A Farewell Letter

Dear Ghana,

I've been home for a week now and have been meaning to write. But I've just been at a loss at what to say. I miss you? It's been fun? Obviously those trite words can't really express what I've been feeling.
I was ready to come home, let's be honest. I was sick of your heat, sick of feeling like my face was melting off. I was bored of rice, rice, rice. Tired of guiltily laying around my room, waiting for to time to pass when I should have been sucking up the last days with you. Annoyed by the constant obruni calls, something I used to find endearing. And mostly, I just missed home. I missed my family, my friends, the normalcy of Urbana and Kirksville. I missed my own room and the quiet and privacy that implies. I missed my dog and her new senile habits of old age. I was ready.
Then the goodbyes started.
We went out that last night, the whole group. We went to Jerry's, our somewhat new locale, where the music was good and the drinks were cheap. Our plan was to stay out all night, to come home with the sunrise, something I have never done (still), but as the night progressed, we could tell that the mood wasn't right. It was like we all felt it was ending. Outwardly, we laughed and danced and had a good time, but inwardly, we could all feel it. At one point, I had to sit back down because the sadness of it all had suddenly washed over me.
The next morning, the first person left. I woke up kind of late and suddenly realized that she was supposedly to leave early. I called her immediately and found out she was still in the parking lot. I ran from my room (remember: I don't run.) to catch her, and when I fell into her hug, I knew that day would be rough. I had to leave before the tears started.
Most of my friends were on the same flight, so there weren't too many goodbyes right away. But I was prepared, and even did some goodbye hugs in the airport in case we were separated once we got to Heathrow.
As I buckled my seatbelt and the plane taxied down the runway, I realized with surprise the one goodbye I hadn't prepared myself for. Saying goodbye to you. Yours was the only one that actually had tears rolling down my face. Because I knew that I might never see you again. I've never had to say goodbye like that.
It was wondeful finding my family at the airport. Grandma Jipson came as a surprise. Katie was a sobbing mess, just as she warned me she'd be. Mom gave me a huge hug only moments before commenting on my sunburned face. Dad handled my suitcases like a pro. And it was just so normal. Being with them.
That's how this whole week has felt. Normal. Like I've never been away. It's like you're some sort of dream and it just took four months to wake up. I have all these souvenirs around my room, daring me to say that it didn't happen, but even they seem like props from a movie or something. I find myself trying to convince myself that I was there. You were in Africa a week ago. AFRICA.
People keep asking me if it was life-changing experience. And I'm sure that it was. But right now, I just feel normal.
Nevertheless, I want to thank you for four months unlike any other that I will ever experience. Thank you for opening your arms to me without condition, for welcoming me and holding me through every strange and ridiculous moment. You are beautiful and I feel so grateful to have you as part of my memory. As part of me.

Love forever,
Emily

It's all ending...

I haven't posted in a while, I realize, but I've truly been too busy. The days are slipping by quickly and soon (in four days to be exact) I will be leaving Ghana.
Here is a quick update on my recent days:

I have finished writing all my exams, which is wonderful. As I think most of you know, the exam process here is three weeks long. There are three exam periods a day, seven days a week for 21 days. It's exhausting. My exams were all within the first week and a half of the exam period, and even that felt really spread out. The first exam was really stressful for me, mostly because I had no idea what it was going to be like. Turns out I answered three essay questions on three pieces of literature. 2 hours and 40 minutes and 11 pages later, I had finished my first exam. The rest were similar. Really intense writing for a few hours and then it's over. I was relieved when I finished my last one, to say the least. I feel terrible for the people that are still taking them.

I went traveling this past week up to the north, with the main intention of seeing elephants. For those of you who don't know, elephants are my favorite animal. Since I was a little girl, I thought we had some sort of connection because both our names started with E. I have a stuffed elephant named Jefferson who has kept me company over here all semester. Elephants are sweet. So, naturally, I've been excited for this trip the entire semester. Correction: The entire time since I decided to come to Ghana.
The trip up north is a rough 14 hour bus ride. We arrived in Tamale around 11:30 at night to find that all the hotels were full, including the one I had called and made a reservation in. Luckily, our friendly taxi driver offered us his room in his family compound, because he would be out driving all night. Gotta love Ghanaian hospitality. The next day we hung out in Tamale waiting for our afternoon bus to Mole National Park, and stumbled upon a huge celebration in honor of the Ghanaian holiday Farmer's Day. The national celebration was being held in Tamale! The president would be arriving around 10:30! We somehow got front row seats and were able to see the president of Ghana arrive at the celebration. I have a video of the back of his head about 10 feet from us. Cool.
We took the bus to Mole (a terrible terrible bus down a terrible terrible road for four hours) and the next day went out on Safari. The safaris in Mole are generally walking safaris, unless you have your own 4x4 vehicle. You go out with a small group and an armed guide and look for animals. I felt like we were in Jurassic Park. Everywhere were this HUGE footprints cutting across the dried mud. We saw so many creatures: warthogs, bushbuck, waterbuck, kob (another antelope), crocodile, monkeys, baboons, and lots of huge, beautiful birds. What we didn't see=ELEPHANTS. There were no elephants. We went out on the afternoon safari, too, and still, no elephants. They told us that at this time, right at the beginning of dry season, there is still enough watering holes elsewhere that the elephants are not drawn to the big watering hole by the park entrance. There is only one that comes around pretty often at this time (because he is somewhat used to humans) and he just wasn't around that day. I was pretty crushed. I've concluded though, that like dinosaurs, elephants just don't exist in real life. They are a figment of my fantasies. And I am satisfied with that.

I'm running around these last few days trying to finish everything up, buying presents, hanging out with people for the last time, etc. It's pretty hectic, honestly. And I'm starting to wonder how my suitcases are ever going to close again.

Class Run-Down

I realized that I haven't talked hardly at all about my classes here at UG, despite the fact that this trip is "study" abroad. So I thought I'd go through each of my classes and fill you in on what I've been doing all semester.

AFRICAN DRUMMING: Yes, I took a drumming class, something that was way out of my comfort zone, but I ended up loving. I loved it so much, I bought a beautiful drum that dad so kindly took home for me when he left. This class was an all-Obruni class (all international students) so none of us felt completely incompetent. We spent the majority of the semester working as a full class and learning the 4-5 parts of 3 different songs. For each song, there is the bell part (which keeps the rhythm for all the other parts), the rattle, one or two supporting drum parts, and the master drum. Near the end of the semester, we each chose which song we wanted to be tested on and were split into those three groups to focus on our chosen parts. For the exam, we would be split into groups of four, one for each part (bell, rattle, supporting, and master), and we would play the song four times, rotating parts until we had each played each. Unfortunately, this was a lot harder than it sounds. Not only did we not know our specific group until the final class period (so we couldn't really practice much together), but just getting all the parts to fit together, was REALLY hard. We could each play each part individually really well, but playing them all at the same time was near impossible. It sucks, because when it fits together, it sounds really awesome, but when it doesn't, it sounds awful. Yesterday was our exam. My group was up first. Amazingly, it went pretty well, and there were some parts where I definitely felt the groove! I was much happier afterward than I thought I'd be. We are supposed to find out our grades by the end of next week (we'll see....)

ENGLISH IN GHANA: Every major has what they call Core classes for each level, classes that are mandatory for that specific semester. In the English major, there is a core grammar class and a core literature class. I took both. Being core classes that all 4th-year English students have to take, both were BIG lectures. 200-300 people. This was my first experience with big classes. The biggest class I've had at Truman was General Health, and that only had about 100. This class, the grammar class, was focusing on the history of English usage in Ghana and what makes Ghanaian English unique to all other varieties of English. I was excited to learn the linguistic side of it. Living here, I've obviously picked up that Ghanaian English is different from American English, and I thought it would be really interesting to pinpoint these differences. Unfortunately, we only got to this liguistic point in the last 2 classes. The rest of it was devoted to the history of English (and thus, Education) in Ghana. While this was pretty interesting, I was still disappointed we didn't work more linguistically.

