This picture below was taken for my Braden. Ash, show it to him because I know he loves the Spidermans! This little man is one of my favorites and it helps when he reminds me of B!!
May 15, 2012
As I sit here writing this, we are in the dark. The current is barely strong enough to give power to our energy strip right now but thankfully it is enough to charge my computer though not enough to turn on the lights, refrigerator, tv, or anything big. One big problem with such spotty power is the fact that our food spoils because it cannot be kept cold. I am actually super surprised that I haven’t gotten sick yet because the food is prepared in conditions that do not seem entirely sanitary. But, I must give credit to the fact that Mama has cooked this way for her whole life and she is alive and well. So I will be fine. This morning I went into work early to catch male ward rounds at the hospital. I walked in and Emergency ward was completely empty, not one patient was admitted, and there were only 2 males in the male ward. It is very interesting because I have been observing female ward rounds for a little over a week now and the beds are always full and rotating patients in and out. The female to male ration must be very un proportional. Since there were so few patients, there was nothing I could do because the Dr. was not even doing rounds so I decided to go to the Devotional. The Hospital is sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist church, Mama is a member of their congregation. Consequently, many of the nurses and employees at the hospital are members of that church so they hold a devotional every morning to uplift their day. So I went this morning and though I could not understand anything the preacher was saying I was looking through the hymn book and there were quite a few hymns that we have as well. Some of my favorites even. It is fun to see how other religions worship; there is a mosque nearby and quite a few Muslims around as well so Jackie and I are going to go to their service sometime. This experience definitely facilitates learning in every single aspect. I hit a bit of a stumbling block this morning when I was observing rounds with one of the Doctors and it was kind of frustrating. There are three Doctors at the hospital, two of which I had met and worked with a lot. One of which I had never seen nor met. This morning he was the one doing female ward rounds and as I have been invited to observe rounds I began to follow and observe as I have been doing with the other Doctors. Apparently he had not been informed that Jackie and I were here, neither why we were here so I understand where he was coming from but as I was observing he turned to me and said ‘what are you writing about us’ which took me by surprise…the rest of our interaction was abrupt and uncomfortable as I tried to explain my purpose in being at the hospital in Ghana, but with everything I said he seemed to have a reason why I shouldn’t be observing him. I took that as my cue to leave and I went to go find Jackie so we could go get donuts for breakfast. I was a little bit shaken up by it because it was in front of all the nurses doing rounds and the entire female ward and I naturally started freaking out about whether I am going to be able to do my research or not. I have calmed down by now and my problem solving mode is in full force because I have got to build a relationship with him so he will allow me to do my research, if he doesn’t I am going to have to find an entirely different avenue to explore and seeing as I am already 2 weeks in, that would be difficult. A literature review would be impossible, and my professor and mentor is only accessible by email but I cannot live at the café. So I am praying that I can work out the kinks and figure out the best possible way to do my research and to approach this Doctor without him thinking I am studying him as a specimen or something. It was internet café and market day again so we went into Agona after work to email our families and professors. Once again, I was just beaming with joy and I look forward to Tuesdays and Sundays most here I think. I love hearing from my family and friends and being able to communicate with them. We bought a gas cylinder today so that we can start cooking with the gas stove we bought for whenever we want to cook something but Mama is not home or whatever the circumstance calls for. It was expensive but it will be cheaper for Mama in the long run because while we are here, and when she leaves she can use it and just buy gas instead of charcoal which is expensive because it gets used up very fast. The market is always an adventure and it is fun to be there. before the market we stopped at Mama’s sisters bar…she is the mother of Junior, Prince, Unis, and Ivan and Mama bought us Fanta and chicken to eat because we had not eaten since our quest for donuts this morning was a fail. I had a really nice experience with an outdoor bathroom,
its not much of anything really but I figured it out. TIA. Im going to be such a good camper when I return. Dont worry I didnt take my shoes off in the bathroom but here is the first stage of my Chaco tan line! Going to the bathroom has become far less of a private matter to me than it used to be. The bathroom at Mama’s house is so dark and hot all the time that I stopped shutting the door, it is back in the corner but still someone could walk right back and there I am. It also helps with the smell. Not to mention all the big windows in the bathrooms at the hospital and church. I don’t know why there is a window but I just wave to the world as I enter and do my thang. Sorry family, I might never shut the door again when I use the restroom. and sorry if that was TMI. It started raining as we were leaving the market and there was the most beautiful rainbow across the sky. Much better than seeing rainbows against buildings at home, rainbow against jungle is amazing. Bean stew again for dinner. Let me tell you the first time I have a meal it is like heaven, but by the 5th meal of the same meal for 3 days in a row…it starts to taste like nothing. Luckily Mama gave us avocado tonight because we mixed the bean stew with rice and avocado so it was better tasting but anything on the third day is not the best. I am getting used to the leftovers for life philosophy though.
