day at the beach

Welcome again to my blog!
I want to begin by saying that I am so extremely grateful to all of you for your support. The calls, emails and just knowing that I have people at home that support me is a wonderful feeling!
My work here is currently stalled because I still have not received most of my supplies from Accra, the capital of Ghana. This is really becoming a bit issue for me. The supplies have been in Accra for over three weeks! The shipping company is waiting for EPA (Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency) approval because of the chemicals contained in the shipment. I try to keep in mind that things move slowly here, but my time is getting short and I want to make sure I am doing my job.
I have gotten the university here involved in hopes of speeding up the process, but with another long holiday coming up, Easter is celebrated from Thursday through Monday, I am not expecting much to happen. Anyway, you all don’t want to hear about this stuff, so let’s move on to happier news!
Thursday, March 6th was Ghana Independence Day and a day off work.

Victoria, Don Juan, Henry and I went to the beach near Takoradi, an hour’s drive south of Tarkwa. We went to a beach resort, actually, through some means of under-the-table payment to the security guard. The weather was lovely and it was so nice to dip my toes into the cool ocean. Since we were at a resort, there was a restaurant and live music, so we proceeded to have a few drinks, some semi-American food and dance. I have attached some pictures of us on the beach. Here, Henry is in utter amazement of my dancing moves! Yes, white girls can dance…sort of.


Vic and Don Juan also took advantage of the sun, surf and music!

here are some other neat photos:

I mentioned the semi-American food and I would like to elaborate on what exactly that means. We had a late lunch and I asked the waiter about the cuisine. I have been so hungry for American food (or really any food that does not contain fish) and was truly hoping to get a hamburger and FF. Unfortunately, no beef on the menu, but the waiter assured me that the club sandwich with fries was excellent. Ok, so I had the club sandwich, while my counterparts had some traditional Ghanaian yams with tomato sauce and some goat skewers. As you may guess, the sandwich was less than satisfactory, containing tons of mayo and, wouldn’t you know, fish. That being said, the fries were great. I know, I know I should have asked the contents of the sandwich…but oh well. For a place that puts ketchup and mayo on green salads it wasn’t bad.

We returned to Tarkwa around 8 pm and Friday was back to work!

On Saturday, I went over to Victoria’s house to try another traditional Ghanaian dish called gari. Earlier in the week she introduced my to something called banku with chicken soup. Both of these dishes use the same basic ingredients: cassava, plantain and/or fermented corn. These items are ground into a powder, sometimes coarse and sometimes fine, depending on the tribe and culture of the area. Victoria is an Ewe (I think that is the spelling), coming from the northern Volta region. Her husband, Don Juan, is Ashanti. This just means that Victoria has her own tribe’s recipes for creating basic dishes. Most often the ground plants are added to water and made into a paste or dough, sort of like fufu, and then served with a soup or stew. Typically, this stew or soup is made with fish, but since I asked for something a little different, Victoria created a chicken soup for the banku and a fish stew for the gari. Both of these dishes were wonderful! I enjoyed them much more than the fufu!
After consuming a large quantity of gari on Saturday, Victoria and I sat around her house and watched several episodes of 24, yes the US show with Kiefer Sutherland. This is her favorite show and she can purchase Chinese produced DVDs in town. I never really enjoyed the show when I lived in the US, but it was sure nice to hear all the American slang and see American landmarks. Henry came by later in the day, Don Juan was traveling for work, and we just hung-out chatting and watching a little TV.
Sunday I did not attend church, but went over to the Gordon’s house for lunch. I was told the menu for the day was beans and rice. Of course, that meant beans, rice and a whole fish (including head)! Although serving the fish this way is typical, today I just couldn’t handle it. I covered up the head with beans and rice and ate around the fish. Joe Gordon asked me about this and I felt that I just had to tell him the truth about my fear of the fish staring at me while I ate. He and his wife found this completely hilarious! They said the next time they would remove the head for me, thank goodness.
Last week was pretty boring, just work and waiting for my supplies to arrive. On Thursday, March 13th, Victoria, Don Juan, Henry and I went out to the Club house for a couple drinks and relaxation. We decided to travel again to Monica’s for a little US music and a little dancing. Another very fun night with my very good Ghanaian friends! I stayed in over the weekend for a little R&R, but went out again with the above mentioned group on Sunday afternoon to watch football (soccer).
At the Club House, we normally get goat skewers to munch on while we chat. I mentioned before that they cook all of the meat extremely well done, so it is sometimes difficult to figure out what type of meat you are eating. The skewers we had were definitely distinct, so I asked Victoria what we were eating and she told me she requested liver. Why LIVER? Turns out she has the same medical condition I do: chronic anemia. In this type of anemia, your body does not produce enough red blood cells so I get fatigued easily and have to take vitamins to make sure the red blood cells I do have run at full capacity. It is also suggested to eat red meat and green vegetables, two things that are not always accessible here in Tarkwa. Victoria’s doctor recommended she eat liver when she can because it is a good source of iron. So I ate some liver and I must admit I am feeling better than I did last week. Not that I was feeling bad, just tired and edgy. Maybe this week I will request some liver skewers!
Yesterday, I went to the doctor to get a refill on my anti-malarial drugs. I was thinking about discontinuing taking the drugs, because they mess with my sleeping, but I decided to keep taking them at least a little while longer. Malaria, spread by mosquitoes, is common here in Ghana and most people get it several times in their lifetime. If I would get malaria, it would not be fatal and may not even be very serious. I have access to medicine to treat malaria and its symptoms (so mom, please don’t worry). However, I don’t really want to deal with that if I don’t have to. I sleep under a mosquito net, rub DEET containing bug lotion all over my body if I am going out in the evenings and take these huge anti-malarial pills everyday.
Well, I guess I should try to post this blog and pictures. Since our connection is so slow this can take up to an hour!