Update

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for not updating for like, over a month. Anyways, a lot has been going on. I had my directing class performance, had my full-length play reading, and finished my finals for dance, drumming, choir, and songs. So, all I have left is a written final for "History and Development" on the 9th of December. Up until then, I am just hanging out pretty much. Trying to plan some trips, find people to travel with. Might be going to Togo and Benin pretty soon. Thinking about doing a few day trips on my own this week and next. Thanksgiving is coming up as well, so we have a special Thanksgiving/Farewell dinner with ISEP on Thursday. That should be very fun. Umm... I am terrible at tracking everything back so I will just tell you I have made even more friends here. The past few weeks have been absolutely amazing.

I have a new favorite memory in Ghana. I made a bunch of spaghetti for some friends and myself, and ended up feeding about 5 grown men plus myself and my friend Marge. It was so much fun, all eating the Ghanaian style, straight from the pot and all digging in at the same time. I really felt like I had a family in that moment. We said grace, we laughed together over dinner, fought over the last bites. It was wonderful. I can't even begin to express the kind of warm love and endearment I feel for those guys. Maybe it's dumb but they are like family to me now. We hang out a lot, went to the beach together, eat together, laugh together, go out dancing together. It's just been a blast. I cannot thank God enough for the blessing that they have been in my life. I only wish I had more time with them. It feels unfair that I've just met them all a few short weeks ago, and now I only have a few weeks left to spend with them. It's thoroughly depressing, so I try not to think about it too much. Leaving will be much harder than I thought. If you would have asked me a month ago if I thought I would cry at the airport, I would have said, you're kidding right? Of course, I won't cry. I get to go home! But now, I'm not so sure. As much as I miss home and everything, everyone there, I will be really sad to say goodbye to the wonderful people I've met here, all of the people who have made this experience worth while and memorable and great. These Ghanaians seem to have a way of creeping into your heart and sticking there before you even know it.

Anyhow, still trying to upload pictures. Spent a weekend on an island called Marinata in the Volta Region a week or so ago. It was amazing. Spent the night in a beach hut. Played soccer/football (depends on which country you are from, lol). Swam in the Volta River, nice and warm and perfect. I want to go back so bad. We'll see if I can fit it in though. And in the evening there was a drumming group on the beach there, and I played on the drums a bit with one of the guys, and sang some of my traditional songs with them, AND they invited me to dance with them, so I got to practice what I learned in my traditional dance class. Overall it was just about the most amazing experience I've had here. I also just got back from a beach trip. I went to Kokrobite with my friend TG. It was a lot of fun, and relaxing, just sitting around being beach bums. And I bought some cool souvenirs so it was overall a successful trip. We'll see what the next few weeks bring. Gonna try and travel to the Volta Region, the Northern Region, Togo/Benin, and Koforidua Bead Market before I leave. And if I can manage it do some touring around Accra and some day trips in the surrounding areas. Might even make it up to Kumasi again before I leave, but we'll see.

Try and get the rest of my pictures posted here and on facebook soon. I NEED HI-SPEED INTERNET!! Uugh! LOVE YOU ALL!

PICTURES (Finally...)

Woman carrying her baby while selling Plantain Chips

Reindeer statue in the parade (lol)

A cowboy (in red) at the parade

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Part of the revelers

Friends at the GH game

Posing for our picture at the game

Human Flag, statue, guy...

The Fetu Festival

Fetu Festival

: D The Festival!!

All the people at the Festival

Part of the Parade

The Skaters

Skaters at the Festival

Cute little kids at the Festival

Kids Dancing at the Festival 

One of the Revelers!

Part of the Parade

More in the Parade

Traditional Costume

Some sort of Cheif/Official

Guy carrying a beam on his head, some part of the festival

More people in the festival

Doing an official blessing of the streets

The crowd

People in the parade

There is a guy underneath all those hats lol

Very colorful, typical tourist store in Ghana

At the National Theatre

National Theatre

At the National Theatre

The GAME!!

The fans (p.s. 1st professional sporting event I've been to)

The Stadium

GH versus Swaziland

Ghana Vs. Swaziland

Injury on the field (there were a ton of these)

Another one, poor guy

Outside IPO trying not to be blinded

Temple in Accra!

National Theatre

The National Theatre (which looks like a boat)

Halfway Point Update

So, here's the DL. I've been in Ghana for a little over two months now, and I have a little over two months to go before I head back home. There has been so much happening it's been insane. But I'll try and keep it all straight for you.

I've got a new and awesome roommate, Emefa, who allows me to use her computer when she isn't on it so that I can do my class assignments. She has also promised to bring me home to meet her family one weekend, so hopefully once my directing project is over and I have free time again, that will get to happen. I am really very lucky to have such a cool roommate. She is 400 level, a Ghanaian student. And she is studying Psychology and Political Science, I believe. She started in the performing arts though in 100 level, and she was a drummer, so that was pretty cool. The reason she was so late is because she was teaching high school students in Brazil English. She is really awesome.

As far as classes go, my Traditional Songs, Dance, and Drumming have been wonderful. I feel like we've moved so quickly through stuff. Now we are starting to talk about exams and I am worried I won't remember it all. Luckily I have a lot of good Ghanaian friends in those classes who can help me out when it comes to studying. I have been very lucky in that respect. As for my theatre classes they are mostly good. I really enjoy my Directing course and Playwriting. They keep me very busy between rehearsals and preparing my director's book and trying to find time to write my play. But it's been good. I also just found out about a competition I can enter in the States for playwriting, so I am trying to finish my full-length play and get some others up to snuff so that I can submit them by the end of the month for this competition. My playwriting professor has also offered to read through them and help me to clean them up a bit for the competition. My directing course is mostly good. I have been enjoying the opportunity to direct, but I have also found that there is little communication between the professor who teaches the lecture and the one who teaches the practical. So, we are oftentimes back-tracking and trying to update one or the other professor on what was discussed in the other class. But it's good overall. I feel like I am learning more from the experience of directing here though than I am in the classes related to directing. In fact, a few of the other directors have asked for some of my notes from home to learn from me. I think they see the organized way in which I go about my directing and the very specific guidelines I am following and they want to try it. Because the model they have been given isn't organized at all, and it's hard to learn how to be good at something when you are really just being thrown into it to try and figure it out on your own. But yeah, I am actually meeting with one of the directing students today to give him a packet from Jeffrey, my directing teacher back home. I am hoping that will help him understand the analysis portion. Then I took some notes down on the rules that Jeffrey gave us about blocking. I am hoping that I didn't forget anything, but it's possible that I did. I didn't have the luxury of having my directing notes from last semester in front of me. There is so much that I wish I had access to that is back home. Like my notes. And my play selection, my anthologies. And the wisdom of my faculty at home really. I feel like I appreciate their advice even more now that I am on my own pretty much trying to practice all of the principles that I have been taught over the last 3 years. Then the other theatre class I have is "History and Development of Theatre in Ghana" which I actually skipped today. lol. It's a good course. And most of the time I enjoy the discussions that we have. But the prof. splits it between discussion and then what is considered a normal lecture here. So, sometimes we go and just sit for 2 hours writing pages and pages of notes that are dictated to us very slowly by him. Yea, seriously I just write paragraphs of notes that sound like they are coming straight from a textbook. It's ridiculously boring, and when I am writing I have no idea what I am writing, what it all means. Even at the end, when I have the whole picture, I feel like I haven't really learned that much. I wish he would just give us a print out of the notes and then have us discuss and ask questions for the lecture instead of just sitting there writing to his dictation for 2 hrs. That part of the class sucks. But the other half of the time we have really cool discussions about Ghanaian theatre, the problems that they are having, the solutions that there might be, and we discuss African plays. It's really great. In fact, today I actually missed a discussion. We were discussing a couple of plays that I hadn't read yet. I just got them yesterday and I haven't had a chance to read them because I've been so busy. So instead of going to lecture I just ate lunch in the sound booth with a friend and talked about graduate school. Then came to the computer lab. (I am not always the best student)