May 16, 2012
Today is my Trenter’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUTTHA! I hope Arizona treats you well. For your birthday I hope you are taking all the power in my village because we still do not have power, going on Day 4. Thankfully there are random spurts that allow me to charge my computer which is crucial because I have to take 5 single spaced pages of descriptive field notes every day for my research and without power that is a real struggle. BUT the warm water and lack of a fan are getting to be a real struggle. Oranges are in season here but and at first we could smell them but couldn’t find them because the rind is actually green. We tried a blood orange yesterday but it didn’t taste good so we got regular orange oranges at the market and split it with our oatmeal for breakfast today. We both felt a little strange last night so we got in bed early and watched a movie and were a little bit worried that it may have been from the food but luckily when we woke up this morning we felt fine so I am sure we will be okay. Mama yelled to us this morning that a lady had come to do our wash, it was 5:45. Jackie told her last night that we wanted to get our clothes washed and she is so prompt! We got her all our clothes and I went and laid back in bed for the next hour because I wasn’t ready to be awake, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my time today either because I want to wait to go back to the hospital til I have the proper letter so I just laid in bed this morning listening to a conference talk and made a plan. I decided to walk through town with Jackie on her way to work and we found the donuts we have been looking for. Even though we had just eaten we bought some and man are they good. so far I think that I like the fried food here the best, and the fruit. I went and did rounds with her in the maternal health ward just because and the babies were so small, smaller than any newborn I have ever seen. It was also interesting because the people here have very dark skin but the babies are pretty light. I went back to MCH and decided to go observe people on the street. Now that I am in mega anthropologist mode I just have to observe most of the time because I still do not have IRB approval. I need to do revisions but my computer is about to die and we don’t have power so I don’t know when I will do that. I want to send it back in by Friday because I want to get going on my interviews but I cant because of the dang IRB. So I observed for about an hour and talked to some school children and went with them to get their lunch so I could see what they were doing and I met a little girl who spoke very good English and who said she lives near me. I forgot her name though because I cant pronounce it. she was so cute and I love hanging out with the kids. One little girl’s bow wasn’t tied on her uniform so I tied it and they loved it so I tied a few more and the women at the food stand where the kids were buying their food were just laughing. The little boys just try to flirt and the girls want to touch my hair and hold my hand. I wish I could just hang out with them all the time, the children are so sweet. I just realized that I haven’t washed my hair since the last time Jackie helped me…it is so dang hard. Maybe we will play salon again in a little bit so I can wash this mane. When I went back into the MCH one of the ladies was drinking coconut milk out of a coconut and Jackie told me to look because I have been wanting to try that. i went and sat down and a few minutes later Sarah, one of the nurses had brought me a coconut.
These people are so kind and observant and want to do things for you promptly, I feel like I don’t deserve it. But I drank coconut milk out of a coconut and ate the insides with a spoon! It was cool, and it tasted less coconuty than I had imagined it would. Afterward I went to the market in my village to observe and hang out and this drunk man sat down at my table. it took my about 30 minutes to convince him that I was not going to marry him in Ghana or in America. I made up a whole story about my boyfriend back home who I was planning to marry because he would not let up. I finally just had to cease my observations and leave. Im going to feel so unpopular when I go back home for the lack of proposals. Haha when I came home Mama fed me bean stew and rice, even though I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten so much earlier. And just about an hour and a half later when Jackie got home she fed us again because she had prepared ground nut soup which I thought would taste more like peanut curry than it did. I am sweating my brains out here and eating hot meals all the time does not help.
