chapter 9: love letters

things i love about ghana:

*little sounds people make constantly:

"oh!"...used to express surprise.

"eh!"...used to express surprise, anger, or any number of things.

"ah!"...frustrated resignation, disapproval.

"heeey"...happy surprise, like when an obruni correctly uses the local language.

*"thank you"...excited agreement during a 'discussion'. comes out more like tankyou

*"i'm coming"...translation, i'll be right back, please don't go away. in the local language, often expressed as "brahbrahbrah"...literally, i'mcomingi'mcomingi'mcoming

*everyone gets a nickname. mine, for reasons i'm not really sure of, is "papa sly"

*ghanaians love a good hug

*the warm, fragrant evenings, filled with the noise of crickets, frogs, birds and other animals

*you can always get a taxi

*you can leave the house with the ghanaian equivalent of ten dollars, take a cab to town, have lunch, a beer, buy a pineapple, take a cab home and still have change

*everything comes in doubles. if you want a small bottle of beer, it's not small, it's smallsmall

*the names. my jhr colleague sophie has compiled her own list, (http://shesghana.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-10-names-ive-come-across-in-ghana.html) but i'd like to add the following:

2pac

smiler

justice

gifty

fefe

gold

jewel

things i miss about canada:

*servers who actually serve

*hockey

*snow

*tap water

*showers

*stores with clothing in my size

*seats on all toilets

*anonymity

*businesses who have change readily available

*the ability to make reservations

*sidewalks

*canadian time

*the expectation of a fair shake

*not being constantly asked for money