I'm still here I swear!

The lack of internet here has meant a lot of adjustments but unfortunately for you all, it means much longer blog entries. Sorry about that L But here goes…I’ve tried to split it up into sections. As usual, bounce around as you wish!

Social Life

What? I have one? Ha, sort of. I do at least have much more of a social network than I’d expected.

* Mary and her family have been a consistently amazing presence in my life. I met up with Mary and her family again Sunday before last, and brought along Melissa. They have definitely become our proxy family here. Her daughter’s friend Seiwah and I now chat every now and then on the phone just to catch up. She always ends our chats with “You be good.” As if I know who or where to go to be bad. I don’t. Don’t worry parents.

* My roommates! I cannot tell you how wonderful it’s been to have roommates. When Osato first moved in, I initially thought I’d prefer the room by myself for whatever crazy reasons I’d built up in my head…I think it was comparable to when I thought I’d prefer a studio apartment last summer in NYC and then adored living with Maria and Adrienne . Note to self, I like living with new people. Needless to say, I’ve really enjoyed having Osato and Melissa here. We get along great and are definitely there for each other to both laugh and vent. We’re all different for sure, but we’ve formed a great little unit and support system for each other. Osato is a bit older than us and has become our mama bird here. It doesn’t hurt that her family’s from Nigeria and she doesn’t let anyone mess with Melissa or me. It’s awesome. And she’s definitely rubbed off on me – whenever I’m getting from place to place on my own, I find myself trying to emulate Osato. She’s just a great woman. And Melissa and I are the same year in school so we have a lot in common. Her brother is actually going to Vanderbilt next year!

And two more roommates just arrived day before yesterday! The house is definitely livelier than when I first moved in. Erika is actually coming back for her second summer with an architecture firm here in Accra. She’s also the same year as me. Erika is a little quiet but as a return volunteer, also knows a ton about the area and started to open up about her experiences last night. And Evan is here to teach/play sports with kids enrolled in a school program for homeless children. He’s pretty extroverted and so far, our new house group has been getting along great.

* Timothy and Chloe! They both stayed at our accommodation for one night before heading out to their placement at the Liberian refugee camp about an hour away. But we keep in touch during the week and we actually traveled together this past weekend. They go to school together at Johns Hopkins and are just a year younger.

*Vandy in Accra? Well I’m sure it doesn’t compare to the Upper East Side Vandy presence but we are here. Thanks to Gabe, I found out that his friend Leah was here working. And then after contacting Leah, she told me that another Vandy grad, Kris, just moved here to work at the same company with her. So last week, Osato, Melissa, Leah and Sue (she stayed here just a few nights before moving on to her placement) met them for dinner and it was a blast! I’d actually had a Soc class with Kris sophomore year. And because we all got along so great, we’re all going to trivia night tomorrow at Champs Bar at Paloma Hotel, which is just a short walk from the Ikando accommodation.

*Ghanaian friends? That I randomly run into? Sort of! It all began with an incredibly sweet girl named Talya. Talya studied at University of Ghana at Legon this past semester and volunteered at Mrs. Dove’s center a few times a week. Out of incredible good fortune, she came in two Wednesdays ago to say goodbye to the kids and we hit it off great. And she was nice enough to invite me out with her friends the next night for her 21^st birthday.

So that Thursday night I found myself taking the tro-tro to the University to meet them for dinner. Her boyfriend, who she met in Cape Coast, cooked us all an amazing meal. And after dinner we all went out in Osu for ice cream at Frankie’s and dancing at Epo’s. It was the best time I’d had here so far. All of her boyfriend’s friends from Cape Coast came with us and no offense to any of the wonderful men in my life, but they can definitely dance better than all of you (even you, Dad). I had the best time with all of them. Talya and her two girl friends are actually dating three of the guys, and I was left to dance with Fish Bone. Did I mention all of the guys are Rastas? Ha, it was awesome – and definitely unique. And it was great to meet her boyfriend and his friends from Cape Coast because I already knew at that point I’d be headed there for the weekend.

So anyways, the unexpected encounters happened during our trip to Cape Coast two weekends ago. We were sitting down to lunch at Oasis Hotel and Fish Bone walked in to talk to someone. And there we were. So he came over to say hi and chat. It was a crazy coincidence. And then Talya’s friend Lauren’s boyfriend came to the bar at the restaurant for a drink. So we also caught up for a few. But then a few hours later, in a completely different area of Cape Coast, Melissa, Osato and I were walking down the street and a complete stranger grabbed my arm to tell me my friend was looking for me just down the street. And there was Fish Bone once again. It was the most ridiculous experience. ‘My friend’ in Cape Coast was just down the way and wanted to chat.

Marriage

To be clear, I’m not getting married. And I’m not engaged. But the number of marriage proposals I have received is absolutely absurd. If a girl really wanted to get married... I swear to you...Ghana's the place. And it’s not offensive or threatening in any way. Sometimes it is difficult to get them to drop the subject but from what Mercy at Ikando and my boss have conveyed to me, it’s just their way of flattering obroni ladies that they meet. Some of them are somewhat serious though. If they continue to push the subject, they’ll tell you that they’d like to discuss marriage so they can come and live with me in America. I suppose today’s proposal is one of the better instances I can try to share:

I get on the tro-tro to Nima from work.

Immediately, the ‘mate’ – the man that lets people on and collects money- smiles from ear to ear and says, “Hello white lady.”

I sit just behind him and as soon as the tro-tro gets moving, he turns to me and says, “I love you”. I turn to him and say, “You fall too easily.”

He retorts, “I would like to marry you.” And I say, “And I would like to alight at Nima Overpass.”

“But I love you and I want to marry you.”

“But I’ve had too many marriage proposals already. I’m sorry.”

At this point, the old woman next to me is laughing. So I turn to her for support and tell him, “Even she knows. You men fall too easily for the obroni ladies.” Everyone else in the tro-tro started laughing. It was probably the best community experience I’ve had so far. Then, one of the other ladies behind me asked me how I was in Twi and I answered in Twi. Which was mind-blowing to them. I was quick to let them know it was about all I knew how to say :)

But even after I’d formed these friends in the tro-tro, the mate continued to pursue marriage.

“You should give me your number. I can take care of you.” I told him, “I appreciate the thought but I’m just fine on my own.” At this point, the driver is now laughing at his mate.

When he realized he wasn’t getting anywhere with me, he said, “You could give me a white lady friend.” All I could manage was, “Excuse me? Give you a friend? What even makes you think I have so many white lady friends here. Do you see lots of white ladies walking around Nima? I’m sorry, I can’t give you a friend.”

I have to at least recognize his effort I suppose. He really didn’t relent – he continued to ask for my address in the States so he could come and visit. I mean, the level of audacity is impressive but clearly not anything to answer back to. And I’m truly never rude to any of the men. The marriage conversations are always comical; so really no matter how many times I reject, I almost always have a smile on my face. And they’re really not offended by the rejection; while they may persist, they do seem to have some level of understanding of how genuinely outrageous their proposals are.

Anyways, it’s starting to get late and I need to head back to the house. But I’ll come back tomorrow and add some school and travel updates I promise. Love to all and can’t wait to actually speak to you soon!!!