GHANAIAN LITERATURE: I was super pumped for this class. This is why I came to Ghana! (well, not really, but still exciting as a World Lit Major.) This was the other core class, so again, huge lecture. But the professor was really personable and walked up and down the aisles while talking, which made it better. I think the coolest thing about this class was the books that we read. I've found that many of the authors I've read this semester have been from Accra, or at least lived here at some point, and use this in their work a lot. Thus, there are countless references to the University and to different places around the city that I have been to. This character goes to spend a day at Labadi Beach with his sweetheart (I've been there several times!), this character is rushed to 37 Military Hospital (I drive past that on a regular basis!), this character gets ice cream at Frankies (where I have eaten lunch, twice!). It's strange being so connected to the text, and at the same time, odd that this doesn't happen more often to me. Is Ghana that much smaller than America that I know more about it in these past few months than I've known of America for the past 21 years? In any case, it's really fun to read this way.

Side note: During my studies here, many of the authors I read for any of my classes, and the people we talk about (in my English in GH class, for example), have all attended or worked at this University. University of Ghana-Legon is the university in this country (not that it's the only one, but the most important). The important people of Ghana have all walked the same streets I do every day. It's a strange and exciting feeling. I think I would feel similarly if I went to Harvard or Yale or something. It's cool.

ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA: As a religion minor, I wanted to take some sort of religion class, and honestly, this is the one that fit in my schedule. I was okay with it, though, because Islam is one of the major religions that I haven't studied much. As the class got going, though, I discovered much the same disappointment I had with my English in GH class. It was much more history and much less religion. I had assumed we would be discussing the religion of Islam and how it is practiced in W. Africa. Instead, we studied the history of Islam emerging and developing here. In fact, we didn't even get very far in that respect. The last thing we talked about was in the 18th century. However, during preparation for a group presentation, I met several really great Ghanaians. We had a group of five, three guys and one other girl. These three guys were the first (and some of the only) Ghanaian men I met who did not try to hit on me or make me feel uncomfortable. They were genuine, funny, smart, and fun to hang out with. The other girl had such a gentle and friendly personality, that it was easy to get along with her. We met 3 or 4 times to prep for our presentation, and each time one or all of them would walk me back to the hostel, so I wouldn't have to walk alone at night. And now, whenever I see them on campus, they stop me with a caring smile to check on how I'm doing. So for that, I'm really glad I took this class.

NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH: If you remember, this is the class I switched into 3 weeks late, after the schedules were all changed. I'm not going to go into the scheduling confusion with this class (except to say that we met at a different time or place nearly every week), because it gives me a headache. But I will say that despite all the confusion, this was my favorite class here at UG. It was a small class, only like 12-15 people, which helped a ton. For those of you (like myself) who do not know what New Literatures in English means, let me describe it for you: it is the new term for literatures of post-colonized societies. We read, for example, lit from Ghana, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Nigeria, Canada, and Kenya. The term 'post-colonial' has been rejected due to its limiting nature. By saying post-colonial, it implies a connection to the former colonizer, when in fact, it could have nothing to do with colonialism. Post-colonized societies are making efforts to create new identities, instead of still being attached to colonialism. It's obviously more complicated than that, but you get the generally idea. I loved this class because I felt totally comfortable in speaking up. The professor was really great about encouraging discussion, and one day when I hadn't spoken up, she actually noted it, saying "Emily, you've been awfully quiet today!" On the one hand, it was intimidating being called out like that, but on the other hand, I loved that she knew my name and recognized my contributions to the class. Plus, on an essay we had to write, I was the only one in the class to get an A, so that's sweet.

All right, I think this has gone on long enough. It's been a great distraction from studying. But now I have to get back to the books. My first written exam is in 3 days!

Whiling away the last five weeks...

Here I sit, on a bright, not-to-hot (meaning the sweat is only beading on my face, not dripping down) Tuesday morning, and I cannot believe that I only have four of these Tuesdays left. Where did the semester go? I know that I habitually ask this question when it gets to this point every semester, but when you are in a different country, the shock is a bit heavier.
I am leaving Africa in less than five weeks.
And who knows when or if I will ever be back.
I was having a conversation with a few friends last night at dinner about this very subject and the question was posed: "Do you think you'll come back to Ghana?" I was stunned when the unanimous reply (including mine) was, "Probably not." We all kind of agreed that if we do get to continue our international travel, which we would love, there is so much of the world left to see. It's strange to think, though, that I might never be back here. I mean, I've spent a considerable part of my life here. I realize that time-wise, four months is not much in terms of life span, but experience-wise, I'm guessing my semester here will have a pretty distinct effect on my life. And to leave it forever, a thing of the past? That's hard to swallow.
I would love to be able to share Ghana with my family, not just my current family, but with my future husband and children as well. I know I'll mention it all the time and I know that no one will ever really understand what I'm talking about. But just bringing people to Ghana for a visit, like I did my Dad (who I am still thrilled I got to share a week with here), won't have the effect I want it to. A visit in no way compares to living here.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this problem. The majority of study-abroaders are probably going through the same situation. It's just hard to know what to do with it.

In the meantime, I am trying to soak in as much of this country as I can in the last few weeks. This weekend, for example, I went with a group of friends to Ada Foah, the place where the huge Volta River reaches the Atlantic. The resort we stayed at (resort is used loosely) was called the New Estuary Beach Club and consisted of a line of huts on the 20m (I'm really bad at judging distances) sliver of beach that separates the river from the ocean. And I mean huts. Just a bed stuck in the sand surrounded by four thatched walls. We laid in the sand, drank soda and beer, and went barefoot for a good 36 hours. It was wonderful. It wasn't really what I was expecting upon coming to Africa, but then again, not much of it is.

Dadaroo Continued, plus Wild Waterfall

So, I'm back, and just in case you were concerned, I was only about 5 minutes late to my meeting. Pretty good by Ghanaian standards.

To continue with Dad and Jeana's stay: For those of you who don't know Jeana and are somewhat confused, no I did not spell Mom's name wrong. Jeana is a coworker of Dad's and an experienced world traveler. When Mom decided she really couldn't take off that much time from work, Jeana volunteered to escort Dad to Africa, seeing as he's a somewhat less-experienced globetrotter. Although previously I didn't know Jeana very well, it was wonderful getting to know her this past week! She was such a gracious and easy-to-please guest. Give her a Fanta, and she was good to go!

