Cassie-At night, I grabbed dinner at a nice fast food place and got fried rice. We stopped into a local bar after dinner and there was this one very friendly women and a bunch of others sitting around. Many of the SAS kids were sitting with each other but I took this opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. I began to try and chat with the women. In retrospect, I found that the women were not as open to try and talk to me as the men. I guess it may be a cultural thing that they like to keep to themselves. However, the one woman was very friendly and outgoing and danced with one of other girls. Two of the younger girls were cutting food for a stew. They work here after school to make money.
The women asked us what day of the week we were born on because people have different names based on what day they were born. They also began to ask us about our boyfriends and if we were married. Apparently, usually by age 20 girls are married.
After this the group, I was with went to an Internet Café and I waited with a friend because I did not have my laptop. We started talking to the security guard who was 21 and had attended college at the University of Cape Coast (in Ghana). We were really amused by his readiness to not do his job to talk to us. Two Mormon missionaries came by who were our age and the person I was with started asking them some questions for his religion class. They gave us a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. As a part of their religion, they have to do a two year mission in another place and where they are sent is random. We also met an Italian pilot that is centered in Ghana. It was interesting; every white person that we saw and talk to was from another country. Usually places that have been colonized have a mix of whites and blacks.
I forgot to mention earlier that public school is only funded through junior high. After junior high, school needs to be paid for. There is not a lot of focus on social services in Ghana.
We learned in our cross cultural psychology class that in these cultures, lighter skin is seen as more attractive and many African men desire to bed white women. At one point, a man confronted me and asked “are you from the United States” and then “can I have your number”. I also heard from other girls that men (even police officers) were offering to buy the women from the men.
I have also noticed a very different type of driving in each of the countries we have been to. Ghana driving has been the worst so far because of all of the traffic. Cars are literally parked for 20 min and then move an inch. I will never complain about rush hour again! The cabs will drive on the wrong side of the road to pass trucks and they make their own lanes. There are also huge potholes in the roads which makes it even more dangerous. At one point we saw a car go right off the side of the road because they were speeding.
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