Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A baby goat.

Some funny thoughts and comments:

1. I really wish I could bring a baby goat (kid) back with me, they are so cute and adorable. I could already imagine a kid playing in my backyard and eating all the vegetable that my mom has planted in our backyard. Maybe I could bring one along with me on the plane. Although the cold Canadian winters would be a problem.

2. My name is Abna is Twi ( local language in Accra). Names are given here based on which day of the week you were born on and I was born on Tuesday and therefore my name is Abna.


3. Even thought I have a Canadian name Kate and a Ghanian name Abna , I am mostly refered to as Obroni by people. And what does Obroni mean? it means...."white man" aka foreigner. It's the funniest thing when little chidren call me that whenever they see me. They would be going about their daily work and as soon as they see me they would shout Obroni, Obroni. Ironically, I even find it amusing when I see a "white" person.

4. When they say the rainy season in Accra lasts from May to beginning of August, they really mean it and now I know how true it is. It has been raining for the last 3 days and I have not seen the rays of sun in a little while. I really love rain so I am enjoying the weather. My tanning speed has decreased due to this reason though... not good.

5. I have gotten some marriage proposals. They all have been of the funny, silly kind. The funniest part about it is when I try to make funny excuses of why I don't wanna get married. Although there has been two cases when I had to lie majorly to get out of the situation, I had to lie and say that I have a boyfriend in Canada and he would be very upset if I cheat on him, I hate lying but sometimes it is necessary.

David and Jess have also gotten marriage proposals. Sometimes a person would ask David if they could either have me or Jess to marry, mostly because me, Jess and David are at times called sisters and brothers and they would wanna ask David if they could have one od his sisters.

One time Jess told one of the guys who wanted to marry her that he first had to fight a lion and then ask her to marry him.

6. I live with Papa Jacob who has a guest house and usually foreigners stay long term at his place. I am renting a room there. My place is between Jess and David's places. Whenever I come home from work I sit with him in the yard and he tells me stories about his life. He served in the military for nearly 40 years. He was first a nurse and then a physiotherepist. My favorite story so far has been those of his wife and how they met at the military, she was sick and so they brought her to the military hospital and guess who cared for her? Papa Jacob. She passed away seven years go. He is a very happy man, as a matter of fact whenever I ask him how he is , he always says he is perfect. I admire his enthusiam and appreciation for life. I don't know why but I randomly was thinking about how I would deal with missing him when I come back home.


7. Yaw, precious and little Jessica are the three females that live with Papa Jacob and help him with keeping the place nice and clean. Yaw is Jessica's mother , she is about 30 years old. Does not speak English. She also takes care of Precious who is about 10 and Jessica who is turning 2 soon. Precious is one of the most humble girls that I have met. Not only does she do well at school but she always helps Yaw with the house chores. The first couple of days of my stay at Papa Jacob's she would show me where everything was.


8. And as for little Jessica, she couldn't speak at all when I first moved in. But now she can say Kate perfectly. She runs to hug me when I come home from work. Sometimes I would say "Sa Sa" which means dance and she would move her tiny legs and dance.

10. Yaw is a very quite woman and it was very hard for me to communicate with her. Although our relationship changed majorly when we watched a football(soccer) match together. She really surprised me with her massive amount of passion for football, and now we have something huge in common. She relies on me to call her when the football matches start and it is always good times when football is on TV.


9. I'm very happy about the fact that I am in country whose football team has made it to the world cup. People just go about NUTS when Ghana is playing. They have a pretty good team actually. They beat Serbia on Sunday and I'm pretty sure that 80% of Accra's entire population was in the streets sining and dancing, celebrating Ghana's victory.
For all of you whom I've promised soccer jerseys, no worries I have not forgotten.


10. I am getting a dress made to wear on Friday. At Zoomlion everyone at the office is to wear traditional clothes. I gave it to Mazy (don't know if I spelled her name right) to sew me a dress and it is supposed to be ready on Thursday I'm so excited to wear it. Mazy is the seamstress that has a store near the Madina Marker where I live and I find her very talented.


That is all for the list, I have probably left alot of other things that have happened but I'll write them as they come to me.

Kate

7 comments:

  1. Wow, that must be really awkard to have people proposing to you. I have a question about your twi name. Asides from when they call you obroni, do people there ALWAYS call you by your twi name?? Or did they just give you that name but call you by your real name?

    Also, you are so lucky to be experiencing football in a third world country where every match means that much more than it does in a developed country. This made me think about a book I had heard about talking about soccer and its global impact.

    Do you think you can post pictures of Papa Jacob, Yaw, Jessica, and Precious? It would be wonderful to have faces to go with the names. Oh, and you in your traditional dress when it's ready? :)

    Andrea

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  2. Hey Andrea,

    So my friends and colleagues here call me Kate. And most people here have "western" or biblical names such as Ibrahim, David, Daniel... etc etc! Twi names are applicable to everyone and so most people have two names. I have come across some people whom have had their twi name to be their one and only name. But for most part people don't use their twi name on everyday basis.

    And to be honest being proposed to is not awkward ( for the most part). I usually make light of the situation and come up a "rejection joke".... for example this one time I told this guy ( who actually works at Zoomlion) that I had many husbands and he needed to get in line...! If you have any funny rejection lines let me know, I'd appreciate some assistance :)

    and as for FOOTBALL ( I don't think I could ever call football soccer again) .... it is HUGE.... as a matter of fact Aunty Glades ( the lady that Jess my friend is staying with) said that she doesn't watch soccer because it makes her too emotional... initially I had just assumed she didn't like football.... a very inaccurate assumption.

    I will post up pictures of my lovely Ghanaian people as soon as I can.

    Kate

    ps: I picked up my traditional dress from the Seamstress last night. It is quite beautiful but it is too formal for me to wear it to work so I am planning on wearing it to the Ghanaian wedding that I am going to next sat :))))))

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  3. So exciting! You are going to a Ghanaian wedding? PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!
    I LOVED this post! and I love you, Ms. Pejman <3

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  4. Omg, sounds like a loadd of funnn!!! I'm excited to see pictures of the dress and YOU!!! I'm glad you're having a blast. I miss you and can't wait to read about more adventures <3

    -Batoul

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  5. I will surely post up pictures. I am so glad that I get to share it with all you. Technology is good for something.

    much love,

    Kate

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  6. Kate,

    Wow, I am speechless reading this blog. I am so happy for you. We always said you were the one with the kind heart and now you get to experience this wonderful journey. I cant wait to hear more :)

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  7. hahaha wow sounds like you're having a blast over there Kate! Sooo funny that guys are proposing to you! awesome job with the blog by the way :) im loving reading about what you're all up to over there.

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