Picture timeeeee!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104657&l=965f2&id=1711040

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104661&l=7a08b&id=1711040

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104659&l=5906a&id=1711040

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104682&l=5ee6e&id=1711040

This is the abbreviated version of my pictures and they are 100% out of order. However, if you've been reading the blog, you'll see pictures that go along with some of the stories... You should be able to see these photos even if you're not on facebook, but if not let me know and I'll try to send them to you so you can see them...

I'm back in the grand ol' US of A and it's pretty grand. It's also pretty freakin' cold. It snowed this morning and (although I loved looking at it) driving in it and being outside for any period of time at all was pretty awful. It does, however, get me into the Christmas spirit.

So... I guess this is it... Until my next great travelling adventure. Thanks for reading...

Endings are always bittersweet.

I'm done with finals! YAY. This last one was a joke but the one before was pretty intense. There was actual studying going on... Albeit I had to memorize a bunch of churches and their founders and their current leaders rather than understanding the actual material. But it was the hardest final I had to take this semester. So that's something.

I've begun to pack and it's quite a process. I have enough money left over from my Tufts stipend to set my self up with quite a bit of fabric. Too bad fabric is super heavy and none of us have scales with which to weigh our luggage. I might just do it anyways. Nowhere else will I be able to get such awesome fabric for $4 a yard. $3, if I bargain in Twi.

Goodbyes have also started, which is pretty sad. I'm way sad to leave my roommate. She's awesome and if I could pack her and bring her back to the US, I would. I think she's sticking around until we leave on Sunday night, so at least we have this next couple of days to bond some more. We actually have a date this afternoon to go get some omo tuo (groundnut soup and rice balls) and get our picture taken together. Should be freakin' adorable.

Oh god, I heard Oh Holy Night the other day and I freaked out. I am so not in the Christmas mindset, I cannot even tell you. I am in complete summer mode. I'm lazing about, I'm taking my afternoon naps to avoid the heat, I'm getting sunburned on a daily basis, I'm very relaxed about almost everything. I can't go back to the hustle and bustle of American malls and millions of Christmas movies and holiday music on every channel... I'm so not prepared! On he other hand, this may be the first year where I've gotten everyone's Christmas presents by the beginning of December. So I just have to wrap and go.

Alright, this is probably my last update. Sunday night I head out to Amsterdam, have a few hours to walk around there... then off to Detroit, then Hartford. It'll be an arduous 24 hour trek. But I guess it's worth it...

Check back in the next couple of weeks for links to pictures and videos that I will inevitably put up when I get back to the land of consistent internet.

Happy Election Day (Part 2)!

I have been wanting to update for the past 4 days but all of Ghana has conspired against me. Friday was a holiday (Farmer's Day - like Labor Day in the US), yesterday was a sunday which usually means most things are shut down but because it was ELECTION DAY, things were all wonky on top of that. And then today is also a holiday. I have no idea what for, so don't ask...

Anyways, I went on my fantastical vacation with Kym last week and it was fantastic and a little ridiculous. We went to Cape Coast for a day and a night and it was absolutely wonderful. Cape Coast is to Accra as Boston is to New York City. A little more laid back, a lot more homey, a little less to do. We had already done the main tourist stuff there (slave castles, Kakum National Park) with Tufts when we went way back in August. We basically just got to our hostel, dropped off our stuff and walked in a direction. Which landed us in some pretty awesome places. My favorite of which was Baobob Children's Foundation. They are amazing and you should look them up. Honestly, if I wanted to come back to Ghana for any extended period of time, I'd want to volunteer/work with them. Check them out at http://www.baobab-children-foundation.de/index_en.html

We also met some fun people and generally wandered the streets. I bought a ton of stuff for Christmas presents and now am seriously in trouble for trying to pack for the plane ride home. I hope the airport people are nice...

The next day we headed to Green Turtle Lodge for some general R&R. 3 tro-tro rides and one tire blow out later, we made it all in one piece. We sunned, we baked, we fried. I got bitten by either a large colony of sand flies or the most voracious mosquito known to man. My legs are COVERED in bites that are extremely itchy. I want to bathe in calamine lotion...

We stayed for two days and I had to tear myself away from their hammocked, sandy, sun-filled life and put myself on another 3 tro-tros and a taxi. The last tro-tro ride was FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LONG... Why, you ask? It should have been 4 hours or less to get from Takoradi to Accra (and we should have been able to take the regular state buses) but EVERYONE was going to Accra for the election. Then we got to the outskirts of Accra and we were stuck in dead traffic for two hours because NPP was having a rally. People were pouring through the streets, not allowing any cars to get anywhere. They were playing really loud music (the NPP song. All of the parties have a song. You can probably YouTube them, they are pretty great) and dancing in the street, on top of cars, on the sidewalk. Everywhere. It was insanity.

We finally got home to witness full election fervor in a campus setting. I went to get dinner and was accosted by a 40 person brass marching band and about 250 people dancing, singing, chanting, and parading themselves right past nightmarket! They were also NPPer's (most of the people in this region are...) and boy were they excited. It made me really sad that I missed this whole experience at Tufts last month...

So yesterday I didn't really go out into the city because I had to study/I didn't want to be out and about in case something bad happened during voting. But I kept my ear on the radio and really... nothing all that exciting happened. Lights went out at a bunch of polling stations (big surprise...), a few "macho men" went to one polling station and tried to intimidate people into voting one way or another. Someone tried to steal a ballot box and was thwarted by the police officer standing RIGHT next to it (dumbbb). That's about it.

But as usual, things are happening very slowly and vote counts are trickling in still. I have no idea who is going to win and just want them to figure it out already! I'm in the throes of studying for my hardest final and then I have one more exam before I go home... I have so much stuff to do before i leave!! AHHH. I don't want to PACKKKKKK.

The Poison Bug Strikes Again!

I looked down at my arm today to find a redish-whitish patch of grossness. Apparently, when I was sitting on my balcony last night I was attacked by the poison bug! Grrr. And now it's just there, on my arm and I can't stop thinking about it. I can't touch it, that would only make it worse. But I want to. It's like when you're little and your mom tells you not to touch the stove because you'll burn yourself but you just have to...

In other news I had 4 ridiculous encounters today on my way to, at, and on my way back from Circle. I swear, that is the sketchiest area in all of Ghana. Nowhere else am I harassed as much! So most of these conversations were conducted in Twi (which I am quite proud of, thankyouverymuch.) but I still managed to get one marriage proposal, three asked for my number, one gave me an email address and one asked me what's the difference between a sausage and a hot dog... (He actually seemed genuinely interested in learning about the US... I had to explain to him how many states there are and that the number of stars on the flag correspond to the number of states...)

I am seriously not going to miss getting hounded every time I go out. That's for sure.

In other news, in case you weren't aware... It's DECEMBER. I find this highly odd as I am currently sweating buckets and will do anything to find a room with air conditioning. This is not normal December behavior. But, the mall is Christmasly decorated, so who am I to argue? In fact, to emphasize just how summery I feel right now, I'm going to the beach. Yep, it's back to Green Turtle for me and I am SO excited. 3 days of fun in the sun and delicious drinks and hammocks and all around perfectness. SO EXCITED.

And then - ELECTION TIME. I'm really, really, really hoping that everything goes smoothly. But just in case, we're all going to be in Accra during the elections. Keep your eyes peeled and your tv's on CNN on Sunday and we'll see what happens!

Ghanaian birthdays and other random insights

I've realized that in my finals induced fervor (and by that i mean, 4 days of lazing about then 3 days of cramming. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.) I've been leaving out some juicy cultural stuff that's been going on. So bear with me as most of these things don't relate to one another.

It was Kym's birthday on Monday but because of various reasons we didn't really get to celebrate it on the day... My roommate was incredulous at how we Americans celebrate birthdays with our friends. This is because in Ghana they like to be really mean to you on your birthday. Okay, not really mean... They do it in a joking, loving way. But there are some really mean things that are a part of your birthday celebration. It could include any or all of the following:

Ponding: There's a big, disgusting pond in front of the library full of weeds and lily pads and general algae-grossness. And there's this tradition of ponding on campus for two reasons - Punishment from the Vandals and your birthday. The birthday version is a lot nicer/tamer but it's still not very fun. Your friends basically pick you up by your limbs and toss you in, making sure that you get good and dirty.

Ponding for nicer people: The nicer and (I think) more fun version of ponding is attacking your friend on their birthday with buckets of water or squirting them with water bags, ketchup, flour... anything that will get them wet or messy. I think this one's pretty fun, as long as you know when it's going to happen and you're not on your way to class. I love food fights and/or water fights!

Not allowing you to sleep: This one is really mean, I think. Your friends will sneak into your room and steal your mattress on the night preceding your birthday. As someone who fully appreciates their sleep... I don't like this one at all.

Why, you ask, are you treated so harshly on your birthday? When I asked this question I got the reasoning that "You caused your mother a lot of pain when you were born... So you deserve it." Ha. There you go, Mom. Sorry about that whole Labor Thing. But I'm paying for it now...

The ponding aspect of birthdays segues nicely into talking about the Vandals. I finally got to go into Commonwealth Hall last week when I was picking up some papers from a friend in one of my classes. Well... it is exactly the Slytherin I pictured it to be. First of all, those boys have no respect for women. While waiting for my papers to be photocopied I got solicited for my number at least 5 times... I can only imagine the reactions I would have gotten if I were wearing red. (Red is the vandal color and if you are a guy and wear it around campus. If you aren't a vandal and you wear it, you get in big trouble... If you're a girl and wear it you just get harassed a lot more than usual.) I didn't stay very long but it was just long enough to understand that most of my assumptions about Commonwealth were correct.

