Good morning! I should have written this yesterday when I was brimming with joy because CIEE is the best study abroad program EVER. I was having some roommate problems, as you may know, and everything came to head last week when Hurricane Meredith came ashore and was classified as a category 5 storm apparently. I sent my program director, Kwasi-Gyasi Gyamerah an email about the issues I was having. He promptly replied and told me that Abenaa, the assistant program director, would get in touch with me. My phone finally kicked the bucket this weekend, so when she was trying to reach me, I was unreachable. I went to the CIEE office yesterday to speak with Abenaa. And this is where I love CIEE. Abenaa listened to my Princess Meredith saga with concern. ("Oh! [a Ghanaian sound, one of many, which I will show you, which means, 'I can't believe that!'] This is serious!") Abenaa told me that she would find me a new place to live and the problem will be resolved soon. I don't think I'm going to even have to move out of my building, ISH 2. After that meeting, I felt even better about CIEE. I know that if I have any problem at all, the staff here are approachable, professional, and will efficiently address any concerns I may have.

Later that day, we had a group meeting at Chez Afrique, a restaurant/bar which has live bands on Fridays and Saturdays. The group meeting was a way to voice any concerns or comments we may have about how everything is going, including housing, academics, Ghanaians, security, CIEE, group trips, etc. It was wonderful. First of all, we were fed. Free food, especially food that is not rice, is always a plus. Secondly, it was such a nice atmosphere to have this meeting. Everyone was jovial and it's so easy to get along with the program directors. It was nice to hear how everyone is doing. I am so elated to be part of CIEE because it is an island of organization in this sea of disorganization. It has made adjusting here much easier than had I not been part of this program.

Nothing else is new really. I've been busy with going to the Dodowa Health Centre. It takes a large chunk out of my day because commuting there takes about 3 hours total. I love going there because the dispensary staff is so wonderful. It may have very little to do with my sociology field of study, but I am learning things I did not know prior to going there, especially in the realm of the inner workings of health care, the Ghana Health Service, specifically. I worked on a powerpoint presentation about quality assurance with Harriet, the staff supervisor, who has taken me under her wing and given me various tasks to complete. When we were writing the conclusion of the presentation, a reality of the health care system in Ghana became even more apparent to me. The concluding statement went something like this, "...We cannot expect money from anywhere. We have little resources and must do what we need to do with what we have." This was disheartening, considering my family doctor gives us free samples of prescription drugs, marking the abundance of resources we have. I discovered another real life example of a problem in Ghana: underemployment. I asked Harriet is she liked working at the dispensary. She hesitated for a short while and then responded with a 'no.' She then went on to explain that she has a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, and a master's in public health. Not only was she overqualified for her position at the dispensary, but she was working in a field that she does not particularly enjoy. Employment in Ghana is high, and for those who are educated, such as Harriet, appropriate employment is hard to come by. No wonder qualified educated individuals flee the country to places such as the UK or the US to seek employment. The brain drain is happening.

I have to venture to Dodowa now. Have the best day! Peace.

-Akosua Dede (The name that Evans, in the dispensary, has given me because I am born on Sunday [Kwasiada (Sunday)--> Akosua] and I was the first born girl in my family [Dede] - I introduce myself with this name now. Oh, the reactions I get from Ghanaians. They act as if I've told them the funniest joke in history. It's also easier to use this name because it's a name that they can understand and pronounce. When I try to use Rachel, they think it's Rita, Ritchel, Richeal, Richie, Richard?, and recently Lena?)

I hope you all had a good weekend! I can't believe my eldest cousin is getting married! I remember when she was stealing eggs out of my basket at Oma's Easter egg hunt. I wish I could have come to the extravaganza over the weekend. I miss you all.

