A Little Bit of Class and a lot of Osu

Oct. 15

My first class of the day was cancelled today because my professor was sick. So that was kind of nice.

The Internet hit an all time low today. The few pictures I put on my Volta Region post took 6 hours to load. I just let it load all day during class. The Internet in my room has been horrible lately too. I will never complain about the speed of Calvin’s Internet again.

After class I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening trying to find sources for my political science paper that’s due in a week. I’m writing on health care in Africa. It was actually really difficult due to my horrible Internet connection. I have to give a presentation tomorrow as well, so I spent time finishing up my power point and wrote my notes. I also tried skyping with my Dad, which ended up not working. I just had a really frustrating Internet experience today.

This week, there is a week-long celebration going on right outside my dorm. The good news is that there is a stand that sells ice cream—real-ish ice cream in waffle cones! The bad news is that they play really long music all night long. But, because I was so frustrated with my Internet, I went and bought myself an ice cream cone.

Oct. 16

Gave my presentation this morning in Political Science. It feels really good to have that over with. The rest of the day really just seemed to go by pretty quickly. Between my last class and eating dinner at Roland’s house, I stayed at the Institute to try and find more sources for my paper. I like to use the Internet at the Institute as much as possible because it’s free. Also, the Internet is usually more reliable there, but it had another bad day.

Dinner at Roland’s was really good. The girls that cooked made rice with fajita style chicken, refried beans, salsa, and guacamole. After the main course, we had dirt dessert—one of my favorites!

Oct. 17

Happy Wednesday, everyone. The day seemed to drag, as most Wednesdays do. By the time Twi class rolls around, I’ve kind of checked out for the day. The good news is that our dance instructor let us out early. We’re learning a new dance that I actually don’t mind…meaning I don’t feel like a complete fool doing it because it’s not that hard.

Wednesday nights are really nice. I feel like a champion for having made it through the day. I also love getting to take a bucket shower after dance. The cold water always feels really nice. It’s also just nice to feel clean, even if it’s just for a little while before you start to sweat again. It’s getting hotter here because we’re entering the dry season. Bring it on.

After we take “showers”, we usually all eat dinner together at Tickles. Tonight was no different. After dinner I looked for more sources for my paper and then went to bed. I don’t have to go to Adenkrebi tomorrow because we can’t paint while they’re in class, so I get the day off.

Oct. 18

Today has been one of the most productive days of my life. I woke up this morning, got dressed right away and went to the Institute for free Internet. I wrote my entire political science paper in one sitting. WIN. I got there at about 9am and left around 3pm. I grabbed lunch on my way back to my dorm and when I got to my dorm I read the literature assignment and did the response for it. I am so relieved to have that paper out of the way.

I took a break after that to just relax for a while. The Internet really didn’t work in my room, but it was nice to just chill. At around 6:30, the power went out. Krista, Halyley and I ate dinner in the dark.

Tomorrow, Cassie, Hayley and I head to Adenkrebi to hopefully finish painting the kindergarten classroom.

Oct. 19

The room is starting to look really cute! Daniel had done most of the sketching on the walls, so we just had to fill in with color. It was a lot of fun. The alphabet, numbers, days of the week, shapes and most of the mural on the back wall are finished. While we were finishing up for the day, it started raining harder than I’ve ever seen before. It actually felt cold—weird.

We only have one more Thursday and Friday at Adenkrebi. I can’t believe it. It hit me today as I was playing with some of the kids that I probably won’t see them again after I leave. I got a little bit emotional.  There is a girl named Rosina that has taken quite a liking to me. She likes holding my hand and laughing at the way I say things. I’m going to have a hard time saying goodbye to her.

Daniel was extremely kind and drove us all the way back to campus himself so that we didn’t have to stand in the rain waiting for a tro-tro. When we got back to our room, we had water! It was chilly, but welcome. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get home and have an unlimited water supply. That might be a bit overwhelming.

I took a nap after my shower. I didn’t really realize how tired I was until I laid down. I slept longer than I had intended, but I think I needed the rest. The rest of the evening was spent reading and relaxing. Since I finished my Political Science paper on Friday, I feel like a champion and I’m not motivated to do anything else as far as schoolwork goes.

Oct. 20

The water was on again this morning. The best.

Delicious, right? 

After a long and exhausting week, I needed a day of fun. So Josh and I went to Osu and spent the entire day shopping. Our first stop was to the coffee shop/bakery. It’s really similar to a small coffee shop you would find in the States. I got a chocolate pastry and cappuccino. After that, we went to Global Mamas where I went a little nuts buying things, but I did get quite a few more presents for people back home. I also bought a dress for myself. I couldn’t help it. I’ve been eyeing the dress for weeks.

This was a really great moment for me.

After Global Mamas, we wandered the streets, visited a few stands with various souvenir items. We also went to the westernized grocery store and I got a Diet Coke. I don’t think I can accurately describe in words how happy I was to drink that.

