"Culture Shock"

(So I wrote a blog post on the various areas that were surprising me to find out I was explaing each in too much detail so I will just mention those “shockers” and most will get their own, subsequent blog post to prevent this from being forever long :)

Travelers are warned of culture shock when going abroad. This can take many forms and varies from person to person. Going along with this, one may experience want looks like a roller coaster ride on paper. The roller coaster looks like this:

You arrive in a country and are feeling very elated and happy at the new culture and its novelties. Next you take a dive, feeling upset that things aren’t the way in this country as they are in your own. After a bit, you go back up again, having gotten over those issues and happy. This repeats and usually you are excited when you leave to get back to friends and family but when you return home, after a bit you go back down because you miss aspects of the culture you just left before returning to normal.

So far, I haven’t been too amazed or low. I wonder if this is because working has altered the way I would normally be submersed into a culture- maybe it’s a gentler submersion or more American feeling and therefore it doesn’t seem so novel?

What I mean by culture shock in this post is those areas of culture I’ve been exposed to that have “shocked” me as opposed to the roller coaster ride just explained. Ironically, some of these shocks have been from watching the local stations Ghana TV. And some have been from first-hand experiences, but first hand experiences are often harder to notice than observing those on TV, it’s like being too ‘in-the-middle’ of an issue to notice its different components. For example, who hasn’t been able to give great relationship advice but when it comes to your own, it’s never THAT easy? :)

*Note: as always, these are my assumptions and my attempt to try to figure things out so these aren’t definite, just guesses.

My culture shocks so far:

Marriage Proposals - I’ve already blogged on this so won’t go into more detail.

Extreme Privacy

Prices and Laundry Rant – speaking of roller coaster ride, the laundry sent me a little downhill but I've bounced back!

What Do I Do?

*Warning, this is very long but very informative if you’re into that kind of thing :)

Another great question: What do you do at work?

To the many people that asked me what I would be doing in Ghana before I left, all I had to go off of were six bullet points so I would give a general and vague answer “teach them how to take photos, videos and make a website.” That’s what my bullet points said so that’s what I knew.

My first week I had a lot of projects thrown my way. While I am technically supposed to work on one assignment for the first half (Farmer-to-Farmer) and another on the second half (ADVANCE) both wanted to give me my assignment when I arrived and since there is some overlap and both need special help in November, it makes sense to work on them at the same time. Plus, I rather like knowing what all is expected from me in 6 months so I can start to pace myself and plan things according to how much time they will take. So far it’s working!

For example, I am creating a training for the staff in the five Ghana offices on writing better stories; taking better, more professional photos; taking video; collecting audio; oh and did I mention all the staff also needs to be taught how to edit these pieces?? It took me years of classes at MU to learn all of these things and some I learned through side projects and not even a class! I was thinking I could do it in a week but visiting field offices, they are busy so my boss offered me two days and I bargained for three :)

Well it has turned out that the offices only want to keep the staff in the office for training for two days but my boss has also decided that I can teach writing and photos now and video and audio later, which is so much better on so many levels.
1st I don’t have to stress on trying to squeeze everything into two 5.5-hour days
2nd This won’t be nearly as much information overload for those I’m training
3rd Writing and photography are the foundations of audio and video respectively.

This is what the trainings look like: I have already created on online survey to assess what there current skills/needs are and then I will go to each office and train for two days (one office is only wanting to give me one day- I said I’d settle for a day and a half). After I train on a Monday and Tuesday, I will then go with my trainees into their daily field assignments to have some one-on-one time with them on incorporating what was learned into their work.

So the first few days will be theoretical and with the last few being practical. Also, due to the time constraints, I will give them ‘homework’ where I will give them written and photo projects due to me Friday morning and I will pick winners for various categories to add incentive to doing well on the projects and I can give them an edit to show them how they can improve.