Over the weekend, I went to what you would think would be a solemn event: a funeral. However, in Ghana, and Togo, too, funerals are more a celebration of life than about death. Fire, my Togolese friend, invited me and a few of my friends to attend the funeral of his late aunt. Tons of his family came to Ghana for the funeral. Fire has a huge family, and by huge I mean enormous. His father has three wives, and as Fire puts it quite bluntly in his thick accent, "My father likes sex" and rightly so as there are 18 children altogether, and eight in Fire's family alone. Yikes. At the funeral, there was music, singing, dancing, eating, merriment. There is mourning, but that comes prior to the actual funeral. Compared to what you see in the US of A, you would have thought you had stumbled in on a wedding, despite the dark clothing.

On Sunday, a few of my friends and I headed to Gomoa Fetteh, which is a coastal village about an hour, hour an a half, west of Accra. We took a trotro to Kaneshie Market, which is always an overwhelming place. There's a huge market there and its also a portal for travel by trotro and bus to cities throughout Ghana. As always, being in this white skin of mine, harassment from vendors, trotro mates, cab drivers, you name it is to be expected. My favorite hawkers are those who try to sell me gender-specific things like men's underwear or pants. Does it really look like I want to buy that? On this particular day, the harassment level was especially high, and I was not in the mood. We were to meet our other friends that were already at the beach, and we were trying to find out where that beach was exactly. There are these guys we call Fan Milk men, which sell ice cream, yogurt, juice by this brand Fan Milk, and they have this in a box on their bike, and in the front they sell pastries (beware, most pastries have meat in them...mmm) and things that look like spring rolls which are actually filled with noodles or rice, I can't tell, and rolled up in a wonton wrapper and fried. Weird. Anyway, the Fan Milk man makes everyone aware of the wares he is peddling by honking a horn on his bicycle. That horn usual is not irksome to me. Things changed on this fateful day. So we were standing in Kaneshie Market, at midday, so it was about 800 degrees Celsius with the oppressive African sun beating down on us, we were confused about where we were going because our friends that were already at the beach were not picking their phones, and we were being harassed by a trotro mate, "Where are you going? Where are you going? I can take you!" We don't know where we are going!! Combine these irritants with the most abrasive Fan Milk horn you will ever hear and the Fan Milk boy who kept following us with that horn, and saying, "Please, buy some." Can't you see I'm a vegan and don't enjoy meat pies?!? I nearly had a meltdown because of the sensory overload.

Finally, we found the tro that was heading in our direction. After sitting in the respective tro for several minutes and avoiding the stares of people selling toothpaste ("Yeahhhss, 'paste!" which included "Angola" toothpaste and "Holy Smile" toothpaste.), toys, eggs, water, meat pies ("Yeahssss, meat pie!"), etc, we finally left for Gomoa Fetteh. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. We had to take a cab from the junction and we finally arrived in the village of Gomoa Fetteh. A woman in passing called me, "White man!" Maybe that's why those vendors were trying to sell me men's clothing. The beach was spectacular. It was fringed by coconut palms and there was no one around. I feel that there are a myriad of places like this in Africa, unspoiled natural wonders that no one wants to approach. The water was blue green, the waves were big but the undertow and riptide were not strong so the big waves were not intimidating. The floor did not drop off so swimming was enjoyable. The water was unnaturally warm. We were there from 230-530 about and it was a perfect amount of time to soak up the beauty of this place. I was at peace with the world floating in the ocean that day. The weather was perfect, I was with good friends, and I was surrounded by beautiful Ghana. I was enjoying life to the maximum. When we finally left, the sun was setting and it was a spectacular drive through rural Ghana. The light was perfect. Everyone in the taxi was quiet from a mixture of being tired and of being in awe of the sights they were seeing.

I hope you find yourself enjoying this beautiful country. Not only are the people incredible and the way of life agreeable, but it is a spectacular place to visit for its natural beauty. I think people forget about Africa in that sense. Africa is not just for safaris.

P.S. Happy Earth Day! Do some recycling for me as I am unable to do that here... :-(

Disclaimer: I am sure this will be pretty irritating to read. I'm having some domestic troubles, and I need to do some therapeutic writing. However, this writing is also powered by emotion and you may find my misfortune humorous.

