Proud to be an American

Saturday, March 6, was Ghana's Independence Day. Just as we celebrate July 4 with fireworks, Ghanaians celebrate their independence with a parade. The parade is a competition among all local schools and their marching brigades. Winning first place is not only a recognition of hard work and practice, but it is also a school's ticket to bragging rights for the rest of the year. My school's brigade had been training for weeks in preparation for this day. The students arrived at the school at 6am in cleanly-pressed uniforms. The girls had their hair done and donned matching earrings and socks. The boys shined their shoes and straightened their ties. Everything had to be perfect. Last year, American Cooperative (ACS) got third place and this year, we would settle for nothing less than first.

Once we got to the parade grounds, we waited for over three hours as other schools arrived. The school that lined up next to us was the Muslim school and all the girls wore headscarves. Apparently we were next to them last year as well and the teachers joked about how the Americans and Iraqis can't seem to get away from each other. (Aside: I also met a guy nicknamed Bush as in George W. I asked why everyone calls him Bush and his friends said, "Because he's crazy.") As we waited, anticipation mounted then dwindled as the students became impatient and hungry. Some teachers and I snuck off to 'take something' (Ghanaian euphemism for drinking). Upon our return, the drumming had started and the stands were full. Our time had come to march.

And march we did. With perfection. First place perfection. When they announced that we won, the teachers, students and I ran around like fools, cheering and waving our Ghanaian and American flags. We then boarded our school bus and drove around town, singing loudly and announcing our winnings to all the neighbors. We were probably really obnoxious. Our chant was something along the lines of "We are the Americans. Mighty mighty Americans. Champion Americans. Super Super Americans." The irony is that I was the only American. But whatever.

This weekend was indeed one of new experiences because I went to an African church for the first time yesterday. The service was over 4 hours long and nearly everything was in Twi, the local language. It was sufficiently awkward and, at some points, the boredom was nearly intolerable (sorry God), but it was still nice to go to church. Everyone here goes to church. It makes the Bible Belt look pagan. I've never been to a place where strangers get excited to hear that I'm a Christian.

But I will save my religious/philosophic ruminations for a separate post.

Just know that this weekend was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of it hanging out with the other teachers. It helped that we had something to celebrate. And I have friends now. Yay.

FYI - Black, green, yellow and red are the colors of the Ghanaian flag. Apparently it is also harder to read but thanks for reading anyway.