{"id":1043,"date":"2011-03-09T23:31:26","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T04:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2011-03-11T00:06:09","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T05:06:09","slug":"ghana-must-not-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html","title":{"rendered":"Ghana Must Not Go &#8230;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So I was at the dollar store looking for Ghana-Must-Go bags. You know them now! I went through the store once and didn&#8217;t find the bags, but I was sure they had them. I went up to the cashier to ask for directions to the Ghana-Must-Go aisle, and that was when kasala busted. \u00a0It was only then I realized that after one decade in America, I had never called the Ghana-Must-Go bag anything other than Ghana-Must-Go. Facing this Asian woman, I knew better than to ask for the Ghana-Must-Go bag. How would I have explained to this woman that I was not in fact saying that Ghana, the country should go anywhere, but that I was instead asking for a bag that was nicknamed after Ghana going somewhere? I have an idea how that conversation would have gone. If you can, imagine the woman in her Asian accent.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Me:<\/strong> Do you sell Ghana-Must-Go bags?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Her:<\/strong> Ghana-Must-Go where?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Me:<\/strong> No, I didn&#8217;t say Ghana-Must-Go anywhere. I meant, do you have their bags?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Her:<\/strong> Ghana bags?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Me:<\/strong> No, Ghana-Must-Go <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Her:<\/strong> Where?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Me:<\/strong> Home<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Her:<\/strong> Who go home?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Me:<\/strong> No, no one. I mean, the bags. Do you have the Ghana-Must-Go bags?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Her:<\/strong> You want bags to go home to Ghana?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>*** At this point, an\u00a0exasperated\u00a0Vera faints***<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After that imaginary conversation ensued in my head, I decided instead to just ask for bags.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> Hi, do you sell bags?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her:<\/strong> What kind of bags?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me [uh oh]:<\/strong> Uhm, big bags<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her:<\/strong> Hand bags?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her:<\/strong> Trash bags?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> Noooo. Like uhm &#8230; sacs. They come in colors like red, blue, and black.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her:<\/strong> What they look like?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> They&#8217;re big, have two hands <em>[Yes, I now know how stupid this description was: big with two hands. Only every other bag can fit into this description]<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her:<\/strong> Errr, I don&#8217;t think we have that bag.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> Yes, you do. I&#8217;m sure you do. Okay, do you sell any kind of bags?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Her: <\/strong>We have some back there against the wall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I walked to the wall &#8230; and voila! Ghana-Must-Go bags!!! I grabbed three of them and walked back to her. After paying for them, I decided to ask, &#8220;So what are these bags called?&#8221; \u00a0She laughed and said, &#8220;Shopping bags.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Excuse me?!?!?! Who the heck goes shopping with these gigantic bags? They&#8217;re too big, too heavy (when full), and too inconvenient (no wheels). Shopping?!?! <strong>*INSERT LONG IGBO HISS*<\/strong> &#8220;Oh, thanks!&#8221; I said as I walked out of the store. Under my breath I mumbled, &#8220;These are Ghana-Must-Go bags! You better ask somebody!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Needless to say, the <del>shopping bags<\/del> Ghana-Must-Go bags are being used the way they&#8217;re meant to be used: packed full with clothes we don&#8217;t intend to wear any time soon [and definitely not being taken shopping].<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-1045\" title=\"Ghana-Must-Go Bags\" src=\"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"922\" height=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>P.S.<\/strong> Don&#8217;t forget to tune in this Saturday [10am U.S. Eastern Time | 3pm GMT Time | 4pm Nigerian Time]. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/hallandfalusilaw.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mr. Yemi Isaac Falusi<\/a><\/strong> will be co-hosting and telling us all there is to know about U.S. Immigration policies. Listen <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/ghqTMX\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>P.P.S.<\/strong> There&#8217;s still time to send in questions about immigration. E-mail or text them to <strong>radio@verastic.com<\/strong> | <strong>1.443.934\/9039 [Names and locations of the text\/e-mail senders will be strictly\u00a0withheld\u00a0from the listeners]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>P.P.P.S.<\/strong> For certain people that like to call me an mgbeke, let them just hush in advance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I was at the dollar store looking for Ghana-Must-Go bags. You know them now! I went through the store once and didn&#8217;t find the bags, but I was sure they had them. I went up to the cashier to ask for directions to the Ghana-Must-Go aisle, and that was when kasala busted. \u00a0It was<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[119,6,340],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-vl","tag-bag","tag-funny","tag-life-in-america","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ghana Must Not Go ...? - Verastic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vera Ezimora\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html\",\"name\":\"Ghana Must Not Go ...? - Verastic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-10T04:31:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-11T05:06:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ghana Must Not Go &#8230;?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/\",\"name\":\"Verastic\",\"description\":\"Recklessly authentic.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\",\"name\":\"Vera Ezimora\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vera Ezimora\"},\"description\":\"I mean, I'm a lot of things - a Writer, Blogger, Speaker, Vlogger, Content Creator, Storyteller, Truth-Sayer, Milk-Lover, Yogurt-Addict, Entrepreneur, Daughter, Wife, Mom, &amp; Nwa Jesu. Nigerian girl with Russian roots and future mommy of confusingly identical twin boys.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/verastic.com\",\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/verastic\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/verastic\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/author\/vera\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ghana Must Not Go ...? - Verastic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vera Ezimora","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html","url":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html","name":"Ghana Must Not Go ...? - Verastic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-10T04:31:26+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-11T05:06:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Ghana-Must-Go-Bags-1024x768.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/ghana-must-not-go.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ghana Must Not Go &#8230;?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website","url":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/","name":"Verastic","description":"Recklessly authentic.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a","name":"Vera Ezimora","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Vera Ezimora"},"description":"I mean, I'm a lot of things - a Writer, Blogger, Speaker, Vlogger, Content Creator, Storyteller, Truth-Sayer, Milk-Lover, Yogurt-Addict, Entrepreneur, Daughter, Wife, Mom, &amp; Nwa Jesu. Nigerian girl with Russian roots and future mommy of confusingly identical twin boys.","sameAs":["http:\/\/verastic.com","http:\/\/facebook.com\/verastic","https:\/\/x.com\/verastic"],"url":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/author\/vera"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Mdf8-gP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}