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 went riding today for the first time in a couple of years. It’s hella expensive down here compared to when I used to live in the Yukon, where you could basically ride for free. I used to get into arguments with a friend about how for the city-dweller, snowboarding is a bourgeois sport. “Not even”, I would say. I didn’t come from a bunch of money and I started riding when I was 13. But it kind of is. To get to any decent mountains it’s not cheap, and the pass is, well I don’t want to talk about it. But whatever, it was my birthday present to myself and I had a great time today.
The best part was the addition of my ipod nano. The last time I had tunes on a skihill was with a sony walkman. I think it was my sister’s, (remember that white one Joce?). It had 3 play buttons and I would hit the slopes armed with either my skate-punk mix, my double-sided snfu tape or the best-of pearl jam collection I made (which went through many revisions). But the ipod, what an ingenious tool. Not only do you get to take however many albums with you, but talk about getting your mind off the dangerous aspects of a run. I had a blast, ran into another Ed. student up for the weekend (specializing in bio. no less), ate a gross veggie burger I’m pretty sure now wasn’t vegan and even saw a few of my students.
Here’s a view of the town im in from the lift. I can’t figure out what’s burning on the hill and as you can see, it was snowing pretty hard today.
Otherwise, I’m pretty tired. Think I’m just going to stick around and chill tonight, and try not to think about some things that refuse to leave my mind. I guess I could start working on my lesson plans for the endocrine system. I have no idea how I’m going to make this unit interesting. The senses are great to teach and I’m looking forward to reproduction, but hormones and their respective glands have never been my forte.
