Re-bound

August 12^th, 2012

I fell off the blog train for a while but here I am trying to hop back on.

The last month has been filled with language classes, more training sessions, and then more language classes. I’ve been trying to cram as much Twi into this tiny brain of mine as I can in preparation for the oral language test I took yesterday (I’m not going to tell you how I did just yet. I am forcing you into reading the rest of this post. The suspense is palpable, I know).

Twi is so simple it’s hard. In English there are 20 different ways to say the same thing. In Twi there is one word for something and that one word could mean 4 different things.

For example, in English you could say someone is pretty, beautiful, handsome, cute, attractive, sexy, adorable etc. In Twi there is only one word for pretty, fe. But fe also means to throw up. So, when I am trying to figure out what someone is saying to me I have to listen to the entire sentence and figure out if they are telling me I'm pretty or that they are going to throw up on me. It takes a long time for all this to work itself out in my head and by that time the person has left or said something else I have to figure out. There are more examples of why I had a hard time learning Twi, but it’s just boring so I’ll spare you.

There’s a huge ass spider on my wall. It’s been sitting in the same spot since 9am…...it’s now 2pm. They call these monsters wall spiders (go figure) and they’re harmless except for the fact they are really scary and really fast. I would have run him off by now except I like knowing exactly where he is and I don’t want him to run into my suitcase and I end up wearing him tomorrow.

Nothing too interesting has happened this last month. My Ghana family replaced all the curtains in the house. I got a couple dresses made. I drank too much last night. I ate a really bitter starfruit. I watched a couple Olympic events on TV. The president of Ghana died which is the first time this has ever happened in Ghana. My body has basically started shutting down because of my starch, carb, and oil intake. I'm living on Pepto until I can start feeding myself. I’ve watched a lot of movies. I passed my language test (bingo!). Avocados are out of season right now which is sad. I sleep a lot better than I use to. All my clothes are getting really stretched out due to bucket washing. I went to the bead market and bought some neat stuff. I finished listening to all 3 books in The Hunger Games.

Well, on the 16^th, barring anything crazy happening, I should swear-in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I cannot believe 2 months have already gone by and I am so close to being done with training. I guess this is just a glimpse into how fast the next 2 years will go. All of the sudden my Peace Corps service will be over and I’ll be flying home. I am super excited to finally be able to do my job, and also to gain some freedom back.

I will never again take living on my own and controlling my own life for granted. Even when I lived at home, in America, with my family I could basically do whatever I wanted. There weren’t really any rules, I just needed to be considerate of the other people in the house. Living on my own was even better. I just came and went and did whatever the heck I felt like doing… including spending the entire day in bed watching movies if I felt like that’s what I needed.  Moving in with a family has given me a new found respect for adulthood. I take the good with the bad. My family is very generous and for the most part they give me all the space and privacy I need. On the other hand I feel like a reprimanded teenager again. I am about to turn 26 years old and I have received lectures on not finishing my plate of food, staying out late, not hanging out with the family like I need to, how to host a get-together, and drinking. I am totally sympathetic to my family’s plight. They were asked to move a strange American woman into their home, make sure she is safe, and feed her. It’s a rough spot to be in. That is why I have never and will never say anything to my family about the fact I have no intentions of starving to death, 9pm is not late, so sorry but I’m not a very social person, when I host get-togethers for Americans I like to do it American-style, and I like to have a beer in public.  I understand: not my house not my rules.

And that, folks, is why I cannot wait to have my own house (or tiny blue room).