Last Week in Ghana

Well, this is officially my last Sunday in Ghana, and tomorrow is my last Monday, making all of this my last week here.  I'm leaving in six days and could not be more excited.  It's not that I hate Ghana and can't wait to get out of here (as many people think is the case of those of us leaving early), but rather that after four months of being away, I'm ready to go back to the States/have a ton of stuff to do for the summer/life in general. 

Lately, I've been ridiculously bogged down with work.  I've lived in the editing room making a documentary about ice cream and have been paper writing out the wazoo.  Amidst all of this work, I'm trying to make sure I have gifts for everyone and still have fun.  

Yesterday, we took a group trip to Wli Falls.  It was phenomenal.  Really, so much fun.  The group was great, the waterfall was beautiful, and it was just generally a nice break from everything.  Once we got back, the other dorm, Solomon's, had organized a party, and again a great time.  As time is coming down to the end, I've realized that I really genuinely like everyone at NYU in Ghana and I'm really happy about that.  Even though I'm not besties with everyone, I think that I can count everyone as a friend and I'm thrilled that we'll be able to see each other in the city. 

Okay, off to do work.  Six Days! AHHHH! 

Ghana just keeps getting better...

So after the lovely experience of being sick and just generally out of commission for a week, my laptop was stolen. Out of my house. PRETTY FREAKING LAME if you ask me.

It wasn't even just my laptop. My roommate's was taken too, along with her purse and another girl's purse in my house. And of course, Ghana being the incredibly modern/civilized/efficient/developed/really insert any word here that is used to describe Ghana place that is, a great investigation was started straight away.

Now at my house we have 24 hour security guards, an alarm system, and a CCTV (or something like it system). And at NYU in Ghana we have this lovely (ineffective) guy named Victor in charge of security (and community service at which he had already proved himself incompetent). Victor and our security company, G4S start a crack investigation, which five days later, had resulted in them not yet watching security tapes and essentially looking around our houses to make sure we didn't misplace our computers. Okay, seriously NYU? I've gone so far as to refer to my laptop as my baby...I totally just misplaced it.

This whole experience has also allowed me to get acquainted with the Ghanaian Police Department. If I had to choose one word to describe their investigation tactics, I'd have to go with illogical. After Leah and I gave statements saying that our laptops were Macs, they call us in to see if a Sony laptop that they confiscated from our security guard's house (it was his roommate's) was ours. Seriously? Yesterday morning, I'm woken up to find our investigator at our house who tells us that she's there to "help us look" for our laptops. Again, seriously?

Blah. The whole this is just really frustrating. Luckily, my dad took out what I'm convinced is the greatest insurance policy ever and my laptop was covered by it. Now I just have to deal with the extreme inconvenience of having to write multiple papers and finals without my computer or any of the information on it. So much to do for the two weeks that I have left here.

So I've been back in Ghana for a month since Spring Break...

Here's an abridged version of things that have gone down:

• I am no longer working at the LRC for reasons not worth mentioning.
• I'm getting really, really tan from going to the beach. Seriously. It's not really me. I'm not glowing in the dark. Amazing I know.
  
• Continuing with schoolwork. Time to start writing term papers and whatnot. YES! So excited!
• I went to Benin (and Togo, but only because you have to go through Togo to get there) with Anna and Jackie. It was pretty cool. It's a Francophone country which meant awesome baguettes. In other news, I rode many Motos (their form of taxis) and did not die. I also stayed in a stilt village which was semi-unsettling, but again I survived, and it was very cool.
• I possibly got malaria. I guess this one is kind of a big one. I went to the hospital here and they decided to treat me for malaria. I finished the treatment, but am still sick so now we're on to antibiotics. Sweet deal.
• I have seriously started craving bizarre American foods. Despite the fact that I am sick right now, there is nothing more in the world that I want than a Taco Bell Chicken Quesadilla. Hopefully, I will not be lactose intolerant by the time I get home from this severe lack of dairy products in Ghana.
  
• I will be returning home in less than three weeks (there's a countdown for you mom.)
  

An Even More Delayed Spring Break Post, Part 2

Flying into Namibia and the drive from the airport to Windhoek was so cool to see. If there was one word to describe Namibia I think it would have to be empty. It makes sense because it’s like the least densely populated country in Africa, but it was just shocking to see something so barren after coming from such a city. After about a 45 minute ride, we got to Windhoek and our accommodation there (Chameleon Backpackers).

Chameleon was really freaking nice. There was a huge self-catering outdoor kitchen, a pool, lots of communal space and the rooms were really great too. We ended up staying in a six-bed dorm with two very strange (and kind of rude guys). After locking up all of our luggage, we went to hang out by the pool for some time and then decided to nap for the afternoon. We didn’t really feel bad about doing this because Windhoek isn’t the greatest tourist destination in the world…it’s really kind of a sleepy city. We made dinner for ourselves that night (which was so cheap! Only US$1 a person!) and then called it pretty early because the next morning we had an early pickup for our safari.

The next morning, we got up early, had the complimentary breakfast at Chameleon and at 7:30 were met by Martin, our lovely safari guide. He showed us out to Sexy Beast, our Safari-mobile where we packed in all of our stuff and got in. We waited for a while in the car because we were told that two other people would be joining us on our Safari. Soon enough the two others showed up. They were two eighteen-year-old British boys named Henry and Hamish. We got off to a really amusing start with them because right away Griffin started sassing them. One of the first things she said to Henry was “Do you really need that window open right now?” Which came out way meaner than she meant it to, but it was pretty hilarious. We definitely posed all questions to each other in the same way for the rest of the time.

Anyway, we left Chameleon and headed over to Thimbi Thimbi (our safari company) to fill out some paperwork. Afterward, we stopped at Game (which is a strange store and also in Ghana) for some snacks and were on our way. Driving through Namibia was absolutely gorgeous. Again, there was so much open space it was pretty unbelievable. We stopped for lunch in a place called Solitaire and as the name might suggest, it was the only thing around. Martin and his assistant Safari guide Vares prepared an awesome lunch for us (lots of cheese!) which we downed quickly. Post-lunch, we were on our way again to the Agama River Camp, where we would be staying the next two nights.

Upon arrival at the campsite, we were put to work. We had to set up our own tents which we did so masterfully. Monica and I might have had a little help from Martin with our tent, but we still have ace camping skills. After set up, we all put on our bathing suits and spent the rest of the day by the pool at the campsite (it was not necessarily the cleanest pool in the world…you could really see any of your body when in the water). That night Martin and Vares made us dinner and we laid on the ground looking at the stars for a while (there were so many!) and then headed to be bed.

The next morning we were woken up at 4:30am to head to Sossusvlei. We wanted to get there before sunrise so we could see the sun rising over the dunes. We got to Sossusvlei around 6am and were the first in line outside the gate. It reminded me of the time (I think this happened unless I am making it up) that we got to Disneyland before it opened and were the first in line. Finally after about an hour we were let in and we sped our way to the first dune. Martin told us to get out and we went running up the dune…for a short time at least. The thing about sand dunes is that they’re really ridiculously hard to hike. Regardless, we made it partially up and watched the sunrise which was absolutely beautiful. Then we headed back down for breakfast to fill up before we continued our way through Sossusvlei.

