June 5, 2012
I observed in the
hospital this morning for 2 hours with one of the Doctors whom I have not seen
much since the first week and it was very interesting to see the contrast
between the two personalities and styles and how it affected their interactions
with the patients. I like being with this Doctor because he speaks directly to
me more and speaks in English when he is discussing medical stuff with the
nurses so that I can understand what is going on. The other Doctor would tell
me if I asked but I always feel like I would be taking up too much of his time
and interrupting if he had to explain it to me all the time because he does
everything so promptly. It is hard not to feel like I am intruding sometimes so
I just try to use context clues a lot of the time when the case is not
specifically malaria related. With the malaria patients I ask many more
questions and ask for clarifications since they are who I am most concerned
about in my research but even just seeing the Doctors with every patient is
very interesting. It was super cool today because it rained way hard, which
stunk because our laundry was done this morning so it still isn’t dry as I am
getting ready for bed, buuuut it was awesome because I actually felt cold today
when the storm was raging. Walking to the café today tons of people were
talking to us and being super friendly which is usual but one guy yelled from
across the street, “Obruni, you are in Ghana! Hoorah for you!” it was so funny
because he voiced exactly how we feel a lot of the time! The light went out
when we were at the café emailing home today so we decided to go get our
favorite fried rice meal to take back to Joyce’s bar, the Gentle Spot, to eat
and wait to see if the light would come back so we could finish up at the
café…while we were waiting there was a straight hurricane blowing outside and
it was SO LOUD on the tin roof so we were basically yelling at each other to
have conversation but then we just started to sing songs that had the word rain
in them which turned into us all belting out “Let the Rain Fall Down” by none
other than Hilary Duff which led us to playing MASH since we were already in
high school mode from memories of good old Hil Duff and it sure was funny. Of
course things never ever play out how you wish they would on paper but it was
super funny because we had added in places and people from Ghana which was
just great. Everyone should play MASH if they are wondering who they are going
to marry and such because I just know that mine was completely accurate. No
doubt (not talking about Gwen Stefani’s old group). When the rain slowed down
to a drizzle we went back to the café and it was running on generator power so
we quickly sent a few last emails and then Jackie and I went to market to get
our food for the week. We found our way to our usual ladies and I love being
able to know where to go and what to get by myself. It really contributes to
thinking that you actually belong someplace. Before getting in the car we got a
vanilla ice cream so we could make a creamy banana smoothie when we got home,
forgetting that the light was out. It was also basically melted by the time we
returned but we just cut up bananas and mangos and stirred them into a puddle
of vanilla in a bowl and it was actually really good. It is my favorite to
figure out ways to use the random ingredients we have here. I think I ate 4
bananas today because we don’t want them to go bad so we are just eating as
many as we can and working up all kinds of concoctions. I love it. Erica would
be crying just thinking about all these bananas. She hates anything with a
peel, she would hate all the fruit here haha, miss my Russian gal! E, I know
you are in the MTC but I hope you are happy and doing well!! Today in my
scripture reading I reached Ammon smiting off the Lamanite arms when they tried
to scatter King Lamoni’s flocks and the whole time reading I was just visioning
the Living Scripture cartoons and it made me so happy. I am so glad we were
only allowed to watch church movies on Sunday growing up because otherwise I
would not have cherished those movies the way I do. Reading about the sons of
Mosiah and missionary work hits me especially hard seeing as so many people I
care about are out serving the Lord right now and I am so grateful that I get
to be here because though I am not a missionary, the church comes up sometimes
and I enjoy being able to point to the church building and to hopefully be an
example to those of other faiths while I am here. One language we all speak
here is our belief in God. Most people are very religious and stores and taxis
all say little sayings about God and his Grace. I started transcribing my
interview today and I feel so weird listening to my own voice, I sound sick to
me. Its weird how our voice sounds different to ourselves when we talk as
opposed to playing it back. I don’t really get it. but it takes FOREVER, I am
going to do another interview tomorrow though so I gotta get this one done as
fast as I can. I copied and pasted Maddies emails at the café today and just
died reading them later tonight because I miss her so much. I have been so
blessed to be happy without all my best friends, in making and developing new
relationships but I miss my Maddie, Carley, and Erica a lot. I think about them
all the time and how awesome it would be if we were all together but I know
that we are all doing what the Lord wants and needs us to do right now and for
that I am grateful.
