(迦納Accra城小街)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(迦納Accra城交通)

我房間坐落的位置，是祝福、也是咒詛。祝福嘛，因為我住的樓裡，它最靠近網咖，上網容易。咒詛嘛，因為最靠近夜市，隔個40來碼。這篇就從咒詛這面來寫。

迦納人是早起的鳥兒。我是說，清晨四點查經(真的！)。許多外國學生抱怨，和迦納室友的睡眠作息時間相左。

迦納早起鳥，等於〝夜市〞早起鳥。嗐，每天一大早七點到九點，就有那麼個攤位開始用特大號喇叭播放震天響地的音樂(可不是那種舒緩、悅耳的起床樂)，攤主來來回回放的總是某個女人熱心過頭又不動聽的迦納詩歌光盤。我是一個睡不沉的人，幾乎每個早晨(偶爾夠幸運，在音樂播放之前已經起床)都是被這討厭的噪音驚醒。

我努力讓自己重新入睡，往往只落個苦思冥想各種不同的腳本(太早起床，我總是心情不好、脾氣大)，怎麼向這不為人著想的傢伙表達我的氣憤(比方說從陽台朝他大嚷，抵制杯葛他的店，搗毀他的喇叭，或者某些我在神智不清、半清醒下想像出來的激烈手段)，但最終我總是放棄了。

夠諷刺的，睡不成，勉強從床上爬起來時，光盤上開始反覆放的第二首歌居然是「我心靈得安寧，得安寧！！！」真像在嘲笑我！

我決定今晚採取行動，寫了這樣一封信：

「親愛的先生：
清晨時，可否請你把音樂的聲量調小一點。它干擾別人的睡眠了。
謝謝您的合作。
此致，
國際學生宿舍居民」

我走到他那上了鎖的鋪位，用膠帶把信牢牢橫貼過兩扇關了門的門縫，門一定要打開，他鐵定看得見這封信。我向我一位在他鄰鋪工作的朋友解釋情況，同時請她明天問問他有沒有看到門上貼的條子(萬一半夜條子被吹跑了。)哈哈哈…她告訴我那人常常晚上就睡在鋪位裡。所以基本上，明天早上他從鋪子裡出來，一定會從裡面把門打開，我的條子可能就被撕成兩半。哈哈哈。但這鄰鋪的女孩說，明天早上她會在他睡醒前把條子再貼回旁邊去。

晚安！（希望…）
/ Joy 3. 14. 2010

(後記)
匿名信貼出後，隔天早晨九點半，我精神飽滿的起床(睡足八個半小時！沒聽說過吧！)。時間剛剛好，因為九點三十三分音樂又開始播放啦。耶！音量降低囉。哇！我那條子生效啦！那天稍晚，我到他攤子上買了空白光盤，以向他表達我的謝意。
/ Joy 3. 21. 2010

The location of my room is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is literally the closest room in my building to the internet cafe, so I essentially get the best service. A curse because it is the closest to the night market, about 40 yards from my room. This post is related to the cursed aspect.

Ghanaians are early birds. I'm talkin, 4AM bible studies here (seriously!). Many foreigners with Ghanaian roommates often complain about conflicting sleeping schedules. Ghanaian early birds = night market early birds. Every. Stinkin. Morning, there is one particular night market stand that begins blasting music from its ginormous speakers from anywhere between 7am and 9am in the morning. It's not even soothing, happy, time-to-wake-up music. The owner always, ALWAYS starts the day off by blaring one particular Christian Ghanaian cd sung by an obnoxiously over-zealous woman who isn't very pleasant sounding at all. I'm a very light sleeper and nearly every morning (sometimes i get lucky and wake up before the stereo is switched on ), I get startled awake by the unwelcoming noise. I try real hard to go back to sleep, and often contemplate (as I am a nasty grouch when i get woken up too early) the different scenarios in which I would express my anger towards the inconsiderate man (ie yell at him from my patio window, boycott his store, destroy his speakers, or some other extreme imagining that gets conjured up during the in-between states of my conscious and unconsciousness), buuut eventually give up. As I forfeit my sleep and drag myself out of bed, the second song on the disc begins playing, which so ironically mocks me as it repeatedly sings, "It is well, it is well, with my soul!!"

I decided to take action tonight. I wrote a letter which said,

"Dear Sir, Please lower the volume of your music in the morning time. It is disturbing people's sleep. Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely, Residents of ISH 2."

I went up to his locked stand and securely taped the sign over the small slit separating the two doors which are usually open, so then he'd HAVE to acknowledge my note in order to open his doors. I explained the situation to one of neighboring workers whom I'm friends with, and asked her to briefly ask him tomorrow morning if he saw the note on his door (in case it flew off in the middle of the night)
HAHA...she goes on to inform me that the worker sleeps inside his booth at night sometimes. So basically, as he comes out of his stand tomorrow morning, opening the doors from the inside, my note will probably rip in two. hahaha. But the girl next door says she will retape it to the side before he wakes up in the morning.

Good night! (hopefully...)
/ Joy 3. 14. 2010

The morning after I anonymously confronted the music man at the night market, I woke up at 9:30AM feeling fully refreshed (A much needed 8.5 hours of sleep! Unheard of!) Just in time too, because at 9:33, the music turned on. AND the volume was lower. Muahaha! My note prevailed! I went into his store later that day and paid my thanks by buying blank cd’s from him.
/ Joy 3. 21. 2010