Life in Ghana: Ghanaian Food

          Ghanaian food is probably one of the biggest adaptions that I’ve had to make. Ghanaians eat a lot of meats like goat and chicken which are paired with a starchy side which can be banku, kenke, or fufu or rice. These meals don’t usually come with a vegetable which is a big difference from the well-balanced meals I’m used to in the US.

Breakfast here is not really a meal that is seen as any different from lunch and dinner so there are not many foods that are designated “breakfast” foods like back in the US. This aside, we are still able to eat cereals like Rice Krispies, Weetabix, and Corn Flakes which are sold here along with eggs, toast, and pancakes.

Lunch is a different affair. While breakfast and dinner are normally cooked and eaten at home giving us the flexibility to cook whatever we want, at lunch during the day, my brothers pack food from home while my parents and I eat at one of the dining halls at the university. I will admit that I’m not the most experimental person when it comes to lunch food so I stick with my fish, plantains, and spicy noodles dish which I have most times (every day).

There’s quite a selection in the halls and it is here that you see a little bit of the hierarchy system that’s established across the school. The hall is split up in two parts; one side has many tables with benches where the students sit, and the other side contains a single long table that is elevated above the students. Faculty sits at the table and is served their dinner by a wait staff while the students must stand in a line to collect their food.

Dinner is the meal that is more of a toss-up for our family. About 1-2 nights a week our family goes out to dinner which opens up many options for us. In Greater Accra, the more urbanized region of Ghana were are staying in, there is a wide selection of foods to choose from. There are a fair number of pizza places and KFC’s around and even more Chinese and Thai places. When we eat at home, my dad usually cooks curry, some kind of fish or chicken stew, or some sort of pasta dish.

I think my biggest disappointment lies in the baking department. The prices for cookie/brownie mix are C R A Z Y and my family has no real need to buy flour, baking soda and powder, things that could be used to make items from scratch. All I want for my birthday is to make some nice chocolate chip cookies! If someone told me 6 months ago that in 6 months I would be stripped of my precious cookie dough, I probably would laugh in their face. I guess this kind of represents my whole stay here in Ghana in a way. You really don’t notice what you have until it’s gone and you really need to appreciate what you have while you have it. Big lesson learned so far: Treasure what you have while you have it because it could be much, much worse. 

What??? A hamburger??? AND fries???

A delicious fish and fried rice dish at the beach

A Joseph Family favorite dinner spot (delicious pizza)

Barbecue and Cheese pizzas courtesy of Real Pizza (pictured above)

Life in Ghana: Driving in Accra

Driving in Accra is INSANE. If you thought you had road-rage in the US… you probably want to opt out of driving here. For one, most of the streets are sans street lights and lane lines which is already a recipe for disaster. On top of that, Ghanaians drive like they are late. All. The. Time. Everything is a rush and junctions (intersections) are nothing short of chaotic.

Sadly, I’m not done. In the rainy season (March-May) it rains a LOT. In order to lessen the probability of flooding, on each side of the street are 1-2 foot deep ditches running alongside the road. These are terrifying. I’m surprised that we haven’t witnessed more accidents of trucks or cars falling into the dreaded ditches. A couple weeks after arriving we drove past a large truck that had been carrying some type of cargo and had swerved into the ditch. The truck’s wheel was stuck in the ditch, pitching it forward and causing it to lose its cargo. As we drove past, we could see at least ten people gathered around trying to figure out how to get such a large vehicle out of the dreaded ditch.

The roads in Accra are almost always filled. The exception is on Sunday when almost every Ghanaian goes to church and the city becomes a ghost town. On the other days, rush hour is hellish. The traffic is TERRIBLE and the street hawkers (people on the side of the road who sell their wares by coming right up to your car window) see their chance and pounce. Accra is such a large city that everything is incredibly spread out. It takes about 30 minutes to get from our house to the boy’s school and about 20-25 minutes to get from there to the university. Add the crazy traffic to this and you might lose your mind.