Yesterday marked a momentous occasion. It was the day I fell ill with a touch of homesickness. I longed to live in my Beacon House with my pal Valerie and everyone else. I don't think that Meeko attacking my leg every time I entered the room in which he was present would have phased me. I say this because last night, Hurricane Meredith came ashore, and I was in the eye of the storm.

So last night, some of my friends and I were getting some ideas of places to travel to with our guide books and calendars. There was maybe six of us in the room at once. We had the door open and we were not sitting on her bed or anything. We were not eating or drinking in the room. All of the sudden, I felt the icy breeze of the Hurricane herself, with fiancee in tow, enter the room. She looked as if she just walked into the room and saw us engaged in a drunken orgy or some other activity worth getting upset over. She closed the door and we evacuated because it was awkward times in there. When I returned later, she had it out with me. "Rachel, that was ridiculous! Those people were all over the room! Dragging dirt in! With the doors open!" I thought we were just sitting and looking at our guidebooks and not causing any problems, but boy was I mistaken. Sorely mistaken! Then she went on and made me aware of all the other problems she had with me. I apparently am a slob. Granted I am not the neatest, I don't think I'm a total pig. Some of my messiness, is because I leave my things out because I don't want to make noise in the morning when I leave for my internship early in the morning anywhere from 5:00 AM to 8:00 at the latest and wake her. She accused me of "exposing all of my things" in my wardrobe. The reason I do that is because I don't want to open the door to the balcony to dry my towel wet from the shower because the door is right near her head and that would wake her. So I deal with a slightly moldy towel, but how repulsive of me to expose my things. Who would want to see my soap! Or my shoes! Gasp! So when she went to sweep, I said, let me do it, because she accused me of never helping her. And when I offered to help her, she said, 'No, you don't know how!' (because Ghanaians use this weird ergonomically-unfriendly broom, which you have to hunch over and probably cause all kinds of lumbar problems after frequent use.) So don't hold it against me! I told her. Ugh.

She also complained about how I always turn off the radio. Perhaps it didn't phase her ever that I am not a God-fearing Christian, and I do not want to hear gospel music 25 hours a day, including when I'm trying to sleep, and it doesn't stop unless the electricity goes out. But boy, when I wake up, I feel saved. Hallelujah!

Anyway, I have had two issues with her, and I have politely made my voice heard, although not much was done after my requests on her part in response. I just asked her not to put the key in the door so I could get in the room, and I have turned the radio off on occasion, but only when I'm trying to read or sleep. She has turned the radio back on in both situations. So in our argument, she held it against me. "You always turn the radio off when I have it on!" You mean, when I'm trying to sleep? When she came to live in the hostel, after arriving four weeks late, she said she was going to arrange the room how it was last semester. I said that was fine, but she moved my bed to the opposite side of the room, near the door where every door below me could be heard slamming, people in the hallway were heard talking, sweeping, the sun blinding me. It just was not pleasant and I did not get more than four hours of sleep each night I tried sleeping in this new arrangement. When I requested to change where my bed was, she acted as if I
asked to put her bed in the hallway, and her desk in the courtyard. Her fiancee told me, "Sometimes you just need to adjust." I should have known that was going to be how this whole experience was going to go. Yes, I need to adjust, because Meredith will not. So anyway, Meredith explained she liked having music on all the time and it wasn't bothersome last semester to her roommate because the room was arranged the way Meredith loved and the radio was closer to Meredith. I'm sorry, is it last semester still? I really apologize for not being able to sleep. And this is the best part. I can't remember her exact words, but she said that when I leave, I won't have to deal with the radio, and she will, meaning that all of my turning out is wearing out the on/off switch. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the radio on at all times. Actually, I haven't been using the switch. I've just been slamming the radio against the wall until it stops making noise, because I'm a pretty terrible person to live with. I have no respect for anyone really.