Now that I am over my pity party about food and being hot…we just had the BEST night it was so fun! We were in one of the nicer taxis on our way to Wiamoase which always makes for a more pleasant experience in the first place and driving through is like driving straight through the jungle. The driver had soft Rasta music playing, unlike the usual loud talk radio and the sun was at a point in the sky where it was just beginning to set so it made the green look even greener. It was honestly breath-taking and I think I was just sitting forward with the biggest smile on my face because it was such an incredible sight.
In moments like those I really understand why I am here. The reason we went to Wiamoase tonight was for Natalie’s birthday. I saw a recipe in the newspaper the other day for fritters which looked like crepes so Jackie and I decided to make them for Nat’s birthday. It was still light outside when we arrived so we sat down to play cards for an hour, I tell ya I’m going to get so good! We though the light would come back on ay any minute because apparently there was an announcement saying it should, but it didn’t. So we made crepes in the dark. Flashlights and headlamps made it a real experience but man they were good! We made nutella, peanut butter, and banana crepes and I don’t think I have ever inhaled something so fast in my life. They were honestly amazing. Natalie had a pack of oreos that she brought out too so we were just in sugar heaven. King did not love the crepes because he isn’t used to sugar like that but Matilda, one of the girls who lives with Nat and Cassie, and Madame Esther, their mother, tried them and loved them. After eating the power came back on so I ran and plugged in my computer and we had a dance party. We didn’t realize it but we had a crew gathered watching us over the wall of Madame Esther’s courtyard. Everyone thinks we are nuts. It was such a fun night though we had a lot of sugar and a lot of laughs, and the power came back on. Coming home I REALLLLY needed to wash my hair so I had Jackie help me again. TIA. Love it.
May 17, 2012
Well wouldn’t ya know the power shut right back off this morning. Luckily we got the fan last night but I was planning on doing a lot of computer work today, no such luck. It is now 4 in the afternoon and the light is still off. Its almost been a week now. It made me uneasy for most of the day and it was hard to enjoy today because I was so worried about my computer dying. I just finished my revisions for my IRB and now have barely enough to type this, but definitely not enough to write up any field notes which is super important to my research so I don’t know what I am going to do. the problem is that I am supposed to write them up as soon after I observe things as is possible and have been told not to sleep on it because then I loose crucial moments and data in my mind. Oh well, its my first research project, I guess it is not going to be perfect. And it definitely has not been. If the power doesn’t come back I may not even be able to go into the café to print off the papers I need and further observation at the hospital will be postponed but I will just have to figure out what to do. Jackie was up all night throwing up. We don’t know if she was just hot or if it was something she ate because for the most part we eat exactly the same things but she tries some stuff off of the streets that I don’t when people offer it to her at work though it could just be her body telling her to take a break from the heat and the sun. We went to bed after 10 last night which never happens so we slept in until 7 and I got ready and went and fetched eggs so that we could have fried eggs with avocado for breakfast because Jackie said that sounded good to her stomach. I like taking care of people I realized, it feels good to be needed to go get things and to bring it back to help make them feel better. After breakfast I had planned to work on my IRB for a few hours but I was holding out to see if the light would come back so I read my scriptures for about 45 minutes and it was the end of 2 Nephi which is the BEST. Its all about following the Savior and repentance and salvation and eternal life etc…I never wanted to stop reading! Reading the scriptures here in a new context brings to light so many things that I have never really pondered and understood before when reading. It is so cool. THE LIGHT IS ON THE LIGHT IS ON THE LIGHT IS ON!!!! It is 8:18 and the light came on about 10 minutes ago. Because of the huge rain storm something damaged the high wires big time and so they were working working working on it. But its fixed. Almost a week without the power, this is glorious. Im most excited to be able to do my school though now I am exhausted from the heat of the day and don’t want to sit here for two hours writing up field notes. Oh well. Type I shall. But first, to finish off about my day…After breakfast of fried egg and avocado, scriptures, and contemplating if I wanted to risk using my computer, I decided to wander around out in the village to try to meet people. that is harder than it sounds. I wandered over to the neighbors houses and I was just exploring because I realized I wasn’t even really sure about what is around me and I talked to a few people who spoke very poor English but the rest of the time I just felt like I was intruding. Like I was walking right through