An Update, Small Small

Apologies for the delay in between posts - my life isn't always that exciting. Nothing much has happened since my last post, at least anything that has really inspired me to write something out. My Peace Corps life has its exciting weeks and then its so-so/life-moves-slower-in-Africa weeks. 

I've been spending a lot of time with my local family. One of my sisters, Ama Ruby, is back from university and we get along really well. All my siblings are great - I really lucked out with this family. We've started a little game between all the siblings...we are all named a different animal. Let me give you some background on how this all started...My youngest sister, M'Adowa, is always yelling "ma ma ma," for her mother and it closely resembles the bleating of all the baby goats running around. After making this remarkable discovery, I said to my mother, "M'Adowa, she sounds like the goats 'ma ma ma.'" Since then I've always called her "Apɔnkye," which is goat in Twi. After a few days of being called Sister "Apɔnkye" M'Adowa decided to call me Sister "Akokɔ," which means chicken. So all the siblings have an animal nickname: Ruby=turtle, Akos=cat, Kofi=pig, Kwabena=fish, and Kwaku=dog.  M'Adowa will usually come and hang out with my after she has finished with school for the day, and sometimes I'll make her popcorn or some groundnuts (peanuts). I've been introducing her to American food, small small (a Ghanaian English phrase that is commonly used here). Whenever I cook lunch or dinner for myself, I always give my family a little bowl so they can taste something other than fufu. Don't get me wrong, fufu is great, but not every night of your life. Although, they did make banku the other night, a slight change from fufu (you use corn dough instead of plantain). 

In the evenings, I’ll usually sit in the courtyard with my sisters and brother and talk. There is the occasional Azonto lesson, which ends up turning into them all laughing at me as I make a sorry attempt to dance like a Ghanaian. Even the worst Ghanaian dancer is better than us obrunis. If there is a football match on television, we’ll usually come into my front room and watch it together. Some nights I’ll go into town at sit at my fathers store and interact with passersby. I usually have at least one conversation as to why I am not married and have no children. They are always shocked when I say, “Oh you know, I want to wait till I’m in my 30s.” Clearly I am insane. I mean I am 23, practically an old lady over here. I usually talk about my imaginary boyfriend and that keeps them occupied for a while, until they ask to meet him to which I say, “Oh, he’s coming.”

I don’t have much planned for the upcoming weeks, so we’ll just see what happens. Being a site definitely gives real meaning to “time alone with your thoughts.” Its quite a weird sensation…I’ve never had so much free time in my life, except when I was baby, but even then I had mandated nap and feeding times. I do a great deal of daydreaming and “self-reflection,” I mean what else am I going to do? Hopefully by the end of these two years I will have my entire life planned out, but I highly doubt it. I’m trying to adopt a worry-free lifestyle, and whatever happens, happens. Life is too short to be stressed and worried all the time. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I haven’t gone off the deep end…I will come back to America and get a job, I just don’t want to spend every waking minute of my life worrying about the future. Peace Corps is weird, and it changes you. It’s hard to explain without making myself sound like a nut, but it’s definitely an eye-opening, life-changing experience. The 8th of July was our five month mark! It's crazy that we've been here that long already. It is definitely flying by!