That's the Way of the World

"And then there are things in life that you see that are just so incredibly beautiful. And how can we explain that?" Nathan and I were standing on his balcony. It was nighttime and the air was cool, but muggy. We talked about everything; how he is pretty positive that his girlfriend back home is the one, how I didn't know what I was doing with my life anymore, how we think we've changed since coming here. If there's one thing that Ghana has shown me, it's that life isn't as complicated as we make it.

My mind has been running rampant lately. Before coming to Ghana I pictured myself working for an NGO within the next two or three years. Now I don't. I feel really lost at this point. I'm wishing I would have gone into the arts. I'm contemplating making my Global Studies major a minor and then tagging on a Music Minor if at all possible. It seems as though that the only thing that has been constant in my life has been music. There's always been music. It's something that we can all share.. maybe we don't all agree on what is enjoyable, and what isn't, but we all share a love for music. The arts seem to be the only solid thing I see now. They're so integral to human creativity. It's humanity at it's finest.

I see so many different dynamics in Ghana. A guy on my floor drives a Jaguar, while across the street at the Night Market, the people who work at those stands sleep in their stands and their children relieve themselves in a nearby field. Nathan and I think it's strange how humans have set up things in the way that they have. Like the concept of careers. All we need is shelter, clothing, food, water. Why can't we just work for those things for each other? Why complicate it further? When I wonder how we would get all of these other things.. like electronics, cars, etc.. I really realize how materialistic I am. I've become angry with myself lately because I realize that I feel like I need these things. And I can't stop myself from feeling like I need these things. I really don't know what I'd do without my iPod. When I'm at home, I love to buy clothes. I know I'm not the only girl my age that does that, but I still feel terrible. I can't help myself. Even here I constantly wish I could just go clothes shopping. Well, it doesn't help that the girls on campus dress up way more than we do, but regardless. I was telling my friend what I was thinking, and he said that there are a lot of things that we can do to help others, but it seems like sometimes doing things like that wouldn't help anyone even if we didn't indulge.

The one luxury that I've struggled without here is my car. When I'm at home and want to clear my mind, I go driving. I drive and listen to music and just soak in everything. It really bothers me that I don't have that outlet here. I've come the conclusion that I would see so much more of Accra if I did have a car. I would just go drive everywhere, find out where everything is, see everything. As of now I don't have a clear map of the city in my head at all. I take public transportation so I just know some major roads and what some things look like. I feel I could experience so much more if my transportation was unlimited.

To clear my mind here I usually just go on my balcony, burn some incense, and sit down. My recent revelations on life have come in conjunction with meeting a specific person. Whenever I'm with this person I feel very carefree. Life seems simple and enjoyable. This person has had a lot happen to them in their lifetime, but doesn't let it keep them down. I just want to live life. I think that's what everyone really just wants to do. There are so many rules made by governments, religions, societies. And I think that a lot of them are unnatural. It just seems like a game of controlling the next person. That's the thing about humans. We hate to be controlled, but at the same time we try to control everyone else. Everyone deserves to just live their life. Take pleasure in simple things. Be happy with your immediate surroundings. We get so bogged down with societal pressures and other worries that we forget to cherish what we have in front of us.

The people I've met here, who are right in front of me now, are what have made my experience in Ghana. People from all different backgrounds, classes, races, nationalities, sexualities. Definitely there are things that I've learned from just being here physically, but it's mostly the people that make Ghana for me. Even after only being here for a short time there are people I feel I can tell anything. My eyes have been opened like never before. One thing that Nathan and I concluded on was that we've both loosened up a lot since coming here. Neither of us were very uptight in the first place, but we have relaxed quite a bit. Things we weren't able to tolerate before are now normal. However, we feel that when we get back to the States, we think we'll find that we can no longer tolerate other things that we did before. In particular, close-minded people. I know that I won't allow myself to be surrounded with people that can't tolerate difference. I won't have any patience for them.

I don't know what I'm going to do without the people that I'm with right now. I realize that my viewpoint on things is very different from everyone else going home after this semester. I don't know what I would do if I was only doing a semester. There are so many relationships that I've recently acquired that I want to expand on, and the fact that I'm coming back makes it possible. I don't know how I'll handle the end of next semester, though. I think the hardest thing in the world is to be physically detached from those you love. I feel like I've dealt with it quite a bit. And it never gets easier. You just have to believe that if you were meant to be together again, you will be. But you have to make that effort.


That's the Way of the World
by Earth, Wind, & Fire

Hearts of fire creates love desire
Take you high and higher to the world you belong
Hearts of fire creates love desire
High and higher to your place on the throne

We’ve come together on this special day
To sing our message loud and clear
Looking back we’ve touched on sorrowful days
Future pass, they disappear

You will find peace of mind
If you look way down in your heart and soul
Don’t hesitate ‘cause the world seems cold
Stay young at heart ‘cause you’re never (never, never, ..) old at heart

That’s the way of the world
Plant your flower and you grow a pearl
A child is born with a heart of gold
The way of the world makes his heart so cold

Pictures

Hey everyone!

So I've gotten some pictures up on the internet over here. I didn't have time to upload them to all sorts of different sites, so I just put them up on my Facebook account. Here is the link to the photo album so you can all see them!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2505756&l=740ff&id=6856067



These are not really updated yet, so there should be more photos to come sometime soon.
Enjoy!

