The beginning of the end

Today I gave an oral presentation in one of my classes on the factors that influence access and utilization of health resources ("If a hospital is farther away, people are less likely to use it") and then ran out to go on a field trip in my Twi course (the language class I'm taking here) to a large bead market, a large everything market, and a plant reserve. It was the final day of lectures here. Usually at home I feel sentimental about the last day of lectures. Gathering so much material into my little head is a long and often tiring process, so I feel deeply connected to what I have studied, whether or not the class was enjoyable. So far here, lectures have served more as a tether, but in a good way. I have, as you no doubt know, had a lot of fantastic weekend jaunts through Ghana, and the purported reason I have always come back to the traffic, smog, nice people, relatively clean streets and friends is because of those lectures. I feel less relieved and accomplished now that they have ended and instead feel an overwhelming sense of freedom, with the accompanying fright and anxiety. I have a lot more traveling to do, but it has always been fun knowing that I have a home here to go back to at the end of a few days on the road. The longer trips are starting.

I am about to go to a program dinner, the last gathering of the California + Indiana crowd here in Ghana. I hope to do a few more reflections about what classes are like and what it was like to live here as well as to keep you updated on the travels as they happen. Thank you for reading.

To get started, a short list of things that are different about Ghana:

• Honking your car horn does not signify anger. Taxis honk to get your attention (every taxi, whether full or not, has honked at me hoping I need a fare), and cars often honk to the beat of the music on the radio
• Hard candies taste like cough drops
• There is always noise. If you go to sit down somewhere, there will inevitably be a stereo hammering out intense high life music. People don't talk to each other very much (there's no such thing as an awkward silence here), but there is always noise
• Hard work is not hard. The work ethic here is unmatchable. People believe that their purpose in life is derived from doing work, whereas I sometimes feel like my purpose comes from avoiding it
• You can buy anything you would ever want from the window of your car, ranging from food to newspapers to belts to those colander-like covers you put over sinks without garbage disposals
• You can ask anyone for directions at any time, and they will often walk with you to get there even if it is out of their way. There is no finer feeling than wandering, lost and dehydrated, only to find somebody to walk you directly to where you need to go

I will save some big topics (Race, Religion, Gender, Time...) for another more thoughtful post. Now I can't just turn down a free dinner, right? See you soon