The worst part of this whole ordeal is that Meredith never once mentioned that she had any gripes with me. How unfair to explode at me without saying a word about anything. I felt terrible last night. I could feel my heart in my chest, my hands were shaking, and I felt nauseous. I left my room because her arguments were going nowhere and it was very clear that I am an unwanted guest in her room. I went to find my friends and they made me feel infinitely better. I am grateful to have me the people I know here. I just hate that I have avoid going to my room now because of the tension that saturates it. I am going to talk to my director to get a room change. There are some Drew University students moving out this week or next, and there are rumors of some single rooms being available. I just don't think it will be enjoyable for either of us to be in the same room. Any relationship we were developing has been mortally wounded by the events of last night. The way she talked to me last night and created the situation in the first place just won't fly with me. We have nothing in common and she seems like a spoiled brat that will have her way, or the highway.

On a more positive note, I received a card from my sister yesterday, and it could not have come at a better time. It certainly brightened my day. :-)

For those of you who sat through that, sorry. I hope you found some of it enjoyable. I feel a bit better. Enjoy your day.

PEACE.

This weekend, CIEE took us on my favorite trip yet. We ventured to the Volta Region of Ghana, to the towns of Hohoe, Ho, and Wli, which are about four hours to the northeast of Accra, and very close to the border of Togo. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at Wli Falls around noontime. The ride was incredible. I like the rural areas of Ghana so much more than the urban sprawl of Accra. We drove through villages, and places that looked like stereotypical Africa. There were huge trees on the grassland, edged by mountains. I saw the Volta River, and the Akosombo Dam. I loooved it. When we got off the bus, we had to trek through the jungle a bit. It made me miss the trees of New Jersey, although they are not so similar, just being surrounded by forest I should say, is what I miss. I saw a pineapple plant for the first time. The forest was teeming with life. Butterflies, fungus, millipedes, flowers, papaya, cocoa, bananas, pineapple, coconut, oil palm, moths, and more were abundant. We walked through the forest for a while, and had to cross over a small creek on a bridge that was only a plank (that was not nailed down) wide, and Effie, knowing about my fear of unstable things, had to sing songs about me crossing so it would distract me, just as she did on the canopy walk! Thanks for that support, Effie. We finally reached the falls, and I think I have found my favorite place on Earth. The photographs I have taken of it can capture only a minute fraction of how beautiful it truly is. The falls consisted of a huge rock face that went up over a hundred feet, and the falls flowed down into a large pool of water. There was greenery all over the rocks surrounding the falls, and this greenery was dotted with flowers. All over the wall, there was something that looked like small rocks jutting out from the sides of the rock face, but these things were bats! At one point they began to fly around above the falls. Amazing. We all went swimming here, and I think it may have been one of the best times in my life. I swam up to the falls, was pummeled by the falling water, and went behind the sheet of water. I looked up the mossy wall behind and saw a waterfall from below. I'll never forget it. It was one of those I can't believe I'm in Ghana right now moments. A zen moment for sure.

After Wli Falls, then headed over to the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. The sanctuary is in a village near Ho. The villagers at one time practiced animism, so the monkeys are considered sacred, and are protected by the villagers. A guide took us into the jungle and talked about the history of the village. It was about 4 or 5 p.m., so we had to walk for a while to see the monkeys because they make their appearance in the morning or the evening, not so much in the afternoon. Finally, we spotted some mona monkeys. The guide gave us some bananas so we could feed them. My heart melted. I had never seen anything like this. One monkey seemed to not like my friend Anne too much, because once one monkey threw the banana peel at her once it had finished the banana. !

The trip to the Volta Region was my favorite trip thus far. I loved the rural area, and I loved being able to relax. There was just enough planned for us to do, and plenty of down time. The hotel had air-conditioning and even better, no gospel music! Actually, I don't dig AC too much, a fan suffices. The scenery to and from Hohoe and Ho astounding. I hope you get to see it someday. It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Today, I returned to Legon, and enjoyed resting some more. I think I need to eat more protein because my suspected protein is finally hitting me. I am often tired, no matter how much I sleep, and I am weak. I guess I'll have to resort to my hemp powder despite its unpleasant, to say the least, taste. Anyway, I hope your weekend was as fantastic as the one I had! Be well.

PEACE.

