A fortnight in Accra, onward to the mountains!

Hello my dears, it has been a long time!

Just over four years ago I left Ghana with an invitation to return. Since then I have been working towards that aim, while also caring for myself, spending time with my loved ones, learning many new things, and doing what I can to enjoy my life!

But at last, I am here again. Akwaaba-oo!

Where am I and what am I doing, you may ask?

After two weeks in Accra, I am now in Logba Alakpeti, which is located in the mountains in the Volta Region. While Accra was too hot and dusty for my poor unacclimated self, Alakpeti is marvelously comfortable with lush greenery. It is not too hot, not too cold, and the humidity is just lovely. The family I am staying with are wonderful and I have a nice room with everything I need (bed, table, chair, and a fan). I'm very happy to be here!

I am here to continue a research project I started four years ago documenting plant names in Ikpána, this time for my PhD, as requested by the Unansanango (Paramount Ruler) of the Logba Traditional Area. The language, people and area are all called Logba by most people, but the autonymous terms are Ikpána for the language and Akpanawò for the people.

Since it is difficult to keep track of what I have told to whom, I will use my blog to try to update as many people as possible with occasional stories from my time here. Please feel free to make requests for anything you would like me to write about in more detail!

As a disclaimer, these stories are only my own observations and opinions and are not meant to reflect anything deeper or more insightful than that. I have only been to Ghana once before and am still a "baby to the system," as my friend Kofi puts it.

For this post, I will start with a few of the challenges I've faced and then move on to some of the exciting and fun things I have experienced in order to end on a positive note. I am grateful for both the challenges and the opportunities that have arisen during my time here so far.

Accra was difficult for me, as I generally don't find myself feeling very comfortable in cities. It was hotter than I remembered (harmattan winds!), which made it hard for me to sleep well at night, and I was usually covered in a thick coating of red dust from the minute I stepped out of my door. My long hair has been a new experience for me, because I had very short hair (and no hair!) when I was here last time, and washing long hair in a cold bucket bath is a skill I had not yet acquired (any tips are welcome).

My room in Accra and my badly set-up mosquito net! I miss the pop-up one I used to have, but thanks, Allanah, for giving me this one.

I had forgotten just how exhausting it is to be the only obruni (foreigner) in a market place, being shouted at, grabbed at, and stared at non-stop. I have learned that I much prefer being called to with "Sistah!" than "Obruni!" My Twi has declined rapidly in the four years I've been away and I felt very out of place, needing to rely almost entirely on the goodwill of other people to get around. Thankfully, the goodwill of people has turned out to be very strong!

From the moment I made it out of customs in the airport I have been in good hands as my Ghanaian friends have come to support me. Dear Joyce (and your family!), Clement, Nana Ama, Kofi, Ishmael, Ishmael's mum, Loretta, Rita, Mabel, Auntie Abigail and all the others, your kindness and generosity have meant so so much to me, so thank you!

As my supervisor reminded me, trusting in and even depending on others is something to embrace, rather than to fear. And as my dear friend, Angel, also reminded me, "These are rare moments in our lives and we would do well to cherish every moment however hot or uncomfortable." They are right, and it is with a good heart and an open mind that I come here.

On to some of the fun things!

My neighbors near Ritz Junction in Accra quickly became very dear friends of mine. In exchange for me teaching them to make pizza, they have been teaching me Twi (mostly be teasing me in it) and also how to prepare Ghanaian dishes.

Thanks to their family, I have now accomplished one of my life goals: I have learned to prepare kenkey!

Also, banku. Both are cooked doughs - kenkey (specifically, Ga kenkey) is made from fermented corn dough, balled up and wrapped in corn husks and banku is made from cassava dough mixed with fermented corn dough. Both are delicious! Banku must be swallowed, not chewed, and there seems to be some debate about whether kenkey is chewed or swallowed, but I think there was general agreement that it can be chewed. I have not tried pounding fufu yet as my neighbors think that it will make my hands rough and won't let me. I will try again...And Aunt Sylvia, I am working on getting you a video of some experts demonstrating how to pound fufu with great skill!

I am really enjoying fresh coconuts, sweet juicy mangoes, pineapple, and even some new fruits I haven't been able to look up yet because the internet is a bit slow. I drink Ghanaian cocoa every day (on its own). I'm only a bit pink from the sun after several long days being out in it for too long (thanks, coconut oil!) and am in good health, so I'm very grateful!