June 6, 2012
Walking to work
this morning there was a pack of guys in blue jumpsuits carrying what looked
like containers of liquid attached to power washer spouts. They had a slogan on
their backs along with some guys in neon orange jumpsuits with the National
Mosquito Control Program something or other on their suits…it immediately made
me think of summer sales and pest control. In that moment I imagined Trenter
and his pals taking on the streets in Arizona
wearing their jumpsuits and their slogan on their backs. I know that is not
what its like but in that moment it was super funny! Shout out to you my
Trenter, keep killin those pests in gool ol AZ! I officially have two
boyfriends at the hospital now so couple that with all the marriage proposals
and I am one hot topic here, so are the other three girls. It never gets old.
The first, Prince, is currently applying to BYU and wants to follow me there
and the second, Collins who I interviewed the other day called our phone 5
times yesterday ‘just to say hi’. It makes me laugh so hard especially when
Prince winks at me but he grabbed my arm today when he was saying hi so I guess
you could say things are getting pretty serious. I was totally worried about
the lack of fellas this summer but let me tell you, I grossly underestimated
the way it would be. This is much more overwhelming than Provo . My favorites are still the rat pack
though. They are there when we leave in the morning and there when we get home
at night saying the same things in English that they say everyday and I just
love them to death. In the MCH this morning, Sister Felicia brought in this odd
looking fruit that looked like a cartoon. It was green and shaped like a huge
peanut but it had spikes all over it. She said it was called an apple, a local
apple. We tried it and it had the sort of texture of a mango yet it tasted like
an apple/pineapple mix. Very strange. I didn’t really like it because of the
aftertaste but it was super cool looking. I love love love long hair but man it
is so out of control here and it gets bigger and frizzier everyday I swear. Today
we had the opportunity to go to a hair salon with Sister Felicia who works in
the MCH so we took it. Little did we know it would consume our whole day… we
arrived there at 10 am and another girl, a nurse from the hospital, was getting
her hair plaited (where they braid fake hair into real hair to make it longer
because all Ghanaians have really short natural hair). We waited for awhile and
then Jackie started getting hers plaited. I already have so much hair that I
just wanted to get my natural hair braided. I stood up to go see how Jackies
was coming along and then walked back over to see what the girls were doing to
the nurses hair and they handed me a strand so I started braiding.
My neck hurt so bad after awhile of just looking down and
braiding braiding braiding and I cant imagine how they do that all day. I was
tired of it after about 20 little braids. We talked and laughed as they taught
me Twi and they would tell everyone to ask me what I was doing as they would
come in and talk to them because I had learned how to say, “I am doing it” in
Twi, talking about braiding the hair, and it was giving everyone a good laugh.
We arrived at 10 and around noon I was starving so Natalie and I went to go get
food. We got our same fried rice but she put a ton of this spicy sauce called
Shito on it so I was sweating and my nose was running as I ate it, I really
hate spicy foods but I loved the rice. Jackie and the nurse were not near being
done so I went to the internet café with Natalie to say hi to King and to help
her with her IRB and then when we came back they were ready for me. It took be
about 7 minutes to convince them that I didn’t want fake hair because you cant
wash it and they snip off all the flyaways and then burn it so it stays looking
nice and shiny for up to a month yet, I didn’t want my real hair to suffer any
of that fate so I finally convinced them just to braid my hair as I endured 3
hours of tugging and pulling and braiding that felt like every single hair on
my head was being ripped right out. 