We got back from Cape Coast on Sunday, earlier than we expected as the bus left a half hour early, which is UNHEARD OF in Ghana! On Sunday evening, we hopped down to Osu, Oxford Street, the shopping/restaurant district in Accra. Dad bought his first African print shirt and some other souvenirs and we had some delicious paninis and wraps for dinner. Monday, I took them over to Teshie where I do my volunteer teaching. Michael, the director of the NGO, graciously gave them a tour of Global Civic and allowed them to meet the students there, which I think Dad really enjoyed. Then we went to the school that I actually teach at, so that I could pass out forms for a Pen Pal program I am working on setting up (with students in America), and my students were so excited to see Dad and Jeana and cheered and clapped for them. It was pretty adorable. I'm starting to really love the kids I work with (most of the time), so it was special to see that they cared about me and my family too.
Tuesday, Dad and Jeana attended my drumming class, and took some sweet video that I'm excited to have when I get home! Then we went down to the Cultural Center, which is basically just a big market of arts and crafts for tourists to go to. I don't think Ghanaians actually go there at all. At least, I've never seen any Ghanaian shoppers there... In any case, Dad almost got out of hand with how much he was buying (which was new! usually he hates shopping!), and Jeana was able to trade her backpack for some purchases, so I think all in all it was a good afternoon. Wednesday, their last day in Ghana, we took a trip up to Shai Hills, a beautiful area north of Accra. I've been there twice now, and it is one of my favorite places I've found in Ghana so far. Beautiful rolling hills, one of which you get to hike to the top of and look out over the expansive savannah (think Pride Rock view in the Lion King), and lots of baboons! Although there are 20 groups of baboons in the park, there is one family that stays close to the entrance so you get to see them really close up. We were able to feed them bananas too, and get close views of three babies! The tro tro ride out to the park took much longer than it should have due to bad traffic (why was I surprised?), and Dad and Jeana were about sick of it by the time we got there, but our ride back was much quicker and more enjoyable. We were trying to catch a tro tro back to Accra from right outside the park, and it was proving difficult, until a bright yellow vehicle pulled up next to us and asked us if we would like a ride. His car was sweet, not only because this steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car, but also because the backseat folded down to be in the open air. It was like we were in a truck bed, but there was no wall between the cab and the bed. In any case, it was nice. And this fellow was someone special, we think, because he was automatically waved through all the police stops and we didn't have to pay at the toll booth! He was very kind, and the grown-ups were very pleased.
It was sad to seem them go on Wednesday night, and I almost choked up as I put them in the taxi, but I am so happy they were able to come to Ghana. It was fun (although exhausting!) to be a tour guide for a week! For the first time, I was the knowledgeable one! And I did feel pretty knowledgeable, to tell the truth. But all in all, I feel pretty special to have a dad who would travel half way around the world just to visit his daughter for a week. I'm a pretty lucky girl :)

This weekend, I went with three girlfriends to the Volta Region! We were planning on going all over the region, but ended up just visiting the Wli Waterfalls. We spent a lot of time there because it was just. so. beautiful. I couldn't get over how pretty this town was. Mountains everywhere and views of the waterfalls just from the main road. It was truly breathtaking. We arrived in Wli on Friday afternoon and although we were too late to hike to the falls then, we were able to visit a sweet ostrich farm. Ostriches are BIG. Who knew? We fed them some corn stalks, and Ashley was terrified (she doesn't like animals much...), so overall, it was pretty great. Saturday morning we got up REAL early to meet our guide for our hike. We had decided to go to the upper falls, which is a really strenuous hike basically straight up a mountain for two hours, so we started early to avoid the heat. The hike was really hard and pretty scary, but definitely worth it. I only fell down twice. When we reached the upper falls, we were shocked at the strength of the water. Standing somewhat far away, we were blasted by the water and completely soaked. It felt wonderful. And I think it was the coldest I've ever been while in Ghana! That cold went away as soon as we started hiking back, though, and soon, the wet turned to sweat, so we were fairly disgusting by the time we got back. Which is pretty normal.

All in all, a great week with dad and a great weekend with the girls. I can't believe that 6 weeks from today I will be home with the family. It's crazy how fast this time has flown.

Dad-a-roo in GH

I've been harassed about only writing one post in October, so I am now attempting to slightly remedy that. I've had good excuses, I promise. First of all, we were without electricity on campus for about 12 days. For the first couple days it was really sporadic, but then it got into a structure of academic buildings lit during the day and residences at night, so most of the computer labs were non-functional. I think it's back to normal now, but I can never be completely sure.
Secondly, and more dominantly, DAD AND JEANA WERE HERE! This two consumed all my time for a good eight days, let me tell you. Fortunately, it was a wonderful eight days, so blog-writing wasn't my top priority. A little play-by-play of the week:

On Tuesday evening, Ashley and I headed down to the Kotoka International Airport, armed with my "DAD" greeting sign to meet their plane. Thankfully, it was only 20 or 30 minutes late, so we were able to settle them in to the Guest Center on campus before it got too late. The Guest Center rooms were lovely! Two twin beds in each, three armchairs, tv, lockable closet, fridge, desk, and full bathroom, situated on the breezy second floor. I stayed with dad for three of the nights and it was very enjoyable.
Wednesday, we headed down to Accra central to explore some of the tourist sights. Dad and Jeana were able to experience their first tro-tro ride, which was a bit of a shock for them, I think. I am happy to report, however, that both truly enjoyed the tro-tro experience by the end of the week. We went to the National Museum (which was wonderful!) and the Nkrumah Masoleum while we were down there, as well as lunch at a delicious and bountiful buffet.
Thursday, I took them up to the Madina Market, which is like most open-air markets in Ghana, but somewhat less intimidating than the bigger Makola Market in downtown Accra. We shopped and walked around there for the afternoon.
Friday, we headed out to Cape Coast. Unfortunately, most of Friday was spent sitting at the bus station waiting for our bus, which I informed them was a part of the typical Ghanaian experience. Once we got to Cape Coast, however, we spent the weekend visiting Kakum National Park, and both castles. It was somewhat of a repeat trip for me, but I have to say, we had better guides at each place than I had last time, and the weekend was a sunny one! I had no problem redoing the trip.
UH OH. I have a meeting to run to that I almost forgot about! I will have to save the rest of the week to report on later!

Traffic Time

I realize it's been a long time since I wrote a post, and partly that's because I haven't gone anywhere exciting lately. This weekend we went out to a really nice beach outside of Accra about 25 km, but other than that I've been hanging out around campus for the most part. And since that is getting to be pretty normal for me, it's hard to know what to talk about. Luckily, I realize it's not normal for anyone at home, so maybe I can talk about some of the stuff that's just rather ordinary and you'll find it interesting!

I thought I might talk about the traffic a bit, seeing as yesterday I experienced quite a bit of it, so it seems particularly relevant. The traffic in Accra is probably the worst traffic I've ever seen. It gets so bad that a trip from Kumasi, for example, several hundred kms away, can take about 3 hours to get to Accra, and then another 2 in Accra to get across town about 20 km. Yesterday, it took me three hours to get back to campus from volunteering in Teshie, a suburb. THREE HOURS. I was a little late getting started back, and evidently I just normally miss the traffic. Not yesterday, friends. My first tro-tro, from Teshie to 37 Station (middle-ish in Accra) took an abnormally long time, because for some reason, the driver turned off the main road to go way out of the way to seemingly avoid traffic. Unfortunately, when he meandered back to the main road, we were stopped at an intersection for a solid 15 minutes before the police officer directing traffic allowed us through. Then we were in bumper to bumper back to 37 Station.
From 37 Station, I walked out to the road to catch a tro-tro back to Legon. When I got to the bus stop, though, there were already about 50 people milling around waiting on tro-tros themselves. The interesting thing about this, is that when there are that many people at a stop, the tro tro mates don't bother calling out their destination. I'm not sure why this is, but they're very secretive about it. Maybe so they don't get bombarded with people. As an American who's not really sure what she's doing anyway, I have no idea which tro-tro I need to get in. So after waiting there for probably 30-45 minutes, not catching tro-tros effectively, I hear someone quietly say the next one is for Madina Market. Madina is a town just past Legon, so when you hear Madina, you can usually bet that one is safe. I shoved my way on the tro-tro, getting elbowed in the chest, shoved from behind, but I got a seat! I was very proud of myself. We drive on (as much as you can in stand-still traffic), and as I'm starting to relax, the mate asks for my money. I tell him I'm going to Legon and he looks at me and says "We not pass there." Confused, I asked "You're not going to Legon? But you're going to Madina." "Different way. Not pass Legon." Are. You. Serious. I got on the wrong tro-tro? REALLY? Luckily, there was another girl in the same situation (a Ghanaian, mind you. It's not just because I'm white..), and so she asked them to drop us off before they turned off the main road.
Back on the road, at another bus stop, I stand and wait for another 20 minutes or so as I watch the sun going down, reminding myself that I indeed left Teshie around 3... and that the sun sets around 6... A few tro-tros went by without me successfully getting on, but then a bus pulled up. A kind man told me that it would indeed go past Legon and the fare would be 20 pesawas. I shoved my way onto the bus (standing room only, of course) and grabbed onto the bar with all the strength I had. About 15 minutes later, after being a breast-rest for the woman standing next to me (she laid her boobs on my arm that whole trip), I climbed off the bus and walked the 25 minute walk back to the hostel. Ridiculous.
One somewhat entertaining thing about traffic in Accra are the hawkers in the streets. Every time there is traffic or a stoplight, lots of people take to the streets, weaving in and out of vehicles, trying to sell everything under the sun. We often play the "Who spots the most ridiculous thing being sold" Game. There are the normal things, "pure water" (500 ml bags of purified water that you bite the corner off to drink), plantain chips, mints, gum, and Chilly Yogurt (bottles of what I think is a yogurt drink, though I have yet to try it...). But then there are other things... like super glue. Puzzles. Ghanaian flags. Grapes. Dress shirts with ties. Huge over-the-mantle paintings of horses running at dusk. Enormous wall clocks. Who needs a mall? Just get stuck in traffic for a couple hours, and you're set.