Driving through the park we saw ostriches and springbok and lots of sand. Eventually we hit a point where four-wheel drive was necessary and kept going. We made it out to Crazy Dune which Martin led us on a hike of. We all hiked up barefoot (shoes just filled with sand) and took some awesome jumping off of dune pictures. We then ran down the side of the dune on to Dead Vlei, which is like this weird dried valley but really cool. I climbed a tree which I thought would be like petrified wood but was definitely really splintery and took a ton of pictures then we all headed back to Sexy Beast. We left Sossusvlei and headed out to Sesriem Canyon which was outside the Sossusvlei gate. We hiked down into the canyon a short way and found a river that ran through it. It was ridiculously hot, so we all semi-stripped down and went for a swim. We also partook in some mad fun cliff jumping. After our fun, we rode back to our campsite soaking wet and were lazy for the rest of the day.

The following day we headed to Swakopmund which we had heard was the “resort destination of Namibia.” First we stopped in Walvis Bay which certainly looked like the party destination of Namibia from all the empty beer and Smirnoff Ice bottles. We continued on to Swakopmund, passed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s house and got to our really adorable guesthouse that we stayed at. We went into the town to go to a craft market we heard about and it was pretty much like a ghost town. Seriously, no one was around. We found the craft market, bought some stuff, saw some Himba People, and went to the beach (which was quite cold). That night we went out to dinner where we all ordered waaaaay too much food. Oh! But before dinner, our guesthouse had a really awesome happy hour where beers were only 7 Namibian Dollars or about 70 cents. We wanted to get the full value of this deal and downed many beers each. When in Namibia… Anyway, we tried to go out after dinner (and bear in mind this is a Saturday night) and the bar we went which was also a club like sort of deal had golf on…WITH COMMENTARY. Not like music or anything. It was fine though because we were pretty beat and called it a night after that disappointment.

The next day we went Quad Biking and Sandboarding in the Dunes in Swakopmund. It was definitely one of the cooler parts of the trip. I managed to hurt myself on the quad before we even made it on to the sand (no worries, just a small amount of blood). After an hour or so of Quading we got to some dunes were we meet some guys who had the sandboards. Now sandboards are pretty much just pieces of plywood that they grease up on one side. You lie down face first, lift the front and well just glide down the sand. It was pretty fun aside from the massive quantities of sand that end up everywhere you can imagine. After we all went a few times, we headed back to the homebase. It was on the way back that Monica got thrown from her Quad which then ran over her (she proved to be alright though). Our guide went back to help her and left me, Caroline and Griffin in the middle of a bunch of dunes. We got kind of nervous after a while because we realized we had no idea where we were or how to get back. Luckily, our guide returned with Monica safely, although shaken up, on his quad. We all made our way back to the base and then returned to our guesthouse to meet up with Martin and Vares to go back to Windhoek.

We spent the night in Chameleon again, in an even nicer room than our first, and this time, no nasty roommates. We decided we wanted some dinner that night, but failed to get to the supermarket before it closed. Our only choice was to order pizza from this place that delivered. It was our only choice because at that point, we were really freaking broke. I mean, we were so out of money, we were counting change. It was really amusing though and after emptying out every pocket we had enough for one pizza, which was enough for us. That night at Chameleon we hung out with some pretty cool people. One guy was from England and was biking from Ethiopia down to Cape Town. He had been doing it since January and had a month left to go. He kind of put us to shame in the way we traveled.

The next morning we had to get to the airport to fly back to Accra. We took a shuttle and had another very stress-free experience at check-in. We also had a stress-free flight getting to Joburg, where we had to connect to get to Accra. In the Joburg airport, we met up with the girls from our program who had spent their break there and exchanged stories. Again we had another awesome flying experience with a very empty plane with an empty seat next to each of us. It was pretty sweet. In the end we made it to Accra safely (although one bottle of my wine didn’t) after an amazing trip.

A much delayed Spring Break entry...Part 1

Spring Break as previously mentioned was phenomenal. It’s way too much to write about, but I’m going to attempt to recount the most amazing parts.

Flying to Cape Town was pretty stress free. It was kind of annoying because it wasn’t a direct flight, but the transfer in Joburg was pretty much the easiest thing in the world. None of us checked any luggage so there was no reclaiming or anything. From Accra to Joburg (which was basically a redeye flight) I had the luxury of sitting next quite possibly the most talkative man in the world. He was an Afrikaner named Martin and spent a substantial amount of the time that I would have liked to have been asleep showing me pictures of everything from his grandson to the goldmine he built in Ghana. He was very nice though and offered to show me around South Africa on my next trip there.

Our arrival in Cape Town was pretty seamless. I had arranged for an airport transfer through our Backpackers and we were met at the gate. The driver was really great and gave us a little tour of Cape Town pointing out cool stuff on the way to Carnival Court. Carnival Court, our backpackers, was awesome. It’s right on Long Street and right away we all fell in love with the location. We checked in, checked out our room (fireplace and balcony! All for 100 rand ($10) per person a night), changed from our airplane clothes (all of us put on clothes we had made in Ghana…we looked kind of silly, but whatever), and went to the reception desk to figure out how to get to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner during Apartheid).

The rest of that day was spent visiting Robben Island, hanging out at the V&A Waterfront, and then meeting up with Emma, Katie and Jackie for dinner. Robben Island was a lot to do on our first day but it was really interesting. Our tour guide of the prison was a former political prisoner so it was really interesting to hear about his personal experience there. The Waterfront was pretty touristy (really touristy), but really nice as well. It kind of reminded me of Kierland or Desert Ridge with a mix of restaurants and shopping, only this was on water. Dinner the first night was amazing and definitely a highlight. We got LEGIT Mexican food at a place called Fat Cactus. We all ate way too much food to the point that we were uncomfortably full afterwards but it was well worth it. It was awesome and the start of our culinary delights in Cape Town. After dinner we headed back to our Backpackers and hung out in the bar there. We ended up meeting quite a few South Africans, who on the whole, were really nice (a couple introduced me, Caroline, and Griffin to a delicious South African shot called a Springbok). In addition, we met some ridiculous(ly drunk) South Africans who said some of the funniest things. One approached Caroline and said “Sit up” which she did, “Stand up” which she did, “Hug me” again she complied, then he looked at her and said “You’re a badass” and left. Hilarious. Meanwhile, I was talking to his friend who told me he was playing an American in a play and needed to practice his accent. I thought it was funny and offered to listen and a short way into the conversation he looked at me and said “You’re sassy!” and for the rest of Spring Break I was pretty sassy.

The next morning we were up hella early to head to Simon’s Town to go sea kayaking. We found out that it was really far away and would be a R300 taxi ride…it was really expensive, but split four ways, it was more reasonable and we really wanted to kayak to see penguins. Our drive to Simon’s Town was so beautiful. The Cape peninsula is really one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Simon’s Town itself was absolutely freaking adorable. It was so quaint and built into a hillside (and when I move to Cape Town I will have a weekend home in Simon’s Town, obviously).

We arrived at the harbor and immediately got ready to kayak. In a matter of minutes we had our life jackets on and our cameras in waterproof containers and were heading into the water. Caroline and I took one kayak and Monica and Griffin manned the other. In the nonexistent competition that was sea kayaking to see the Jackass penguins, Caroline and I totally owned. Monica and Griffin put up a valiant effort, but just couldn’t master our skill and coordination (I attribute it to Caroline’s singing of African songs as work songs). Anyway, the penguins were adorable and the water was freezing, but we had a lot of fun. After our return kayak trip, we decided to get lunch in Simon’s Town at the most stylish restaurant ever. If Anthropolgie were to magically turn into a restaurant, it would be The Meeting Place in Simon’s Town. I got some great pastries (half price!...still delicious even though they were a day old) which I enjoyed on our ridiculously cheap train ride home (only R12…so our transportation for the day evened out). There was a troupe of children on the train (Caroline’s phrasing) making a lot of noise, but we al managed to nod off on the ride to Cape Town.

