New Address

So in a couple weeks I am moving to Tamale and I thought I would post my new address here:

Claire Ryan
P.O. Box 59
education/ridge
Tamale, Ghana
West Africa

and that's it! I cannot wait to move because Accra is extremely crowded and humid and busy, whereas Tamale (about 7 hours North) is much calmer and dryer. Although...it is even hotter.
Classes are finally finished! Exams are next week and then I'm very free of academics.

I know that never again will I go without recognizing my privileges. The privilege of eating raw vegetables, drinking tap water, feelings safe, trusting the system, being able-bodied and white and western. Everything. Every day I learn something new about what it means to be privileged and it changes my thinking in a really positive way.

Assignments and the Like

It's been a while since Elmina Castle - the days are flying by. It's hard to believe at home Thanksgiving and partridge hunting is happening, along with the changing of the seasons. Here the only change is that it has gotten hotter and more humid, and not a second goes by that I'm not sweating so hard the back of my shirt could be wrung out. We have three assignments due this week and an enormous amount of readings, but it's not really that bad because after October we pretty much are done with academic assignments.
It's hard to concentrate in school when it's so hot. In Canada I have never had formal education during the hot months so I inevitably associate hot weather with relaxing or doing non-academic work. It's just a mind thing that I've had to overcome but at least now I know I can study under any conditions (even beneath a slow moving ceiling fan, or during 35 degree heat and a power outage).
I bought a guitar! So exciting! I was wilting without one, I feel sort of lost when I'm not making music. I had to walk in circles and bribe a school girl and haggle with a Ghanaian gentleman, but I finally got a capo and a guitar for about 50 Canadian dollars. No tuners in sight but luckily the top string was in tune so I could do the rest by ear. It's not perfect but it's certainly blissful.
If by some miracle it makes it back to Canada with me it will be my first very own guitar. I'm not sure about it's travelling abilities though, the case is about as protective as wrapping it in kleenex. We'll see in April.
I am writing a paper about sustainable livelihoods and access. It's going alright but I have to get back at it.
All for now.
Claire xo

An Experience of Humility

Yesterday our group took a field trip to Elmina Castle - the slave castle the stands in Cape Coast. It was the most intense experience I have had in Ghana yet. I wanted to cry the whole time but I didn't because I wasn't sure if they were my tears to shed. I also just read "The Book of Negroes" which happened to be about the slave trade in the 18th century from the Gold Coast to the US so it was all just too surreal. You could feel the evil that lay in the air of that place, it gave me goosebumps. It occurred to me that as white people, we were lucky to even be allowed into the castle to learn about history. I also wondered how much blood was beneath the white paint, considering 8 million African people died there or on the ship to America. The ocean is beautiful, but as I was looking out at it I could only imagine it as a large, unmarked grave. It has swallowed so many individuals quietly, only a few hundred years ago.

I learned a lot through the silent tour that we took. I remembered why I am here and why I am in International Development Studies. There's nothing I can do with the knowledge that I acquire here except mourn the past and do what I can about the present.

We were all so tired after the trip we fell asleep without brushing our teeth. I would recommend the Book of Negroes to anyone who will listen - it is remarkable and tragic and informative.

Snickers Bar

I am in an internet cafe and I am sweating so much. I can't stress hot it is here. I think it's hotter than any day I have ever experienced in Canada. I am getting used to it, but I am still amazed at how much sweat my body is even capable of producing.
I eat Snickers bars sometimes, I don't know why, I guess they remind me of home. They're the only Canadian thing I can find so I just deal with it. I have a feeling they will always remind me of Ghana.
The first month is finally done. I can't believe I survived it to be honest. I feel mildly invincible. Everyone in our group has lost weight and got a tan, we all look different already. When I come home you might not even recognize me!
At school we finally have a female professor - she is brilliant and intimidating, I love her. She is also the first prof who seems to know anything about development - she even uses words like 'development discourse' and 'elective affinity'. Don't get me wrong - the profs are all geniuses, just not all specializing in development.
I miss coffee and running water. That's all for now.

Twi

Akwaaba! Ya ena. Wo ho te sien? Me ho ye. Naon suway? Eye.