It hurt so bad. I kept saying ‘beauty is pain’ but who made
up that slogan anyways, no its not. Collins lives in Agona so he of course came
to visit while I was getting my hair braided and turns out his sister was one
of the ladies braiding my hair. Small world, everywhere. My hair looks weird
and my head hurts from all the tiny hairs pulling. I am glad because it will
let me not worry about it for a week or two and the frizz and mess won’t be out
of control but man it hurts to get done. I wanted dreads so bad sitting there
though because every time I see people with them they look so cool but I
promised my mother I wouldn’t so I am going to be a good girl. Jackie looks
sweet though and if I wasn’t so worried about my hair I totally would have
plaited it though it took 6 hours for Jackies and I have a lot more hair so I
think it would have taken like 9 hours for mine. Not worth it. That basically
took up our whole day and when we got home it was dinner time. I really did
nothing research worthy today though I did talk with the women a bit about
gender roles but I was not anticipating the hair thing to take so long! I will
never complain when I curl my hair and it takes 20 minutes, never again. I ate
plain rice and avocado for dinner tonight because I have noticed that I wake up
sick every morning after eating one of our stews on the third day. They aren’t
kept in the refrigerator, nor do they even have lids on them so after a few
days I am positive they are spoiled but Mama feeds them to us as long as they
seem okay and we have it because their stomachs handle things differently but I
am sure I am getting food poisoning every other day. I was going to do a real
experiment but I am pretty sure I’m right and I’d rather not sacrifice my
stomach and continue feeling that way so I am just going to stop eating third
day stews. I actually really liked the plain rice, Mama cooks it with salt and
onion so its got a little flavor. I just know I am either going to come home
loving rice or hating it because it is all I eat.
June 7, 2012
Today was
adventure day. We got out of bed earlier than usual this morning so that we
could leave at 7 and get to Agona to meet the ‘bus’ that was supposed to take
us to the Monkey Sanctuary. We should have taken African time into account but
sometimes we are just too faithful to our standard of time. Because King was
coming with us, he wasn’t ready until about 8:15 so we got to Agona around 8:35
or so. We thought ourselves lucky because the bus hadn’t come yet and we went
to wait at the Gentle Spot with Natalie and Cassie for it to come. We kept
asking King when it would be here and he just said ‘soon’ which I have come to
realize means any amount of time up to 3 hours away. After about an hour and a
half King said we should go out and wait by the road because it is getting
closer. We waited and waited and waited and finally started to go a little
crazy but we made the best of it by singing ‘Down By the Bay’ and rhyming words
and then we laughed about Youtube videos we could remember and then there was a
taxi playing loud music so I got up and danced. I was just trying to keep
myself busy since I had been sitting down for so long but before I knew it I
had an audience of about 100 people along the street and at their various
booths. I was obviously having the best time and I kept trying to get the
people and the kids especially to join me but had no such luck so there I stood
by myself in the dirt dancing all around. I got a few good laughs from the
people and at least I was busy. It smells like my Mom’s ground beef, the one
she makes for tacos, right now and I am dying for a taco right now! Anyway, it
turned out to be a fine time waiting because I have come to realize that I am
very good at entertaining myself when I need to. The “bus” which actually
turned out to be a tro tro arrived at 11:38 and we hopped on and were on our
way. Somehow I always get stuck in the back row where the tire is and I have no
leg room and sometimes the ceiling is so low that my head touches it. Tro tros
are less than ideal for comfort but they do the job. Luckily that seat is a
window seat because I at least get to just stare at the jungle for hours which
I never ever get tired of so that helps me to enjoy those rides. Driving
through one village I swear it smelled like Wendy’s BBQ sauce the WHOLE time so
for about 20 minutes my mouth was watering as I craved chicken nuggets and I
don’t even eat fast food but I will admit that BBQ sauce is good. Green already
was my favorite color but every time we drive through the jungles, which is
every time we drive anywhere, I just cant even handle how beautiful the color
is. It will forever be my favorite especially now. After about 2 hours we
arrived at a station where we switched over to a taxi which would take us the
rest of the way to the monkeys. Natalie and I shared the front seat in a car
which is probably the size of a mini cooper while the rest were in the back. A
lot of the taxis are super loud because the whole car rattles so you can hardly
think while you ride in them but I was just trying to enjoy the scenery and
there was a moment when the road and the trees opened up and you could see this
vast valley of green trees and open land and it looked incredible SO naturally,
I started singing the opening lines to the Circle of Life and proceeded to sing
almost the whole song. I noticed the taxi driver speed up while I was singing
and I am sure he wanted to get me out of there quick but I was having the best
time. 
When we arrived at the place it was much less than I was imagining it
would be but then again, nothing here is as I ever imagine it will be so I was
not surprised. After a lot of convincing and the taxi driver, and the people at
the office trying to manipulate us out of our money we headed into the jungle.
