Weekend

Hi everyone,

So I just got back from my first full weekend in Ghana. On Friday night the whole group, including our professors, went to a bar/club called Chez Afrique. It was SO much fun, even though I am still recovering from being sick and sound like a pubescent boy crossed with a dying toad. The dominant music genre here (other than American hip-hop/rap) is called High Life, it sounds very Caribbean, is fast paced and a lot of fun to dance to.

On Saturday just about everyone went to the beach, which was also a ton of fun. Standing in the water was the first time I have not been sweating/extremely hot...I want to make it clear I still have yet to experience being cold (the ocean is really warm here) but it was amazing to not feel like I was melting away for a little while. Furthermore, there were a bunch of Africans playing soccer on the beach. I asked to join in, and they skeptically said yes. It took me a little while to get used to playing soccer with a flat volleyball, but once I did they were all pleasantly surprised to learn that the female abruni could play. I even received my first marriage proposal! Apparently my soccer "skills/style" are a sign that I will make a "good wife for life" haha. For those who are not aware, Ghana is only a couple degrees off of the equator. I was wearing 100+ SPF which I applied twice all over my body. Despite this I burned everywhere which isn't exposed to the sun when I am wearing my day-to-day clothes (a tee shirt and shorts). One guy in the group decided not to wear sunscreen (he readily admits that this was stupid) and got sun poisoning. He is doing fine now, but we have all learned that abrunis are no match for the Sun, no matter how much sunscreen you put on first. Now that we are all a dozen shades darker (or in the process of going from magenta to a dozen shades darker) we shouldn't have any problems as long as we wear sun screen. What is great about being in Ghana/a tropical country is that your Auntie grows aloe plants in the back yard. So although I have been applying the West's "Ocean Potion" several times a day, I get the most relief from applying fresh, pure aloe verra to the burn, you can't do better than that!

This next week we aren't going on any "official" excursions (every day in the city to me is an excursion) and instead have two lectures a day (one by one of our W&L professors and one by a local Ghanaian professor), a midterm on Wednesday and a paper to write. So I may not be posting as often this week, but I will try to. Please if you have any questions feel free to post them on the blog or e-mail me!

Love and Peace,

H