In the community where I have been staying, Old Tafo, the festival of Ohum is going on. It has to do with the harvest of yams and cassava. After the festival, people here will begin harvesting new yams for the next season. The idea is that up until that time, they have been eating yams from last year. The opening of the festival was marked by a small ceremony where the elders of the town made a procession through the center of town, and presented some gifts to an alter. Then some men brought a large palm bough that had been pulled from a special tree, not cut. The elders all pulled some of the leaves off the bough, and they took them with them back to the chief's palace. One of the trainees stays in the chief's palace, and he got to take part in the ceremony, too.
Because of the ceremony, the last two weeks there has been a law that says that people can not make excessive noise at night. This does not mean that it has been quiet. People cannot pound fufu, play radios loud, wail, or bang drums after dark. They still sing, chant, slam doors, and watch tv, and babies still cry. Ghana is not a quiet place. The "quiet time" will end this week, and then everyone will celebrate by making lots of noise. There will be ceremonies and music and dancing, and a football match with teams from Accra. Exciting!
A group of the trainees and I have been getting together every sunday afternoon and playing ultimate frisbee in a field near my house. Some have played before, but some are learning the game. The Ghanaians had never played, and most of them seemed to not really know how a frisbee worked, when we first started. Now, there are some who play with us regularly, and are getting very good. My host brother Michael, who is about 6'6" and very athletic, is amazing. He can run, jump, and catch anything. He is learning to read the disk well and throw like a pro. Want to get him to a US college to play some sport. He would do great. The little kids also like to throw the frisbee. I have taught them to stand in a circle and throw to one another. Some are pretty good, a few can even do a forehand pass. I teach them to catch by acting like my arms are a crocodile.
I am well, and Ghana is amazing everyday. It seems like it takes me more effort just to get throught the day here, but it is definately worth it, and the people I am working with are good people. I have one more month of PST, then I will go to my site in Sirigu and the real adventure will begin.
love,
-Toby
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Still thinking like an American, I see. I am glad you are enjoying yourself and learning about your surroundings. I hope you learn to live in your surroundings, not just to exist there. Your posts sound very...distant. I'll bet this is terrifying in many ways, but if you've bothered to take this risk you should throw yourself into it. Which I am sure you will do when you get to your site.
Aren't you left-handed? That must make it difficult for you.
I miss you and your ridiculousnessomething awful. I'm in Marshfield (right near Steven's Point, as I am sure you know) taking Organic Chemistry Boot Camp. The class so far is worth the significant amount of my savings/whatever debt I am getting into, if only because it will soon be over. I have been thinking about looking your folks up in the phonebook and stopping by. We always said we'd go visit them (see your garden!), but it did not work out. But since I am here...
Here at O-Chem Boot Camp I am really taking some time to enjoy myself. I get up at 5:30 am everyday and work out and go swimming, and then I go to class until 6 pm. (10.5 hours!) It's very intense, a lot of work, but I am actually learning things about Organic Chemistry. It really needs to be forced on me in this way. I used to love block scheduling in high school, and this is...sort of similar?
MCC is as much trouble as ever.
I went to Puerto Rico (did I tell you?...I did.) in June, and I visited my older sister Jessica last weekend. I started scrapbooking (well, at her house anyway; I don't have the time or money to pursue it on my own). I cleaned my room (yes, really).
Any other news? No more D&D; I'll probably drop out without Kevin around. Aidan died, which you know about. I need a job, which doesn't matter.
I'm working on my application to the Rhodes right now. I have my fingers crossed...metaphorically...
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