Waterless

OK, so the bucket bath… imagine yourself, puff in hand, standing in the tub and staring down at a 3 or 4 gallon bucket of water. I had heard that the important thing to remember with bucket baths is to keep the soap out of the water so that you have clean water to rinse the shampoo out of your hair. I did an excellent job of this, however after soaping up my hair I realized there was no way in hell I was going to be able to lift this bucket over my head. I did some splashing and more contemplating about my next steps and finally realized the only solution was to dump some of the water out and attempt the lifting one more time. Halfway empty and it was still too heavy. I started getting concerned that I wasn’t going to have enough water to actually be able to rinse the shampoo out at this point. The only option I had left was to dunk my head in the bucket. I proceeded to then condition my hair with a little Bumble and Bumble thickening conditioner (seems both anachronistic and unimportant) and rinse the hair in the same water as the shampoo rinse. What else could I do?

So, that was last night (Wednesday) and it is now Thursday night and I have officially no water. No tap water and no bucket water to speak of. The good news is that they sell Dasani here pretty cheaply and am considering bathing in that pretty soon. And why, because it is HOT here. Right now it is a cool 83 degrees in my room and I am sitting directly under a ceiling fan. I think the moving air keeps the mosquitoes away as does the lack of water, so there is a plus to this whole no water thing.

Besides the challenges of living in Africa, I had another interesting day of work. We did a more formal orientation of World Education in Ghana with the whole team. I found out my supervisor, Tawiah (which means sibling of twins), was born on the exact same day as me, only one continent away. Nadia, Tawiah and I had lunch at a cute coffee shop where I was able to drink cappuccino and have a falafel wrap. Ironically, Nadia had a burger and fries with a side of cole slaw. This trip also included my first trip to a Ghanaian grocery story. I love seeing foreign supermarkets. I am such a sucker for packaging and seeing all of these new logos and brand mascots is fascinating. A couple of surprises included the fact that yoghurt here costs $12, but a huge bottle of Dasani is 70 cents. The meat and deli section was interesting and I made Nadia question the butcher about the long narrow items that were mostly pink with a dark black end. Apparently, they were tongues. I went to the grocery store, albeit a different one, a second time for dinner and purchased emmanthal, bread and soup for dinner. Once I got home, I realized that hot soup was certainly not the idea dinner food for this weather and just ate the cheese, bread and some Smartfood which had earlier exploded in my suitcase rendering all of my clothes smelling of white cheddar.

I live near the US Embassy and am hoping to take photos of it despite the warning of “No photography allowed.” It is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is literally a modern day fortress. Apparently, the locals jokingly call is Guantanomo Bay. It is expansive, heavily walled and there is tight security all around. Accra has open trenches lining the roads that seem to be water and garbage drains. I don’t quite get it, but the US Embassy has the nicest exposed drains that I have seen so far. I am also hoping to get a shot of these! Speaking of the US, Ghanaians that I have met so far are very interested in the US primary election. They know all about the candidates on both sides and have strong opinions about the Bush administration. They seem to favor Obama and feel that he would best heal America’s reputation abroad.

One other interesting thing that people have been asking me, not that it is unusual, but that it rarely is asked in the States, is what church I belong to. I have twice responded with “Congregational,” which elicited looks of confusion. I was also asked how often I go to church, and my response of Christmas and Easter was met with considerable laughter. I think they thought I was joking. The best was when Nadia asked me if there was singing and dancing at my church and I couldn’t help but think of the contrast of their church experiences, where it is probably very lively and interactive with my own, which would be considered subdued at the very least in comparison. Hopefully, they will invite me to go with them on Sunday so I can get the experience of going to church in Africa. Maybe I will pray for running water…