On Thursday, I returned to the Dodowa Clinic. I left at about 5:45, and shared the trotro with only twp other people at most from Legon to Adenta. Usually, I share a tro-tro with 20 people! I arrived at the clinic at 7:00 AM to help with outreach. I went to use the bathroom before starting as I always do, and I think in that four minute span, the outreach team left without me. I was told to wait for the clinic to open. I wanted to cry. I had been going, or should I say trying to at least, to my internship for a month now. I just wanted to do something. Anything! I waited for about 45 minutes and then I decided to be more persistent about my role as a diligent intern. I asked the people at the "Dispensary" (the pharmacy, to you and I.) and they told me I could work with them ("Yes, you are welcome!" to be exact). I actually did work! It wasn't much, but the workers (Evans, Michael, Eric, Yawli, Harriet, and Mavis), explained what they were doing and were eager to show me the ropes. I told some patients how to take their medication and vitamins. A lot of people are illiterate here so it's important to do so. When you label the small bags in which the meds are given out in, you have draw a picture of the dosage, that is draw a circle for a pill that is to be taken once daily, and draw a circle a slash and another circle for pills that are taken twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, etc. I felt at ease with these people I was working with. They talked to me, instead of ignoring me as other employees there had. They asked me about the States, and Eric said his brother lived in the Bronx and I told him that it was about an hour away from my house in New Jersey. His brother called while I was there and Eric asked me if I knew where his apartment was by saying, "Do you know Apartment 2F?" Not exactly... I tried to talk about things they were interested in such as football, where they were from in Ghana, etc, and I tried to show them that I truly am interested in their culture by speaking Twi and showing them I've learned certain things. I think this has helped me in the relationships I am already building with my coworkers and has contributed to the comfort I feel with them. Their kind and outgoing personalities and good senses of humor has also definitely helped!

On Wednesday, I received a call from my friend Amy, who said she saw I had a package in the CIEE office and she was going to bring it to me. I didn't know who it was from. I met Amy and the large package she had in tow. It was from Dan P, and was one of the nicest things that anyone has done for me. He put soo much time into this gift. He baked the most delicious vegan chocolate cookies (with macadamia nuts! whoa!!) for me, but he baked them for Angela and Kwame and Kwasi as well!! In the card that he wrote to me, he said that he tried to bake these cookies for me three times. So nice. He also gave me a book, and on the card envelope he cut out all the letters of my name (first and last, and a miss!) out of construction paper and glued them. He also gave Angela a book and collaged her name on the envelope. He wrote her a really sweet note too and thanked her for taking him around Ghana, and that he hoped that the book helped her feel less homesick and strange in where she was because he said it helped him when he felt like that at one time. He put all of these things in beautiful little chest. I was so excited about this, because it was both unexpected and amazing! Amy took a picture of me when I was opening it because my smile was so wide, she had to capture it. I shared the cookies, which tasted so amazing considering the sweetest thing I eat here is fried plantains, and maybe pineapple, with Amy and Raia, and my favorite ladies at the night market, Linda and Diane. Dan P's gift put me in the best mood. I'm pretty sure I was glowing. Thank you, Dan! :-)

My friend Rush, on the program is this weekend, and we celebrated last night. It was the best time. Everyone was in a good mood, people of all the little factions of the group mingled, and there was no drama. We went to Ryan's Irish Pub, in Osu, where their was a high level of joviality, perhaps induced by alcohol, or being in good spirits, or both. Michael bought so much for everyone on his credit card, that he was called away by the waiter and asked to go to the computer, where the screen prompted Michael to verify that it was okay to put as much as he was putting on his credit card. Oh Michael...We then went to Epo's Spot, which is a rooftop bar, and down below is a place for getting down on the dance floor. I was totally in the mood for some getting down! It was a blast and a half! We heard "Do Me" (my new favorite song - with lyrics like, "If you do me, I'll do you" how could I not love it?? Now you can love it too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o771_Sc07uo) three times, which was great. Michael made it rain. Cedis were everywhere. It was the best time.

