Friday, February 3, 2012

One Word

I find it difficult to describe myself in one word. While many things come to mind (daughter, sister, girlfriend, student, "foodie", athlete, etc.), I don't feel like one word captures everything that makes me, me. 

During my time here, I have heard one word over and over describing me: Obroni, meaning white or white person.

Yesterday, my friend Kelly and I took a tro-tro (sans a Ghanaian friend/guide) to Medina market. Quite a feat for a such a confusing, disorganized system! I think we both were a little impressed with ourselves.

For me, this sense of accomplishment dwindled a bit after a few minutes in the market. We, like every Ghanaian there, wanted to make a few purchases and be on our way. Instead of quite passerbys looking for mangos, we were "Obroni." We were walking through the market to a constant chorus of Obroni!, Obroni! Children, who could not have been old enough to have more than 10 words in their vocabularies, knew and called us Obroni. 

It's true, I am white. In fact, I am whiter than the average white person...SPF 45 (or higher) is my friend. It's also true that we can't blend in, we were quite obviously the only white people in the market. I guess I just found myself a little discouraged that even after doing things the "Ghanaian way," at the end of the day, I am still just Obroni. 

On that note, I think I will go put sunscreen on and start my day!

xoxo




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