Madwo (Good evening) all! This week has been a good one, starting with a regular week of classes and ending with a little vacation for the three day weekend. Keep readin' for
Monday
Started out with soccer practice bright and early at 6 am. It was a productive morning; we worked on our passing and moving as a team and ended with a little 3 on 3 practice. After practice me and friend decided to go swing by the Accra Mall, as she wanted a pair of shoes and I have no class till 3:30 on Monday so I tagged along. We walked down to the Okponglo tro tro station at the corner of campus only to see a sea of deadlocked traffic. We quickly decided the mall wasn't worth it and decided to walk over to MaxMart (A small Lebanese chain of grocery stores, that are very popular here.) to grab some groceries and food since we hadn't eaten after practice. The journey was a hot one, but we rewarded ourselves with chicken shawarmas when we finally arrived. Picked up some little groceries and found chedder cheese sauce(a major success!) so I decided to make some mac n cheese for dinner that night. We headed back to campus and had Twi class later that afternoon. We spent much of class reviewing, practicing constructing sentences (Mine was Me kumm ntonton "I killed the mosquito") After class me and a friend decided to get to work on our mac n cheese treat. We had also stopped by the vegetable market on campus on the way from Twi and grabbed some green onions, bell peppers squash to mix in there. The kitchen was busy that evening, another few of the Cali crew were making pineapple fried rice as well as a Ghanaian student making fresh banku, and right as we were all getting into our cooking, in true Ghana fashion, the power went off. It has become a regular occurance at ISH for the power to go off, so we all groaned and crossed our fingers that the porters at the front would spare us and turn the generator on tonight. We lucked out and they did, and there was mac n cheese for all!
Tuesday
As I've mentioned before, Tuesday's are my lazy days and I ended up doing very little today. We had Twi lab in the morning where we watched a movie in Twi (a most ridiculous film whose plot twists would surprise even the most avid Hindi movie viewer) and then a few of us ended up being recruited by the International Programmes Office (IPO) to pose as student models for the admissions booklet for the University of Ghana. They took a picture of three of us sitting on the grass pretending to read and talk to eachother. SO any prospective UG freshmen out there, keep an eye out for me! ;) I wasted away the afternoon in the Study Center, talking to people as they dropped in and out and went down to Akuafo Hall (one of the residence halls) for some palava sauce for lunch and then headed back to the Study Center for ice cream and cake. The Program Coordinators at the STudy Center put on this event at the end of the month for who whoever had a birthday during the month. They basically buy American style cake and ice cream for everyone and we all come together and sing for the people whos birthdays occur during the month. It's an optional event but it is the one event that all 35 of us UNFAILINGLY show up for. Cali kids need our cake fix! Dance class that evening and our midterm was pushed back until next Tuesday, because the dance department is paying to take all of us to a performance at the National Theatre on Thursday! We're all so psyched to see some real dancing, not this simple (but fun) obruni style dance! It should be a lot of fun. Amusing anecdote from dance class: One of the student came up and asked me and another student to be in amusic video for her friend this week. From dance class to MTV? Deets next week on how that turned out. After Dance some of us went over to Volta Hall (some of the Cali girls live on the other side of campus in a local hall. We all lived at that hall for a week and half during orientation so it brings back memories of all hanging out during orientation.) to celebrate one of the girl's in my programs' birthday. It was a relaxing night, we all just hung out, played cards and drank some beers and then headed back to ISH at the end of the evening.
Wednesday
Started the day with my favorite class, Coastal Management. We leaned about Integrated Coastal Management, stuff i've learned about extensively in Santa Cruz but it's fascinating to hear it from a West African perspective. While I'm here in Ghana I'm writing a research paper comparing the increased intensity of tropical storms in Lousiana, USA and Ada Foah, Ghana and how they are a result of wetland destruction. My Professor for coastal management set up a meeting for me to talk to one of the other professor's here, Profoessor Appeaning, for next week so I'm looking forward to that! After that I had Twi class where we learned how to negate verbs, (Ex: Me ndi ankaa "I will not eat the orange") After Twi, our soccer coach wanted us to go watch a Champion's League game so that we could observe tactics and apply it to our own playing. We went out to one of the sports bars in town, right near Okponglo and grabbed some dinner and watched the Atletico Madrid v. Juventus game. The place we went to was really nice, it had great local food and a more laid back vibe then a lot of the bars in town. I will definitely be going back!
Thursday
My class heavy day, I started teh day with socccer bright and early. Nothing too eventful, we just ran the usual amount of laps and did some drills and practiced in our positions. I have Management of NGO's soon after practice so I usually run back to ISH to hop in the shower and change. Ghanaians always look their best for class, so to avoid looking like even more of an obruni, we try and dress up best we can to fit in! NGO's is my largest class, about 70 people. Our professor, Justice (literally, in Ghana if you're not named Kofi, you're Justice or Wisdom!) is an animated man and gave an interesting background of the structre of NGO's. Our main project for the class is to construct our own NGO's and we're going to start that next week. After that I swooped by the Bush Canteen to pick up my fav, Palava Sauce w/boiled yams, and headed back to ISH. That evening, instead of Dance class, the Dance Department decided to take all of us to a performance at the National Theatre. It was an awesome experience to see a show and see the amazing dance moves and styles of the national theatre company!
