Ete sen?!

Ete sen?!  8/18/10

4th day… i just realized that it’s gonna be hard to keep track of the days but lets see what happens…

Today’s the worst/most exhausted I’ve felt since I got here… I don’t think they took into account the fact that we are still jet lagged and we are tired as hell.. but we got a really packed schedule… and the majority of the time we are sitting down and listening to someone talk… and it’s just… not a pleasant experience. I tried really hard to not fall asleep.. but couldn’t help it… my mind wasn’t processing anything at all… I wish they could take it slower and easier…

But anyways… like I said it was a packed day. It was the first time I didn’t get to shower in the morning in like… months… if not years. And it happened to be my birthday… I felt like crap… But I guess this is just part of the Ghana experience… cuz apparently not everyone gets to shower everyday, and I’m still adjusting to this…I woke up 2 minutes before we were supposed to leave so I had to rush downstairs… and everybody was awaiting by that time… and they said happy birthday to me. it was awk -_-.

We went on a tour at Ashesi… got a chance to talk to… whats his name… trevor?! such a cool guy!! the tour was dahling… seeing the classrooms and all that got me all excited to start school… likeeeee i cant wait to meet all the ghanaian students!!!!!!!!!! likeeeee… SERIOUSLY!!!!! im ready jump in the water right nowwwww!!! there happened to be a class going on at the time of the tour… so of course i went in and awkwardly said hi… and ran away… lolz… and then the tour guide led us all inside and said a group hi… and that was much better. and it kinda struck me that they are really westernized when it comes to clothing… cuz from what i had seen on the street and stuff i expected them to wear the “traditional” clothing… but they were just wearing the kinda stuff you and i would wear… and this is another prime example of how assumptions can be so wrong… but now that i know better… i aint ignorant no mo! na mean?!

We then had the privilege to meet the founder of the school… VERY inspirational. he grew up in ghana and went to college at swarthmore and worked at microsoft and was making all that caaaaaaash… and even had kids… but then he decided to come back to ghana and start a school… what a move!!!!!!!!! and this school is really revolutionary on a number of levels… its aiming to change the whole corrupt system that ghana is faced with. and by having students check the boxes “i didnt cheat or see anybody else cheat in the exam”, a thing as small as this, i def believe that they are changing this situation. and it inspired me soooo much.. i asked him how he started the school… cuz you never know… i might jsut start a school in Nigeria or something… na mean?! on our way walking back to the academic center… i was saying hi to all these people on the street… and valentina went… aww ur making friends already! and hater cristann went… thats what im worried about. murr -_-. what a false prophetess. but yeahhhh i AM going to make a lot of friends!! na mean?!?! cuz im watutu and stuff. na mean?!

and funny anecdote. facebook… idk how it does this… but recently ive seen a lot of jerseys of this person named essien and hes number 8… idk who he is or what he does but i see this everywhere in ghana… and this person somehow appeared on the side bar on facebook… one of those recommended page thingy! whoa! facebook is creepy… thats all i gotta say…

okkk back to today… we then had a lesson on culture dos and donts… and theres a list of things that you are not supposed to say or do… like ur not supposed to say “dont be silly/stupid/foolish”… sigh… i use the word foolish all the time… thanks to esther and stuff… i guess not any more! and shut up… apparently is not acceptable either… but as i was taking a walk outside by myself… some guy on the street yelled at me “are you crazy?!?! i see you walking by…” (mind you, are you crazy is also on the list of donts…) and i was likeeeee… omggggg! im offended!!! well not really… i thought it was funny that he said what i just learned in class -_-… smh

then lunch at addipa! is that the name of it?! this time around the food was MUCH cheaper! i had something called banku… it was sour -_-… but at least i told her to not make it spicy… and it WASNT SPICY!! woot! it was only 4 cedis… which is like 3 US dollars! it was alright… but red red is soooo goooood! prolly cuz its red. but i bet yellow yellow is better and stuff.. cuz its asian -_-. lolz.. smh. andddd jollof rice… of course its amazing… and fufu was good too!!!! so essentially… i liked everybody elses food but mine -_-… sigh… but anywayssss

