Weekend of Nov 19-20
Saturday, Nov 19 I had my last real lesson with Zie, and it was surprisingly productive. I was very focused and we made it to a good stopping point for the song we’ve been working on for the past month. Not that I have it down fully but at least we made it to an ending point for all the parts he wanted me to learn. So now can practice more when I return home. I definitely want to buy a gyil now! I’m sad that I won’t see Zie anymore. He has been a really great teacher and a good person to work with. We took pictures at the end of the lesson and I gave him my American phone number and email address. I hope to have him come to Wesleyan at some point in the future.
In the afternoon, I went to the Wesley Girls School to watch their band rehearse. I was supposed to go Thursday, but that was canceled. And today I was about an hour late, but that’s just kind of how it is here. I asked Mr. Ekow to take me and Delali decided to come with him, which was great! The girls’ band played a bit for me and then they asked me to work with them a little. I just did some basic fundamentals on embouchure, breathing, and a bit of singing… I hope they took something from it. It was really good to be in front of a band, and an all girls’ band at that! What a crazy cool experience! I wish I had been able to work with them all semester but it just didn’t work out that way.
After the band performed for me, the choir came in and we sat there and listened to them a bit though I did not really work with them. This is them singing a song they are learning via solfege, aka by ear. This is how most people learn music in Ghana, including instrumentalists, from what I understand. Most people don't read notation.
Then Mr. Echo came and picked us up then he dropped me off at a fancy hotel restaurant to have dinner with Jonas. We had a fun dinner and then after dinner we went and found that there was bar type of area by the pool outside. It was so nice! So we got one more round of drinks, and just enjoyed being outside near the water in a very beautiful hotel. After that, it’s Mr. Ekow picked me up and dropped off Jonas at his friend’s work, which is a fire station in town and then he took me home. What a fun Saturday!
Sunday, November 20
Today was the last day I am here by myself fully. Tomorrow Danelle and Scott will be here in the evening. But today was so lovely! I got to spend basically the whole day with Delali and her family. Her little brother, Prince, was there…he’s really her cousin, but in Ghanaian culture, your cousins are considered siblings; it was her father‘s brother’s son I think. He’s apparently in medical school here but she doesn’t see him much, so it was nice that he was there today. The big event was that we made fufu! I got to help pound it and turn it with the mortar and pestle. That is hard work! It was really interesting to do it because I had no idea and Dela was really good at teaching me. She’s just also very good at making me feel completely included and like she really wants me to be involved. So we took turns folding it, then pounding it. Mostly I folded. I pounded just a little bit. But now I have a much better or appreciation for how fufu is made. And surprisingly, I actually really liked this fufu. I guess the third time is the charm! Also, Mr. Ekow made the peanut soup and again it was super good. So after we finished doing the fufu, we ate!
This is the beginning of the fufu - boiled cassava and plantain
Delali and I took turns pounding and turning the fufu. She explained that it's like a musical call and response: pound, turn, pound, turn.
This is where it is done being pounded and she is "dressing" it to make it look nice in the bowl.
This is the finished product. The fufu itself is the white blob. It's normally eaten as in the first picture, with some form of soup poured over it, with meat in it (mine here has chicken and goat meat, but fish is often put in there too). It is also eaten with one hand, but I prefer to eat mine with a spoon. Delali's is on the right side; she prefers to eat hers separated out, but with her right hand.
We also watched part of this movie called The Woman King which is an African film with Viola Davis. I didn’t watch much of it but I want to watch all of it when I’m back in the US. The other big thing we did was Dela’s contractor came over and ate lunch with us, and we talked with him more about property sales and hostel building. You know, just listening and learning!
Let me reiterate how wonderful it is to have a good friend like Delali and her family. This has changed a lot about my experience here in Ghana.
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