Sitting in the shade of a neem tree (azadirachta indica) with a gentle breeze, and sometimes the company of a friend, is a lovely way to study, it turns out. And I've been making new friends at the department of botany and the herbarium at the university, including a PhD student studying mycology (he says the university is hoping to create a microbiology department so he can go there rather than be studying fungi while lumped in with botany). There are some very kind people there who study ethnobotany and are documenting the usages of plants throughout Ghana (but have not yet worked in the Volta Region) and an expert in plant identification has agreed to come with me for part of my research to assist me with voucher specimen collection and identification of plants while I do my language documentation work. Hurray for collaboration in practice!

(Yes, Plants Animals Words 2013 friends, I am wearing my green hat with pride!)

drumming with new friends in Accra
(photo by Cat Hockings)

Mottos and advertising
As many of you know, shops and vehicles in Ghana often have a motto or a name reflecting something which the owner would like to share with the world.

A taxi on the way home from seeing Unansanango proclaimed:

Be fluent!

A passport photo business had a large sign by the road advertising themselves as "Gye Nyame ('accept God' though usually translated as 'except God') Passport Photos" with four photos of Obama smiling happily for his passport picture.

Today on my journey in a trotro (Ghana's convenient and affordable, privately-operated public transportation) to the Volta Region I passed by a shop which was named:

He is alive

fresh goat and cow meat

Okay my friends, that is a small update from me. I am doing well, learning a lot, and experiencing many new things. I hope that all of you are enjoying life and I'm always happy to hear from you!

Meet Alfred

I meant to post this ages ago, but here it is now. 

I found a little bug in the backyard at my home in Mayfield, NSW Australia one evening. The bug had such a unique expression that I couldn't help but take some photos. I also named it Alfred. 

The next day, in nearly the same spot, I found a bug that looked identical to Alfred except it was bright green instead of dull green. So either Alfred changed colors in the middle of the night or was replaced by a brighter doppelganger!

The next morning...

I looked up "winged insects of New South Wales" and found this excellent resource: http://www.ozanimals.com/australian-insect-index.html  

I dug though the most likely families (Orthoptera and Hemiptera) and found, under the "True Bugs of Australia" section, the Flatid Planthoppers, all of which look just like Alfred, but with a range of colors, from pale white with a pink spot (Mango Planthopper) to green with a border of reddish brown spots (Common Green Planthopper). 

Upon further reading, it appears that flatids go through five nymphal instars, which are developmental stages in between moltings on the way to reaching sexual maturity. Molting usually occurs at night or in the early morning and from one instar to another the flatid may change color or size, and may lose or gain a white powdery coating. So perhaps Alfred just molted and leveled up to the next nymphal instar . 

Also important to note, flatids are invasive in Hawai'i, but native to Australia and can be a vector of diseases. But look at that face... as one expert in cute bugs, (my friend) Dougal, has pointed out, "How could that bug invade anything? What does it do, run up to you, nuzzle your face and go eep?"

LJG's Gluten-Free ChiaFlax Bread

For all of those who suffer from a gluten intolerance or allergy, it can be incredibly difficult to find a loaf of gluten-free bread that doesn't taste like cardboard and doesn't cost $7 or more in the shop! So after months of trial and error, with input from friends and loved ones, here is a recipe that seems to turn out tasty each and every time and has only healthy, simple ingredients.

I'm not a professional baker, I just fiddle around in the kitchen until stuff tastes good to me. If you have suggestions for improving this recipe, please share them!

In the meantime, enjoy :)

Ingredients

¼ - ½ cup flax seeds, freshly ground

¼ cup chia seeds

2 cups water
--------------------

1 tsp dry active yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tsp honey
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4 ½ cups gluten-free flour blend

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp caraway seeds, or other herbs (e.g. thyme, rosemary, and tarragon)
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2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

Stage one (flax/chia):

Place flax, chia and water in jar and mix well. Leave in fridge at least four hours and up to five days (overnight is fine!).

Stage two (making dough):

Add yeast to warm water with honey stirred in (or skip this step if you don’t believe in proofing).

Put flour in mixing bowl, add salt and caraway seeds (or other herbs). Mix well.

Add olive oil, chia-flax mixture, and yeast mixture to dry ingredients and mix until there are no more lumps. Cover and let rise at least three hours, overnight in a cool place is fine. No need to knead! It will have a consistency like mousse after it rises – this is good.

Stage three (second rise):

Oil and flour two non-stick bread pans.

Split dough in half with spoon and gently scoop into the pans. Cover and let rise three-four hours (not more!).