The only other course I am taking here is Choral Ensemble. To be honest, I was expecting a lot more from the choir here to start with. When we first started, it was awful!! Hardly anyone had copies of the music we were singing, but they still insisted on teaching the song and expected you to just learn it and then get a copy later. You have to pay for almost all of your own music scores, so for a score that's 10 pgs you have to pay 1 cedi in photocopy costs. It's a bit annoying, but I guess it's like the course fee for the U.S. Then the choir itself was awful. Everyone was just screaming instead of really singing the songs. Most of them are not trained at all so they don't know dynamics, most don't understand even the simplest things about reading music. Then on top of that, some of them don't have the best ear, so they are singing off constantly. To make matters 10x worse the sections are led by students, usually the more talented upper-level students take this responsibility, but they aren't teachers, so they leave some people completely lost, they don't have the best sight reading skills so they confuse some singers by singing the wrong thing. Then on top of that the director was just clapping really loud or snapping in rhythm instead of actually directing the choir or giving in dynamic gestures or tempo adjustments. Just clapping really loudly and annoyingly in your ear so can't even hear yourself singing. And since all the students see this as the directing style, that's what the section leaders do too. AND the section leaders aren't always in your section. We had a guy trying to teach the soprano part and singing terribly off key because he was trying to sing a part that was hugely out of his range. It was awful. I literally got so mad one day I nearly stormed out of class. And there are students who know better and don't like the way things are being done, but everyone is afraid to say something because the prof. gives you your grade, and if you speak out against him then he will probably give you a grade less than you deserve in the class. It's awful that way. After the class that I almost stormed out of though, one of my Ghanaian friends talked to me and I told him about how I saw the class and he was like, thank god someone is saying something because everyone is too afraid here. He told me that he would pass my complaints along to one of the better, more understanding professors in the music department so that there might be so me improvement. Then a week later, by some miracle we actually had a decent rehearsal. The director has stopped ALWAYS doing the clapping thing, and he has been working with the choir on dynamics, though I still think they need a lot more work. And I have started to take over teaching the sopranos instead of the student from the tenor section trying to sing the soprano line. There are still women in the tenor section who aren't really tenors and sopranos who really should be altos, and even altos that should be sopranos. But because there wasn't a formal way of putting people in voice parts, they just let people pick, some people just clumped together with their friends, or picked soprano because they knew it was the melody line. But the other day we had another director from the music department come in and he helped up learn a Christmas song. It was actually a lot of fun and he really worked with the sections on dynamic markings and such. It's still not perfect and no where near the kind of Chamber Choir I had at JHS or the any of the Honor Choirs I've been in National, Regional, or State, but it's at least getting somewhere. And I don't dread going there so much anymore. Plus, they gave me a solo part for the piece "O Holy Night" So, I get to sing that. It's pretty cool.

On another musical note, there is an a capella group forming here. I was asked really last minute to be a part of their first performance about a week ago. Literally, my friend talked to me the day before the performance and gave me the music, I learned it that day, practiced with the group that evening and then the following afternoon right before the performance. It was awesome and intense and we sounded really good actually. There were just like 8 of us performing popular U.S. songs like "I'll be There" but it was cool. Almost everyone on a different voice part and doing pretty tight harmonies. It took me back to Chamber Choir days Junior Year and performing "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was really a great experience. Now, they are trying to expand the group and do auditions and whatnot. I am going to try and still be a part of it, cause it really is a great time and its actually challenging, unlike the Choral Ensemble, but we'll see if I can make time for it.

Anyway, that's pretty much everything as far as classes go. Still trying to work something out with the computer situation. For the time being, I am just using the money my Dad sent me to buy minutes for my phone and using the computer labs and Emefa's computer to do assignments and get on the internet. I am hoping to be able to rent a computer from one of my friend's friends for the rest of the time I am here, but I'm still trying to work that out. It's not going so well... so yeah. Might be back to square one on that note. I have tons of pictures to upload, so I am gonna try and do that.

On another note, I have been getting random bursts of homesickness, so I bought some American food and have been enjoying that for the past few days. I had real spaghetti sauce with Parmesan cheese. And I made Beenie Weenie like Mom used to when I was little. I even had Pringles the past few days, and real sliced bread for PB&J. In fact, like the cheap ass college student I am, I have been packing my lunch the last few days. Even in Ghana where food is crazy cheap, I pack a PB&J for lunch. I know I am pretty lame.

I have made tons of Ghanaian friends here. My friend, Chief Momen, is a TA here and literally like my favorite person. He's a poet and a truly inspiring individual. He has such big dreams for himself and for Ghana. It really is wonderful just listening to him talk sometimes. I always enjoy the discussions we have. He has also helped me a lot with classes and stuff. He's actually the one helping me with the computer situation now. I also have a good friend, Phanuel, who is a TA and one of the drama studio managers  here. He is great, and I actually go eat lunch with him sometimes. He gives great hugs and is really resourceful cause he knows everyone in the performing arts department and I guess he has a lot of sway with them. He is actually the main person who helped me organize my second round of auditions (after no one showed for the first one) and he even helped me to get replacements for actors who had dropped out at the last minute. He's a great guy. Actually, he's the one I ate lunch with earlier today in the sound booth instead of going to class. lol. I'm also making friends in my cast. One of the girls is Angela. She is so nice and so great. She usually walks with me back to ISH after rehearsals so I don't have to walk alone. And she helps me to clean up the rehearsal space. And she's just a nice person to talk to. The other night we had a really good conversation on the way back to ISH, and afterwards I just couldn't stop smiling. I just felt so good and so happy to have a girl friend here. Another friend is Abby. She's in my playwriting class. I don't get to see her that much, but she's really really sweet and I love talking to her. Anyways, I can't possibly name and talk about all of my Ghanaian friends here, but suffice it to say, that there are lots and they are all so wonderful and have helped a lot to make Ghana feel like home.