That night we went to dinner at a place called Greens where we all enjoyed an entrée, a bottle of wine, starters and dessert all for less than $10 a person. And it was freaking good food. Afterward we met up with Emma, Katie and Jackie to go out, but they ended up calling it an early night so we headed back to the bar at our Backpackers. We talked to some really annoying Americans (one of whom was from Mesa) and then called it a night.

It was a good thing we called it a night because we had a huge day of wine tasting ahead of us. It was really a 9-5 job. We were picked up from the tour company bright and early and then went to pick up a Polish couple who were joining us on our tour. After an hour or so drive out to Stellenbosch we made it to our first wine tasting location. It was a cellar rather than a vineyard, but it was a good start because we learned how to properly taste wine (and arbitrarily assign numbers to how pretty the colour of the wine was). After our first six glasses of wine (these were definitely not tasting portions and we definitely didn’t spit), we headed to the second winery. At the second one we got not only five glasses of wine but unlimited cheese samples…well maybe they weren’t unlimited but Griffin certainly took it that way and feasted upon probably fifty pieces of goat cheese. I bought a few bottles of wine (4 bottles of Goats-Do-Roam….goofiest name for a wine brand, but oh so tasty). Next we headed to Franschoek where Isaac, our adorable tour guide, prepared a picnic lunch for us. The picnic would have been perfect had it not been for the freezing cold rain we were greeted with. After we stuffed our faces, we went to pet some cheetahs. Funniest story: Robert and Hanna our lovely Polish couple were fairly shnockered (sp?) at this point and Robert said the funniest thing…There was a pretty cute South African working with the Cheetahs and Robert caught us ogling him slightly and looks at us and says “Which one do you want to pet?” Maybe it was funnier when it happened….After a successful cheetah petting session (not the cute handler) we headed to our third and final winery where we polished off six more glasses of wine. I bought two more bottles (only one of which made it home, thank you very much baggage handlers at Kotoka International Airport) and then we headed back to Cape Town. Overall it was a very successful and classy day.

Upon returning to Cape Town we met up with Emma, Katie, and Jackie for Happy Hour and dinner. The Happy Hour we went to was RIDICULOUS. It was buy one get one free cocktails, but these were the biggest cocktails of life. I don’t think any of us finished them alone. After we went to a Kurdish restaurant called Mesopotamia. We sat on the floor and had delicious food…so good that we kept ordering more and more naan. Right as we were about to get our check though, a belly dancer came out and we got charge 10 rand a piece for this entertainment. It was pretty annoying, but the menu warned us about it. Still the meal was really, really reasonable. We tried to go out afterward, but were asked for ID at the first place (even though the age is only 18 in South Africa) and then Caroline and Monica were singled out and carded at the second place. We headed back and hung out at the Irish pub below our backpackers for a while then called it a night.

The next day we got up bright and early pumped to go skydiving. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were too windy and the trip was cancelled. We decided to ask the really nice front desk guy for suggestions as to what to do instead. Per his suggestion, we decided to hike Lion’s Head later in the day. We spent the morning hanging out on Long Street shopping and whatnot and getting lunch. After lunch, Caroline, Griffin and I took a taxi to the Lion’s Head trailhead. We hadn’t even hiked the mountain and still wanted to take mad pictures because the scenery was so beautiful. We asked someone to take a picture for us which he did happily but then as we were walking away he asked us for a favor. Turns out the guy was a journalist writing a story about muggings on the mountain. He wanted to take picture of us looking super touristy with our cameras…basically targets for potential muggers. So pretty much, we’re famous and in the Cape Town newspaper. After our little photo shoot, we started to hike the mountain and were reminded of how out of shape we were. Regardless we persevered and actually found that the beginning was the most difficult part. On our way up we ran into some German hikers who told us they didn’t get all the way up (and these people looked like experienced hikers…they had on hiking boots and everything) and there was rock climbing and all sorts of shenanigans. We got slightly discouraged but kept going. After much longer than it takes the average hiker of Lion’s Head we made it to the top. Most beautiful views of life. Cape Town is just such a striking location and it was awesome seeing it from the top of a mountain. We headed down and while waiting for a taxi met two locals who offered to give us a ride back to our place. We accepted and had a terribly amusing car ride talking about the supposed danger lurking in Cape Town. One of the guys told us that his brother bought his girlfriend a stun gun as gift. We shared stories of Ghanaian Tro-Tros and other funny things.

Back on Long Street we met up with Katie, Monica and Jackie and headed to dinner. Emma met us at the restaurant as she had spent the day in Stellenbosch and was running late. Another superb meal. Seriously amazing food. I got a chicken burger with sundried tomato pesto and roasted Mediterranean veggies (and am currently salivating thinking about it). Everyone wiped their plates clean. You seriously would have guessed we had never eaten before in our lives. After dinner we parted ways and headed back to our Backpackers for St Patrick’s Day shenanigans. There were rumors of green beer so we were totally excited (not really for the green beer because it looked kind of gross, but we were stoked to have a good time our last night in Cape Town). We decided that since we were getting picked up to go to the airport at 5:30 the only logical thing to do would be to stay up all night. Okay, logical maybe not, but fun definitely. We started at the bar in our backpackers and met a bunch of people. Caroline and I got a lesson in Afrikaans and in one of the clicking languages. We than attempted to teach our South African friend some Twi but kind of failed due to our supreme lack of knowledge on the subject. Afterward we went to the Irish pub downstairs which was crazy, but because we had the goal of staying up all night we were there when it started to shut down. So we decided to head back to our room to nap for an hour or so before we were to be picked up.

Our transport was there on time and we left hella early for the Cape Town airport. On the way, we saw a fire burning on Table Mountain which had been started the night before (suspected arson I think). We got to the airport, had our box of wine shrink-wrapped and sealed and had probably the easiest time in an airport ever. We were ridiculously early so we napped in the empty terminal until it was time for our flight. When it came time for our flight to Windhoek, we found out that there were only 12 people on our plane (which could sit 50). Great news considering all we wanted to do was sleep. After a short flight we landed in the Windhoek airport.

Pictures!

Spring Break was unbelievably amazing. It'll take me a while to write down all of the amazingness, so for now, some photo albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010164&id=1018770080&l=3194f94091
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010168&id=1018770080&l=766add8899
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010173&id=1018770080&l=44d677facd
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010237&id=1018770080&l=899e8fd50f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010248&id=1018770080&l=71f807d68f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010282&id=1018770080&l=8d7474d195

SPRING BREAK

I'm off to South Africa and Namibia.

Back 23 March.

Ouaga Ouaga Ouaga and More

Ahhh, so it’s been quite a while since I updated. Part of the reason for that is that I was in Burkina Faso for Fespaco. It was amaaaaaaaaaazing. It was so nice to get out of Accra and to see a different part of Ghana (we drove. For 16 hours.) and Africa. There was just so much that happened so I’m just going to stick with the highlights (and lowlights) of each part.

