Rotarian Fredi and Rotarian Emma have proven to be wonderful host parents. They could not being doing a better job of taking care of me and providing a home away from home. Living in West Legon, Fredi and Emma's house is only a 10-minute drive from campus so they pick me up a few times a week for dinner. Emma has even said I can just go to the house any time I want. If only addresses were used here because I still could not explain their location to a taxi driver.
It’s nice having a reliable reference for my questions regarding Ghanaian culture and traditions. For instance, I could not tell if the family only spoke English when I was around in order to be polite. Sometimes their accents make it sound like they are talking in Twi. I asked Emma about it. She said they only speak English at home, which I was not expecting at all. In fact, the children are not fluent in Twi; she and Fredi used to speak it when they did not want the children to know what they were saying. Now however, the kids have picked up too much Twi for that.
I am still curious how English is viewed in Ghana. I can’t help but wonder if it is pretentious, for business people, for foreigners, for the educated-or maybe it’s just for anyone- if it is only taught in school or can be picked up from daily life, and if there are hybrids of English and Twi. Sometime I will ask Emma and Fredi.
There are certainly different “degrees” of Ghanaian accents. It’s always a debate whether you should ask a person to repeat himself three times and risk looking foolish or answer the question you think was asked… and risk looking foolish. Of course, sometimes it is like that back home as well (I’m looking at you, mumblers :P ). My lectures are for the most part understandable, though a few professors have their moments.
The two words I hear the most: “Akwaaba!” (welcome) and “Obruni!” (white girl).
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