Speaking of Ghana being like home, October 9th (I think) was Canadian Thanksgiving. So I was able to celebrate a bit with my two Canadian friends, Marianne and Lianne. They are great, and it was a lot of fun. We made putin (pronounced poo- tin, not poo-teen as Lianne educated us), which is fries with gravy and cheese, a Canadian dish. And then we also had beaver-tails, which are these amazing Canadian pastries. They are fried dough topped with brown sugar, cinnamon, and then lemon juice. They are delicious. So fattening, but delicious. I will have to make them every Thanksgiving from now until the end of time. They are THAT good. On that particular day, I was also able to enjoy a very fun performance of "Androcles and the Lion" at the Drama Studio. Two of my friends, Phanuel and Vaneka were playing in it that night, so I was excited to go. Also one of my other friends, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Amante, went to see it with me. It wasn't hugely sophisticated but it was interesting and fun. Both Phanuel and Vaneka did an excellent job in the play. Personally, I felt like it was a fun piece, but that was it. The deeper meanings were lost on the audience I think, like the fact that Bernard Shaw (a staunch atheist) was actually criticizing the Christian religion with this play, rather than promoting it. I also thought that the director made some very poor choices in his direction. For instance, the first 10-15 minutes of the piece the audience literally just watched as a family of lions walked around the stage roaring and then there was a scene where there was a kangaroo, an antelope, a tiger, and a gorilla on stage and one of the lions came in a fought with one of the other animals. That entire intro does not exist in the play, and it was an extension that was both corny (because the costumes and sound effects were not realistic at all) and unneeded. I felt like it just dragged out the play to be longer than it was, and was simply an extension to give more actors a chance to be on stage, which in a very large department so many students need to get credit from being a part of a production, however for whatever reason professors oftentimes choose pieces that don't have a large cast written into them. So they add all sorts of characters and add crowds and even double and triple cast roles to get more people involved. I think it's silly and simply insane. An easily fixable problem. Choose shows with a larger cast!!! Or, novel idea, try doing a musical. Musicals almost always have a large cast. Especially the ones that are older and more available to performance like Oklahoma! Granted it might be hard to find a piece that is easily relate-able to the audience but at least they wouldn't have to add silly and unnecessary things to shows that are perfectly good without their additions.

Moving right along, I have had several very fun experience with the Chinese friends that I talked about in one of my earlier blog posts. I had dinner with them. It was delicious. Rice and I think kenkey (a Ghanaian dish) and then fried potatoes and beef with some different sauces. They helped me figure out how to use the chopsticks much better. And it was fun trying to communicate with them and test their English, and my ability to speak simply. Lol. They are almost all high school students, which was surprising. I had no idea that there were students that young here. They are all studying English here and learning how to speak it and read and write I believe. One is a college student, actually, who is doing all 4 years at the University of Ghana. His English is the best by far, so oftentimes he is the translator for us. It's fun though to talk to them. Apparently all of them are here for an almost indefinite amount of time. It's like their parents send them here to learn English and they aren't allowed to come back until they have mastered it. It's pretty crazy. And all of them have been here for different amounts of time. The guy who is here for college has been here for like 2 years already. There is another girl who has been in Ghana for 6 months, but only at the University for the past 2 months. The most of the others have been here for about a month and a half. One girl, whose English is actually surprisingly good already, has only been here for like 4 weeks. But they are all really cool to talk to. And one of the guys is a singer. So sometimes I get him to sing some Chinese folk songs for me. They are beautiful and the language sounds so pretty when put to music.

I almost forgot to talk about my trip. I few weeks ago now, I went to Kumasi, which is in the central region of Ghana. It's beautiful there and I learned a lot about Ghanaian history, because Kumasi used to be the cultural center and sort of capital of Ghana before it was colonized and everything. It's were the Ashanti Kings lived. The Ashanti were a warrior tribe basically who ruled over Ghana. When the British came to colonize they were the ones who tried to fight them off. In the beginning I think they had some success, but the British eventually cut them down with superior technologies. It's actually quite sad. Kumasi is still a very very rich cultural center though, and the people are very Ghanaian. I got a few gifts while I was there. Some sculptures and kente cloths. I even got an African mask that is pretty awesome. It was pretty awesome. Also we stayed at a hotel where there was hot water!! I had my first hot shower since coming to Ghana, and let me tell you, it was wonderful. : D The second day we were there we went to the Kente village of Bonwire, where they make the Kente cloth. It comes in strips and the designs are very specific. They all have names and most have a story that goes with them as well. I tried to learn the names and stories of all the designs that I bought. I even got to learn how the Kente is woven. The loom that it's on is pretty amazing. Sadly I didn't get any pictures myself, because my camera got locked in the bus, but if you look at some of the pictures on facebook from my other international friends here then you can see what I mean. I found out that Kente is actually traditionally a male profession. For centuries only men were allowed to weave kente and it was considered a huge taboo for a woman to know how to weave or to know the designs of kente. I found that very interesting considering that it was the other way around in Turkey with their weaving rugs. Kente weaving itself isn't that complicated but the looms are very cramped spaces and the weavers work incredibly fast. I just sat and watched one man working for a while just trying to see how he was weaving it. It took me at least 5 minutes to catch how the basic mechanisms worked. That's how fast he was working. I could barely even see what he was doing, his hands were moving so quickly. It was really cool to see though. After Bonwire, we went to another village were they make Adinkra stamps. Adinkra (think that is spelled correctly) is the Ghanaian symbol system. They have some 80-100 symbols that all have different meanings. You see some of them all over the place here, on chairs, tables, headboards, you name it. I even have a necklace with one of them. Remember that first cultural blunder with the guy in Osu, he gave me a necklace and I never paid for it. That necklace has a symbol called Gye Nyame, which is Adinkra. It means something like God is All. I'm actually not sure at the moment, but yea. They have tons of those symbols. So I got a piece of kente cloth with some symbols stamped on it in the traditional dye. I wasn't very good at the stamping so it's not perfect, but I made it! : )
After the Adinkra village we went to the street to see the wood carvers. Wood carving is a huge thing in Kumasi and there were tons of them. I saw so many beautiful carvings, and I wish I could buy them all and bring them back to the states. But as it was I spent all of my money left over that day on wood carvings. After that we were able to go back to the Cultural Center at Kumasi. I actually sort of wish I would have stayed at the Cultural Center to look at the other artwork there in Kumasi, but my hunger got the best of me and I went with the Ghanaian guides into the city to go to a bank and then to get some food. By the time we got back it was pretty much time to go, and we left early in the morning the next day. Overall it was a great trip though, and I definitely have to make it back there before I leave Ghana in December.

So, I just tried to upload my pictures, which I spend last night moving over from my camera to my flashdrive, but I couldn't because the folder with the pictures in it had a virus. I deleted the folder from my flash drive so hopefully it can't infect any more computers, but I don't know where I got it from. I remember an error message popping up last night when I was on Emefa's computer last night and opened up my flashdrive. And right before that I went to a printing place and printed from my flashdrive. So really either I got it from Emefa's computer, which would suck. Or I got it from the printing place, which means I might have transferred it to Emefa's computer last night. I hope not. I would feel really really bad. But anyhow. I will try and get my pictures again so that maybe tomorrow or Friday I can upload them. I know you all are probably dying to see what all I've been up to. lol.

I think that is pretty much it. I know this is a huge update since I haven't blogged in so long, but hopefully you aren't too annoyed with me. Oh, and before I forget, I just got my passport back with all my visa extensions taken care of, and at the end of the month there might be a Halloween party thrown by one of my international student friends. Also, Lianne, one of my Canadian friends, has her birthday near Halloween and they have invited me to go to Kokobite which is a really nice beach not too far from here for her birthday, so I'll probably be doing that. And, for my playwriting class, we are trying to take a trip to Akosombo which is a few hours from here in the eastern region. It's supposed to be November 4th or 5th. And we are planning on driving down there together and then taking the ferry ride to this island and spending the day hanging out and having cool literary discussions. I am pretty freaking excited about that to be honest. There's just 5 of us total, and there are 2 other girls so I don't feel awkward being the only girl, and Chief is going, so it's going to be a freaking amazing trip. Can you tell I am excited? Anyways, that's future plans and whatnot. I'll try and keep you all updated and get those pictures uploaded in the next few days. Loves!