someones life and they did not know why I was there. Which is probably true. After awhile I didn’t exactly know where I was so I wandered back home. I decided to keep waking rather than stop at the gate and go back home and I walked into the konya market place where a funeral was being held. My drunk boyfriend from yesterday was there, luckily, and tried to woo me again, along with others. All the men here love me. Even the ones that are like Dad’s age. Im literally a celebrity here. I walked through the school yard to get there and the kids were out for their lunch or recess break and they were freaking out, more than usual. Just screaming ‘obruni where are you going’ ‘how are you?’ and running up to me to grab my hand. No matter how many times I answer, they still ask. King said that is the first thing they really learn in English so they want to use it. But after being overwhelmed by all the children, then came the marriage proposals. Just a day in the life of a white American in Ghana. The funeral was cool though, more interesting than the one I went to in Wiamoase because the casket was there so I got to see what they actually did which was cool. While they walked the casket to the cemetery I walked back and Abigail, a nurse at the hospital was behind me, she lives 2 houses down which I did not know. She invited me in to her house and introduced me to her sister and I saw the BEST THING EVER!!! CHAD AND TRENT I HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS…so there are drapes hanging over every door frame for when the door is open but you want to keep the bugs out and so Im walking up to meet Abigails sister and I notice a fabric that is very familiar to me but I think to myself that there is NO WAY it could be…it was. Lo and behold, her curtain/drape thing was the Dinosaur fabric of the Dino blankets that you boys used to have on your beds in Orem. The ones that have red, blue, green, and yellow Dinos on them that mom and dad painted the bunk beds to match. I was freaking out and was trying to tell her why I was so excited but she was very confused because she didn’t speak English so Abigail was just laughing and trying to explain to her. Everyone thinks Im nuts I think. But anyway, Abigail showed me her room and she has carpet. I took my shoes off so fast because I never walk around barefoot here. It was so nice to feel something soft on my feet. She then showed me her photo albums and we chatted and I learned that there is a swimming pool at a hotel close by. Who knew! We can go swim there even, Mama said she would take Jackie and I. I don’t know what im going to swim in but I don’t really care. Im just so excited! After that Abigail put some music on her phone and we danced around for awhile in her room to Azonto. Later I had to go out to get medicine for Jackie and Mama and once again, celeb…especially when I am alone because I am getting all the attention and it isn’t split between Jackie and I…but these school boys were around the corner of the school and were hacking away at the tall grass with their machetes and came up and started asking me for everything I owned which made me feel weird but then one of them started singing Azonto so I started dancing and they about died laughing and dancing. I did some work on my IRB when I got home and then booze mans relative came over. He lived in America for 25 years so we talked to him for a long time. We were telling him where we went to school and I said BYU and he thought for a minute and said oh ‘Brigham Young’. He then proceeded to tell us how he had met this guy once, Gordon B. Hinckley, and asked if we knew him. Jackie and I laughed and then talked to him a little bit about school and how we knew who Gordon B. Hinckley was. This man was investigating the church for a little bit and some Elder he knew took him to Salt Lake just to meet Gordon B. Hinckley. He couldn’t remember the Elders name but I have a feeling it was a general authority because I don’t know anyone that can just bring you to meet the prophet. It was fun to talk to him about America though. After chatting for awhile I went out with King for a tour of the town because there are many places that I hadn’t seen yet. As a side note: word spread fast about my Azonto dancing because people would just start singing it and run over to me and get me to dance. King and I walked through the neighborhoods which are nothing like I imagined and then way back into the more jungly areas. It was sweet, I was in heaven and my imagination was running wild. I wanted my dear brothers to be with me so bad because we could have the most awesome adventures here!! 
But King will have adventures with me and he is great so it will do. it was interesting walking through with King because he would make comments about the way each different section smelled, that was one part about it that I did not really notice, I wonder if I will get to that point where I will recognize the subtle but distinct smells of different parts of the village. The light was still off when I got back so I just did some cleaning since it wasn’t quite dark and then I read a book with the lantern once it got dark, around 7. At one point the sky was pitch black and the stars were soooo bright, it was awesome. I love nights like that. The sky is such an amazing thing, there is no way it just happened. For all things denote that there is a God.
