Finally, an internet connection that works! I hope you have had a good week.

Last Friday night, several of my friends and I went to see a dance production put on by the School of Dance and Performing Arts here at the U of Ghana. I was reluctant to go at first because I have heard that past productions were terrible, but maybe that's because this school does not specialize in Western musicals such as "The Sound of Music." The dance production we saw was called "AbCdom: The Creeping Menace." AbCdom means "crazy" in Twi. It was excellent! The venue was an outdoor theater on campus. The choreography and music was fantastic. The storyline was somewhat strange because it was about drugs and a Jesus-like figure stopped the destructiveness the drugs was having on people, and even resurrected someone who had overdosed...I'm not sure how much I dug that message..but the dancing was fabulous. I wish I had as much coordination and rhythm those people have, just in their thumbnail.

This past weekend, CIEE took us to Kumasi. Kumasi has been my favorite city that I've visited thus far in Ghana. It's the second most populous city in Ghana and home of the Ashanti people. Kumasi is the culture capital of Ghana. It's less crowded and not nearly as overwhelming as Accra. People live in large family houses here because to the Ashanti people, family means extended family, and this family lives together. Kumasi is not as urbanized as Accra and full of trees. The ride took about six hours by bus. I love getting out of Accra. I try to look out the window at the beautiful scenery as long as I can before falling asleep. When we arrive at our destination, we visited Bonwire, a village which makes kente cloth. Kente cloth was originally woven by the Ashantis. Now, it is woven Ashanti people and those who are not Ashanti, and is a cultural symbol of Ghana. It is woven on long looms with thread that are tied to something on the ground about ten feet away. It's hard to describe. I'll show you pictures! The cloth is beautiful. It's vividly colored and each pattern has a particular significance. The larger more complicated designs may take months to complete. Amazing.

Next, we visited Lake Bosumtwe, which is about 30 kilometers from Kumasi. Lake Bosumtwe is the largest natural lake in Ghana. It is a crater lake surrounded by mountains. It was spectacular. Twenty-four villages that encircle the lake depend on it for its tilapia and water. We went for a swim in the lake. It was no refuge from the equatorial heat however because it was shallow where we were swimming and in the direct sunlight, so the 90 degree heat was more refreshing that the water! We took a boat ride out into the lake, and I was a little worried at times, because as with any vehicle in Ghana, (Honda Camry-sized cabs = can fit 7 people, tro-tros = 25 people, etc) it was overloaded and the motor was groaning...we made it back without sinking into the lake thankfully. There was a man putting fishing nets out in the lake and sitting on a wooden plank as a vessel. If I remember correctly, there is a taboo about going out onto the lake in dugout canoes, so that is why people use planks as vessels.

The Kumasi Central Market is the largest open air market in West Africa, and we were lucky enough to go there. I only got to visit the outskirts of it, and it was too overwhelming to buy anything. I don't know if you've ever smelled fresh meat, but it is the most nauseating smell to ever grace my nostrils. I try not to be annoying about my aversion to the once-living flesh of my animal friends, but this stench makes me gag. So the meat smell also prevented me from stopping and looking around more at the wares being sold at the market. I met a bunch of market ladies, who loved my pitiful attempt at Twi, and asked for my phone number. Now when I meet men on the street, and they ask for my number, I do not provide them with such information. I will also not give women my number. I was foolish enough to give one market lady, Abenaa, my number, who gave it to the five others surrounding her, to be called eight times by various numbers. "I want you to take me abroad." Okay! Just tell me when you want to go. I have oodles of cash money.

We visited the Ashanti chief's former palace, which is now a museum. It was in a lush gated area with peacocks on the lawn. We had to sit down and watch a video before we began our tour about the Ashanti chief and people. There was a humorous segment of the video in which the narrator told about how the Ashanti people are a peaceful people, but the clip showed Ashanti people toting some serious guns. We had an enthusiastic tour guide with a strange sense of humor, Opoku, who took us on a light-hearted journey through Ashanti history.