The Drive Up:
It was really awesome to see the landscape change. Accra is really lush and tropical with palm trees and green everywhere. At some point, Ghana completely changes. It become more of a Savannah/deserty landscape... It definitely looked like we could have been straight out of the Lion King, minus Pride Rock. It was really cool to just see the smaller villages and their very traditional mud huts with thatch roofs.

On the first day we left Accra at 5:30 and got to Bolgatanga, where we spent the night, after dark. It was a pretty rough day of driving (we couldn’t have the air conditioner on a lot of the time because the car would likely die). I do not think I had ever sweat so much in my entire life. It was gross.

The next day we got up way early again to finish the drive to Ouagadougou. We made it to the border pretty early. We had to get out of the car and physically walk across the border. Twice. On each side. It was pretty annoying, but it was great to finally be in Burkina Faso. After crossing we had a couple more hours before making it to Ouagadougou.

FESPACO:
The film festival was both awesome and frustrating. It was awesome because I’d never been to a film festival and got to experience it and see some great African movies and partake in all that went along with FESPACO. It was frustrating because it was kind of poorly organized. It was near impossible to find a schedule.

Also frustrating, the movies were rarely in English. If they had subtitles they were mostly French subtitles. I sat through a two hour Malian movie with French subtitles and was so incredibly confused for tour solid hours. I understood none of it but this: There was a cult of some sort that sacrificed albinos and the movie was investigating the murder of one albino. Also at some point there was a really strange performance art piece with people dressed in clothes with stuffed animals attached to them.

The best movie I saw was a short film about the equivalent of Tro-Tro workers in either Algeria or Egypt (there was some disagreement among us about where it took place). Regardless, it was really interesting and a great documentary. Also, my professor’s movie was shown and that was really cool to see. It’s called Rasta’s Paradise.

Ouagadougou:
Ouaga was sooooooooo different from Accra. Maybe because it’s Francophone, or maybe because it’s not coastal, I’m not sure, but it was definitely a huge change. The thing that probably stuck out the most was how clean it was compared to Ghana. In Ghana, there’s trash everywhere and open gutters. In Ouaga, there were actually trashcans and no gutters to fall into!

Also, Ouaga was hot, hot hot! It wasn’t so terrible though because it was way more of a dry heat. It was definitely reminiscent of an Arizona summer. Because it was so dry though, it was also really dirty. I thought I had gotten a really nice tan, only come to find out that it was all dirt after I sufficiently scrubbed my body in a shower back home.

The food in Ouaga was great. There were the most delicious strawberries. Women would have them piled up on trays that they would carry on their heads. That’s a pretty normal thing, but these women would then be riding on bikes or motos! That was crazy. I got some really phenomenal pictures of one strawberry seller who was riding a bike with them on her head WHILE she had a baby attached to her back. Also great in Ouaga – EGG SANDWICHES. They were sooooooo good. They came on delicious baguettes and I definitely had a few while I was there.

Ouaga was kind of expensive. We were warned about it though and a lot of the prices were inflated because of the film festival. The whole time I was there I only spent 50,000 CFA though (slightly less than $100) and that included my hotel accommodations. I was pretty impressed with myself.

The Drive Back:
We left Ouaga on Tuesday and crossed the border to spend the night in Bolga again. We got up hella early the next morning to make the drive back to Accra. This time, the van kept stalling out so we had to go without air conditioning for much longer stretches of time. This car ride was far grosser than the first. I was so dirty that as I as sweating, the sweat that was rolling off of me was brown. Needless to say, I think I took one of the best, most needed showers of life when I got back. On the way home, it started to rain and we got a flat tire (two different incidents) which all made for quite the adventure. We finally made it back to Church around 8:30 Wednesday night.

This weekend was quite uneventful. I got a lot of stuff done regarding applying for summer internships and whatnot. So far I’ve sent stuff in to the Museum of the City of New York, A&E Television Networks, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Jewish Museum, and the Southstreet Seaport Museum. I’m waiting for the Brooklyn Historical Society to post their internships so I can apply there as well. I’m mainly looking for museum or archival work so that I would be able to do the internship for credit. Hopefully something will work out.

I’m leaving for South Africa in four days. This could not be coming any sooner. I’m getting so antsy being here in Accra. While I love Ghana, I’m not such a huge fan of the city of Accra. I’d much rather be traveling around the country than stuck in Labone. The heat and humidity has been so oppressive lately that there is very little incentive to even want to venture outside. Cape Town will definitely be a welcome change of scenery and pace (from what I’ve heard/read, it’s very, very western. I think it will be a nice temporary escape). I’ve got the following planned for Cape Town so far: sea kayaking to the Simon’s Town penguin colony, visiting Robben’s Island, a Winelands tour, hanging out at the beach, drinking tap water (it’s strictly the principle of it), and generally having an awesome time. For Namibia, I’ve scheduled a Four-Day, Three Night Safari to the Sossusvlei dunes and Swakopmund (where Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born!).

I’m counting down the hours practically I’m so excited. EEEEEEEEEEEK!

peace and love.

Ghanaians don't understand the concept of being full, even after consuming an excessive amount of food.

So again I’m sitting at my internship with hardly a thing to do. I got to the office this morning and was immediately informed that I was going to an RBA training at the other office. I thought “Okay Great. What am I supposed to do there?” Whatever, I’ve only got like a hundred more hours that I need to do here. Wahoo.

So last Friday, after I updated, I went to the Burkinabe Embassy. I’ve decided that people who work in embassies only serve to make your life difficult and refuse to help at all. Five of us (me, Caroline, Andrea, Amanda, and Katja) went to get our visas, but first everyone but me needed to go to a Forex Bureau because the Burkina Faso Embassy only accepts American Dollars or Euros (Thank you Dad for making me pull out American money before I left. I didn’t get screwed with an exchange rate that way.). So we went to one Forex Bureau, but they didn’t have any American money. We started walking and finally after about fifteen minutes found another one. We then took a taxi back the embassy, but they informed us that we would have to wait for over an hour because they were going to take their lunch in 20 minutes. We filled out the forms and still had five minutes to spare before their break, however, being the accommodating people that embassy workers are, they refused to take them. Three of the group stayed behind to wait and turn in our stuff after the break, while me and Caroline headed back to church because we needed to get ready for our homestay.

The homestay was a very interesting experience. I’m really pleased that I did it because it really opened my eyes to a large aspect of Ghanaian culture, but it made me really, really, REALLY happy that we get to live in dorms rather than doing a homestay the entire time.

On Friday afternoon, I was dropped off at my host mom, Auntie Thelma’s job where I met up with Marta who I was paired with for the weekend. Auntie Thelma is the deputy manager of a bank branch and we ended up waiting there for her to finish up for an about two hours. After she finished, we drove home which took another hour and a half (traffic is worst in Accra on Friday nights). Her house was pretty far away and in an area of town that I had never been to before. It was really interesting to see how relatively wealthy Ghanaians live. Our host family’s house had four bedrooms and two bathrooms. They had three cars and were in the process of purchasing a fourth (while only two of them drive), yet, they didn’t have any sinks with running water (there was a working toilet and shower though, which was weird).

When we got home, her youngest son Lord was there (her two other sons are away at school) and she began to prepare dinner for us. Shortly after, her husband also came home, and he immediately sprawled out on the sofa in front of the television and waited for his wife to bring him dinner. This was the beginning of my annoyance with Ghanaian society. She had basically worked a twelve hour work day and had not had a chance to rest, yet was still expected to have food ready for him – this was definitely something that would not fly in my house. Marta and I kept offering to help her in the kitchen, but she refused on the basis that we were guests. After dinner we went watched some television with Lord and Auntie Thelma and went to bed pretty early.