P.S.- I few people had asked about my address(es) here in Ghana. I just added them to the side bar. All letters and packages are very welcome. Any American food (such as oreos, Peanut Butter M&Ms, etc. would be especially welcome) hehehe! Also, I am adding links to some of my other international friends' blogs so that you can see some of their pictures and maybe get another perspective on Ghana if you are interested. Plus, if you want to see some really good pictures from Kumasi you can check out my friend Bobby Lloyd's pictures on facebook. I commented on one of them, so I think that may let you see the album, if not let me know and I can figure something else out.

Halfway

Soooo,

It's official. Without a personal computer, I am completely incompetent at keeping anyone informed. I apologize for my lapse. I am currently trying to find a computer to rent from a friend of a friend, since that would be, by far, the cheapest option. I went computer shopping this past Saturday with my friend Chief, the TA I was saying I get along with really well in theatre. He showed me that computers really cost a lot here. For a new computer the cheapest you can find is 800 Cedi, which is like $570USD. If you get a used computer you can get it as cheap as 400 Cedi ($285USD), but there is no guarantee of quality unless you really know the seller. So that was kind of a fiasco.

As far as everything else is going, directing is going well. Moving right along. We got our deadline pushed back to the 25th of Oct. which has helped since that means I have more time to rehearse. I finished one whole act for my play. My dance class and drumming class just started learning new pieces. And I get to teach my American songs tomorrow in Traditional Songs. Pretty exciting all together.

I went to Kumasi with our ISEP group a few weeks ago which was great.  Bought some cool stuff. I took pictures, but I have no way of uploading them right now because I don't have a personal computer. Grrrr... But eventually you will all be able to see the pictures from all of my wonderful adventures. For now, you'll have to do with short descriptions.

But for today, this is all the update I can give. Computer lab is closing. I'll come back tomorrow hopefully and write again. All my love.

P.S.- If you are wondering about the title, Oct. 10th was the halfway point in my time here in Ghana. WOOOOT!!! I've survived this long. The second half should be a piece of cake....right? lol LOVES!!!

Too Long

It's been too long since I last wrote, so I don't know that I can go through my usual day by day synopsis. But here's the scoop on what's going on now and some interesting encounters I've had recently.

So, the power hasn't been very consistent lately in Accra. They say it's because most of the power lines are underground, and they are currently doing a lot of road construction right now. Regardless it's annoying since that's a big part of the reason I haven't been able to update my blog. The other big part is that I still don't have a computer. It was going to cost too much to get the motherboard it needed to be fixed and it would take a long time for them to order the part from HP. Anyways, the plan now is to just transfer the memory from my old computer to my external hard drive. I have most of my files and whatnot, but right before it crashed I had just uploaded a bunch of pictures. So, I am trying to retrieve those. I have a friend here who I trust and who is going to get my memory for me. And by some divine miracle I ran into another friend here who has the exact same computer as me. So, we can just pop my memory card into his computer retrieve the data, put it on the external hard drive and TADA!! PRESTO CHANGO!! I'm excited about it, as you can probably tell. I am hoping to get that done this week, but we'll see.

On another note, I am currently about one third of the way finished with a full-length play that I am writing for my playwriting course. The play focuses on the foster care system and some of the problems within. ALSO, I am now really getting into the directing project I was talking about. I am directing a piece entitled "War Brides" from the Ibsen, Chekov era, for anyone who knows theatre history. It's a very powerful piece about what happens to the women left behind during war. I've been pretty excited to direct it, and last Friday I had open auditions, however I was astounded and saddened when NO ONE SHOWED UP. Yup, that's what I said, nobody showed up for my audition. I sat around for 2 hours and finally gave up, but it was quite a depressing day to be sure. The theatre program here just isn't anything like Fairmont State. I think one of the inherent problems is motivation to be honest. There just isn't a lot of promise and future in theatre here so there aren't those big dreamers like you have in the states, shooting for Broadway or Hollywood. And honestly, the caliber of acting and entertainment when it comes to Ghanaian film that I have seen is sub-par. Very one-dimensional. Even Ghanaians say the movies are crappy. No one has a favorite Ghanaian movie. Everyone just knows Hollywood. Some are also familiar with Dollywood in India. But anyhow, it's been interesting. I am currently, setting up a closed- invite-only audition tomorrow, so I am hoping that from that process I can weed out a cast, if not I am not sure what is going to happen. But I'm trying to be hopeful.

Another note, I finally got my roommate. She showed up just two days ago. She's a Ghanaian 400 level Psychology student with a minor in Political Science. The reason she's so late getting here is that she's been in Sao Paulo Brazil for the summer traveling and teaching high school students there how to speak, read, and write English. She is really cool so far, and I am actually glad that she finally showed up. The room was pretty lonely being there all by myself. Also, she has a TV and a fridge, and a microwave, AND a hot water boiler that she offered to let me use if I ever need them. Again, super cool roommate. Her name is Emefa, by the way. She also invited me to go out with her and her friends sometime AND she said that maybe we could visit her family one night in Accra and have dinner there. AND she offered to cook with me, since I told her I learned how to make some Ghanaian meals. Sooo cooool!! I'm still adjusting to the idea of having a roommate though. It's like last night I came back to the room really late cause I was up watching movies. Usually, it's no big deal, but I realized after a moment of noisily messing with the door to unlock it that I have to be a little more considerate now of when I am coming back into the room. But I'll get used to it soon enough. I've shared a room for most of my life, so to me I feel like it's not that big a deal. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Another different note, we are travelling to Kumasi this weekend. So, I'll be going on that trip. I am so excited, cause that is where the wood carvers and leather works are mainly centered. So I am definitely going to be getting some cool things there.

On yet another note, I am working on putting together my senior project proposals for when I got back to Fairmont. I am thinking that I will do a short African story-telling piece. I'm looking for a one act by this amazing Ghanaian female author, Efua Sutherland. Her pieces are very interesting and well crafted, incorporating modern theatre practice with traditional African story telling methods. It's very cool. Also it requires a lot of audience participation, dance, and drumming. So, hopefully, I'll be using a bunch of different talents and skills that I've picked up in my classes in Ghana.

Finally, my funny experience. I randomly met a group of Chinese exchange students who are here learning English. I gave one of them my phone number and have had some very interesting and hilarious moments since then. First, he speaks very very broken English. Second, he can't understand about 2/3rds of what I am saying to him. And third, he wants me to help him and his friends practice English. So he keeps inviting me to dinner. The other night I went and had an amazing time. The guy who did all the cooking was excellent, even though his English is poorer than probably any of the other students. They fed me well, and laughed as I tried to used chopsticks, only somewhat effectively. It was a really great time. And I am really enjoying that particular friendship.
Also, I have found a very special Ghanaian friend here. He's one of the TAs in two of my classes in the theatre department,and we just get along so well. All in all, it's shaping up to be a great semester in Ghana. I'll try to keep you guys better updated from now on, but who knows what will happen with the power here. All my love!

In the Thick of It

Soooo, Thursday after my last post I actually lost the ring that Ross gave me right before I left for Ghana. So, the past week has been a lot of running around trying to find it and constantly feeling swamped with stuff (oh, and fighting with Daniel).

