Junie's Online Thoughts
Friday, March 26, 2004
Sometimes Ghana is so absolutely surreal, that it just makes me laugh all day. This morning I left the house. On the way, this small girl who has taken to following me everywhere I go and asking to live with me, tailed me for a bit. I tried to buy her a FanIce but it was too melted and there were no bike FanIce vendors around. I told her "Next time" and went on my way.
As I reached Oxford Street, I passed Papaye Chicken restaurant. In front of it was a booth with balloons and pink/purple banners. There was a big van parked nearby, chock full of packages of pads and pantyliners. They were giving away/selling feminine hygiene products! I laughed and continued walking. I stopped to say hello to the owner of a bar that we go to (although it took me a second to recognize him. You know when you only see someone at one location, and when you see them somewhere else, you just cant place who the hell they are?) when I saw four guys dressed in pink and purple, blowing whistles and walking in the tallest stilts I've ever seen. I asked my friend what they were doing and he didnt know. Maybe they have their information written on their t-shirts. Sure enough...the stilt guys were also advertising feminine hygiene products! There was a fifth stilt guy way in the back, looking a bit shaky. I sent him a glance, hoping he wouldnt fall. He would really hurt himself!
I laughed some more at the "parade," something that would never happen back home, and walked to the bank. Stevie Wonder is coming to Ghana next Saturday and I wanted to buy tickets. REcently at the Ghana Music Awards, tickets were 250,000 each, so I assumed they would be the same. (Thats about $30.) I made the quick jaunt over to QCD, a fancy CD store, only to find the tickets were either 450,000, 550,000 or ONE MILLION CEDIS!!! That's $50, $60 or $110!!! That's American prices. He's playing at the Civic Center, which has really crappy sound quality, and is playing with a bunch of opening acts. The concert itself is a fundraiser for a Mobile book organization, and the radio stations here have been promoting a contest affiliated with the concert. This Saturday, one of the Adabraka neighborhood dance clubs is hosting an audition. Ghanaians can compete and whoever sings the best will have the chance to sing to Stevie at the concert. So while it would be interesting, every single event we've ever gone to here has been less than satisfying...and $100 is a lot for us to go. We'll think about it.
I met Jeremy for lunch. He had been to the Embassy clinic to get his leg checked out. No worms, as I feared, but just a small infection. He bought some salve and it should clear up. We stopped in to a towel/rug store, and then I got to laugh some more. Its so funny....customer service here in a store consists of this: You enter. The salesclerks who have been napping, stand up. They walk over to you. They dont actually ask "Can I help you?" or "What do you want?" Instead they just stand really close to you and follow you around the store. That's good customer service! I dont understand where that came from, but every single salesclerk does it. It totally baffles and amuses me.
After buying tofu, we're now at the Internet Cafe before stopping by the post office and then home to make soup. (Jeremy's mom sent us barley, and its mushroom season, so we're going to have yummy mushroom veggie tofu barley soup.)
Tonight we might see a movie at Busy with Mark. I bought two Nigerian videos today on the street, but Jeremy's laptop is completely screwed up and we cant watch movies anymore, let alone do anything computer related. FIgures. We fix the CD burner, but now have no functional laptop to run the program. ARGH!
But its been a wacky day in Ghana, and any day that makes me laugh and make fun of my surroundings instead of blowing up into a rage is a VERY GOOD DAY!!!
Thanks to Trish, Leah, Mom and Gma for the mail. We love mail!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Much love and healing vibes to my sister and Chris. I love you both and we're thinking about you every day.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Its been a while. Connect was really ticking me off, so Im at Busy today.
We had a good weekend, overall. Thursday we went to Trivia. The previous week, the Irish group had won, so this week was all about Irish (also in honor of St. Patrick's Day). We didnt do so well, but at least we didnt have to worry about winning. On Friday we went to the National Theatre to see two compound-mates, who are dancers, perform a fusion of ballet and AFrican dance. Some parts were a bit unclear, but for the most part it was really good. Saturday we met up with Jon for Ethiopian. He's such a character. He's a Canadian researcher studying Ga medicine, and he's the one who took us to meet the shrine priests a while back. He lives in Jamestown, a really seedy slumish area where a lot of fishermen live and work. He's tall and cocky, so he can handle himself pretty easily. He's had his phone stolen three times, almost been in fights, had to chase theives through the neighborhood, you name it. Im happy to hear his adventures through him, rather than having to live them myself. I prefer our quiet Osu apartment.
Anyway, the Bentu priest, who we met, is one of Jon's usual informants. Every time he goes, he asks about potions and the ingredients. At first, he had told Jon that a love potion consisted of lipstick, perfume, hair and that sort of stuff. But when he was with us, and Jon prompted him again, the priest said that love potions needed bloody clothes from an accident victim, animal brains, and other really graphic, slightly scary stuff. Since then, Jon has been poking him a bit more about ingredients and doubted that such things were really necessary. While at the Korle-Bu Hospital, he visited the morgue. He asked one of the workers there if any fetish priests ever came to the morque for blood or clothing from dead folks. Much to his surprise, the worker said yes! After the person clothing is removed, and the body is taken away (or held until the funeral), people will come by the morgue and buy the discarded clothes, any leftover blood, the hair and fingernails. That is just so unsanitary....and a bit freaky.
Yesterday we sat around the house, made a quick trip to Koala and supported our friend, Ross, who's in the middle of a bad, bad breakup right now.
Today Im trying to play catch up on emails and calls....and trying to convince myself that I can do everything on my to-do list. We'll see. Tonight is Ami, Jeremy's friend's, going away dinner with yummy Indian food.
STarted looking through the England guidebooks. Its shocking how expensive things are, especially hotels and hostels. That will break us, I think. I tried to call the British High Commission, but the call wouldnt go through. I'll keep trying....I got to find me a job!!!!