The sun was really intense today, so when we got too hot to be outside, we went to the smoothie place to cool off.

After smoothies, we walked around some more and found an Italian restaurant where we got some really good pizza.

When we finished eating, we walked some more. Krista, Anna, and Kristi were on their way to Osu, so we decided to wait up for them so we could hang out for a bit. When they arrived, we went back to the coffee shop and I got another cappuccino.

The last tro-tro we were in on the way back to campus had air conditioning. I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered that before. It was amazing.

I walked into my room all sweaty from the walk from the tro-tro stop. All I wanted was to take a shower. Well guess what? The water was STILL on. I got to take a nice long cold shower. I’m not sure that this day could’ve been any better.

But it did. I got to skype with my parents. Skype worked the best it has in a long time in my room, so I was able to talk with them for quite a while. I loved it.

Oct. 21

Krista and I decided to go back to Osu to the smoothie place to do homework. It’s nice to sit in the air conditioning, drinking a cold smoothie. When we decided that we had done enough work, we walked to Global Mamas. Unfortunately, it was closed. We settled on going to the grocery store to enjoy some more air conditioning.

Because there is never a bad time to get dessert and coffee, we went to the coffee shop. I got a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips and cappuccino. Yum. We then walked some more and when we got hungry, we got lunch (cheese burgers!) and then went back to campus.

We came back to a power outage that didn’t end until after 11pm. I think it was out for a total of about 12 hours. I was already sleeping by the time it came back on. When there is no power, there is no Internet. So, we had to find things to that didn’t require power outlets. Luckily, my computer had some battery life, so a group of us watched a movie. We also had Bible study as a group.

Also, when we got back to campus, the water was STILL on. I took another shower. I am overwhelmed by the abundance of water we have had this weekend. It has been so nice.

I spent a lot of money on food and gifts this weekend. But, it was totally worth it. I had a great weekend.

Oct. 23

Our power situation has been shoty recently. After class today, we had power until about 6pm and then it shut off. It stayed off for about an hour and it came back on.  We were at Tickles eating dinner when it shut off. I was glad that my order of fries wasn’t affected by the outage. They were delicious. When the power came back on, the Internet was so slow that it was basically worthless. I settled on reading on my Kindle for a little bit and then went to bed early out of boredom. I love that I finished my politics paper so early. I have had time to do quite a bit of leisure reading.

Oct. 24

Today started off beautifully. The water was on when I woke up, so I was able to take a shower. Then, I walked to the breakfast place. The wonderful about this particular walk was that it was cloudy and breezy. I hardly sweat at all the entire way there. That never happens. The oatmeal was wonderful, as usual.

I was thankful for such a good morning before class because political science always puts me in a bad mood. I did turn in my paper, so I am relieved to have that behind me. The rest of my classes were long, but not horrible.

We had grilled chicken sandwiches as Roland’s tonight—with barbeque and everything. Then, we had ice cream with chocolate fudge and pound cake. The ice cream really made me feel like I was back home. We Cavanaughs love our ice cream.

The power was out when I got back to my room. I’m currently writing in the dark. We’ll see how long it takes to turn back on this time.

I’m supposed to register for my next semester classes at 2am. Hopefully the power is back on by then.

Oct. 25

I ended up calling my parents and asking them to register for me so I didn’t have to worry about the Internet. I still woke up at 2am to see if it worked and then I was able to Skype my parents. The connection was really awesome since hardly anyone else in the dorm was on. I should Skype at that time more often.

The walk to class this morning was crazy. It rained really hard over night, so everything was muddy. There aren’t many sidewalks on my route to class, so my legs were covered in red mud by the time I got to class.

We had drumming and dance this evening, and I actually had a lot of fun in both. Weird. The dance we’re learning right now is a lot easier. It’s more fun when you can actually do it versus pretending that you can.

After dance, I filled my buckets up in the kitchen and took a “shower”. And then met everyone at Tickles for dinner. I tried to watch a movie afterwards, but I was so tired that I ended up stopping it early and going to sleep.

Oct. 26

No Adenkrebi for me again today. We leave bright and early tomorrow for the Northern Region!

Osu was rather busy today.

This morning I went to Osu again with Hayley, Nathan, and Josh. I really wanted another cup of cappuccino. I also went to Global Mamas again just to browse. It’s just too cute of a store not to visit when you’re in the vicinity. I didn’t stay long because I wanted to be back on campus in time to Skype with some friends. J I also wanted to update this blog before our excursion.

I’ll be gone for a whole ten days in the Northern Region. We’ll be visiting a few craft villages, a witch village (yep, you read that correctly), spending a day with World Vision, visiting an ancient mosque, and going to a national park that has elephants and monkeys. I’m really excited.  When I get back, I only have 3 days of class and then exams!