Week of Suck

So this week has been officially deemed the week of suck.

You may know that the library is scheduled to have its big opening ceremony on the 29th. Aside from all the things that must be done for the library to be complete, there is a lot of planning that has to go into the actual opening ceremony. This seems to be a big and consistent pain in the ass that is a culturally accepted norm. Everything has to be planned, everything has to have a structure, letters of invitation have to be given out, with special roles given to all the special people that you want to invite and everyone has to have their say, whether or not they are really involved and whether or not they are around (or say in the next country over this week). This isn't really all that different from anything in Canada except for three things: 1) Time-they decided they wanted this whole thing to happen before school lets out (the 30th) and only mentioned it about a week ago, 2) There is a certain way to do everything so that it seems very professional and special and we're not really in on it, so its a learning experience for us. 3) EVERYTHING must be done by consensus-this is difficult enough under the best conditions but when everyone is so busy with their own livelhoods and are too poor to come to the meetings...but will be upset if anything is done without you, or if you're in Togo/Accra/anywhere not Nyive and out of service for two weeks and will be upset if something is done without your input.....ITS A PAIN IN THE ASS!!

It is such a pain in the ass that dictatorships have suddenly started making a lot of sense to me.

Either way though, everything is getting done (slowly but definitely surely) and everyone is doing their best to make it a real awesome affair. It sounds like Conor is gonna have to get all Mama'ed up for the occasion too. This community is really proud of what it has accomplished and they are inviting all the top cats to come see it including the heads of the local library board and the MP. I thought they should go all the way and send a note to Obama and Atta Mills, but the schedules didn't really coordinate.

This also means that the library is mere days away from completion. Even our books are being catalogued. This is all good news! So why is it the week of suck?

1) My intestines have betrayed me....again. I noticed they get a lot better when I travel. I've concluded that this is either because the food does not require chewing in the villages (teeth are downright vestigial traits in this area) or because teh conditions are more sanitary in restaurants that we have to eat in when we travel. One of our guides suggested not to worry to much unless there was blood, black fluid or somethign greasy involved. Since it wasn't, I decided to tough it out this time. What a mistake that was. I am currently popping Cipro like I'm doing a Keith Richards imitation and its all better.

2) My estrogen went and while it doesn't betray me, my period is not always a welcome addition to daily life. Cramps suck. They suck so bad that they encumbered my gettign to Ho today. Long story. There was a bus and some fainting and bananas and Fanta.

3) I fucked up the library's printer. That's not entirely true....the driver doesn't want to recognise it. I suspect that this is because people wanted me to try the wrong software and see if ti would work. It didn't...and now that we have a copy of the right software, but it still doesn't. I think I can fix it, but it is really difficult to explain especially when I only arely understand how it works myself. I wish I were more tech savvy.

4) BUGS. Really big Bugs. I know gigantic bugs are sort of an African stereotype....but this one is steeped in liquid truth.

5) Got invited to a Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. Really hoped this was gonna be better than it was. It was a great community, very friendly and welcoming...great in many ways. Not in others. The theologian in me is still twitching. There's a chance I would feel like this at the Catholic Church sometimes too, but everything is in Ewe so I can't understand. Most of my problems are not culturally related though...they are the same things that make me twitch in Canada too. Lets just say that churches who preach that Jesus will make you rich or the ones that come with coin-operated salvation are popular here. I feel like trial and error will weed out the prosperity gospel churches over time (I have heard of no great money-manna-fest yet, here or in Canada), as for the auto-salvation, I let you fight that one out for yourself. There is no way to explain certain subjects adequately on a blog. I miss the Byzantines.

6) Haven't been eating properly this week....this contributed to the bus thing too. Long story. With this I will couple that there exists no dairy food group in Ghana and I think I'm really low on Iron.

7) Other- There have been a lot of minor coinciental things to happen that just added to everything. An example was a teen story about AIDS which was kinda cool in some ways, kind of not in others. The not so cool part of the story is where thedoctor is trying to determine whether he shoud test for HIV and asks the man a series of questions...where he wasn't concerned that he might be having sex with women, only anal sex with women. I find this particular and confisuing detail in the book. The anal sex thing came out a lot actually. STRANGE book. Just another example of men getting off the hook for havinglots of "normal" sex with lots of women? I don't know.

Anyhow, lots is getting done with the library and my Keith Richards attitude on cipro seems to be working so lets hope for a better week!

-the Jessicat