Winnevba

Hey everyone,

I just got done with classes for today, so that essentially means that I am done with lectures for the week. That is always a bonus. Those 8 hours on Monday add up quickly. I can’t believe it, but there are only 4 more weeks of class after this week. The semester is coming to a close really quickly…. Of course there is still a month of exams to go, but we won’t worry about that right now.

This last week was a good week, but really chill. At several points I felt like I didn’t have much to do and really didn’t know what to do with myself. It is hard having 3 hour blocks of free time, because I don’t really know how to fill it. If my whole day is open, I can find something cool to do. However, 3 hours isn’t enough time to really do much. I have been reading a lot and trying to be productive. I did have my first O.T. quiz this last week, so I had to study for that. I did pretty well on it, except I confused deutrocannonical books with deutronomical books. Come on, who misses that! Other than that, I got all the questions right. My Friday and Saturday were very chill. I hung out with some of the basketball guys on Saturday night. We went to some places at the back of campus, so that was fun.

The highlight of my week came on Sunday though. Last week, Nate (pronounced Not, my friend from my HST class), invited me to his village this weekend. I thought it wouldn’t happen, but he called me on Saturday and said he was still going. I hadn’t done much this weekend, so I was more than willing to join him. We left Cape Coast at 8:15. I thought his village was close, but it was 2 1/2 hours away. Apparently that is close for a Ghanaian. (I told Dominick about how long it took, and he remarked about how close it was and how 2 ½ hours isn’t that bad…) On the ride way there, Nate was telling me all of the history of the villages that we were passing. There were some cool villages. A lot were influential in the Slave Trade and colonialism. There were a lot of fishing villages too. It is cool to actually drive by those places with someone who actually knows the history.

We finally arrived at his village after a long and cramped TroTro ride. I was expecting to see a small community with some small houses, but his village is basically a city.  It seemed to me like it was a smaller version of Cape Coast. Not what I was hoping for, but still cool. He gave me a quick tour and we stopped to try a coconut (which are way better fresh and not in a bad candy bar, that’s right Almond Joy). Then we went down an ally (not a back ally) and arrived at his house. It was a pretty nice house with several rooms and a courtyard. I was welcomed by his entire family. And when I say entire family, I mean mom, dad, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and a bunch of local neighboring kids. So, I basically got mobbed. I can pretty safely say I was the only white person in the city, so I think it is rare for them to see someone like me. We then spent the next 2 hours moving from room to room meeting his family. His mother is awesome. She is a really sweet old lady with a really hearty laugh. I meet his 2 aunts that were there and I talked with his brothers and cousins for a while. One of his cousins is a professional photographer in Ghana. His nephew was basically attached to me the entire time. His name is Osei and they said he was 5. We played for a while in Nate’s room before lunch and he wanted to throw his teddy bear back and forth. We played that game for a long time. It is really funny, because he doesn’t speak any English, so it was interesting trying to communicate with him.

After some preparation, we had lunch. It was a feast! I mentioned to him that I enjoyed fufu with ground nut soup, so that is what his mother prepared for us (btw, if you want a full description of what fufu is, look it up online, because I can’t give a very good description). It also came with chicken and fish. So, Nate and I feasted. It was a little weird because when two people eat together, they eat from the same bowl. I tried my best to finish it off, but there was just too much. I am pretty sure that my stomach was completely full.

It was great to fill up, but Nate didn’t give me much down time before we were on our way. He wanted me to see the city. So, we walked along some roads and saw the village. There are a few shops, but mostly residential houses…. and random goats. It seemed like a very nice place to live. We ended up at his sisters place (Osei’s mother). We talked with her for a while, and then went to buy some sugar cane (fresh sugar cane is Awesome!) He also showed me his old high school, which his cousin is a teacher at. So, we stayed in his cousins’ house for a little while, then headed out and made our way back to Nate’s place. His whole family wanted to take pictures with me, so we took a bunch of pictures. Then Nate and I made our way back to Cape Coast so we could get there before dark. We got back about 5, just in time to watch the Lions game. I felt like that was a pretty solid way to spend my Sunday. It was really cool to see him interacting with his family. I felt like I was able to see a piece of Ghanaian traditional life. They are very community centered and it was really cool to see a little of how they all live together.

Monday brought my typical 8 hours of lecture. However, when I got back, some guys were playing a guitar. So, I joined them for a little bit and we all played together. That was a ton of fun. I felt really good getting a guitar back in my hands. I miss playing a lot. I should be o.k. without it for the rest of the trip. I will make sure to give you another update after this weekend. We are leaving for the Volta region on Thursday for a long weekend (8 hour ride…) so I will tell you about the trip when I get back. Talk to you then

Jordan