I slept for 12 hours yesterday. Met up with a dude from Montreal and we checked out the Van Gogh museum. Then I had the best pancake ever, a foot long in diameter with fried bananas and the thickest syrup. Walked around a bit more, went for falafel. It’s nice to have a bit more variety than beans and rice. In fact, like a night after hard drinking, “I’m never going to eat rice again”. All lies of course. Did the touristy thing and had a beer down at Dam Square watching pigeons and people. The hostel was full of fratboys, skid youth and hippies, but you can’t argue with a breakfast and the velvet underground as a soundtrack. Few hours left in Holland, going to rent a bike and take some photos.
In Amsterdam on some major sleep dep. We got in at 4am Ghana time. I watched No Country for Old Men and had some decent veg food. 2 bottles of wine. 20 minutes of sleep. Took the train into the city and found some coffee near the Red Light District. Checked into the hostel but have an hour to kill before I can drop my bag off. Need a shower and have to change the shirt. Going from a developing nation to an ultra-modern international city is a trip. Spending this afternoon alone here, probably go check out a museum. Rent a bike tomorrow. Found a few veg cafes that I have to check out in the next 48 hours. The euro is trading as such that I got 80 for my $150 cdn. Have to try to stretch it.
I’ve got about 9 hours then I’ll be en route to Amsterdam. The last few days have been spent writing this paper, taking in as much ocean as possible and searching for food that I might not have the opportunity to eat again for a long time. The other day I came across a vendor of vegan cuisine. Soy cream amongst many other tasty treats were advertised and I became incredibly excited. Oh but to my surprise, it is only open during the september-may months. However, I just picked up this guide to Amsterdam and there’s a whole section on veg cafes. I have about 50 Euros that I plan on spending on food there. Even though I’ve been eating fairly well, I always feel hungry. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t been getting enough protein or what, but I’m eagerly anticipating some serious veg food. There really isn’t a lot to be found down here. It’s understandable, I guess eating meat is a sign of wealth down here and people aspire to live as glamorously as they do in the West, but the context is different. Instead of driving Hummers, it’s eating meat.
Anyways, last night all the Canadians got together in the hostel to play some cards. A girl had an ipod with a bunch of classic Canadiana/Dad Rock/90’s junk on it and we ended up with a soundtrack including the first two Our Lady Peace albums, a bunch of Tragically Hip and oh god, what else was there? It was pretty ridiculous, I think a Silverchair album made it on as well as Chris de Berge (which was funny because Lady In Red was in my head for days after enduring it cranked in a cab ride).
Was in Osu again the other day and the vendors were trying to get me to buy their crap, as usual. Bracelets with my name on it, hideous necklaces and other super cheesy, touristy junk. There was one dude who was selling sweet shirts for super cheap so I held one up to my face to size it up as a possible gilt. It smelled like it had been sitting next to an open sewer for days. Sick.
“No way, I don’t want this”.
“How much will you pay for this?”.
“Nothing, it smells like a sewer”.
“I’ll give it to you for five cedis”.
“No it’s gross, I don’t want it”.
“Four cedis”.
“Forget it”.
“Three cedis”.
This carried on until I told him I didn’t want the shitty smelling shirt and continued down the block for a few more similar encounters. When I got here, I was totally polite to these guys who are pretty funny and totally mean well. But they have to do business so they can be really pushy. I’ve gone from entertaining them with my name and where I’m from (their intro to make friends with you so you’re less likely to turn them down when they offer you a “gift” in exchange for “a donation from the heart”), to an almost instantaneous response of “no thanks, I don’t want your crap”. These exchanges and haggling have become some of my favorite things to when I need some entertainment.
Well, it’s been a month and I still hate the shower. I had my last one this morning, mouthing it off one last time before and after stepping under it’s freezing cold drizzle. I been using way less water these days though. Everyone has. You know why, I don’t need to go into it. That being said, I also went to a pool with a swim up bar the other day, so it’s not like I’m trying cop some kind of holier than thou attitude. I’ve just curtailed my excessive use of resources.
We said our goodbyes to Richard and Issac, the two Ghanaian students we’ve been working with the past four weeks. They were so awesome and have been invaluable to this whole experience. That being said, our goodbyes were very sad since it’s unlikely we’ll ever see them again. They teach in Apemanim and while they dream about coming to Canada, they make about $150/mo. and a Visa cost them each about $35K.
I just booked a different hostel in Amsterdam after deciding that the person I was originally planning on sharing the room with drives me completely nuts. A nice person, don’t get me wrong. But after spending a month in relatively close quarters, I need to get away. So I’ll be more or less alone in Amsterdam for a couple days, which should be an adventure.
I’ve got about an hour left of time on this computer and I’ve got to finish this paper. Final thought from a sweaty internet cafe in Africa: everyday in this country has completely blown my mind and while the grass is no greener here than in Canada (or any other place I’ve been for that matter), the soil is red. And that’s kind of neat. Also, the new Nick Cave album is really, really great.
I haven’t been up to much in the past couple of days, just mostly class-related work. I’m trying to write a paper about the environmental movement down here which can be described as weak at best. Or so it seems as I begin to write and do the research. None of the presidential candidates have environmental platforms, they’re mostly concerned with bread and butter issues. Makes sense, the country is caught between rural and urban life with most of the people concerned with trying to find a means to buy food and pay rent. Instability doesn’t really lend itself to taking up environmental concerns, especially where resources still appear abundant. It’s shocking from a Canadian perspective. There is next to nothing down here as far as serious recycling programs go. I’ve been buying two liter bottles of water and nearly choke everytime I have to toss one. My other option, I suppose, is buying a bag to ship them back to Canada in. No this is ridiculous, so I’ve been doing my best to at least reuse and modify the bottles to serve as coffee cups in the morning.
I have been burning through the Life of Pi as well. I can’t believe how much reading I get done down here where the go go go life isn’t able to beckon me with computers, band rehearsals, social commitments and other things that keep me “too busy to read”. Anyways, it’s a really enjoyable read, especially for the atheists (and biologisits!) in the house.
I’m also keeping low key because I’m trying to tighten up my spending before my last weekend here. I want to return to the fishing village for another night which requires me to not head down to the strip for a coffee and art shopping. No no, instead it’s reading and 50 cent beans with rice for me.
There’s a funny situation in the hostel right now too. A few people are the type of people that you can only spend so much time with. So last night, a few of us tried to avoid a few others (all in good fun, don’t get me wrong) albeit completely unsuccessfully. In fact, the wine and cheese party was “besieged by nerds” while I went out for dinner, or so the text message claimed. No it was true, the wine and cheese party really was besieged by nerds and the rest of the night was spent playing slightly awkward games of sociables etc.
Today there is 2 for 1 pizza at the Pizza Inn, a place we’ve been infrequently stopping when the jollof rice can no longer be tolerated. The no cheese vegetarian is an excellent source for western culinary reminiscence. The accompanying beer is also a dollar.
In the coming days we’re going to be visiting the Daily Graphic (the state-owned paper) as well as the Kofi Annan Peace Centre. Firday is the last class. Sunday I’m off to Amsterdam at 9pm Ghanaian time, with a 6am arrival. Apparently I have a hostel room booked with one of the nerds. I may have to look into this. I may have to “meet an old friend in Amsterdam”…
