Eating Oranges in Ghana
In the United States, I am used to feeling fairly confident about my accomplishments in life. Minimally, I know I am capable of getting through just about any interaction without violating any unspoken norms and of taking care of myself on a daily basis. Living in Ghana has changed that a bit. Before being placed in our permanent sites, the other trainees and I underwent 10 weeks of cultural and technical training. You would think, after ten weeks of that, that little things like eating and sitting without making a fool of yourself would be easy. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. For example, shortly after I got to site, my landlord offered me an orange to eat. I was very happy to accept. However, the thing about oranges in Ghana is that A) they are not orange, and B) if you try to eat them like you eat oranges in America, you will make an utter fool of yourself. To eat a (green) orange in Ghana, you need a knife. You slip the nice between the hard, green outer peel and...