A wild weekend in Kwahu

This weekend was a bit of an adventure here in Ghana! I went with five friends to the mountain region of Kwahu, to visit a Ghanaian friend's hometown of Mpraeso. While the bus ride took six hours as opposed to the two it was supposed to take because of traffic, we still managed to pack a lot into the two days we were there. It was funeral weekend in Mpraeso. Yes, you read that right. Funeral weekend. Funerals are a HUGE deal in Ghana and last for days at a time. Also, they save up the funerals to happen on one weekend a month or so, so during this specific weekend in Kwahu, there were probably 15 or 20 funerals happening at once. They must have good preservatives or something. Unfortunately, due to our bus delay, we missed the corspe viewing, so I'm afraid I can't tell you what a month-old dead person looks like. In any case, the streets were filled with funerals when we got there, and Chief (our friend who's town it is) said that we needed to greet all the mourners. So that's what we did. We shook 100s of hands, let me tell you. After shaking hands and getting settled in our home away from home, we set off in search of a good place to eat. Several of our group wanted a place to eat some good fufu, so Chief took us to a tiny whole in the wall sort of place, where we ground up our own onion, pepper, and ginger before being served our fufu or banku and groundnut soup. I'm still not a huge fan of fufu, but the banku is growing on me. The banku is similar to fufu in ingredients, but for some reason (of which I'm not really clear), it's a thicker consistancy than fufu. You feel more like you're eating than just swallowing. The meal was very tasty, and we all felt pretty accomplished for crushing our own spices and eating with our hands like locals.
After eating, we drove up to the highest habitable point in Ghana, which was just in the next town over. There is a church and training college at the top of the mountain, and from there we watched the BEAUTIFUL sunset. I'm not sure why this is, but I've noticed that the sun seems to set a lot faster here than at home. We watched it drop from relatively high in the sky to below the horizon in a little over a half hour. You can literally watch it drop. Is there some sort of physics lesson to that?

The next morning, we got up really early, around 5:30, and headed out into the day to hike up a mountain. Although the hike wasn't through the woods as I was sort of expecting, it was an amazing walk. We followed a dirt road up through the trees, and being that it was still really early and we were in the mountains, the mist was extremely heavy. At one point, we could barely see ten feet in either direction. It was so beautiful though, because these huge African trees (picture Lion King) would sort of rise out of the mist. You wouldn't realize they were even there until you were right under them. I took some pictures, but of course, none of them captured how incredible it was.

That afternoon I experienced something that I really don't ever need to see again. We were invited to witness a ritual done by a fetish priestess a little ways outside town. For those of you who are unfamiliar with fetish priests or priestesses, I believe its similar to voodoo. In any case, the reason for the ritual that day was as follows: A small old woman claims she had been bewitched somehow and given evil powers that she couldn't control. She confessed that with these evil powers, she had been responsible for killing many people. While she doesn't physically murder, she evidently spiritually murdered them and then soon after, they would die mysteriously of a sudden disease, stroke, or accident. She came to the priestess to cleanse herself of these evil powers because she didn't want to kill people anymore. While the ritual was all done in a different language, the jist of it was that in order to cleanse her, they needed to sacrifice a chicken and a goat to the gods and shave her head. I realized that I don't think I've ever seen an animal killed before. The chicken wasn't so bad. They really just sprinkled the blood on the alter before throwing it down to the ground where it flopped about for a while. The goat on the other hand... I don't think I've ever seen so much blood. And it was so red! It looked like paint! It was horrible to watch. After the sacrifices were over (which were successful in clearing her powers, by the way), it suddenly started to downpour. The blood washed off the alter and then the rain stopped. It was crazy. It was a fascinating afternoon, to say the least.

As we were getting ready to leave Kwahu, the village kids around the house where we stayed all swarmed us, which of course was adorable. It was a good relief from the rough afternoon experience! We danced and sang with them, played hokey pokey, and took lots of pictures, because they loved seeing themselves on camera. It was a very fun way to leave Kwahu. After the two hour ride back via tro tro, we were all pretty exhausted, but happy. Another successful weekend of never-before and never-again experiences.

Caught in a shower

Just felt like writing to tell you of a quick experience I had this morning.

Today is Friday, one of my days of no lectures, but I had a bit of running around campus to do. I came to the International Programs Office to do a little internet time (love that free internet), and then to register for my exams online (which is basically just a way of insuring that you are in fact enrolled in the right courses). Unfortunately something was wrong with my schedule in the system, so I had to go to several different buildings to get it all straightened out. The people I talked to were all very helpful though, and it went pretty smoothly. All of this really has nothing to do with my story. It's just the set up.

So I was leaving one building in pursuit of another, when I realized the weather had changed a bit since I left ISH this morning. While I had worn sunglasses on the way to the IPO, the sky now was looking pretty dark. My buildings were about a 10-15 minute walk apart, so I picked up my pace, because I didn't have an umbrella with me. The Ghanaians around me were walking pretty casually though, so I didn't let the foreboding clouds and strong leave-tossing breeze worry me too much. All of a sudden, though, I realized people were running all around me. Like full on sprinting in every direction. Confused, I looked behind (where the darkest clouds were) and realized that the sky had opened up and it was coming straight for us. It was like watching a wave come at you at the shore. You know in that split second that you will get wet no matter what. Almost immediately, huge, crushing raindrops were pouring down all over me. Following the locals, I dashed for the nearest building and stood on the porch with about 10 others to wait for the shower to stop. Eventually it did. But for those 20 minutes or so, it was as if time stood still. The streets were empty, voices were quiet. Everyone was just watching the rain.

This may seem like something unworthy of an entire post. But for some reason, this little episode made an impression on me. It had some sort of magical quality to it. The sudden chaos of trying to find cover followed by the hush of watching the rain just became one of those strange memories that I'll look back on and smile.

A New Do for a New Adventure

That's right friends and family, I got braids!!!After four hours of having my head tugged and yanked by four women, this is the end result:

While at first the braids were ridiculously heavy and hurt my head, I've gotten pretty used to them and am really enjoying having them. It definitely makes showers a lot quicker! I've gotten compliments from all different Ghanaians, both ones I know and ones I don't, saying they love my hair! It's so nice to hear, especially when I know that if I was in America, I would probably get made fun of endlessly. Don't worry, folks, I can hear the snickers from here!

