Classes (or lack thereof)

So, I am nearing two weeks in Ghana, and classes started Monday. Or, so they told us. I registered for all my classes last week and expected them to start on Monday. However, that is not really the case. Registration continues all week, and many of the Ghanaian students are not even here yet. Therefore, the professors feel no need to show up for class because no one comes. So far, I have been to three classes and no professor has shown up. As a student from America, paying a lot of money to have my professors show up to class, I find this very frustrating. But, when in Ghana, do as the Ghanaians do. So, I will continue to go to class this week, and I will probably not see any professors, oh well. Among other things:

I took my first bucket bath the other night (no water, again). It really wasn't that bad, I felt totally clean after. However, it is a little tricky washing your hair haha.

I hand-washed my clothes for the first time too. Now, this was a lot more difficult than I expected. You essentially buy a bar of laundry soap and a brush and you have to scrub your clothes in one bucket, rinse them out in the sink or shower, wring them out, and then hang them on the clothesline. Let me tell you, it was a serious work out. I was sweating profusely and my back was killing me from bending over the bucket. I need to manage my laundry and just do a few articles of clothing at a time, 2-3 times a week. Also, because of the humidity, it takes about two days for your clothes to dry, so you really have to plan it out.

There are so many lizards here. I would say that they are the equivalence of squirrels in America.

We got a fridge for our room, however, it seems to have only one setting...frozen. EVERYTHING is frozen solid.

I am learning Twi (a local language). Here are a few words/phrases:
Ete sen? (How are you?)
Eye (good)
Na wo nso e (and you too?)
It is a really tricky language because you can't necessarily sound things out, for example Twi is actually pronounced something like Chwi. There are also words that have multiple meanings, and depending on how you say them or in what context, you are supposed to know what they mean. But to me, all the pronunciations usually sound exactly the same. For example, Papa can mean father, good, or hand-fan. I have a test tomorrow, should be interesting.

I went to the beach on Sunday and it was really nice! A few of us managed the tro-tros all by ourselves (well, with the help of some nice Ghanaians). There were a lot of hecklers and people trying to sell us stuff, but the weather was beautiful and the water was warm. Definitely not like the beaches in America (there was a lot of trash in the water), but still a nice way to escape from the heat.

The fruit is delicious here. You can buy a full pineapple and have it cut up for less than $1. I don't think I will be able to eat the pineapples in America after tasting the ones here.

That's all for now! More updates to come later.