1922 January 2010

With the internet the way it is at school (slower than any dial up I’ve ever used), apologies if I don’t reply to your emails right away, and the blogs will be fewer and farther between.

The last few days have involved more settling in, all while dealing with water/electricity/internet outages. Yesterday: I woke up to no water at home. I got to work where there was no internet. I left work to go home while there was no power. Everyone just kept saying, “Don’t worry. This is Africa. This is how we live.”

Everything is a challenge, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it all. I think I’ve already gotten the water schedule figured out. When Michael, across the street, gave me a ride the other day, he said they got a bulletin that said there is a problem with the treatment plant, and we will have water on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday. What that means, is that it comes on late morning, then stays on until the next morning. So if you schedule it right, you could in fact shower & wash dishes/clothes just about every day, just not exactly when you want to.

I finally felt pretty productive this afternoon, after getting my home office set up last night. I got about half of my readings established for my class (I had them all scanned or printed, but have about 4 times too many readings for one semester)and so I may actually watch a bootleg DVD on my laptop, under the mosquito net, under the A/C tonight before bed. I bought a DVD with 9 (!) Hollywood movies on it for about $2 today at the Commercial Area on campus (post office, banks, bookstore, some market stalls). I’ve got the local and world news schedule figured out on my fuzzy four channels on the TV, but that’s about it for entertainment, so I’m looking forward to a little mindless movie tonight. I’m definitely going to bed much earlier than usual these days9:00 or 10:00 is a good time to starting thinking about heading that way… I guess that’s what no company, no internet, no beer, and no cable will do for you.

Markets. I’m getting pretty good at the markets. There are three in walking distanceone within 5 minutes of the office, one within 5 minutes of the house, and one about 15 minutes from the house. They each offer different things, so I’m visiting at least one, but usually two a day for a cold drink, some street food, phone time, frozen yogurt, or still more things to get the house settled. I’m starting to be recognizedha, of course I am, I’m one of only three Obrunis I’ve seen herebut I’ve been going back to places I’m comfortable with for my interesting coleslaw/egg/bean sandwich (she even has Diet Coke!), the household supply place that I seem to need to go to every day for a tray/sponge/mug, etc., my electrical guy for plug adapters, the “super market”, my banana lady, the pineapple lady, my avocado ladyshe always yells “hello friend!”, and of course my TIGO transfer lady, who I’ve given money to every other day so far! Yes, still calling the U.S. a lot for supportbut at less than 5 cents a minute after the bonus, I’m not complaining. I’m hoping this strategy of visiting the same stalls/traders will help me get access to my research this semester. I’ve had some promising market moments, and I just think this is how the research will have to workbe a repeat customer, get to know their names, and start interviewing. I guess. I will also use Kofi, my TA, to help meand the class as well, to figure out how to actually do this here.

I’m working on the house slowly… I still need a can opener and a shower curtain, but I’ve finally figured out why the top half of my tiny refrigerator (a little bigger than a dorm or hotel size) was freezing everythingincluding the bowl of carrots I worked so hard on the other night! I finally organized the kitchen a bit, and found the door that is supposed to cover the little freezer part of the refrigerator. I’m also slowly disinfecting and de-dusting the house… there’s a thin coat of reddish dirt/dust, and ash (from burning trash & cooking fires) on everything. Oh, and gecko poop everywhere. Gross.

At the office, my department is being very supportivealmost too much at times. The young men want to carry my bags even though I’m quite capable, and the tiny administrative assistant nearly insisted that she carry my 15 liters of water down to my office. I know that Americans are seen as very privileged, so I need to be careful to understand what is culturally important to them (the young men carrying my bags from the market), but also not act entitled because I got to use the Social Sciences driver (just a few times) and the cleaner (ha ha) bathroom! I’m happy to walk the 20 minutes to my house or carry my bags (although, I will gladly let one of the young men get the heavy bag of water sachets!). I also don’t want to overtip (and then be expected from then on), but I also want to show appreciationeven if it’s just chilled water or some Strawberry FanYogo [have I mentioned my obsession for this tasty frozen yogurt!?] for the yard caretaker or electrician, a cold drink for the students who walked me around the market for the first time, or a tip for the University driver who waits around for me when I run to buy some bananas and cabbage (that’s not exactly what they are employed for… more like delivering important documents, or taking people to meetings, etc.)