Two days after getting my hair done, three friends and I decided to take a weekend trip to Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. I've been told that Kumasi is the heart of Ghanaian culture, adn from what I saw this weekend, I'd have to agree. We hopped on a bus, and after waiting for two hours for the bus to fill up, we set off on the six hour journey. We got dropped off near our hotel, which turned out not quite as lovely as the guide book had suggested (including paying extra for an air conditioner that didn't work adn only having running water for the first part of the first night). We didn't mind too much, though, because we were off on our own! This was the first time that we had left Accra without a tour guide, and we were all just so excited to be on an adventure.

We explored the neighborhoods around our hotel that evening and found a restaurant that served us delicious chicken and rice. As one friend keeps saying, chicken and rice has been ruined for him now, because the chicken in Kumasi is just on a different level than in Accra. The next morning we got up early to find the Owabi Wildlife Reserve, known for its butterflies, birds, and Mona monkeys, located about 18 km outside the city. We first picked up a tro tro from outside our hotel that took us down to the HUGE tro tro station by the city market. From there, we somehow found a gentleman named Derek who took it upon himself to find us the correct tro tro to Owabi. He led us through the giant maze of tro tros, asking people along the way, showing countless drivers our map to Owabi, until we found the right one. We were very grateful to him and were impressed by his generosity. Although we were warned that there are plenty of people here who are just looking for a quick buck in return for directions, it's amazing how many Ghanaians we've found that are willing to go far out of their way to help us without expecting anything in return. The generous ones far out number the greedy ones.
Here is a shot of part of the huge tro tro station:


So the correct tro tro took us out of town and dropped us at the head of a dirt road in a small village called Esase.. The tro tro mate (the one who collects the fares and calls the directions) pointed us down the right road and we headed off toward Owabi. We made it to what seemed like a ranger station of sorts and was labeled Owabi Wildlife Reserve, but there was no one around. We sat and waited for about 20 minutes with no luck, and then decided to take our chances further down the road to see if we could find someone who knew where the guide might be. After walking for quite a ways down teh road, we passed a soccer field where five or six small kids were playing football. They stopped and shouted obruni at us, something that is growing very dear to my heart, and then came running over. They asked us where we were going, and just making conversation, I told them we wanted to go on the wildlife hike but couldn't find a guide. Smiling, they took our hands and told us to come with them. They led us into their small village, where other people yelled obruni at us affectionately, and up to a building. They told us our guide was in there, and amazing, he was! He put on his boots, grabbed his machete, adn led us into the forest! If it hadn't been for our tiny tour guides, we never would have found him and the trip out to the reserve would have been a waste.

Unfortunately, during the hike we didn't get to see the Mona monkeys we were hoping for, but we did hear them on several occasions. We saw and heard beautiful birds and butterflies, however, including a hornbill (which I spotted because he flew exactly like Zazu in the Lion King). Plus, the forest and surrounding area was just so beautiful. So despite the non-monkey-visual, the adventure was a success.

That afternoon, we went to the Kajetia Market, the largest market in West Africa. It. Was. Awesome. Definitely my favorite part of the trip. I'm finding it hard to describe the enormity adn extent of the market in words. It's just so huge. Rowas upon narrow rows of everything you could need. And it's systematically organized, amazingly. These twelve rows are devoted to clothing, these six to hair care, those seven to fish and snails. There is SO MUCH. We were there for over an hour and I'm sure we didn'tn cover half of it. It was exciting, breathtaking, consuming. I loved every minute of it. Plus I got lots of compliments on my hair :)
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The next morning we were lucky to catch the bus that was supposed to be leaving at 9:30 (though we didn't get there till about 9:39 and it didn't actually leave till 10:15), so we didn't have to wait till the 12:30 bus. The trip home went fairly quickly, only about four hours. I think the African films they showed on the bus really sped things along! The first film was a Nigerian version of a Walk to Remember, called A Million Tears. I mean, it was the exact same plotline. Some exact lines, even. It was hilarious.

Overall, the trip was a success. Although we didn't do anything too exciting, it was so much fun exploring without really having a plan. I consider myself so lucky to be able to experience traveling like this.

Updates...

I realized yesterday that it has been quite a while since I last updated! Sorry to those of you who were waiting! It was an unintentional slip, I promise. While nothing quite as exciting as the weekend in Teshie happened since, here is an update on what I’ve been up to:

School is progressing nicely. I’m enjoying all of my classes, especially my Ghanaian Literature lecture. My professor for that class is a spunky relatively young Ghanaian woman who keeps lectures lively and entertaining, as well as really thought-provoking. We are currently reading Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo, who is supposedly the most famous African female author. Has anyone read any of her stuff? It was kind of disappointing to hear that she has this great reputation as the best female African writer and I’ve never heard of her. I’m realizing more and more how much African history/culture/literature is not taught in America. The only thing I remember ever learning about Africa in all my years of schooling (besides my African History class last year) is about the slave trade. Obviously, Africans have much more to contribute than slaves and the rest of the world has still failed to notice.

I finally met the professor for my New Literatures in English class today. After an extremely frustrating couple of weeks of the professor not showing up at the designated place/time and realizing she had been in a different location at a different time with half of the class, we met today to discuss when our whole class should meet and I think we got it settled. Presumably I will start that class this Thursday at 1:30 (5 weeks into the semester!!!!). I will really feel relieved once I’m in the chair with the professor in front of me, telling me what in the world “New Literatures” means.

My weekend was one of ups and downs. I went home with my roommate to her family’s house in Donsuma (an area of Accra). Looking back it seems pretty selfish of me, but I had kind of thought that the weekend would be about…well…me! I thought she would be showing me around, introducing me to her family, and I would get to experience life outside campus. Instead, it ended up being Amorkor going home for the weekend to visit her friends and family with an Obruni tagging along. There were many situations that went on for extensive hours during which she and her friends or family would be talking in Ga or Twi without so much of a break to fill me in on what was happening. This meant that I did a lot of sitting awkwardly and following aimlessly. It was pretty disappointing, to tell the truth. I don’t blame Amorkor, I just think I had a different idea of what the weekend was going to be like. On the upside, we went to a BEAUTIFUL beach called Bojo beach that was just breathtaking. As she and her boyfriend went off alone, I sat in a chair by the surf and just enjoyed the rhythm of the waves and the sunset. I can’t wait to go back to actually do some swimming (well….wading, more likely. I’m one to actually strain myself swimming).

Yesterday I had a bit of an adventure! One of my friends here in ISH, Nathan, had told me he was going to work at an NGO called Global Civic Preservation and asked if I wanted to go with him. The NGO is designed to help children who either have never been to school before or are just far behind to catch up so that they can be enrolled in normal school. Children generally spend a year at the Global Civic Preservation school before transferring into the mainstream education system. Nathan is helping them with fundraising proposals, but said he was sure they could use help elsewhere, so I tagged along. When we got there (after several Tro-tro rides and a bit of a walk), Michael, the director of the program, took us over to a Catholic school nearby where he is hoping to enroll six of the program’s kids for the new year that starts this next week. We spoke headmaster and Michael proposed an idea of starting a reading club with these children to make sure they were keeping up with their reading skills. This is where I would come in. The plan is for me to go to the school on Monday afternoons and meet with the group to read story books together. I think my main purpose is just to make sure they don’t have trouble pronouncing words and to keep them motivated. I’m so excited to get started! This is right up my alley! Plus, I think it’ll be a great little addition to my UW-Madison essay I have to finish writing next week! Helping to teach children in Africa how to read? Who wouldn’t accept me to a library science program? :)