Sadly (or not sadly, depending on how you look at it), a couple of weeks ago I missed a Vandal ponding. Annie was up close and personal at the whole thing so she relayed the following:

So apparently this guy was being punished for stealing something. He had gotten caught by some of his fellow students and decided to go to Vandal court instead of getting turned into the University police (and getting expelled). The whole thing starts as a procession from the top of the university (where Commonwealth is) to the pond in front of the library. The guy is put in a wagon/cart type contraption and a sign is put around his neck that says something to the extent of "I will never steal again". People follow this cart and laugh at him and sometimes throw stuff. They get to the pond and there's a huge cermonial punishment decision process going on. The Chief Vandal (whose face you almost never see) and his advisors discuss how severe a punishment he should get. The crowd weighs in by shouting what they think he should get. Finally they decide how many times he should get ponded. This guy got two (apparently he only stole something small). But each individual ponding takes like 15 minutes. Four guys hold up each limb of the offender and lift him as high above their heads as possible. Then they throw him down at the water so as to acheive the worst belly flop pain possible. Then they kind of push him under the water to get the sensation of drowning without really drowning him. At the end they make him stand there and they decorate him with the scuzzy reeds and plants that grow in this disgusting pond. Everyone in the crowd cheers that this criminal is successfully humiliated and will (hopefully) never steal again. Then they make him get out of the pond and pull his cart/wagon thing back up the hill to Commonwealth.

Upsetting, right? Yeah. I know.

And finally I had a pre-reverse-culture shock on Wednesday. After my final I went to the Accra Mall with Kym to get stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. But not only did we buy groceries but we actually went shopping for clothes! At the MALL! Not just that but I tried things on in a dressing room! I saw my body in a full length mirror. I had NO idea the extent my tan gradiates down my body. I'm about 30 different colors, if you include the bruise I got on my leg last week. It's a little more than ridiculous. Then Kym bought a bathing suit at a counter with a register and got a reciept and it was all very surreal. Next up, we hit the food court. No, not the market. The food court. Where our food was delivered to our table within 15 minutes of ordering. And it was unbelievably delicious. It was a freaky version of an American weekend afternoon and I didn't know how to handle it. The mall is already decked out for Christmas and it was a balmy 95 degrees outside. Christmas decorations and air conditioning just don't fit in my conception of December.

Also there seems to be a new internet cafe with webcams in the mall, so I may be able to set up Google Video chat with people before I leave... That is, if you can't wait the 17 days until I get home to see me.

That's right. 17 days. It's completely surreal and I'm not sure how well I'm going to handle the transition. I hate transitions and they hate me even more. Hopefully copious amounts of cheese and broccoli will ease the pain, but we'll see. Okay, this post has been far too long.

Letter of the Semester

Dear Ecobank,

Remember me? You should, as I have been in your Legon branch at least once a week for the past 16 weeks. It was so long ago - August 6th - when I opened my account. Although it did take us 2 hours to do so and I was stuffed into that holding pen you call a "waiting room", I still had high hopes for us. You promised me my ATM card in a week, and you promised to call. I knew it would probably take longer than that... maybe three weeks... but I didn't expect this.

It has been 15.5 weeks since then and you continue to assure me that my ATM card will come in soon... Every week you get my hopes up when I come in and you say "Next week! It'll be in next week!"

Well, it's next week, all right... I've tried everything possible to make this work. I've reapplied for cards time after time after time. But I just can't take it anymore! I'm leaving the country in three weeks! There isn't a point anymore. So I'm ending our relationship and closing my account.

I know, you're shocked. Well, you shouldn't be. Maybe I wouldn't be so mean every time I came in if any of your employees understood the words "customer service". But because they don't, I don't mind raising my voice and making a fuss. You kind of deserve it.

It's been fun Ecobank - going in at the crack of dawn so that lines are only an hour long. I've really enjoyed jumping through numerous hoops just to withdraw my money, because whoever heard of a withdrawl slip???

Seriously, it's over. Hasta la vista.

Love,
Your best and most loyal customer, Megan
Account #100010111101010111010101111010101110101000111101011
(WHAT THE HECK! IS THAT BINARY FOR DON'T GIVE HER AN ATM CARD EVER!?!?!)

Eradicate Guinea Worm! (and other fun signs)

Another whole week since I've blogged to you all. No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I went on safari. Now - before you get all excited and ask me about all of the awesome animals I saw and amazingly quintessential African experience... let me tell you a little something.

It's mating season.

That means that all of the elephants in Mole National Park... are hiding in the middle of the forest. AND the park doesn't offer driven safaris (unless you bring your own 4x4 vehicle) so your only option is to do a walking safari.

So, needless to say, our animal viewing was kind of... lacking. I should also tell you that getting to Mole requires 17 hours of being on a bus. And the way that the schedules work for the two buses you have to take - it's more like 24-36 hours to get there.

We got up at 4:30 AM on Friday in order to get to the bus station in Accra to catch the 7 AM bus. It took 13 hours to get to Tamale, which is the big city up north. We got into Tamale at 8:30 PM or so and had to stay overnight at the Catholic Guesthouse. I tried Guineafowl for dinner, which was pretty good. Oh! I also tried goat liver at one of the reststops for the bus. Also pretty delicious.

The next morning we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to check out of our rooms and get to the bus station for 4:30 AM to catch a 5:30 AM bus. We didn't have tickets for this bus, because we got in after the bus station ticket window had closed... But the bus was full/there were a million people mobbing the bus conductor. We met up with a couple other groups of Oboronis who were also going to Mole and after an hour of complete confusion and disarray and relocating - we ended up chartering a minibus/really nice tro-tro to Mole with our newfound Oboroni friends.

We got to Mole by 9:30 AM, or something equally ridiculous. And, as we all know I don't function best under the conditions of getting up before 5 AM two days in a row... we promptly checked in and took a nap. We woke up in time to get lunch and do an afternoon walking safari. Now, as I put in the earlier disclaimer, we didn't see much... But I did get a large number of bug bites! yayyyyy

What was cool, though, was that we had baboons and warthogs hanging out all around our hotel. Of course, I got really excited about this and our first night there I walked up to a mama warthog and her babies and said in my talking-to-animals voice (eg. if you've ever seen me talk to Sophie) "Hiiii! Aren't you cute?"

Well, who knew that she would take it as a challenge to her authority and she would make loud scary noises and come towards me like she was going to charge???

I certainly didn't.
But now I do. Note to self: Do not look wild animals in the eyes.

The morning safari the next day was (if it's even possible) less exciting that the previous afternoon's. And the hotel is supposed to give us a complimentary breakfast, but refused to feed us before the THREE HOUR safari. Meaning my stomach rumblings probably scared all of the animals away. After seeing a few kob (basically African deer) and a waterbuck, we got to go back and eat.

We spent the afternoon exploring Larabunga - a nearby town that has this really, really old mosque. The mosque itself was cool but Larabunga was nothing to get excited about. Check out a picture: (http://www.fecalface.com/POTD/upload/2007/03/post_203/700old_mosque.jpg)

So at this point, we were just preparing to leave to go back to Accra... This involved getting up at 3:30 AM. Again. (HONESTLY, I've never had to get up so early, so many times in a row in my LIFE.) Then a four hour bus ride to Tamale, a 3 hour stopover, and another 13 hours back to Accra. My butt hurts so much from sitting in those uncomfortable seats for such long periods of time...

On the bright side - I did try grasscutter while hanging out in Tamale! Grasscutter, for all of you who haven't seen the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on Ghana, is essentially a giant rodent. It looks like a cross between a big rat and a gopher. They eat it semi-regularly here (not as much as goat, of course!) and I have really wanted to try it. And now I did. It tastes a little off but is overall quite palatable. I believe that now makes my weird food list:
zebra, crocodile, goat liver, grasscutter, frog's legs... Am I missing something? Surely I have to be. I thought I ate way more gross stuff than that!

So now I'm back in Accra and studying for my final in Gender Issues in Religion and Culture, which is on Thursday. Booooo for actually having finals and not just lazing around all day. Oh well, serves me right for not really having any work all semester.

It's been a while...

A full week since I last updated? I must have been really busy... right?

Nope. Haven't done much of anything really. Most of my classes ended last week, although I have my last two classes of the semester today. This is ridiculous! It's not even mid-November and I'm done with classes!! What the HECK? I had a final yesterday (for drumming) and it went... well. It went, let's just say that. I hatehatehate performance assessments. I inevitably always clam up and screw up. But oh well. I can't do anything about it now.

I have another final on Thursday (Twi) which I'm only slightly worried about. I have to get a 28 out of 50 to get an A. That seems really low, right? Because at the University of Ghana, anything above a 70 is an A. Yep.

After our final I'm going home, packing up, and heading out to Mole National Park. I'ma goin' on safari!!!! My original plan was to go with Jenny towards the end of the month, but Kym didn't think she was going to be able to go at all... Now that our drumming final was so early, time has opened up and we can go on Friday. This may or may not be my only trip to the northern part of the country, so while we are there we hope to check out Larabunga and the really cool mosques that are up there... (You know me, I can't resist a good mosque when I hear about one...) I'll be gone until Tuesday night, so I'll have zero internet access this weekend and into next week...

In other, more disgusting news - check this out! http://docfiles.blogspot.com/2007/06/paederousrove-beetle-dermatitis.html
See that bug? There is a colony of those in my dorm. We saw a couple in the kitchen the other day and Rosie told me that those bugs secrete acid onto your skin by just walking on you. And that acid is actually poison that is 12 times more potent than that of a cobra! (Mom, Dad, don't worry. It has far less poison in it than a cobra does. I'd have to eat it for it to kill me.) The pictures on that website are accurate - although most of them are from when someone squishes the bug on their skin.

So, the other day Denise woke up with a weird sore on her face, just above her eyebrow, and a red line coming out of the sore onto her eyelid. We realized, after a little bit, that this bug must have FALLEN ON HER FACE WHEN SHE WAS SLEEPING and CRAWLED ACROSS HER EYE. She's okay, and she treated it so that it's almost gone. But then - I found one of these bugs in my bed last night! AHHHHH. No damage was done and the bug was removed without any contact to my skin. I promptly put my mosquito net back up (it had fallen down a little while ago and because I wasn't getting bitten at night at all... it didn't seems like I needed to put it back up.) and am on guard to catch all of his little beetle friends...

okay, I think that's all I've got.

WE HAVE A PRESIDENT!

