Meeting da chief and speaking Dagaare like a pro.

Last Sunday we were scheduled to meet the chief of Aniyasin. Being that it was a serious deal, we all got up extra early and put on our best frocks, or at least, the best frocks we brought to Africa with us. Our families were suppose to come with us, but when I headed out in the morning, my sis was nowhere near being ready to hit the road. I was worried that she forgot and I would have been the only person in the entire group who didn’t come with a family. I tried to remind her, and she just said, ‘I’m coming’ which is Ghanian English for, I’ll be back/I’m getting there/hold on.

When I went and meet up with everyone else, it turned out that no one else’s family was there with them either. So once again, there we were, 24 obrunis gathered in one spot in town for all the locals to stare.

We seriously were there for an hour waiting before things moved along. It turned out that the chief wasn’t even awake at 6 45am like we were told to meet, but at 8 am, so our families had the right idea about coming later. The second we started moving toward the chief’s house, my sister popped out of nowhere.

The ceremony was to introduce the new PCVs to the chief since we are guests in his village. There were drumming and chanting and pouring and drinking of alcohol aka terrible schnapp. There were several customs we had to follow during the ceremony, but I had already forgot about them by the time we arrived, so when the glass of alcohol was passed to me, I accepted it with my left hand without even realizing it. In Ghanaian culture, the left hand is considered a vice, and one should not be using it for any reason. So I pretty much already insulted the chief and his clan before breakfast. How am I not stoned to death already, I don’t even know.

Since Monday, we’ve been divided up into different language groups to learn the local language of the region that we are going to be at after training. I was placed in the Upper West region, which is the youngest and newest region for all the sites. The language there is Dagaare, and there are just three of us who are heading there including me so our group is small though not the smallest since there is the Ewe language group for Volta region which only has one person.

The language learning is super intensive. 6 hours a day every day. When Monday started I didn’t know a single Dagaare word, but now I know how to introduce myself and talk about my family. Crazy. Beside language we also have technical training, which I should pay more attention to and shouldn’t dread so much since it’s only 2 hours a day, except that going to this class after language training is super gruesome.  Then I go home and have to deal with my fan club, aka, the neighbors next door who like to shout my name whenever they see me regardless of the hour of the day/night. That’s definitely another post on its own. Wait for it.