New thing: 20 minute blog posts! ... GO!
Hello, my name is Aba Julia and I live in a small coastal town called Saltpond, in the Central region of Ghana, West Africa. I spend my days with my CWY exchange group, my host family and my neighbours, learning all kinds of cross-cultural stuff. My favourites times are visiting my neighbours and learning new skills (like pounding fufu) or new words (like nketse). My other favourite times are when they let me hold the baby, Kodjo Robert, and he smiles and laughs with me. When the really little kids stare and stare at me I like to stare right back into their big brown eyes. Some times I don't like are when we have fish heads and banku for supper, because banku has exactly the taste and texture of homemade playdough and fish heads... well, they're fish heads. That, and when they cane the kids at school or I see rats in the hospital ward where I worked . My other name is obruni... this is what everyone in the street calls as I walk by. It means "white person" and it can be novel and funny or just plain annoying. I am ridiculously blessed and privileged. I am so glad to be canadian.
Your friend,
Aba Julia
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Things are not the same.
I have been debating over what to spend my limited internet time writing about for a while now, but I figured, at last, that I just need to write something. So here it is, no planing this time. And I only have 20 mins left on my internet time!
I miss home more than I ever have before. I love Saltpond.
I want to live the local life. I don't want to go to a five and a quarter hour church service.I love my CWY/SYTO friends. I want another loved one to come rescue me.
I appreciate that my counterpart is who she is. I wish our relationship was so much more.
Being one of the only white people around is interesting and exciting. Having how different I am constantly pointed out is tiring and exasperating.
Working to prevent and control malaria is inspiring. Working in the context of this group... is fairly torturous.
It's easy to be discouraged. There is so much to be happy about.
My local friends are fun. It's tiring to interact with them.
I'm in AFRICA. But is it culturally insensitive to say "Africa" rather than "Ghana"?
I feel restless. I feel lazy.
I want to learn and experience everything. I want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep until I get home.
Is this my privileged way of thinking? What does that even MEAN? What the heck should I DO about it!?
Just a few of my daily thoughts.
I will put up some interesting "local flavour" type story soon, I promise. (But is that promoting stereotypes??)
Con amor,
Aba Julia
I miss home more than I ever have before. I love Saltpond.
I want to live the local life. I don't want to go to a five and a quarter hour church service.I love my CWY/SYTO friends. I want another loved one to come rescue me.
I appreciate that my counterpart is who she is. I wish our relationship was so much more.
Being one of the only white people around is interesting and exciting. Having how different I am constantly pointed out is tiring and exasperating.
Working to prevent and control malaria is inspiring. Working in the context of this group... is fairly torturous.
It's easy to be discouraged. There is so much to be happy about.
My local friends are fun. It's tiring to interact with them.
I'm in AFRICA. But is it culturally insensitive to say "Africa" rather than "Ghana"?
I feel restless. I feel lazy.
I want to learn and experience everything. I want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep until I get home.
Is this my privileged way of thinking? What does that even MEAN? What the heck should I DO about it!?
Just a few of my daily thoughts.
I will put up some interesting "local flavour" type story soon, I promise. (But is that promoting stereotypes??)
Con amor,
Aba Julia
Thursday, December 1, 2011
No Creative Title... But I'm Going to Ghana, So it Doesn't Matter!
Happy Birthday Orissa! My baby is 19 today. I hope your day is magnificent and filled with love, chica. <3
This is it. My last post before I leave for Ghana...
I have realized in the past year, thanks to someone I met on a bus in Bolivia, that I am a person who truly lives in the moment. What this sometimes means for me is that I miss some of the excitement of what's to come, simply because I am not thinking of the future. I'll be en route somewhere and almost forget why, for example, I am spending 16 hours on a rickety bus to Santa Cruz! My anticipation is more of a faint buzz than thoughts of all the specific possibilities awaiting me. It's like... I'm happy just to know that adventures will happen and don't bother myself too much with exactly what they will be. I wouldn't have it any other way, but meeting that person, at that time, let me experience the joy of really thinking about things to come. The two of us spent many minutes, could have been hours, who knows, exclaiming over what we thought the jungle might be like... and I liked having someone to show me that new perspective.
In this case I am back to my natural state of flow... going with it, that is. I am here, now and that is where my focus is, for the most part. A chunk of the past may wander by at times, but the future tends to stay in its place. And that's okay with me. But here, if I want that extra excitement, I can always find one of the great women of my group to dream with!
So, right now I am at the hostel in Montreal, about to go out and wander around the city. The last couple of days have all run together in my mind; Monday and Tuesday's endless errands, packing and laundry, saying goodbye to my host family, my coworkers from the Red Cross coming to visit at camp, a LONG day of debriefing at Sunshine Camp yesterday, singing and meditating around the campfire, a very SHORT night of sleep last night, the flight, the bad, sleep-deprivation-induced jokes, the mountains of luggage... What exactly is in all those bags is beyond me! Seriously, people, our group has enough luggage to sink a small yacht. Hopefully not enough to take down a 767 though, otherwise I will be going for the second atlantic swim of my life!
I'm sorry for the lack of news on plans once we arrive in Ghana. But like I said... "in the moment" kind of person! I know that we are going to the beach on our first real day in the country... that's about it. Once I get settled and the future becomes the present I will have more to share! So, here goes... off to AFRICA!
We leave for Ghana (via London) tomorrow night at seven.
Con mucho amor,
Julia
This is it. My last post before I leave for Ghana...
I have realized in the past year, thanks to someone I met on a bus in Bolivia, that I am a person who truly lives in the moment. What this sometimes means for me is that I miss some of the excitement of what's to come, simply because I am not thinking of the future. I'll be en route somewhere and almost forget why, for example, I am spending 16 hours on a rickety bus to Santa Cruz! My anticipation is more of a faint buzz than thoughts of all the specific possibilities awaiting me. It's like... I'm happy just to know that adventures will happen and don't bother myself too much with exactly what they will be. I wouldn't have it any other way, but meeting that person, at that time, let me experience the joy of really thinking about things to come. The two of us spent many minutes, could have been hours, who knows, exclaiming over what we thought the jungle might be like... and I liked having someone to show me that new perspective.
In this case I am back to my natural state of flow... going with it, that is. I am here, now and that is where my focus is, for the most part. A chunk of the past may wander by at times, but the future tends to stay in its place. And that's okay with me. But here, if I want that extra excitement, I can always find one of the great women of my group to dream with!
So, right now I am at the hostel in Montreal, about to go out and wander around the city. The last couple of days have all run together in my mind; Monday and Tuesday's endless errands, packing and laundry, saying goodbye to my host family, my coworkers from the Red Cross coming to visit at camp, a LONG day of debriefing at Sunshine Camp yesterday, singing and meditating around the campfire, a very SHORT night of sleep last night, the flight, the bad, sleep-deprivation-induced jokes, the mountains of luggage... What exactly is in all those bags is beyond me! Seriously, people, our group has enough luggage to sink a small yacht. Hopefully not enough to take down a 767 though, otherwise I will be going for the second atlantic swim of my life!
I'm sorry for the lack of news on plans once we arrive in Ghana. But like I said... "in the moment" kind of person! I know that we are going to the beach on our first real day in the country... that's about it. Once I get settled and the future becomes the present I will have more to share! So, here goes... off to AFRICA!
We leave for Ghana (via London) tomorrow night at seven.
Con mucho amor,
Julia
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