Spending Cedis and Making Friends

September 5^th, 2012

Life is so good.

And it only costs me 400 cedis.

Before you get all noble on me and say something about how cedis don’t buy happiness and part of this process is learning to be happy with minimal blah and all those things I know to be true, I just want to share with you that a frig, new mattress, and a stove can really make a person happy.

• Keeping my food from rotting makes me happy.
• Not falling through my bed to the floor in the middle of the night (damn those planks that just don’t fit quite good enough) makes me happy.
• Sleeping on a cloud makes me happy.
• Cooking pasta and curry and everything delicious makes me happy.

All this was possible by forking over a small fortune. So yes, cedis have bought me happiness.

I am basically completely moved into my new home. My clothes are still sitting in my suitcase, but I don’t think that is going to change. I have run out of space to put things so the clothes stay where they are.  I have half a carrot, some lettuce, and an avocado chilling out in my frig. The only thing I have left to do is fill the propane tank that will fuel my burners so I can start cooking. There must be some type of gas shortage or something because Asemankese and Nsawam were both out of gas. At some point I’ll go fill it but I have been traveling so much in the past 3 days I'm not going anywhere for the next couple of days.

I went to the bank for the first time yesterday. Finally the school car was fixed and I was graciously allowed to use it to haul the frig and mattress I wanted back to Coaltar (what a god-send because I literally have no clue how in the world I would have gotten these cumbersome objects to my site). After I bought the mattress I was 20 cedis short for the frig, so I decided to go to the bank. Peace Corps has set me up an account with Ghana Commercial Bank, but I have yet to receive a bank card so I have this check book looking thing I have to take to the teller to withdraw money, instead of going to the atm.

I get dropped off, by the school driver, at the bank at 8am while the driver goes to have something checked on the car. The bank doesn’t open until 8:30am. I figured since there was only about 5 people outside the bank when I got there I would be in and out relatively quickly. Between 8 and 8:45 (when the bank finally opened its doors) about 5,000 people flocked to the bank. When the bank went to unlock the front doors, there was this huge surge of people that shoved inside. It looked a lot like something you would see at Wal-Mart on Black Friday and it was just as terrifying. Old, young, rich, and poor all shoved inside the doors and ran to the first 2 rows of seats in the middle of the bank lobby. I just stood behind the hoard and watched the shenanigans so I was one of the last people to get inside and find a chair.

Keep in mind this is my first time at the bank in Ghana, ever, so I didn’t have any idea what to do. As I sat in my chair watching everyone intently, trying to figure this out, an important bank man came out to the lobby and said he had an announcement to make. The system was down. At all branches. Be patient.

This, of course, created a flurry of questions and sighs and groans and exasperation. For the most part, everyone just sat in the chairs, but there were a few people going to tellers and it looked like their business was being handled. There was no rhyme or reason to the people going to the tellers and you could tell there were some people sitting who were very anxious, so I didn’t want to get up and jump in line and create some type of foreigner panic.  I was still as confused and lost as ever and then I spotted a window marked “Enquiries”.

Then I made a rookie mistake. I got out of my place in the chairs and I went to go stand in line for enquiries. After 10 min of waiting I got to the window. I don’t know who in the hell designed the window system but it the most awkward. The rectangle you have to yell through is just low enough you have to bend over at a really strange level. Here, I drew you a very archaic picture:

Me: Hello. This is my first time at this bank and I have a question ab…..

Teller: You are going to have to bend lower I cannot hear you.

Me: Oh. Sorry. Hello. This is my first time at this bank and I want…

Teller: This is your first time where? I cannot understand what you are saying.

Me: WHAT DO I NEED TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT?

Teller: You need to buy checks from the window down there.

Me: (fumbling in my satchel) I have these checks are they the same thing?

Teller: What? Go to the other window please.

Me: OK YOU HAVE BEEN SO HELPFUL. NOW I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM DOING THANKS.

Teller: (looks behind me) Next.

After my completely useless conversation I turned around to discover a hundred more people had entered the bank and there was only one seat left in the rows of seats. I literally ran to that chair and plopped down in it mentally exhausted and almost in tears (how emotional can the bank make you? Apparently very). I still had no idea what to do. The driver was surely waiting for me by now. When was the system going to be fixed? I had waited so long to get my frig and mattress there was no way in hell I was going back to Coaltar without them but I definitely needed more money. As I sat, and sat, I finally figured out the teller system and how people decided who was going next. I had made it the second row and I was right behind the chair of the person who was first, when that person went and the old man (who was next) told me to come up and take the seat.

“Who me?” “Yes. I saw you were in here early and you look like you are struggling.” “Oh my gosh I am struggling this is my first time at the bank and I still have no idea what is going on thank you so much it was stupid of me to get up and leave my seat but I don’t know what to do and this bank is so different. But. Thank. You. So. Much.” “It’s fine. You have to fight for your spot so you are next.” “Thank you thank you.”

And then I went to the teller. I told her I had no idea what I was doing and she walked me through it no problem. She even laughed at my feeble attempt at humor which was nice. I got all the money I needed and I walked out into the sunshine feeling much better.

And now I am sitting on my mattress, looking at my frig, drinking cold water, and it’s a good day :)