I talked to Valerie, my lovely housemate and dear friend, earlier in the week. She's in Spain working for her aunt at a non-profit. I miss her. I miss her even more when I think of my current living situation. I don't know what the deal is with some of the Ghanaian women living in my hostel. I can understand that some things may be lost in translation culturally, and that some things are acceptable and some are not and are culture specific, but I think there's an international understanding of what is rude and what is not. Some of my American friends love their Ghanaian roommates, and I try to like mine, but she is not courteous at all. It has been very clear from the beginning that the room we both live in is HER room. She arranged the room how she wanted, after arriving a month after I had began living there, and put my bed near the door so I could hear all the doors below me slamming at all hours of the day, people talking in the hallways, sweeping, you name it, and the sun in blinding me when I woke up. And when I complained about the new arrangement, she acted as if I asked her to put her bed in the hallway. She, by the way, put my desk on the balcony, stating that there was no room for it in the room. Some how it fit before...but I don't care because I don't use my desk anyway. I think it's funny, and there have definitely been some pictures taken of me sitting out in my "study area" hard at work. She also likes to lock the door when she's in the room so even if I have my key, I have to knock to get into the room that I live in, because my key will not unlock the door because there's already a key in it on the other side. I've asked her not to do it, and she still doesn't listen. And the gospel music. All day long. All night long. If I hear about Jesus one more time, and how he should be praised, I might commit a mortal sin against someone. A few nights ago, I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and when I returned, I wanted to sleep without hearing the terrible music. I thought she was asleep, so I went to turn off the radio, and before I was even to my bed, that is walked 5 feet, she was up and the radio was back on. I was seething. All I want to do is be able to sleep and get into my room. I don't think it's too much too ask. I wake up early, at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, or 8:00 depending on what I have to do, and I lay out my things so I don't wake her when I'm moving about in the dark in the morning. When I return she's still sleeping or at least laying in bed, at 11:00 am or even 2:00 pm! I'm not in the room that much. I never complain about the gospel, although I despise it by now. I don't get it. I think a lot of spoiled wealthy Ghanaians live in my hostel. I've heard some stories similar to mine. I just hate the feeling of not wanting to be in your own living space. Oh goodness, sorry for this rant. I hope it gives you an idea of my innermost thoughts on my living experience...ugh.

Anyway, my time here is about up. I'm heading to the Volta Region with CIEE this weekend. We're going to a monkey sanctuary and Wli Falls! Woot! Freeee traveling! Enjoy the weekend! PEACE.

Because I actually want to do something, anything!, at my internship, I looked beyond the Dodowa Clinic. Nana Kwasi's sister, Angela, is starting an organic pepper farm so I think I will help her with it and use that as my internship. I want to do some composting, perhaps a rain catchment system, and maybe get the community involved and do a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. On Saturday, I went with Angela to go look at the farm. Angela is as nice as Nana Kwasi. The sweeetest lady! We drove up to Aburi which is one of my favorite places in Ghana. It's about an hour north of Legon, directly east of Dodowa, where the clinic is. It's in the mountains and has the most beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the farm because it began to rain, and when it rains here, it pours. This always seems to happen when I do my laundry and I put it outside to dry...So Angela and I turned around and headed back to Legon. She stopped at the roadside to get us some corn on the cob. She bought a whole bag of it for my friends to try too! It seems that the corn on the cob is dried and then boiled on the cob. You eat it with fresh coconut. It grows on you.

That night, I cooked some German food for some of my friends. Sauerkraut and vegan sausage sandwiches! Mmm. Maddie cooked some soup and made salad and dressing. I'm so abnormally full on the nights we cook. Maybe it's because we snack while doing it, or because I'm getting the nutrients I need. I'm not so sure..

The weekend was full of annoying drama but I won't get into that. Ugh. I can't escape it. Not even when I'm on another continent. We tried to get down at the club on Saturday, but strangely no one goes out on Saturday night. I mean NO ONE. We went to four different clubs and no one was getting down in them, okay maybe two people. Who doesn't go out on a Saturday night? I'll tell you who! Ghanaians!