Not too far in we got out some bananas and bread that we had from Agona and
held it out. Monkeys can smell it or else they were just waiting because they
all came out of nowhere and before we knew it they were all over. It was
incredible to see these guys coming up to us and just letting us play with
them.
They were greedy monkeys and would only come to you if you
had food but it was still so fun to see them outside of a cage and the zoo. When
we were basically out of food we went deeper and found these amazing trees that
were the coolest things ever and I even found one that looks like a giraffe. We
then went further in to find the real monkeys, the ones who don’t like humans
and who just like to live the dream up in the trees and man they were
beautiful. They made a less than beautiful sound but just seeing them leap from
tree to tree and climb around way high up in the canopy was amazing.
I wanted
to be tarzan and jane so I could swing around on the vines and just be up there
with them. Cassie and I were walking around and exploring to see some of the
big monkeys up closer and we thought we were being really sneaky and quiet but
that was silly because they could obviously see us and all of a sudden it
sounded like it was raining and Cassie was just inches away from being peed on.
There was one monkey
right above us who had a real nice sense of humor and just let the rain fall
down. We had a good laugh as he moved back to join his friends. We kept on
exploring and just went wherever the wind led us through the jungle and found
this spot that was entirely covered and the trees made a sort of ceiling and it
was so beautiful and peaceful. I had the idea to separate and just go off and
ponder for a moment so we all found a spot and nestled in. I don’t know how
long it was but I sat down and prayed to my Heavenly Father and read my
Patriarchal Blessing. The Spirit testified to me as I sat there listening to
the monkeys calling and the birds chirping, that I am on the path that my Lord
has lain out for me in order to accomplish all that I was sent here to do in
this earthly existence. It was such a distinct and a profound feeling and I
could not contain my tears of joy as I took in the scene and realized where I
was and just what I was doing. I don’t know what is ahead for me but I do know
that with the Lord by my side that I can accomplish anything he needs me to as
long as I remain faithful.
Driving back Cassie and I talked for the entire time
about a whole multitude of things and when we arrived back in Agona I realized
how peaceful our talk had been and I had kind of forgotten where I was. It was
interesting to talk with her because we come from such different backgrounds
and experiences yet we have been able to learn so much from one another, all of
us girls have. We never would have been such great friends if we were not in
this situation together and I cannot imagine having missed out on the things I
learn here from them. It is beautiful the relationships I am learning to build
here, not just with them, but with people in Africa .
I never thought I was good at this but I am definitely learning how to let
people in and to share myself with them. Having read about the pride cycle
recently it was interesting to talk with Cassie about how different the lives
of the people are here compared to in America . We talked about how many
of the people are so humble and God fearing because of their circumstance where
as in the US ,
we have so much, yet so many people refuse to attribute those things to God. We
are still going through the pride cycle and are experiencing it all around us
every single day. It is so easy to get trapped in it as we can see from reading
the scriptures but humility can bring us out. Recognizing the Lord’s hand in
all things is a truly beautiful blessing.
[legend of the
monkeys is that there were warring tribes in the old days and the King had
found a magical herb that turned people into monkeys so he used it to imprison
some and to save others. Before he knew it, there were many monkeys and when
another tribe came and saw only the King and no other humans they killed him so
the secret of the monkeys was forever lost and the people could not be turned
back. There is a monkey cemetery within the jungle and the monkeys are buried
like humans which is because the people think that the monkeys are people tooo]
June 8, 2012
Today was super
productive research wise and I was able to accomplish a lot of what I was
hoping for which made me super happy. I conducted another interview and
realized how difficult it is to interview someone who does not speak English
super well and who is fairly uneducated because let me tell you, it is HARD. I
was so frustrated during and after it that I am probably just going to have to
throw it out because he just was not answering any question I asked him and was
so confused about what I wanted to know because every question came with a
completely irrelevant answer and I was trying to re-word and reemphasize things
the whole time and it was just super difficult. I really miss being able to
just talk to people. Talking with Cassie last night was beautiful because we
can just talk about everything and anything and my brain is stimulated by
conversation which makes me happy. Trent was telling me in his last email how
he did not understand what was going on for basically the whole first year of
his mission because Chinese is so hard and I cannot even imagine how hard that
would be because for me, I am almost halfway through this experience so I see
an end nearby where I know that I will be able to hone in and understand
everything around me again but then I think that maybe I like it sometimes. Maybe I like not knowing what people are saying when they are raising their
voices at one another and maybe I like daydreaming all the time when there are
full conversations being rattled off around me where I don’t have a clue what
is being said and maybe I like being able to ponder and teach myself in church
every Sunday but then I realize nope. I like English, in fact, I love it.
