I get to come home in four days........one exam, three big papers, one revision, and one small paper......a lot of souvenirs to purchase, and a crapload of packing to go, and then a thursday flight. By friday, I'll be back in the states.......at home.....for christmas....... sighs from the sheer happy anticipation......

So....it's been a while.....we have three weeks and one day left until we fly out. 6 of those days will be in Accra....thtee in Kumasi...two in Shia Hills....10 traveling.......I'm so pumped!!!

No politics and development class today....

We didn't have politics class today, apparently the professor had a conflict. I am pretty ok with that. I was really tired when I woke up today. I even slept an extra 25 minutes, which actually helped some, but not enough. I will probably have to go to bed early tonight. Well, early for me at least.
I can't believe have been here for four weeks already. Time sure flies. The semester will get away without me if I am not careful. We are headed to Boti Falls on Saturday. I am pretty excited about it. Kincso says I should probably take it easy this time since I am still having issues with my stupid leg from last Friday at Asenema Falls. We'll see how I am feeling then. We leave next wednesday for Akropong again for the festival. I am excited about that too. We will be up there for the rest of next week and part of the weekend. We have class all the following week and then on the 15th we head to the North for a week. I just looked at the rest of our travel schedule and we only have like 3 or 4 weekends that we aren't gone somewhere and one of those we are going to Cape Coast because that trip had to be rescheduled. Oh man, this is going to fly by.

In other news, I love the nightmarket!!! It is right outside the hostel and basically we eat there for almost every meal. It is pretty cheap and they have the best fruit ever. We also don't get harassed too bad there because we are around all the time and the vendors know a lot of us. I went to get a pineapple the other day and the fruit lady asked where my friend was because usually Kincso and I go together to get our fruit. There are lots of fruit stands but I always go to that one becuase I like the lady and she is the only one who doesn't call me "obrune" when I walk by. I think Kincso is putting pictures of the night market on her blog and there is a link to her blog from here so if you want to see pictures, go there.

wow...........

And the madness continues.....

We didn't end up starting class on Thursday. We officially start classes tomorrow. I am ready for them. Establish a little routine. We went to the beach yesterday. It was sweet. I spent most of my time being knocked around by the ocean. I think I still have water in my ear......

Episode two of Sam's funny signs....
Who Knows Radiator Shop
Your Will be done Carborator Specialist
In God we Trust fast food
Jesus Saves Fashion Shop
Not I But Christ Fashion
Only Believe Floral Works

yep. All of these I saw on signs going down the road.....

We have been getting a little stir crazy these past two weeks. We watched Princess Bride last night. Always an endless source of amusement.

Laundry here is a trip. All hand wash. The hardest thing about it is the fact that it takes so freaking long to dry. It is better now that it isn't raining all day long every day but when it was even on the balcony where it wasn't getting rained on it was so humid that it took three days for some of my t-shirts to dry.

For the most part people here are nice. Some of them are a little too nice. Especially the guys. I ignore them. It is rude, I know, but I would rather not be hit on and have people think I am rude than deal with marriage proposals which a lot of the girls have recieved already. Call me crazy.

When you are driving down the road there are people selling things at all of the stoplights. Women carry bagged water on their heads and fish and banana chips as well as frozen yogurt and boiled peanuts and all kinds of other food and such. Men sell bags and flashlights and flags and maps and CD cases and pretty much anything else you could want. It's like having a drive-thru convenience store.

More from Ghana later, peace out.
-Sam

Akropong

So we were in Akropong for a couple of days. It was good. We had lectures all day on Monday and then today we went and visited the Volta Dam, which supplies almost 70% of the electricity to Ghana as well as powering villages in Togo and Benin. We also visited a bead factory where they make 5 different kinds of glass beads. I bought beads (of course) but I didn't go too crazy. It was interesting learning about how they made the different styles though. When they say factory it is in the very roughest use of the word. They were in thatched huts that weren't closed and they fire their beads in kilns made out of termite clay. Apparently it is stickier and resists cracking at high temperatures better than regular ground clay. They use all recycled glass from bottles and such. They also polish the beads on this big rock with water and sand. It was a very interesting process. It takes about an hour to drive from Akropong back to the University and there were some really interesting things to see. I took pictures that I will try to load later. Some of the stuff I wasn't able to catch in pictures but I found very amusing. Ghana is a very religious country. As such, they have some interesting names for their businesses. Here are a few of my favorites:
In Christ Our Lord Hair Salon
In God We Trust Fashion
He is the Way Fashion
By His Blood Company
Episode two of Sam's funny signs to be aired in the coming days.....stay tuned.....

We start class on Thursday. I think we are going to try and go shopping tomorrow. I don't know if I am going to go or not. I could use to get a few other things done that I promised people I would do...cough make picture CDs and send them cough..... we'll see, though.

I am doing pretty well, all in all. I am starting to get adjusted. I am starting to know which way is up again. I am remembering the important things and trying not to sweat the rest. It will be an interesting semester.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.....

It has been raining here all day long and it rained all last night. It is actually kind of chilly so we had to bust out the long sleeves. We have just been relaxing a lot today. We were supposed to go to Osu today, but Sierra, one of the girls on the team got really sick and had to go to the hospital. Come to find out she has food poisoning. Another of the girls with us, Pearl, went to the hospital with a fever and sharp pains all over her body. I hope both of them get better soon as we are supposed to be leaving for a couple of days tomorrow. I think we are just going to hang around ISH today and watch some 24, which Erica brought two seasons of. Not a whole lot else to do in the rain......