So, Friday I spent the day with Daniel going to Osu to get my computer looked at. We had to pay for something called a job card just for them to look at it. They told me the next day when I called that the problem was the motherboard but they still haven't given me a price to fix it. I called today and tried to talk to the guy who is looking at it but I couldn't understand him on the phone (btw it's really hard to understand the accent of Ghanaians over the phone) so I am just gonna call again tomorrow.

Saturday I spent with Daniel again. He took me to Madina Market on the official market day which means everything is cheaper and more busy. I wanted to take pictures while we shopped but there just isn't time. Too many people and you have to move it through the crowds to get anywhere (and to ensure you don't get stolen from). I got a ton of groceries though. Including 15 eggs for 3 cedi, about $2 US. I didn't even know I was getting 15, I asked for half a dozen. Apparently, a dozen is 30 here. Or she didn't know what I was talking about. lol. After all that time at the market, I went back to Daniel's house so that he could bathe and change before coming back to the hostel with me, since he had to work when we got back (btw he works in the evening at the internet cafe in our hostel from 7pm to 7am). So we stopped at his house and I saw a regular Ghanaian home or a lower middle class family. It was interesting. The house itself wasn't very big and as far as architecture it was a lot like one of the rooms in the hostel. In the main room there was just a table and chair, a fridge and a freezer, a small desk/table, and a couch. Nothing really matched but it didn't seem to matter. There was nothing on the floor (just plain concrete) and nothing on the walls but a clock. There wasn't counter space or anything like that either. I didn't even see cupboards. It was interesting to say the least.

Sunday, I was very tired and slept in until 10am which started a fight between Daniel and I because he was expecting me to be up much earlier to come and make him an egg sandwich. I was planning no such thing and got mad over the expectation. I know now that if you vaguely say you will do something for someone (like make them an egg sandwich) it is considered a promise and they expect it like immediately, the next time they see you. Definitely not a cultural aspect I had understood before. But anyhow, I got really mad at Daniel and ended up blowing up on him so that he left and went home without food. I felt so bad about it that I made redred that night for him for dinner. We made up after a long talk which clarified some of the cultural assumptions we were both making, and then we promptly got into another fight the other night because I couldn't sleep and he was being childish and wouldn't leave my room when I asked him. Needless to say, our relationship is interesting, informative of the Ghanaian culture and honestly, taxing at times. I want to be friends with him, but every once in a while I feel that there is an ulterior motive. He's a good friend, but I think (at least for now) I need to have some time and space away from him.

This hasn't been difficult to come by since Monday started a whole week of craziness. I found the play I am going to direct, called War Brides, but I have to get it approved on Thursday. It is a drama which looks at the effects of war, especially on the women who are left behind. It addresses the issues of war torn areas, the struggle for peace, and womens' role in society. I am also adapting it so that it can be a little more universal. Right now the vernacular and such is set in Germany or round abouts during wartime. I want to update some of the language and make the names different. I am thinking of setting the piece in Ghana, just to make things simpler. My playwriting class went really well on Monday, since we read what I have of my play. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and my professor was very impressed by my writing capabilities. He also gave me some good suggestions for the piece. I spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning my room in my spare time, and found out Monday evening that the choir that I have been attending the evenings is the wrong choir. I am signed up for choral ensemble, but I have been going to the University Choir rehearsals. I thought they were the same thing. They're not. So I am dropping those rehearsals and started going to choral ensemble this Tuesday. We have 6 hours a week of rehearsal so it's pretty intense overall, but I am glad to be in there. In fact, through choir I met a girl who is also in the film I am doing and she let me know when we were having rehearsals, since I missed the last two. So, last night (Tuesday night) I went to dance class and showed off some skiiiills, then went to film rehearsal where I practiced being a prostitute (p.s. I think I am gonna give my character a smoking habit, so it makes stage business fun, but the Ghanaian girls around me-even though I am faking it- are obviously disapproving lol). Then after rehearsal I went back to the hostel to meet up with two of my international friends who have roped me into performing with them at this talent show. We are going to sing "Lean on Me" in three part harmony, at least we hope. lol. We practiced a bit last night, but we have to practice again tomorrow afternoon. Also I sort of don't want to do it because I want to go to Togo with some friends that I heard are traveling this weekend, but we will see.

Lastly, today I had all my classes and sat around planning my trips around Ghana. I think I have just enough time to do a weekend trip almost every weekend and maybe one or two trips out of Ghana. We shall see. But I have a friend who offered to be my traveling buddy, so I am pretty excited about all that. Now I just have to budget it out and make sure I have the money. lol. Also, on a happy note, I FOUND MY RING!!! It took almost a whole week, but a tracked down the girl who picked it up from the bathroom. She had been trying to find the owner with no luck. Then this morning I put up a few signs in the International Programs Offices saying that it was missing and TADA, I came later today and the girl had turned it in to one of the offices. I got her number from your study abroad coordinator so that I could thank her. Needless to say, I will NOT be taking this ring off my finger for anything ever again. lol. Welllll, I need to sign off. I have rehearsal for my film thing tonight and then the dreaded task of doing laundry after that. More updates to follow. Love you all.

Week without a personal computer

So, last update was from Thursday of last week I believe. So starting from there. Friday I went to the Ghana vs. Swaziland football game (or soccer as it's called back home). It was the first big sports event that I have ever been to and it was AMAZING!!! I went with a couple friends from ISH, Sasha and Sarah. We took the trotro over there which was fun since we got stuck in traffic. We ended up talking to come guy on the trotro about the game and he gave us directions and advice on how to get there and whatnot. We walked past the National Theatre which was cool, since we'd only seen it in passing before, and then walked the rest of the way toward the stadium. For the entire trotro trip we kept wondering why we didn't see tons of people heading towards the game. We were the only ones on our trotro going and we had been told that this was a big deal. It was the last qualifying match for Ghana to see if they went to the African football tournament. But there was relatively no reveling as we went to the stadium. Imagine our surprise as we got close to the stadium and were swamped by men in Ghana flags jumping up and down as if they were at a rave. We had to fight in lines to get tickets, and we got cheap ones. Literally people elbow in front of each other to the window. It's less of a line and more of a gaggle. So anyhow, we got our tickets headed into the stadium and ended up with a pretty nice view of the field as well as the TV for close-ups and we were right behind a huge band of Ghana supporters so we were dancing pretty much the whole time. It was a great time for sure.

After the game, we started walking back towards the National Theatre to the bus station to find a trotro or a cab. As we walked back though we decided to stop and the Theatre for a potty break. Lo and behold we ended up walking into a televised music competition sponsored by Coke. We just randomly walked near the theatre and found our there was this big concert going on. So I also experienced my first live concert and we danced a bit with some Ghanaian enthusiasts. We didn't even know the music, but it was a fun time.

