AKWAABA!!

i can't believe that i have only been in ghana for four days! i have too much to write about but i will do my best...

we (17 other students, 15 girls and 2 guys from all over the states) arrived in accra late friday night after having some time to bond in london and on the plane rides. both plane rides took about 6 hours which wasn't too bad, especially on bitish airways... do they fly madison to new london? we all recieved our bags and then were rounded up by papa atta--our program manager, yemi--one of our academic directors, and autie ester--another manager. we boarded a bus and traveled to a near by hostel where we would be "staying for three nights and enjoying our lifes" yemi and papa atta said. the hostel nice and the three guys (toby is from bates and jules is from new jersey) all split a room. we ate eggs and bread for breakfast every morning and had orientation during the afternoon. master drummers from the university of ghana came to play for us and teach us how to dance.

on our second full day in accra we watched (on tv) the ghanaian youth soccer team play in the youth african cup championship; they beat cameron 2-0!! it was very exciting. after the game we attended a funeral. this funeral was not like any that i had ever attended. funerals in ghana last for three days. the first day consists of drummers playing late into the night. the second day is the burrial, and the thrid day (which is what we attended) is a celebration to honor. in ghana they believe that life is not destroyed, it is only transformed and therefore a celebration is held to honor the passage into a new way of life. the celebration lasted from 2:00-6:00pm and had drums playing the entire time. every one sits in a square and claps and sings while a few people dance in the middle, and then the people in the middle pick someone from the outside to dance with them... it's kind of like a middle school snowball but less organized. the locals laughed at us while we danced but we improved quiet a bit over the four hour span. we also began taking classes at our hostel, we are learning the language twi (akwaaba means welcome, we hear it a lot) and dance and about ghanaian culture.

yesterday we left the hostal and traveled to the university of ghana, legon. here we waited for out homestay parents to pick us up. mama vida, my host mother, quickly arrived and gave me a big hug. she drove me to her house after picking up her son calvin (14) from school. mama vida and papa francis also have a daughter victoria and several others living in their home. family in ghana always refers to the extended family. andy is mama vida's nephew and he is my roommate. he is a big kid and wants to play american football. there are also two girls from sweeden and a girl from germany in mama vida's house, they are volunteering at an orphanage in accra for 3 months.

this morning i woke up at 6:00, showered, had breakfast and then cought a trau trau to the university. a trau trau is like a 15 passanger van... but they fit a lot more than 15 into them. we start class at 8:00 and go until lunch at 12:00 after lunch we went in to the medina market and wandered the streets for a bit.

okay i have to run so that i can make it home for dinner, but now that we are going to the university, i will have more oppertunities to use the internet. i will try to post some pictures later this week!! i hope everyone is well, (i have not gotten sick yet... but they told us during orientation that statistics show that half of us will visit the hospital). i will write again soon!

love, dane