then we came back for the internship fair.. and got to meet up with cathy and albert!!!!!!!! woooot! but they all sounded so good i couldnt decide which one i would do… oh welllllll… i guess ill pick something that has to do with children…decisions decisions…

then… TWI lesson!!! this was the funnest part of the day… but even this almost made me fall asleep… sigh… ohhh i forgot about the religion lecture… i slept for the most part… and when i wasnt asleep nothing he said was registering… so i really dont remember much… but one thing i do remember is Christianity is the biggest religion in Ghana… Hallelujah! what can i say…

Back to the Twi lesson… it was soooooo funnnnn!!! i learned how are you.. whats ur name… where r u from… and you? cool… good… well.. thats about it… but even that was a lot to digest in just an hour… OHHHH and REALLY (Saaaaa??!?!?!?!)??!?!?! to express surprise and stuff… ohh and thank you… well yeah now that’s really it i think… i quickly put this to use.. i came back and talked to the security guard.. the plumber… the waiters at the restaurant… and the driver… and RAs… welll basically all the ghanaians i had access to… before they give us some time to explore the rest of Ghana… and now im proud to say im really good at it!!!!!!!!!!! and im also getting better at the pound… and the snap and all that… being introduced to a new culture is the most exciting thing i can think of!!!!!!!! and im striving to really be a part of it and not be an outsider/tourist… not cool. not bocoo! at all!

the bus took everybody to koala while i headed back to my dorm and chatted with the security guard… oohhhh i also met uncle taigo today!!!!!!! hahaha… im finnally getting to meet all these people everyone keeps telling me about… it feels wonderful… its like having the baton passed on to you… the legacy continues..

then we headed over to the restaurant as always… and had dinner there… the waitress there somehow found out it was my birthday and told she would give me a surprise… and i was like… ohhh… you pretty much just gave the surprise away -_-… but it was nice of her and stuff. and she was dahling! they sang happy bday… and she invited me to dance… and i kinda did. and the food there wasnt spicy!!! at least not that spicy… and i was happy…

i got to talk to this lady named Christa over dinner. shes the director of the program… heard so much about this lady… everybody was telling me how wonderful she is… and finally!!! omgggg 3 words. Such a DIVA!!! shes always the most stylish one wherever she goes… and bling bling and everything im like damnnnn! shes got it all! from head to toe… it really impressed me that she actually takes the time to have dinner with students and really tries to mingle with the students. and i gotta say, i love herrrrrrr!!! and shes really open too… it was just so comfortable talking to her.. that in our first talking session… we even touched upon the issue of her “man friend” and all that fun stuff… it got me laughing so hard… LOL! and she said happy bday to me and gave me a hug… how dahling!!!

and finally came the surprise… they sang happy bday to me and stuff… and i was asked to speech. and all i said was “meda se! meda se papaappapapaapapa” if i spelled it right… which means thanks very very very very very much!!! lawlz.. how wise of me.

and the waitress wanted to come celebrate with us… and we exchanged numbers… cheaaaaa!!! the first number i got of a ghanaian… of course… imma get so many numbers as time goes on… thats a given.

i was gonna go to the office tonight to celebrate… but everybody got too tired and all went to sleep… so i did too. smh… sad puppy. but tomorrow the CRAs are taking us all out!!!!!!!! sooooo ill do it then… im prolly not gonna get wasted then… imma be diff and spend my 21st bday sober…

sigh… this is what im doing instead of sleeping. hopefully this is actually worth the time and effort… cuz God knows im exhausted… but im spending an hour a day writing blogs… aljfkljflajflaksjfljfls;jlafjlksdfjs; sleepy time!!!