Buzz word: Religion

In light of the recent holiday, I think it apropos to discuss the excessive amount of Christianity in Ghana. The ubiquitous word of God is typically manifest in shop signs. Amongst my favorite are "Thy Kingdom Refrigeration" "Jesus is my Redeemer Real Estate" and "By the grace of God Rasta hairdoo". Not to be outdone, even a little bit of Islam slips in there "In the name of Allah fresh produce". The missionaries clearly sunk their teeth rather deeply into this country early on. While many of them are strong and good Christians, you sometimes get the feeling that they missed to point. I've heard some people spewing out so much religious jargon that it doesn't even make sense. More like they were regurgitating a bunch of phrases and terms they've heard along the way.

Everyone here assumes your christian, so those volunteers that don't even believe in God are put in a rather awkward position and often just play along for the sake of argument. I don't know if Ghanaians would understand if someone said they don't believe in God. While I, myself, am christian, my views aren't entirely traditional in an American sense and are maybe even borderline heretical in Ghana. One of my favorite instances occurred when I was talking with an old nurse, a lovely woman. She had commented on how quiet I was. I said that I'm more talkative when I drink, with a bit of a wry smile. She then ask and confirmed that I was christian and said I shouldn't drink alcohol. I then asked her about Jesus turning water into wine. She said it was alcohol free wine. Even if I had wanted to argue the matter further, I would have no idea what to say, so i let it stand there and shook my head in agreement.

Easter itself was a bit of a marathon. I say marathon because it lasted a little over 4 hours and resembled a dance-a-thon more than anything. There we also three offerings (for non-churchgoers: the time when you give your money donation to the church). I still don't know why there were three. The pastor was also "kind" enough to recognize me in the the crowd (around 400 i suppose, i guess I stood out) and welcomed me to the church. This of course was followed by stares from the rest of the congregation. He then gave the sermon in english instead of twi, which i was very grateful for... I would have been even more grateful if his sermon was more than him saying "Jesus was dead and then rose three days later" in as many different ways as possible. We then went home and slaughtered a goat, then ate it's entrails... I like saying entrails because it sounds far more disgusting that way. Don't worry, they were cooked... and gross and rubbery.

On another note, for those that were wondering, I just found out that I did not get accepted into UW Med school, much to my dismay. I'm a little bummed out at the moment, but as I've been saying, med school is a big commitment. I should be thankful that I have another year to live my life freely without obligations or responsibilities. Now I just have to figure out what in the world to do with my life while I start the laborious application process all over. I hope everyone is well and healthy. Keep in touch as always.