I am so tired. 2 days after the election, I still haven't caught up on sleep. Tuesday night we got all dolled up in our blue (and for the moderates - red and blue) outfits and went to a party thrown by NYU in Ghana. It was at a restaurant near the American-y part of town and they set up a huge projection screen playing CNN and there was a modicum of free food and drink. Watching CNN was really fun and when it got boring we delegated different political campaign jobs to people in our group. I was fundraising, obviously.

However, after a while it became apparent that the NYU thing was meant to be very educational in nature. There were a lot of speakers who, when they got up to talk about the electoral college or the different parties, turned the volume off of CNN so they could talk. Which, when you are trying to WATCH CNN... makes you kind of mad. We left a little before 1 AM so we could get home in time to watch the east coast 8 PM polls roll in.

Back at ISH there was a pretty sizable group in the TV room watching Al Jazeera. (BBC World wasn't even showing election stuff! What the heck!!) Our other option was SkyNews which, for the better part of 30 minutes was interviewing Eddie Izzard about his thoughts on the election. It's really no wonder why people think America is dumb. They are getting their information about the US election from Eddie Izzard.

Anyway, so I sat there through the whole thing. I watch the results come in. I watched McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech. I have to say, Obama gives me the goosebumps. The man can speak - no doubt about it. Now I wish/hope/want/pray that those speeches can actually change things and that this isn't just the same old, same old.

But after all the excitement died down, it was almost 6 AM and the sun was rising. I had a class in 5 hours and still had to do an "assignment" for it. (If you don't understand my use of quotations, go back and read everything I've written about the state of education in Ghana). So I got a little over 3 hours of sleep. GAH. I should never sleep that little, ever. I'm not fun.

Add that to the walk Annie and I did yesterday that ended up being 5 hours long (Campus to Osu, Osu to 37 for all of you that know what I'm talking about) in the blazing heat of dry season. This heat is almost unbearable. I only say almost because I am, indeed, surviving it. So I have to be bearing it somehow. But I perspire more than humanly possible. It's not a pretty sight. But I'm used to it enough that I know I'm not going to adjust well to the freezing cold of New England winter very well.

Alas, once you get used to one thing... you have to leave.

GrInC continues...

So after a WONDERFUL dinner at El Gaucho - the game restaurant - I have come up with the following analysis.

Crocodile is delicious. I mean, seriously and unbelievably delicious. I would say it's a cross between chicken and fish in all the best ways.

Zebra is okay. It was very reminiscent of beef but it was slightly off. I thought it had fish undertones but no one else at the table agreed. So maybe my tastebuds are weird.

Frog's Legs are pretty good. We had them in a garlic butter sauce, so that flavor overpowered the whole dish. They reminded me of chicken wings, but with many more bones.

And for dessert I had the most delectable Chocolate Mouse. And a complimentary drink that the very nice owner sent over to our table called "The Pink Squirrel". It wasn't pink, but it was delicious.

1 Day until the election!!!!!!

I have been in Ghana 100 days exactly.

Hmmm the Great Internet Crisis continues. I might abbreviate it Ghana-style (all organizations tend to have pronouncable acronyms... No matter how ridiculously they have to alter it...). So I'll call it GrInC. So I'm in the only hole of internet left in Ghana. It's getting pretty annoying.

Okay, so let's see... What do we have to talk about? Oh! My internship! So I started my internship with the Concerned Circle of African Women Theologians. They are linked to WATER (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual), the organization I worked with this summer. Two of my professors here are part of the circle and I am working with one of them on a couple of projects. The first, and far more exciting project is helping them to write a proposal for a conference about Women of Faiths and Democratization. So basically, I get to sit around and have really in-depth discussions about things like... the formation of secular Western democracy as a backlash to the political upheaval in Europe and... indigineous forms of West African governance and their inextricable links to religion. We also had a very interesting discussion about being "gender-blind" versus being "gender-aware" in both societies. Anyway, this is probably really boring for anyone not interested in this stuff but I have been craving intellectual stimulation for SO long. So it's really exciting to finally get it.

The other project, which is far less exciting but does utilized my under-resourced skills of organization, is to compile an updated and organized database of members and their contact information. Yayyyy spreadsheets.

And on a slightly different note, on Thursday we all went to see Annie's dance performance. She was in a senior project for one of the TA's in her dance class. The show was called "In Between Their Thighs" and it was about the slave trade and the rapes that occured because of it. Annie, being the Oboroni that she is, was a European slave trader. Now this show was way intense and very, very upsetting in the graphic portrayal of some of the things that happened. But the most upsetting part? The Ghanaians in the audience laughed and cheered through both rape scenes. I'm not kidding. It actually happens. And it took all of my willpower not to turn around and punch some of those boys in the face. UGH. Sometimes the insensitivity here makes me want to scream.

Anyway. Yesterday was Halloween and I have to say, I had a very American Halloween... Denise, Kym and I went shopping for costumes/things we needed to make our costumes for most of the morning and then we all got together and worked on them. I was a water bag (the things we buy for 5 cents on every street corner from the girls with bowls on their head yelling YASSSSSS PYUUUUU WATAAAAAH. - translation: Yes (or Ice) Pure Water.) I crafted it entirely myself and I have to say, I'm quite proud of the finished product. Kym was Facebook and she walked around all night bringing people together, breaking them up, reporting on various conversations our friends were having, and making people write on her wall. Annie was coming straight from her dance show so she was just going to keep her makeup on and be a man. Jenny was a baby turtle! And my personal favorites were... Lauren and Denise as John McCain and Sarah Palin (respectively). Holy crap, was their costume funny. Who knew that deep down, Lauren really did look like John McCain?? They made a ton of fliers to hand out to people and they campaigned their way up and down that party like it was their job. Which, in a sense, it was.

I cannot TELL you how UNBELIEVABLY excited I am for Tuesday. Well, I could write it all in CAPS to tell you, but that would just be really annoying. So I'm really excited. Really, really excited. We are going to some party thrown by the NYU kids Tuesday night and then taking a quick nap and getting up at 4 AM (11PM EST) to watch the results roll in. Can't wait.

So I'm going to go get ready for my crazy night. Tonight me and the other 3 non-vegetarians in our group are going to a South African game restaurant. Springbok? Yes. Zebra? You bet. I'll report back on the spectrum of deliciousity.

Is Tufts the New Ghana?

Registering for classes on SIS (Tufts' online registration website do-hickey) has become increasingly like registering for classes in Ghana... And I don't like it. One. Bit. I have been trying to look at classes for next semester ALL MORNING and it won't let me see them. It must intuit how desperately I want to register and then thwart all of my efforts. Well, Tufts, you think you can get me... but you can't. I won't let you. I will wait at this computer all day if I have to. And by all day - I mean until my time on this computer runs out. Soooo there.

In other news, I had a splendid weekend in western region at Nzulezo and Benyin Beach Resort. It reminded me a lot of Green Turtle Lodge in that it was on a picturesque tropical beach vacation. I was surrounded by palm trees while I swayed gently in the breeze on my hammock - listening to a little Jack Johnson and Ella Fitzgerald and reading Catch-22. I am, of course, deliciously crispy-pink all over. I'm really getting this burning process down pat. It only hurts slightly and should fade into something of a tan within the next day or two. I'm really trying to end the translucency that is my skin tone before I go home and everyone wonders if I really was this close to the equator for half a year...

Anyway, so we visited the stilt village on Saturday and it was a wonderful hour-long canoe ride to get there. Jenny had never been in a canoe before so she was elated that we got to paddle. I took a short video when we were passing through this magical grotto that I could only describe in terms of being in some sort of fantasy movie. It was sooo pretty. We got to the stilt village itself and it was interesting to walk around for a bit, and pretty to take pictures of, but I'm glad we weren't staying there for our two nights in the area. After meeting the chief and donating something small-small (this is one of my new favorite Ghanaian phrases... in Twi it's called nketenkete. hehe. It's so fun to say!) to their school in the village, we got back on our canoes and rowed home.

So now I'm back to the daily grind of pretending to do work here on campus. It's a tough life, I'm telling you.

Oh, and I'm coming home in 49 days. Holy CRAP. October went sooo fast. I'm actually getting a little sad to leave... Weird.

Death on a Stick.

That is how I would describe how I felt yesterday. I woke up for my 7:30 AM class and immediately began to cry because my throat was swollen to the point where I couldn't swallow and my whole body hurt and I was hot and cold at the same time... and there was no way I could skip class. I had my presentation for my Gender Issues class, remember? And I was the one who was supposed to speak for my group. Too bad I could barely speak. UGHHHH. So I drugged myself up with DayQuil and Advil and trucked off to my first class and then to my Gender class. I told my group that there was no way I could speak and that one of them was going to have to give the presentation. But none of that actually mattered because the other groups ran long and we didn't actually have to present at all! AHHHH. Not only did I not need to go to class, but our group is not presenting at all. Because we just ran out of time we are turning in our paper and not giving any sort of presentation! IHATETHISSSS.

Because I was already up and out and the medicine was doing it's job - I decided to go to my third class and last class of the week. Probably a big mistake. This is one of my 3 hour long Twi classes and not even half way through, my medicine wore off. I barely made it through class and back to the dorm where I immediately passed out into a fevered sleep. It was at this time that I considered the possibility that maybe I have malaria.

Now, I know all of you are thinking that "Oh no! MALARIA!! SHE'LL DIEEEE!!" Nope. Not the case. Pretty much everyone gets malaria here. In past Tufts trips, it's been a 1 in 3 chance that you will get it. And they most definitely know how to treat it here. So you don't actually die, you just feel like death. So the thought that I had malaria was not an enticing one - but it would screw up my plans to go to Nzuluzu, a stilt village in the western region of the country.

So after trying to sleep it off and that plan failing miserably, I went back to Nyaho Clinic with Kym - my forever Nyaho buddy. 3 hours, 1 blood test, 1 kind-of-hot, British-accented, Ghanaian doctor later... and I was malaria-free. I have a bacterial infection in my throat. Which is great because the antibiotics are doing the trick! I slept for 9 hours and woke up feeling 10 times better! Still not at my best, but much better than yesterday!