Understanding is a gift. Understanding the way society works, the way the world
works, the way we function as societies within the world…understanding the
Gospel and my role within this existence, understanding the social context
within situations at home and how to act within those…understanding is
something beautiful that we have been blessed with and not having that leaves a
large void. Also being scared to talk to people for lack of understanding is
very difficult. I am surprised at the amount of time that has already passed
though where I have been able to handle it fairly well. Understanding is
something that I miss though I will admit that my lack of understanding with
the language has led to an increased understanding in other places so I guess
my lesson to be learned right now is that there is always something to be
learned, and always something to be understood. I just need to figure out what
it is. I spent a long time catching up on notes today and once again I cannot
feel my rear. Its numb from sitting uncomfortably for so long. I cant wait to
lay on a couch again and to sit in a squishy, comfy chair. That will be the day
I tell ya. Jackie and I made our pad thai again with a few adjustments and it
was gooooood. Not much else happened today because I was just doing a lot of my
research but it was a very happy day.
June 9, 2012
Before bed last
night I listened to Elder Holland’s ‘Safety For the Soul” talk in which he
testifies with great power about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It
means more to me now than it did when he gave it a few years ago in Conference
because of the way I am reading the Book of Mormon right now and the Spirit
testified to me of the truthfulness of his words. I have gained an unfailing
testimony of the Book of Mormon since being here, even stronger than ever
before and I know that is one of the many reasons I was sent on this adventure.
That talk and the thoughts I had thereafter led to a part of my dream last
night which I remember vividly. I don’t know who all was there nor do I know
who the man in the dream was but he was challenging me in saying that Mormons
are not Christian and was saying that we do not believe in Jesus Christ. I was
very happy to silence him as I opened up my Book of Mormon and flipped to
various places within where I have marked as a testimony of Christ. I proceeded
to teach him about the prophecies which were fulfilled prior to Christ’s birth
and of His ministry and death and resurrection followed by his appearance to
the Nephites. Even in my dream and as I recollect it right now, the power I
felt in the words I was saying was so real. Though it was in a dream, I have
never felt such strength and conviction in spoken word. I know that the Book of
Mormon truly testifies of Christ and I hope that I will be given opportunities
to share that knowledge with those who have not yet received it because a
testimony of the Book of Mormon is such a beautiful strength and I wish that
every one could feel what I feel. I don’t remember the outcome of the dream, I
probably apparated to Harry Potter world after interacting with him but the
first thing I thought about when I woke up was how unbelievable it felt to have
the knowledge of the Book of Mormon sufficient enough to teach someone about
the testimony of Christ which can be gained through the words on these pages,
even if only in a dream. I do not even know how to express my gratitude for the
understanding and testimony I have gained since being here. I am about halfway
as I only have 6 more weeks and seeing the growth I have already made on more
levels than just spiritually, I cannot help but thank my Heavenly Father for
placing me here at this time in my life. He knows me and He hears my prayers,
of that I am sure. We all went to the wedding of a nurse at the hospital today
in Agona and boy was it a party. It was at the Presbyterian Church and was a
white dress kind of wedding. I just know if I didn’t have the knowledge that I
do have, I would have joined that congregation today because the whole wedding
ceremony was just full of singing and dancing and hoots and hollers and
hallelujahs and amens and it was so fun to fell the energy of the people in
their worship (dont get me wrong, i love the peace of our worship, it is the best). Any excuse to dance here is taken for what its worth and old
women who can hardly walk get up and boogie with such enthusiasm that you
cannot figure out how they are even moving that way. It is beautiful. The main
singer, the praise leader, was really tall and was wearing this sweet blue suit
and indie glasses and had an amazing voice and he was just having the worlds
best time singing all the days and I had the biggest crush on him. He was
obviously super talented but I am definitely a sucker for the tall ones. Even
here. The whole ceremony was super long though because there was a ton of
worship between the vows and exchange of the rings and all that jazz. ANNND
they didn’t even get to smooch. They just hugged because PDA is a no no no
here. We kept waiting for it but it never came. Let me just say that I am
grateful that I live in America
cause you better believe I am smooching my husband when we get married. After
the wedding we took some pictures with the bride and groom and the other health
workers and she said she was happy to have white ladies at her wedding, its so
funny. I think I also got married today…this man was the videographer and I