May 18, 2012
I think my ankles swell up here because it is so hot because when I lay down at night or when I just plop down to write and I put my feet up, it feels tingly and weird like when you sprain your ankle and walk it off, it is between the stage of feeling like it is healing from hurt or tingling because of some other odd sensation. Its weird, anyway today was the first day we had power all day. Thank goodness. I went into Agona to send in my revisions to the IRB today and in my brain it was absolutely foolproof so hopefully they approve it. I can’t start to do any interviews until I have that approval so I am hoping they just send it on through since the conclusion of this next week will mean that I have been here for a month. After Agona I went to the hospital and it felt like going home. I had missed that place and the nurses I had gotten to know over the last two weeks being there. It helps when I can actually be in the place where I am doing the majority of my research for me to feel my purpose here and to not be freaking out about where I need to observe and what information I am missing out on etc… I really enjoy talking to Salid and Elvis and the other nurses because we can laugh and they teach me a lot while I teach them things too so I like those relationships. Isaac came in so we could give him our official letters of introduction to give to the Doctor who wanted them and he said that he has no problem with us being there and Salid was excited to have me back after not going in for a few days so I have a feeling that it will all be fine. I think that I will just stay away and not observe the Doctor who wasn’t all that down for me observing him because it will just keep that complication out of the way. Jackie still was not feeling well so we headed home around lunch time. We had bought a pineapple in Agona walking from the café to the taxis and some rock buns which are sweet biscuits kind of so we ate that at home and it was goooood. Jackie laid down to rest and I decided to go out and play soccer with the kids. They had a holiday off school today for some reason. I played with them for awhile but then they started fighting over who got to play and the older kids were being bullies to the younger kids so I decided to sit out so that all the little kids could play too but then they all just followed me underneath the mango tree. They have a ladder up against the tree so they can climb up and get mangoes, the mango trees are super tall, I climbed the tree and probably 6 of the kids followed me. I assume that they thought I have never climbed a tree before because every time I climbed a little higher they would say be careful be careful, its dangerous, and every single eye was on me. I just wanted to get a mango. Even though a few had climbed higher than me by that point, so I finally just hung out and looked around and enjoyed the splendor of the moment. Climbing trees makes you feel so free and it is as if there is not a care in the world to intrude on that moment. Looking down and seeing all those little faces looking back up at me put the biggest smile on my face. The children here seem so pure and innocent. They aren’t tainted by technology with faces glued to iPhones and toys. They just play outside together all the time and use leaves to make fan toys or lids to buckets to roll around and of course they play a lot a lot of soccer. When I got too hot I decided to go inside and I just hung out with Jackie and Mama for awhile. When Mama started making dinner I asked her if I could help, she said yes but that really meant that I could sit and watch her cook while we talked. I guess just talking with her while she cooked was good enough. It is amazing how much time is spent cooking here. The meal took over two hours to prepare and it is one thing when you are cooking a full on 5 course meal with appetizers and desserts and things but this was just for a stew. 2 hours. I guess that is just the convenience in me but man it was a long time to just sit there and cook and cut and mash and constantly be adding things to the stew but it was fun to just observe Mama and talk to her about her role as a woman in this community and such. She loves to cook also so it helps, she says that cooking is her hobby so I don’t feel bad anymore when she spends like 4 hours cooking and then sits down for a few hours just to start cooking again, she loves it. While chatting with her and observing how she cooks and things I also was reading a book intermittently, I was reading “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver which I have read before, a long time ago but Jackie had it so on our down time we like to read. I was at a part where they were observing the first rain storm of summer and she was describing the storm in such beautiful detail. It really made me appreciate the rain storms here. Yea it is hard because they almost always knock the power out and we were now going on a week without real power but I really just had to remember to enjoy the rain and the beauty of this cycle that comes to replenish the earth. God really knew what he was doing when He created this Earth, He hit every single aspect. It is amazing to think about the cycles of death and re-birth that are so prominent in our lives. It happens all around us, all the time, not just with humans or animals but in the most common of occurrences. Rainstorms bring back the water that the people here need greatly in order to feed their crops, which in turn feed their mouths and keep them alive. It really is a beautiful cycle. There is a quote where the author is talking about the smell of rain and it really stood out to me it says “I wondered if the smell was really so great, or if it just seemed that way to us because of what it meant”. I don’t know why it hit me so hard but I read it a few times and thought about my personal perceptions of things. I started thinking about this experience and just what it means to me. There were a lot of days this week where I woke up feeling uneasy and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do or how I was going to get data for the day since I couldn’t go to the hospital and it was really stressing me out just being here but this quote made me think about the sights and smells of Africa, here and now, and what they mean to me. They mean a lot. They mean that I have reached this goal I have been working towards for 2 years just in the fact that I am able to be here. They mean that I am living as these people do and learning from them in ways that I could not learn anywhere else or at any other place or time. They mean that I am following God’s plan for me and taking steps towards whatever it is that is in my future and each day really IS so great…because of what it means to me.
