Return to Western Culture

Well, I have successfully managed to teach for three consecutive days without falling over or having the remnants of my malaria medications cause me to see purple elephants sitting in the class instead of students; That I feel is an accomplishment considering how jarring my return to western culture has been. I have not had much time for reflection on our experiences in Ghana, at least not the solid hours of time with which I would like to have. I have finally managed to get my diurnal rhythm back on track and am no longer waking up at obnoxiously early hours of the morning, that is a blessing.

My eating habits were so out of sorts while in country that it almost seems odd to return to the standard 3 meals a-day routine that we have here in the states. I have to say that I am missing some of the Ghanian foods that I have grown to love (jollof, fufu with palm nut soup, and fried plantains to name a few) not to mention the fact that I did not have to cook any of these things while I was away. I realize that my son has probably been missing these foods since he came to the US as well, and while I have prepared a few Ghanaian dishes over the past two years, maybe I need to make more of an effort to incorporate Ghanaian dishes into our weekly meal plan. One of our new OT students is Ghanaian (born in US) and said that you can microwave fufu using the instant powder; that sounds much more feasible to me than pounding the cassava myself! I also found this great site which provides recipes for lots of my favorite Ghanaian dishes. For people who read this blog and will be staying in the Accra region there are several restaurants in the city of Adabraca that I would recommend: The White Bell, the restaurant at the Niagara hotel (Lebanese), Paloma, and the restaurant at the Hotel President.

Here is a pic from my first trip to Ghana of fried plantains and bean sauce...yum!!!