Life As An Obruni

I realise that I have spent most of this blog writing silly posts about alphabets and bucket showers, so here is hopefully a more informative piece about the various aspects of my life in the jungle...

Obruni
"Obruni" is the Twi word for "white man" or "white woman", and I can't walk down the street for 20 seconds without hearing it shouted. I literally answer to Obruni faster than my own name (although this is partially because "Fiona" is very confusing to Ghanaians, so there are some interesting pronounciations). I can't help wondering what would happen if I went back to Glasgow and started shouting "BLACK MAN!" as I walked down Sauchiehall Street...

Bugs
There are three main thoughts that go through my head when dealing with creepy crawlies: "It's not so much that I want to kill you, it's more that you cannot be permitted to stay alive", "I'm glad they're colour-coded so I can tell which spiders want to murder me the most", and of course "How did a mosquito bite me THERE?"

Sweat
My anti-perspirant boasts the bold claim of "48hr protection - even in extreme conditions". I do not know to which extreme conditions this statement refers, but on an average day in Achiase expecting 48 minutes of sweat protection is overly ambitious.

Travel
If it doesn't have holes in the floor, a door that doesn't shut, rusty nails sticking out of the walls and a temperature greater than that of the core of the sun, then it's not a real tro-tro.

School
I have absolutely fallen in love with teaching. I love my classes and I know I'm going to miss them so much when I leave.

Water
At home you hear people say "I can't live without facebook" or "I can't live without my iPhone" but you never hear someone say "I can't live without running water" because it is generally accepted that you CAN'T live without running water. But you can. Very easily. A lot of you were shocked last week about my accounts of bucket showering, but in reality the fact that I don't have running water doesn't even cross my mind. Ever. 

Noise
The noise usually starts around 4:30am. One rooster crows and wakes up his friends, until a chorus of hens, roosters, goats, sheep, bats, frogs and who knows what else is blaring outside. And since the whole house has been woken up, now is clearly a good time for everyone to start playing their different radio shows, and screaming across the hall in Twi. Oh, except for the times when I am woken up by gunfire from the army barracks. Well, gunfire and the occasional explosion.

Rooster
There is a creature with a heart colder than Winnipeg in winter time. A creature that fears nothing, not even fear itself. A creature so evil that Hell itself spat him back out. The cock of the walk. You can see what he is thinking as he charges at you with hatred in his eyes, beak pecking, tallons scratching: "WHO'S CHICKEN NOW?"

Ghana: everything is loud and nothing is soft. I love it.