A ton of people came through the gate selling things to Mama tonight; she is such a popular woman. She doesn’t think so but there are always people coming to chat with her. She is so selfless and she just loves to serve everybody. When it got late I was thinking about just getting ready for bed but Jackie wanted to watch a movie because we had gotten a random spurt of power, I responded that I was pretty tired and wanted to get enough sleep and Jackie said something to the effect of ‘its Friday night, we can stay up later!’ I laughed when she said that because I forgot what it felt like to ever stay up late or to have a weekend really. The days are all very similar here so I had just forgotten what a Friday night was I think. We decided to ask if Mama and King wanted to watch the movie with us so we set it all up in the living room with King’s speakers and we watched ‘She’s the Man’, an all time favorite of mine. I was a little bit nervous about what they would think but Mama loved it! She was laughing the whole time and her commentary was hysterical.
May 19, 2012
Today was another lazy Saturday. We slept in until 8 because we had gone to bed around midnight Friday night and when we woke up we decided to do a Jillian workout video since running last week hurt my back too bad. We worked out nice and hard using benches to balance on and do sit ups which Im sure was quite the funny site proved by the fact that we turned around at one point to see about 15 little faces peering through the gate just staring at us as we did our workout video. Im sure it was a strange site to see because we were also using 1.5 liter water bottles as weights so the combo of us laying on benches and doing jumping jacks and squats with random additions of water bottle weights must have made for a good show. It felt so good to workout though and we are going to do the 30 day SHRED so all this starch doesn’t get to us! We are very well fed that’s for sure. But this workout plus all the squatting we do in the good ol restroom will make for some real strong calves and thighs so bring it on. After working out we ate breakfast and hung out as we watched a storm roll in. it is so cool to see it sunny one minute and then cloudy and getting darker and then all of sudden these huge gusts of wind are blowing our trees all over the place, this is usually the point where the power goes out too, but then the rain comes very softly at first, and then it just POUNDS down so hard I love when it rains because it is so cool outside. It was sweet though. We just sat and read and spent time with Mama. I love Saturdays here because of the many Seventh Day Adventists. When we woke up it was so quiet which is very unusual. No kids screaming, no brooms sweeping, no goats or chickens even making a peep. It was strange but I loved it. I hadn’t heard that much silence since I woke up in my house in Roseville that Sunday morning we left. It was a very welcome silence. We went for a walk around lunch time to get a loaf of bread which Jackie and I usually go through in one sitting or one day, they are super light and we made egg sandwiches and they were way good. I finished my book and then Mama was getting ready to prepare dinner so I went and sat and watched her again. It was fufu tonight for her, King, and her daughter Maevis so it was fun to watch that be prepared. With that and the stew and the heating of our yams it was about a 4 hour ordeal. Maevis goes to University and will graduate in a month. She is so funny and it was really fun to see the dynamic when you threw another family member into the mix. Everyone was laughing and joking and they were all so happy, it reminded me of when my whole family is together and we always have the worlds best time. Family is the best I tell ya, im super grateful that I can feel like such a part of Mama’s family here because it feels nice to have a place to belong. European soccer is HUGE in Ghana. Everybody knows about the teams and has huge parties to watch the matches. Last night was the Champions League Final between Chelsea and FC Bayern. Now having played soccer my whole life, I understand the game very well but I have never followed professional soccer myself. Im sure I will when I return though because boy was this an exciting game. We went with King to his friends house to watch and walked in to a room full of shirtless boys and a tv. It was a way funny experience because though I couldn’t understand their commentary the whole time they were all so passionate about the game and about what was going on. I did not have a preference but King and Jackie were rooting for Bayern so I sided with them. Many people in Ghana love Chelsea because there are players from Ghana on the team. Chelsea won during PKs after 30 minutes of overtime. I think I fell asleep a few times because after two 45 minute halves, 30 minutes of overtime, and PKs, I was exhausted because they were playing so hard. It was way fun to watch though. Soccer is the best. The streets were filled with hoots and hollers as we walked home afterward because many people were very happy with the outcome of the game. Half of the village didn’t have power last night, including us of course, so the stars were so bright! Walking home I almost walked into the ditches on the side of the road because I had my eyes on the sky. Stars mesmerize me. I could lay under the stars all night, saying nothing, and never get bored.
