Crazy Normal

Sorry for the delay. It was another one of those weeks where not much went on and I'm also busy with school lately. Things are winding down as far as class goes. Anyways...enjoy my posts from the past twoish weeks. I also apologize for the serious lack in pictures. You can check out my Facebook if you're dying to see all of my pictures from Ghana.

Oct. 1

Back to class today. I spent most of my time updating this blog, to be honest. It took a really long time to upload the pictures. 

I received two package notices yesterday, so I made it my goal to get them today. The first package was at the post office on campus, so that was easy enough to get. It just had some medicine and a card from my mom. The second package was at the Accra North Post Office. I had no idea where that was, so I had to ask. It’s in a really busy part of Accra called Cirlce. Luckily, Krista also had packages that ended up there, so we embarked on the adventure together.

We took a 40-minute tro-tro ride to Circle. That place is crawling with people. There’s hardly any room to hear yourself think. Neither Krista nor I had ever been to Circle, so we obviously had no clue where the post office was. The first two people we asked weren’t even aware that a post office existed, which was slightly discouraging. We finally found someone who could help. He walked us most of the way there. When we got there, we had to figure out what line to stand in and when it was finally my turn, I had to give them my I.D. and write down all kinds of my personal information. Then, he went to find my package, which took a long time. For a little while I was beginning to wonder if it got lost somewhere. He found it eventually and then I had to open it in front of them and tell them what was inside. After they decided that my package was safe, I had to fill out more paperwork and then pay to take the package out with me. It was all totally worth it because there were all sorts of goodies in it. My parents rock.

Oct. 2

Today was pretty uneventful. I went to my classes and then had dinner at Roland’s.  We ate chicken curry with rice and fruit.  After dinner, I was able to Skype with my parents for a little bit.

I’m finding that I’m getting pretty homesick recently. I don’t know why…maybe it’s just that we’re nearing the halfway point in the semester.

Oct. 3

Class again. We didn’t have Peoples & Culture today, so I was able to go back to the dorm and bring my clothes to the laundry. I also got to Skype with my parents again before they left for work.

During my break between classes, I went to get lunch. A man was at the same stand as me with his little boy. The kid must’ve been about two—He was really cute. Anyways, the dad noticed me smiling at the little boy and then offered the kid to me. I was a little bit taken aback, but I laughed and said no. He smiled, so I hope he was joking…

I tweaked something in my back on Sunday, so it has been really sore the past few days. I’m not upset about it though because it got me out of dance class today. I got to sit and watch, which was really amusing. After dance, the group ate at Tickles for dinner. The place was really crowded. Freshmen are just now moving into the dorms. I don’t quite understand why that is. I guess they have a different semester schedule than everyone else. I’m not a huge fan of it because now our dorm is even noisier than usual and people are everywhere. Oh well.

Oct. 4

Back to Adenkrebi today. On the way there, our tro-tro driver ran over some pineapple a lady was selling on the street. There was a lot of yelling and all kinds of people came to take sides. It took a while to get things sorted out. I don’t even know how they sorted things out or what was even said because it was all in Twi, but it was entertaining to watch.

My internship/volunteering changed slightly. We no longer go to the school,t . We will be painting the kindergarten classroom, though.  The main thing is that we are no longer under the supervision of the teachers because there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do at the school. Daniel now supervises us.

We get to spend more time with the people in the community of Adenkrebi. Today, we were taken around to about 8 different families and spoke with them about education and the relationship between the school and the community. It was really cool. We talked with the mothers of a lot of kids that go to the school, so we got some really interesting responses.

The 3^rd and final Calvin group is at their home stay in Adenkrebi, so we also got to hang out with them.

Oct. 5

We went to game day at the school today. It was slightly different today because there was an organized community soccer game. The whole town came out to play and watch. The men from the town played against the teachers of the school and the Calvin boys. They brought out a sound system for announcing and even had referees. It was a lot of fun to watch. About halfway through the second game, it started to downpour, so we got to run back to Daniel’s in the rain! After eating lunch with the group, we headed back to Calvin.

Oct. 6

I woke up to running water in my dorm room this morning. My roommate was filling our buckets up at 7am. I literally jumped out of bed and into the shower. What a great way to start my Saturday. After my shower, I did devotions and some homework. I also went to breakfast at the café that sells oatmeal again. Love that stuff.

I tried to Skype with my family after breakfast, but Skype was not cooperating today. Gotta love Ghanaian internet.

Later, the girls went out to Osu for the night. It was fun, but it started raining, which put a damper on things, so we came back to campus.

Oct. 7

Today was a day of homework and relaxation. I have a midterm in my Twi language class this week that is probably going to kick my butt, so I tried to start studying.

The group that was at their home stay came back this afternoon, so everything is back to normal group-wise.

It is Stacia’s birthday today, so we went out to eat at a Chinese place and then went to get smoothies.

Oct. 8

Monday. Good thing Mondays are they best day for class. I don’t mind the subjects, so I don’t hate going. It’s also our shortest class day—which is really nice.