swear I am going to be on that video more than the bride. Not really but he
loved me and basically told me that we were already married so we are really
happy together. Afterward we got in the taxi to go home but Sister Felicia said
that we had been invited somewhere so we went to this bar in Agona with all the
health directors from the surrounding Districts and just sat and chatted and
drank pineapple juice while many of them downed their beers. After sitting for
awhile I got restless so I stood under the fan and started to dance a little
bit to the music which turned into a mini dance party. Dancing is definitely
socially acceptable anywhere and everywhere here. I love it. Issac one of the
men there was drinking what looked like milk so I asked him what it was and he
got me one, it was almost straight cream and was vanilla flavored and it tasted
so good. I wanted cereal so bad after! I cant wait til I can eat any food I
want without feeling sick all the time, that’s the pits here, always feeling a
little bit sick and never quite satisfied but all in all its great!
June 10, 2012
I love love love Sundays. Cassie and I were asked to give
talks today so last night I spent a fair amount of time pondering and praying
and asking Heavenly Father that He would guide me in what the people needed to
hear. I was given the topic of Obedience and had downloaded a few talks on
Tuesday at the internet café so I could have some material to work with and it
was so fun to prepare it. It was interesting preparing a talk for a completely
different audience than I have ever addressed before and I was so nervous
because I wanted to be able to say just what the Lord wanted the people to hear
without sobbing through it but I think I did a good job. I prepared a 5 minute
talk because the Branch President said it should be 10 minutes and I figured
with the translator it would equal about that but nope, turns out translation
takes a bit of time because I did not even get to say all that I had prepared
before it had been 15 minutes and I needed to wrap up. It was way fun to speak
though I am very grateful for the opportunity. I invited Mama and King today since
Cassie and I were speaking and Mama did not come but she let King come. I have
made it a goal to really focus on the Sacrament this summer and during the hymn
which was “Behold the Great Redeemer Die” I just started to cry because I
recognized the beauty of the words in that song, I cant say that it was because
of the beauty I heard because it is always a less than beautiful sound which
makes us laugh because despite what people may think about African voices, they
are not all beautiful. Sometimes we just have to laugh at the way the hymns
sound but it is also because there is no one accompanying the hymns and I am
sure it would sound equally as comical if no one really knew the tune entirely
in America
and there was no accompaniment. But anyway, during the song I was really focusing
on the words and the spirit testified so strongly to me of the reality and
truthfulness of the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. Even Christ fulfilled
his perfect mission and submitted His will to the Father’s understanding what
He had to do. The line that says “I’ve done the work thou gavest me…receive my
spirit unto thee” hit me so hard and I realized even more than I have felt
before that I want to be able to say near my dying days that I have done the
work that the Father has given me so that I can be received into His presence
having completed all that has been lain before me. I think that is the most
beautiful realization, knowing that we can fulfill the will of the Father if we
are faithful and that will lead us back into His presence. I glanced over at
King after the hymn as he asked if he could take the sacrament and wanted to
explain it to him but I was too worked up at the moment for even a whisper but
my heart broke for him and so many other like him. He wants to join the church
but has to wait until he moves out of the house. It broke my heart because I
knew how hard it was for him to be there when he does not have the opportunity
to be baptized right now. He commented how it is hard when he cannot enjoy
church the way he wants to right now and I just started to cry again thinking
about how many people do not even have access to the blessings of the Gospel
right now. I know the beauty of this Gospel and it is hard to not just shout it
from the rooftops and invite everyone to come unto Christ. I know that there
are so many people who are not even fortunate enough to have the knowledge that
King has but I am so grateful that there are missionaries all over the earth
who are sharing the light with those people who are ready and willing to receive
it. I never knew I could come to love this Gospel so immensely with my whole
heart the way I do now. After church we just talked and hung out with the girls
for a few hours and Cassie and I looked at every picture we have on our
computers from the last few years as we laughed at how silly we were even just
a few years ago.When we walked her and Natalie to the taxis there was a huge
dance party going on in the middle of Konya
market so on our way home we walked through to see what was going on. There were
about 200 children just breaking it down and doing Azonto in a huge cloud of
dust. Jackie and I started to Azonto small just as we were walking through but
we got attacked by every child there and they were all going nuts over us.
