The Second Week

Most of my time in Sandema is spent three places. Here are some memorable moments from my second week in each of those places.

At Work 

• My supervisor gifted me with the Buli name 'Agonaway' which translated means 'She who sleeps with God.' . The other interns haven't stopped chuckling about this, and I have yet to figure out if there's a misunderstanding with the translation or if I have been given a unique and scandalous name. Either way, I think I will continue to introduce myself as "Brittany. Yes, Brittany. Bri-tt-any.  Yes, that's close." rather than discover for myself the true meaning of this new name. 
• I spent the majority of my work time this week, and lots of non-work time, co-authoring a program proposal. When it was finally ready for submission on Friday we brought it to our supervisor and explained what we had been working on. He immediately commented it was great we'd taken initiative to write this proposal and then finished his sentence with "So you were doing work this week?" acknowledging that he'd thought we'd spent the past week wasting time behind our computer screens. Fingers crossed the program proposal is successful and we have mutually-agreed upon work to do next week, or his fears may indeed be a very real reality.  
• On tuesday all of us interns were pulled in on a 6 hour program meeting. After spending 5.5 hours listening, and taking detailed notes so as to avoid completely embarrassing myself by falling asleep, I was asked to give my opinion. Having only seen two days of the program run I suggested I couldn't comment on the program complexities, but offered a comment on the need for 'templates' for the forms that are consistently used. The fact that I spoke in the meeting, and had a relevant suggestion, was evidently a significant moment and my supervisor urged the room to applaud my contribution (the only applause of the sort). Though this felt patronizing, in some way it must have been intended to be a hilarious sort of honour. That is until the program director chimed in and said to the room "I sent you templates a year ago. You haven't been using them?" With the room dead silent all I could think was "Well done you pot-stirrer. This is how to make friends with your colleagues." 

At Home 

• We discovered one of the easiest ways to make friends with our host sisters is to be completely ridiculous with them and make them laugh. Fortunately this requires no effort on our part. During a recent power-outage (which coincidentally also brings a water shortage to our family as we have an electric pump) Katie and I sported headlamps to go about our evening activities. What to us seemed completely normal was the most hysterical moment of the evening, especially when Katie offered her headlamp to the girls studying. Note to self, normal is weird. 
• I discovered hundreds of termites infesting our washroom, and the sink in the hallway. Calling my host sisters (my go-to response for everything) resulted in them setting a fire in the hallway to get rid of the termites. I now have a giant burned piece of the floor to remind me of the little buggers every time I walk past. 
• While searching for cutlery in the cupboard I came face to face with a giant cockroach. I gasped, and did a little dance as I made my way to the opposite side of the kitchen. This is about when my host sister Laura rolled her eyes and nonchalantly removed it from the kitchen. Both my response and her response were similar to when I discovered a bat trapped in the hallway, and when I found a spider the size of my hand in the door. There may be some ways in which I am relieved to not have to be a good African wife. 

On Bicycles

• We discovered that when our supervisor suggested we not stay in town past 8 or 9 in the evening he wasn't trying to keep us from getting into trouble but that there simply isn't anything happening in town past then. One evening Katie and I decided to venture to town late and failed to discover anything to a beautiful, and quiet town. The positive element however, is that we must be adjusting well to the bike ride to town as this was the first time either of us had suggested returning to town again 'just for fun' and it's ceased to be a chore to make the 2+ trips to town everyday. 
• My roommate and I discovered our Ghanaian hospitality one evening this week when we offered up our bicycle to a visiting friend knowing it would help him get home at a reasonable time and we could get it back the next day at work. This meant Katie and I were left with one bicycle for the commute to work the next morning. After several unsuccessful attempts at doubling (and providing much entertainment to our neighbours) Katie and I made our way down the dirt road to work. As we rode past the elementary school I heard all of the students in the school yard begin to laugh at the two foreigners on one bicycle, and was laughing along with them, until Katie hit a speedbump I wasn't anticipating and I was launched from my perch on the back. Somewhere between my falling off the bike, and my running to catch up and hop back on as Katie pedalled, I heard the schoolyard turn to hysterical laughter. If nothing else, I will succeed at my role as the local SmalleySmalley in providing endless entertainment.