Today we were taken to a discount market. They sold everything form furniture to groceries to books to swing sets! It was basically this huge warehouse. The power went out a few times. When I was waiting to check out the power cut out and so the machines went and I had to wait for it to kick back in. I just found it interesting because you could tell it was such a normal occurance there.
We had lunch at this place called the Guest house. Its sort of campus (i think) but its not in the central area where all the departments and lecture halls are. Everyone in ISEP is meshing really well and there are so many different people with different backgrounds. This one girl Katherine spent the past two months in eastern Africa, I think Tanzania and maybe Kenya. She was volunteering at an orphanage and then at a refugee camp. Jenna is this awesome chick from California and she says things like "dude" and "whoa" a lot. She was a nanny in Germany this summer and took a course in Spain, so she spent lots of time in Europe. Kelly from Utah and her parents are archaeologists which is pretty awesome. She is studying theatre. Zurha is originally from Somalia but lives in Virginia. And those are just a few of the awesome people I have met (not to mention just the awesome Americans).
This paragraph is for Alex Price if you are reading: There is an Alexandria in my group who eerily reminds me of you from ther mannerisms to her face and hair right down to how she dresses. Its like a little bit of home sometimes. Afterall, everyone has a twin somewhere in the world!
After lunch we went to La Beach, literally a beach. It was here that everything began to fall into place. The beach was beautiful with its vibrantly colored buildings and tables and umbrellas. There were people drumming and dancing or otherwise just hanging out. The currents are extremely strong so only a small section was used for wading and swimming.
The most beautiful moment to me however, was when Jenna and I wandered over to a not-so-populated section of the beach, where they had some Ghanaian music playing. Its called hiplife, a combnation of hip hop and a more traditional music called highlife as well as some reggae influences. Its really beautiful. There were only a few people dancing, but they were just enjoying themselves. But it was this young boy who came dancing down the beach towards us. He couldn't have been more than ten but he had some sick dance moves and boy did he know it! He slowly moved closer to where Jenna and I were and stood to the side. So Jenna and I went over to him and had him show us some dance moves. Soon our whole group came over and we were all dancing, but it was so simple, and fun. Everyone was just ejoying themselves, enjoying the music, and enjoying our new home.
After the beach we were dropped off at the hostel and given packed dinner from Tasty Treats, an on campus place. There a few seamstresses who come around to the hostels and make these beautiful dresses and other items, so one of them was here tonight. Joanna, the seamstress here tonight, and I bought a beautiful pre made romper that just happened to fit. It cost 12 GHC (currency: Ghanaian Cedi) which is probably about 10 USD. The equivalent of our cents is a pesewa. Joanna is the sweetest woman and when I asked her her name she told me we would be great friends and I will come to her home for an African meal. That is just the level of friendlieness you encounter here.
And to end that perfect day a few of us from ISEP sat in the grassy courtyard in the hostel and just hung out under the open sky. I'm waiting for the sy to clear up more so we can see stars! We played card games and Jamison played his Ukalale. It was just a wonderfully familiar feeling and I felt more at home today than I have so far.
I haven't really described much about the setting I am in yet so I will do a bit of that now. As I have said, I am in the International Student Hostel 1, or simply ISH 1. You pull up to this four story building of white cement and walk into a front portal where there is a front desk where someone is always stationed. There is also a guard stationed at all hours outside the hostel doors. When you enter the actual hostel grounds its a large square complex with a central courtyard. The rooms go all around the complex on each floor and each floor has bathroom facilities although I am learning the gender line for bathroom usage is a bit blurred. The first floor has a small place to eat with tables and chairs set up outside it, and there is a small store where you can buy toiletries and snacks and units for your phone (their equivalent of minutes). There are also laundry lines set up and the water tanks for when water is not available via shower head. The second floor has an internet cafe where you can access wifi for 1 GHC, which is about 66 cents. The actual 'cafe' is small with about seven computers set up in it to use. Each floor also has kitchen facilities.
The rooms themselves have a small twin bed, maybe even a bit smaller than a twin, a bureau closet, a comfy chair, a desk and chair, and a night table. The furniture is clearly used, but not in bad condition. Each room also has a porch that looks outside the hostel, although the ground floor ones, where I am at now, are enclosed so you don't get that open feel the other porches on the higher floors have. 
The bathrooms do not have toilet paper or soap, as most don't in a lot of places you go.
Random thoughts:
- Ghanaians speak English with what they call a full pronnunciation, meaning they pronounce every single letter so instead of saying thing with the 'th' sound they pronounce it as if it were ting, with the t and h pronnounced seperately
- They drive on the right side of the road, despite having been a British colony
- Using your left hand to give or recieve items as well as to eat or gesture is a major insult. if your right hand is occupied you must either support the left with the right or simply say "I am not giving this to you with my left"
- An even bigger insult is smelling your food. Awushi, my student guide, couldn't even tell us what it means and she wouldn't mimick what she meant because it was that big of a taboo.
Well thats it for tonight.
Peace.
Katie
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