Sunday the 18th

Today was great. Exceptional even.


I was woken at 7am ( on a Sunday morning!) with 30 mins to shower and leave the house for church. Yes that's right - I went to church. It's ok though coz it wasn't catholic and therefore not polytheist. It was really important for me being in Ghana to go to church. Christianity and religion is a huge part of the culture here and I feel like I just wouldn't really understand this country without going to church. So off we went. Everybody on the street was dressed for church, walking around with their bibles. Even the street sellers who couldn't go to church were sitting by their stalls reading the bible. We went to one on campus filled with hundreds of students. It was totally another world. Everybody was singing and clapping. The pastor said amen and halleluiah at the end of every sentence. It was all about the glory of god and his mercy and let us thank him and praise him and worship him. People raised there hands. People were crying. People dropped to their knees mid song. People even spoke in tongues. I kid you not. People were possessed by Jesus and spoke in tongues. Amazing. And then the service was over by 9am (it had started at 6.30am) and all the young folks milled around flirting and chatting like at mizrachi. It really got me thinking about the Jewish service and how uninspiring it is. But then again - I don't know if I'd be comfortable with such enthusiasm and tears every Shabbat morning. In fact, I kinda prefer my sit at the back and read a book method. But this was probably more powerful and spiritual. Hrm.


After church the boys went back home and I went to the cultural centre. There I went to the King Prempeh II jubilee museum. It was cute. Worth a visit. I visited the craft stores and artists centres there. But all I bought was a bow tie and a badge. Oh and a half penny coin from when Ghana was still colonised by the British. It has a magen david on it. I got kinda excited by that.


After the cultural centre I went to the zoo. It was pretty sad. I mean to be expected I suppose. If human beings have a low standard of living there's probably not a lot of resources or compassion left for animals. So they were all in small cages with little to entertain them. In fact in one cage there was just a dead bird. Seriously. The owl had died and was dead on the floor of its cage. But there were lots of monkeys and lions n tigers. Which was kinda cool.


After the zoo I went to the markets. I love the markets. True they are a bit over whelming but I think I've gotten the hang of them now. I bought some Ashanti fabric - I'll take it to a dress maker tomorrow to have it made into a dress. Woo! I also drank the juice from a giant coconut on the street. It was delicious.


I came home and went straight out to buy food for dinner. I wanted these green leafy vegetables I saw on Friday called kontomri. But I couldn't find any. So I made tomato and egg sauce for rice with Steven. It was delicious and healthy - yay!


Tonight I gchatted with an American girl, also from harova (the seminary i studied at) who lived in Ghana for 5 months and we compared stories. Her story is so different to mine. She was in Accra with her sister. So she automatically had another white person and another Jew with her (ie: her sister). Also in Accra there were supermarkets! She had south African kosher products, even Australian Philadelphia cream cheese! She had also brought with her a toaster oven and a George Foreman grill. And like a lifetime supply of American foods. Obviously because between herself and her sister they could bring 4 giant duffel bags into the country. I on the other hand couldn't bring much food with me and have one supermarket that might have foreign products in the middle of the city 45 mins tro tro ride away. She had a much more cosmopolitan experience than me. I on the other hand live in a house of only Ghanaians (boys) and I haven't seen another white person in over a week now let alone a Jew. I think it's good for me though. Seriously out of the ghetto. Goodbye Caulfield. But I think the more I travel the more I realise that it's all the same. Life is similar everywhere, so I feel more at home wherever I go.


In other news...


I have a serious (or not so serious) decision to make in the next few days. And for that - I'm enlisting my blog followers. Should I go down the coast to a bunch of beaches and parties over this Christmas and new years or should I go to the Jew village and teach Hebrew? I remind you that I will be going to the village in feb to teach for 2 weeks. But it'd be nice to meet Jews... Thoughts - feelings-opinions?