The first breath of the African air threw me back into Uganda, summer of 2007. I can’t describe how the air smells different – it just does. It’s like this sweet smell – grainy or beany or something heavier maybe of the dirt or the trees, but the African air is definitely different. The air: confirmation that I am back in Africa and it feels awesome.
….
It’s been a whole week since we’ve arrived in Ghana and we’ve gotten into a routine of things. Wake up, wake up the roommate, wake up the boys, drink coffee while reading my Bible before climbing into the van, which takes us to the Academic Center where we listen to guest lectures or have classes for Journalism in Ghana. Then, we get a two-hour break for lunch, which literally takes the FULL two hours.
On a side note:
I don’t flipping understand how it can take SO LONG to prepare food. The food NEVER comes out together and it can take up to 20 minutes for the next round, or plate, to come out and sometimes it doesn’t even come out at all. Today I ordered an omelette and it came out 15 minutes after everybody else’s hamburgers were scarfed down and Courtney’s INSTANT coffee (which means hot water and a packet of Nescafe) came out at the same time her toast did which took 30 minutes. And you definitely do not want to order the kabobs, not because they’re not good, but because they will come out when the bill should come instead. Guaranteed. It’s a huge ordeal.
But I digress.
So after lunch we go visit a media company like the local radio station Joy FM, the state broadcast company GBC, or the state-funded newspaper, Graphic. We get a tour of the company and all of their facilities and have a Q&A after. It’s actually quite a privilege, one that wouldn’t be so easily granted to us back in the States.
Every night (and literally it has been every night) we go out to a local jazz café where Reggae and jazz fuse to create this awesome fresh vibe; or the beach for Reggae night every Wednesday where Reggae bands play and Rasta men offer you a smoke out for just 20 cedi; or a struggling lounge called Twist that offers drinks for half-off in an attempt to upstart a “college scene” that is currently completely comprised by us. Unexpectedly, Accra has a very vibrant nightlife.
I can’t do this everyday. So I’m staying in tonight with my two homies, Stephen and Carlos and we’re all sitting around our living room table with our Macs and listening to Kid Cudi’s “I Poke Her Face,” which has unofficially become our theme song, and which you are pleasantly enjoying now. =)
A huge treat was when we went to the “football” game at the Ghana Stadium for Republic Day. Of their many pre-games, the most popular was the Little Person game when two whole teams comprised of “little people,” or midgets, came running out onto the field and the whole stadium cheered! What I do not understand is how do they even find enough midgets skilled enough in soccer to produce a whole soccer team, let alone two? Do Ghanians just have more little people than we do in the States? And the crazier thing is that these little people were not just playing soccer, but they were playing on a regular sized soccer field with a regular sized soccer ball and their shorts went all the way down to their ankles.
Real classes start on Monday and before then we have the weekend ahead of us planned to the brim with a trip to Lake Volta filled with stops to waterfalls and monkey sanctuaries. `stay tuned my loves.
