even in ghana i still eat french fries for breakfast

I’m approaching the end of my first full week in Ghana…a week ago I was packing up my room and today I am sitting in my Ghanaian ‘sitting room’ with four new friends. Strange? Yes. Amazing? Even more so.  The past week has been a blur which I have let go undocumented…for a recap you can check out my friend Holley’s blog, http://holleywouldtoo.blogspot.com/ - she’s said everything I would but in a much more clever way, as she is a much more clever girl than I am.

Today we went to Makola Market in the city and our first priority was fabric – the women here dress so nicely and with such style that I am dying to imitate them and fail miserably while doing so. Walking down the street you could find everything and anything – almost all of us were able to find fabric to bring to Marjorie, NYU’s go-to dressmaker, but you could find electronics, clothes, shoes, jewelry. My roommate Maggie (who is fantastic and very nice) and I were able to get much needed laundry detergent, but Holley couldn’t find the fake blonde hair she had been looking for (I don’t think it is a popular request). We also experienced the Ghanaian ‘trend’ of hissing at people walking down the street to get their attention – it sounds like cats fighting and it’s very strange. I thought being foreigners and white that we would receive a lot more attention than we did – we only got one man who called out ‘Obruni, obruni!’ and he looked so joyful and happy saying it that I’m pretty sure I gave him a thumbs up as we passed. I was also approached by a man wanting to know my name – when I told him he responded with ‘Whitney? I love you. Give me your number I’ll call you anytime.’ (Don’t worry, mom, I didn’t give it to him) The market is crowded, it’s hot, and every so often a woman carrying a basket of fish will pass you a little too closely, but it is unlike any thing I have ever seen…I feel like I will be saying that a lot.

Another highlight, at least for me – yesterday we visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. For those lacking knowledge of Ghana’s history, Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana played a huge role in Pan-Africanism. For those lacking knowledge of Pan-Africanism…seek Wikipedia because I do not have the time to explain that as well. The park had Nkrumah’s remains beneath this beautiful structure that has all this symbolic meaning behind it that I cannot adequetely describe - I was in awe. The museum had all of these photos of Nkrumah with prominent politicians – Fidel Castro and JFK and such. There was this amazing photo of Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba (another needed Wikipedia entry) walking side by side.  For the Africana Studies nerd I am I was in heaven.

We just had our meeting with Marjorie and I am too excited thinking about my dress to continue writing. It will be done by Monday and btw, ONLY COST FIVE CEDIS.  Dear Ghana/Marjorie, I think I love you.