We were supposed to stay in Kumasi Friday, Saturday, and leave Sunday morning. There was nothing planned for us on Sunday morning except for relaxing. Recently, the Ghana Music Awards were taking place in Accra to commend the best hip-life, high-life, etc artists of Ghana (and Nigeria). P Square is one of these artists popular enough to win an award at the Ghana Music Awards. I may have mentioned previously that P Square is the creator of the song, "Do Me", and from this song alone, I, and several of my friends are die hard fans. We got drift of the news that P Square was going to be playing at Labadi Beach, which is about 10 or 15 minutes from Legon, on Sunday at noon. Eight P Square fans woke up at 4:45 A.M. Sunday to leave at 5:30 in a tro-tro sized vehicle back to the U of G in time to see our Nigerians perform their hit single. We arrived in the Greater Accra area around 10:30, but then our information source informed us that the show was starting at 2:00. But then the rainy season made itself known and it poured rain from a little before two until about 4:30 P.M. During the storm, our information source told us that the show would be at 5:00, so then when we got to the beach at 5:00 P.M., 5:00 P.M. actually meant the show was at 8:00 P.M. Luckily our friend Daniel was there to protect my friends Angela, Corinne, Heather, and myself, somewhat, but we were still harassed at the worst place in Ghana for harassment of females: Labadi Beach. Finally, the show began. We saw Tinny (pronounced like you and I say "tiny": Angela and I joked around by peering at the stage as if we couldn't see Tinny because he was so small we couldn't see him....har har..), who is a big name in Ghana, Asem, AbCdom, Nameless (from Kenya, and there's a reason why he doesn't deserve a name - terrrrible.) anndd Ja Rule!, who was as profane as ever, and greeted the crowd with "What the F--- 's Up, Ghaaana!" in his signature ultra gravelly voice. You can count on the most terrible tidbits of American culture to corrupt every other nation in the world. So after enduring all of the aforementioned artists, guess who did NOT show up to this show? Yes, you guessed it. P Square. You know, the artist which the past 27 hours of our lives revolved around. What a letdown!

The week following this weekend was pretty quiet as I was sick all week with giardia or amoeba parasites, I'm not sure which, setting up shop in my intestines. So imagine a "running stomach" for six days straight. Not so fun. Cabbage stew strikes again...

On Monday, I sent my first and last packages from the Accra Post Office. I hate going to the post office on campus because of the rudeness that emanates from the surly workers there. Accra was even worse. Sorry rude lady with the world's easiest job that I have never sent a package out of your country, and don't know which of the ambiguous windows to go to first...or...how to package my package...and to be foolish enough to think that a box would be sensible to put my wares into...or writing in the corner was a foolish place for me to write the return address....or that 27 stamps in postage instead of a rubber stamp saying GH cedis of postage makes sense?!?!..So the bottom line is that it was expensive, time-consuming, and grated my nerves a little bit...Thankfully, Corinne was there to help me laugh through the ridiculousness of all the interactions I had there.

Luckily, the day of the post office also marked a day of great news. I received a text from Angela that said, "hey - remember the time we both hated our roommates and the drew (university) girls moved out and they made us roommates? move in tomorrow" I was sooo excited! Non-awkward times at last! This also made me think about how disappointed I am with my experience with my Ghanaian roommate. I was wishing and hoping that living with a Ghanaian roommate would be a great experience, and I would learn a lot from this person. Boy was I wrong. I learned all about her, because that's all we talked about, but it just made me want to stereotype about Ghanaian women. The only thing she invited me to was church. I think I'll pass. I just did not luck out here in the roommate department. So I moved all of my things out while Hurricane Meredith was out of the room, to avoid even more awkwardness. I left a note that simply said, "I moved out." I did not write her name or my name on the note. Then Angela and I moved into our new room. Room 228! I saw Meredith when I was in the hall, and she told me she had found my note, and asked where I was living now, with a huge smile on her face. This was the most pleasant she had ever been with me...was I really sure I wanted to move away from this sweet-natured girl? You bet I was sure. This is exactly what she wanted me to do. I heard later that she complained to the housing department that I did not tell her sooner that I was moving out. She was not really concerned, she just wanted to get me in trouble somehow. Angela is a great roommate. We have sleep marathons now and I never hear her come in the room if I'm sleeping. People actually want to come in our room because there is an absence of a cold Ghanaian woman scowling at them when they come in. Angela calls it the new "It Room" because everyone wants to be there! I also received the sweetest card from my sweet Mom and Dad, which may have been the nicest things they have said to me, as well as a post card from Hong Kong from my friend Dan, which made this day even better! :-)

