I’m clapping my hands

So last time I was here, the beginning month was tough. In an e-mail from my parents, I remember they jokingly said, ‘if your happy and you know it, clap your hands,’ and I responded that there was definitely no clapping going on. Slowly I started to get more into the swing of life here, so I replied to them, ‘I’m tapping one hand on my knee.’ And finally the day came when I was positively able to respond that I was yes, ‘clapping my hands.’ So I am now able to say again, that I am clapping my hands. Finally! When I first got here, I think I had written in my post that I felt like I was plopped back into my old life. That was indeed true, but I didn’t feel as generally happy as I knew I use to be. I was nervous that I had a romanticized vision built up in my head that did not pan out to be true. I felt comfortable and settled with life here and things felt totally normal, yet I wasn’t happy with it. I felt like everyone was always staring at me (granted they were, but it made me super uncomfortable, whereas before it didn’t), and I felt like everyone knew I was ‘fresh off the boat.’ I forgot how much common things cost, which made me uncomfortable and I had to re-learn how to get around. Work was slow, even though I expected that, yet it really frustrated me. Walking around the market (a place where I use to love just roaming around and talking to people, totally stressed me out!)But that passed! Phewf! I guess I assumed that since I already dealt with culture shock the first time around, I would be able to avoid it. But that was not the case. I guess it wasn’t really ‘shock’, but more of cultural re-adjustment. So yea, I’m clapping my hands! Maybe even humming along with the clap…

Work is really starting to pick up. The first two weeks were very slow. As I mentioned, I decided to be apart of the popular culture event. I thought this would be way more time consuming than it actually was. The few tasks that I had to do took me a total of an hour. So I managed to read a novel, sleep, catch up on phone calls and e-mails all from my desk! I wanted to meet with the professor to get some more work, but she was so busy that we were only able to meet this past Monday. So I have gotten on board with the sexual harassment unit, and as soon as I meet with the others who work with this section of CEGENSA, I will begin to work on the current research project. We had a colloquium on Friday for students at the University with the theme of ‘sex, sexuality and harassment.’ The University of Ghana does not yet have a policy against sexual harassment on campus, so CEGENSA has spearheaded a draft policy that is currently under revision. Obviously a policy like this is long overdue, but better late than never, I guess. In conjunction with this policy work, the sexual harassment unit is working on a research project to understand what students know about sexual harassment. The colloquium on Friday was in response to this, where we had various speakers from the University to address the issue - a med. School prof., a woman from the law institute to address the legal side, the student council reps, and members from a counseling center on campus. Some other staff and I had to write a report yesterday (12 pages!!) on the event. I am not at all a fan of group work, so working with 6 others to compile our scrap notes and write this report was a serious test on my nerves and patience! We (the royal ‘we’…I) began writing the document by hand and as I knew we (again the royal ‘we’…I) would be typing it after, I decided to scrap the pen and paper idea after about 3 pages, and go right to the computer. Much better! Although there was a moment that my co-worker sitting next to me, was leaning over my shoulder and was literally reading every word out loud as I was typing. I almost lost it. No joke.

This past weekend was my friend Jen’s (picture) wedding! I met Jen when I was here last time, and this was too when she met her now husband. They went to the registrar’s office on Friday, where the legal ceremony was performed. Myself along with one of the grooms friend were the witnesses. The man who performed the ceremony was not the nicest of people, as he was pretty snarky to Zein (jen’s husband), and in the middle of the ceremony, his phone rang and he said “oh its my sister from the UK”…only in Ghana! Saturday evening was a party at a beach hotel, which was really nice and a lot of fun! My friend Andrea is coming in this weekend, so that’s exciting! I keep trying to convince her to move to Accra!

So that’s that!

Hope all is well with everyone!