by Dani Hoots
This place was beautiful. Utterly stunning. There were colorful tents all around, as if a festival was being prepared. Dense jungle surrounded the area and I could hear the birds make their sweet melody. People all around were clothed in stunning colors and they all seemed to be partaking in whatever activities this festival would bring. The elderly, the young, mothers and fathers, they were all celebrating together.
“We made it just in time for the yam festival,” Thomas smiled. “I was afraid we might have missed it. Looks like we will have to go straight to work observing.”
“Spectacular if you ask me. The yam festival you say?” I asked. I remembered reading about it in his notes, but only skimmed over it.
He nodded. “Yes, a five day celebration of the beginning of the yam harvesting season. It is the Ashanti’s primary crop and they make an offering every year to the ancestral gods.”
“I see that you remembered the last time you were here,” a voice said behind me. I turned to find a tall dark man in bright yellows and blues. His head was shaven and he wrapped his arms around my mentor. “I thought you would have forgotten everything after all the alcohol you drank.”
Thomas’ face turned red as he glanced at me. “I took detailed notes. I may not remember writing them but it helped jog a few memories.”
Both men laughed. Thomas nodded to me. “This is Maryanne, she is one of my colleagues at the University. Maryanne, this is Adofo, he is one of my friends here. He will help us around as we take study of the culture.”
Adofo grabbed my hand and kissed it. “It is a pleasure, Maryanne.”
“Oh, the honor is all mine.”
“It must be quite an adventure working with Thomas here. Please tell me he keeps his hands to himself, I know working with a pretty lady such as yourself… it must be hard.”
I blushed but before I could say anything more, Thomas interjected. “We are professionals, Adofo. Need I not remind you?”
Adofo laughed. “Oh right, you stuck up British snobs never know a beautiful girl when you see one. I forgot about that.”
“Exactly, now come on. I don’t want to miss any more of this festival than I already have,” Thomas distracted him away from the topic about any supposed romantic relationship we had and back to why we were even here in the first place. I admit, I found Thomas to be charming, but other than some awkward times in his office or in the lecture hall, we never furthered our relationship beyond the professional realm. My sister always said I should say something, but I never did such a thing. If he didn’t feel the same, I would feel like a fool. He had said once that we were colleagues, and that made my mind up on the topic. I doubted he even felt anything for me, or if he even saw me as a woman. He confessed, one time, that I didn’t seem like a girl at all, and considered me as one of the guys. Although I didn’t really mind this, sometimes I wondered if it was a good thing or not, to be considered one of the guys. He was the only one who referred to me in such a way back at the university, that was for sure. If we ever went out for a drink, I would catch some of his colleagues looking at my body, not something a man would do to another man. I never caught Thomas looking at me in such a way, and I didn’t know whether or not that meant that he felt nothing for me in the end, or implied his feelings ran deeper than mere lust.
Adofo took the lead and led us towards the middle of the festival that was happening all around us. It seemed to me that everyone in the entire area had taken off work to converge on this one place for the festivities. Thomas had said that it was a five daylong event. Did they take all those days off? It seemed strange to me that they could take so many days off in the middle of the season, but I suppose that in some cases, people in England do that as well, at least those who could afford to take any days off. As for here, it seemed to be everyone, both rich and poor, who were able to take part in the festival. I will definitely be filing this insight in the back of my mind.
The dress of the Akan people was quite different than that of England. In England, people would be wearing grays and beiges, mostly dull colors. Yet here they wore any bright colors that they could find. Purples, greens, blues, yellows, it was all quite spectacular. Everyone appeared as if they were some wild flower, sticking out in a field, although all the similarly dressed people here wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Thomas and I were the strange ones in the crowd. In a way, we were the ones that really fit my rather inaccurate analogy.
They made that apparent as we walked around them, while they gawked at us. Based on our dress and the way we carried ourselves in a ritzier, British way, they knew that we were not from around here, thus they couldn’t help but stare towards us. Yet there was a fire of righteous anger showing in some of their eyes, as if offended by the presence of any white person who symbolized the wrongs done to them by the British Empire. These indignant people, fortunately, were few and far between, but they were still there anyways. Just to be on the safe side, I would stick near Thomas for now.
Even though there seemed to be a few people that didn’t like us being there, there seemed to be a lot more people here that recognized Thomas from his last visit. They came up to us and gave him a hug as Adofo showed us around, not that Thomas really needed to be shown around. He seemed to remember everything he knew about the community and the fact that he left a lasting impression on a lot of the citizens. Honestly, I felt a little secluded, realizing I was the only outsider. That would change, I knew, but still the feeling of being a little lost began to creep into my mind.
“The leader of our tribe has already inspected the Dampan structures today, which is the ritual of the first day of the festival. Mainly, for the rest of the day, we eat, sing, and dance the day and night away. You may put your things away in a house we have put together for you. Nothing much, but it should suffice. Then you should get into better garb, you stick out in those plain clothes of yours. But whatever you are comfortable with,” Adofo led us to the little house.