The next morning we woke up really early because our host family had a rooster that really enjoyed Cock-A-Doodle-Dooing at dawn. We went out into the kitchen and found Auntie Thelma already working at the stove. She had started preparing some soups and stews that the family would eat throughout the week because she doesn’t really have time to cook after work. Again she prepared breakfast for her husband and didn’t receive so much as a “Thank you” in return. Most of the morning, Marta and I hung out in the kitchen learning about what Auntie Thelma was cooking (she was making Groundnut Soup – my favourite!). In the afternoon we went to class with Auntie Thelma (she’s taking classes to get a degree) and then went over to her aunt and cousin’s house. Again it was really cool to see how Ghanaians live. Her family’s house was pretty nice and big as well. While there we had some Groundnut soup and Fufu that her Aunt had prepared for us. After we headed back home and I went to bed really early because I had a killer headache.

It was good that I went to bed so early though because we had to leave for church Sunday morning at 6:30. The family goes to a charismatic church and I have to say it was certainly an experience. The church was HUGE and complete with projectors with power points of the lyrics to all the songs. It was definitely something that could have been found in the United States. I definitely had never seen anything like the service before. It was really intense how into prayer everyone got – everyone there was hollering “AMEN” with their eyes shut and their arms raised toward the sky and praising Jesus. Toward the end of the service Marta and I had to go up in front of the entire congregation because we were new to the church. We were taken to a back room where we were each paired with a congregant who asked for our information so they could stay in touch with us. The guy I was with asked what church I went to in the US and I knew that if I had told him that I was Jewish, I wouldn’t be able to get out of there very easily. (In one of our orientations, we were told that Ghanaians don’t really understand how people don’t worship Jesus) I instead told him that I don’t go to church because I’m away at school…immediately he responded with “THERE’S NO CHURCH THERE?!?” and I said “It’s a private non-religious institution,” but that wasn’t good enough for him so I told him I was always too busy with classes. I have to say I felt quite uncomfortable. The guy that Marta was with told her that he would come pick her up if he had to in order to get her to return to church. Nevertheless, it was a good experience.

We went back home where we made Omo Tuo (rice balls) to go in our Groundnut Soup which we ate for brunch. Again, the dad wanted something different, so Auntie Thelma pounded him an individual serving of fufu (which is a huge undertaking and really really physical). He didn’t say thank you or anything. For me that was the most frustrating part. It’s just such a patriarchal society and it’s way unfair in my opinion. I don’t know how the women are so diligent. I would be out of there so quickly if I was ever treated like that by a man. It’s just the way the society is here though, and thankfully enough, it’s not the way I will have to live.

It’s Monday morning now, and I can’t wait to get through this week. I’ve got Burkina Faso this weekend and as of today it’s only 18 days until Spring Break. I’m soooooo excited for that, but still have so much planning to do.

peace and love

I apologize in advanced for the poor organization of this post.

So I’m currently at my internship at the LRC trying to kill the last half hour of the day before I go home. I really hope that I end up in some profession where I don’t have to work a traditional nine to five job in an office. While the work that I’m doing is interesting enough, I’m just too antsy for it. Perhaps that will all change in the future, who know?

The past few days have been really lazy for me. I’ve not been feeling too terribly well, but at least I don’t have malaria. On Chocolate Day, I took some more fabric to Marjorie, our resident dressmaker. Normally she comes to us, but a group of us went to her place this time. It’s pretty unbelievable how she works. She has a small hut which she and another woman share. There’s pretty poor lighting and definitely no air-conditioning. I guess it’s good that she even has a space, but I know I for sure would never be able to work in those conditions (that’s what years of Arizona living with constant AC will do to you). When we were there we met her two young daughters, both of whom were the spitting image of her. I never really thought about whether or not Marjorie had kids before, but now that I know it makes me feel kind of bad that I only pay 5 cedi for a dress. I have to guess though that that is a better per hour wage than a lot of jobs in Ghana. The other week I met some foreigners who had been in Ghana to volunteer. They had been stationed in Cape Coast and were in Accra because they were headed home. They told Griffin and me that where they had been working, many of the families lived on only 50 pesawa a day. That’s whole perspective makes me think that Marjorie might not have it so bad compared to other Ghanaians, but it still makes you wonder.

On Saturday, Caroline and I walked to Osu to get dinner. We ended up getting some pretty awesome Indian food. After eating dinner, we walked outside of the restaurant, which had no windows, come to find it was pouring rain out! Neither of us was dressed for rain or had an umbrella (it has only rained once before the entire time we’ve been here), so we had no choice but to take a taxi back. The taxi driver was being kind of annoying and wouldn’t take us all the way so we got out and still had to walk a couple blocks in the rain. Needless to say, we got laughed at by a few people as we were soaking wet obrunis.

Oh! Last Thursday, Caroline, Griffin and I totally brought Mexico to Ghana. We made a phenoooooomenal Mexican feast. We had homemade tortillas (not perfectly round, but delicious none the less), incredibly spicy salsa, Mexican rice, and fajitas. Surprisingly enough it was all really, really good. I was kind of expecting it to be not so good, but it was great!

I’m totally posting this several days late after it was written, so here is some of what has happened since:

Tuesday night a bunch of us went to a Seun Kuti concert at the Alliance Francaise. Seun Kuti is the son of Fela Kuti, who basically invented AfroBeat. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti ) It was really, really good but only white people (mostly) were there! We asked our CRA why more Ghanaians didn’t go and he said it was because of the location. Regardless, I had a great time.

On Wednesday day, I got two of my dresses from Marjorie. They are absolutely beautiful and I am in love with them. PEOPLE - SEND ME YOUR MEASUREMENTS SO I CAN GET THINGS MADE FOR YOU. DO IT!

This weekend I’m doing a homestay in Accra. Since we do dorm living while abroad, NYU works with an organization called AFS to organize weekend homestays while we are here. I’m pretty excited, but a little nervous. I’m being placed with Marta, another girl from the program, so at least I won’t be alone. I leave for that this afternoon and return Sunday night.

As for right now, I’m off to the Burkinabe embassy to get my visa to go to Burkina Faso next week for FESPACO! I’m so excited. Hopefully getting this visa won’t be too much of a hassle.

peace and love

In honor of Chocolate Day, some pictures!

In Ghana, Valentine's Day is actually Chocolate Day. I much prefer this version.

Griffin, Me and Caroline at Kakum National Park

Canopy Walking!

Palm Wine...Our faces after weren't as happy.

The location of my school sponsored field trip, duh.

The view of Elmina from the Castle

My awesome tan lines from falling asleep on the beach in Winneba. Note the tag that was sticking out.

Slave Castles, Tree Tops, and Prisons...it's always an adventure in Ghana.

Today is Tuesday. That means it's Terrific Tuesday. Five of us went today and looked absolutely hilarious sitting at a table with six pizzas. That's right. More than one pizza per person. Mmmm....buy one get one free.

The past few days have been really awesome. Last Friday, we had a woman come to do some lovely womanly maintenance for like ten of us girls. She did some very affordable threading/sugaring right in our living room. A leg wax here is only 10 Cedi! That is so ridiculously amazing. Currently me, Griffin, Caroline, and Mallory are partaking in a few No-Shave weeks so we can delight in cheap leg waxing. Beauty is pain...c'est la vie.