Then on Saturday, we went to the Fetu Festical in Cape Coast. It's traditionally a harvest festival of sorts, but over time it has degraded to a parade of dancing and (at least for some) a reason to get wasted and make a fool of yourself in public. It was very interesting though from a performance perspective. I was constantly thinking about the discussion we had in our theatre history course last semester regarding Mardi Gras and Vortices of Behavior. I was also reminded of a discussion in the same class where Dr. O'Connor told us about a Brazillian street performance of guerilla theatre which was brought to the huge festival in Ireland. We discussed the concept of de-contextualization and how it can affect the work itself as well as performers, etc. During the festival we saw many, many street performers, and I couldn't help but wonder how their costumes and performative behavior would be interpreted by early westerners. Can you imagine a Portuguese sailor stumbling upon a village where this festival was taking place, how he would have reacted at the sight of a half naked man black man painted with white stripes all across him, or how he would interpret a dancing colorful ape that was the size of a small child? I also kept thinking that the festival itself has been so far removed from the historical purpose that the people themselves have decontextualized their performances. For instance there was a troupe of officials in the parade who proceeded with the chief, they had some sort of plants entwined in their hair and they were sweeping the ground. In the historical context of this these people were actually meant to be sweeping away evil spirits that might cause famine or creep into the hearts of man to cause war. In the modern setting they were by far the closest to the historical symbolic nature of the parade however next to the street performers who would constantly cross their path and purposefully jump into pictures that people were trying to take in order to force onlookers to put a few pesawas into their collection cans, these sacred gestures were made meaningless by the very people who were supposed to believe in them. One thing was entirely evident, the entire culture of modern day Ghana is a consistent clash of modern vs traditional.

After that busy weekend, I took it slow on Sunday, lazing around most of the day and then going to a performance of "A Raisin in the Sun." Again, the performance itself was decent, better than the other show that I saw, however I learned more about the audience and the expectations here rather than being engaged in a touching performance. I will say that the director had an interesting, if somewhat non-text based, interpretation of the show. A few of the actors were very good. The mother in particular had some truly touching moments and she was by far the most convincing character. She seemed to understand the setting and time period much better, and she even endeavored to have an African-American accent rather than a Ghanaian one, which I was highly impressed with. However, all of the actors seemed lost at moments in the piece, meaning was lost and moments were destroyed. From my point of view though it was more a director problem than an actor one though. The actors were good and endeavored to make meaning throughout the piece, but I think that because the director had given them an interpretation that was not based in the text the actors were not able to make sense in each line because in the greater picture that moment no longer worked at the playwright wrote it due to this new interpretation. The show also gave me to ideas for my directing experience here, and I am learning even more about acting styles, director styles, and technical limitations that I will be dealing with. It is a bit daunting knowing that the expectations and conventions are so different from what I am used to. But I feel like Jeffery's directing class last semester has at least equipped me to be able to identify those issues and have tools for working them out, even if I am not successful in that, I think it will be an incredible learning experience.

Monday, I had playwriting, which was once again wonderful. I had been assigned last week to start writing a play on the topic I came up with in class. However, after trying to sit down and write, I couldn't find any words for the characters in the story I had cooked up in class. So, after a nice lap and some thinking, I began another piece. The style is highly influenced by a play I saw at KCACTF, but the story deals with the lives of foster children. I wrote the first few scenes and was actually disappointed that we didn't get to read it in class, but that's for next week. After class I met one of the other students, Linda, who is very sweet. As I was talking to her I complimented her on the bracelet she was wearing and she immediately offered to get me one and asked what color I wanted. I was so astounded by her generosity that I almost refused, but as she insisted I decided to accept her offer. Her sister apparently makes the bracelets, and she was very happy to have one made for me. Yet again, I am astounded and the kindness of the Ghanaian people, especially the women. In the evening Monday, I learned how to made redred, which is beans and fried plantains, but sadly I had to rush off to choir rehearsal before I could eat so Daniel had to save me some. It was delicious needless to say, and Daniel apparently shared with several Ghanaians who said the beans were amazing. So now he's decided to teach me how to cook all things Ghanaian because he thinks I am a born chef. lol.

Tuesday's directing class gave some more formal guidelines as far as my play goes. I'll be directing a one-act, maximum 30 mins, and they are allowing me about a months time and some limited resources from the theatre department which is actually pretty generous considering their main contribution is to pay for the script copies I need which would be the bulk of my costs anyways. I also went and checked out the theatre space to get an idea about my staging limitations and whatnot, but their space is so versatile as an outdoor theatre that I can really do any type that I want, though if it was an evening performance it would have to be on the proscenium stage. They have like 8-10 lights total and they are all par-cans. They have limited gels and specials are pretty much none. They didn't even seem to have shutters or barn-doors to limit the field of the light. Matthew Snyder would be appalled. hahaha! But that's what I have to work with, so I'll deal. At the moment, I am thinking it would be really cool to direct something in a real thrust stage or in alley-way. However, at this point it really just depends on what script I can find. That's the other thing. Because books are so scarce here, you literally CANNOT just go to a bookstore and buy a compilation of one act plays to look through. I thought it was hard to find a selection of play to get my 10 minutes scene for directing last semester, but this is nightmarish at times. The library had tons scripts but none are organized and most, if not all, are from past productions so there is just a jumble of scripts with many multiples all stacked on the shelf together. They have a few anthologies, but they are almost all full-length plays. I cannot however dog the library here too much because they have an amazing selection of theatre history books. They have Artaud and Grotowski's works as well as a book Stanislavsky wrote I believe. So, when it comes down to it, I may be spending some time sitting in the library reading "Theatre of Cruelty" and the rest. : D

Tuesday evening after choir practice I had an excellent conversation with some other choir members and I finally feel as if I have many some good Ghanaian friends. They promised to help me learn Twi as well as some of the other Ghanaian languages, like Ga and Fante. They also promised to practice the African dances with me, which is really awesome cause I love that class but feel like I don't get enough individual time with the Ghanaians or the TAs to solidify the dances in my body. Overall, I feel like I am actually getting used to living here, and I have some very exciting future prospects as far as learning the language, cooking, bead making, traveling, and really delving into the culture like I had hoped I would be able to.

On another note, I found out that I was cast in that film I auditioned for. I am a prostitute, and the only white person in the cast or crew. There are over 100 people involved currently, but as I got the chance to read the script, I found out that it is simply a Ghanaian retelling of Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Woman of Setzuan." I find it ironic that after missing my chance to be a part of that show at Fairmont (and all the guilt and anger and sadness I felt when I had to leave the cast) now I am in the same show in Ghana and I am playing a character which is the equivalent of the one I would have played at home. Ah, the irony! I have two lines, which are pretty much just crowd lines, and I think I will only have to be on set for the shooting of the production like 2-3 times. But it will be my first real film credit. hahaha!

Wednesday, classes were fun. History and Development of Theatre in Ghana is turning out to be interesting but also annoying, mostly because it's a big class, and I find myself constantly losing focus. I finally feel like I am retaining some things in drumming and traditional songs which is good. I need to practice more, but that sort of goes without saying. Wednesday evening was our first actual rehearsal for the film I am in, where we read the script, I found that the rehearsal process here is much more low-key and informal than I am used to. As I have contemplated it I honestly don't think I can direct like that, and I don't think I should change my directing style to accommodate the expectations of the Ghanaian actors I will be working with. Instead, I think it will be more profitable to structure things as I would if I were directing at home. Perhaps it will help the actors, I'm not sure. But I just know that I cannot work as a director without more structure than what I have witnessed and experienced from the directors here. It may turn into more of a battle than I would like, but I am willing struggle; it'll make it a more interesting and profitable learning experience in the end.