May 20, 2012
Church was great today, there were a lot of people there and the sacrament meeting was almost full. Our Sunday school lesson was on Jacob 5 which is right where we are in our scripture reading so that was cool. We pretty much just all read and think to ourselves for the three hours since we don’t know what anyone is saying but it is good time for contemplation and reading the scriptures and thinking about hymns and such. We had Relief Society for the first time today and there is a missionary couple in the Branch and the Elder taught so he would go back and forth between English and Twi but it helped that he was talking about the Plan of Salvation because we could contribute. The women in Relief Society were a hoot. They cant speak much English or they are just shy but the way we interact makes me laugh. I asked the Branch President if we could get a key to practice piano because we are still singing hymns with no music but we decided that he will come unlock it on Fridays so that Jackie and I can practice and be able to play in Sacrament Meeting. We have sung the same 5 hymns every time so I think we can manage to learn them. After church we had a group meeting back at Mama’s house and laughed and talked as usual and Mama fed us green leaf stew for lunch. We watched Phantom of the Opera afterwards and I had forgotten how much I love that movie. Its so good! After the movie my parents called! I LOVE talking to my parents, it’s the best. My dad spoke first and I usually don’t get to talk to him because as he is Bishop of my ward at home, he is always at church and in meetings when my mom calls right when she gets home. Because of the 7 hour time difference we cant find a time to all talk buuuuut he and my mom were in New York this week so the 4 hour time difference made it so he could chat with me. I always almost cry when we talk because I am so grateful for them and I love to hear about their week and hear their words of encouragement and love. I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve such amazing parents. They are the most selfless, loving, Christ like, hardworking, inspiring people I know and I owe a lot of my successes in life to them. Thank you for raising me in such a wonderful home Ma and Dad, I love you! My mom told me about how she read about the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead at the Smithsonian Museum while she was there and talked about how one of her theories was that of seeing a child born and a person die among the culture you are studying because that is one way to really understand their lives. I was thinking about how true that is and remembering experiences I have had at funerals here and seeing newborn babies at the hospital and how beautiful these things are to witness. It really is crazy how different the people live over here. We are all in the same world yet I feel like no two places are the same. That seems obvious upon looking at it but we were discussing today how Christ and Heavenly Father can relate to all of us, every single one of their children. They love us all individually despite our differences and our different life experiences and we are all placed where we are in this world because that is where we were meant to thrive and to live and grow and influence the lives of others. I don’t know how they do it because it is hard for me to relate to some, if not many, of these people in Ghana because our life experience have been so different. I don’t eat the way they do, I don’t talk the way they do, I don’t dress the way they do or have the same hair. I understand life in such a different way but then when I look at the members in my branch, we are all the same. They are here to gain a body and to be tested and tried and to endure to the end to make it back to live with Him again just like me. So we are really not that different at all. Even those who aren’t members of the church, they are just living day by day, trying to find joy and happiness and purpose in their lives just like the rest of us. They go through trials, they are just different trials than those I have experienced. They know joy and pain just like I do. Its like the same thought as Elder Uchtdorf presented from the bumper sticker he read, ‘don’t judge me because I sin differently than you’. We are all experiencing life in different ways and to be a part of this way of life is an amazing opportunity. It is hard. Definitely has its ups and downs but I cant even begin to think about how grateful I am to have this opportunity to understand the human race just a little bit better. Maybe then I will be less inclined to judge others and their situations because I know that we are really all the same.
