Ruth

Hello all you dear folks!

I'm am sitting in "Busy Internet" paying 1.80 cedis per hour for some fairly high speed internet. its extremely nice to be able to have several pages open at one time without having the net quit. In order to get here a friend and i took our first trotro ride unaccompanied by one of our Ghanaian friends. it was quite an adventure, luckily my friend has a much better sense of direction than i do. i have nearly firgured out how to navigate campus but when it comes to greater Accra and the outlying areas, im at a total loss. i have however seen a great deal of it from the windows of tour buses and trotros (trotros are the cheapest and bounciest form of transportation i have ever riden in. they are vans in which are packed as many humans as possible and then drive a little too quickly for comfort to your destination.) i am living in an incredibly beautiful part of the world. things are green here in a way ive never seen. yesterday we took a very big tour bus (which broke down both on the way there and the way back) to the Aburi Gardens. we had to drive high up into the hills (the reason for break number one) and the view into the valley was breathtaking. it was one huge expanse of green dotted with beautiful trees and the occasional house or goat. the drive into the gardens was equally beautiful. the lane is lined with incredibly tall palm trees. its difficult to describe exactly what these gardens are like. contained there is one of the oldest trees in ghana, one of the original cocoa trees, stands of bamboo, coconut trees, and a old abandoned helicopter, i never did figure out what that was doing there though. i'm having some trouble with downloading pictures but i will try to post them as soon as possible.
after the trip to the gardens we visited TK Beads. This is a small bead manufacturer where all the beads are dyed and made carefully by hand. it was incredible the craftmanship contained in some of the jewelry. i bought a few things and am looking forward to going back to do a good deal of my christmas shopping;)
last week i went to the beach and yes i wore sunblock (impressive no?). the waves were great and i spent a lot of time in the ocean body surfing and having Africans ask me to teach them to swim. its strange to me since they are so close to the ocean, but a lot of Ghanaians dont know how. it was a lovely day though and i look forward to going back.
so right before i left for my trip i cut off my hair and now its down to my waist again thanks to about five young Ghanaian women, two packages of fake hair, and three hours. i currently have reddish braids most of the way down my back and cornrows in the front. i also had them leave my bangs out so i have some braids in the front too. i really like it. its a bit itchy and incredibly heavy but i love that i dont have to wash it!
the no washing is a wonderful thing too because the water in my dorm is less than reliable. the first two weeks of our stay it worked about 20% of the time. just when i thought i could take a shower...i would be foiled!as a result though i am very good at washing myself with a bucket. the fact that when the water is running its very cold has also succeeded in greatly shortening my shower. these little inconveniences are exactly that though, little. overall it has been completely worth being a little dirty or a little sweaty most of the time.
people here are by far some of the nicest i have ever met. they are ever ready to help and extremely pleased when i use the little bit of Twi i have learned so far. its a simple language compared to english grammatically, but its a bear to pronounce most of the time. we have lessons though four days a week for two hours so hopefully soon ill be able to have more lengthy conversations then "how are you? im fine and you?"
hmm...oh yes classes! that other thing im here for. my dance class is absolutely wonderful. i love learning the traditional dances and it is definately a workout. it meets twice a week and even at 8:30 is worth getting up for. my drumming class is a challenge for my somewhat limited two-hand coordination but it still fun, im hoping to buy a drum before i leave here. my acting class has not met yet but the professor seems lovely. i have just registered for voice lessons and those will also start next week.
oh yes...i have been cast in a show at the national theatre of ghana. in a major role in a Nigerian play called "Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again." I though when i auditioned that it was for my school...i was mistaken. i am playing a young american-educated Nigerian...figure that one out, i havent yet.
ok, my time here is almost up and i am going to try again to post some pictures. thank you all for reading and please send me updates on you! miss you and love to all!

ruth (now called Princess Abena, thanks to mama's status as Queen Mother!)

written by

Ruth on August 31, 2008 from Legon, Ghana

from the travel blog: Ghana, West Africa

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