Stage four (bake):

Preheat oven to 425°F (~220°C). Bake for 30 minutes. Do not open oven door until the very end or it will be ruined!

Lower temperature to 405°F (~200°C). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from pans and let cool before slicing.



Notes
Flour blend: You can either buy a pre-mixed gluten-free flour blend or make your own from bulk flours you buy. Gluten-free flours that work well in a mix are millet, garbanzo, rice, sorghum (strong flavor!), buckwheat (also strong flavor!), fava bean, amaranth, quinoa, and potato.

Baking time: The baking time is entirely dependent on the amount of water in the recipe. If you add more water, you will have to bake it for longer or it will be doughy inside. Absolutely do not open the oven door while this is baking, or it will never get hot enough inside to cook all the way through! Add the extra baking time on at the end, after lowering the temperature.

Chia and Flax: These soaked seeds seem to be what gives the bread its structure in the way that gluten would have provided a structural network of support. They also happen to be highly nutritious, so that's a bonus. The idea for using them came from Celeste's cousin's husband, Sam, who is a professional baker - so credit goes to him for that one!

Zippered pouch

With all my stuff rattling around loose in my rucksack I decided I needed a zippered pouch to keep some knick-knacks in while traveling. A friend invited me to go to a fabric/craft shop with her to buy googly eyes, and seeing a shelf of discount fabric scraps I was inspired to make one myself.

So, I got half a yard of duck cloth (a thick canvas-like cloth) and a zipper, then began searching for suggestions on sewing one. I found several tutorials, such as this one about how to make a lined zippered pouch,and this one about how to make the corners look nice. Since duck cloth is pretty thick, lining didn't seem necessary, so I opted for a simpler style without it.

Dad dug up Grandma's old featherweight Singer sewing machine and I read the manual to familiarize myself with its use (been a few years since I used a sewing machine!). We dropped oil into every little nook the manual said to drip oil into and I did a quick practice run on a rag, then got to work. Without a lining, I could use the sewing machine to sew all three sides of the material to each other after sewing each to the zipper. With a lining, you have to leave a few inches unsewn then push the material right side out and sew the rest up by hand.

finished zippered pouch with mechanical pencil for size comparison

And the other nice thing about duck cloth: you can draw on it!

zippered pouch with colored pencil sketch

I'm pleased with it, and if I can find affordable zippers, I will be making more (zippers are so expensive!).

LunarEclipse

I spent this past week exploring Melbourne, Victoria. I have to say, I absolutely loved it! 

Flagstaff Gardens at corner of La Trobe St and King St

I got to practice my Korean and eat Korean food (맛있는 돌솥 비빔밥을 먹었어요!) with friends.

leaving Korean restaurant (one of many)

I met lots of other researchers in my field (at several universities), participated in a discussion on a topic connected to my research, attended a seminar on the relationship between documentation and description when working with endangered languages, and learned more about the kinds of exciting projects other linguists are working on. Whew! A very fun and engaging few days, to be sure. I welcome any opportunity to nerd out with fellow field linguists.

walking in the city

I saw beautiful artwork, including some stunning work by Kate Oates at the Koorie Heritage Trust Cultural Centre. I felt very fortunate that on my second visit (I had to go back and see her artwork a second time) she was there, too, and I actually got to meet her!

a fountain outside National Gallery Victoria International

The whole time, of course, I was surrounded by Melbourne's fascinating architecture, including this building, Port 1010, which exhibits the Cafe Wall (or Münsterberg) optical illusion. The orange lines are actually parallel, but look like they taper off.

Port 1010

I got to ride on the free tourist shuttle, the city trams, and the ever-exciting, free city circle tram. Years ago, I rode on a matching streetcar, shipped to Seattle from Melbourne, with my dad, brother, and parakeet, "Rainbow".

riding on the tram, which got stuck (on a no-power spot), so the driver hopped out, cracked a joke about how him stealing his siblings' food paid off, and pushed it a few feet to get us going again

I went to the incredibly exciting Queen Victoria Market (a few times), full of yummy fresh mangosteen, okra, massive portobello mushrooms, touristy-doodads, tasty panini, hemp clothing, churros, and everything else you could imagine.