Hope you all had a lovely week! See my next post for Friday - Sunday, which I spent traveling!
Monday
Started out with soccer practice bright and early at 6 am. It was a productive morning; we worked on our passing and moving as a team and ended with a little 3 on 3 practice. After practice me and friend decided to go swing by the Accra Mall, as she wanted a pair of shoes and I have no class till 3:30 on Monday so I tagged along. We walked down to the Okponglo tro tro station at the corner of campus only to see a sea of deadlocked traffic. We quickly decided the mall wasn't worth it and decided to walk over to MaxMart (A small Lebanese chain of grocery stores, that are very popular here.) to grab some groceries and food since we hadn't eaten after practice. The journey was a hot one, but we rewarded ourselves with chicken shawarmas when we finally arrived. Picked up some little groceries and found chedder cheese sauce(a major success!) so I decided to make some mac n cheese for dinner that night. We headed back to campus and had Twi class later that afternoon. We spent much of class reviewing, practicing constructing sentences (Mine was Me kumm ntonton "I killed the mosquito") After class me and a friend decided to get to work on our mac n cheese treat. We had also stopped by the vegetable market on campus on the way from Twi and grabbed some green onions, bell peppers squash to mix in there. The kitchen was busy that evening, another few of the Cali crew were making pineapple fried rice as well as a Ghanaian student making fresh banku, and right as we were all getting into our cooking, in true Ghana fashion, the power went off. It has become a regular occurance at ISH for the power to go off, so we all groaned and crossed our fingers that the porters at the front would spare us and turn the generator on tonight. We lucked out and they did, and there was mac n cheese for all!
Tuesday
As I've mentioned before, Tuesday's are my lazy days and I ended up doing very little today. We had Twi lab in the morning where we watched a movie in Twi (a most ridiculous film whose plot twists would surprise even the most avid Hindi movie viewer) and then a few of us ended up being recruited by the International Programmes Office (IPO) to pose as student models for the admissions booklet for the University of Ghana. They took a picture of three of us sitting on the grass pretending to read and talk to eachother. SO any prospective UG freshmen out there, keep an eye out for me! ;) I wasted away the afternoon in the Study Center, talking to people as they dropped in and out and went down to Akuafo Hall (one of the residence halls) for some palava sauce for lunch and then headed back to the Study Center for ice cream and cake. The Program Coordinators at the STudy Center put on this event at the end of the month for who whoever had a birthday during the month. They basically buy American style cake and ice cream for everyone and we all come together and sing for the people whos birthdays occur during the month. It's an optional event but it is the one event that all 35 of us UNFAILINGLY show up for. Cali kids need our cake fix! Dance class that evening and our midterm was pushed back until next Tuesday, because the dance department is paying to take all of us to a performance at the National Theatre on Thursday! We're all so psyched to see some real dancing, not this simple (but fun) obruni style dance! It should be a lot of fun. Amusing anecdote from dance class: One of the student came up and asked me and another student to be in amusic video for her friend this week. From dance class to MTV? Deets next week on how that turned out. After Dance some of us went over to Volta Hall (some of the Cali girls live on the other side of campus in a local hall. We all lived at that hall for a week and half during orientation so it brings back memories of all hanging out during orientation.) to celebrate one of the girl's in my programs' birthday. It was a relaxing night, we all just hung out, played cards and drank some beers and then headed back to ISH at the end of the evening.
Wednesday
Started the day with my favorite class, Coastal Management. We leaned about Integrated Coastal Management, stuff i've learned about extensively in Santa Cruz but it's fascinating to hear it from a West African perspective. While I'm here in Ghana I'm writing a research paper comparing the increased intensity of tropical storms in Lousiana, USA and Ada Foah, Ghana and how they are a result of wetland destruction. My Professor for coastal management set up a meeting for me to talk to one of the other professor's here, Profoessor Appeaning, for next week so I'm looking forward to that! After that I had Twi class where we learned how to negate verbs, (Ex: Me ndi ankaa "I will not eat the orange") After Twi, our soccer coach wanted us to go watch a Champion's League game so that we could observe tactics and apply it to our own playing. We went out to one of the sports bars in town, right near Okponglo and grabbed some dinner and watched the Atletico Madrid v. Juventus game. The place we went to was really nice, it had great local food and a more laid back vibe then a lot of the bars in town. I will definitely be going back!
Thursday
My class heavy day, I started teh day with socccer bright and early. Nothing too eventful, we just ran the usual amount of laps and did some drills and practiced in our positions. I have Management of NGO's soon after practice so I usually run back to ISH to hop in the shower and change. Ghanaians always look their best for class, so to avoid looking like even more of an obruni, we try and dress up best we can to fit in! NGO's is my largest class, about 70 people. Our professor, Justice (literally, in Ghana if you're not named Kofi, you're Justice or Wisdom!) is an animated man and gave an interesting background of the structre of NGO's. Our main project for the class is to construct our own NGO's and we're going to start that next week. After that I swooped by the Bush Canteen to pick up my fav, Palava Sauce w/boiled yams, and headed back to ISH. That evening, instead of Dance class, the Dance Department decided to take all of us to a performance at the National Theatre. It was an awesome experience to see a show and see the amazing dance moves and styles of the national theatre company!
Hope you all had a lovely week! See my next post for Friday - Sunday, which I spent traveling!
No comments:
Post a Comment