Sunday, Nana Kwasi had some work to do in the town of Ada. Ada is a little more than an hour away. It's on the Volta River, east of Accra and Tema. It was beautiful. I love the rural areas of Ghana way more than the city. I talked with the woman who lived in the house that Nana was working on. She was a real live German! Oh how I love the times when I can speak German with another human being. Maybe it's because I dislike Twi so much so I cherish the times when I can speak a language I know and love. Today I had a Twi test, and was tested unknowingly on the words for sheep, black hat, and red dress. Practical.

Last night, Heather was not feeling well so we took her to Nyaho Hospital to get tested for malaria. We waited for a few hours after being shuffled between different health professionals. Finally the tests came back. So the blood tests were negative for malaria but...the doctor thought she had malaria. So we're still unsure to this day if Heather does indeed have malaria. Oh Ghana...

Today, Corinne and I decided that we needed to start exercising. Today was the first time I've exercised in Ghana. Although I've become rather skinny, I'm getting a bit of a starch belly. Ugh. So Corinne and I went for a run around campus. Campus is sooo gorgeous. Corinne loves plants and nature too so it was nice to stop at a few points on our run to look at and appreciate the abundant life here. I'll have to show you pictures of it because I can't even describe how beautiful everything is.

The week was somewhat uneventful. It's been full of getting up early to go to Dodowa for my internship so I haven't been doing a whole lot at night. One strange thing that happened to me was when I was returning from Twi class, which is off-campus. I take a shortcut through a construction site, and an area, where a few people live. A woman called me over to talk to her, so I went and spoke some Twi, and then I noticed that someone was taking a picture of me! I told them it was okay if they took a picture, and so I sat down on a chair, and another woman, who I had not spoken to yet, stood by my side and put her arm around me, while the man took another picture. Weird.

One highlight was playing drums at Fire's house with Corinne. We learned how to play some African rhythms, while Fire played this small percussion instrument that has a name I do not remember. It looks like two small gourds filled with beads and held together by a string. It's tough to create a visual of this. Fire also taught us some songs that he wrote himself, which were in Ewe, and English too. Fire is from Togo, so his first language is Ewe, but he also speaks Ga, Twi, French, and English! He is taking English language classes at the U of Ghana. I can't imagine learning English as a second language. Playing music that night was an experience I was not expecting. While Corinne and I played drums and Fire sang, his relatives (two adolescent girls, and a few little kids) came in to Fire's house, and danced, sang, or just looked at was going on in the house. I loved it. Fire is a master of tie dye and batik, so if there's anything you'd like, let me know, and I'll have him make it for you!

Wednesday: After going to class, I headed to Mr. Price, which is a very strange place. I don't feel like I'm in Ghana when I'm there. It's at this place called the Accra Mall. It's air conditioned, relatively quiet, aaand expensive. I mean, a pair of pants at Mr. Price is about seventeen meals! Mr. Price is full of strange advertisements. In one ad, it said that "It's a small price to pay for fame." We joke around when we buy stuff from there and say things like, "I'm surprised you recognized me when I wear this. I thought I looked too famous. And I barely paid any money for all this fame!"

That evening, Corinne and I went to Alliance Francais to watch Gouda perform. They were fantastic! Everyone was in a jovial mood that night and enjoyed busting some moves on the dance floor to some authentic West African beats.

Thursday: Corinne and I attempted to do some work at our internship today, but were again pretty unsuccessful. When we arrived at the clinic in Dodowa, we were told to go to the post office in Dodowa. On the first tro-tro the mate did not know where he was going so we had to get off at a place that was not the post office and catch another tro-tro back. This tro-tro also missed our stop. So then we took a cab, and finally arrived at the post office. Here, mothers took their babies to be weighed to monitor development, be immunized, and receive vitamin A droplets. Unfortunately, because Dodowa's a rural area, there is not a whole lot of people that come in for treatment at the clinic, and it's also difficult to get there because it's rural. This means that Dodowa clinic is also overstaffed, so there is no need for three interns! So today at the clinic, I had to read the number on the scale to a woman who recorded the figures in a booklet. The woman kept telling me I was doing it wrong, and the people there did not really talk to me unless it was to correct me. Or...make fun of me, like when they saw a woman with an unusually fair-skinned child. They grabbed by arm, to compare it to the baby, while saying, "Oburoni kCkCC!" which means a tan foreigner basically. So I don't think this internship's going to work out. I actually want to do SOMETHING.

