Junie's Online Thoughts
Friday, May 14, 2004
The day after tomorrow. How immediate that sounds!
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Today is a day for many lasts. My last trotro ride. Last visit to Keneshie market to buy my last batch of fabric. Last walk through Nkrumah Circle. Last lunch at the Indian salad place. Last issue of the P & P (People and Places). Tonight will be my last session of Trivia (Jeremy won last week, I was in the third place team).
Our friends are having a HUGE and well-timed party on Saturday--perfect to celebrate our leaving. Tomorrow is a big day---post office, last gifts, Koala, Jeremy's haircut, the Embassy, the Archives, the used book store, then hopefully enough time to spend the afternoon pool side at the Shangri-la.
We're some crazy busy fools, but our headspace is good. More soon.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
I forgot to tell y'all a story. Last night we went to a goodbye dinner for Lothar and Deanna (leaving for Holland tonight.) On the drive home, we sort of got lost in the maze of little streets leading to our house and suddenly we found ourselves on a dirt stretch that ended in huge piles. It wasnt a complete road! Its been raining the last few days, so the entire stretch had turned to mud, and there was only a car width to drive on with piles of gravel and mud on one side, and a deep deep sewer on the other side. I got out and tried to direct Jeremy backing out, but every time he turned I feared he would plop the tire into the ditch. Then the ladies selling things by lantern along the street joined in, saying that we were going driving speed and they didnt have time to tell us the road was finished. Then a man also joined in the fun, yelling for Jeremy to turn this way and that, then go straight, no, no, no, turn more this way, no, no, turn the other way. Back and forth, back and forth and the car kept slipping more and more toward the trench. Finally another guy showed up and replaced Jeremy behind the wheel. After some maneuvering, he backed the car up out of the muddy piles, and the car once again was on paved road.
As we drove away, we could hear all the mud flying off the wheels--sounding like we were losing parts along the way. When we got into the complex, sure enough---the tires were CAKED in mud. My shoes, while walking alongside the car, had a two inch thick coat of rock-hard mud on them, as did Jeremy's. Then we feared that maybe it was a mixture of cement and mud, so we spent the next chunk of time washing it off. (Of course it wasnt...why would they have huge piles of cement in the road?)
Anyway, at the time it was very stressful for Jeremy (and for me watching him) but later it was just funny to think about.
My mind is a funny thing. Before we booked the tickets, I was full of dread, and panic, and fear. But as soon as we had definate dates to work with, and a timetable, I eased into productivity. And every day I can detach, and really enjoy things here. Yet at the same time, Im really looking forward to things we've missed and am thankful that we're heading home.
Family. Friends. Lilacs. (Ive missed lilacs for six years!!!) Rhubarb. Strawberries and blueberries and blackberries. Peaches. Sweet corn. Thai food. Lakes. Sidewalks and parks. Neighborhood festivals that sell candied nuts and fudge and art. Decent museums. The laundromat and the smell of fabric softener. (One of the best smells on the planet.) Dandelions. The sound of lawn mowers. Birch trees. Cities built on a grid, with drivers who follow the rules. (Mostly.) Long stretches of country roads, with the radio turned up loud and the windows down. Playing Go with my grandmother. A proper Wisconsin donut (frosted with coconut, or a chocolate chocolate frosted donut with white filling, thank you.) The Food Network. The Dekalb Farmer's Market. Toco Giant Liquor Store. Sex in the City (reruns, now that its over...) and Six Feet Under. The Cartoon Network. College radio. Libraries and coffee shops. A Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait. Garage sales. Helping my mom feed the fish in the channel with little pieces of white bread. Buford Highway. The Grand Ole Creamery and Cafe Latte in St. Paul. Squeak, my cat. Earl, my car. Buying a bunch of brand spanking new Shopko underwear. OOOOOh, and buying new bras!!! Wearing my fifty gazillion new tailored clothes stateside. Movie theatres with more than one option. Being cold. Driving past the house I grew up in. Being able to help my sister work on her house. Having dinner with Jeremy's family. Customer service. Earning a paycheck. Getting mail and zines. Having dinner parties. Charis Bookstore. The summer films at the Fox. Did I mention buying new underwear?
On the flipside, there are definite things I'll miss here, too. The beach. Tropical fruit for dirt cheap. (Will I ever be able to buy four pineapples for 85 cents ever again?) The relaxed vibe. Being treated specially because Im a guest (and quite frankly, because Im a white foreigner). Hearing "You are welcome" or general greetings on the street by strangers. The markets. Palm trees. The same twenty street vendors I see on a regular basis. Vera, my tailor. The weird dog in our complex, and the mama cat who keeps breeding and shrinking. The rooftop. Friends. Fufu and ground nut stew. Hot kelewele. Trotros. Hearing drivers communicate through honking their horns, and the chaotic but functioning clusterf*ck that is Accra traffic. Buying tofu from the same Chinese restaurant, and the workers recognizing us without having to ask for "beancurd." A gust of cool wind on a steamy hot day. The pure water girls. Using "next time..." as an excuse to get out of everything. So much free time you could spit. Being able to read piles of books. Buying bootleg VCDs on the street for under $2. Colorful fabric. Buying something off of someone's head. Kokrobite and Big Milly's. Knowing that if I travelled for half a day, I could see elephants, hippos, monkeys or crocodiles. Carrying a big bag of pure water on my head and feeling all tough, and then seeing someone with a hundred-pound stack on their head and knowing Im just a lameass. The P & P. Being able to buy just about anything while seated in your car at a stop light. Mangoes and avocadoes that are so sweet, they're like dessert. Malta. My Ghanaian life, which was hard and wonderful and eye-opening and long and short and challenging and a pure gift.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
We're leaving, yes indeedy. And boy, it feels strange.
I've become highly organized in the last few days, which is reassuring for some reason. I thought I'd lost my efficiency abilities a long time ago, but here they are.
I've been steadily shifting the house into piles, readying the things to be packed, and scheduling people to see before we leave. Six days is very short, but Jeremy brought up a good point last night. By and large, this is the easiest move logistically we've ever had since we started college. We have so little stuff compared to an apartment in the states...the contents of our lives here will fit into four suitcases and two carry ons. We dont even need to rent a U-Haul!
After a hectic week, we're leaving Sunday night on KLM. We get into Atlanta Monday afternoon, then leave a few hours later for Minnesota. We'll be in MN/WI for a month or so, all the details after our arrival on Monday are fuzzy at best.
So, I'll blog when I can. See you all soon....
Monday, May 10, 2004
Happy (late) Mother's Day, all you mommies out there.
We are a bunch of live wires, and my brain is running like a hamster in a wheel.
After Conect, we're off to KLM to change tickets again. More later when I know what's happening for sure. But we'll be in MN before the next two weeks, and probably sooner.
The surgery for Mike is schedule within the next week-ish, so we'd like to be back before then to see him.
Don't know when I'll blog....we have soooooo much to do before we leave town, and I don't really know how well I'll process leaving Ghana for good when the timetable has been upped. But so it goes, and here we go....
