It is what it is

Hello, world. I’ve just recently gotten my laptop to my homestay house, so with any luck I should be able to get a few “real” entries up here within a few weeks. My plan is to type at home and take the results on pen drive to whatever internet cafe I can get to. I know I still haven’t posted much by way of “daily life” stuff… it just feels weird rehashing all that when it’s really not that interesting. If you are really curious about what’s going on, track down my mom and ask her – I just sent a 4-page email filled with daily-life goodness, so plenty to satisfy your curiosity!

This week (and next) I’m doing Teaching Practicum… which means by the time I finish writing lesson plans at night, I have very little desire to write anything else original. So for today’s entry I just typed up my last (paper-)journal entry. Enjoy.

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Tuesday 1 July (National Holiday; No School.)
Early morning, before Technical Class.

The times in which I can actually sit and notice and appreciate the sites/sounds/smells/tastes/sensations that make up Ghana are (as yet) few. 90% of my time here has been complete sensory overload, where all I can do is take in, take in, take in. In order to survive all I can do is give myself to the experience – to process is to miss the forest because I am so desperately clinging to the trees. It is only this morning that I have had time to breathe and think and reflect… and begin to accept.

Because I’ve just decided: this week is to be one of acceptance. I know, haven’t I been dong that since I got here? But no, I haven’t, not really. I’ve been absorbing and acclimating – learning to tolerate and adjust – but not really accepting.

This is Ghana.
Ghana is confusing, this experience can be frustrating; there is complete chaos — and I am not a part of the whirlwind.
I am far from being Ghanaian.
I accept this. I accept to the mindset that this is not, and cannot ever be, a world into which I was born familiar. Most importantly, I adjust myself from a sense of transience “This is Ghana, but This Too Shall Pass”) to one of permanence “This is Ghana, and it is home.”).

This is Ghana.
It breathes with a life-rhythm completely alien to my comprehension: from the rhythm of the chant coming from the boys who just ran down the street, to the sound of the girls’ clapping game in the market square, to the hypnotic beat of fufu being pounded. There is a heartbeat here, steady amidst the chaos. An easy rhythm of life that is as natural as the laughter in the streets – yet one against which my own heart is still struggling. There have been moments when something “clicks”. Maybe language, maybe accent (yes, there’s an accent to pick up), maybe conversation, or maybe just walking down the street at dusk. Whatever it is, a few seconds pass where I am able to feel comfortable in my own skin and not like a complete outsider, and it’s as if I’ve won the lottery! It’s like finding the instructions to some mysterious dance and being able to fall into it gracefully… for a few steps. Most of the time, though, it’s similar to me trying to play the drums - I understand the logic that drives the rhythm, but I cannot convey that into myself.

I accept this all: my strangeness in a strange land. I accept. I allow the frustration and sense of separation to wash over me, without allowing it to take hold within my soul. I content myself with the present and wait for tomorrow to take care of itself.

This is absolutely Ghana.
I accept this… and relish the revelations the future will bring.