On Saturday I woke up at 5:45. A.M.! It was terribly early, but I managed to wake up, make some toast with amaaaaaazing bread (one of our CRA's moms is a caterer and we can place orders weekly), get dressed and be on a bus by 6:30 A.M. After drifting in and out of sleep for the whole bus ride we arrived in Elmina at the Coconut Grove resort just in time for brunch on the beach. It was phenomenal. Lots of breads, eggs, fresh fruit, and juice. It would have been a great meal if my stomach wasn't killing me the whole day and I hadn't been in agonizing pain. Regardless, I didn't want to miss out on the day so I soldiered through the pain. I'm so happy I did because it was really cool to do what we did. We started by going to the Elmina Slave Castle (which actually counted as 10% of my grade for one of my classes!). It was a slave castle that had been occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch and English since it was built. It was really great to be able to visit such a historic site and we had a great tour guide who took us throughout and was really informative. It was so hot at the castle that one of the girls in our group fainted. It was pretty scary but she was alright in the end.

After the castle, we left Elmina and made our way up to Kakum National Park. The rainforest and park are most famous for the canopy walk there. Having done a few canopy zip lines in my day, I wasn't too sure if I would be so impressed with it, but it was really different and really cool. The bridges were a little shaky, but that's all part of the fun! Also, it started to rain while we were on the bridge which I found so cool. It rained on me...in a rainforest! Afterward, we headed back to our gorgeous resort, hopped in the pool, spent some time on the beach, and had a beach buffet, bonfire, and palm wine. The next morning we had another great breakfast and then got to do one of my favorite things in Ghana yet.

We had a batik lesson from some local women which was so incredible. We did everything! We designed our stamps, carved them out of foam, stamped wax on cloth, dyed the cloth, and hung them up to dry. I was the first one out of the group to finish and we were all so stunned at how great mine came out. The woman running the show called me her star student. I attribute my success to my years of tie-dying. It's just a gift that will never really come in useful. Oh well, it was great experience.

On Monday, I had a full day at my internship at the LRC. It was really intense for my first real day of work. I went with the executive director, Edward, to visit a prison to check up on some UNDP programs being run there. We were mainly visiting classes which were part of the UNDP funded prison education program. When we were in the last of the classrooms we were to visit at the prison, I was truly astonished by what one of the prisoners said. A prisoner had asked a question and mentioned that he had been in prison for ten years as a remand prisoner. I was shocked and appalled. This man had not even stood trial and yet was been kept as a prisoner. Edward was also shocked and gave out his business card and truly seemed to want to help the people with the injustice they were facing. After the classes, we were taken to see a remand block of cells. It was absolutely despicable to see the conditions these men lived in. In a cell meant for less than 10 people, 43 people were living (possibly even more) without any beds or mattresses. I really didn’t have much to say because I was just in such a state of shock that people could be forced to live in such inhumane conditions. It's just so hard to imagine the conditions these people, who are possibly innocent, must live in. Hopefully, I'll get to do some more work on it through my internship.

Tomorrow I've got my photo class. For my next project I'm doing a series of photographs of Richard, one of the security guards at Church Crescent. I'm excited because he's really a great guy and was so happy to help me out. Hopefully my photos won't be called "coke light" this time around.

peace and love

The internet is GHAN in Church Crescent...BOO.

This post actually should have come earlier, but the internet is completely out in Church. Note: If you ever come to Ghana and are shopping around for internet providers, completely avoid Busy Internet. Anyway...

Ever since school started I feel like I’m soooooooooo busy even though there’s tons of free time. I guess it’s just the feeling that since I’ve got to get up everyday and go somewhere it seems like my days are packed. I feel pretty exhausted at the end of each day, in large part due to the extreme heat/humidity. I swear I must sweat like ten gallons a day.

Regardless, a lot has gone down since I last wrote. I’ve been going to class and going out and generally having a good time. In my free time, I’m also in the process of trying to figure out what do to with my spring break and think that I’ve come to a conclusion. After seriously considering Egypt and Morocco, I asked a friend of mine who backpacked through Africa over the summer where she would go if she could go anywhere. She suggested Cape Town and Namibia, and after researching it I think we’ve (me, Griffin, and Caroline) have pretty much settled on that. Anna, my backpacker friend, said Namibia was one of the most beautiful places she had gone in Africa and absolutely raved about it. It seems really awesome and we’re hoping to book our plane tickets in the next few days. Airfare is hella expensive, but I’ve accepted the fact and am ready to pay it. Plus, I spent most of my free time with a four-year-old last semester (babysitting) so I could have a freaking awesome spring break. And who knows when I’ll even have the opportunity to do this all again?

I’m definitely not saving all my traveling for spring break though. Last weekend a big group of us went to Winneba (a town about half way between Accra and Cape Coast). It was very easily the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. When we got there, we dropped our stuff in our…accommodations (it can’t really be called a hotel, and it wasn’t quite a hostel. It was for lack of a better word, interesting) and headed straight to the beach. We were the only people on the beach except the local fisherman who were hundreds of feet away. No other tourists or anything. AND palm trees were growing out of the sand. I don’t really know why I thought that was so cool but it was…trust me. So we spent the whole day on the beach. After going in the ocean for a while, I was lying out on the sand and like the brilliant person I am, fell asleep on my stomach. Needless to say, it was pretty difficult to sit the next day because of the terrible sunburn on my bum. After the beach, we got some food at the hotel where half the group was staying. They had the most amazing pineapple juice ever. It was literally a pineapple that was juiced…I watched the guy making it. It was absolutely phenomenal and definitely one of the highlights of Winneba. The rest of the trip was low key and we headed back to Accra the next morning. Traveling there and back was pretty fun too. We took a bus, rather than a tro tro, and spent most of the time playing games. I got owned at GHOST several times, but oh well, fanice was present so life was good.

My classes have been pretty interesting so far. Last week in my Atlantic Slave Trade class, our professor took us on a field trip to the national museum where we got to see a lot about Ghana’s role and place in the slave trade. This weekend we’re going as a group to Cape Coast and Elmina where we’re going to visit an old slave castle/fort situation. It’s really cool being here and actually getting to experience history in that way. It makes it so much more interesting than just reading it out of a book.

My favorite class so far is my Documenting the African City class. Last week we learned the basics of using the cameras. A lot of it was review for me thanks to Mrs. Spitzer in seventh grade video production. It’s surprising how much I remember from that. This week we went on a field trip in class. We went to an area of Accra called Jamestown. Years ago there was an earthquake that hit Jamestown really badly and it never really got built back up. Even though there was so much damage, it’s still one of the most populous areas in the city. We went to an agency that is working on redevelopment in the area and then had the director take us around to film things. It was really amazing to see a different part of Accra. Living in Labone, we’re so spoiled and it’s easy to forget that the rest of the city isn’t as nice as our neighborhood. I really hope to go back with my SLR so I can take pictures.

My photography class is all right so far. I can’t say I’m particularly thrilled with the way it’s taught. I feel like the professor assumes that we all have some knowledge of photography even though many of us told him we’ve never taken a class before. Also, after the critique of our first project (portraits of a fellow classmate), I was kind of soured toward the class. The TA, Mawuli, is really great though and seems like he’ll be a lot of help. We’ve got another portrait project assigned for this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes.

I don’t really have much to say about my other two classes (Internship Seminar and African Popular Music). Next week should be a big week for African Popular Music though…I think we’re organizing a field trip to go see a couple of Highlife shows.

