25 April 2012
Yesterday the power went out around 6pm and it is dreadfully hot in the room without the fan on. So I laid outside on the mat and stargazed. But before I fell asleep I brought it into the “hallway” (there is no main door, so it’s partway outdoors) where sisters Sala, Salma and Mariam were laying and watching a movie called “Impossible” for the third time. It is the cheesiest movie; it reminds me of Limited Too haha. But I’m going to download it on to my usb and share it with everyone!!
It was the worst night of sleep in a long while. I put on bug spray but they were still attacking me, and everyone, so everyone was itching and fidgeting. Then, in the middle of the night Sala and Salma would switch off sleeping on me…or their legs would reach across my body. At one point I had to roll Sala off of me. At the time it wasn’t too humorous, but looking back on it, it was pretty funny. So, I didn’t sleep that well at all, and I was the second to last person awake-and felt so silly. But, when I picked up my pillow to roll up the mat there was a large, but dead cockroach right under my pillow!! I just stared and stared at it; thinking, how did it die there? Is my head that heavy? How did I not feel it? Did it crawl on me? That is disgusTTING! So, now I’m a little nervous about sleeping tonight, especially since the lights still have not come on, which means we’re probably sleeping outside again.
But after breakfast I went to TICCS (Tamale Institute for Cross-Cultural Studies) which had a modest library. I grabbed several books to read for my ISP paper-mostly on women in Africa. I got really excited because with a strong possibility of minoring in Cultural Anth. I still hadn’t found my area of interest, or focus. Not that it’s necessary, but it helps to know what you’re interested in for research, etc. Anyways….I think it would be really interesting/fun to study motherhood around the world. I feel like I learned alot about society, economics, relationship, etc. just through observation and interviews about mothers and women. I also want to ask Ed Vajda, the prof. who started the Mongolian lang. program at school if he is traveling to East Asia or Russia anytime next year. He does research on language and preservation, but he visits locations that are very difficult to travel to. And since I’m not planning on having a job next year, might as well do something during my breaks!
When I came home lunch was prepared and it was beans sitting in palm oil. I ate it, but drained the oil from each bite of beans and put the beans on saltine-like crackers I bought at the market. They just use SO much oil for every meal. Yesterday for dinner they made me talia (pasta) and the noodles and the sauce were sososo oily. They were delicious, of course, but I felt 50 lbs. heavier afterwards. That’s probably why I’ve been going to sleep at 7pm every night! Tonight I told Sala that I would just have PB&J for dinner, which is fine with me-maybe the bread will soak up the oil!
Also, the power is still out because I think something blew…I’m not sure, but I saw them fixing it when I left.
Today is my last full day in Tamale and I will go to the market to buy gifts for Aunti Fati and the family. And on the way here I definitely got hit by a side window on a van, because I got a ride on Abraham’s (Mariam’s husband, who lives in the same house as me) motorcycle…it didn’t hurt, was just shocked! Anyways, by Friday I will be off to Kumasi and then Cape Coast where I will meet up with friends and we will have a good time!
introverted explorer 