Some tips I have from anyone planning on making a trip to Ghana; 1) Buy a big car. Not a small car. I repeat: buy a big car. Big cars really have the advantage on the roads because it is much easier to navigate the humps and bumps of the road in a larger car. Big cars are also an asset to driving as you can use size to your advantage when braving the junctions because no small car is going to want to try and turn when a larger car is making its move. 2) If this post has scared you away from driving in the streets, you can always hop in one of the ubiquitous tro-tros or taxis. 

Update (First month)

Hi everyone!

I am terribly sorry for my lack of blog posts. My first month in Ghana has been quite a ride, and I am finally getting settled into a nice routine that should include more frequent blog posts.

I've decided to change the formatting of my posts from the sort of daily updates to a more structured sharing of my experiences. I have a bounty of topics that I would love to write about and share with you all!

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Layla

Answering some questions! (Days 3&4)

Yesterday and today have really just been lounging days, for getting settled and figuring out school, pretty low-key, so I'm going to answer some questions!
Okay, so are your sleeping quarters in this place like what you are used to here in the states?

Yes and no. Back home, my brothers and I each had our own separate rooms. Here, in our first apartment, we are sharing a room which is proving to be a very interesting situation. We are 15, 13, and 10 so as you can imagine we don't always get along, especially not in such close quarters but we're making do. In about a week we are moving to an actual house where I will have my own room. Beds and room size really vary by the houses but in terms of the aesthetics of the rooms in comparison to the US there are no huge differences. Below are some pictures of the bedroom for me and my brothers in our current home.

How rare is it to see people who seem to maybe be African American?

Very rare. Personally, I haven't seen any that seem to possibly be African-American but I've only been here for about 5 days so that may change soon. :) There are certain places that more Americans/Europeans can be found here such as at the beach or at the malls, but it's less likely to find them on the streets or in little shops.

Are you seeing mainly adults or also lots of young people?

Because we have just arrived, my brothers are not yet attending school and we've only just happened upon a weekend so a majority of the time we spend travelling many of the children/teens are in school. We've had encounters with a few young boys on the street begging, probably too poor to afford an education. Many adults also have jobs on the street, selling whatever they can which may also be a reason for our seeing so many adults, they are most prevalent on the streets which is where we have mostly been, driving and exploring the city.

Are you seeing people your age? How do they behave? How do they dress?

This is closely related to the above question. Since I am enrolled in an online school, I don't think I will be having very many interactions with those my age which really is too bad. I'll come back to this question in about a month, when hopefully I will have better answers to these questions. I can talk about dress, though. Many Ghanaians wear pants which is just mind-blowing to me as the temperatures are about 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, which lowers to about 75-85 at around 5 o clock. The natural look of Ghana is colorful but very covered up. There are definitely the more westernized/Americanized Ghanaians so you may run into a female in a pencil skirt or a man in fresh-looking Nikes but they are vastly outnumbered. Here in Ghana there are very many fabric shops, and tailors so many people can get dresses, shirts, and trousers made here in whatever patterns and materials they desire. 

I hope my answers to these great questions gave a little more insight into life here in Accra, and I will continue to do my best in supplying my blog posts with pictures whenever I can! Please ask any questions you may have about any and everything, I'll be here for a while ;).

-Layla  

Day 2: Monkey Adventures and Botanical Gardens

Let me tell you the story of how my dad almost got mauled by a monkey. So yesterday my family decided to take a little field trip to the Legon Botanical Garden. We were very excited and interested to see what kind of beautiful plants and flowers Accra had to offer. Upon arriving, we could tell the garden wasn't exactly what we thought it would be. The picture below shows the entrance to the very very modest "garden". Now, even though it looked absolutely nothing like a botanical garden of any sort, we decided to give it a try and walked in. We talked to the guards at the doorway, asking about their favorite things to go and see in the "garden". Now, while this was going on, I looked deeper into the park where I saw some movement. I could've sworn I saw two very small and lively baby monkeys jumping around outside of their cage. I thought, "No they must be in a cage", and blamed my faulty vision to my sunglasses. I heard the guards tell my parents to check out the monkeys which reinforced my thoughts that they MUST be in a cage, they wouldn't let them run free right? Wrong.