Anna, Krista, and I went to the Mall to go to the grocery store. We’re in charge of dinner at Roland’s tomorrow, so we had to get the food. We decided to buy stuff to make burgers, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. It’s going to be delicious.

When we got back from shopping, I tried to get some studying in for my Twi midterm that’s on Wednesday. I have a feeling it’s going to be challenging. We also had Bible study, which was really good.

The water was on again last night. We’ve been a bit spoiled this week—we’ve had it 3 times in the past week! It’s been lovely, but I don’t want to get too used to it just in case it turns off for an extended period of time again.

Oct. 9

Tuesday. Which means I have to endure the nightmare that is political science class again. I will say it was slightly more interesting today. I think it was because he talked about healthcare, which I’m interested in but it wasn’t that great of a lecture, so I was disappointed. I also found out that I have to give a presentation next week. Awesome. I have a decent sized paper due in that class coming up pretty soon as well. I’m starting to feel stressed because my classes really are winding down and I have to think about my final papers and stuff. I don’t like it. I do like the idea of classes ending, though.  I think after tomorrow I only have three weeks of actual class. Yikes!

My Twi midterm is tomorrow. This language makes no sense to me. I’ll just do my best, but at this point I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Our dinner at Roland’s was a success! The burgers were delicious.

Oct. 10

Today was the longest day of my life. I woke up early to get some more studying in for my Twi exam. After I got ready, I walked to the place that makes oatmeal to sit and study some more. Then I went to class. The Internet wasn’t working—the worst. I couldn’t really focus on the literature lecture because I was thinking about Twi. After Lit, we had a guy come in and tell us about music in Ghana. He’s a British guy that’s been living in Ghana for about 40 years. Based on some of the stories he told, I’m 100% positive he was the most amazing hippie ever. He’s lived the craziest life. His lecture was fascinating. Then we had a 2 and a half hour break before our Twi exam. I tried to study, but by that time I just wanted to get the thing over with. Luckily, the Internet was working again by that time, so I had a way to try and distract myself from how nervous I was. Our professor finally showed up and passed out a less than one page test—a quiz, if you will. That was our midterm. I did okay I think. We’ll see when I get it back next week. I wish I hadn’t stressed out so much.

After Twi we had drumming and dance. Drumming was a lot of fun because our instructor let us play with different kinds of instruments. I got to play a bell-like instrument, a shaker thing, and a different type of drum. It was pretty cool. And then there was dance class. I know I say this every time…but I honestly think that I sweat more than ever this week. Did you know your knees could sweat? Welp. They can.
I got to take a bucket shower afterwards. Bucket showers are actually pretty refreshing—better than nothing.

I ate dinner and then went back to my room to try and read the rest of the book assigned for this week in literature. I laid down on my bed to read and the next thing I knew it was 5am. Woops.

Oct. 11

We had water this morning. Hallelujah.

Anyways…what a day. Today, we went into Accra with Daniel to buy paint for the kindergarten classroom that we’re painting tomorrow. It literally took us all day. The traffic was crazy, we were in the car for so long and it was really hot. I know I’m in Africa and that it’s hot here, but I’m telling you right now—it was really hot today. When we finally got to the paint place, they didn’t have everything we needed, so we searched the entire street for everything. It took quite awhile, but we managed to get everything we needed and Daniel even got us FanIce, which was really nice of him.

There aren’t many positives to sitting in traffic, but here in Ghana there is one. Whenever traffic is stopped, people run onto the street to try and sell stuff. You could buy anything you wanted right from your car. It’s awesome. Most of the time people are selling food and water, but I’ve seen people selling tables, light bulbs, plastic chairs, huge maps of Ghana—really anything you could dream of. I love it. I think it’s one of my favorite things here. I really wish people in the U.S. would do it. We spent a fair amount of time in traffic today, so I was able to buy myself 2 waters. I guess I like it because I just feel really awesome when I buy something from the car.

We got to Adenkrebi at about 5pm. At this moment, I am completely exhausted. I did manage to get my literature homework done for the week, but now I just really want to sleep.

Tomorrow, we paint!

Oct. 12

We got quite a bit of painting done today! We managed to get the 1^st and 2^nd coats onto the walls and even start stenciling and painting numbers and the alphabet on some of the walls. It was a lot of fun. I was painting the side of the room where the breeze was coming in, so I ended up with paint speckles all over myself. My face, arms, hands, legs, etc. were completely covered in peach colored paint flecks. Hayley told me they looked a lot like inverse freckles.

The way back to campus today was an adventure. It took us forever to find a tro-tro from Adenkrebi. We eventually found one, but we had to ride it in the opposite direction we were going for awhile before it turned around to head back toward the University. And then we got to Madina. It was 100 times harder to find a tro-tro from Madina to the University. I don’t know why. We looked all over the place. When we finally found and boarded one, a policeman came and made everyone get out. Everyone was talking in a local language, so I don’t understand why we had to do this, but what matters is that we no longer had a tro-tro. We walked for a little bit longer and ended up flagging one down. It was just a confusing and exhausting afternoon of travel. But we’re back on campus now, so all is well.

My Friday night is dedicated to researching for my presentation that I have to give on Tuesday for my political science class. What fun.