Outage Outrage

Thursday, October 12^th

So I have completely lost my mind. After taking a brief nap in the late afternoon/early evening on Wednesday, I woke up just before midnight to join Mark, Haley and Kevin to watch the A’s try to pull even in the series. The game started with such promise with the A’s actually getting a hit with a runner in scoring position. But every time the A’s got a lead, they surrendered it in the next inning.

Once again, the bullpen did a decent job, cleaning up for Loaiza. They had a shot in the ninth, when the bats finally decided to show up. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for Frank Thomas, who was 0-for-whatever going into his final at bat. He had a chance to fulfill every little boy’s dream: hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with two outs down by three. Instead, he choked, weakly flying out.

It appears as if the A’s are asaa. I know I was for the next couple hours, before class. All four of us had 7:30 AM class. We all went to bed disappointed.

After a solid two hours of sleep, I went to class. Thursday is my better class day. Somehow, I managed to stay awake through the first class, running on nothing. We learned about Guinea-Bissau’s civil war in the last decade, which was interesting. The professor is dry, but with that comes a great, dry sense of humor. A couple of good laughs helped keep me awake.

In between classes, I got a Tampico (citrus drink) and some rice and spaghetti – carbs to get me through the second class. Except, my second class got cancelled. We waited an hour for the idiot professor to show up, but he never did. Whatever. I really don’t know why the students tolerate that kind of thing. It really bothers me. I could have been sleeping.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat, nothing too special, and came back to the room. And I immediately crashed. In a perfect world, I would take a nap which was long enough to get me through the day, but short enough as to not keep me awake all night. I need to get on a normal sleep schedule.

I slept from one until four-thirty. Perfect. Three-and-a-half solid hours was just right. I was awake, yet still somewhat drowsy.

After a nice conversation with my grandmother, I got some dinner with Liz, who goes to Indiana. I told her that I would help her save and upload pictures, but electricity/internet at Volta internet café was finished. We killed the time until it would be up (45 minutes or so) by eating at Tacobell, which has no Mexican food (only in Ghana…). Everything was finished except for rice and chicken, which was fine.

For the third night in a row, we got rain at night. I don’t mind it; it keeps everything here a bit cooler. Even though it is hot as hell already, it’s supposed to get hotter. Great. I’ll enjoy my night’s sleep tonight, knowing that I have no major priorities tomorrow.

Friday, October 13

Today was actually a good day, especially considering that it is Friday the 13^th. Just more proof that everything is backwards in Africa (haha. But seriously…). After a full night’s sleep (and more importantly, getting back on a normal sleep schedule), Joe and I wandered down to the Togolese Embassy to pick up a couple visas – a multiple entry Togo visa and a five-country visa which allows me to get into Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire once each. We filled out the forms and were told to be back at 2. No sweat – other than what is normal for here.

From the embassy, we took a couple tro-tros and a taxi to North Kineshie. Joe has some friends who sponsor a child through World Vision, and he is looking to meet with the girl. We met with a nice man named Emmanuel, which is a popular name here. Joe set up a time to go to Nkawkaw (where the girl lives) and we were on our way back to the Togolese Embassy.

We rolled in promptly at 2:00 and lo and behold, our visas were ready. I think it was the first time that we’ve been told a time, and they meant it! It was perfect. So we have plans to go into Togo next weekend, which will be nice. They’re French, so I’m looking forward to some good food.

More baseball coming up tonight. Thankfully, the game got pushed up to 8:30PM GMT, so I won’t be up until the 4AM again. A full review tomorrow.

October 14^th

Pathetic. Again. Joe told me that I should have faith, but now that the A’s are down 3-0, they are all but finished. Yea, Harden got kinda lit up in the early innings, but that said, he went 5 2/3 and only gave up 3. Kenny Rogers was lights out, and the offense for the A’s just can’t do anything. It’s sad.

Okay, enough of that.

* begin rant *

I’m officially angry for the first time on this trip (there may be some not-so-nice words, so cover your childrens’ eyes). It’s taken eleven weeks, but now I’m fired up. Sure, I’ve had my frustrations: the nineteen-hour train ride from Takoradi to Kumasi, Kumasi in general, crappy tro-tro rides, and a lack of diversity in food. But they are all things that I’ve taken in stride, and for the most part, I’ve been able to make the most out of situations. But this is too much.

Today is the third day in a row that Legon Hall Annex A has not had electricity. Three days. Three fuckin days. Three days of no fan, no lights, no charging my phone. Yea, reading by candlelight is really romantic and all, but please. This shit is outrageous. It’s not that the power is out. We have a schedule now, so we know exactly when our power should be out. Usually it’s only out in twelve our blocks, every sixty hours. Now, we’re approaching sixty straight hours of power out. And our building is the only in our power block that does not have power. And nothing is being done about it because it’s the weekend. Ridiculous.

And to make all of this worse, we haven’t had running water for four days. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! I’ve waited patiently for the water to come on. I have come to treasure running water. I’ve been dying for a decent shower. But it got to the point where even I couldn’t stand myself, so I took a bucket shower, again.

This whole thing is inexcusable. There are many things I will miss when I leave Ghana. I won’t miss this crap when I get back to the States.

* end rant *

The afternoon was rather fantastic. Duncan and I hit up Rich Love, and had the best meal we’ve had there by far! Standard rice and grilled chicken, but we got the special pepper and tomato sauce, and added grilled pineapple. The taste buds exploded. Wow.

We finally got an explanation on the power outage. The transformer is blown and won’t be fixed until Tuesday, which means Thursday at the earliest. Prepared, Duncan and I had purchased candles at the Bush Canteen – 8 candles for 1 dollar. Haha.

When we got back, I had Duncan teach me the third part to this drumming piece I’m learning. It’s pretty sweet, and I hope to learn a couple pieces before I get out of here.

Walking over to the internet café, we saw quite possibly the most beautiful girl on campus. Prior to actually seeing her, we only saw a silhouette, and it was, well, perfect. Then we saw her face, and well, she had a face to match her body. Just the end of a lovely afternoon.

Hopefully, the A’s can make it a perfect night and score a run or two tonight.

LDG