the tension in the room. And ususally, if one of us obrunis smiles to a native, the shoot back a Magic Johnson-like smile and start asking questions.
And apparently, our classes are even more differnet. Joe can barely afford to miss a single class. Most Ghanaians won't even show up for a class for a couple weeks.
If there is one thing that the two experiences have in common, it is soccer, football, futbol, whatever you want to call it. While the conditions are clearly different -- we either play on concrete or dirt -- the beautiful game is still the beautiful game. The one advantage Joe has is that the US didn't lose to Italy (although the Ghanaian beat down of the US does make a great conversation starter)
The other similarity is how bad cab drivers rip off us Americans. That has changed for me though, and with time, I'm sure Joe will learn how to bargain down prices and how much everything should cost.
As much as I love it here, I can't wait to get back to San Diego to live with Joe and Ryan, who is also abroad (in Paris) and keeping a blog at ryan-archibald.blogspot.com.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While at the internet cafe tonight, I will be uploading pictures from the funeral I attended last week. There are some great pics. Enjoy.
LDG
Well, this weekend is hashing to be not so bad. Although I am still disappointed that my plans fell through, I am definitely making the best out of a "bad" situation.
Friday was typically lazy, as the last few days have been. I tried to begin my reading for one class, but the photocopies that we received included none of the 110 pages due for next week. Awesome. There was a part of me that was definitely frustrated, and then I remembered what country I'm in and laughed it off.
With no reading available, I started reading a book for pleasure: "Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris. I have heard good things about Sedaris books and actually looked forward to reading it. After 40 pages, however, I was thoroughly disappointed. Maybe he was a little too hyped up for me. I don't know.
With little to do, there are few options here in Legon. Duncan and I made the decision to go to Rich Love for a late lunch. We had always noticed that oftentimes, a group of people would collectively eat out of one massive bowl. We decided to give it a try, ordering our favorite -- Beef with green pepper sauce and fried rice. When we asked how much it cost, we were appalled: 20,000 cedis (just over two dollars). A plate usually costs 15,000 and this was easily 3 or 4 times the amount of food. Starving, we finished it. It took us at least 5 minutes just to see the bottom of the bowl; it was like digging to China.
After digesting, a group of us -- myself, Chad and Kevin went downstairs to kick around a soccer ball. We were immediately joined by a group of 7 Ghanaians who wanted to play. This had disaster written all over it. Us obrunis held our own. I even got an assist, left-footed nonetheless, on a goal by another obruni. Clearly, Americans don't suck as bad as our World Cup team displayed this year.
On Saturday, we had exactly one mission: trying to watch baseball on MLBtv.com. We found an internet cafe -- Busy Internet Center -- down by Nkrumah circle, a 25 minute drive from Legon. While the facility was spectacular, we were still not thrilled. Not only was wireless not officially available, but we had to pay 18,000 cedis, just shy of 2 dollars, for an hour. Outrageous.
Half way through my hour, I got a little message on my computer: wireless networks found. Great. After finishing up my hour, I asked the person at the desk if wireless was free. He said no. Once again, outrageous. He said that we were paying essentially for the facility -- the A/C, decent bathrooms, etc. I asked him where the wireless was coming from; he said at the restaurant next door...and it was FREE! Whhhhaaaa?!? "But you don't get the air conditioning," he said. That is laughable.
Today has been very chill. Much to our surprise, we were not awakened at 6 AM by a Jesus preacher. It was really nice to sleep till 10 without disturbance. Once again, Duncan and I headed to Rich Love to enjoy a monster bowl of food. So satisfying.
Upon finishing, we rendezvoused over to a Palm Wine bar. Duncan is doing his research project on palm wine, which obviously has its benefits. He bought a one-and-a-half liters of the stuff. He'll have to drink it fast because it spoils quickly.
Tonight, we are on a mission to try MLBtv at the wireless internet place. Not a bad game to catch -- Yankees/Angels. It is a huge test for Wednesday as the A's (Zito) vs. RedSox (Schilling) will be playing. It would be such a treat to watch that. Pray to the internet gods for us.
We did learn however that there is a sports bar in Osu that will be airing World Series games. What a treat that will be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While life is starting to feel somewhat normal here, I can't help but recognize how different life is for people, even for my friends abroad.
One of my best friends, Joe, is in Rome for the semester. (Joe is keeping a blog at jshaperoinrome.blogspot.com if you want to check it out another study-abroad experience). After reading through his most recent post, I think I got more culture shock from that than I got from my month here. Joe noted that most people don't smile:
"Our school teachers told us never to smile to Italians because they will take it as a come-on or will totally ignore you. Italians don’t smile at each other and I found that very weird. I find myself catching a little smirk here and there but will work on it."
I find that the exact opposite is true here. Everybody smiles and it's the easiest way to break the ice. A smile -- even to a complete stranger -- breaks all of the tension in the room. And ususally, if one of us obrunis smiles to a native, the shoot back a Magic Johnson-like smile and start asking questions.
And apparently, our classes are even more differnet. Joe can barely afford to miss a single class. Most Ghanaians won't even show up for a class for a couple weeks.
If there is one thing that the two experiences have in common, it is soccer, football, futbol, whatever you want to call it. While the conditions are clearly different -- we either play on concrete or dirt -- the beautiful game is still the beautiful game. The one advantage Joe has is that the US didn't lose to Italy (although the Ghanaian beat down of the US does make a great conversation starter)
The other similarity is how bad cab drivers rip off us Americans. That has changed for me though, and with time, I'm sure Joe will learn how to bargain down prices and how much everything should cost.
As much as I love it here, I can't wait to get back to San Diego to live with Joe and Ryan, who is also abroad (in Paris) and keeping a blog at ryan-archibald.blogspot.com.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While at the internet cafe tonight, I will be uploading pictures from the funeral I attended last week. There are some great pics. Enjoy.
LDG
posted by Lee Gerston at 8:21 AM
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