The house he was referring to was a little building with three rooms. One bedroom for me, one for Thomas, and then a main room with two desks. The beds both had mosquito netting around them, which I was surprised about. I had worried about bugs and wondered if they would provide netting or if we needed to bring it ourselves. Thomas had said that there would be nets provided for us and didn’t think we needed to bring any ourselves. Secretly, I snuck a couple with my luggage just in case.
As Adofo had suggested, we put away our stuff and he brought us some clothes so we wouldn’t stick out like he suggested we did. I figured two white people would stick out even if we wore these clothes, but I didn’t say anything. I put on the pink and green dress he had picked out for me and waited in the main room for Thomas. I thought about how he seemed pleased to be back and recognized a lot more people than I thought he knew here as we had traveled across the town. He had mentioned he had been here a couple times in the past, but that had to have been over ten years ago, how could they still remember each other, or at least recognize him? I could barely recognize my own relatives at reunions.
Thomas came into the main area of the small house, wearing a bright blue and red outfit. He had quickly shaven, which I had never seen him without a beard, and was caught off guard. I opened my mouth in surprise.
“What? You looked surprised,” he said as if he didn’t know what it was that caught my attention.
“I just... I have never seen you without facial hair,” I said.
He rubbed his jaw. “Is there something wrong with my face?”
I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. Just surprised you would shave it all off so fast after all these years.”
“In England, Lots of men grow beards. Here, not so much. New country, new face, I guess I should say.”
“Well, you looked refined either way,” I laughed. “Now, shall we head out?”
He gestured towards the door. “After you.”
I walked out of the small house and we headed back towards the festival. People wer
e still dancing around and singing. There were all types of food set out around us, mainly rice and beans, which provided some protein.. I was feeling a bit puckish, so Thomas bought me one of the bowls of beans and rice to eat. He ordered the same thing along with two cups of something called pito and we sat back and watched as the people sang and danced all around us. The beat of the drums some of the men were playing was compelling and I wanted to join after I finished my meal, and maybe a couple of drinks. It sounded refreshing, as if they were playing something from their soul. It was loud and powerful, a lot different than the music routinely played in England, unless bagpipes were involved, but that was mainly music from either Scotland or Ireland. English music was more subtle and proper, as one would say. It wasn’t nearly as fun as this.
“What do you think, now that you are here?” Thomas asked as he took a sip of the pito.
“It’s spectacular,” I said. “I can’t believe that I have made it this far into the world, having left England, let alone Europe.”
He laughed. “Well, get used to it. You have a heart for adventure; don’t let anyone tie you down. Actually, I’ll tell you what, I won’t let anyone take you away from the world. You are too smart to stay in one place. You are welcome to any trip I take, just say the word.”
I smiled, heartened by the fact that he believed in me so much. I still had a few more years to get my doctorate; I was still his research assistant for now. He always pushed me forward, believing that I could achieve anything if I set my mind to it. It made me feel happy inside that at least one person could give me the strength to go on when everyone else was trying to pull me back. “Don’t worry, I will. What place will be next? What adventures are you waiting to explore?”
He leaned back on the grass and looked up. Darkness had come and the stars were now out. They sparkled in the sky brighter than I had ever imagined them to shine.. Even in the rural areas of England, they never seemed so bright. “I was thinking China. I have always wanted to see the Great Wall.”
“That would be splendid!” I exclaimed. “I would love to go.”
Thomas grinned. “I’m glad to hear it, I was thinking we could go in the spring. Maybe even hop over to Japan and see the cherry blossoms bloom.”
The thought of having the chance to see the cherry blossoms filled me with wonder. London had a few in the city, but they were lackluster compared to the stories I’ve heard about the ones that grew in Japan. “It sounds like a plan, but now you got my hopes up, you better fulfill your promise.”
He placed his hand on mine. “Don’t worry, I will.”
My heart skipped a beat as our skin touched. His skin was warm and it made me feel like I could melt. But knowing I shouldn’t feel such a way, I quickly withdrew my hand and acted as if I was grabbing the drink he had bought me. I took a sip of the pito and wrinkled my noise with distaste. Thomas laughed. “A bit bitter, isn’t it? Kind of like malted beer.”
I coughed. “It is definitely not my favorite. Give me a good scotch any day, but this...” I took another sip, wanting to finish it and not offend the people around me. “I will have to try something else next time.”
“There are some different types of wine, we will try those next. Are you done with your plate? I will take it back and get you some of that wine.”
Before I could say I didn’t need anything more to drink, he was already off to retrieve some wine for me to try. I sat there alone and watched as men and woman danced around me, thinking about Thomas before he got back. He was an extraordinary man to say the least. We met when I had snuck away from my family to visit Oxford University. As I wandered around the hallways, most people ignored me but he was the one who stepped forward and asked what I was interested in. I had told him Anthropology, and his eyes lit up as he explained that he was one of the professors there for that subject. He showed me around, explained to me how the university worked, how to apply. We talked about different cultures and my interest in that and in human beings themselves. Although at the time I really wanted to go, I explained to him my family would never support this and there would be no way for me to finance it all on my own. He said not to worry about it, that he had a spare room above his apartment and since I would be his assistant, I didn’t need to worry about school expenses. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and automatically took the offer.