Carlton (suburb), on the way to the QVM market

I also went to the Rose St. artists' market.

houses and gardens, along the walk to Rose St Market

Rose St Market

Naturally, I did a bit of jogxploration (what else does one do in a big, unfamiliar city?).

near my hostel

Yarra River

And, of course, I spent a good bit of time watching leaves fall, like I do.

fallen leaves in Carlton Gardens, near the Melbourne Museum

leaves falling in Carlton Gardens

And, thanks to my friend, Gab, telling me it was happening that night, I watched the total lunar eclipse! Wednesday night slash early Thursday morning I popped outside my hostel in Melbourne to watch the sun, moon, and earth align at just the right time (a night with a full moon).

night sky near La Trobe's Bundoora campus

At first, the moon was gigantic. Full and bright. Slowly the shadow of the earth crept over the moon. There's nothing like watching celestial events to remind us that we are small and our problems are tiny.

full moon

I popped back inside to do some laundry, then ran back out into the crisp night. By then, the moon was glowing red with the indirect light of earth's atmosphere. I watched a while longer. It was almost gone. One more time I ran inside to check on the laundry, then ran back outside. As I burst out the door (I probably didn't need to run - it all happened rather slowly), I saw a man sitting on a bench smoking. I said excitedly, "There's a lunar eclipse!"

He responded (almost caring), "Huh. Are you into astrology, then?"
"Uh... no, not particularly. Are you?"
"Yeah. I used to be," he dramatically continued, "But I have bigger things to worry about." And then he went back to his cigarette.

After the moon disappeared completely, I went back inside. The front desk was open by then, so I told the person working there (in an attempt to explain why I had been running in and out the door at such an odd hour in my pjs) that there was a lunar eclipse. He said, "Really??" and ran outside in a hurry. Suspecting he might be a bit disappointed, I decided to go out there with him to point out where the moon had been, as there was actually nothing to see now that it was invisible. Ah well.

The sun came up shortly after and I went up to the roof to snap some photos of the city (next goal: take a photography class - I could use some instruction, hah).

Melbourne from hostel rooftop (note solar panels for heating the water)

Melbourne from rooftop 2

Melbourne from rooftop 3

For some BBC coverage of the total lunar eclipse, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13787341


And now, I will leave you with a possum.

oak with anti-possum ring

possum (I think?)

Goodbye, Melbourne and your lovely people! Thanks for the adventure.

Newcastle, it is

It is rainy and beautiful. The trees are dancing. I found two seeds in my persimmon this morning (I've never found a persimmon with seeds in it before), so as soon as I figure out where a persimmon tree might like to grow I'm going to go plant them in the soggy-soaky soil. (Why not?)

I have to apologize - I've been speaking of my experiences in Australia, but honestly I can only really speak of my experience of Newcastle. The rest of (vast) Australia remains an adventure-yet-to-be-had to me.

photo from around my neighbourhood suburb

pretty sky in my suburb

However! Tomorrow morning (4am - ugh) I head to Melbourne for the week. I hear it's cold, but pretty happenin'. I'm hoping that the cold there is more like the cold I'm used to, i.e. cold which stays outside and does not enter dwellings. I've decided to stop complaining about the cold in Newcastle, so let me just say this: the buildings here were not built for it!

Since my last post, I've had a birthday (which was lovely), celebrated Easter Monday (observed on Tuesday, naturally), given a presentation at the research higher degree symposium as part of my confirmation requirements (a fun day of interesting presentations from across the school), and been accepted into the MA in Language Documentation and Description at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (I'll be temporarily suspending my PhD here come September and heading to London). There may have been some salsa dancing and trivia nights thrown in there for good measure as well.

Tomorrow (Monday) is another public holiday: the Queen's Birthday. (The Queen's actual birthday is 21 April, so don't be confused.) I am on the lookout for more Americans so we can have a proper 4th of July celebration.

Okay, I have a lot more to do before I leave tomorrow, but there may be a few more short posts (like the one below this) in the works...

Peace!

p.s. I have discovered that my pronunciation of 'herb' usually elicits the following response:
(fits of laughter)
"She drops the haych!" 

Which then leads to several attempted imitations:

"Urb. Urb."
And more laughter. 

Ah well, I do enjoy having an urb garden.

An Observation About Crested Pigeons

Remember the crested pigeons I mentioned earlier? Well, I saw some sleeping on a telephone wire and now I suspect that their crests actually serve a purpose.

When a crested pigeon tucks its head under its wing (as sleeping birds do) its little crest sticks up in front of it. It looks quite a bit like a beak, enough so that (from a distance) the sleeping bird looks like an awake bird! And that just might be a deterrent for stealth predators.

Well done, little birds. Your cute little crests are (possibly) more than just a funky hair-do.

via Joseph Henderer