Catching Tros + Running through Teshie + Black Stars Win = AWESOME WEEKEND

Although we stayed around Accra, this past weekend was my favorite spent in Ghana so far! I experienced a lot of firsts/once-in-a-lifetimers, that will definitely make it a weekend I'll remember for years to come!
While it seems kind of silly now, my first big excitement of the weekend was Friday afternoon when I went with a few friends down to Osu, the shopping district of Accra. Although I was there last week with my roommate, this time we went without Ghanaians and took Tro-tros! I've been on a tro-tro a couple of times before, but this was the first time catching one on my own. It's really an adventure. You stand around with about 20-40 other people (Ghanaians, who know what they're doing, mind you) and wait until a tro-tro that is nearly full pulls up shouting their destination really, really fast. (For example, the Accra station is said so fast it just sounds like "Cra, Cra, Cra, Cra, Cra!") You really have to know what you're listening for, because if you're slow on figuring out what they're saying, there will already be 15 other people vying for the one open spot on the tro-tro, and you, my friend, will be out of luck. We stood on the road for a good 25 minutes before we had a successful catch. But catching it certainly felt good! The great part about tro-tros is the super cheap cost. Round trip was about 90 pesawas (60 cents). The not great part about tro-tros is the tight quarters. I couted 24 of us in the one on the way back. Keep in mind that these vehicles are not much bigger than 15 passenger vans. Super cozy.
Saturday brought one of the most insane experiences of my life. A bunch of us decided to go down to Teshie (an area of Accra on the beach) because they were having their annual festival. We didn't really know what to expect, but thought it might be an interesting way to spend the beautiful afternoon. We troed (yes, that's a verb!) down to Teshie and met up with Nii, the ISEP group's tour guide from a previous trip, because he lives and works in Teshie and knows the festival well. He and his friends led us to what seemed like a parade route. People were standing and sitting along the edge of the street, waiting for something. We didn't really understand what was happening when the first group went by. A gruop of about 40-60 people all dressed in red ran by chanting something in Ga. There were men (some wearing stuffed bras and skirts--still not sure what that was about) women and children, some barefoot, some in only socks, and they were all booking it down the street. After they passed, it was explained to us that this festival ia a time for all the different tribes from the area to come together to celebrate and to cast their sins and negative experiences into the sea. A yearly refresher, if you will. First, the tribes all make laps around the town's streets, seriously running and singing for about four hours. When they get tired, they hop out for a bit, rest, and then jump back in when their clan comes around.
We watched this for a while and walked up the route, pausing to get off the road whenever a group ran by. After we had been there for about 45 minutes, our "guides" asked if we were ready to try it. I thought they were kidding. But some of my friends were all for it, an deven though running isn't my thing (to put it extremely mildly), I wasn't about to miss out. Keep in mind that I was wearing Birkenstock sandals (the non-moldy ones), khaki shorts that were pretty loose from wear, and a nice blousy-tank top. Not exactly your calssic running outfit. I was excited/nervous, but ready for anything. I gripped the hand of one of our new Ghanaian friends, Jeff, and as a tribe ran by, he pulled me into the mass.
Now let me tell you, it was pretty intimidating just watching the people run by. But being in teh midst of it brought it to a whole new level. It was CRAZY. In this mosh-pit-like crowd, people are running into you, pushing you from behind, yanking on your arms, grabbing at your waist, and yet everyone is singing and laughing and having a great time. All while running. It was the most exhilarating experience I can remember having.
We ran for about a mile and a half. For those of you who know men, and are now rolling your eyes in disbelief, I promise I'm telling the truth. I, Emily Ward, ran for a mile and a half, under the African sun, wearing Birks, with hundreds of Ghanaians all around me. Under normal circumstances I know it would have been impossible for me to go that far. And I'm not saying it was easy, because I almost keeled over at the end. But with Jeff pulling me along, the fear of being trampeled if I stopped, and the massive amount of adrenaline pumping through me, I did it. That's something I know I'll never experience again, and I'm so glad I was a part of it. Needless to say, it was exhausting. I slept for 10 hours that night.
On Sunday, the International Programs Office organized a trip to see the World Cup qualifying football match between Ghana and Sudan. A mere 35 cedis bought us transportation, a ticket, and a jersey to wear to the game. Although I've never been to a professional soccer game, I'm going to guess, that like most other things here, the experience was unique to Ghana. The stadium was packed. We had amazing seats. I sat seven rows up in the dead center. The players sat right below us! I was able to get pictures of the players' faces, we were so close. Throughout the stadium there were huge groups, each clump wearing matching shirts. These gruops were amazing; for the entire game (and for a good 2 hours before it started) they were up singing and dancing in unison. I don't know who they all were, but they were impressive. It was exciting match, to say the least. Ghana won 2-0 and are now officially off to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, and one that I could have only experienced in this amazing country.

Pictures!

Okay, fingers crossed that this post will work. After almost three and a half weeks here, I think I finally found good enough internet access for my laptop to post a few pictures. Like I already told the fam, I'm not going to post many yet, because I want everyone to have rapt attention during my many slideshows after I'm back in the states! But to keep you interested, here are a few shots of my experience so far:

BAM. Picture #1!!! This is a picture I took my first day in Ghana. It was a "Look, I'm in Africa!!!" picture. It's taken from my balcony. Not a terrific view, but much better than those who have a view of the parking lot! It only took 15 minutes to upload. Let's try this again.







Picture numero dos: A view of the inside courtyard of my hostel. I am indeed on the top floor, and despite the flights of stairs, I really love it up there. Wonderful breeze and no misquitos. Notice in the middle of the bottom part of the picture there is a giant AIDS poster. I believe it says "HIV/AIDS can shatter your dreams. Protect yourself!" These posters are everywhere in Ghana. There in all the hostels, randomly posted around campus, on billboards on the highway, everywhere.



Here's an image of my first meal in Ghana. And my second ... and my third ... This is pretty much the meal that everyone eats on a regular basis. Like at least once a day. Jollof rice, chicken, plantains, spaghetti, and a sauce they call gravy (although nothing like gravy we're used to). It may seem like it gets boring, but I'll be honest, yesterday afternoon I had a craving for Jollof and plantains... I may be turning Ghanaian.





Here's a shot of me on one of the canopy bridges at Kakum National Park! We were hundreds of meters above the ground, suspended between treehouse-like platforms. I loved every minute of it. I wish we got to see more wildlife (besides the killer ants), but it was fun all the same.









Okay, so I was going to post one more picture of our entire Missouri Africa Program group, but of course the internet really doesn't want to let me do that. I tried 5 times. Oh well, I think four pictures is pretty good! More later!

Honeymoon is over

Goodness, I have so much to write about today! Unfortunately, not all of it is fun and exciting... Yesterday I experienced my first large annoyances in Ghana.

FIRST: I started the day yesterday by getting up, getting dressed, grabbing my Birkenstock sandals (the older ones, for those of you who know my footwear) out of my closet to slide on, when I noticed something awful. The foot beds of both shoes were covered in mold. Big green and white beds of mold. I had to stifle the cry of despair and disgust because my roommate was still asleep, but I quickly wiped the shoes clean with some lysol wipes and hoped they would dry out. This morning, once again, covered in mold. I wiped them again and put them out on the balcony, thinking that maybe the wind will help them completely dry out. I don't have high hopes, though. These Birks may have found a permanent home in Africa.

