Sunday, January 29, 2012

Looking Forward to Traffic


It’s almost midnight, which is incredibly late by Ghanaian standards (with wake-up ranging from 6-7am on campus to 4-5am in rural areas), but I’m staying up to write this blog post because I haven’t written in awhile. We just got back from a weekend trip to Kumasi with our orientation group today – it was amazing, but I’d love to go back alone on my own (less structure, more exploration).
Kumasi is the biggest city in Ghana, noticeably bigger than Accra (the capital and the city closest to my university), and ex-capital of the Asante (or as most people know it, Ashanti) Kingdom. It is now the capital of the Asante region (one of 10 in Ghana… I guess similar to states in the US) and the cultural capital of the Asante people (the largest ethnic group in Ghana, of more than 70 total here, amounting to nearly half of the population). It’s a much prettier city than Accra I think, but that’s just a first impression, I barely know either. All I know was that walking through the central Kumasi market was an exhilarating experience that attacked all my senses: smelling roasted bat grilling away (and doing a double take at the fact that it was a bat), being bombarded with sellers of kente cloth and other trinkets, and just seeing the daily hustle bustle of people’s average days from within the mob of Ghanaians. It was awesome. Kumasi was interesting, from the long chat I had with the guy selling paintings outside of where we were staying about his struggle to hustle and make a living for his village to cheering at the top of my lungs for Ghana demolishing Mali to move forward in the African cup (literally with every other Ghanaian alive – life literally stops for soccer games – the smartest people do all their errands then because there are no lines ANYWHERE. Those that do not have TV’s simply echo the distant screams from those who do… but actually). But what I really want to talk about is not Kumasi, but the drive there. Specifically, the traffic.
In California, and actually in every other place I have ever been, traffic is something to be dreaded. I remember actually wondering why nobody has ever fixed the problem before, it couldn’t be that hard, right? And how many hours of time do people absolutely waste waiting in traffic commuting back and forth to work and back? It never occurred to me that the problem was not the traffic itself, but the social world surrounding it, because in Africa… I actually look forward to traffic. First of all, traffic is to be expected. Most roads here are pretty terrible, potholes everywhere, so a drive to Kumasi that would take 45 minutes on a sleek California highway was equivalent to driving to LA from the Bay Area over here – not exaggerating in the slightest. Because of that, people here have introduced GMT. No, not Greenwich Mean Time – Ghana Maybe Time! That means you know that if you set a meeting for 4pm, it might not happen until 5pm… or later. Someone might be caught in traffic since its so spontaneous, maybe their car broke down, but you sit there, wait, and find an excuse for them. Timeliness is not guaranteed, so life changes… suddenly, nobody is in a hurry, you greet everyone you meet and actually ask how they’re doing instead of giving them the nod/wave/eyebrow-raise to recognize their existence as you brisk past them. Life slows down.
Back to traffic, though, the best part about it is the ingenuity of the fix. Instead of speeding up the cars, you slow down all of social space around it to match the momentum of the road. As Einstein taught us, time is relative, right? It’s not that the cars are too slow back home when stuck in traffic, it’s that they are misaligned with the rest of the fast-paced universe surrounding them. And don’t worry about being bored in traffic. I look forward to traffic here because that’s when you get all the best snacks. From tiger nuts (which you have to chew a lot and literally taste like pineapple) to frozen yogurt treats (did you ever freeze your go-gurt… epic huh?), traffic is a reason to sit back, pay for some of the cheapest delicious snacks for your friends, and spend time with those around you. Ghanaians have no reason to be bored in traffic. As soon as they get that feeling coming on, they step outside of the car and start walking down the road (the drivers switch off if needed), chatting up people in their cars, the street vendors, that random guy desperate to sell you a belt for a price made special just for you. You’re no longer isolated in that bubble of a car, all filed in line looking smug on your daily trek to work. You’re now connected to the world around you, engaging with it… kind of like the difference between the car and motorcycle in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Breaking the rift between the space of transportation and the world around you. When the traffic’s lightened up, those outside hop back in their cars or stare at them go by nonchalantly knowing that they’d be stuck in traffic again in a few hundred meters. It’s hilarious. And strange. And new. And awesome. Just like the rest of Ghana.
As for how I’m doing, ill throw in something brief just because my dad reminded me to speak from my heart. I’m really having the time of my life. I’m not sure if its because I’m somewhere completely new, with no vestiges of old life back home, but I am constantly feeling refreshed. I can be anyone I want to be here… we all live with sand bags on our shoulders and we don’t even know they’re there until we take them off when we live somewhere new. I feel like I’m more energetic than I have been in years, I’m not usually the life of the party back home in Berkeley but somehow I've become that here. I feel happier, stimulated, challenged. Of course, missing home and wanting to keep in touch, but knowing that this experience could not have come at a better time for me. I needed this. I needed to be allowed to reinvent myself. To be born anew. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

Teach Me How to Boogie

I just got internet for the first time since I've been here, so I haven't been able to post much so far... but hopefully Eliya and I will pick it up as we settle in soon! Here's my blog post from a couple days into the trip:


“Wait, did we get here yesterday?” my roommate, Theo, asks me. After a long pause – me trying to wrap my mind around how that could be possible – I say, “yeah, I guess we must have.” Neither of us could really believe it; it just didn’t feel like its been only two days. So much has changed already, and probably because of that, we couldn’t shake the feeling that it just seemed as though we had been immersed here for longer.
            Our group flight landed in Accra, Ghana at about 1:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. I was dead tired, because like the brilliant human being that I am, instead taking the time to sleep on the plane in preparation for the day ahead of us, I ended up reading 300 pages of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Classic book, such a page-turner, but probably not the best idea ever. As we got off the plane, it was pretty obvious that we were “no longer in Kansas.” Let’s just say that hot doesn’t quite do it justice. I’ve been to Israel in the summer, that’s hot! The sun blares down at you as you begin to feel like you might melt if you don’t find some air conditioning soon. Ghana won’t cause you to melt. In fact, there is no sun at all. The entire sky is covered by a grayish, reddish haze that stretched everywhere. Fog? Pollution? Nope, it turns out that it’s actually called the Harmattan, a West African wind originating in the Sahara Desert that blows across the area, blanketing entire cities in dust. Rather than melting, you feel as if you just stepped into an oven. You can’t even see the sun, reminiscent of a foggy day in San Francisco, but the air just happens to be at least 30-40 degrees hotter; it literally sucks all the moisture out of you and you end up dry as a bone.
            The seventeen of us walk out of the airport, nearly coaxed by hopeful taxi drivers, and right into a sign that says “UCEAP Ghana.” Wooo! But wait, those were Ghanaians holding the sign! I nearly slapped myself. What, did I think that the UCEAP staff were all Americans like I’m used to, and that we’d get slowly introduced to Ghanaian life as we go? Ha, I’m not sure what I was thinking, because instead this was just the beginning of us being thrown headfirst into Ghanaian life. We made our way onto the bus outside, our staff firmly reminding us not to allow anyone to help carry our bags for a tip, and we got on as some men hoisted all our luggage onto the roof of the truck and tied it up with some rope. I giggled – this was going to be different. And with all the women carrying large fruit baskets on their heads, offering us some snacks as we drove by, and learning about the different ways Ghanaians view the world and experience university (like how my new friend and neighbor, Gyimah, is devoutly Christian and chooses not to drink alcohol and go to bed by 10pm most nights so he can wake up early the next morning)… I guess it was different. But it was also sometimes the same. We were continually reminded that Ghana was in a process of flux, changing as they learned more about the West, and definitely not out of the reach of globalization. In fact, at our time at Accra mall today (the largest mall in Ghana, probably akin to a smaller Israeli mall and a dwarf compared to Valley Fair back home), I ate a “chicken burger an chips” for lunch that might as well have been shipped here from KFC. And even though Gyimah didn’t party over the weekends, often choosing to go home to see his family in Accra instead, he seems like his smile never leaves his face – such a genuine, happy guy – and that just isn’t so different at all.
            But the most awesome thing we’ve done so far on the trip is learn how to boogie. Let’s just say…. I’m not the most coordinated human being on this planet. Ok, I take that back, I used to do martial arts so I’m not completely jello – but if you take me dancing, I might as well be. I got my two little moves that I just repeat over and over and I hope its dark enough that you wont notice that I look like an off-beat gooseling trying to find the rhythm :P. But we were learning African dancing! Maybe that would be different! … nope. I’m still terrible, almost knocked out the people on both sides of me and got the whole group laughing hysterically at me when I failed at following directions in the “simon says” game. At least I wasn’t as bad as my partner though, who literally looked like a chicken flailing its wings after getting its head cut off… and I’m not saying that because I’m being harsh, because I’m soooo bad, I’m saying that because that’s ACTUALLY WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE! For some reason though, I got lost in the dancing, I stopped caring about what I looked like and just felt my body really wanting to be in tune with the rhythm. Yeah, I couldn’t dance, but for the first time something inside me wanted to – as our professor calls it - boogie.
            Theo and I, the only two guys in our group (I know you just heard that bow chicka wow wow), move into our permanent rooms in Legon Hall (one of the male dorms) on Sunday. Until then, we’re going to try to get adjusted to living here – hopefully finding ourselves some awesomely colorful local attire – while getting to know as many people as possible and continuing our adventure. By the way, let me know how these blogs are going: ask me questions, make suggestions, tell me I suck. This is the first time I’ve blogged, so help me out here, and hopefully in the next one I’ll talk more about the cultural differences I’ve already noticed here. 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Roi's Pre-Ghana Sendoff


It's dark and cold outside, but I'm mummified by my favorite blanket and am warm&cozy. The only noise to be heard is the steady thunderstorm synthetically constructed by my sleeping buddy. The soothing sound fills my head as I relax, take a deep breath, and at this point I would usually slowly drift off into a dream about rabbits, starcraft, and controlling processes. Today is a very special day, however, because instead of tucking in, I'm sitting here - unable to sleep - contemplating about the adventure I'm about to embark on tomorrow.

