Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sweet Home Alabama..oops, i mean Whuti!

Home again, home again, jiggidy-jog (or however it is spelled)
On the back of an 'interesting' (useful???) week, this was my Sunday..which wasn't much different from my Saturday.

it wasn't a bad day..i actually haven't had a 'bad' day since i came back here three weeks ago.

so let me tell you ...this is a (weekend) day in the life of this PCV in Ghana....

i was up by 6.30.. later than usual because i'd woken at 4 and started thinking about library/computer problems..and that always takes me 40-60 minutes to get 'past' and back to sleep. That and thinking about Sharon Stone.
i haul water from the well for the 'toilet' and for my 'shower'..just like every day!
i check e-mail..i check the Braves..i check the world ..ugly US politics..i have a bar (no, not that kind..a chinning bar, is that what they call it?) so i do pull-ups..both sides..and then go out to run.
Every day..gbe sia gbe..i go run...i go down to the beach.. i run..sandy paths along the edge of the beach and i'm now officially ahead of my '1200 kms in 2011' target..the usual cheery waves, and 'good mornings' and 'efua's' (how are you?) ..20..30 different people of all ages?..and then since it is the weekend, i have time to help my brothers in arms..the fishermen.

Usually, i haul rope but today..with my friend-and Assistant Librarian, Bright ...i was involved in launching a couple of boats. they know what they're doing..i don't. But we get the boats launched..it really is hard work..they're used to it..i'm not but enjoy it! And they enjoy my enjoyment..they love my running shoes..and my watch too!
I stop off (this is 8.45-ish) to buy a couple of eggs for brecky.. i guess i don't understand life here..a couple of young guys..20's...knocking back shots at 20 pesewas for breakfast before nine on a Sunday..maybe it is to face church?
I see it morning and night..i wish i understood..perhaps i will.

MY breakfast..i'm such a boring traditionalist..is two fried eggs, fried tomato, bit of fried bread and a bit of bacon!!.. I recognise that such is how i 'eat' weekend mornings wherever i am!! And it was good!

today..as opposed to yesterday, Saturday being '(hand) laundry' day', i ended up washing all the dirty dishes...and then finishing off the 'planting' of my 'garden' ..seven packets of 'stuff'..basil..rosemary..thru 'wildflowers'. So now i have a garden..or perhaps a garden..i can hope. It would be nice..and rosemary and basil too?

Then back to the grindstone..the Library-the Computer Centre

it isn't work or hard work..but computer stuff takes time, lots and lots of time.

Am i competent/trained to be a network admnistrator..NO!

..but one gets by..you go back to first principles..and kind of try to imagine what the designers, etc were trying to do..or something like that


But i think we have a potential REAL solution to our network implementation problems and so i'm back to prepping for class. I have to set up my 13 desktop computers to 'support' my 'Learn to Program in MS Visual Basic' class which starts on Monday..yikes, this Monday!!!! ('my'..getting very proprietary it seems)

..And so my first task is to set up another download of Visual Basic Express.... 157 MB!! takes forever..the only nice thing is that if you lose your connection , which is almost guaranteed, the download doesn't go back to the beginning.

with the poor, unstable and slow internet connections i have here, i spend enormous amounts of time waiting for downloads, etc . Maybe it is character building?



And then while that is going on i'm off the Market..it's fun, they like me, i like them, i take pictures, i make smiles..i buy garlic, tomatoes, lettuce, Pastis, garlic, a pineapple, eggs..and bread from Togo..mini-baguetttes. There are three Togolose ladies who come every market day to sell bread and by now they HUNT me ..to sell! it is a good feeling! And the bread is great.
I'm searching for my ..tune or groove with respect to photography here. i don't know what i'm seeing and so there is no rhythm in my efforts here yet..i'm not understanding what i'm seeing and so i don't know why i am taking the pictures. I need to work at it more systematically.

The market is very colourful, happy, friendly..it is very much what i understand as Ghana, West Africa

..and today, for sure, i like it

(i try to take pictures..i am not inspired...but i should be

i often think about and have begun to understand HCB's 'decisive moment'...and i believe that i could aspire to it but i'm very far from that state just now. Part of the problem is that with digital, one isn't so concerned with setting up the shot..you just fire away literally and that isn't right. )

Then back to the Library..check in on the world..Hungarian Grand Prix..yea, Jensen!! Cricket..what????...Track...better..after all in just 365 days we'll be in the middle of the London Olympics..and i'll be there!!!
and wince at the slow file download.

I have some prep work for the VB class to finish. I'm nervous about it because i have no real idea what they know and whether they can learn..from me. I've prepared some hand-outs for after class..that will surprise them! They don't do hand-outs in Ghana.


I leave about 7-ish, go back to the 'house' and sit outside to read for an hour or so..and drink my daily coke (what??? yup...one a day..just like a vitamin)..and since i felt good i had a Pastis too. I'm reading a biography of Dorothea Lange and perhaps that is what is moving me to take more pictures and to try to think about what i'm doing. I just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about LBJ for whom she worked. It was really good. the book was published about 35 years ago but she's wrote a new foreward in 1991 which has a funny (to me ) story. Apparently she was offered the position of Peace Corps Director at one time..but she turned it down because she had just got Red Sox season tickets and didn't want to miss out on seeing them!! pretty funny, i thought.


Dinner.. was straight from the market..a mini-baguette filled with avocado salad..very good..and some fresh pineapple also..very healthy ..cost me all of about $0.80.

then early to bed under my cute virginal white mosquito net..and what will my malaria-medicine driven dreams be tonight!!!

probably not Sharon Stone..more likely ..some echoes from my past work life..boring.

..so not a bad day, interesting, useful (helping the fishermen, working in the computer room, being a smiling, buying presence at the market) and healthy too!

..and i promise to add more pictures to this blog this week also!