That means Welcome! Thank you. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Just fine. in Twi- which is the most common local language. My spelling sucks but I can say those things out loud. Right now my friends Emma and Julie are with me at an internet cafe (wireless!!) that we nearly acquired sunstroke trying to find.
I forgot to write about Boti falls. This past weekend we went to the Eastern Region of Ghana and I got to accomplish my life dream of walking behind a waterfall. It was so incredible. It also torrential downpoured which was strange because it hasn't rained since we got here.
Western shampoo is extremely pricey so I've been washing my hair with a bar of soap. Effective but not necessarily enjoyable. We went to this huge creepy western mall called Shoprite where we went to the movies (we were the only ones in the theatre) and bought things like Mars Bars and Mr. Noodles and all those gross Western things you can't get in Ghana. It was odd...it felt like home being in a pricey, stuck up, over commoditized atmosphere. I even bought an americano. I felt like a King, but also felt a lot of guilt and discomfort.
Powerouts happen on the regular, which is fine except that means we have no fan (guh) and it gets dark at six. Julie and I are pretty bored, and I almost cried when I spilt water on our playing cards. (Don't worry, they are tattered but salvageable.)
Our homestay family is hilarious. They're a bunch of wildcards, I swear. Our homestay mom (Auntie) is named Comfort and when I was showing her pictures from home she explained that my dad's brother (uncle Marty) is my other dad and my mom's sister (aunt Donna) is my other mom. This cleared up a lot of confusion what with all the kids in her house we though were hers (they are nieces and nephews). It's kind of nice though, Ghanain society seems to run on kinship ties more than anything, their loyalty is impressive.
In other news, the i button has fallen off my keyboard while I've been aggressively typing this blog (check back and see how many times an i was necessary and empathize with my struggle). So ...not sure what to do about that.
Also I am getting a head cold which seems unfair since it's about 35 degrees. School is hard, nothin' new there. Luckily I have nothing better to do other than lay around and read mounds of historical information on chieftancy in Ghana.

Sometimes when I'm feeling smothered by the religious and conservative atmosphere I wear mens underwear and feel that I'm secretly revolting. I know I've mentioned underwear twice now...but it's pertinent

So that's all for now. I'm probs gonna be at this cafe every weekend for the next 8 months because it's quiet and somewhat cool and they have legit coffee which is super scarce here.

I wish I could upload pics...but that is unlikely. Most of the stuff you can google anyway to get an idea.

Claire

Water Sachets

Water Sachets are bags of water we drink on the regular because bottled water $ can add up. They are like a ziploc bag with no zipper - you rip the corner with your teeth (sorry mom, I know you said to never do that 'cuz the braces) and then suck out the 500mL. It's pretty safe and gets the job done. School is extremely hard and consumes my life. We get up take the x2 tro tro ride from hell to school (although this is getting much easier) and then get schooled for 4 hours or sometimes 5 1/2 and then go home. I think you all should google tro tro because...I'm really not doing them justice. Last night we went out for PIZZA and it was AMAZING. The food here I find kind of hard, basically it's just a chore of not being hungry. I never know where to buy food that is safe, as I can't tell the difference between sketchy and reasonable. But I'm sure that will come with time.
The things I miss most are surprising:
- underwear (American Eagle size M if you're interested and feeling generous...)
- skinny jeans
- hipsters in general
- my guitar
- swearing
- regulated transportation
- running water
- chewing my food rather than just swallowing
- mint gum

That's pretty much it. All the rest of the stuff I can pretty much laugh at. Like only ever being 70% sure I'm in the right tro tro. Julie and I have a good time, we crack each other up. I am so so happy that we are super compatible roommates or else things would be just too hard. I play a lot cell phone games - suduko etc, and read a lot. I'm hoping I don't run out of books but it appears to be inevitable. I'm getting way better at washing my clothes but...my homestay fam still laughs at me trying to ring out my jean shorts.
Now that I've conquered ecoli in my first week in Ghana I feel like I can pretty much do everything. Life is good.
Oh also, I've upgraded my wedding ring since a guy chased me down the street pinching my bum until another dude ran after that guy and beat him into the street (isolated incident). It's pink with gigantic fake jewels...I flaunt it well I think. Although due to a huge lack of sodium and salt my fingers have become really skinny and sometimes it falls off.
September is going by fast....I can't believe it's the 16th already.
When Julie and I have bad days she reads out a quote from her quote book to calm us. We're getting back into pushups tonight hopefully as the sickness def slowed down our bicep growth.
I'm appreciating in a big big way all the love and support I'm receiving from Canada. It's making me sincerely appreciate my friends and family in ways that I never have before.
Love love love

Claire

Peeling Sunburns

Today I finally went back to school after a really brutal two day period of expelling fluids from my body because my whole goup got food poinsoning (strange considering...we don't all eat the same food at the same places). I went back to school and am learning African history and Ghanain history. Right now I'm typing this in my house! Which is amazing - somehow our homestay family has 5 Dell computers and we buy a little card that puts hours on the computer so we can use internet. We're super lucky - we're the only people that have internet or a plethora of computers at our house. Tomorrow some of my friends and I are venturing to the creepily huge and western mall, inside of which is a movie theatre. We're going to see Harry Potter...hopefully it won't be like the soccer game where I shared my seat with my friend, two men and a young child.
Things are looking up. Life doesn't seem to bad when you can finally go ten steps without needing a bathroom, especially in a city where bathrooms are very, very rare.
I'm rapidly applying sunscreen but I don't think I'm fast enough. I feel like if I spend more than 3 minutes in the Accra sun I instantly turn red. As if I don't turn enough heads as it is.
Send me lots of mundane details about your life please! Eveyone. I love hearing stories from home. I basically spend my time here reading my book (midnight's children), laying under a fan, sleeping, and riding tro tros. Well, other than being at school and studying of course. I'm excited because this saturday we are going on a day trip to the eastern region where we will see a cocoa farm (ghana is the world's....second largest exporter I believe?) and huge waterfalls. We have to leave super early because city traffic is like nothing you have ever seen.

Ta ta
Claire