Most have asked me this question already, and since its my first post, I should probably say a few words about it. Everyone loves to travel, but the question I get most often is: "Why Ghana?!" Insert a peculiar stare or a comment about how France or Australia probably would have been "more normal" choices and you're right in my shoes. I'll tell you why. In short, when searching for a destination two years ago I realized that, as someone very insightful once said: "one's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." In Anthropology, we learn that we strange little beings are constantly in a process of familiarization, the act of normalizing the fibers of our existence. The fabric of our world becomes familiar to us as we develop habits, comforts, rhythms. But within that familiarity is a deep silence: so much undiscussed, so much to pull apart, to wrestle with, to learn from. We unweave our world's fabric by making the familiar strange. In this way, I hoped to take a lesson from the classic anthropologists by embarking on the "[road] less traveled by," on a journey to the place of farthest distance from me, both physically and culturally. What could be farther from Sunnyvale, California than Africa? And so what better place to be swallowed by strangeness - to learn, to grow, to find a new me - than in Ghana? For me, it was pretty obvious :).

People have also asked me how I feel. The best way to describe it is that I'm... just... numb. How am I supposed to feel when I am literally about to step through a door that is a complete and utter mystery?! Ron asked me tonight about what my daily life was going to be like in Ghana - I was literally dumbfounded. I just don't know! I don't know what I'm going to be doing, what I'm going to be feeling, what I'm going to want, who I'm going to meet, what I'm going to see, what I'm going to do, who I'm going to be. It's scary but it's also one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever felt. Imagine it as the cool numbness of the serene focus, a calm before the storm if you like, as a skydiver takes his last breath of air before jumping off into the abyss. That's what I feel like, heart pounding, ready for whatever comes my way but having no idea what any of it will be. I'm ready for life, so I hope its ready for me.

And I hope you are ready to come with me because that is what this blog is for. It's for me to share what's going on in here *points at my brain* throughout this whole process. Like with most things now, I just don't know how often I'll get to post, how long the posts will be, etc. What I do know is that I want to share, I want to use this to capture my thoughts, and I want you to come with me. You'll get me exactly as I am right then. Today I am contemplative, pensive, thoughtful. Tomorrow I might be giddy, silly, playful. The next day homesick, broken, vomiting. Who knows! But you're invited to come along!!  My flight leaves tomorrow at about 1:00pm, so I'm hoping to have my last delicious American breakfast and I'll be on my way - join me!

~Roi



Monday, January 16, 2012

Eliya's Pre-Ghana Sendoff

I’m cuddled with Sivana in my bed in Los Angeles feeling as cozy as can be. Just been through some pretty thoroughly shaking waves of nervousness and excitement- culminating in a frenzied but productive packing session with the help of my wonderful mother and packing princess Maggie Thornton of UCLA (noticing that I’m bringing far more pills and health materials than clothing), with visits from other homies (involving Just Dance 3 and shimmying and, of course, the Birthday Book), and a whopper Google+ encounter with the Nest (both Fall and Spring occupants) and Paul and Thomas. As Sivana saunters off into sleep land beside me, I can’t help but think, “Does life get better?” With such beautiful people in my life right here, right now, it’s hard to believe that taking this 5 month hiatus could be the right choice to make. 


It’s a choice I made, however, so long before this moment; in fact, it was a decision made in Berkeley, under similar cuddled conditions to the one I’m in as I type this instant, but then it was with Roi Bachmutsky. My freshman floormate, my magical “we’re in Berkeley and shit is crazy” whirlwind of a buddy, Roi urged me (extremely in advance) to join him on a Ghana study abroad adventure just about two years ago. I hesitantly gave him a “Maybe” as a place-holder response, thinking to myself that I was in no way prepared to make a decision of the magnitude of studying abroad location at that ripe, impressionable period. Not to say I doubted I’d be friends with Roi later on, and not to say Ghana didn’t’ sound like a good idea…just to say that I had no clue what in the world was going on. 


Years later, right now, I still don’t know what in the world is going on (although I’m happy to say I can, thank goodness, locate where in the world Ghana is- if Africa were to bend it’s little knee, Ghana would be tucked inside of that bend), and I have one backpacking backpack, one regular backpack, and one small duffle (and the token fanny pack, shout out to Leah Samuel in Chile!) all set to take off on Tuesday, January 17. I can tell you what I feel. And what I feel is that I’m teetering on the brink of this oncoming journey, my tippy toe dangling just above the water, so eager but so scared to see how cold it is, to see how my body and mind will adjust to the new conditions. I’m stoked! But I’m terrified. And all of those other mixed feelings. But mostly feeling so extremely privileged to be able to immerse myself in present-ness and opportunity for discovery. Discovery of myself, of those around me, of new cultures and languages and foods and sunrises and greetings and dancing and drumming and joy and movement. 


Here we go, Ghana begin somewhere!




~Eliya