May 21, 2012
I was way excited to go back to the hospital this morning because it would give me something to fill my days with so I got up with vigor and excitement and went on over. Let’s just say that I spent a lot of time wandering around trying to figure out what to observe and where I should be focusing my time and energy because it was a slooooow day. A little bit after lunch the power went out at the hospital which really killed my already frustrated mood because I felt like I wasn’t getting any good data collected and I knew I had four hours of expanded notes to write when I got home and not having power would have put that off creating 6 hours for tomorrow but luckily when we got home we had power. I try so hard not to stress out about it but writing up my field notes and worrying about the information I am getting is very hard. I always want to just go talk to people but I cant speak their language and I cant have a translator follow me around everywhere so this is definitely a struggle but I know that if I just take it a day at a time opportunities will present themselves that allow me to learn and grow with the people here in Ghana. Im also praying that I have an email saying my IRB was approved at the café tomorrow because then I could start interviewing which would really help me a lot. For lunch today Jackie and I wanted pineapple and rock buns again but neither were out on the street so we just bought corn. I like corn but I cant eat a lot of it when it is just boiled and plain. It’s a good alternative to all the starch though. I weighed myself today also and I think I have lost about 8 pounds being here. The scales are in kg so I tried to do the math right I think it’s 2.2 lbs to a kg but im not exactly sure how much I weighed before, though I think 8 lbs is about right because Jackie said that’s how much she has lost as well. We are well fed though, I think it’s a big part that we don’t snack. We just eat three meals for the most part. At home I am a big snacker. I just like to eat and eat all day so I guess this is good for me. I have become a bit of a legend around here with my Azonto dance. Around 4 Jackie and I went back to the hospital because the Doctor who wanted my official documentation and hers said we should come back later so we did and we waited a long time for him but anyway he finally came back. And Jackie and I went into his office, he is fine with us being here and all he was being very cordial so that is nice, he is just still a little confused about Jackie’s internship agreement but I think in due time all will be well. So that is good news. Crossing my fingers for the IRB tomorrow because also, I have begun to create really good relationships with the other two Doctors at the hospital. They are both super nice to me and want to help me learn and they speak English really well so the sooner I can begin to observe their Doctor-Patient interactions, the better. There is tons of Malaria around here so the need I felt to change my project before is gone. Definitely don’t need it. I will totally be able to collect all my data. It will be fine. I have moments where I freak out sometimes and I stress about getting all my notes written when the power is out or collecting the right amount of data from the right people but I just have to remind myself that it is all going to be fine. I can do this, and I will succeed. Walking home from the hospital today the Azonto calls became more frequent even among some adults so I have just started to wiggle and dance and sing as I walk through the town because it is entertainment for the masses and it makes me happy too. I noticed today that everyone has perfect straight, white teeth. They are seriously perfect. Jackie and I were talking about it and it is strange that they all have such perfect teeth but no braces or invisalign or anything. She then made a comment about how we make everything perfect because we have the ability and the resources to, and its true. We are so obsessed with perfection in America because we can be. That obsession is completely unnecessary but because of the morals and values and such that we as a country have sacrificed to be where we are, we see importance in matters which really are so trivial compared to that of other places in the world. I feel so cliché saying that but being here has really opened my eyes to what is actually important and though my mood here is dictated some days by if we have power or not, there are so many things in America that I can live without but that everyone deems necessary simply because we have them. That is not to say that I don’t appreciate everything I have and all the amazing technology because it really is amazing the things we are able to do and I would not take back having braces for even a second but I just think that it is interesting to see how different perceptions of NEED are in this world depending on where you are. I just caught a mosquito trying to suck my blood. I hate these little boogers. I rarely ever get bit but Jackie has like 30 bites right now. They must not like my blood but with all the Malaria patients I see everyday I do NOT want to get it. People only have to go to the hospital for severe malaria but still, I would die if I had to be in that hospital for a few days. It would be great participant observation and my research would be experienced first hand but I do not not not want to get malaria.
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