My friend Amy, from Minnesota, is one of my favorite people in this world. I realize how much I like her when I see her interact with new people. She always includes everyone and makes people feel comfortable. It's really nice. Plus she says things like, "Holy Cow." Love it. She called me up earlier in the week and told me about the May Day holiday and the May Day tradition she has grown up with. On May Day, the tradition is to go to a friend's door, place a basket of candy on the doorstep, knock on the door, and then run away. So we went to Shop Rite on Tuesday, and bought paper and candy. We, and my friend Maddie and occasionally Andrew (Alovi), then spent the evening making some woven paper baskets. We spent Wednesday doing this as well, and some on Thursday morning. It was a daunting task for sure. We ended up making over 40 baskets. We made one for every person in our program that lived on campus, and for some of the U-Pals as well. Paper and candy were both limiting reactants in this equation, and our cash supply too, so we unfortunately could not make more. The delivering of the baskets made the task of making them even more rewarding. Everyone that was actually in their rooms loved them. May Day was also Andrew's birthday, so we went to Jerry's Spot for drinks and then to the Basement to get down. The Basement always has the best event fliers. This event "Reloaded" had humor in the dresscode for men: "Smart and Responsible" ...whatever that means...

Friday I went to the doctor because a running stomach for 6 days was entirely too much for my comfort...Nyaho Hospital is recommended by the US Embassy, but I don't think I would even recommend it. I have gone with friends who have suspected they had malaria. Not only does each visit take forever, but the doctors have said things such as, "Well, the blood test says you don't have malaria, but I think you have it." So my friend Heather may or have not have malaria, but it is certain that she has 40 dollars less than she had before going to Nyaho. A girl in another program actually did have malaria but it was misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, so her malaria became dangerously worse because it was going untreated!!! Yikes. So...after hearing about this, I did not go to Nyaho, but Akai House Clinic. The healthcare workers were nice, professional, and did everything in a timely fashion. I apparently lost ten pounds. I was tested for typhoid, and I was given a prescription for the parasites giardia and amoebas. I think I had one of those parasites because I'm just going to say I'm having a pretty solid day...

Over the weekend, Angela and I went to The Loom, which is an art gallery in downtown Accra. I enjoyed it immensely. There were some paintings that really struck me because they captured everyday life here so well. There was jewelry, paintings, sculpture, batik fabric, kente cloth, books, postcards, carvings, etc. On our way to a tro-tro, a man got our attention and pointed to a car with a Caucasian man as its passenger, and said, "Hey, Who is this man, You know him, right?" Of course.

Angela and I also visited MmaxMart, which is Oburoni City basically. I feel like I'm committing a crime when I go to places like this because everything is so expensive in the store, compared to the people outside on the sidewalk making a living selling bananas for 10 cents a piece. However, I was having quite the aversion to Ghanaian food, so a falafel sandwich filled with vegetables hit the spot, and I did not spend a fortune on such a treat.

I had somewhat of a "I wish I was in the U.S." week. I missed organization this week. I miss cooking. I miss eating food that I am more sure than not that there are not pathogens lurking within it. I just felt kind of dead this week and that made me somewhat discouraged. I am loving Ghana again though. I miss you all though. I hope you had the best weekend.

PEACE!
Akosua Dede