American Burgers

“Oh, it’s the Nigerians.”

There’s this bad stereotype of Nigerians here. There are these girls on our floor who always scream and run around and stomp their feet early in the morning. When we complained about them to some of our Ghanaian friends, their explanation was that they’re Nigerian. That’s the typical feelings towards Nigerians. They’re seen as partiers and obnoxious. It gets really old hearing Ghanaians say that a person’s annoying because they’re Nigerian. I’ve made friends with some guys on the floor who are Nigerian, and while I can tell that they are definitely different from Ghanaians, they are just as sweet of friends as my Ghanaian buddies. I don’t really know if the stereotype carries outside of campus, but I have a feeling it does. Sometimes I find it refreshing to talk with the Nigerians because they also don’t know Twi. And I’m starting to be able to tell the difference between a Ghanaian accent and a Nigerian accent. There is a huge Nigerian presence on campus. I believe it’s the largest group of non-Ghanaians studying here. It’s definitely interesting to see the differences between the Ghanaians and Nigerians.

Another thing I’m trying to get used to is the intenseness of Christianity. I will get extremely irritated by the Christian Right Wing/ neo-Conservatives in the States, but here it’s on a whole new level. So now I’m just trying to accept it, but it gets hard when people start judging you. Now not all of the people here judge you because of your religious background by any means, but there are the few that kind of attack you for it. I was not raised religious, and I don’t consider it a big part of my life. Once, I was sitting in the hallway of my dorm with my friends Kara and Sanny. A guy and a girl approached us and asked if we had declared Jesus as our Savior. Kara and Sanny are both Christian and replied yes. I didn’t want to lie so I said no, and that I’m not Christian. The two made a face and then asked me if I was Muslim. I said I considered myself Agnostic. I said that I was not raised religious and that I wasn’t too worried about it, and that I am just trying to lead a good life right now. He wouldn’t accept that for an answer. He said that he has studied all the religions, and they all have good parts, but no matter what I do the only way I’ll get to Heaven is through Jesus. I really wanted to reply with, “So, I could go kill 80 people in cold blood, but as long as I declared Jesus as my Savior, I’m good to go?” I didn’t say that. I tried to be as polite as possible without me losing my cool. I told him that I respected his religion and his beliefs and other religions, but I wasn’t going to change myself. He didn’t like that answer either. We eventually got him to go away, and I got really upset after that. Normally I would have just gotten really angry, but instead I ended up crying in front of my friends. They are both very religious, but they were also really upset with the guy. My friends are Christian, but they don’t judge. It was just really hard to hear from someone that no matter what I do, I’m going to Hell. I have two Jewish friends in my program. They’ve also had some hard times dealing with people. It seems to just be something I’ll have to learn to deal with here. And again, the large majority of Christians here are not like that guy; it’s just those few that always seem to stick out to you.

So the last few weekends have been really fun. Two weekends ago I went with about 10 friends to a place called Ada Foah. It was seriously the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. We stayed in huts on the beach and didn’t shower all weekend. And the stars at night were amazing. We were far away from any city, and it was absolutely beautiful. I also saw the most intense shooting star I’ve ever seen. It was just basically a weekend in paradise. We also went to this island where they brew rum from their own sugar cane crop. It was a really surreal little island with sea shells embedded in the ground, kind of giving the effect of a walkway, but they were there naturally.

This last weekend our program went on a trip to the Volta Region. On Saturday we went and swam in this waterfall which is the tallest in Ghana. It felt like being in a hurricane! It was quite magical because there were also hundreds, if not thousands, of bats circling maybe 75 feet above our heads. Then on Sunday we went to a monkey sanctuary. It’s this village that used to see the monkeys as sacred, but with the influx of Christianity, they kind of abandoned their beliefs. But about a decade ago, they decided to turn the area into an ecotourism spot. We were given bananas and then the monkeys would come and either grab them really fast, or, if you were lucky, it would peel it with it still in your hand and then grab the banana from the inside. They were soo cute!

This next weekend I’m going with friends to the qualifier football game for the 2010 World Cup. It’s in an outside town so we’ll probably go there the night before and then wake up early to stand in line for tickets. It’s against Lesotho, and from what I hear we’re pretty much expected to win. It will be amazing to see the Black Stars play (they’re the national team here). Here, as in many other countries, football is way more than just a sport. It’s like a national obsession, a way of life. It brings everyone together in a way that many other things cannot.

Today I went to the Accra Mall to get stuff for burgers (me and three others are making American food tonight), and on our way back we took a taxi because I was running late for something. Driving up the hill towards campus there was a protest. They were students protesting for peaceful elections (the presidential election here is Dec 7), and they were completely infesting the road. These big flatbed trucks full of people drove by and guys were running all around the traffic. They were coming to the cars and asking for money (God knows where the money would go). Guys were running past us yelling, “White ladies! White ladies!” and went up to the cab driver and said, “You have whites in your car, you have a lot of money! Why don’t you give us some?” And one guy tried opening my friend’s door. So we quickly locked the doors and rolled up the windows. It seemed pretty crazy while it was happening, but I guess looking back it wasn’t that bad. It was quite the experience though.

Well… off to make American burgers! Bye!