Ah yes, meetings… Nothing like 18 hours notice for 6 hours worth of meetings. It’s funny, because at Geneseo, it seems like we have to start scheduling faculty meetings weeks in advance in order to get everyone together. The other day, I had another examination board meeting at 10:00. And as I was leaving the office the day before it, I was also told that I’d meet with the Chair, Dean, Vice Chancellor, and Pro-Vice Chancellor at 9am. The meetings with the officials were very nice, and gave me some good ideas for working with faculty here on research and publication. I have to remember that I’m here as a Fulbright Scholar and I’m only teaching one small seminar. It’s not that I’m just doing my own research, but I should help others with the process and try to collaborate. The second meeting, however, the examinations review board, is just so different than what I’m used to. This time there were about 25 of us discussing trailing courses (courses that students are missing based on where they are in their major)this is pretty important since it seems that students take courses in blocks from the time they begin their academic career (and have selected a major). Interesting fact: there are about 900 majors in my department here (Geography and Rural Development)and just 12 faculty. At Geneseo, we have about 60 majors and 7 faculty. I heard one faculty member say that he had 1,360 students last semester. I won’t complain about having up to 150 anymore. Granted they all have TAs, but with 4-5 classes per term, and 5 hour long meetings like this, no wonder many of them don’t have publications or have the time to go back for the PhD. Another interesting fact is that, including me, there were only 4 female faculty members of the 25 present. And even for a meeting with the Dean, most faculty were 15-30 minutes late, and we didn’t actually even attempt starting until 10:30. I do understand the logic of these meetings to review EVERY students’ score, courses, and GPA: they want to add accountability (they were shocked that we don’t even look at scores together as a department at Geneseo), and act like the faculty are involved in the process… but… I think faculty time could be used much more efficiently (like toward teaching and research). Oh, and more prayersboth before we start each meeting, and after we’re done. Interesting.

The food situation is getting better, but people just kind of laugh when I tell them I’m vegetarian. The students certainly like it when I have faculty meetings though, since they feed ususually some kind snack (which has been a chicken skewer, some kind of fried meat pie thing, and a sweet). Then lunch (it’s to take away as we leave) was meat fried rice with a whole fish (eyes and all) on top. I did, however, find Helenus in the nearby market, who claims that her fried rice and jollof rice have no meat base. The fried rice with vegetables tastes great and it was only about $1.50 for two meals when I supplement it with my own fresh veggies. And yesterday I bought a huge amount of green beans for just 35 cents. I asked for 1 Cedi worth and she just kept grabbing them, and grabbing them, and grabbing them, so I told her to stop and just give me 50 pesawas worth (35 cents). She was the same woman who had the carrots and greens the other daybut no cabbage this time, but two types of green beans instead. I guess I’ll just buy what I find for veggiesshe’s the only one I’ve seen with any of these veggies (carrots, cabbage, beans). And the avocado lady was the only one I’ve ever seen with those (and just one day)… bananas, oranges, pineapples are everywhere. Tomatoes are pretty ubiquitous too.

Back to work, if I can. There is quite a party going on at the nearby dorms tonight. Each night I hear students singing, but tonight is loud piped-in music, and a VERY loud guest speaker. It’s the last weekend before classes start, so just like anywhere else, I’m sure students are celebrating their fleeting freedom.

More Source:

Howard Zinn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
703-245-1922 / 7032451922
Born in 1922
Oirot Republic (1917-1922)

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Submited at Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 3:00 pm on Africa by sofia
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