After a week in Ghana, I've learned that some terms are used very loosely. For example, things like toilet, bath, and pillow only vaguely resemble what you'd expect them to. It's almost surprising how fast you can adjust to being constantly dirty. After finally going through an entire day of work for the first time today, I can add work to the list of loose terms. In an 8 1/2 hour period, I only counted one bag of money, entered in less than 30 bits of data, and drank a liter of water. For the most part I was ignored, and when I wasn't ignored, I was only receiving marriage proposals and not work instructions. Frankly, there just wasn't anything for me to do or anyone there to give me something to occupy myself with. The day started out well enough. I walked to the office at 8am and took a seat. After awhile, the boss took me, my housemate and coworker Sean (whose been there for a couple months now), and two new trainees out to the field to collect savings from two different groups of women. Since the two trainees are going to be actual employees, one collected money and the other wrote down the data. My job was to sit there, smile, and be white. The greetings began in Dagbani (the local language), the extent of which I can only say good morning, the proper response, and my name. Then the boss spoke in Dagbani for a few minutes and then there was a role call and collection of money that lasted half an hour or so at each place. I just kind of zoned out and enjoyed the lovely morning weather. Or I'd watch the animals. I'm fascinated by the little goats. I always have the impulse to hug them but they are just so filthy. At one point I couldn't get that Bloodhound Gang song out of my head and I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of thinking about that song while I'm sitting in the midst of a rural African women's group. We were back at the office around 11:30 or so, when I was finally given my first task. I counted a single bag of money from another collection site and learned how to fill out the simple paperwork required. Then I brought it to a back office where money was being sorted. I was told to sit in a chair until my money bag had gone through the sorting. This took over half an hour. All I could do was just sit there and stare at the money counting machine and occasionally make small talk with the men in the room. They all laughed when they learned I was an American. People either yell the word for white lady at me, or if they learn I'm American they yell Obama at me too. It's pretty endearing. But in that office room there was nothing else for me to do other than fight the urge to fall asleep. At some point Sean rescued me and showed me a place down the road to have an awesome lunch for 1 GH (Ghana cedi). We ate this heaping bowl of spaghetti sauce mixed with pasta, rice, beans, and some spicy sauce mixture that was far more delicious than I just made it sound. Sadly for Sean, I was too tired to be good company. Sleeping in the heat can be really difficult and I had barely slept the previous two nights. It was back to the office after that where I sat around without further instructions for another hour. The office is supposed to close at 4pm, but in Ghana, time doesn't really mean anything. It wasn't until 3:30 that I was given my next task of the day, some simple data entry, that I had completed in about ten minutes. Then I waited for 4. At 4, I asked if there was anything else they'd like me to do which in itself is laughable because no one really asked me to do anything all damn day. So I was surprised when someone asked me to hang around for another sheet of data entry that he'd give me after he took care of something. That kind of pissed me off for obvious reasons. I've been sitting there all day since 8am and it isn't until 4pm when the office closes that I'm asked to do something. Bullshit. I hung around until 4:30 but I still wasn't given whatever task I was supposed to do by that time so I just left. So all in all, not a very good first impression of my job. I'll give it a month but if everyday is going to be like today, I'm just wasting my time. It probably wouldn't be very hard to find another volunteer op out here.
When I got home at 5pm I took an amazing but brief nap. When I got up, I really didn't know how I wanted to spend my evening. I had been out the last two nights, and I feel bad for always imposing on Sean's plans and friends. So I figured I'd spend the night in doing god knows what. I called my mom and my grandma. My grandma buried her sister today and I'm pretty bummed out that I missed the funeral. We all knew Nanny was sick but I think we all believed that we'd have a little more time with her. Then I worked out and showered which felt amazing. I finished the night up by watching The Big Lebowski. I'm so glad I remembered to bring DVDs with me. I think I'd go crazy if I went a few months without seeing a movie.
Today was difficult in a way. Of course there is going to be culture shock and a period of adjustment. But today I really noticed that I'm used to far more stimulation and productivity in my days. It's weird not always having the internet around. I feel very cut off from the outside world. It takes effort to find out information from somewhere outside the region. I haven't seen a single international newspaper since I've been out here. Not unless I go spend money at the internet cafe to read the online editions. It's isolating. This is definitely something I don't like about being out here. I prefer a faster paced life.
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