Today is Thursday so it's been pretty low key since I don't have many classes. But I am figuring out what I will direct while I am here. Trying to find something I can get online and preferably royalty free, but we'll see if I can really find the diamond in the ruff. I was going to go to the market today, but Daniel offered to take me on Saturday instead which is market day, so Madina is bustling. I think that will be a lot of fun, and I will be able to get all the food stuff I need as well as maybe finding a seamstress to make my dresses and taking some cool pictures to post later of Madina Market. As far as the computer issues go I found out that the memory, RAM, and battery are all fine. The computer itself is pretty intact, but the guy who looked at it said it was probably a problem with the motherboard or the processor. I was right about it coming from the overheating though. He said that when he researched the computer I have about 85% of the people who had the same computer had the same issue come up from overheating. Daniel said it might be worth is to just take the memory off my computer and then sell it and buy a new one, but I don't really want to do that cause I think it would be a hassle to sell and the cheapest computer here is about 400 cedi. Instead we are going to a professional IT center where someone will look at it and then tell me how much it will cost to fix. Daniel is going to bring me there tomorrow, and he said that the most expensive it should be would be like 100 cedi, but he doesn't think it will be even that much. Hopefully I will be able to negotiate a good price and have my computer back before the end of the last at the latest. So, here's to hoping.

Boti Falls Weekend and the HP disaster

 Soooooo, I haven't posted in a while, which is not entirely my fault, as I will explain, but regardless, I'll take it from the top.

So, Friday was pretty boring on account of the fact that I had no class and nothing really to do. So I sat around pretty much all day. But then in the evening I heard about music department event where a bunch of pop bands were playing, including a group of international students who had formed a band. It was actually a lot of fun, and the bands weren't too bad. I video-taped a traditional African band that was playing and some guys who were dancing, so you can get a sampling of African dance forms. But it's pretty interesting. (Video to come later)

Saturday I left Accra with some friends to go to Boti Falls, which is a natural waterfall about an hour and a half drive from here. Sooo, at about 10:30ish we left the University and walked to catch some trotros to Madina, where we would get another trotro to take us to Koforidua, which is the closest town to Boti Falls. We ended up having to split into pairs to get on the trotros, cause Saturdays are Market days at Madina so the trotros were always mostly full when they got to us. I paired off with a Canadian girl I just met named Lianne. So, first off, Lianne and I get in the trotro to Madina, and we are riding along for a while when I start thinking "you know, I am not sure where we need to get off and I don't recognize this area." So I ask Lianne if she's ever been to Madina before, and she says no, so pretty much I was supposed to be our guide and I think I've f'ed it up. So, we end up just riding until the end of the line, and then calling Matt, who was also on the trip with us. Turns out we ended up exactly in the right place, dropped off right near the station we had to be at. We met up with Matt and his partner in travel, Marianne, another Canadian I met. So the four of us met up and go in search of a trotro to Koforidua and in transit we have to leap across a trench (which Lianne has nicknamed an obruni trap simply because there are holes and gutters everywhere, and the locals are always avoiding them is ease, but white people are always getting hurt.) On a side note, Lianne ended up with stitches in her leg after falling into one of these obruni traps on campus while she was running. So, you can see the dangers.

After we crossed the trench, we had to ask several people where the trotro station was, and we ended up with a random guy leading us there and then expecting payment, which we had be warned and told not to give by our guides before. After we got in the trotro and got on the road the trip itself was pretty pleasant. We talked the whole way there, and I really got to know my two new Canadian friends. After the long ride to Koforidua we called the other group of travelers to see where they were and found out they had arrived much earlier and gotten a taxi to the bead market, only to find that its only open on Thursdays. So, while they were on their way back we wandered around the city center for a while and then picked up a trotro to Boti Falls.

I wasn't sure how spectacular the falls were actually going to be, and the park itself where the falls were was relatively undeveloped, with few stands to buy snacks and a few benches to sit in the general park area. As we journeyed down the steps to the falls and got our first glimpses, it was well worth the trip. The area was gorgeous and you couldn't take a bad picture. We ended up climbing a bit away from the crowd to get pictures of the falls and then getting ambushed by Ghanaians who wanted to take pictures with us. After having my picture taken with about 10 different Ghanaians that I had never met before, I saw a few of the people from our group venturing out on the rocks and such behind the waterfalls. Taking a bold step myself (as I was wearing only flip-flops), I decided to follow them. It ended up being a truly amazing adventure crawling around on the rocks behind the water falls, disappearing into the roar and the mist of the water. There were rainbows created by the falls as well. After all my adventuring, and admittedly hanging back to take pictures, I was soaked but sated. I had been craving a chance to get back out into nature and just have a bit of connection with the earth again, and Boti Falls definitely delivered. I was even able to take a moment all by myself to meditate and just listen to the falls, taking in the beauty and thanking my Creator for all of the blessings I had been given.

After our little falls adventure, we went in search of food, which ended up taking us back to town and Koforidua. Again, we ended up splitting up as some people were more interested in returning home to Accra before dark and some of us were into more adventures. So, it ended up being Matt, Marianne, Lianne, Emily, and I wandering around Koforidua, replacing Lianne's bandage for her stitches a bit shadily at a pharmacy on the street. Then we followed the guidebook and went to a place called Chris Cafe for food. It was pretty delicious and they had bathroom to change out of our damp clothes which was nice. After eating a delicious meal of vegetable fried rice and spring rolls, we paid our bill and I ended up being dragged into yet another awkward cultural blunder. One of the guys working at Chris Cafe asked Matt (when he was paying the bill) to have me come up to the counter. When Matt told me this, I was confused and thought I had messed something up with the bill. Only I came to find that he just wanted my number. When I told him I didn't give out my number, he proceeded to hand me a piece of paper which he had previously written ALL of his contact information (including his number, email, and facebook ID). I was a bit shocked and somewhat flattered as something like this had never happened to me (and honestly, I didn't think that sort of thing happened in real life). I told him I was engaged and wasn't interested, to which he replied that he only wanted to be my friend (doubtful). Don't worry this isn't the end of his involvement in the story.

So after eating we grab a cab to a cheap hotel in Koforidua where Matt and Marianne got us a room, while Emily, Lianne, and I hid (since there is a law here that you can only have two people in a room, but we didn't want to pay any more). Then as we settled into our little hotel, which randomly had a picture of an Asian baby on the wall, Matt finds out that he has lost his cell phone. There are two places it could be Chris Cafe or the taxi. Soooo, whilst the rest of us as laughing at him and talking, Matt calls his own cell phone to see if he can locate it. Someone picks up (as if it were their own phone) and Matt awkwardly tries to explain that he is the owner of the cell phone that this guy is talking on. At this point we are all laughing at Matt, and simultaneously trying not to be too load so he can hear what the guy is saying. Whoever it is, tells him that he will call Matt back because he's at work. This leads Matt to believe that he left it at Chris Cafe. So, minutes pass, Matt goes out to the main lobby to find out if we can get snacks from anywhere nearby (and btw he is gone for like 2 hrs talking to the guys in the lobby where he tells them that Marianne- who he got the room with- is not his wife, which causes much scandal). Then over the course of the evening we scoot the two double beds together and play cards while Matt is intermittently freaking out about whether to call this guys back or not, since he hasn't called him. After a while they go to the circuitous route and call the guy from Chris Cafe who gave me his number (his name was Samuel btw) and try to find out if a phone was left there. To make things interesting, they use Marianne's phone to call, which makes him think that she is me, and Marianne freaks out after she realizes this so she tries not to sound like herself and ends up randomly talking like a Valley Girl on the phone. After that hilarity, Matt is again going back and forth between calling or not calling, ends up picking up Marianne's phone when Samuel calls, confusing him with the driver who called earlier and has his phone. (btw, Matt called his phone from Marianne's phone earlier when he called the driver) So everyone is confused, Matt is thinking that his phone is lost forever, especially when he tries to call it again and its turned off. As we all finally go to bed, Matt randomly wakes up at 3am and calls his phone, speaking with the driver, finding out that he left his phone in the cab and not at Chris Cafe, and trying to arrange for the guy to bring it back to him. Throughout the nite Matt is then coming in and out revealing that the guy is gonna bring his phone and whatnot. At some ungodly hour of the morning Matt goes out to wait for the cabby, runs back in a few hours later to ask for money, and runs back out to pay the cab driver for bringing him his phone, then comes back in with a hilarious happy dance or retrieving his phone, which ends in him collapsing onto the bed, which btw is not very comfy and holds 4 other people. Needless to say it was a cramped night, but quite hilarious. To top it all off, when we woke up in the morning, Marianne gets a call on her cell phone from none other than Samuel, our favorite worker at Chris Cafe, who is off work and wants to hang out with me (even though he's talking to her). She tells him we are leaving Koforidua, and after an awkward moment when he is trying to find out where we are to say goodbye, she hangs up. Boy oh boy was it an interesting weekend.

