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!