Finishing Touches

Jefferson's still worried about that package; the mail's late today and we've just been waiting and waiting for it to come. I don't mind so much, because there's some last minute reading I've been wanting to do, and it's nice to just sit at home and do nothing (i.e. eat, sleep, and watch TV). I'm trying to soak up what I love about my life here before we go. Mostly I'm eating a lot of cheese!

I finally got "excited" about our trip when I stopped by the department, yesterday, for the last time before this trip. Just seeing friends and saying goodbye to them made the trip seem much more real. I don't know what it's going to take to be truly "excited"; I guess I just won't be. In past when I've gone abroad it's never been a really big deal, so this time it's still the same, no different just because it's Africa.

There are definitely some things I'm looking forward to. I've been in contact with an assistant professor of anthropology at Rutgers who has done extensive fieldwork in Ghana and who will be there this summer, just an hour's ride away from Koforidua, where Jeff's mom's house is. We've made plans to meet up on the 20th. I'm looking forward to meeting her after reading a great article that she wrote about her fieldwork experience in Ghana, particularly about conducting interviews in a culture where the concept of "knowledge" is different from our own.

I'm also looking forward to what is actually the last leg of the trip, when we'll be spending 12 days in Winneba. The phonologist at the teaching college there has been incredibly nice, and has made arrangements for us to stay both in Winneba and in Cape Coast (where we'll be for 12 days beforehand). I think he's going to be a great contact in particular for my research this summer for my 2nd Qualifying Paper, because he specializes in Fante phonology and dialect variation (and my paper is looking at some of the consonant patterns in less-studied dialects of Fante). I'm hoping that, by then, I'll have gotten used to living in Ghana and that I'll really be able to get the most work done.

So what I'm excited about is easy: the people. In addition to professors, I'm looking forward to meeting Jeff's family members, even those he complains about. :-) I'm also looking forward to trying new foods, as always.

But what I'm least looking forward to is also easy: mosquitoes, hot & humid weather, and the traffic in the urban areas (Accra and Kumase, mostly). I get carsick really easily and I just know that the bumpy roads and stuffy cars are not going to help. On the other hand, I should be used to it by now (I think I've lost my lunch in at least half of the foreign countries I've been to)! On another not-so-pleasant note, mosquitoes LOVE me. In preparation I've sprayed all my clothing with a thin layer of Deet, and I have copious bottles of various kinds of insect repellant.... I'm ready for battle!

Ten minutes later... the mail came, but the package never came. Dangit! But on a good note, we did just get the entire triology of "The Godfather" on Netflix DVDs. So that'll give us something to watch this summer on Jeff's computer.

Well, I should go and see what else has to be done around the house!