amusing or annoying, you decide.

So here are things in Ghana that I have either found to be amusing or annoying.

Little children: when you are walking down the street you hear a distant scream of “obroni obroni” (which means foreigner) and you try to locate where the yelling is coming from but can’t see any one. Then you look a little harder and you see a little child in the far bush. You can barely see them but they spotted you from 230948 miles away, their eye sight for spotting “white” people is amazing. Or you have children who are playing and then see you walking by and start to gather and chant “obroni koko machi, ya fey twe gongo”. Or little kids that come up to you while you are at a store and tell you to by them crackers, especially kids that you don’t even know. or little children that say "obroni bye bye" i guess the best thing about children here is that you can make them your b*tch. like if you are too lazy to do something, you can send your small child to do your dirty work; for instance, you can send them to fetch you water, wash your clothes, buy you food, carry your things, etc. you just have to be careful because the smart ones will run away with your money.

Adults: sometimes while you are walking there will be people that are sitting on a bench or by a store that tell you to come, and then when you come to them all they want to know is what your name is, or they tell you that you will take them to America, or that they want to marry you, or they ask where my husband is. Or the bazillion people who ask you where you are going every time you walk past them.

Disting: basically it’s a word that means this thing. Its basically a Ghanaian version of the word da kine. For example disting here is making the pot hot. At a cultural fair that we had there was a table full of different items and the category label was disting.

Political Parties: Ghana has a presidential election coming up and there are about 3 major political parties, CPP (Conventional People’s Party), NDC (National Democratic Congress), NPP (New Patriotic Party) Since dance is such an important part of culture here there is a dance association with the parties. If you do this dance people will understand which party you are supporting. NPP slogan is “We are moving forward” so they put their hands in the air and make a motion of moving forward. NDC is “We are changing” so they put their hands up and make like a wheel. But I was also told that CPP and NDC have the same dance so they are fighting over it. There is also this really funny poster telling people that everyone can vote… I will upload it soon, I’m sure you won’t find it as funny, but humor me.

Boys: Some of the things that they do are sooo funny. Like when we are watching a movie, a boy will be sitting on a chair with his legs spread and then another boy will sit right below the boy. Or they will walk the streets holding hands. Or they will lie with each other in a spooning position. Or they will play a game that I have called “The Cup Game” where they try to cup the balls of their friends. And when I say boys, I mean that they range from the ages of 15-24.

I’m sure there will be more to add as time goes on. So to be continued…

twi word of the day: aiekooo! (job well done)