SECOND: I strolled over to the English Dept. yesterday to pick up some photocopied readings for my Studies in African Prose class, and was confused to find a chaotic mass of people there, milling around, queuing up in front of the two entrances to the building, etc. I checked the notice boards outside the dept. and found out why they were all there. This is what the sign said, more or less: STUDENTS IN LEVELS 300-400 (me) WILL NEED TO RE-REGISTER AS THE COURSE ELECTIVES HAVE CHANGED AND BEEN REASSIGNED. What? Changed? I scanned the list of the new courses, and Studies in African Prose has been bumped. This was the small discussion based class that had the really personable professor who had lived in C-U and Bloomington for several years before. The one that looked out for me in class and encouraged me to speak my mind as I was the only white student and would offer a valuable perspective. The class I was really looking forward to! I was so depressed! The class now being offered that is of similar content (Masterpieces of African Lit) is held on Friday afternoons, a day I really was hoping to save for traveling. So instead, I am now signed up for New Literature in English (though I'm not sure what that means). I figure it's okay that I'm not taking ALL Africa/Ghana specific classes. The other four still are (Ghanaian Lit, English in Ghana, African Drumming, and Islam in West Africa). It was just a very frustrating morning.

HOWEVER: The day picked up after that, when I went to hang out with my roommate. She's so awesome! I really lucked out. Her name is actually Amorkor (though the r's are kind of quiet) and she lives in the Accra area with her father. Her three siblings are all in the US working or going to school, but her dad didn't want to give up his baby, so she stayed in Ghana. Ga (the language of the people of the Greater Accra Region) is her native language, but she also speaks Twi, a little French, and, obviously, English. She's really excited about being a host to her country and said she can't wait to take me home to stay for the weekend and show me all around the city. Yesterday afternoon we went to lunch in Osu (a busy shopping district) with a couple of her girlfriends, and she helped me barter for my first African dress! It was pretty exciting! Oh, and she's BEAUTIFUL. I think it's going to be fun to be her roommate.

Once again, I couldn't get pictures up because the man with the wireless passwords is MIA. But I promise I'm trying! Hopefully next week, so you can see some of Cape Coast!

Classes and roommate...? Maybe?

So I have now been in Africa for two weeks (craaaaazy) and I have yet to start real classes and my roommate has not yet moved in. I met her yesterday, so I know she exists, but she told me she was moving in today and has yet to show up (it's after 9 already...). Her name is Amoko, although I have no idea if that's how it's spelled. Presumably I'll learn that soon. I'm pretty sure she's Ghanaian... From our brief interaction she seems really nice, so I'm excited!
Tomorrow begins our first "real" week of classes, the week that the local students and professors decide to show up. So bright and early tomorrow morning (I'll leave around 6:45) I'm off to English in Ghana and then after that, I'll have 5 minutes to run across campus to get to Gender Studies in Ghana. I assuming that I'll be late. But I'm also assuming that really won't be a big deal.

Since a couple people asked, going to greet the chief DOES mean going to the bathroom (way to go Mom). He explained it that you have loyalty to both the chief and to the toilet (you have to visit both regularly) AND that when the chief/the bladder calls, you have to answer pretty quick or you're in trouble. The other two expressions, both the cocoa farm and a woman's wealth, mean the same thing: a lady's...area... While men have no choice but to work to earn money, a woman can choose to work or have her husband work for her. She already is wealthy. (I have a little bit of a hard time with that one, but it's a fun new euphemism.)

Oh! Big news: I tried Fufu the other night. My first impression: not great. Fufu is basically a strange tasting lump of bread dough (actually cassava dough, but the same consistancy of bread dough. or gooey play-do, which is what it reminded me of, going down), covered in a spicy broth and a slab of meat, in my case, beef. Here's the tricky thing though. They don't give you silverware for this meal. Ghanaians eat it with their hands. And so do Americans who don't bring their own fork to dinner. PLUS it's rude to touch food directly with your left hand, so all the action happens with the right. Let me tell you, ripping apart a slab of kinda fatty beef is HARD with one hand. Super hard. And the soup was really spicy for my wimpy tastebuds. I managed to eat about half of it, and I'm really glad I tried it, but I don't know that I'll be ordering it again any time soon.

Last night we attended the International Programmes Welcome Durbar, which was so much fun! They had lots of wonderful food for us, as well as a great group of drummers and a dance group. African performing arts are so amazing. So much energy! They ended the night with a Highlife band (a popular music genre in West Africa) for us to dance to. It was a very fun evening.

Flowing once again

Water, water, water, water, water! Those are the words that are being joyously shouted around the hostel this afternoon. After four solid days sans water, us American kids are ecstatic with this afternoon's announcement. Amazingly, they got the toilets all emptied out too. I don't know when or HOW they did that awful job, but they are empty and flushable! People are taking showers left and right, filling up buckets to save for our next outage, and I even saw one girl mopping her room floor. Personally, I took this chance to do some laundry. That's right folks, today I hand washed 8 shirts, 3 towels, 4 pairs of underwear, a washcloth, and a bra. It was exhausting. My wets are currently hanging on one of the many drying lines in our courtyard, waiting to be blown dry by the wild African breeze.

Bucket baths and Madina Market

Hi family and friends,

I've been here for seven days now and time is already flying by. A few updates on my life:

1. Still don't have a roommate. But classes are supposed to start tomorrow, so hopefully she will be getting here soon!

2. We have been without running water in our hostel for the past 48 hours, which means no flushing toilets or flowing showers. Let me tell you, it is getting smelllly in those bathrooms! This morning I decided I couldn't wait much longer for a shower, so took my first bucket bath. There is a water reserve tank in the back of our hostel that has a spigot on the ground floor, so I filled a large bucket, dragged it upstairs to the showers, and used a bowl to pour water from it. Overall it went really well and I think I enjoyed it better than the other showers I've taken here! The water wasn't quite as cold since it is able to be heated by the sun, and I even got to shave my legs. I might become a bucket bather for life.

3. Classes start tomorrow morning, and my first one is at 7:30 am, which means I'll have to leave the hostel around 6:45 or so to get there in time for a seat. My first class is English in Ghana, which is more of a linguistic course. I hope it will be interesting! Also tomorrow I have to find time to reigster for my other classes, get my student ID, figure out when my other lectures are meeting, and figure out how to feed myself! I think it will be a busy day!

4. We went to the Madina Market today. The young woman who has been leading us around all week for orientation, Faustina, took us for our first Tro-Tro ride to Madina. It cost 25 pesewas, which is equal to about 15 cents to take the Tro-Tro to the next town over from Legon. Very cheap! The driving is CRAZY here. I would never EVER drive in Ghana. The drivers seem to be very good at weaving in and out of the traffic though. The market itself was a bit overwhelming. We walked down aisle after aisle of little shops selling vegetables, fish, snails, cloth, shoes, bags, etc. Faustina told us that it wasn't very busy because it was a Sunday and most of the shops weren't open, but to us, it was ridiculously busy! They kept calling us "obruni" which means white person to get our attention. It's a friendly nickname and Faustina told us to respond by yelling "obibini" (meaing black person) right back. Mostly, I just say hello with a smile though. While I know they're not meaning offense to me, it goes against my natural instincts to call someone "black person." I'll have to work on it... The children in the market were so funny. They seemed so shocked and excited to see white people. "Obruni, obruni!" they called when they saw us. When we say hello back, they give us shy little smiles and waves. One little girl came up to me to shake my hand and was so happy. It is a little incentive to keep putting on the sunscreen!

Hello from Ghana!

I have now had four full days here in Ghana and I am loving the experience so far! I'm in the Honeymoon Phase, so I'm told. The campus is HUGE in comparison to Truman, and self-contained, as opposed to the U of I. Each morning we set off from the International Student Hostel at the southern end of campus across the red dirt paths and under the branches of the incredibly big, beautiful trees to go to various lectures on safety, health, adjusting to Ghanaian culture and registration procedures. In a lecture yesterday that focused on cultural etiquette we learned that there are certain inappropriate topics that are generally covered by euphemisms.
For example: "I'm got to go greet the chief."
Or: "A woman's wealth"
Or: "Her cocoa farm"
Any guesses to what these might mean? I'll tell the answers next time....

