Pretty much any time someone finds out that I’m and American, they’re like, “Ooh, you can give me an invitation. Will you let me come visit you?” Seriously, I just met you five seconds ago, so I think not.
Apparently Melissa is an uncommon name, or I just suck at saying it so that they can understand it, so people usually think I say Millicent. I’m thinking of changing my name in addition to my nationality. When I come home, I will be a completely new woman. Ha, just kidding, I don’t think I could be Canadian…or a Millicent. However Millicent kind of reminds me of my childhood hero, Maleficent, so that could be awesome.
So, in my time here, I have grown accustomed to two things: car horns and hissing. I used to jump every time I heard a car horn, but if I did that here, it would look like I was constantly seizing. Sometimes people honk for no apparent reason or just because everyone else is honking. It creates quite a peaceful ambiance. I think when I go home I will be in shock at how quiet the roads are.
Ghanaians use hissing to get your attention. Passing street vendors, they will either yell obruni or hiss to beckon me over to look at their stuff. Most of the time I just keep walking. If I wanted to buy something, I’d stop. I have yet to hiss at anyone. I kind of want to because I think it would make my experience complete, but I still feel kind of awkward hissing at people.
The other day I went to a TB volunteer meeting where DIF was distributing materials and bikes. I had to read off the town names to hand out the materials, and it was really funny/embarrassing/everyone was laughing and talking about me in Ga and I had no idea what they were saying. I completely slaughtered some of the names and became fully aware of my whiteness. They were very helpful, though, and corrected my awful pronunciation. Every morning, I take a tro-tro from Nima market to Tema station, and then from there have to take another tro-tro towards Abgobgoshi. It’s always hard to find that tro-tro, so I have to ask around. Too bad they never understand what the heck I’m saying. When the driver calls out where he’s going, he ends up dropping most of the word and just says “Abgosh”. Yeah, completely different word.
Even though the official language here is English, I rarely hear it spoken unless people are talking specifically to me. In the area I work, most people speak Ga, and the other main language is Twi. Most of the time I feel pretty lost and sit there wondering what people are talking about. Especially in one of the slums I will be working in, a lot of the people are illiterate and don’t speak much English, so communicating my information to them will be quite interesting.
Wow, so I apologize that this post has been really random and disjointed. I can’t really think right now, and even though I get about 8 hours of sleep a night (which feels amazing compared to the 5 I’ve been getting for the past few years), I’m still always tired. The other day I fell asleep at 9 watching Arrested Development on my laptop. I think I might go to a beach this weekend and RELAX. I don’t know how many real weekends I will have in the future because I have to go to some of the villages for the TB program I’m working on. Sorry, more rambling. I’m really done now.
I don't know which is more disturbing...that your mumbling is finally going to be your downfall or that Maleficent was your childhood hero.
ReplyDeleteThe hissing certainly brings back many fond memories. At least you can hardly understand what they're saying to you after the hiss. My most common follow-up to the hiss was "regalame los ojos." Let's just say they weren't looking for a hand-out.