So I am still going on the trip with the Tufts girls to the stilt village, enduring what could possibly be 9 hours of travel both today and coming back on Sunday. Thank god we have ear plugs to block out the blaring Nigerian movies they play on the bus...

The Great Internet Crisis of 2008

Written at 9:30 AM on Monday October 20
Ohhh jeez am I tired. These four day weekends really take it out of a girl... I’m currently writing on an internet-less internet cafe computer... Surprise, surprise. So I’m saving this to post later when a connection to the world wide web can be made.

Oh, Ghana. How your lack of connection to the outside world torments me. Although, this does provide me the opportunity to do my NGO grant proposal that I’m supposed to type up, like... now. But I don’t want to. I want to play spider solitare and wait endlessly for Gmail to load.
So this weekend we went on our final Tufts trip to Eastern Region, where we basically hung out on Lake Volta the whole time. I was really okay with that because this heat gives me the unbelievable urge to swim, all the time. Which I did, twice on Saturday. Our hotel was gorgeous and had a pretty good pool which I took full advantage of. Of course, that means I am slightly crispy as my skin still doesn’t understand the difference between tanning and burning and I tend to just skip the former and go straight to the latter.

We toured Akosombo Dam, the hydroelectric dam that gives Ghana 70% of its electricity. The tour guide was weird and wouldn’t let us take pictures during the tour and then gave us 5 minutes at the end to take some. It didn’t make sense to me, but what are you going to do?
We also went bead shopping, which was a huge success. I absolutely love that Tufts’ stipend is large enough for us to go buck wild in our souvenir shopping and we don’t have to pay for it. I haven’t spent a cent of my own money since I’ve been here. Which means Tufts paid for my vacation to Green Turtle, all of the souvenirs I’ve bought so far, all of my travel, food, my all-too-often clinic visits and medication, my long distance, 2-hour phone conversations, etc, etc. Thanks Tufts! I knew my tuition was going somewhere!

Then yesterday we went on a 4.5 hour boat cruise on Lake Volta. Which was surprisingly fun! They fed us and gave us drinks and we lounged about in the sun (and in the shade when I started to turn pink) and talked and read and journaled and watched the beautiful scenery pass by... It felt very much like I had gone on a cruise with my friends for spring break. Which got us thinking about going on a cruise together for spring break. Because it would be sooo much fun. Too bad Lauren has to be stupid and going abroad to Hong Kong next semester. Way to go, Lauren. haha

Okay, so I really should be doing my work, for real. More later.

Written at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, October 22

Okay, not having internet sucks a whole lot more than I imagined it would. The campus wireless is down and most of the internet cafes on campus use that network server... so almost everything is shut down. I'm in a cafe in another dorm on campus that miraculously is still connected to the outside world.

This wouldn't be nearly as bad if I didn't have a class presentation TOMORROW and the group I'm working with hasn't even met once. GREATTT. Also we have no guidelines for this presentation so we have absolutely no idea what to do... Oh, and we are presenting on Domestic Violence Law in Ghana... but no one can find the law. Yep. This is my life.

Makin' Banana Pancakes, Pretending It's the Weekend, Yeah.

I am in the most glorious mood this morning. Seriously, hitting the two-months-left mark has really been a turning point for me. Now that there is a light at the end of the tunnel I feel like I can begin to enjoy myself a hundred percent. And it's still far enough away that I don't feel rushed about getting everything that I wanted done or seeing everything all at once. But it feels close enough that I'm less homesick than before.

So this morning I made banana pancakes for my roommate and the Tufts girls. They were delicious, especially with Denise's Maine maple syrup (which she originally brought to give as a gift if she got invited to someone's house... but we realized that people outside of New England tend not to appreciate REAL maple syrup the way we do.)

But wait, let's go back to Wednesday. So first of all, I got my absentee ballot! It was a way exciting moment, as I am the last to recieve mine. I feel all patriotic and political now with my tiny pencil and bright white giant envelope. And to add to my political fervor, we realized on Wednesday night that the last presidential debate would be on! And since ISH FINALLY fixed our satelite, we have BBC again! So around 9 PM our time we found out about the debates and decided to go to sleep and wake back up at midnight so we could watch them in the TV room. I had a presentation for my NGO's class the next morning at 7:30 AM so I needed my beauty sleep.

So most of us woke up at midnight to watch it, only to realize that it was on at 9 PM EST, not 8 PM. So that means 1 AM our time. Which, with a 7:30 class, was notttt going to happen. So I went back to bed and Denise and Lauren stayed up to report back to the group.

So this NGO presentation went off WAY better than I thought it was going to. The group meetings had been kind of stagnating and I kept feeling like we weren't getting anything done. But in the end, I am REALLY proud of our NGO. Here's the short version:

We created a National NGO called GREEN Ghana that is trying to change the way the environment is valued in Ghana. We want to educate the community about the benefits of keeping your environment clean, how and what to recycle, and what things you can do with what recycled materials. We also want to advocate for a federal recycling program and a nation-wide infrastructure that will make recycling possible on a large-scale level. And finally we want to go into communities and do a neighborhood-wide clean up, teaching people how and why they should properly dispose of their waste and giving them the skills to make marketable products out of waste materials (like pencil cases out of water bags and food wrappers that would normally be littering the street). That's the gist of it, but it's way more complicated than that. I'm really pumped that we pulled it all together and made into what could be a large-scale cohesive non-profit. Now we just have to write a grant proposal for our "starter project" which will be University-wide clean up.

Anyway,a new food joint has opened up at Nightmarket (the market next to my dorm where I eat a lot of my meals). It's called Assase Pa and it's vegan. That may not sound that weird to you but in Ghana, being vegan is almost impossible. Both Kym and Denise are vegetarians at home and they have to considerably bend the rules to eat anything here. So vegan is way out of place. But DELICIOUS. I ate there twice yesterday.

Then, last night Rosie and I went to go see Lysistrata - put on by the UGhana Theatre Dept. And... it was... well...

It was approximately as good as the version I worked on two years ago. For anyone that saw it. It was funny, however, to see it with Rosie when she was SCANDALIZED by the brashness of the sexual dialogue / action. There was a lot of "EHHH!"'s coming from the audience at a few scenes that some of you may know. But the weird thing is, the show was in an outdoor ampitheater behind Commonwealth (Home of the Vandals and the All-Boys House on Campus. Otherwise known as Slytherin.) and the Commonwealth boys have NO respect for theater. Whatsoever. They were hanging out their windows in the back (so they were kind of off to the sides of the stage) yelling inappropriate words and body parts and making tons of noise - to the point where you couldn't hear the actors on stage! As Michelle from Full House would say - How rude! It was way distracting for me, nevermind the actors on stage! Ugh.. kids. No respect these days.

Then I came home to find what amounts to the closest thing to an American college dorm party in our TV room. That's right - six tufts girls playing the BBC news drinking game. Take a sip when they mention a major world leader, Down your glass if they mention Russia, cheers every time you hear the words "Obama" or "McCain". There were more rules, but I don't remember them, I came in pretty late in the game. But it was a fun get-together that culminated in the taking out of my braids, a mini photo shoot of my poufy frizzed out hair (Prof. Trelawny style, and a quick jaunt in the courtyard during an unexpected downpour. 'Twas fabulous.

So today I plan on reading a my Fast Company magazine and starting Catch-22 and napping and generally enjoying life and staying out of the blistering sun. I swear, I know I said it was hot before... but I meant it was hot in the sense that for September it was hot. Meaning it was like 85. Today is like, 100. LEGIT. I sweat by walking to the bathroom at 8 in the morning. This is entirely unpleasant weather.

Thank GOD I don't have lice.

Okay, so last night I was in the kitchen with the girls talking with Adowa, the seamstress when I felt something on my head. It was on the nape of my neck and felt kind of itchy - like a mosquito bite. I had Denise look at it and she said that there were little red bumps ALL OVER MY HEAD. Between every braid there seemed to be a bump. So of course I FREAKED OUT.

This is coming after having a conversation over the weekend about how, although getting my hair braided was painful, at least I have the comfort of knowing that those women went through my hair strand by strand. So at least I don't have lice. Because I am TERRIFIED of lice.

So last night, when a bumper crop of itchy red spots appeared on my scalp... I was more than slightly upset. After further examination we assessed that it couldn't possibly be lice as there wasn't a bug to be seen on, near, or around my scalp. So what the heckkkk could it be?

So here are the possibilities:
1) I am allergic to all of this fake hair they put on my scalp. Quite possible.
2) They pulled my hair so hard when they were braiding it that my head is rebelling.
3) You can't realllyyy wash your hair when you have braids, you kind of just have to clean it with alcohol. So maybe this 90 degree weather has made my whole head break out?

I'm not really sure. But the solution seems to be to take them out so we're having a Hair Un-Braiding party on Friday in front of our finally-working television. (Yayyyyy BBC! Real news!)

Otherwise, not much to update you all on. We have our final Tufts trip this weekend to Eastern Region. We get to go to a bead making place and I get to add to my ever growing pile of souvenirs and Christmas presents. We also get to go on some sort of boat cruise? And of course, I'm assuming (although it's probably better not to assume...) that our hotel will have HOT WATER. Which means possibly a hot bath or shower. INCREDIBLE.

The rest of my weekend....

I didn't want to ruin the completeness of my post I wrote (but was unable to publish) on Saturday. So here's another one for you talking about the rest of my weekend.

First of all, Elana - our trusty program coordinator - took our photos when she left in August and put a selection on Facebook. A lot of them are the same as the ones on Flickr but there are a few different ones (And some taken by Denise!) So if you'd like to check them out, you should be able to see them here:

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097736&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/album.php?aid=2097738&id=1704918
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097739&id=1704918

You may or may not be able to view them if you do not have facebook or are not friends with Elana. Try it and see.

So yesterday we went to an "Outdooring" (ie. Baby Naming Ceremony) of our friend's baby. They call it this because traditionally, it's the first time the kid gets to come outside since it's born. It usually takes place 8 days after he or she is born but this baby was 2 1/2 weeks old because they had to get all of the family together (and his mom was in the hospital for longer than expected).