I’m really excited! I love helping others and conducting fun trainings (my time as a National Collegiate Ag Ambassador really helped improve my workshop skills). Plus, field training is fun but a GREAT excuse for me to get into their field myself, where the farmers are and where I really want to be ☺

Granted this is just the explanation of one project, it is the most intensive I have right now and will use the dozen smaller tasks as fillers for when I only have a few, unplanned days a week. I tried typing my schedule but that got bulky quickly, so here is an outline of the rest of my time from now until December. (I’ve been busy but goodness it all came into place these last few days!)

Monday Oct 24-25: Fly to Tamale and take video of volunteer training
Wednesday Oct 26-28: visit farmers in the north to prepare them for the USAID visit (talk with them and learn about their operation to help them know what information USAID would like to hear in order to make this more worthwhile for all involved)
Monday Oct 31- Nov 4: take video of volunteer training on record keeping for farmers
Nov 4-7: come back to Accra for a weekend and to watch Tim White’s debrief on working with Ghanaian newspapers to cover ag topics
Nov 8th: Fly to Tamale to prepare for a Ghana Grains Council partnership and networking event
Nov 14: join the USAID for their visit to take photos of their visit
Nov 21st: begin training the offices on writing and photography. This gives me just enough time (five weeks) to visit each office for a week each.
Dec 20th: Fly back to the U.S. to freeze my bum off :)

Between these events, a few weeks will allot me a few days here and there to finish my writing and photography training material, as well as continue to work on the website and other miscellaneous tasks as they arise. Never a dull moment in Ghana!

I don’t do much on the weekend, primarily because what do you do? Go shopping? If I buy stuff I have to tote it around! I plan on waiting until my last week in Ghana to go Christmas shopping :) Having spoken with others, I already have a good handle on what to get so it’s just going to be a matter of going out and getting those items. Plus, this is the first weekend where I haven’t had an extra side assignment to be working on from the office here- maybe I can visit a museum today. I hear it only takes like an hour so that could be a nice, small outing- I just have to figure out how to get there ;)

An Average Day at Work

I’ve had some friends ask me great questions via Facebook and thought that answering those questions would make good posts!

A few days ago, I was asked: What is an average day like?

Anyone who has worked in communications knows that no two weeks are alike- one of the joys to communications! But generally this is what my day looks like:

Wake up around 7 a.m., watch the news (Aljazeera) and get ready, take allergy medicine

8 a.m. head down to the hotel restaurant for my (amazing) breakfast

8:15 a.m. walk from the hotel to the office. It takes about 15 minutes and gives me a chance to have that time between ‘home’ and work, I get to have a little exercise and see other Ghanaians. I liked the morning when a small girl with her mom shouted ‘Abruni! Abruni!’ (Abruni – white person) and she gave me a big smile and wave :) Too cute!

8:30 a.m. arrive to the office and settle in by checking my email, Facebook and lately, the score for the Cardinal’s game! Go Cards!!

9:00 a.m. get started working if I haven’t already! This can mean working on the website outline, continue gathering information and outlining my writing and photo training, editing audio/video/photos. Usually I finally break when I’m getting brain fried for concentrating so hard for so long lol

2 p.m. Go out to lunch, generally within the A&C Shopping area. There is a mini shopping center, the ACDI/VOCA office, other offices, a money exchange, bank, restaurants, gym, etc. The restaurant located under the office is Koffee- it’s a coffee shop and… Chinese restaurant! It doesn’t taste like Chinese (American Chinese or China Chinese) but is still pretty good. There is another restaurant in our sub area of the center called Temptation Café I think that serves a variety of food including Indian and is a little more pricier but good as well. The gym has a pool and a poolside restaurant, which serves a lot of Ghanaian food and is really good and well priced but sitting is tricky since it’s bar seating only BUT they played country music- talk about a shocker!

