day trippin'

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i'm trying to remember what i've done since i wrote last.. i have a hard time deciding what will be worth writing about.. there are some things that were really interesting to me when i first got here, but seem normal to me now.

we had planned on going up to dotey island (on lake volta) with our rasta friends for the weekend but it ended up not working out, so
taylor and i decided to spend a couple of days in ada foah instead. ada foah is best known in ghana for the estuary where the volta river
meets the atlantic ocean and the nearby town big ada. we met someone in ada foah who showed us around a little - we hung out by the river and later at a bar where we danced with some old african women who were a little tipsy and still wearing their traditional funeral clothing (saturdays are funeral days). we woke up early sunday morning and took a canoe ride to the estuary where we met another cool guy who grabbed his drum and guitar and sang as we played music together -it was really random but very cool. we walked around the beach then headed back into town by walking through the small fishing village near the estuary. walking through the village was definitely my favorite part of the trip -watching the people work and talking to them as we walked by. accra is very different than these rural villages so it was great to get to see this side of ghanaian culture. we got back into town and managed to beg rides all the way back to accra.

although you can buy african beads in accra, the selection isn't very good and the prices are higher than if you go to one of the weekly bead markets outside of accra. we took a couple of tro-tros to a place called koforidua - we had to drive through the shy hills (rita marley has a house there). the weather is beginning to become hazy as the harmattan is starting so the whole drive at a higher altitude seemed foggy but there was a beautiful view of accra. the market was in an open lot and there were probably 50 vendors. it didn't disappoint -i got a lot of beads for making jewelery and taylor, anouk and i went in on a string of some antique beads -they are over 200 years old and really cool but kind of expensive. on the ride back, we got an air conditioned tro-tro, which are rare, and i realized how accustomed to the heat i've become -the cold air was nice at first but became uncomfortable pretty fast. this was something we'd been talking about doing for a couple of months so it was nice to finally do it.

taylor and i went to cujoe, kofi and solomon's house on monday to make dinner with them. they got the ingredients for ground nut soup and riceballs and we made the meal together. it will be nice to be able to make this once i'm back in the states -ground nut soup is one of my favorite ghanaian foods. dinner ended up taking a few hours to cook but i love hanging out with these guys, it was a mellow but great night.

i took my drumming final last week. i was in the last group to play in front of the teachers so as people came out from the final-room, i heard how the teachers were cutting people off and critizing them for being off beat in the middle of the song, it was actually kind of nerve racking. i'm not sure what exactly the grade is based off, but i played the four parts without messing up much so i feel good
about it. i had another final on saturday, which was a couple essays and short answer questions based on the six or so books we read this semester. this test was worth 80% (compared to 100%) of our final grade so i guess that's good. i have three more finals the last week i'm here, so until then i'm just hanging out, going to the beach and into town and studying.. a little.

happy thanksgiving to everyone at home!

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