As we walked into the park and towards the monkeys, I told my dad of my suspicions about the monkeys. He brushed it off, thinking as I had that they couldn't be out of their cages! We approached and could see a couple standing near the cages, the man very close to the cage, seemingly talking to the large parent monkeys in the cage. What should've immediately been a red flag was the fact that the female was standing noticeably further away from the cages with an apprehensive look on her face. But nope, we kept approaching the cage. And then we saw the baby monkeys. They were messing around under the cage, so it was hard to tell that they weren't boxed in, but I knew. Guys, I knew. My mom, brothers, and I kept our distance with the other woman but my dad inched closer to the cage, greeting the other man. Then, the monkey’s rough play brought them out from under the cage and that's when it got real. They began chasing each other, not straying far from the cage but in a crazy roughhousing manner. This is when I, along with my brother and mom, started making my way far far far far far away from the little monkeys. Unfortunately, my dad didn't get the memo, and was too close to the cage to back away without being spotted, and he was. One of the monkeys began making their way towards him and this is when we began to freak out a little (a lot). Soon, the monkey was inches from my dad and looking like it wanted to jump onto him. Naturally, he did his best to shoo it away, but these monkeys weren't afraid of humans, as they were used to being around them. I'm really sorry I don't have a picture of this moment, because I was trying my best not to pee myself. Maybe next time. :) We finally escaped the monkeys by jogging (sprinting) away from them. Over the course of the next few minutes, my whole family was on edge, heads whipping around, looking out for the monkeys at any sound. I'm sure we looked slightly insane running away from the monkeys and being on the lookout for them wherever we went, but they felt like the right measures to take after the terrifying encounter.

Below is another picture from the "garden", a path we took and saw some incredibly huge termite hills, while still being on the lookout for crazy little monkeys of course.

White people are a rarity in Ghana, so seeing them is an interesting experience, but it's comforting to know that there are others visiting and doing the same kind of thing we are. That said, when coming across them, or any people of a lighter skin tone, we tend to feel a bit of a bond and compelled to help them out if we can. As we were exiting the park, we saw a European family about to enter the park. We contemplated warning them of the dreaded monkeys but eventually decided against it, that would be their adventure :).

As you can hopefully see, the Joseph family was traumatized and in need of a nice cool down and treat so we headed over to the bar/grill/pizzeria called Nayiba that was directly next door to the botanical garden.

On the left is a snazzy pic of the super cool Sprite bottles we got with our meal of goat kabobs. Sadly, I forgot to do the Instagram thing and take picture of my meal but I can assure, there will be plenty of meal pics coming up.  Below is a picture of our view from the table at Nayiba, a really nice and calm eating place.

After our adventure at the garden, we decided to head home and try to get some naps in before the Super Bowl, which was on at 11pm Ghana time.

Being the loyal American Ghanaians we tuned in to the Super Bowl on time and watched the whole thing, my dad rooting for the Broncos and me and my brothers for the Seahawks.

Thanks for reading and please leave comments with any questions/thoughts about what I should talk about!

-Layla

Day 1: Getting acclimated to my new home!

Due to the time change, my wake up time was around 12:45pm, 7:25 am back home. Our day was a pretty calm one, our plan was to head out and do some exploring, while also visiting some of the incredibly generous friends my dad made in the two weeks that he was here before us. After piling into our very large SUV, we were out of our little cocoon of an apartment and back into the city with the people. The first destination was the University of Ghana, also referred to by the locals as Legon. It's a very large campus, with 40,000 students in attendance. Next, we traveled away from the heart of Accra to visit the school where my brothers would be attending. I forgot to mention this earlier (whoops), but my mode of education won't be at an actual school but online, taking online classes with an Ohio branch. This I haven't started yet, but I assume will be a mini adventure in and of itself!

Okay. After leaving the school, we headed to "Uncle" George's house, a man who had graciously taken my dad under his wing and found us the very luxurious apartment we are currently staying in. We headed over there to watch the African Cup final of football, which had Ghana squaring off against Libya. As the time crept closer to the game, the ever crowded roads and sidewalks got noticeably clearer as everyone made their way to a tv to hopefully watch their team take the cup and $750,000 prize. (Spoiler alert: they lost) This was a pretty big disappointment for the Ghanaians, although their team had already scored a spot in the World Cup through defeating Egypt in the qualifier which was a pretty good consolation for the loss against Libya. Alright enough about football, back to the good stuff.