I usually take a notepad with me to lunch to jot down notes on work items that come to mind because I tend to forget my afternoon plan by the time I get done with lunch if I don’t :)

3 p.m. Return from lunch- it can take awhile to get your food and then to get the check. At the office I have a large Milka caramel chocolate bar (German) that I can break a piece from like a Hershey’s bar and then it has a built in re-sealer! What can I say? I like that chocolate :)

Once I’m back, I pick up where I left off on the guides; search the USAID or ACDI/VOCA websites on templates or outlines for writing, photography requirements (since those are our primary media audiences/distributors); or go around asking people in the office questions on my task that I came up with during the morning but would rather ask questions when I’m getting back into things for guidance when restarting after lunch.

4:50 p.m. I fill my water bottle in the kitchen from the Culligan-esque water coolers for water in the hotel. I generally drink two-three bottles of water while at work and my bottle holds 1 liter or 34+ ounces. I’m staying hydrated :) I start to unplug my laptop charger and get papers together, especially if I’m taking work home or it’s a weekend (or in the case of this past Friday, I’m leaving for two weeks!!). And check email and play around on Facebook for a while.

5:30 p.m. I leave work. I like to wait until this time because the sun has started going down and it’s cooler outside, making for a more enjoyable walk and by this time some of the 5 p.m. crowd has cleared out so it’s not as crowded which can be tricky when you’re walking on the side of the road and meet someone because the vehicles are only a few feet away and drive fast and a tad crazy when possible and there seems to be a sense of vehicles instead of pedestrians having the right of way. (I say that but I’ve had vehicles coming off side roads stop for me to cross the road on my to and from work so it really depends on the drivers).

5:45 p.m. Get back to the hotel, get my room key from the front desk and crash in my room. Relax for a bit and watch the news.

Depending of if I’m hungry, I’ll go to supper at the hotel restaurant anywhere from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. When I return, I take my malaria pill. It’s definitely something you have to take with food. I learned that lesson the first time I took the pill, but then I found out so did many others so instead of taking it at breakfast like normal, I followed the suggestion of another volunteers doctor to take it after dinner. I don’t go out too often for supper but partly because it’s dark by 6:30 p.m. and I don’t feel like walking around after dark by myself. I spend my evening watching news and playing on my laptop, doing any work if I brought it home, working out occasionally, listening to podcasts, etc.

9 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. I go to bed, this leaves a pretty large window but I’ll go to bed earlier if I have to wake up sooner and try to stay up if not to prevent from getting too much sleep.

This is what the average day looks like. If volunteers are around, I will eat supper with them around 6 or 7 p.m. and we will talk until 10 p.m. or later. Most Thursdays I go to Paluma, another hotel in Accra that has a “Quiz” night (British) otherwise known to Americans as trivia night! I love trivia nights, even if I’m not that good at it. I went the first time with some volunteers who were at the hotel and had been before but now can go by myself since you take a taxi and almost everyone there is a Westerner and pretty welcoming so I make new friends :)

That my friends, is what an average day looks like!

Amazing Breakfast!

The hotel I am staying at in Accra, the Royal Richester, includes a free “American continental breakfast.” It’s slightly American, but more European. Monday-Friday there are two covered hot pans with eggs and some sort of sausage links in one and mushroom, pork and beans and a spicy type spaghetti in the other. The staff always seems surprised/confused when I don’t want beans for breakfast :)

Next there is a plate of cut pineapple and pears or papaya, a tray of bread for making toast, a few trays of pastries and a few trays with a slice of ham accented with a red pepper, a slice of cheese with a tomato on it and other such plates. At the end is a huge line of about a dozen condiments (ketchup, Tabasco and maple syrup are the ones I remember).

Then there is a hot water pitcher to make instant coffee or tea with and warmed milk, two large bowls of cereal- cornflakes and something else with cold milk. Upon request they will make you a Spanish omelet (two eggs, green peppers, red peppers, onions) and a pancake that is more like a sweet crepe than the American pancake- but I prefer the sweet crepe, I just add a bit of maple syrup out of habit and to add a little moisture but can enjoy one without syrup since it already has a sweet flavor.

