To all those who want to see some of my photos, I'm sorry, but you'll just have to be patient- as patient as we are all being with dial-up speed internet that crashes unexpectedly. The only place with fast enough internet to download photos is at the Accra Mall - which is a story in itself. Thus, when I have the strength of will to go back to the mall, my photos will be up. For now though, ya'll will have to be content with imagining. Sometimes its better- like when you first graduate to chapter books. When imagining, please make sure to add more dust, more men in nicely pressed slacks and ties, and more burning piles of trash in the least expected places than you would have otherwise imagined on a university campus. When I do put up photos, I'll also put up some of the surrounding areas, as well as photos from the bus ride to Kumasi, Cape Coast and of course... the legendary canopy walk. For now I'll say that I now feel settled, like I have a sense of place and habit. There is a market right across the road from the International Students Hostel that provides most of my meals. Women, as in most markets in Ghana, run the show and most of the food vendors are women, many with children playing with each other around or behind the market. I believe that most of the people who run the market also live there, either sleeping in their stalls or in a camp right behind it. The contrast between their sleeping arrangements and the ISH students, with our large, 2-person rooms, constant running water and ceiling fans (as opposed to other halls on campus...), is unnerving and uncomfortable whenever I remember it. This same dichotomy exists in a larger scale everywhere in Accra, particularly along the tro-tro ride back to Legon (campus) from downtown Accra, where one passes mansions surrounded by razor-wire rimmed walls with camps of people in shacks built up in the bushes across the street. Many of the roads that the tro-tros take are bumpy dirt road shortcuts to avoid the horrendous traffic along the Legon/Media road out of the city. This takes the tro-tros right by many such camps, and when on one of these routes, it feels as if the city is very far away though it is not. This is the biggest difference I've noticed in the asthetics of a US urban area vs. Accra: the process of city/infrastructure building is very noticeable. Huge piles of sediment and/or gravel line the sides of roads or rise up in the middle of an empty field. There are usually groups of little kids climbing all over them, with construction work often stagnant beside. All over the region (as well as Kumasi) are half-built skeletons of apartment buildings - often with camps for families self-constructed inside. Roads are also often half-build, such as the road to Kumasi, which changes in placs from a genuine freeway to a trecherously bumpy 2 lane dirt road. This is not to say that the environment is not extremely beautiful and tropical looking- with banana trees lining the roads and the colors of deep green and bright red dirt overpowering everything else. Photos will definitely help this description. I'll call it a day for now, but next time I'll talk more about people. On to lunch - and the decision between rice and beans or soup and banku. Always the hardest decision of the day. Love to all.

So I've now moved beyond the first week in Ghana - and I am definitely a little less awkward. Mind you, a LITTLE. On manners: To get anyone to help you and to avoid being rude, you must greet and make small talk with nearly everyone. It is wonderful, though I'm finding that I have to re-train myself in the art of being chatty and incessantly cheery. The moment I found myself chastising another white person for not saying Hi to me (from another school's group, who likely DID NOT go through the orientation), I knew the Ghanaian manners were beginning to sink in. I also need to work on addressing older people as madam and sir- as I feel I have dug myself into a bureaucratic hole a few times already for this lack of respect.

I've now moved in to my permanent room, in the International Students Hostel on the outskirts of campus - about a 20 minute walk from the center of campus. I wanted to be placed in Volta Hall- one of the main women's halls near the center of campus - but there were only 4 spots available and I lost twice in a lottery for a room. So I am now living in a hall which will fill up with students from the US, Europe, Australia and almost all other African nations- particularly Nigeria I am told. There is a market that will be open mostly at night right across the road and a beautiful view of fields and trees, a red/pink sunset, and a primary school (children in blue and white uniforms playing and yelling woke my roommate Leanna and I up this morning). I'm pretty damn happy with the situation.

This weekend, the orientation group took a trip to Kumasi, in the central region. It was full of planned group activities, and a lot of hot-bus sitting. The student volunteers leading the excursion and most of the orientation include- Kodjo/Stephen (dresses like saturday night fever), Irene (the "siren" as the male volunteers say), Grace (the sweet and quiet leader), Kofi (history student tour guide with the humor and attention-needs of a 12 year old). On the way back to Kumasi, the bus stopped at a gas station opposite of a street dance party and half of the bus got off to join. After about 10-15 minute furious dancing surrounded by Ghanaian women cheering on my awkward gyrations, we hopped back on the bus and back into Accra traffic. I must now go, or I will be forcibly signed off the internet, but love to all. And thanks for the comments. This blog thing is pretty fun.

First Week: sticky air, birds, beer, and politics

Hi all -

This is my first post to what I hope will be a moderately interesting blog.... I arrived in Accra, Ghana on Sunday midday with a group of UC students- most of us from Berkeley and Santa Cruz. We spent Saturday night in Dubai - though we were all too exhausted to spend any of our previous horizontal sleeping time exploring - despite the excitement of such an over-the-top city. This city has "shopping festivals" and on their promotional video playing constantly on the Emirates flight, we were informed that it is a "luxurious" and "mysterious" land of falconry and designer jewlery. The international terminal was just as pretentious as the tourist videos so we mostly decided that it was a place to enjoy a postcard from, rather than a good spot for 20 something college American students. On to Accra... The air feels like Washington DC in the summertime, most of the time- though today is relatively drier. This means that I don't feel like my clothes are plastered to me, and my little white face is not beat red and shiny with sweat for once. However, I think I'm also becoming acclimated after only a few days. The campus of the University of Ghana is HUGE- and extremely spread out, with some paved, some dirt roads and dirt paths criss-crossing fields in-between residence halls and buildings. The trees are beautiful and filled with giant, white throated birds. Leanne, a student from Davis, and I plan on walking around campus with a botany and bird book- perhaps with adventurers hats and explorer khaki shorts, while the beautifully dressed Ghanaian students roll their eyes and get back to business. All the Americans feel under-dressed, or at least in awe of how good Ghanaians look most of the time. Last night, I had a tasting session of Ghanaian beers - Star, Stone, Gulder, Club (though funny, no one ordered the Guiness) with a large group of the exchange students and some of the dance and drum instructors from our introductory dance/music class. Though I sometimes feel extremely awkward, my favorite orientation activity so far has been the dance class. The instructors are good-humored, accepting and impressive beyond belief. I definitely plan on taking a traditional Ghanaian dance class- and drowning in sweat at least twice a week. In other, more important news, the new President of Ghana, John Atta-Mills, was sworn in today but unfortunately we were unable to attend the inauguration though yesterday we visited the location where it was held. Ghana now has its first female speaker of Parliament as well as Chief Justice. Mills ran as a social democrat, jumping on the Obama "Change" bandwagon. However, one of our lecturers claimed that he has not shown significant tendencies in the past towards this stance. It should be interesting to see where this, as well as our own administration converge and diverge. I am now running out of internet time, but will post again soon, hopefully with photos. Love to all from the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.