Anyways, so this family is Dagomba (read: from the north) so they were giving their son a Dagbani name. AND THEY PICKED MINE! So me and my little namesake, Whoompini (I know, Elana, I'm butchering the spelling...) got to hang out yesterday. And he is just the cutest little thing ever. And we all got to hold him, which was great and unexpected.

However, because there were several mix ups about what the actual time was for the ceremony, we were there for 4 hours and did not get to see the actual ceremony take place. Nor did we get to dance... (Although this is probably for the best.)

A few of us went to Madina market afterwards and it was eerily abandoned. More than 3/4 of it was empty, with one whole isle gated and locked. I've never, ever seen it empty like that! Even on a Sunday! I'm not sure what was up, but it was strange. I ended up getting a couple of headbands for my braided hair (to protect it from the inevitable sunburned scalp) and some fabric.

SPEAKING OF - If you are expecting gifts from me at all - for your birthday or Christmas or you think that I like you that much... I would really, really appreciate if you could tell me what you would like. Jewlery? Carved statues? Carved boxes? A chief's stool? A drum? Another kind of musical instrument? A bag? PJ pants? A dress? Just plain cloth? A basket?

Seriously, I do really need to know. Because otherwise you are just getting what I give you and you may miss out on that thing you really wanted to get. And if you want clothing I need your measurements pronto.

Anyway, yesterday was slightly strange because I keep having this eerie "I'm in Ghana" feeling. I was grocery shopping at like 9 AM and I keep feeling like... This isn't weird anymore! I'm in Ghana and I'm just buying food. And it's not weird. I'm taking a tro-tro by myself and I know where I'm going and this is normal. It was strange in all it's normalcy. I think I'm beginning to get used to things here. And maybe starting to like them. (gasp!)

Okay, so I actually have a modicum of real work to do for my classes (two group projects - one of which we have no idea what the project/presentation entails and it's due next Thursday. Ohhhh Ghana.) so I should probably do that instead of talking your ear off instead.

Finally, A Weekend in Accra...

Okay, so I wrote this blog on Saturday but the internet at ISH (where I live) was too slow to be able to post it on blogger. Boo. So pretend it’s Saturday.

The foot is a beautiful shade of purpley-blue-grey. The swelling doesn’t seem to want to go down any further but I am almost walking like a normal person again. Which is great! There’s only a slight limp, which I kind of exacerbated by thinking of myself as totally healed and walking around on it all day today without my ace bandage. Which I regretted by this afternoon. But alas, it is much better than I ever thought it would be at this time.

SO – Rosie, my quietly persuasive roommate, finally convinced me to get braids. It took some convincing as I was sure that I was going to look like just another silly Oboroni. But I could not be more curious. Since coming here in July, I have wanted to get the full range of experiences of being in Ghana. No food is too gross to try. No dance is too embarrassing to perform in front of a hundred strangers. And getting your hair braided is just such a Ghanaian thing to do.

I wasn’t in denial about how silly I was going to look, I really wasn’t. I just figure, at no other time in my life can I look this funny and not have to see a billion people that I know every day. I can do it and, besides a few pictures and the memories of the other 5 Tufts girls, no one will be the wiser!

However, by Friday morning I was dreading getting it done. Rosie and I made plans to go to the “salon” (actually a stall at Bush Canteen – a market on campus) at 7 AM. The process of getting your hair braided takes something like 3 -6 hours, depending on how many people are working on you at once. It’s also quite a painful process. They don’t just braid your hair normally. They braid in a TON of fake hair (they go through a process of trying to match your hair color to the different fake hairs they have… they had to mix a brown and a red for mine. Except the finished product is much more red than my hair actually is…). So any one who knows how thick my hair is normally should understand that I have 3 times the amount of hair on my head now. I can’t pull my hair into a pony tail because I can’t fit it in one hand. I got the front cornrowed in a pretty pattern and the rest is in regular braids.

I haven’t decided if I like it yet. It’s definitely weird. My original plan was to withhold judgment for 2 days and the earliest I could take them out (if I didn’t like them) was Thursday. I still haven’t made that decision yet, but we’ll see. I can’t imagine I’ll want to leave them in any more than 2 weeks.

In other news, today Nana Akufo-Addo came to campus. We were told in our orientations that we were not supposed to go to “political rallies” as they could become riots and/or be dangerous. But a Presidential Candidate was coming to OUR CAMPUS. How could I not go?? I’m totally missing the fun and fervor of election season back home so I need something to fill that gaping hole. The original word on the street that he was speaking in the morning. WRONG. He’s speaking at 5:30, says the people wearing NPP shirts, setting up the platform on the basketball court. So we show up at 5:30. And wait. And wait.

Denise worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign last summer, so she was all a flutter about the similarities between American and Ghanaian campaigns and rallies. She said something about how in the US they always tell people to get there at least an hour before they actually think it’s going to start. (UGH. The stage manager in me HATES that.) So 6:30 rolls around and we think – Hmm. Maybe things will start.

Nope. Then it’s 7. Then’s it’s 7:30. Then it’s 8. Then it’s 8:30. Finally someone comes on stage to tell us that Nana is on campus, but he’s in Legon Hall for something or another and we should all go over there. And there’s literally a stampede of people trying to get over to see Nana. This part was by far my favorite as people got super excited when they started seeing important politicians. There was tons of yelling and chanting and singing and picture taking. It was quite exciting.

On the way to Legon Hall I got into a VERY detailed and intellectual conversation with a student working on the NPP campaign. He asked me all of these interesting questions about American politics in comparison to Ghana and my viewpoints on the war in Iraq and the American economy. It was really cool to have that kind of discussion with someone who didn’t go to Tufts.

So we got to Legon, more jumping and shouting, and then suddenly – another stampede! This time, back to the place we came from originally. I’m not sure what the point of relocating us for 20 minutes was, but it happened and I seemed to be the only one questioning it. By the time we got back and the lesser politicians were making their introductory speeches, I couldn’t take it any more. I’d been there for almost 4 hours. My foot was starting to hurt. I was hungry. So, even though it seemed as though maybe Nana was actually going to show up, I had to go home.The experience was worth it all the same, I was just too cranky/tired/hurting to stick it out any longer.

Blue Appendages and Brown Bandages

I am a master limper. I'm telling you, as bad as I am at walking normally - that is how good I am at limping. We briefly held a hobbling race yesterday as I have figured out how best to walk without shooting pains. It kind of involves lifting up my entire left foot and moving it in front of my body but only letting the heel touch the ground. And not flexing any muscles in my foot. A difficult process at first, but I have become a master at it.

Tuesday was by far the worst walking day. I took the bus in the morning because there was no way I could walk to class. Walking down the stairs took 20 minutes and a lot of energy. So all day Tuesday was pretty slow going and painful. But Tuesday night I iced my foot for something like 6 hours while I finished my book (11 down... not enough left to fill the two months I still have here...) The swelling had gone down somewhat but the color went from bluish-grey to a purply sort of color.

Yesterday it went back to blue, but there was less swelling and a less noticeable limp. Today even more so. Which is a good sign, considering if it were broken it would only be getting worse... So maybe the folks down at Nyaho Clinic actually do know a thing or two. Not that I ever doubted them. :)

That's all for now.

We All Knew This Day Would Come

Yesterday was such a normal day. I went to Nyaho with Kym for most of the morning because she was feeling sick all weekend. We all feared it was Malaria but it wasn't. So far as they can tell, it's some sort of amorphous "virus". That's usually what they say when they can't come up with any other diagnosis.

So I didn't expect anything exciting out of yesterday at all. Except, as soon as I left the internet cafe yesterday afternoon to go to the post office... disaster struck. I was just walking along, not a care in the world. Until the ground moved from under me and I was suddenly prostrate in the dirt. Was it an earthquake? No. I just tripped on the barely jutting curb, landing on the side of my left foot. This whole fall was quite a commotion and caused dozens of turned heads and a couple of gasps. (Great, like I didn't have everyone looking at me before... I had to go and bring further attention and humilation to myself...) Several people asked me if I was okay, to which I said yes, and I did they thing any good American would do. I got up, brushed myself off and told myself to "walk it off". Which I proceded to do. For about 12 yards, until the pain in my left foot and the large easter egg-sized purple lump that appeared there began screaming at me. I needed to make it to the post office to send off a couple of letters (Anna and Logs - you better appreciate that mail!!) so I convinced myself not to cry and limped down the main road to the post office. Then I promptly took a cab back to the dorm. Where I realized I had a formidable 3 flights of stairs ahead of me. At this point, my hobbling had gotten quite a few stares from the porters and guards outside of ISH, to whom I had to explain my humiliating injury.

I finally made it upstairs and made myself a sling of sorts out of some fabric and used various frozen objects to reduce the swelling. It started out with a first aid ice pack and moved to a frozen GoGurt-type thing (FanYogo for all of you in-the-know about Ghana). Kym came over and ate the FanYogo when it was done and I moved onto a frozen water bag while we both assessed the situation.

I couldn't tell if it had been broken but the pain was excruciating so we made the decision to do a 2-for-1 Nyaho special. Two trips to the clinic in 12 hours. It has to be a record. Sadly, some of the people recognized us when we went back. 2 hours of hobbling to and fro along with a couple of X-rays tells me that my foot is not officially broken but they can't explain the excessive swelling and pain in my foot. I'm telling you it was about twice the size of a normal foot and started out a disgusting puce color. The bruise faded from puce to bluish-grey which is slightly better. Although walking is not.

They sent me home with two ace bandages and some anti-inflamatory gel. So now I'm hobbling around campus trying not to wince every time I hit a rock.

But on the bright side - I have already had three offers from guys to carry me on their backs. I haven't taken any up on it yet, but I think it would be pretty great to get tied on and carried around like a small Ghanaian child. It's even better than crutches.

