Weight Loss, Women, Waiting for Egypt

Thursday, November 9^th

Waking up for class today was probably one of the hardest wake-ups since I’ve been here. I just didn’t want to get out of bed. Somehow, I found the motivation to get out and get to class, right before the professor showed up. He was actually early, which was very strange. The content from the class was boring; most of the obrunis (and many of the obibinis) ended the class with their heads on the desk.

The second class, as always, was worse. The professor showed up fifty-minutes late, five minutes before we would have left. So obnoxious. Thankfully, he, like my other professors, cancelled class for next week. I never have to see that idiot again.

Most of the rest of the day was pretty slow. I just chilled – or at least tried to – in my room for most of the afternoon.

In the evening, I got a call from Duncan, who was returning with his mom (who arrived in Ghana last night) from Aburi. The three of us got some pizza – the third day in a row that Duncan and I ended up at the pizza place. Regardless of the country, this is still college.

We killed the rest of the night playing cards, playing some Big 2 and Spar.

Friday, November 10^th

No class today, so I was able to sleep in, and I did – until about noon. From Legon Hall, I dashed over to the tailors to pick up five new pairs of shorts. They are all amazing. I am so stoked about being able to rock them hard in San Diego.

It is so hot today, I can’t believe it. Duncan and I agreed that it was the hottest day we’ve had here. It was a much drier heat than usual. We we’re both sweating our tails off. Luckily, I had my new shorts to keep me comfortable.

Duncan, his mom, and I went over to Rich Love to introduce her to the glory that is, chicken, rice, vegetable sauce, and grilled pineapple. As it turned out, Duncan and I did most of the work, killing off a 25,000 bowl of food.

I ran around campus for a lot of the day, getting over to the PoliSci department to pick up some readings. It’s probably the last time I’ll set foot in that office, and quite honestly, I won’t miss it.

From their, I dropped off the next version of my paper to my advisor. He wasn’t in his office, so I just left it in his box. Hopefully he will review it while I’m gone, and I can turn in a final, polished copy to him during the first week of finals.

Duncan and I wanted to play some pool at Tyme Out, but the table was being owned by a bunch of people, which was not cool. So we just drank. We met this man named Don, who sat with us for most of the night. Don is thirty-five year-old studying Business. In the meantime, he works for Shell’s airplane sector. What exactly he did, I don’t remember – we all got pretty plastered. But we had a great discussing talking about one of the loves of my life, past and present – airplanes. Then, suddenly, Don disappeared. We’re still wondering where he went. After three large beers (660 ml) and a small one, I headed over to Volta internet for some internet time.

Saturday, November 11^th

This should be interesting. I had a scheduled conference call between Joe, Ryan, their moms who were in SD, and myself. Joe never showed up – slacker. So the four of us moved forward. I was still pretty bombed, but I was welcomed by good news – we have an apartment. It looks absolutely amazing. Close to school, close to the beach, plenty of room for the three of us at a reasonable price. It just makes me all the more excited to get back to San Diego. By 2:30, it was time to get to bed.

It was a nice three hours. Some preacher started, well, preaching, at 5:30. Francis and I both got out of bed and started yelling at the guy. It did nothing, but it did make me happy. I fell back to sleep moments later.

I was up by 11 or so. Our power, which went out the last night, was back by 6AM, so my fan, thankfully, was blowing. Last night was one of the hotter nights we’ve had. The air was so still, and it was really humid.

Water was on today, so I was able to do five, count-em five, loads of laundry. This made the day absolutely perfect for me. I would have clothes to wear, and hopefully, I wont have to do a wash until I get home.

I got a text from Ryan in the afternoon, asking me to get on Skype. I obliged, and had a lovely conference call with Ryan and Joe, discussing everything from our new apartment to the Gary Sheffield trade to classes for the next quarter – Ryan, like me, has four-day weekends for the winter. We’re hoping Joe can come up clutch and do the same, or at least get close.

I wandered over to Tacobell to get some dinner – their amazing shredded beef sauce and rice. So good. I came back, and Duncan and Diane were there. He was supposed to go out with a friend, but instead he was drinking akpoteshie and Tampico (they have been dubbed “pegpounders,” – the Ghanaian screwdriver). Duncan got some bad news concerning a girl in his life. I’ll just leave it that, for his sake. I joined him for a couple akpoteshies – one with Tampico, one with Pepsi. We spent the rest of the night discussion his situation and playing Spar

Sunday, November 12^th

Not much going on today. Sunday shutdown in Ghana. I got moving around 10, when Duncan and I decided to get some brunch at Bonjour (formerly On-the-Run). The food was alright – nothing special. More importantly, we each hit their palace of a bathroom. One thing we have learned to do is plan our bathroom runs. Because when the bathrooms in your dorm (okay, fair warning, this picture is disgusting. Open at your own risk) look like this, you learn to plan. The top three bathrooms in or around campus are

- Bonjour – they are constantly clean, always have running water, and supply TP

- African Studies – although they rarely have TP, you need a key to get into the place

- Tenge-tenge – not great, but relatively clean, and far superior to Legon Annex A

The rest of the day is committed to actually getting things done – folding laundry, cleaning the room a bit, and writing emails to be sent later.

In the evening, I had another conference with Joe and Ryan.

Monday, November 12^th

I leave for Egypt essentially tonight. I have to check in to the desk between 2 and 4 Tuesday morning. In the meantime, though, we still have things to get done.

I pretty much did nothing today. Just killed a lot of time online. Hit the bookstore for a bit hoping to find notecards, but they don’t exist in this country. And then I packed. I’ll be honest, I’m a little anxious. African travel is just a synonym for panic, but once I’m in Egypt I’ll be fine.

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A mom always knows best. Congratulations to my mom for having the closest guess on how much weight I’ve lost. She guessed 23 pounds. Through fifteen weeks, I have lost 26 pounds, just shy of 12 kilos. I’ve lost 6 inches off my waist, tons off of my face and neck, and a noticeable amount from my arms. I must say that I feel considerably weaker. Not just in terms of how much I can lift, but just being able to get through the day. Francis noted one morning as I stood outside that he could “see my ribs”” in my back. Luckily, all of this weight will go back on over the winter quarter at school.

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So, umm, I’ll be Morocco and Egypt until the Thursday, November 23^rd. I will not be posting until that time. As always, there will be plenty of stories and tons of pictures. I will try to get them up by that weekend, but it may take some time.

LDG