Akwaaba! EtE sen? (Welcome! How are you?)

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This will probably be a shorter post just because I am out and about today and there isnt anything too exciting to report about.

The presidential inauguration was pretty cool. We went to the DuBois center and it was this festival of music and vendors selling food and painting and anything you could imagine that was Obama related. They had a really nice set up with a projector on stage adn 2 flat screen TVs with a sound system to watch the whole thing. It was surreal seeing it all and the excitement Ghanaians had for American politics. I was so proud to be an American that day, and when our group stood to sing the national anthem I got chills. Just being surrounded by atleast 500 Ghanaians and standing proudly as an American was very... i dont even know, it was incredible.

Yesterday I didn't have any classes so 6 of us, Bethany, Melissa, my roommate Megan, and Max and Ryan all took another tro-tro adventure to the beach. It was fairly uneventful, just got lost trying to find one of the tro tro stations but everyone was so helpful!! One guy must have seen the look in my face once we finally found the tro-tro station on 37th because I was so overwhelmed by all the tro-tros and the drivers shouting out their destinations that he stopped me and asked me where we were looking for. I told him and he goes "Oh thats easy! follow me!" and took us right to the correct tro-tro. On the way home we ran into him again and he was so excited to see me he shouted across the market "Remember me?! I'm so glad you are ok!!" it was really sweet. At the beach was a completely different experience than on Sunday. Until around 12:30 we were literally the only ones there. The bar/restaurant we were at had these amazing beach chairs with thick cushions on them and they let us all sit there for free all day long. These 3 little boys were skipping school and playing on the beach so we played with them (only after they got a stern lecture about how they needed to be in school and if I ever saw them there again on a school day they'd be in trouble) and when I pulled out my Twi homework they even helped me with my Twi! I actually probably learned more from those 3 little boys than I did in a classroom.

We had to leave early to go to our Twi class, but then we came back that night for reggae night. The guys that worked at the bar we were at all day were so excited when they saw us that they even gave us a free round. The music was great and it was definately one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. Just picture this. On the beach, live REAL reggae music, fire on the beach, and people dancing around the fire pits just having a good time... IN AFRICA! It was something out of a movie. Maxwell is one of the servers there and he taught me how to dance (well sort of...) to reggae music. I still looked like an Obruni, but we had a great time. I decided to call it a night around 1 because I had a class at 9:30 and it was great timing because as soon as I thought I was ready to go 3 more people said they were ready and it was the perfect number to share a taxi home. Very great day yesterday...

This morning I actually had a class!! htere were probably only 25 of us there and the professor surprisingly showed up! I am SUPER pumped about this class. Its a religious studies class, African Myths and Symbols. She didnt lecture today, just went over the class outline. I was somehow nominated to be the class representative! I dont really know how it happened, but I somehow am the official representative now. Basically since they do not have e-mail or internet access I will act as the liason between the professor and my classmates. If she is unable to come to lecture she will call me and I will let the class know. Or if someone missed class and needs the handout they can get it from me. I was really hesitant about it, but now that I am talking about it on here I think it will be really cool because it will give me a reason to get to know my professor and my classmates so it will be easier to make friends. The class had a surprisingly large number of older students, like atleast in their 30s or 40s. One gentleman came up to me after class and was telling me how he is a minister at a church in Accra and invited me to come to a service and see an African church service. I will definately have to take him up on his offer, he was a very nice man. Tonight I have my Traditional African dance class so that will be fun!!

My number here is:
011-233-246-888-627
Also thanks mom, mark, tanya, and casey for sending the care package! I cant wait to get it. As soon as I have wifi access I will upload some pictures from my computer on here. I have to use public computers in the internet cafes right now. I have some really good ones from the beach and reggae night plus some pretty ones of campus so I will have to show you soon.

Oh yea! Volunteer stuff... I started getting that arranged today. I reallllllly want to do something with Habitat for Humanity and build, but they dont have any builds in the area right now. She said to keep checking back with them though so hopefully I can do something with that. Even if its not an actual build, maybe I can help them in their office. I decided against the orphanage because there are so many other people going there as well and they dont really have enough work for 15 people so I decided to go somewhere where I could be more help. I am in contact with 2 different organizations right now and trying to figure out which one will work out. One is a program that takes children that are not in school for one reason or another and they prepare them to be put into school on the level they should be at. Sort of a remedial type of thing. I would be teaching kids how to read or other skills they need to be successful in school. They also have an afterschool program where we have arts and crafts for the kids and help them with their homework and other activities. Basically something to do after school that keeps them off the streets, like Boys and Girls Club. The other is a school for children and teens with Autism. I haven't been able to talk with them as much, but I would be helping the teachers with the students mostly. I will keep you updated with how that goes, but unfortunately the organizations here are also on Ghana time.

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