The Calm Before the Storm

Wednesday August 9

Freedom is over – for now. The morning was a little rough. Up at 7. We had to be in Accra by 8 to attend the Ghanaian Historical Society Annual Conference. TheSociety is headed by “Auntie” Irene Odotei, a professor at the university and the person responsible for the EAP kids if anything happens. Due to this relationship, we were obligated to go.

The morning portion was long and drawn out. Ghanaians seem to be big on titles and accomplishments, so the majority of the morning was a group of five describing each other. Lame. Many people in our group fell asleep. 4 hours later, we got out of there for the morning.

The wait was worth it though; we were treated to a spectacular lunch. We had a spread of beef, chicken, rice, spaghetti with some crazy tasting sauce on it. A perfect lunch for me, it was one of the few times this trip that I have been totally full after eating a meal.

The afternoon was once again filled with lectures, although these were slightly more interesting. One was one the history of highlife music, one on linguistics in Ghana, one on the rejection of Schnapps as a modern drink in Ghana (it is a tradition to give a chief Schnapps when meeting him), and one on photography – or lack thereof – in Ghana. I spent the afternoon half-listening and 100% drawing. Once again, many people fell asleep.

For the evening, we were on our own for dinner. With few exceptions, I’ll be paying for the rest of my meals for the semester. Thankfully, I can get a good meal for less than 2 dollars. Instead of going out, I had Duncan, one of my better friends here, teach me how to play Hearts.

Gone to bed early for an early morning tomorrow.

Thursday August 10, 2006

Everybody is on edge this morning – including me. Up at 7, again; this time to officially register in the university. Just a bunch of repetitive paper work. One girl, who clearly was having a bad morning, said “If I would have known that there would have been this much paperwork, I would have never come here.” Wow. For what it’s worth, we were in and out in less than 90 minutes.

The rest of the afternoon we were free. Woooo! That means nap time. A solid hour power nap was exactly what I needed.

Completely refreshed, Duncan and I decided to go to Dome (doe-may) Market. Dome is a much tamer market than Makola. I got a new leather belt for 35,000 cedis – less than 4 dollars. I tried to get a pair of shoes also, but finding a pair of size 13 shoes in Ghana is like trying to find an In-n-Out here. But I got my belt, which was the important thing, because none of my pants are fitting. This trip is going to be quite the weight-loss program.

After dining at a place called TacoBell, where no Mexican food is served, a formidable posse of 24 people piled into a tro-tro which we managed to get for free. One of the kids made friends with the driver and he took us to a live music bar. We enjoyed almost authentic Ghanaian culture, sipping on Stone beer and listening to highlife covers of American songs. Apparently, after a few drinks, I am willing to dance. Just bad.

Another early evening for me is up ahead. Joe, his friend Joel from Chico, and I are off to Akosombo and Akrade tomorrow rather early.

Gone for the weekend on a couple different trips; I’ll be back on Monday.

LDG