Last Days at Dagbe (or, Maybe Now I Won't Sweat as Much)

My, oh my. I'm back from my strenuous weekend at Dagbe with the requisite sore back and arms. And legs. And butt. And chest. And blistered feet. And bug bites. But, this being our third time there, I have definitely gotten in better shape since the first time. I'm less sore and could still function on a basic level after performing on Saturday. Yes, I said PERFORMANCE. Because we had to perform three different dances on Saturday night. Gahu - the one we learned our first weekend there. Akyagbeko (I think that's how it's spelled) - the stylish war dance we started to learn last time we were there. And of course Agbagya (again, spelling?) - the most famous of the Ewe dances that involves pumping your chest and flapping your arms like a chicken. All three. We had to perform, in front of a large number of people from Kopeyia (the village where Dagbe is located). NOT COOL.

I was definitely not on board with this until I found out one very important detail... We get costumes. And props. Gahu doesn't involve much in the way of props but I got to play a girl so I got a head scarf and a top and skirt. The "boys" got tops and little hats and this large cloth that is tied into a diaper like bottom. But for Akyagbeko we all got the diapers (as in the dance we are playing a rag-tag bunch of teenage boys who use these awesome furry sticks that have spirits in them that tell you how to win the battle) and sashes to hold up wooden swords on our sides. AND war paint. We all got war paint. I looked fierce, Tyra would be proud. Michael, the American guy who is staying at Dagbe for the next few months, got our first dance on video and a little bit of our second dance. Hopefully we'll get that before we get back to the states.

The dance itself was long and exhausting. The first one probably went on for almost half an hour. Then we had to go change and do our second dance right away. It went fine, nothing to brag about and I'm positive our Oboroni-ness helped soften the fact that we were pretty terrible. After our two main dances, the staff did this awesome war dance in the most ridiculous costumes. Picture tutus made out of African cloth on grown, muscly Ghanaian men. Also they are wearing weird hats and leggins with cuffs of rafia. Yep. It was pretty great.

Otherwise, my secondmost crowning acheivement of the weekend was my spectacular basket. I'm telling you, I was meant to weave baskets. I should take up knitting, I really like zoning out and crafting for an afternoon.

So now I'm back to the daily grind of university life. It's tough not having classes on Mondays. What's a girl to do? Perhaps read some Murakami Haruki and "study" for a possible pop midterm tomorrow? Maybe meet with my NGO's group to work on our Non-Graded project/presentation? Maybe I'll just nap... I haven't decided yet. The day is young. We'll see what ends up happening...

I just got back from Heaven.

WHAT an amazing weekend. This was what I needed, in life. I seriously, can not even describe to you how unbelievably wonderful Green Turtle Lodge was. Let's see if I can think of some accurate descriptors... AMAZING. Gorgeous. Relaxing. Picturesque. Unbelievable. Paradise. Unreal.

Okay so I'll start at the beginning of the adventure. First of all, getting there is not for the fainthearted. We began by waking up at 4:30 AM. Well, my alarm went off at 4:30 AM. I was actually awake at 4 AM (with only 4 hours of sleep.) because my malaria medicine seems to be kicking in and I am getting some nasty dreams. I had 3 terrible nightmares last week that woke me up at the wee hours of the morning. So I was up at 4 and we were out of the dorm by 5. After a taxi and a tro-tro ride and a 15 minute walk we ended up at the bus station where we took a 5 hour bus ride. I slept and read and stayed very dehydrated so as not to suffer through hours of no bathroom availability. Then off the bus we went and another walk to another tro-tro (this ride was an hour long).

This is where it gets exciting - We get off the first tro-tro to get onto another one that will take us to Green Turtle. This is a van meant for... say 18 people. We definitely had 20 people in the car, plus the 6 of us had all of our bags. Oh, and the woman behind me also had a live chicken in a plastic bag (with the head sticking out, all you PETA people. Don't be up in arms!) in a basket in her lap. Yep. Just your everyday tro-tro ride. Until I looked out my window and saw a pair of feet dangling next to my head! Apparently we also had two passengers on the roof!

But this tro-tro was on it's very last leg. I swear, the amount of noise it was making would make me pull over immediately. But alas we ventured forth. That is, until we broke down. The first two times we broke down, the tro-tro just stalled and took a long time to restart. As we put-putted up the hills, more bad noises were coming from the engine. We stall again. This time, there is no restarting it. Everyone is ushered out of the tro-tro where we wait for the driver and the mate and a couple of other men to figure out what's wrong and fix it. And we wait. And we wait. It's getting hot. I'm dehydrated and cranky and hungry. After 15 minutes of waiting I start to mutiny and try to convince the girls that we should walk because we'd get there faster. As soon as I do convince them and try to make the driver understand our plan, a small breakthrough is made with the tro-tro and the engine will almost turn over. Almost. But not quite. Because we are on a hill we need to push it to help get the engine to start. I swear I was in a Ghanaian version of Little Miss Sunshine. So all of the guys pushed the tro-tro up the hill so we could get it started and jump back in. We were good to go for another 10 minutes, until the same thing happened again and we all had to pile out and pile back in once they could push start it.

UGH, so frustrating. But, after an hour and a half of this we FINALLY made it. And holy crap was it worth it. This lodge is set directly on the beach. My bungalow was about 100 feet from the ocean. The whole of the lodge sat idyllically beneath the spread of hundreds of palm trees, shading you from the bright, bright sun. The whole place is all about Eco-tourism so everything runs on solar power, is made out of local and sustainable materials, the toilets are self-composting, etc. So that was pretty great, I love helping the environment and local community. I also love being pampered and laying on the beach all day and night.

Here are a few of the highlights of my amazing weekend.
- Sipping cheap but delicious tropical drinks while laying on a straw mat sunning myself.
- Playing in the ocean where the waves were gigantic and probably could have swallowed me whole.
- Getting slowly sunburned throughout my 12 hours of laying out.
- Reading a trashy romance novel (well... The Other Boelyn Girl. So kind of a trashy romance novel) in the comfort a cushioned net hammock strung between two palm trees. While I looked out at the ocean.
- Walking down the beach to a small village about a half mile away where a bunch of kids asked if I could take their picture.
- Eating delicious food served to me on earthenware plates while watching the sun set... and then when dusk becomes too dark, eating by the light of small kerosene lanterns.
- Stargazing at the millions of stars you can see when there are no artificial lights for miles and miles by the side of a small campfire on the beach.
- Drinking my hot cocoa and eating my eggs in peace until I feel a giant THWUMP on my head/ back. I think I've been hit by a coconut falling from the palm tree above (which is quite ironic considering we had just discussed the fact that more people die per year from coconuts falling on their heads than from plane crashes). But no, it's actually a lizard which lost its grip from the palm tree and fell 30 feet onto my head. I gave it a mean glare and it ran away when I stood up.

These are just the highlights. So obviously I died and went to heaven. Who knew heaven was only a taxi, 3 tro-tro's and a bus ride away? We are DEFINITELY going back during finals. (Ha! I will be on a tropical beach vacation during NQR. Take that Tufts!!) Seriously, I highly encourage anyone who is brave enough to make it there to move their next tropical vacation from the Carribean to Ghana. I'm not kidding. It's better. I swear.

So now I'm back and have 2 more days left of my weekend. Tomorrow was declared a public holiday here (it's the last day of Ramadan and as Islam is the second largest religious tradition in Ghana, they get public holidays just like the Christians do). Which means I don't have class until Wednesday at 11:30. RIDICULOUS.

What you are about to read is NOT a parody or exaggeration. It is the true account of an hour of my life yesterday afternoon.

My “New Religious Movements” class meets Tuesday afternoons. Now, I really, really enjoy the subject matter. I find so-called cults to be extremely fascinating. But the class itself isn’t anything great. I have found here that most classes are set up so that the lecturer speaks slowly enough that you can write down his exact words. Because that is what is expected of you as a student – to memorize the exact words of the professor and then spew them out on the final. Students also hate answering questions because if you do volunteer something in class and another student thinks what you said is stupid or ridiculous, they will just laugh at you. Seriously. So no one wants to answer any questions because they will just get made fun of by the rest of the class. I would probably attribute this behavior to the way that children are taught in preschools and primary schools. Corporeal punishment is kind of the norm in Ghana. Kym is volunteering at a preschool on campus and one of their class rules is "No talking in class." These kids are 2 and 3. There's no free play. There's no room for creativity or curiosity. This is not an environment conducive to inspiration or love of learning.

So last week the professor passed around 6 copies of a chart he made grouping the class into sections to do fieldwork on specific new religious movements. (I got Zetaheal. Not sure what it is exactly... but that's what this project is for!) He basically passed them around, said "make sure your name is there and if it's not write it at the bottom and pass it back".

Well, so yesterday I go to class and at 3:30 a student stands up in front of the class and says these exact words: "Everyone, we have a serious problem with the professor." I'm thinking the professor has gotten sick or something really bad has happened to him. He follows that statement with, "Professor only got 5 of the 6 sheets back at the end of class last week. And he's furious. He's refusing to come to class. So if you have this paper in your notebook, please return it to me so we can fix this situation."

Now at this point I thought there had been some sort of cultural misunderstanding. There has to be more going on here than meets the eye, right?

Nope. I'm understanding this situation quite clearly. Although it makes no rational sense to me whatsoever, my professor is refusing to come to class because he believes a student "stole" one of the six papers he passed to the class last week. (Note- these papers were made in Word. So he MUST have a copy on his computer. Nevermind the other FIVE copies he has in his possession.) I found this situation completely and utterly ridiculous. But none of the Ghanaian students did. They all took this situation to be completely normal, albeit quite grave.

The first suggestion was made by a student that we send an envoy to our professor's office to go apologize. I think this is a stupid idea because 1) I think he's being more than childish by reacting to what was almost certainly the accidental taking of a replaceable paper. 2) I would have no idea what we would be apologizing for. 3) Groveling to the professor only reinforces that his behavior is acceptable and can only lead to further tyranny in the classroom. Yes, I said tyranny.

But everyone in the class thought this was a perfectly rational idea. So they decide to send two boys and two girls to his office to apologize and ask him to come and lecture to the class. They leave. I seethe for half an hour until they come back.