Aside from school, I’ve been making my way around Accra a bit more. Twice last week I went to Makola Market. It’s huge and outdoors and a bit smelly at times (Griffin was leading the way at one point and took us through the fish section). I bought tons of fabrics and am really excited about what I’m going to make with them. Tuesdays are “Terrific Tuesday” at a place called Pizza Inn. It’s a pizza chain in Ghana and on Tuesdays it’s buy one get one free. Caroline and I are well on our way to making it a weekly routine. While it’s not New York pizza, it is peri-peri chicken pizza and delicious. We’ve taken a couple trips to ShopRite for food. Last night Caroline and I made a really awesome Sweet and Sour Peri-Peri Chicken Stir Fry. It was a meal plan night, but Tante Marie has gotten really old really quickly. Tonight I think we’ll be hitting up Champs. It’s this weird British Sports Bar that doubles as a Mexican restaurant and on Thursdays has really good half price Margaritas.

That’s all for now. I think I hear the honk of a fanice vendor.

peace and love

Hammertime!

Harmattan (not to be confused with Hammertime winds, which incidentally, do not actually exist) have made Ghana so hazy for the past week or so. It's not been as unbearably hot though, so I'm not going to complain.

This weekend I along with six others (Marika (here's your shoutout, you're practically famous now), Caroline, Leah, Griffin, Katja, and Jake) went away to a beach called Kokrobite (I had the most difficult time pronouncing this...I think I finally got it though...it's Co-Crow-Bee-Tay). It all kind of started as a "Hey...we should do that" kind of plan, but we actually pulled it off and it was pretty freaking awesome. AND it only cost about 20 Cedi for the whole thing...lodging, food, transportation, drinks, entertainment.

So, Saturday morning, I made the rounds waking everyone up because I refused to waste the day and wanted to get out of Church by 11. I called the place we were headed to, Big Milly's Backyard, and reserved the last available room (a room meant for four people...we comfortably slept seven). We left Church slightly past the intended departure time but still before noon so I was pleased. In order to get to Kokrobite, you can take a taxi or a tro-tro (random Ghanaian form of transportation. They're like these really old 16 or 20 passenger vans that aren't entirely safe, but the only real way to get around. Plus they are sooooo incredibly cheap.), and we opted for the tro-tro. Getting the tro-tro was probably the most difficult part of the whole trip. It's all kind of a word of mouth thing, and through that, we heard that we had to get to Kaneshie to get the Kokrobite tro-tro. We took two taxis to Kaneshie, got separated, but eventually found each other after some very impressive "see that half red-half white building on the corner" directions. After we united we had to find the area where to Kokrobite bound tro-tros were. Luckily everyone we asked was really helpful and tried to point us in the right direction...directions were a little vague sometimes though. "Up" wasn't really that helpful, but it was the thought that counted. After stopping at several wrong tro-tros we found one that was going to Kokrobite that we could all fit on. While we waited for it to fill up (tro-tros will only leave once EVERY seat is full) we delighted in some FanIce.

So FanIce is pretty much the most amazing thing ever. It's this ice cream/frozen yogurt/frozen chocolate milk, that comes in a little plastic pillow-like pouch. You bite of the corner and then just squeeze the tasty contents into your mouth. Best of all it's only 30 pesawas (Ghanaian version of cents) and it's sold be these people who walk down the lanes of traffic. To get one you just signal to the guys who are holding it on their head and they come over and the whole transaction takes about 20 seconds.

Okay, so FanIce aside, after the tro-tro filled up we were on our way. It was a pretty cool ride just to see the different scenery. It's easy to forget that Accra is a city and is not necessarily indicative of the rest of Ghana, and while Kokrobite is only about 45 minutes away from the city center, it's totally different. The area was much more village like and there were many more goats and chickens roaming freely. The landscape was also much more lush (lusher?) and full of palm trees. So when we got to the end of the tro-tro line we still had to walk for like ten minutes, so we got to see the village close up.

After we checked in to our room which had three beds, two singles and a double...WITH mosquito nets (SO AFRICAN!) all for 39 Cedi a night (not bad when split seven ways) we through on our bathingsuits and headed straight for the beach. The beach was so gorgeous. Kokrobite is a fishing village and so all these long awesome boats were on the beach/in the water. We spent all afternoon on the beach where I proceeded to eat four bananas in the course of about ten minutes. We frolicked in the water and Griffin even got her hair braided by a small child.

For dinner we ate at the restaurant at Big Milly's Backyard. Most of us got some form of groundnut soup. It was the biggest portion of life and absolutely delicious and for 8 cedi the night's entertainment (a live reggae band and dancing) was included. The entertainment seemed like a great thing and it was until we decided to go to sleep only to realize that our little bungalow was right behind the stage and it was RIDICULOUSLY loud. Astonishingly, we all managed to fall asleep and stay asleep in the cramped loud quarters.

Well, we stayed asleep until about 5:30am when we thought it would be a great idea to go see the monkeys at the local monkey sanctuary. FALSE. It was a bad idea. And it didn't actually happen. But we went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later for the beach. We had a great breakfast for 40 pesawas each (these awesome bun/donuty sorts of things that a girl was selling on the beach) and spent the morning on the beach. After a couple hours we settled up the bill (my share was 19 Cedi) and headed home.

Going Away for the Weekend in Ghana:
Travel: 2 Cedi
Lodging: 6 Cedi
Drinks: 4.5 Cedi
Food: 10 Cedi (for three meals)

Total: 22.5 Cedi (Many FanIce included!)

I just really want a banana...and pineapple juice...and orange juice...all mixed together

I really love how on my way to classes, or during class, I can get the best bananas of my life for less than 10 cents a pop. Delicious bananas have made class less gross and I can say that with confidence as the first week of classes is pretty much over now. My final schedule is not entirely what I anticipated but it's cool.

Monday: No Class
Tuesday: 8:00-9:25 Internship Seminar
10:30-1:25 History of the Atlantic Slave Trade
3:30-6:25 Documenting the African City
Wednesday: 10:00-12:55 Projects in Photography
Thursday: 11:00-1:55 Popular African Music
Friday: No class

They all seem like they'll be pretty awesome classes, and it looks like I'll probably be getting a minor in Africana Studies. I'm not sure where I'll be interning yet. Most likely it will be a place called the Legal Resource Centre, which deals with human rights issues. I'm trying to set it up so I can intern at the UNHCR but I don't know if that will be possible yet. I already got my first assignment for my photo class which I'm pretty excited about. We have to take a portrait of a fellow classmate (mine happens to be Griffin...not only do we own Cranium together, but we'll take awesome pictures together too) and do an interview a la the New Yorker. I'm excited to put my new camera to some good use and take some great pictures.

Other than classes, I've been keeping busy. The Inauguration was pretty exciting here. It was pretty astounding to see how many people (not just Americans) came out to view the election. We went to see it at the W.E.B. Dubois Centre near the US Embassy. It was a huge outdoor event with tons and tons of Ghanaians. The Ghanaians seemed more excited than a lot of the Americans. They had the craziest Obama gear (like traditional African fabrics with his face printed on them). I wore my Obama shirt in the morning on the day of the Inauguration and every single person I passed on my way to class said something to the effect of "YEAH OBAMA!!!!!!!!" It was a pretty cool experience to see it here in Africa surrounded by so many people. I'll get around to posting pictures of the event at some point...hopefully.

