boubou shopping

Well, yesterday for about the eleventh time I tried to upload pictures to my blog. It has failed each and every time. I have also failed every time I've tried to attach pictures to emails. There is one internet cafe in which I was able to upload a picture once--but I don't go there anymore, because each time I go the guy that works there attempts to ask me out. It's really too bad. So, I guess everyone will just have to wait until I return to the States and be dazzled with all of my pictures at once!

Today I was shopping for boubous...a type of really loose, beautiful housedress...and I had a quintessential Ghanaian experience. I bought one piece from a lady, spoke and bargained with her in Twi, and then explained what sort of boubou I was specifically looking for. She said, "let me take you to the place." So she held my bag and walked me to another woman's shop. I took quite a while making my decision and asking prices, and the lady from the first shop stayed with me the whole time, making sure the seller understood what I wanted. Also, she continued to hold my bag for me the whole time. At one point I told her that I could take the bag--but I knew it would be futile. Ghanaians, when they want to help you, won't hear of anything otherwise. They do this funny thing where they go, "Oh! Oh! No!" as if you've physically hurt them by trying to do something for yourself when they've offered to help. But, yeah, this woman from the first shop just left her shop and spent about twenty minutes helping me make my other purchase. At times like that, I really love this country (and it definitely made up for the frustration yesterday of not being able to upload pictures!).

Next week I am going to be attending a week-long conference put on by the NGO that I will be doing my internship with. It is a conference on women's rights and domestic violence in Ghana. Also, I visited the domestic violence shelter where I'll be working later this semester and all of next semester...it's in a pleasant town about two and a half hours from Accra. I'm looking forward to a more rural lifestyle. Also, I will be living on the premises of the shelter, and I'm looking forward to that, too, as it is set up as traditional compound living. That means that everything is communal. The idea of a nuclear family isn't very Ghanaian, but this type of compound life is much more like a traditional Ghanaian setup.

That's all for today. Oh, except that I was heartbroken to find out about the Cardinals, and also about the crazy Iranian president who wants to wipe out Israel. Someone should tell the New York Times to start printing stories that I will be happy to read from over here!