Life here in Ghana is overwhelming at first. In America, we keep to ourselves and don't really approach others much, if at all. Here in Ghana, the people are like one huge family. When meeting new people, they can clearly tell that my family wasn't from around here and let us know that we were welcome, which was usually followed by a hug. Another good indicator of the Ghanaians close relationships are the modes of transportation called tro-tro's. These are minivans that travel around the cities, picking up and dropping off people at desired destinations along the way. The tro-tro's are large, but house about twice the people they are meant to. It's a wonderful sight to be driving along and see a tro-tro pull up, filled to the brim with people laughing, talking, and smiling to each other.

Housing here in Ghana is much different than in the US. In the US, there are the low income areas and high income areas, but now much mixing. Here, almost everywhere is mixed-income housing. Sure, there are areas specifically housing the higher income people and others for the lower income, but a majority of the housing is a mix, which is nice, it's nice to see that the people really don't care about how much someone makes, they can still be neighbors. As it is only day two now, and I'm reflecting on day 1, I can't say I'm a Ghanaian expert just yet :), but I'm feeling pretty confident that over the course of our trip, I will be able to really make Ghana my home.

For this blog, I'm kiiiinda just rambling, so if anyone has any questions/suggestions for what I should talk about, by all means please comment and share your thoughts. This is a learning experience for all of us, and I'm very glad I can include all of you in it, but I would be even happier if I really addressed everyone's thoughts!

-Layla

Arrived in Ghana!

Hey everyone! I am finally connected with Internet which I'll have securely for about two weeks. Our flight here was smooth, and I was lucky to sit behind two Ghanaians who referred to themselves as Americanized and hear their views on the American vs African ways of life. Already, before even arriving in Ghana, I got a glimpse of how life was in Ghana, and just how different it was from life in the US. Upon arriving, I was immediately introduced to Ghana's wide range of wealth, and that, even in the capital city, you see all types of income inequality. In the city, there are the very rich, the very poor, and everyone in between.

The apartment that my family and I am staying in is a very large one and for that we are extremely lucky. This is only a temporary arrangement, two weeks, but for that time, we'll be able to enjoy the not so simple comforts of 2 tvs (to watch the Super Bowl and any and every Ghanaian sport with), air conditioning, Wifi, a daily cleaning service, and very large lounging rooms. Many of the middle to upper class homes are surrounded by barbed wire around its walls, and where we are now, the compound is surrounded by an electric fence, an indication of just how luxurious our living conditions are.

I haven't been out much, the only interactions with the city I've gotten are from the modest airport and the drive home. Everywhere you look while driving on the streets are people. People selling things from stands, walking up to your cars balancing goods on their heads, or simply walking and talking to others. In Ghana the people are very friendly, and always looking to help, even when it isn't particularly needed. They greet Americans warmly, with a genuine akwaaba, meaning welcome. Another observation of the people is their love for sports. The major sports here are cricket and soccer which are ALWAYS on the television. Always. The Ghanaians are particularly proud of their international tea am, the Black Stars, who have made it to the World Cup this year. Luckily, my family will be here for the World Cup and I can't wait to experience the excitement with the people!!

Food. Ghanaian food is very different from American cuisine which I learned early on. They eat a lot of fish, as Ghana is on the coast, and goat is another favorite of the people. My dad traveled here two weeks earlier than the rest of my family, and stocked the fridge with a few familiar foods like spaghetti and pancake mix. Every meal here in Ghana is accompanied by a starch of some sort, in the form of a packed ball sort of looking thing.

Here in Ghana, time is 5 hours ahead which may cause some problems with communication to those back home, but I'm sure it'll be worked out. Today will be my first full day in Ghana and I can't wait to get out and explore the city! I'll do my best to take pictures and upload them here, now that I have internet access!

-Layla