Accra and Week One

Well hello, little neglected blog.

First off, kafra (sorry) for the lack of updates recently. Life in this Ghana has been pretty busy to say the least. But, as I have been learning from my Kente Master, "even the most complicated and beautiful Kentes can be unwoven if you take enough time and care," meaning it is always possible to undo your mistakes. Thanks, oh wizened master.

We're well into our ISP time, and everyone has dispersed around the country. Some are in Kumasi, some in villages scattered here and there, and I remain in Accra. Although I think I'll be taking a weekend trip or two to the Kente capitals of Ghana, I'm going to be in Accra until we leave. A couple of my fellow students (Isabel, Claire, and Megan Goldsmith) are in Accra for the majority of ISP as well, so we have rented a room in a hostel together. It's actually pretty nice. Although it's stuffy and lacks any kind of fan, there are two bunk beds, a bathroom with running(!) water, a counter we have furnished with a hot plate, and a small balcony on which to dry your laundry. My only complaint is that the ladder to get to my top bunk is quite slippery, making for some perilous mornings. I've quite gotten used to the occasional power outage and water stoppage. It's pretty interesting to think about how quickly you can adapt to new standards in living.

I'm keeping up with weaving kente. I weave every day from 8 in the morning until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I'm weaving in a small town outside of Accra called Ashiaman. There's nothing remarkable to visit there, and since most Obrunis in Ghana are tourists or don't leave Accra, my daily walk to the kente workshop draws quite a bit of attention. And due to the high concentration of Ewe-speaking people from the Volta region (Ghana has many, many native languages. We learned Twi because it is the most commonly spoken), I have collected a couple more names: Obruni Kokoo and Yevu. Obruni Kokoo (pronounced kohkoh, not cucoo) means "red obruni". In Ghana, they have different color connotations based off of how pale or dark you are. Red, for example, is considered to be a very "light" color. Therefore you can be called "red" and it is akin to calling you "pale". So, for those of you playing along at home, I am being called "really, really pale white person". As for Yevu, it's the Ewe equivalent of Obruni, kind of. I prefer Obruni because the connotations are less negative. According to one of our professors of Twi, the term Obruni comes from the word for "horizon" and "visitor", referring to the colonizers who came from the horizon on their ships. Today it means a white person or any foreigner, or even Ghanians who have gone and received a "western education". Yevu, on the other hand, directly translates to "tricky dog" (Ye is dog and Vu is tricky in a negative context). Because the Ewe people encountered the colonizers only AFTER they had gotten around to taking advantage of everyone on the Gold Coast, their term for white man is much more negative. Although it isn't seen as a negative label any more, the history still remains in the meaning of the term.

The more you know.

Moving along, I am weaving every day in Ashiaman with Kwakutche, my kente master. I'm working on a full cloth as opposed to smaller individual pieces, and it's taking me forever. While I enjoy being creative and have tried my hand at many crafts before, timely tasks involving a lot of repetitive motions are the kind of thing I often abandon. Arts and Crafts are hardly my strong point. I like instant gratification, so having to weave at one thing for two weeks? Well, it's a lesson in patience for one thing. But I'm keeping with it, and minus one catastrophic disaster (goat, loom, lunch) things have been going very well. Today was my first day off, and I slept in for the first time since my arrival in Ghana. It was wonderful. I haven't had much time to just sit back and breathe here as I'm running from one place to the next or trying to coordinate something for my ISP or going back to pick up something I've forgotten at the hostel and so forth. Add to the fact that I don't get much sleep due to the stuffiness of the room and the stagnant air smelling slightly and inexplicably of asparagus, and you'll understand why one of the first things on my "to do when I get home list" is "sleep for a really, really long time".

On a completely different note, some of the stores around Accra have started to decorate for Christmas. After sending me into a slight rage at the first sight of tinsel and "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" signs, I had to take a step back and remember Ghana doesn't celebrate any large holidays in November. So it's actually quite remarkable that the holiday paraphernalia was held back until the second week of November. That's one of the things I'm know I'll miss the most about not being home for so long- Thanksgiving. It's a huge family affair for us, and somewhat of a cherished tradition, you could say. I'll miss the cooking and my cousins and my family (I guess). Alas, so it goes. Some of my fellow students are going to gather in Cape Coast for Thanksgiving to celebrate on the beach with a gumbo cooked by Megan Goldsmith. Although at first my intentions were to go along and join (as well as celebrate both Paco and Ismatu's birthdays), I might be headed to the Volta region to look up a Kente village instead with my Kente master. Regardless, this paragraph has depressed me and now I am moving on.

There's a mall here in Accra (I can't remember if I've mentioned it or not), and it's quite unsettling at times. I have to get out and walk by it every day on my way to Ashiaman. It boasts a Shoprite (grocery), Mr. Price (clothing store akin to a Forever 21), GAME (Wal-mart), Puma store (Puma store), and an Apple store (Apple store). You can go inside and completely forget where you are-- consumerism is universal. However, one of the most exciting aspects of the mall is the movie theater. It's really surprising how much I miss movies. I haven't seen one since I left, and so when those of us in Accra discovered the presence of the Silverbird Cinemas, we decided to make a day of it. Although exceptionally overpriced for anything in Ghana, converted to dollars it's about the same as going to a movie back home. I got a small popcorn(!), a coke(!), and went into the air conditioned(!!!) theater to see "Inglorious Basterds". Gory, inaccurate, and splendid, I don't know if I enjoyed it so much because I actually liked the movie or if it was because I was watching a movie for the first time in months. Regardless, due to the significant dent in my wallet I have to say I'll be waiting until Christmas break to see another film.

That's all for now! I'm headed out to do some research on Kente and start writing my ridiculously long paper.
Be safe, shower warmly!
Love always,
Lo