Mornings are my favourite part of my weekdays here in Buipe. This is partially because I love the cool temperature and partially because of my morning routine which has been a couple of weeks in the making.
I wake up here sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 with no alarm necessary - unheard of for my life in Canada, where every morning I start my day with a face-off with the snooze button. I think the solution may be to acquire a large amount of chickens, goats, children, and a mosque to place outside my window in Vancouver. These are the sounds that I wake up to here - fun fact: goats and small children make very similar crying noises.
My host sister who is in high school gets up before 5 am as she needs to leave around 6 to make it to school (about a half-hour walk away). Today I said goodbye to her as she walked off to school with a full sized cooler on her head. At the time I just accepted that she was taking the cooler (as this made perfect sense to my 6 am self), but now I am dreadfully curious why she was doing this. For all those interested, I will keep you posted.
Mornings are wonderfully chaotic as my other host siblings are all bathing, eating breakfast, and putting on school uniforms. The other children leave for school around 7 am. Paul, who is 12 walks to school, but the other three kids all get a ride to their school (a different school) on a motorcycle driven by a family friend. I am still not entirely sure how so many people are able to fit on a motorbike - a reoccurring question here.
I start my day off with a bucket shower and then I have tea with my host mother and father. They are shocked that I do not add sugar or milk to my tea and any other Ghanaian that happens upon my plain tea shares their disbelief. Apparently unsweetened tea is unheard of here. Tea is accompanied by bread. Today I put groundnut paste (aka peanut butter) on my bread and I officially have a brand new addiction. Monday is market day here = me buying groundnut paste.
Then it is off to work. My bike ride to my office is about 15 minutes. I stop on the way to get Nescafe and Milo - a wonderful coffee-flavoured beverage. I have been going to the same stand to get this for the past week and the woman still laughs at my strange drink request (Nescafe and Milo together???). Some mornings I also get egg and bread (my other Ghanaian food addiction). I usually arrive at my office before 8 - things are very quiet at my office first thing so I am able to ease into my workdays here as my co-workers arrive.
And there you have it, in Buipe I am officially a morning person - certainly didn't see that one coming.
Kaitlynn!
ReplyDeleteSO GLAD You wrote this post. Laughed the whole way through. I have a number of comments to make, but I will make "Please Moderate Comments" less burdensome by combining them into JUST ONE box. Here we go:
1) I miss you, yet I'm glad you're in Ghana and not in Zambia, because I wouldn't be able to resist visiting you on the weekends.
2) GOATS SOUND LIKE CHILDREN. I have a journal entry and a letter to a friend describing this in great detail, yet don't know how to work it into an indepth blog post which illuminates the profundity of life. Help with this? It terrifies me. Something about the fact that goats tied to the backs of bikes, sounding like a human child, on its way to be slaughtered sends shivers down my spine.
3) How is Egg and Bread an addiction?
4) I'm not sure if we have Milo, but I take it to be like a chocolate mix? Either way, need to introduce it.
5) I have succumbed to sugar in tea. Big time. I average 2 teaspoons a cup. Yikes!
6)You must tell us why she had a full sized cooler. I laughed so loud at this that I woke up the child sleeping on a mat outside my door (it's a full house)
7)I didn't see Morning Person Kaitlynn coming either. Positive personal development would you say? Best wishes my friend. Love all the way. Btw my phone number is +260 97 358 5015 if you want to text!
I also must know what was in the cooler!
ReplyDeleteDo you have any fainting goats? Likely not, those things seem maladapted evolution-wise.
Does Morning Person Kaitlynn mean we should have 7AM meetings again next year?
Elliot and Kristina so good to hear from you both!
ReplyDeleteSo first of all, I found out that my host sister was carrying a cooler on her head full of water sachets to sell at her school. I am both impressed by this (as I can only imagine the strength it takes to carry a cooler full of water on ones head) and remain to be curious (does she do this everyday? considering that water sells for 5 peswas (less than 5 cents) how much water does she need to sell to make this "worth it", or does any money at all make it worth it for her to carry a cooler for the 30 min walk to school?). Regardless, my host sister is a rockstar.
Elliot, if you feel like a little vaycay to Ghana you will experience milo and egg and bread. There are no words...risk: you may never leave.
Unless you decide to also move the meetings to Ghana I don't think that 7 AM is going to fly, just saying.
Miss you both lots!!! Talk to you soon!
:) loved reading this post and the comments that followed. I have yet to adapt to morning Annelies, though I'm doing a really good job at adapting to laid back vacation mode Annelies which I didn't quite think was possible. Do you ever have sweetened condensed milk on bread? that was a favourite of mine. by the way, what is your host sister's name? would love to hear more about the people you are meeting. love you long time, and yes... goats sound like babies, though I'm glad I never saw a motorcycle carrying 20 crying babies on it... I'm glad they stick to carrying goats like that :P
ReplyDeletexox Annelies