I'm really enjoying our residence hostel also. It's a four story building with a huge courtyard in the center. The hallways are open to the courtyard, like a motel, and the ends of the halls have big open balconies. Each room has its own balcony too. The breeze up on the fourth floor (where I am) is great. I wake up cold in the mornings! Who would have guessed? They say August is the coolest month, though, an din a couple months it won't be the same story. I don't have a roommate yet, but I've heard that means I will have a Ghanaian roommate. While that kind of makes me nervous, I'm also excited that I'll have an inside perspective to help me out this semester!

Today we went on a driving tour of the Accra, the capital city, and were able to stop for tours at the W.E.B. DuBois Center and the Kwame Nkrumah (I think that's how it's spelled-- the first president of independent Ghana) Memorial. Both were very interesting! We also stopped at a cultural center market and I experienced my first bargaining session. I talked down a wall painting from 25 cedis to 10 cedis (about $7). It's a beautiful (small) painting of--guess what-- elephants. I know I'm boring, but it's really pretty!

This post hasn't been very long, but it took me nearly 20 minutes to connect to this site, so I have to get going! Know that I am safe and having a great time! I love you!

Two Day Countdown

As my father so lovingly pointed out today, I haven't posted anything in a while, and as he put it, no one is going to follow my blog if I don't write anything. But frankly, I've been quite busy! Going to Africa is a lot of work!

Believe it or not, my packing is fairly complete and neither of my suitcases weigh over the designated 50 pound mark! Rolling clothes instead of folding really does work wonders. I'm not sure I get the physics of it, but it's true, I promise. All of my clothes fit in about half a suitcase. The rest is filled with towels, lysol wipes, gallons of sunscreen, and a pot to boil the diseases out of the water. One of my favorite things are the fun little gifts for the African children. I've been told that in marketplaces and rural villages, the children will flock to Americans with the hopes of getting small presents. I've come prepared. I'm bringing crayons, markers, stickers, Lifesavers, gum, cars, and hairbands. Hopefully they'll trade me a crayon for a picture.

It's strange to think that in three days I'll be in a different continent. I keep saying it over and over to myself. I'm going to Africa. AFRICA. AFFFRRIIICAAA. It's like I'm trying to convince myself of it. Interestingly enough, I'm not freaking out yet. I know logically that leaving the US to go to Africa for a semester is a BIG deal, but it doesn't feel that big. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. But I've been preparing for it so long, I feel like I've thought of everything. Impossible, I know, but I'm not that worried. It's an adventure. Things will work out. Problems will be solved. I will be fine. I know this in my head, so I'm not freaking out. Come Sunday, I might have a different story for you.

My flight leaves from St. Louis Sunday evening, stops in Chicago (where I meet the rest of the group), Heathrow, and then arrives in Accra, Ghana Monday evening. I'm excited for the plane. Weird, right? Who likes traveling for 24 hours? But I've always thought plane rides are exciting. Especially the take-off and landing. It reminds me of a rollercoaster--and I LOVE rollercoasters. Plus, on this flight there will be movies (yay!) and meals! I've never been served airplane food before! I know, I know, it's not known for its quality, but I still think it's fun. And again, come Monday, I might not have the same sentiments, but for right now, I'm looking forward to it.

They supposedly are going to give me a phone card to use when I arrive in Ghana to call home on Monday. So hopefully, Mom and Dad will hear from me around 2 pm cst on Monday. I'm sure they'll call the immediate relatives, but if you haven't heard from them and are curious, feel free to give them a call. I'll try to get online sometime within the first few days to let everyone know I got there safely, but I don't give any guarantees! Who knows what crazy things they'll be keeping us busy with!

I love you all and thank you for everyone's support. It's comforting to know that I'll have so many people at home sending me good thoughts across the ocean. I will miss you!

More shots and pills...

I got my second round of shots today. With these shots and finishing up an oral vaccine yesterday, I currently have a little case of typhoid, meningitis, and yellow fever. The typhoid put up a bit of a fight, but I think my body won out. These vaccines better do their jobs. I'll be angry if I come home with a crazy disease.

I'm feeling pretty out of the loop about the trip, to tell you the truth. As Mom and Dad are well aware, for example, I still have yet to receive an invoice saying how much we owe for this whole thing. They were supposed to send it out in early June, and then they were waiting till they heard a final cost from U of G, then the international director from U of G was vacationing for a while, and so I still haven't heard. I'm assuming that they will let me know if they have been waiting for our payment for a long time, like if the invoice got lost in the mail or something, but it still makes me nervous. Truman's Study Abroad Office isn't known for their efficiency. I think I'm going to have to make another call in the next couple of days if I still haven't heard anything. It's getting pretty close, you know?

And then there's the fact that I have no idea what I'll be doing once I get over there. No idea what classes will be offered, who I'll be living with, or how traveling is going to work. I know that the first weekend after classes start we're taking a group trip to Cape Coast to visit the slave port and Kakum National Park (where the canopy walkways are!), but that's the only trip that's planned, I believe. I don't know if we are supposed to plan the other trips we want to take on our own, or if there will be other group excursions.

Perhaps I'm being dramatic. Of course I don't know what's going on. I'm going to be in a foreign country. And truthfully, for the most part, I don't mind the not-knowing terribly. It's meant to be an adventure, right?

I've been spending some time on the U of G website (http://www.ug.edu.gh) getting acquainted, and it's funny that I didn't realize how big the university is. There are about four times as many students at U of G than at Truman. There's information about shuttles going around campus. Shuttles around campus? For that matter, Roads around campus? Who heard of such a thing? It's going to be an adjustment to get used to a bigger university, regardless of the fact that it's on a different continent.

Shots and pills

Welcome to my very first blog!

While some of you know that I like to write, I've never been very good with journaling, so please don't set your expectations for this little blog too high. Plus, I've been told to not rely on the internet in Ghana, so we'll just have to see if this will get beyond the states. My hope is that through this, I'll be able to let my friends and family in on the crazy adventures I'm sure to have over the next several months.

People have been asking me a lot of questions about my trip, and honestly I don't know all that much. I leave the country August 9th, have a layover in England, before landing in Accra, Ghana on the evening of the 10th. I believe Ghana is 6 hours ahead of Illinois time, which hopefully won't cause too much trouble trying to contact Mom and Dad... I'll be staying on campus in the International Student Hostel with 180-something other international students (ahhh, I'm an international student!!). We'll have about a week to settle in and get acquainted with the University and Legon, before classes start the following Monday. All classes are taught in English, since Ghana was colonized by Britain during Europe's scramble for Africa in the 1800s. (Interestingly, Ghana was the first African country to gain its independence from a colonizer and since 1957 has had many successful democratic elections.)

I've learned that Ghana is considered the country closest to the "center" of the world, considering it is located only a few degrees north of the equator and the Prime Meridan cuts through its borders. In any case, this means it's hot there. I found a statistic that said the lowest recorded temperature throughout the entire year was 64 degrees (Fahrenheit!) and generally highs are in the 80s and 90s with a great deal of humidity. I'm bringing a lot of cotton and linen, although I'm sure I'll still complain about the heat a lot... But hey, that means midwestern heat will never feel bad again!

Today was my first visit with the travel clinic to start my shots. I got a shot in each arm, one for Polio, the other for Hep A, and several prescriptions for drugs to take with me. Next week I'll go back to get the Yellow Fever vaccine and the meningitis vaccine (who knew that only lasts three years?). All these shots makes it feel like it's really getting close.

I'm really going to Africa.