So yesterday I as totally shocked when me, Griffin, Mallory and Leah all went to a ShopRite Supermarket. It was totally like walking into a Wal-Mart in America. Strangely enough too, it was in a really modern looking mall that just seemed so incredibly out of place in Africa. I'm not going to fight it though...prices were a lot cheaper than at the Koala Supermarket and I was able to stock up on some pasta and jam and whatnot. While I was browsing the pasta, a Ghanaian approached me to ask if he could take my picture. I was pretty thrown off by the proposition as I wasn't doing anything particularly interesting, but then as a friend pointed out to me it's just as absurd when I ask to take pictures of the Africans selling their goods in the market or whatever. Foreign is foreign and it's pretty interesting. Plus, I'm about as white as they come, so maybe the guy was just amazed by my paleness. ALSO SHOCKING: Strawberries were 20 Cedi! Grapes were 18 Cedi! And those were small packages! I guess it just goes to show that it's best to buy the local fruit. Plus it's silly not to when they are the best bananas of life.

Last night a bunch of us went to Reggae Night at Labadi Beach. It was sooooooo much fun. Basically, it's a bunch of foreigners (Labadi is pretty touristy), Rastas, and random Ghanaians all dancing in the sand to live reggae music. It's a weekly thing, so I'm sure I'll be hitting it up again. I do have to say though, it was not easy getting up this morning for my African Popular Music class, so I'll probably have to moderate my Wednesday night partying.

And also just a few pros and cons of living in Africa:

PRO: I get to go dancing on the beach for reggae night any Wednesday I want.
CON: LOST premeired last night, and being the fanatic that I am, I bought the season pass on itunes. Unfortunately, Ghana is still a developing country, and internet is hella slow. Only 8 hours remaining on my download!

PRO: Last night a dress maker came to take measurements, designs and fabrics that we bought at the market. I'm getting a $395 JCrew dress made for 5 cedi. Factoring in the cost of the fabric, we're at about 8 Cedi. AND it's a custom made dress.

PRO: Bananas!

peace and love

School Starts Tomorrow...GROSS

I've been in Ghana for a week. It seems like forever and like no time at all at the same time. The past few days have been a lot of fun. On Thursday, we toured the neighbourhood with the CRAs and met some professors. That night a huuuuge group of us went out for a scheduled "Night on the Town." The staff took us to an outdoor bar/live music venue in Osu where we danced for hours. It was a big tourist spot definitely, but still fun. Friday we went to the Artist Alliance Gallery to see the work of West African artists and then we went to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum (pictures below). That night I went out with some friends to another outdoor bar situation called Celsbridge's. We were the only Obrunis (white people) in the whole place! It was great and it's within walking distance of our house. Yesterday we went to a place called Kaneshi Market. I bought a fabrics to have made into a dress (the fabric was about 2 Cedis a yard, and to get a dress made is about 5 Cedis) and fresh fruit. I got a pineapple, oranges, and about 12 bananas for 2 Cedis. I also got some bulk rice (about a pound) for 1 Cedi. Today we went to brunch and then spent the afternoon at Labadi Beach.

School starts tomorrow. Gross.

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial, Kaneshi Market, and More

More BORE-ientation

Orientation has continued for better or worse. I'm getting so antsy doing all this prescribed NYU stuff. I'm sure it's all very valuable, but the academic center doesn't have a single space large enough to handle all of us so we're stuck sitting outside (under shade thank god) for hoursssss. Not fun at all. I really just want to go out and explore Accra.

Yesterday, we were able to get a little taste of life outside Labone (the suburb where NYU in Ghana is). We went to a nearby area called Osu which was soooooo much activity compared to what we had seen. There were all sorts of street vendors selling everything from power strips and trash cans to goofy touristy souveneirs and amaaaaaaaazing fabrics. We had lunch at a place called Frankie's which was pretty much just American food (the place was also full of white people). After lunch a few others and I separated from the group to explore the area. We made our way to a Barclay's ATM where I was able to withdraw money without a fee, got told we were rude for not buying goods when we were harassed, and went to a supermarket that carries a lot of imported goods (they had Skippy peanut butter!). Afterward we all headed back to the academic center for a Twi lesson. Then after some free time we had dinner at Sunshine Salads, the other restuarant on our meal plan. The place has curries and salads and sandwiches...quite different from the Ghanaian food at Tante Marie.

Today's orientation was really focused on academics. We toured Ashesi University which is about two minutes from the academic center. I think I'm going to take a class on African music and dance there. After we had a lecture on cultural dos and don'ts (Note: Thumbs up good, Thumbs down good, Thumb in up/down motion vulgar) and one on the history of Ghana. We then headed to the University of Ghana Legon to see about taking classes there. I was really interested in taking a Human Rights in Africa class there, but it conflicts with an NYU class I want to take, so I'll be sticking with the one at Ashesi. The campus was HUUUUUUGE. It was pretty overwhelming, but awesome to see all the Ghanaian students (as well as other study abroad students). After returning to Labone, a few of us visited a local wine shop (Chateau Simon) and got four bottles of wine for about 20 Cedis and then headed back home to rest before dinner at Tante Marie. ONE WORD: PLANTAINS. I'm in love with them. Low key night after dinner. It was definitely a rough day with a lot of sun.

TWI LESSON!

Wo ho te sen? - How are you?
Me din de - My name is

Yaaaaaay Ghana!

As of right now I've been in Ghana for about 24 hours. It's definitely been a loooooooooooong day. Last night, we (several other students were on my flight) arrived at Kotoka International Airport about a half hour past schedule, but with no problems. After making it through Immigration (where the authorities had a rather humorous sign posted saying something to the effect of "If you're a pedophile or plan on being one while you're here in Ghana, turn around" right under AKWAABA ("welcome" in Twi)), we moved to get our luggage. Everything arrived safely. Toward the exit NYU in GHANA staff met us and after waiting for a bus to return, we were on our way.

I live in the housing facility called Church Crescent (apparently named after the street it's on...news to me.). It's four individual houses, each with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and living area. The houses share a common courtyard and so far it seems like it'll be a pretty sweet living situation. I have a bunk bed. Top bunk. 'Nuff said. Last night I took a cold shower only come to find out today that the water heater switch in the bathroom actually had to be turned. I'd say it was one of my more intelligent moves. Between last night and this morning I completely unpacked and have already made a mess of my personal space. I'm also in the process of hanging up pictures on the wall with my unapproved tape...I'm such a rebel.

Today started with a severe lack of sleep (which I'm going to blame on all the sleep I got on the airplane). After waking up early, breakfast was had (food the CRAs (community residential assistants...or something of the like?) had provided) and then we all hopped in some vans and headed to the academic center. We were given a short tour of the five or so rooms and then proceeded with Orientation. After a couple hours we went to a Forex Bureau and exchanged dollars for Cedis then continued on to lunch. Lunch was surprisingly good. There was a ton of Ghanaian dishes, most of which I tried (I'm turning over a new leaf and being adventurous). My favourite at lunch was Groundnut Stew...there was also mad good rice and chicken and plantains. At lunch, a cell phone vendor came and I purchased a pay-as-you-go phone for 45 Cedis. Afterward, we headed back to our residences for a little break then a meeting with our CRAs. This evening we went to dinner at Tante Marie (one of the restaurants on our meal plan) and had more local dishes. Overall pretty good stuff.

Needless to say, it's been a long day and I'm pretty exhausted.
peace and love.