After I was thoroughly covered in dust and sweat we broke away but had about 50
kids following us home holding our hands and singing Azonto songs. I started to
sing a Twi song Jackie and I wish I could have just videotaped us as we walked
in that moment, children hanging all over us, singing songs as we walked
through the town. I love these people, I really do. We got home and King was
doing his Azonto workout too so we watched him dance. We are going to start
doing it with him every night because he gets a real good workout and boy can
he dance! I laid under the stars as I waited for my Ma to call and Booze Man
came home. He was being so funny tonight and Jackie and I were trying to
convince him to stop drinking because he wanted to marry us tonight and we said
that he had to sober up by the time we left and told him to start drinking
water and Fanta instead of alcohol. He left and came back a few minutes later
with some water which was hilarious because in our broken Twi we cannot
communicate fully but man he was cracking us up tonight. I find so much joy in
such simple things here, well I always have but I just feel so much joy all the
time and I am so grateful for it. I got to talk to my Mama then and boy do I
love her. I am so grateful for families. It is one of the most beautiful things
about this Gospel. I am just obsessed with my family at home and I cannot
imagine how different my life would be without them. Even my family here, I
love them all so much.
June 11, 2012
I spent 2/3 of my
day at my computer today transcribing interviews. It takes SO LONG I think that
the palms of my hands are bruised from hours and hours of typing. That is one
thing about field work. You have to sit at your computer typing more than you
have ever typed in your whole life! Its going to be a real nice break when I am
home in August I swear I am not going to touch this computer because that is
one of the hardest parts about being here. But luckily the end is in sight so I
don’t have to worry about doing this for the rest of my life. I don’t know how
real anthropologists do this for years at a time typing up their field notes
and transcribing for hours and hours every day, its exhausting. In the time I
was not transcribing I conducted two interviews and they went really well, I
love when interviews produce really great information, it makes me feel so much
more confident about my research and reassures me that I can do this and that I
don’t need to freak out and instead I just need to do it. Cassie and I are both
so scared all the time that we are not going to get the right amounts of
information and that we wont be able to write an adequate senior thesis and it
is a bit stressful but our mentor is the worlds best Professor and she helps us
a lot so I think that as long as I continue to work hard every day to get all
the information as I can, talking to as many people as I can, that this will
turn out as it needs to in the end. The Euro cup is going on right now and
Ghanaians are obsessed with futbol, as is Jackie so I know all about European
futbol now and though I do not have a team the games are so fun to watch, they
are always on tv so we watch them every time we can and man soccer is the
worlds best. I love watching it and playing it and the players are more often
than not, super attractive. Win win win. On my way home from my second
interview I saw a bunch of pineapples so I bought one for 1 cedi, much cheaper
than the 7 dollar pineapples in America though they are growing right in our
backyard so it makes sense but Jackie and I ate the whole thing and my tongue
hurt so bad from all the acid for hours afterward and I could hardly taste my
dinner, which is sometimes not an entirely bad thing. I then transcribed until
I couldn’t type any longer and I went and worked out. Booze man was sober tonight
because he hadn’t eaten and he doesn’t drink when he doesn’t eat so he was just
sitting out with Mama in the courtyard chatting and I kept trying to get him to
workout with me but he wouldn’t. It is so funny to try to converse with that
man, really a joyous occasion I say. Jackie and I settled in and watched 2
episodes of Friends as is our nightly ritual and I even dreamt in Friends land
in the night. I am in love with Chandler .
His wise cracks kill me, actually everything kills me the show is so funny. It’s
a good time for us to just wind down from the day and take ourselves out of Africa for a moment to keep us sane.
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