Monday through Friday I pretty much eat the provided egg, sausage and toast with some pineapple or watermelon juice and a coffee or two. Saturday and Sunday, I eat strategically. I go all out and have them make me an omelet (2 eggs), pancakes (okay, 2 crepes), five sausage links, a piece of toast, coffee and pineapple juice. I can never finish it all but usually only allow myself to leave a few bites of anything. Today I literally left a bite of omelet, sausage and toast- it would have made a delicious bite had there been any room left for it! This is my favorite breakfast and in all reality, gives Country Kitchen or Denny’s a run for their money. (Fresh pineapple juice is pretty amazing!)

Now that I’m stuffed at 10 a.m., I won’t eat again until 4 or 5 p.m. and call it quits for the day. This way I can spend time doing things rather than having to worry about where I can and can’t eat.

It’s kind of funny the thing that got to me, in a sense. I’ve had stomach issues for a week now so am trying to eat tummy-friendly foods and that means no street vendors, which I haven’t had here anyways. If I didn’t have any stomach problems for a few weeks I might have tried the street food (it was so good in Thailand- best ever!) but since I’ve gotten sick somehow while erring on the side of caution I know I shouldn’t go there. But that’s what annoyed me. Like a 5-year-old I thought, “How come the locals get to eat street food and I don’t? This is so unfair. Why do we have to have such sanitary food in the U.S. that prevents me from being immune to any of these things?” I know the thought was completely ridiculous and childish, but the street vendor food looks so good, so local and so cheap! Someday maybe, but for now, I’ll stick to the safe stuff.

Informal Learning: Meeting Other Volunteers

Last spring I interned with MBS Textbooks, Xplana division, and did some blogging for them titled Informal Learning and they touched on a variety of areas where informal learning takes place.

Ironically, that idea of learning in situations in which no one really expects you to learn is where you gain the most knowledge sometimes. Last Friday, two Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers returned from the field to deliver their presentation on their experience and suggestions before flying back to the U.S. While there were about 10 people present for at least parts of the presentations, the two that stayed the longest were the two long-term volunteers in Accra- a one-year volunteer from the Netherlands and myself. We talked with the two after the rest had left for at least an hour and the other volunteer stayed even later. (I mainly had to leave to charge my computer in order to collect photos from the volunteers.)

During that time was a great opportunity for us to discuss their experiences and what our work is and how to make it all happen. So Friday I spoke with the volunteers, Scott and Deborah, after their presentations, we had lunch with Scott and I had dinner with Deborah at the hotel. On Saturday I had a book exchange with Deborah where we traded books we've already read and I spoke with both Scott and Deborah before they departed. In total, I probably spent around 10-12 hours speaking with each/both of the volunteers over the past two days. I am sad to see them go but have learned a considerable amount from both.

I flew into Ghana with Scott so was excited for him to return so we could talk about his experience but Deborah was welcomed surprise, but I believe she arrived one week before I did so I wasn't aware she was in country.

Broadly, I was able to learn more about international development, pull out more similarities between Ghana and the U.S. and the general things needed to help your Ghanaian hosts. More specifically, I got some great tips on how to construct the website I was asked to build and what to include, as well as some names and numbers of places to visit while working in Tamale and vacationing in Cape Coast.

Information overload, maybe :) But I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversations, lessons learned from others experiences and meeting Gladys, an orange and tomato trader that Scott worked with the last time he was here. Gladys sells to Nigerian and Benin markets and wants to take me to her farmer groups. I am no Scott, nor do I have his wealth of experiences as an ag economist, but being able to meet and work with farmers would be a great experience! I've already thought of ways I can work with Gladys's farmers to help me do some of my volunteer work, such as helping them to tell their story when they have U.S. visitors on their farms to better tell their story in a way that helps provide each side with the information they find most interesting.

I realize that this post has been vague but when you're talking ~12 hours of volunteer intake in two days, not including my regular (and weekend) work, daily experiences and battling my first serious case of diarrhea, I think this post was bound to be less specific in order to not reach novel lengths :) More to come later but for now I'm off to bed so I can make it to another ~3 hour church service tomorrow and finish my weekend work. Congrats on the win MU!