That was four years ago and I didn’t regret one day of it. My parents thought I had lost my mind and that I was moving into some strange man’s apartment. I explained to them it was an extra room and that it was disconnected from the rest of the house but they still thought of me as a whore. My aunt said I had to be sleeping with him in order to get this position at the university. I tried to argue against it but it was wasted energy. Eventually I gave up and let them believe what they wanted because I knew the truth.
Maybe that was another reason I never pushed a relationship with Thomas, because then everyone I knew would believe that was the only reason he took me on to be his research assistant, and I think I wouldn’t be able to deal with that. All I wanted was someone to see me as an equal, and Thomas did that. If the relationship got any closer, I’m afraid I would lose that.
I never dreamt of having a family, raising children and what not. I wanted to live life as an adventure, never settling down even for a moment. I would love to see everything this world has to offer and learn everything I could from it. A lot of people never left the place they grew up, even those who could afford to travel to far, exotic places. It was a shame, really, when you knew what they were missing out on. To understand another way of life really put everything in perspective.
After Thomas got back, I thought I would ask him if he wanted to join in on the dancing going on all around us. I would feel awkward if I was the only one doing it, but I had a feeling that Thomas would join me and that possibly lessen the awkwardness of it all. I was surprised he wasn’t already out there acting silly, as sometimes he had a tendency to get very interactive with the other cultures we studied in England. I never knew an English man to love bagpipes so much.
Thomas returned with some palm wine and it tasted a lot better to me than the pito. It was a milky white, like watered down milk or coconut milk. I’ve had some sake before that appeared the same way as well. It was much sweeter and I could get used to drinking more of it.
“Better?” he asked as he sat back down next to me.
“Much, thank you,” I sipped the drink some more.
“Oh, I forgot to mention,” he nodded over to the jungle. “Whatever you do, do not find yourself traveling in that jungle.”
“Why’s that?” I asked as I looked out at the jungle. Although it looked haunting enough in the dark, it didn’t seem like it would be any different than any other jungle.
“They say there are a lot of dangerous creatures out there. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt, not after I had promised your family that I would keep you safe.”
“Oh, alright,” I looked at the jungle a little more closely, curious as to what exactly those creatures could be. Big cats or something of the like? I turned back to him. “But I was thinking after we finished our drinks, we could join them in this ritual dancing. Do you remember any of the choreography from the last time you were here?”
He shook his head. “No, what I learned was that although sometimes there is choreography, they tend to improvise or dance along with whatever emotion they have at the moment. They go with the feel of their hearts rather than hiding their feelings like English dance tends to do at times,” he laughed. “English are always so proper compared to a good chunk of the world.”
I nodded, chuckling a bit, and looked back at what they were all doing. I had noticed that there didn’t seem to be any order to the thing that they were doing. He was right, there wasn’t any kind of formal choreography. Although that meant I couldn’t do the dance wrong, I felt even more worried. At least with choreography, I could learn the proper moves. With no choreography, I had to think for myself
and sometimes that wasn’t always the easiest when it came to something that didn’t come naturally to me like dancing.
Thomas downed the rest of his drink and held out his hand. “Now come on, we don’t want to lose out on all the fun.”
I drank the rest of my wine, hoping it would help my nerves, and then headed out towards the fire. My arms were shaking with anxiety and Thomas saw this and grabbed my hand.
“There’s nothing to worry about, I will look like a bigger fool than you. They will all be paying attention to me so don’t worry about what you look like.”
“I don’t know if that really makes me feel better, but okay,” I sighed. Adofo had mentioned how outgoing Thomas had been the last time he was here and I began to wonder if this was what he meant.
We made it out where everyone else was and as we danced around the fire with the all the other dancers, I found that Thomas was right, there was no order to what we were doing. He seemed to be loose at the moment and having a good time as a result, whereas I let that positive vibe from him sweep away my fears of what others thought of me while trying to do some kind of energetic jig. I let the sound of the drums consume my being and tried to let everything in my mind that held me back go away. My short blonde hair flailed around and I felt a little conscious of how I looked, but tried not to care. It didn’t matter at that moment, no one was paying much attention to how I looked except for maybe Thomas, but he would never admit it openly.
Thomas was a lot more free spirited than I had seen him be in a very long time. Although he always had a smile at the university, this seemed to be an entirely different sort of unrestrained joy. This seemed to be even more genuine, as if this was what he lived for, engaging in cultures and just having a good time. I understood why it made him so happy, through everything I see here I have come to realize that the little things in life didn’t matter. All that life was really about was having a grand time without too many inconsequential reservations.