So, we travel back into town, realizing in the taxi that we left the two beds pushed together and Matt told the attendants that Marianne and him weren't married so not only did that commit a cultural crime by sleeping in the same room, but know they will probably assume that they got wild together in the hotel. HAHAHAHA!! So, we went to breakfast back at Chris Cafe then wandered in circles for forever trying to find the infamous trotro station to Accra. When we finally found it, through a back alley, we got on the trotro and headed home, quickly falling asleep. As we neared Accra, traffic got heavier and we entered a section of highway that was under construction so no one could sleep. To make things even more interesting, our trotro hit another trotro that was trying to cut us off, and every Ghanaian in both trotros including the driver started raising and shaking their fists at those in the other trotro. HAHA!

We returned home safe and sound though by Sunday afternoon, and I lounged the rest of the day, annoyed with the internet connection, which wasn't working. I stayed up late Sunday watching movies with Daniel in the internet cafe, and was awoken at 7am by the playwriting professor who I didn't recognize over the phone. I started freaking out thinking he was calling me to see if I was coming to class (since we had discussed moving the class from 1:30pm to the early morning slot, which in my stupor I forgot doesn't even start til 7:30am anyways, but regardless). I was freaking out looking for clothes when I lost my connection, hanging up on my professor and causing even more of a freak out. Luckily when he called back he told me that the class was being moved back to its original time due to some scheduling conflicts he had. After that frantic episode, I was glad to go back to bed and sleep in for a bit. I went to Playwriting class and had an interesting time discussing some hot topic issues in Ghanaian culture that people were interested in writing about. I missed the memo though because all of the playwriting ideas I had were definitely not socially driven like the others we discussed. After class, I walked with the TA from that class a bit and found out about a film audition, which he talked me into doing right then. I had no idea what I was walking into as an audition, but was told by my friend, Chief, that it was just cold readings from the script. When I got into the room though, I was asked to improvise. As the film centers around a very seedy part of town, and the only female roles are for prostitutes, guess what I ended up having to improvise. BINGO! I was acting like a prostitute propositioning a male for money in return for favors. BAHAHAHA! Needless to say it was bar-none the most interesting audition I have ever had. In fact, I am pretty sure that I made the only female in the room very uncomfortable, since she was the one who said "That's good. We've seen what we need, thanks!" LMAO. I might have played it a little too forward for Ghanaian culture, but what the heck. After our auditions, Chief and I went to the Bush Canteen so I could get a pot and then he walked me back to ISH1 where I live, and I found out he lives just across from me in ISH2. 

After that I spent another evening fighting with my internet and then trying to just do a system recovery on my computer. So, here's what happened after that. I woke up in the morning on Tuesday and my computer wouldn't come on which was odd and annoying, but I wasn't in the mood to worry about it so I went on with my day. I went to directing class where I found out that my teachers want me to direct something in Ghana this semester FOR SURE. So, I had that rolling around in my brain. Then I went to the ISEP office to sign up for a trip to the Cape Coast festival happening this weekend and check my class schedule with them. It turns out I was signed up for Twi, which I thought I had crossed out because of a schedule conflict. I'm hoping that gets worked out or I've been missing a bunch of class. Also, I realized that I am not 100% positive that I have more choral class on there, which I need to give me the right amount of credits transferring back to FSU. I'll have to figure that all out. After that, I walked back to ISH deep in thought about ideas for plays to direct, really wanting to bounce ideas off of someone in the theatre department at home and ask some questions of a Ghanaian theatre student as well. Lo and behold, as I walked back Chief was out on his friends' balcony and yelled down at me. So, I asked if we could talk about directing and I ended up hanging out with him and his friend Abdul for several hours. It was a fun time for sure, even if I did forget to go to my dance class that evening. I got a better idea of what I was looking for to direct and Chief is getting me some One-Act plays to look at as well.

As I returned to my room I was greeted again with the problem of my computer not working, so I called home to try and talk to my Dad and see if he could help me find out what was wrong with it. To my chagrin, he is in Idaho Falls, so that didn't work out. Instead of being able to figure out what was wrong with my computer, I went to the night market where I was assailed by a random guy I met over a week ago after dance class, who apparently looked for me all night at the dance class. I was reasonably creeped out but tried to be polite until he tried to insist on getting my number and whatnot, after which I told him I was not comfortable with that. He in turn tried to justify himself and our supposedly "established" friendship by telling me that he picked me out of the crowd at dance class a week ago and followed me back to the hostel to talk to me when I was away from my group of friends. He kept saying he really wanted to be friends with me and whatnot, which just made this more creepy than ever. By the time I was leaving, his parting comment was that he would be around, watching me until I was more comfortable to give him my number, needless to say that is NEVER gonna happen. I ended up ranting for a while about it with one of my Ghanaian friends, Fifi, who offered to pose as my boyfriend if I needed him to.

The rest of the night was mainly uneventful, I made some rice and veggies, did entirely too many sudoku puzzles and fell asleep. Wednesday was a school holiday for Ramidan so I didn't have any classes, and I went to a market called Kaneshie with Emily, Matt, and Lianne. We had a good day of shopping. I got some cute sandals, more fabric, and some bracelets, also trying out FanIce which is basically vanilla ice cream in a bag, but it's really good. In the evening, I made some more rice and veggies, and I got to try a Canadian food called Putin, which is fries, gravy, and cheese and is DELICIOUS. Then I went to the internet cafe to try and use Daniel's tools to open up my computer and see if the fans were working, which was my best guess for the problem my computer was having. However, Daniel soon found out that I really didn't know what I was doing, and he called his brother, who fixes computers. He is coming tomorrow, so I am hoping I can find out what is wrong then, and possibly get it fixed for cheap. The rest of the night I spent watching movies with Daniel, and listening to a bunch of people complain because the internet is out at ISH until today or tomorrow. Someone stole the cables that connect our cafe to the overall network in Legon, main campus.

As far as today goes, I woke up incredibly late today, had a groundnut and blackberry currant jam sandwich (the equivalent of PB&J here), and then walked all the way to the International Programs Office where they have a free computer lab for international students. I'm not sure when I'll have a computer again, and I am just hoping against hope that I recover my pictures and whatnot, so we'll see. I'll try and keep you in the loop. Miss you all.