First Weekend in Accra

Hello from Ghana! Right now I'm sitting in my dorm room at the New York University center here in Accra, Ghana's capital. I'll be in Ghana for six week doing some reporting, and for the most part I'll be based in Accra writing on the city's underground gay rights movement. Homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, and "unnatural carnal knowledge" is a criminal offense according to the country's criminal code of 1960, which hasn't been much updated since the time of British colonialism. Hopefully I'll be able to delve deeper into this issue, despite the fact that it's shrouded in secrecy (not to mention that my principle source fled the country a few months back because of all the death threats he was receiving...). Wish me luck!

I arrived in Ghana from Honolulu via San Fran and New York, and after 27 hours of flight time (thanks to weather delays at JFK) I made it to Accra in one piece. Although I've only been here less than five days, I feel as if I've been here forever. Yet in some ways, I'm pretty sure certain things about life in Ghana will never quite feel like home for me. One thing for sure, I'll never get used to this internet situation. Access in even the most developed parts of the country is only occasional at best, and pretty unreliable. I also miss not being able to use my cell phone to constantly text message everyone everywhere at every moment of the day. Bathrooms with toilets, toilet paper, and running water? Nope. We're lucky here at NYU's dorm to have these "necessities," but I was surprised to find that even some of the top restaurants here in the city lack what I take for granted back home.

Although it's imaginable that I might eventually get used to the lack of toilet paper, drinkable tap water, etc, I know I could never live like a Ghanaian or be fully accepted as one by the people here. Hey ladies back home, looking for a husband? Well, let me suggest you book yourself a plane ticket to sub-Saharan Africa ASAP. It's literally impossible to walk five feet in the busier parts of town without some Ghanaian man coming up and asking for my contact number, complimenting me on some part of my body, confessing he loves me, or offering his hand in marriage. It's all very entertaining, but exasperating at times, and lately I find myself wishing that I had invisible powers.

Some interesting pick up lines for everyone's edification and entertainment:

"Hello. You are beautiful. I want to take you to Aphrodisiac tonight and you can shake your boobboob for me."

"Excuse me, lady, but this gentleman here *points to his friend* claims he loves you."

"CONTACT NUMBER! CONTACT NUMBER! PLEASE! CONTACT NUMBER!"

"I want to make you my wife. Oh, here is my sister. Then you can be sisters." *woman sitting next to him glares at me and does NOT smile back*

Ad infinitum. But that was an aside.

The word for foreigner or white here is "obruni," which is loosely applied by the locals to anyone who isn't Ghanaian. That means even African Americans and Asian Americans like me fit the obruni description. I was actually hoping that I could go in cognito because I didn't look typically "American," but no such luck. I think being an ethnic minority actually attracts more attention in some ways, and I've had people ask me whether I am Japanese, Chinese, or Filipino. One man even expressed surprise that I spoke English.

I've been trying to keep up with my running, but so far my training isn't going so well. I usually try to maintain a mileage of around 50 in Chicago, but all the timezone changes, the busy schedule, the heat, and the lack of safe running trails all makes running difficult. When I'm outside, every taxi driver honks and tries to pick me up, nearly running me over in the process! In Ghana, you don't flag down taxis; they come to you, honking and waving and stopping but two feet away from you. The other thing that makes running difficult are the potholes and roadside gutters. People in Hawaii need to stop complaining about potholes. Seriously, walking along main highways is like hiking on trails here.

There were several places we've been so far that have really made me happy. We've been to so many and they all sort of blend together after awhile, but two that stand out at the moment are the Kaneshi market and La Pleasure beach, both in Accra (not too sure about the exact location of each, as I'm still rather disoriented).

The market is housed in a two (three?) storey building, very dilapidated but definitely a structure with lots of character. The stalls completely fill the ground floor and spill out onto the surrounding streets. Everywhere people press themselves and their merchandise into you, calling out to you.

"Come, come, not buy, just look, come come. And maybe if you like, then I get lucky today."

The first floor of the market is filled with various food items. Don't think McDonald's and Starbucks, please. Maybe I'm simply naive, having nothing to gauge my experience at the market, but everything about the Kaneshi market seemed refreshingly real. This is not Accra's version of Waikiki at all, nor is it the counterpart to Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. There were animal body parts for sell, and it seemed qutie possible to find every single appendage or organ imaginable amid the sea if stalls and tables. The meat filled the place with the smell of blood and flesh, putrid and earthy and strangely alive. It seems that goat meat is pretty popular in Ghana. I have yet to see cows here, but there are packs of goats roaming everywhere. I don't think the Ghanaians are big on dairy either, as everyone here drinks soy milk. Apple flavored, mango flavored, pineapple flavored, you name it. I have yet to try anything but the plain version so far...

Sandwiched in between the meat vendors were tables displaying gorgeous fruits and produce. Pyramids of tomatoes, apples, bananas, and mounds of dried spices and chiles brightened the dimly lit ground floor. There were several items that looked somewhat familiar (white pineapples?) but for other items, I simply found that I had no means of processing the things before me.

Upstairs the vendors sold beads, jewelry, and fabrics. Not to mention sanitary napkins. Actually the upstairs level kind of bored me, because most of the goods looked imported, but all the girls in my group suddenly went crazy and started buying everything. Snore...

I didn't have much time too look around the marketplace on my own, but I hope to go back by myself and take more time to check out the produce and goods and talk to the vendors.

A couple of days ago we also visited La Pleasure beach. Not all all like Hawaii's beaches, or like Chicago's view of the lake front. I couldn't locate a single trash can the entire three hours I was there, and consequently, the sand and shoreline was completely speckled with litter. But I hardly noticed the dirt and the grime because everywhere there were people, people, people, bodies filling the narrow spaces between the large multi-colored beach umbrellas, vending goods, wrestling, sharing beers, dancing, and singing. The only people lounging on beach towels were the tourists. It seemed that all the Ghanaians were busy doing something active. The country also celebrated a national holiday this past weekend, and so Monday wasn't a working day. Maybe the beach isn't usually as lively and crowded, and this weekend was the exception. They had a stage set up and performers danced some traditional dances but I also heard that really popular Black Eyed Peas song from two years ago (whatever the name is, the one that goes on about all that junk in your trunk). It's amazing how amid such a different universe there sometimes erupt such familiar pieces of home, bits of my world that somehow assume an uncanny twist in this country so far from everything I know.

I loved that beach. I definitely want to go back. Best part had to be the beer, which I bought for an equivalent of 90 US cents.

Speaking of beer, the nightlife here is amazing too. No cover charges, no IDs required, beers go for US $1, and the men are fabulous dancers! Everyone sings along to the music, and there are times when everyone is jumping up and down and screaming in words I can't define but somehow instrinsically understand. If you want to know more, email me directly.

Checking out for now. Congrats if you made it this far. I'll try to write more consistently so I don't have to spew out a load of stuff all at once. Love from Accra!