They come back at 4:15 to tell us that he is not in his office, but his office is unlocked. Another girl in the class stands up and says, "Everyone, this is really serious. I bet he is out there right now talking with the vice-chancellor about all of this. We need to show how serious we are about this situation." Ummmm, honey. You're on crack if you think he's over at the Great Hall talking to the vice-chancellor about a missing paper.

She continues with, "I think we should march over to the department and wait in his office to show how serious we are about this situation." I think this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Everyone else in the class thinks it's a great idea. So they all get up and start walking to the department! At this point I had had enough. It was an hour after class had started. I was more than done with the circus that was going on in that classroom. I took this moment to exit the situation and go home. So, for all I know, they could still be sitting in our professor's office... waiting for him to show up.

But what I don't understand is how the University allows things like this to happen. I've NEVER heard of a professor not showing up to punish the students. Showing up is his JOB. We are paying him to educate us. No education was had yesterday. And he's still getting paid. Is he trying to discipline the class? Because that's not his job. He's not our father. At Tufts I would go to the head of the department or some member of the administration to complain. But there seems to be no structure for that here. I could talk to Dr. B but he couldn't actually do anything more than just agree that it's a sucky situation.

It's a strange line drawn between students and teachers. Professors/Lecturers respect themselves quite a bit. One must always learn and use the proper title when talking with a Mrs. or Mr. or Dr. or Professor or Lecturer. If you use the wrong one, you are liable to get your head bitten off. So they demand quite a bit of respect and kowtowing. But this is bordering on insane. I don't know if he's drunk on power or what. And the fact that students take this kind of situation as normal is not okay. You should not be used to and accommodating to this type of behavior from your professor.

Granted, it's possible that the initial student was combining the fact that we were missing a paper from last class and that the professor was not going to come to class, creating a huge mess. But all signs thus far point to their direct correlation.


Okay, now that that rant is done. I'm going to move onto happier subjects. Last night the Tufts girls took our roommates out to an Indian restaurant in Osu. And it was tons of fun. Indian food is such a nice change of pace from the constant stream of Jollof, Fufu, and Wakkye. During the ride there and through most of dinner, Rosie kept trying to convince me to get my hair braided. It's something like $6 to get your whole head done, so it's not all that expensive. But I have seen some ridiculous braids on some Oboronis around campus. Not so pretty. I don't want to look silly, but Rosie assures me that I won't. I'm not so convinced. Comment with your vote: yay or nay on the braids. And/or suggestions for certain braid styles.

Also, this weekend we are going on a tropical vacation to the Green Turtle Lodge (www.greenturtlelodge.com). I can't wait to relax, tropical drink in hand as I laze about the beach for three days. Ahhhh, that will be the life.

Planet Earth: Ghana Episode

Back from Dagbe and I can't tell you how sore I am. You remember my last entry about Dagbe? The massive amount of sweat it produces in anyone trying to do even a modicum of aerobic activity? Yeah, it's still like that. Possibly even worse. However, the dancing to drumming ratio was far smaller this time - thank god. We finished working on the dancing for Gahu (that's how you actually spell it, I found out...) and got to learn a lot of the drumming parts and the singing part for it. Then, yesterday, we moved onto a stylish war dance. Yes, stylish is the actual word they used. Do you know what that means? PROPS! We got wooden swords which we tied to ourselves with cloth and these furry/fuzzy stick things that are supposed to be spirit sticks that tell you what to do in the heat of battle. How can you hate dancing in 100% humidity when you have a sword and a feathery spirit stick? You just can't.

Dagbe is home to a new resident, Michael, who will be there studying for 6 months. By himself. Poor guy, he hasn't seen anyone outside of the Dagbe staff in 3 weeks. So we befriended him. But on Saturday night, when I went out to brush my teeth(you go into the backyard, they don't have running water), I see Michael, Kym, and Denise all staring at the wall of the building. What are they staring at??

Well, we seemed to have our very own Planet Earth moment on our hands... minus the slow motion filming and voice over. There were hundreds of these bugs that looked sort of like dragonflies (but not as pretty) walking all over this wall. One would chase after another one and as it did - all of it's wings would fall off! Just like that it would go from having four wings to none. And it didn't think anything of it as it continued to chase another bug whose wings have also fallen off by now and then they would mate. This was the most bizarre animal mating thing I have ever seen in real life. The sad part of this love story was that a lot of these bugs would fall off the wall before, during, or after mating. And if they fell onto the ground there were at least 2 really big frogs and 4 lizards there to snatch them up. The whole thing was fascinating, I was mesmerized. Except when I went to the bathroom (actually an outhouse - it's also behind the main building) and saw the insect tragedy being played out there...

All of the flying bugs that lost their wings and fell near the bathroom fell into a puddle where they were half drowning. Taking advantage of this situation were a huge number of ants, of all sizes and types, who were ripping apart these bugs and taking them back to their colony, I guess. It was a sad state of affairs and I couldn't watch for long.

So Dagbe-the-warzone was not so stylish after that. Poor bugs.

In other news, I am basically taking this semester to walk all of Accra. For anyone familiar with Accra (or handy with Googlemaps) these are the walks I have done(/will do in the case of the last one):
Osu to Campus
US Embassy to Campus
Campus to Shoprite to Campus
Osu to Nkrumah Circle to Campus

Annie and I don't have anything to do on Wednesday afternoons so we pretty much spend all afternoon on Wednesday walking places. It's way fun.

Things I Have Decided

1) Fresh Pineapple > Pineapple Juice. Far superior
Fresh Guava < Guava Juice. Every guava I get here is soapy tasting. Not my thing.
Fresh Mango > Mango Juice. This was a tough call. I actually would have said greater than or equal to, but they don't make that key on the keyboard.

2) The moment you say that you haven't gotten many mosquito bites is the moment you will be attacked. I was doing so well so far! I guess Murphy's Law is like Gravity in that it applies everywhere on earth.

3) I need to learn how to walk. I've now officially broken every pair of Old Navy flip-flops that I brought with me. Plus a nicer pair of sandals that I bought here. I don't understand how I could be that uncoordinated! Actually, after living with myself for 20 years, I kind of understand. But still!

4) I've initiated a don't-ask policy with my food. Last night I got wakkye with stew at the market. They asked if I wanted vegetable stew and I said yes. After I started eating I found a slimy black substance in the stew. There was a heated debated as to its origins - what animal it came from and what body part it may have been attached to. The conclusion was that it was either stomach lining or a layer of fat from an unidentified animal. I've decided I don't want to know.

5) I miss American banks. After working in one for two summers and seeing the inefficiencies and imperfections first hand I thought that they had a lot to work on. Thennnnn I became acquainted with EcoBank - the most inefficient, unfriendly, roundabout, ridiculous establishment that dares to call itself a bank. I will spare you the excruciating details about my unpleasant interactions with them but suffice it to say that I have had it up to HERE with these people.

6) My letter writing campaign is dwindling out. Ghana just raised their postage a whole 50 cents for both letters and postcards. I love you all - but $1.40 to send a letter? That's just a little excessive. My normal dinner costs 70 cents. That's two dinners. If you have been receiving mail from me, you'll probably still receive some... just not as frequently. However, as far as I know, it's still just 94 cents to send a letter from the US to Ghana! And as far as I know, you can't even get a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger for 94 cents. (Well, if you are in West Springfield you can't get a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger at all. RIP Wendy's) So my slow down of letters should not deter you from sending your long, heartfelt letters my way.

Okay, that's it. My life is pretty boring right now. I'm going to Dagbe this weekend to do more artsy things and dance my butt off (literally).

A quick plus/minus

+ TGIF! Four day weekend...
- Not seeing a baby born on a tro-tro
+ Discovering delicious and REAL coffee at Max Mart (a little expat grocery store/cafe)
+ Drinking said coffee slowly and relishing it.
+ Also having a delicious samosa and falafel sandwich at said cafe
+ Walking with Annie from the US embassy in Accra to our dorm. Googlemap it. It's over 10 km. But it was so much fun.
- Getting hurt on that walk and bleeding all over my flip flop. I really need to learn how to walk.
- Buying cookie mix and then realizing we don't have an oven to cook them in.
++ Making said cookie dough and eating it all raw.
- Actual assignments and reading for classes
+ Four day weekends.
+ Seeing the Sex and the City movie in our own private "living room" in Accra.
+ Making my own ratatouille and pasta in my dorm
- Smelling like garlic for days
+ Reading about cults for a class. I love cults. I wish I could study cults for my job. I might go to grad school for psychology and just do that.
+ Hot bucket bath showers

So I think we're on the positive side for now...
In other news, Northwest Airlines cancelled their direct route from Amsterdam to Hartford. So they rebooked my flight without talking to me. Which means I have two layovers instead of 1. Which sucks. I have to go from Accra to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Detroit, then Detroit to Hartford. Boooooo.

Possibly the Best Ghana Story So Far

Okay I need to preface this story with I wasn't actually there. I was invited to come along with Kym and Lauren to go fabric shopping but I had a class and couldn't go. So Lauren and Kym came back to tell us this harrowing tale. But I am going to tell it in the royal "we", as if I went with them, because it's so much better that way...

So yesterday we wanted to go fabric shopping... There are two places that are normally good for this - Medina and Makola Market. Medina has a smaller selection but isn't as scary as Makola. But we decided to go to Makola. So we get on a tro-tro and everything's dandy. Then after 15 or so minutes... something starts happening. Everyone in the tro-tro starts talking loudly in Twi and a woman two rows ahead of us looks frantic - like she's going to be sick. Everything is so loud that we can't ask anyone around us what is going on. Then, suddenly, a passenger in the very front seat jumps out of the tro-tro and into traffic. We're stopped at a traffic light, thank god! But he runs darting through cars yelling at the top of his lungs in Twi. He runs so far ahead of our tro-tro that we can't even see him any more... He runs back to our tro-tro and jumps in. As soon as he does, the light turns green. Just as the red light switched off... I don't even think the green light had turned on yet - the tro-tro rips out of traffic and begins swerving around cars and other tro-tros and all of traffic. The driver begins yelling out his window for people to let him pass and he whips around the corner, putting pedal to the metal.

