Getting Settled and a trip to Bojo!

   As the days go on, I am becoming more adjusted to life here in Ghana and am finally settling on a daily routine.  Life here is much slower than what I am used to back on the eastern United States, and at times that can become quite frustrating for a person who plans to achieve a lot during a day.  Sometimes it is hard to accept the fact that registering for all of my classes, buying another set of sheets for the bed, and checking my email are simply not all going to happen in one day.  In fact, it has taken the entire week so far to register for classes, and we still aren’t signed up for some because neither the departments haven’t been open, nor have the time slots been posted.  However, this appears to be a typical occurrence and the university staff assures us that it will all be sorted out by the end of next week.

   One class that has been running this first week is Traditional African Dance, which I take every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  I have been looking forward to taking this class since officially accepting to study abroad this spring semester, but I couldn’t have anticipated just how much fun it would be!  On Tuesday evening about 70 students (mostly Ghanaian) and I crammed into the only dance studio on campus and were told to “open your mind and be free, let the music speak to you.”  With that, we were directed to our feet and told to join in the dance.  On the stage were seven drummers who played live music throughout the hour and a half as we moved to the beat.  Being thrown into an African Dance class without any prior dance experience—minus the time I did ballet in first grade when I spent more time searching for my parents in the audience than I did performing the recital—I was nervous that my rhythmically-challenged self would flounder.  To my surprise, it was easy to follow the experienced Ghanaians and it was the most fun I’ve had so far in Ghana.  It was definitely the best workout too!

   Last Saturday, some of the Ghanaian residents organized a trip to Bojo Beach for the international students which proved to be nothing less than an African adventure.  We left around 8 in the morning, squeezing in way more students than the bus capacity was meant to handle.  The trip was supposed to take about an hour and a half given all of the predicted traffic, but no more than 20 minutes into the journey, our bus had a miniature collision with a tro tro.  When I say miniature, I mean that our front right headlight was cracked, but this added a few hours onto our trek to the beach.  After a period of heated arguing between the respective drivers, we moved to the driving center to sort out insurance policies; later, we discovered that this was the wrong location to do so, and had to drive further to the police station.  It took a few attempts to fill out the right paperwork for the incident, and finally by noon we were on the road again.  The drive to Bojo was very eye-opening as we left the busy city area of Greater Accra, and entered the more rural neighborhoods along the dirt paths to the ocean.  Even in these obviously struggling communities, I saw little kids with huge smiles on their faces as they roll an old tire around together.  Most don’t speak any English because they can’t afford to attend school, but a simple smile and wave can break any language barrier and let someone know you care. 

Tiki huts on Bojo Beach and the ferry that brought us to the island

   Once we finally arrived at Bojo Beach Resort, we were so excited to run through the soft sand and dive into the warm water.  Bojo is a small island right off the coast, so we all piled into a long canoe and were escorted across the bay so our paradise escape.  I never thought I would be swimming in the ocean in January, and experiencing warmer water temperatures than I ever have in the middle of the summer at the Jersey Shore.  This true bliss did not last for long however, because about a half an hour after arriving, a giant storm rushed in and we had to huddle under a tiki hut bar to avoid the downpour.  What I enjoyed most about this change of events was the fact that the sideways rain and gusting winds didn’t appear to ruin anybody’s day—the huddle under the tiki hut turned into an African dance party, and those who were brave enough decided to start a soccer game in the rain!  When the day was over and our soaking wet, sandy selves were back at the hostel, everyone was ready to call it a night!

   By Sunday, the campus had taken a complete 360 as all of the students finally moved it.  It is more crowded everywhere you go, and forget trying to sleep in—if the roster calling outside your window doesn’t wake you, the congregations of students, as well as the hustle and bustle of the market will certainly do the trick.  Our Ghanaian roommates have all moved in as well, and it is nice to get to know some of the locals and start friendships with people we never would have before.  The once daunting campus now seems like a place I’ve been walking around for years (although it is still very large and spread out).  We are even grasping the notion of bargaining which is an absolutely necessary skill here in Ghana, especially for the obruni (white people).  In fact, today LaVonda, Bridget, and I took an adventure to the National Cultural Center in Accra where we had to prove we knew how to bargain in order to get the best prices on the handmade crafts sold there.  I was very pleased with our ability to negotiate a tro tro to the right location and find our way around the city to the Cultural Center, navigate our way through the aisles of vendors begging us to purchase their products, and successfully find our way home.  It really feels like we are getting the hang of things here, especially after hearing that another group of girls accidentally took the wrong tro tro 4 hours in the opposite direction of the Cultural Center.

ladies selling tomatoes in Accra, the streets are lined with vendors like this

   There are definitely things that I am starting to miss as I approach the two week mark of me being in Ghana, but little things every day remind me of the beauty of this country.  For example, the other night some of the girls and I sat on the balcony reading by candlelight as we listened to the sounds surrounding us.  I cannot remember the last time I even had a chance to sit and read a book for pleasure, or chose to do so over watching The Bachelor on a Monday night, but it was so lovely to be able to do just that.  It is nice to be able to ignore the western world for a bit, and enjoy the simplicity of life here.  I am excited for classes to get in full swing next week, and for all of the surprises to come!