Reactions and Marriage Proposals

*Sorry I wrote this two days ago and am just now publishing.

I enjoy watching people’s reactions when I tell them about my weekend. Take going to the church service for example. As I left the hotel and told the desk attendant that I would be going to church, she had a surprised look on her face- “you’re going to a church service?” Maybe most hotel guests don’t go (or mention they’re going?).

Then today when I went to work I told a young Australian company that’s working with a partner organization of ACDI/VOCA that I had gone and they were both surprised as well- I guess they didn’t think to go.

When I told the driver who takes me from the hotel to work and back, he thought that was great, figured out which one and said he would invite me to his church service sometime.

At work, the Ghanaian workers I told were surprised, as were the non-Ghanaian workers. I was surprised how no one thought that sounded normal or legitimate. I guess you think of touring, shopping and sight seeing but not so much a 3+ hour church service.

I did tell one of my bosses, an American who has lived in Ghana for many years, and he mentioned that there are some major Christian churches- Presbyterian, Methodist, Apostolic, etc.- and then there were the evangelical churches which could be a lot of moving and shaking. Well that helped me to determine that I had attended an evangelical service! :)

Jumping ship to a reaction on advice:

After having three strangers confess their love for me, two marriage proposals and two invites to a concert (the Ghanaians are famous for their marriage proposals), I decided to ask someone at work what to do/how to say no. I wasn’t sure if there were cultural issues, if I should try to save-face, etc. I saw the Australian girl, but being married she had an easy out. Granted I told the taxi driver that I was married (his response: is he Ghanaian? I said No, he’s from the U.S. and then he pipes up “What do you have against Ghanaian’s” My response, “Nothing, I’ve only been here 7 days” lol).

So I asked a European in the office if she gets marriage proposals and with a nod and eye-roll, I knew I wasn’t alone in my annoyance with the “big” question. I asked what to do, how to respond and she was quick in answering!

‘Tell them your married. Tell them your married and you have kids. Don’t worry about being nice. Tell them and walk away.’

So based on her advice and learning from my experiences, the tricks are:

-To not smile (okay I laughed, a marriage proposal was kinda funny when you’re not expecting it)

-Be sure and mention the husband and it sounds like kids too (I did find out saying ‘I have a boyfriend and we are very much in love’ means nothing!)

-Be blunt (I remember once holding out my hands to signal ‘time out’ and was like here’s the deal and you need to leave now- I wasn’t finished with my dinner so he had to be the one to leave, not me)

-Walk away (when possible)

But all of this is really making me wonder if Ghanaians just go up to any person and ask them to marry or if that’s reserved for abruni’s (white women)? Maybe I can ask Cornelia, a Ghanaian, at work and if so, how does she say no? :)

(Although since writing this, I mentioned to a car of Ghanaian co-workers the proposals and they erupted in laughter- but they all have such a great sense of humor that the laughter didn't answer too many questions other than it obviously happens)

Going to church in Ghana

Disclaimer: Sorry for not posting the past few days- It was really upsetting the first two days when I was having internet trouble in the hotel then yesterday I tried to upload photos and 2 hours later without the photos uploading I had lost interest :) So I'll add photos while I have good internet connection at work.

So skipping the past few days, which were action packed as always, today I went to church in Ghana. I picked this church because it's close and on the way to work so I've seen it everyday. It doesn't have walls and looks to be under construction but there are chairs on the floor level and a sign that says 'God Reigns.' Light blue and orange cloth is draped around the 'room' and twisted around the posts- adding some great color.

It's a 5 minute walk from the hotel but the first 30 minutes of the sermon I was sweating like crazy- it made me wonder if this was what it was like for that person in a particular church saying ;) I walked up, hearing the music long before I could see it. I saw another girl walking in so I followed her. We were greeted by a man that wanted me to sit toward the front. My initial thought was 'I don't need to sit in the front' but it made sense when he ended up sitting me next to two other abruni's (white women). It was nice to follow their lead.