Mind you, we still have no idea what is going on.

So we're speeding down Accra roads at what had to have been 60 mph. If you've ever been to Ghana you'd know that this speed is almost impossible to achieve because of ridiculous traffic and even more ridiculous road conditions. But they did acheive it. Finally (I say finally as if this all didn't occur within the span of 2 minutes) we pull up to the hospital. The woman two rows ahead who began this whole ruckus quickly gets out of the tro-tro. She stops with a terrified look on her face and begins to squat. Is she doing what I think she's doing? Yes. Yes she is. She's. having. a. baby. Yes, that's right. And she's having it RIGHT NOW. Another woman in the tro-tro realized the true direness of the situation when she saw the head. So suddenly all of the women sprung into action - taking off their head wraps and their baby fabric (the fabric you tie around yourself to strap the baby to your back) and begin shielding this woman as she starts to give birth just outside of the entrance to the hospital. I'm talking 20 feet from the hospital door. They stand around her with this fabric to cover her from the obvious crowd of people that has begun to form. And after a minute or so, someone comes out of the hospital with a stretcher to collect her and bring her inside. Thankfully, she had the baby within minutes of taking her in, instead of in the parking lot of the hospital where it looked like she would.

And after a minute or two of silent reflection on whether or not that really happened... we went on our merry way once again.

Now tell me that is not the best Ghana story so far.

A Weekend in Kumasi or (What happens when you spend too much time in the van).

I'm on Day 4 of my longggg weekend. Which means much internet time and little else. Perhaps a book or two.

We spent the weekend in Kumasi, a city in central Ghana (the heart of the Ashanti region!). Kumasi has a lot of things to do and we were only there for three days so things were action packed. However, I wasn't feeling very well on Friday when we were about to embark on a harrowing 5 hour van ride. I'm pretty sure I didn't boil my water for long enough when I was making my oatmeal that morning. So, anyway, I was not a happy camper by the time I got to the hotel.

It's still rainy season, despite what the guidebook says, and it rained a lot on Friday. We went to see Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural lake in West Africa. It was pretty big, I'll give them that. But it was foggy and rainy so you couldn't really see much. We did have a lot of fun frolicking in the rain, to the dismay of the Ghanaians trying to shield us with umbrellas.

The next day we did a whirlwind shopping trip to a craft market where there are carvings and wooden things and jewlery and such. That was way fun, despite the jacked up prices we were being quoted. When they were orienting us for Ghana back at Tufts they really stressed how much we were going to be bargaining. I have to say that there is very little haggling or bargaining done on an every day basis. You don't bargain for food. You hardly bargain for housewares. Clothing, cloth, and souvenirs are the only things I've found to be flexibly priced. So I bought some carved things and have begun to stow things away for Christmas presents. The nice thing about coming back right before Christmas (besides getting to be home for Christmas) is that I can just not give people souvenirs and just give it to everyone for Christmas. Which is great.

So we sat around and finally drove to our next station - this place that makes Adinkra prints. Adinkra symbols are all symbols used in textiles and carvings that have very specific meanings. To put Adinkra prints on fabric, one must use these stamps and this ink/dye. So we learned how to stamp the fabric and then got to keep the part that we did. Which was fun.

More sitting around, more driving.

Next up - Bonwire. Bonwire is the birthplace of Kente cloth. It looks something like this. It's very hard to make and therefore quite expensive. Each pattern has a story behind it. It's really cool. The plan was to get off the van, go see the weavers at work and then spend some time shopping for kente. Well, the plan didn't account for the 50 street hawkers that would attack us as soon as we stepped foot in Bonwire. Seriously, I've never felt more like a tourist in Ghana. They followed us to where the weavers were and crowded us so much that we couldn't even take pictures of the looms. Then when they saw that we were beginning to go into shops and stalls, they flipped out and started grabbing this person to get them into their shop as quickly as possible. This was really putting me off as I was worried about getting my purse stolen or getting forced into buying something I really didn't want.

I ended up buying a kente bedspread for my room at school from a guy named Elvis Presley. Who promptly proposed after hearing that I was from the US. When I broke his heart by telling him that I already have a husband he asked me if I'd "birthed" already. Oy vey. My proposal count is only a paltry 6 after over 6 weeks here. I must be quite an unattractive Oboruni. But the ones I do get are on par with Elvis's romantic proposal.

FINALLY back in the van for more sitting and more driving. Next up, the Prempeh Museam. By this time I'm cranky and car sick and tired. I'm kind of acting like a petulant child. You know, the usual. (I missed my nap time!) So I didn't get much out of the Prempeh Museam other than Kumasi is the center of the Ashanti culture and that's great.

More sitting, more driving. And then the sweet sweet relief of a HOT shower. Yes, that's right. Hot water. It was more than I could have asked for. We also had a TV where we could watch CNN and bad Nigerian movies. (You think Step it Up 2 was bad? I dare you to sit through 2 hours of a Nigerian movie. It makes TUTV look like Paramount.)

Sunday we did A LOT of driving around Kumasi before we actually began the trek to Accra. Now, we didn't do anything strenuous on Saturday. A lot of shopping and sitting and driving. That's it. So why, may I ask you, was everyone in our group sore on Sunday morning? Did you know that you can be sore from being jostled around in the car from too long? Neither did we! But in fact, you can.

6 hours after leaving Kumasi we returned home to our beds and promptly fell asleep.

The. End.

short but sweet

Not usually how you would describe my posts but I have very little time before class.

I. Am. Bored. I have never had so much free time in my entire life! Me - 4 jobs, theater-obsessed, too-many-classes, not-enough-time-to-sleep ME is going crazy with all of the nothing I have to do here.

I have four day weekends. My classes begin at 11:30 AM on Tuesdays and end at 3:30 PM on Thursdays. I have virtually no reading or homework for those classes. No papers to write. I also have no jobs or extracurriculars to distract me or stress me out. The lack of stress is stressing me out!!! I'm not used to this.

Combine this with the fact that internet is hard to come by and I can't watch TV and I am starving for entertainment. I would KILL to watch a movie right now. ANY movie, be it cartoon or horror flick or romantic comedy. I don't care. "You should read!" you might say... I read four books in the past 4 days. Seriously. I already finished Anna Karenina, (what should have been) my big accomplishment of the semester. I then blew through Brave New World, The Red Tent, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. What to do?? I am going to run out of books soon!!

I talked to our Program Director about getting an internship possibly with an NGO. Maybe that will fill my daysssss. Otherwise I am going to come back with fluent ASL skills as I am forcing Kym to teach me while I languish.

Alright, I told you this one would be short.

Ghana puts the Fun in FUNeral.

Today we went to a funeral. Morbid, much? Except not. Funerals in Ghana are like a giant party. Well, okay maybe I should start this differently...

Ghana's view on death is quite different from the American view. I'm somewhat reminded of El Dia de los Muertos in Latin American culture. The idea that the person has gone to a better place is celebrated. One thing that I think is really funny and don't quite understand yet is the "fantasy coffin". This is a coffin shaped like anything your heart desires... a shark, a bus, a rocketship, a uterus. I have only seen these fantasy coffins from afar and therefore do not have all the info on what they are about. But they look way fun. The Bradt Guidebook discusses them and one of the examples they use is a uterus shaped coffin. I have to see this coffin.

Anyway, so we went to a funeral today in Madina with Francis and Kwame. Francis teaches drumming in the music department and Kwame is a guy around our age that lives with Francis. We get there and (as with our experience at the skinning of the chief) were treated as guests of honor and seated up front and center. We got there during the sad, religious part. So people were crying and pastors where preaching loudly in (I think) Twi and Ewe. We couldn't understand most of the religious service but it was nice, I guess. I've never been to a funeral in the States so it's hard to compare.

Then the drummers came in. 6-8 drummers came bursting in and surround the coffin and played a song. They left and a bunch of guys surrounded the coffin and promptly took it out. Then the real party started. A drum ensemble set up shop and everyone began to dance. And by everyone I mean a handful of Ghanaians who forced all six of us Oborunis to dance with them in front of everyone. Which, of course, is embarrasing with all of us flapping our arms like chickens and trying to moonwalk in a sorry imitation of the actual dance they are trying to teach us. This first round of dancing was mercifully short as some real dancers came out in fully costume to perform a dance/drama for us.

This dance/drama was the coolest performance I've seen in Ghana so far. It was half mime, half dance. (Hype! should come do some research here...) It was about how both men and women play hard to get and it was three men and three women toying with each other. The guys would play flirty pranks on the girls and the girls would pretend to scorn them... It was awesome.

But after this performance was when we were REALLY forced to dance. We had a 45 minute dance lesson in front of EVERYONE at the funeral where we learned to shuffle and flap better than our sad, previous attempts. It was somewhat fun but extremely difficult. And you know that everyone watching you is thinking that you look ridiculous. Which is exactly what you are thinking when you do it. A positive outcome of this dance session is the realization that I have Ghanaian hips. Yes, that's right, these honest hips of mine can shake and wiggle like a regular old Ghanaian woman's. Exciting, right? This skill of mine impresses the ladies who try to teach us to dance and softens the terribleness of my footwork.

When we were finally done dancing we were promptly fed, of course. Then a drunk man wouldn't leave us alone and proposed to us several times... (Mostly to Denise... The crazies love her.) After assuring him that we were all married he proceeded to shake all of our hands and leave. Only to come back five minutes later to reintroduce himself again and propose, again. Oy vey.

All in all it's been a fun day. Other highlights of this week include:
+ Getting a roommate
+ Getting a roommate who feeds me
+ Finishing Anna Karenina
+ Finishing Brave New World
+ Running. Yes, that's right. R-U-N-N-I-N-G. Annie and Jenny will whip me into shape before this semester is over.
+ Cooking delicious Italian food in our dorm kitchen
+ Making chocolate chip banana pancakes in our dorm kitchen

Okay, this has been a long post.
As always I like email. But I also like real mail, hinthint.