This has been a rough 6 days in many ways. I’m trying to
keep the blog positive but I’ve been terribly homesick. I didn’t used to get homesick as a child, but
when I went to Israel a few years ago I got my first does of homesickness,
which was a major shock to the system.
Thank goodness I experienced that there, because I was able to
anticipate the homesickness this time and wasn’t surprised by it. However, it’s still bumming me out. I miss my kitties, my partner, my friends, my cohort, my own space that I have
control over, and feeling autonomous.
Right now, I’m still too timid to take a taxi by myself. I suppose I’ll have to get over that this
weekend… my hosts are out of town so I have at least 1 night home alone. The problem is I got so ripped off at the
Accra airport that I’ve become very distrustful, both of people who might try
to scam me and of myself, the 2nd of which is the most worrying
part. I don’t trust my own ability to
suss out a scam, which I was usually pretty capable of doing in the States (yes
spellcheck, “suss” is an actual word, stop telling me it’s not). As my friends know, I’m not exactly a timid
person, so feeling nervous about stuff like this is pretty unlike me. I feel like I’ve jumped in the deep end and I
don’t know how to swim as well as I thought I did. It’s not that I’m drowning… it’s just that I
didn’t expect to be splashing around directionless to such an extent.
OK enough ruminating on the homesickness.
Something I’ve often thought while on the roads to and from
work is how clearly the nature-culture dichotomy is a Western concept. Here, there is “indoors” and “outdoors,” but
that’s where the distinction ends.
Outdoors, the jungle seems to be in a constant battle to reclaim the
land from construction. The jungle is
the city and the city is the jungle.
Large empty billboard spaces line the Sekondi-Takoradi road, the flora
filling in the stark empty spaces where signs previously hung. Trees also line the road at regular
intervals, obviously a result of some city planning. They form a canopy over the large thoroughfare,
blocking sunlight from directly touching the road. Beyond them, more primordial trees give way
to palms, grasses, and murky ponds. The
sidewalk is not flat, but forms hills and valleys in response to the tree roots
underneath. There are places of more
concentrated urbanity, like the Takoradi market, but once you are out of the more
densely inhabited places, the jungle seems a constant background. Cephas told me that one can’t see the
distinction between the cities of Takoradi and Sekondi, but I’ve come to
realize that I can’t tell the difference between the city and the jungle. It all seems as one.
In discussion with my University of Washington thesis adviser,
Eddie, I will likely be visiting a more rural fishing village in order to have
a comparison to fish consumption in Sekondi-Takoradi. I’m interested to see how a “village”
differs from this more metropolitan area, as Sekondi-Takoradi doesn’t strike me
as very “city-like” by American standards.
I’ve hit a few snags in my experimental design process,
which Eddie reassures me is part of the learning process and is proof of
success, not failure. That was very
comforting. I have some more direction
now, and am hoping I can pull together enough of a clear vision to present to
Hen Mpoano in the brown bag seminar I’ve been asked to give. The seminar will be very helpful to me, not
only because preparing for it will force me to have my process more down, but
because they should have feedback to give me regarding my experimental design,
and any further readings they think would be helpful. However, I’m a little intimidated by the
thought of doing a presentation on experimental design, since I am truly such a
novice at it. However, everyone keeps
pointing out to me that everyone had to start somewhere, and that no one
expects me to have a perfect experimental design right out the gate. As a perfectionist, this is frustrating
because of course I want everything to be perfect. But this is a chance to flex my adaptability
muscles, which is an important life skill, research or no research. I still think I’m somewhat of a crazy person
to do my very first social experiment in a totally foreign country, but hey, I’ve
never been one to do something half-assed.
OK, it’s time for me to return to transcribing my field work
recordings. I have yet to make up my
mind as to how much of the field work experiences will go on the blog, or if
this will mostly be detailing my non-field work time. I guess I’ll just have to adapt and find out
what works best as I do it… which is basically how I live my entire life here.
To end on a basically unrelated note: I’ve been listening to
Sia’s “The Greatest” non-stop for the past two days (except when I’m listening to
transcribe, obviously). The “yeah you
can do it!!” message of the song is super helpful to me right now.
I’m
free to be the greatest, I’m alive/oh oh I’ve got stamina/Don’t give up, don’t
give up, no no no.
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