On the way back to Legon on the tro-tro, a man asked us about U.S. politics. Everyone has really been keeping up with the presidential race. Most Ghanaians I met are all about Obama, including this guy that was on the tro-tro. He asked about the Iraq War, Osama Bin Laden, and if there was a local language in U.S....weird. We were also asked upon exit on the tro, if we would want to start a business, basically, with this man, who would take Americans on tours in Ghana. Thanks...but no thanks...

Internet almost upp...PEACE.

After getting down at the club on Friday at Stripes 'N' Dots, I had to leave my dorm at 6:15 AM for a trip with CIEE. I returned to my dorm at 4:30, slept for 45 minutes, well longer actually because I woke up, without my alarm going of at 5:30 AM, at 6:07 AM. I grabbed my things, brushed my teeth, and ran down to the bus that was already at my dorm. I felt pretty nauseous for the morning from not eating, sleeping, and traveling on winding roads. We were going to Cape Coast and Kakum Nat'l. Park for the weekend. I had already been the previous weekend, but I did not go to Elmina Castle, which was the largest and most infamous of the slave castles. I love the drive to Cape Coast because it's rural and tropical, and you can see the beautiful ocean as you drive along the coast. We first stopped at the slave river, where slaves were marched from their various homelands, and came to the river for their last bath before going to the castle, where they would either die, or go to their final destinations in the New World, and perhaps die en route. It was pretty heavy. We stopped at our hotel, which was waaay nicer than the place we stayed when my friends and I stayed in Cape Coast. In the afternoon, we made our way to Elmina. It is an enormous white fort on the coast of the Atlantic. It was a beautiful location for having such a dark history. We had a tour of the various dungeons and other rooms. It was unbelievable. I cannot imagine how someone could do such things to another human being and feel justified in doing so. You could see tally marks on the wall in one of the dungeons. Some slaves would not eat, preferring death over the life that was decided for them. There was also a church above one of the dungeons. Hmm...

I've already wrote about Kakum, so I won't tell you about the second trip there. We returned home after our trip to Kakum and were in Legon at 5:00 P.M. That night, Heather hosted us in her room on my floor, where we lamented over our roommate situations, and did some crafts.

On Monday, I witnessed the wildest storm I have seen here. I was in the internet cafe, when I heard things sliding around in the hallway outside the cafe, thunder, and people yelling. I thought we were being bombed! I went outside to see what the commotion was. Rain was pouring, the wind was blowing it sideways, and the sky was dark. I was drenched. So then I tried to return to the internet cafe. The hostel is set up so it's very open and breezy. There is an open courtyard, so all the rain that was coming down, was blowing on the the walkways and creating puddles everywhere. So when I tried to get into the cafe, the door swung open, and I went with it. I was sliding on the floor because their was a puddle right outside the door. The girl that worked in the cafe, who was by the way about a quarter of my size, tried to bring the door back in. The wind was so strong that when I got back in the room, she flew out, and I had to try to get her back in. Angela watched this from nearby and said it was the funniest thing she's seen in a while. I could only imagine how ridiculous I looked. That afternoon Twi was cancelled, so I met up with Nana Kwasi. We were going to go downtown to get a Cote D'Ivoirian visa, but it was too late in the day to do so. Instead, we met with his cousin, Angela, in Adenta, who has an organic pepper farm nearby. I am going to begin helping her with this farm. Kwasi's family members are as nice as he is. Angela actually lived in Dirty Jerz for a few years. Later that night, Kwasi taught me how to make cabbage stew and boiled yam. We ate with our hands like true Africans do, and it was delectable. Kwasi's a good cook. I like his style.

I have to go to class now, so I'm signing off. PEACE.