The sign outside said services were from 10:30-12:30 so I knew it would be lengthier than usual. So when I got there they were playing music and singing. I was impressed with their drum set, tribal drums, electric base guitar, keyboard and trumpet! It was intense. There was a lot of singing, I think I knew a total of 30 seconds and would occasionally catch on that I was supposed to follow along :) Then they got really exciting with their music and people started dancing. You went up to the front area where there was some space and you danced in the name of the lord. It was really interesting, especially since as a Presbyterian (a.k.a. the 'frozen chosen'), we didn't even raise our hands much during service. There was a lot of this music. Then a lady, who they referred to as the prophecy, her husband was something as well- got up and talked about her son about to marry a girl she didn't like then she did a prophetic prayer and he met a good woman.

Her son ended up leading some of the songs. After a few songs, a lady and a man in blue (later I find out to be the preacher) said really long, eloquent passages from the bible- a type of scripture reading that was really amazing and soulful. At one point they took offering and I heard the lady say this was the first offering so I had a feeling more were to come. I skipped the first one but the other white ladies went up. It was brought out later in the service with only a few people going up and at the very end the prophetic lady said she sensed a few people in the room that didn't know where their next meal was going to come from. A young man with an injured finger and a girl came up- the prophetic lady prayed for them and took up an offering for them and I and the other white ladies as well as many other gave then as well.

Then after awhile they put some olive oil in a dish and prophetic lady stuck her hand in it and put her hand on her head- a sort of self anointment. I'm all for trying other practices but the amount of me that wanted to put olive oil in my hair was pretty slim. She had a heavenly moment and almost fell over and was in deep reverence(?) for like 30 minutes but the sermon went on without her. They passed the olive oil dish around and I saw I could just dip my fingers in it and put it on my forehead so I was okay with that- especially after watching the two white ladies do it :)

*Sorry if this isn't in order, it lasted for 3 hours

Then there was the sermon. It was a passage in Leviticus about a church tax your supposed to pay according to age and gender and ability (the two ladies later explained they think the church is trying to prepare the congregation to collect more funds to continue building the church :) It was funny because in the bible it is put in a form of currency I'm not familiar with, but the preacher said it in dollars (US) and we had to convert it for him into Ghanaian cedi currency lol Then there was a whole segment on how God will give you more and more and more and more. And how God will make you great, great in all that you do (repetition helps for remembering these things). But the kicker was when talking about being great, he talked about being great from birth, from when your head comes out of your mother and then we got a whole talk on how sperm swims and fertilizes the egg. I'm not sure how the sperm ties in but he went there!

It was interesting because it was also being translated into Twi so the preacher would say 'You will be great in your work' and the translator would have 5 seconds before the preacher would say 'You will be great in your family' and so on. I felt for that poor translator!

Oh! I almost forgot- there was communion! So I was thinking they would pass around baskets with loaves, we'd dip it in something and go for it. But when the time came the head guy (I would say preacher but there were like 5 people taking turns leading the congregation so who knows) explained that we were doing communion a little differently. A lot of people get sick from communion so to be safe, we were handed a sealed, clear container, very similar to a small liquid creamer container. It was filled with something red (grape juice I later found out) and it had an extra flap on top with a cracker- kinda like the extra sprinkles container hidden in cake icing containers. I was like 'huh.' This is nothing I had ever really thought of and would have taken communion without a thought but it sounds like that's not the most sanitary route. Then the prophetic lady, who was out of reverence by now, got up and told people to take it and not save it to show people lol I did take mine but had to keep it to take a picture and share! It was so interesting. She said that taking it to show your friends wouldn't do any good, you needed to take it to remember Jesus and God- I'm glad I wasn't the only person in the room that wanted to take it to show others :)

Okay, so I know there's more but this is getting lengthy lol That in a nutshell my friends is what to expect at a Ghanaian church service! Any questions- feel free to post or email juliashuck@gmail.com if you want to ask me anything about my work, Ghana, etc.