kumasi

we made it to kumasi! the drive took about six hours, but i would guess that our average speed was about 25 mph because of traffic and road conditions. kumasi is wonderful and so is my new host family. i live directly across the street from KNUST (kwame nkruma university of science and technology) which is where we have classes in the afternoon. this location gives me lots of extra time to hang around campus after class because i can just walk home. in the morning i wake up at about 6:30 and catch a 30 min trou trou to KASS (kumasi anglican secondary school) where we have twi classes. then we catch another trou trou to KNUST for lunch and afternoon classes. the first afternoon at KNUST we toured around the several different art facilities by the head of the art department. i met a professor name naab who works in the ceramics department and am going back tomorrow to talk with him and trade glaze recipes. in the afternoons we have also had lectures from different professors on observation and interviewing techniques and ethnography ethics. this morning after twi class we went to the central market which is the largest market in west africa! we walked around the miles of vendors and practiced our barganing skills that we learned in class. i bought two payas (avocados), a gyeene (onion) and two ntoosi (tomatoes); i'm going to try to make my family some guacamole, i have a feeling it may not be some of my best stuff... especially since we will be eating it with plantain chips.

my parents are named joyce and erik both working on their masters in business administration at KNUST; they are both really excited to have me around and love to speak twi with me. they want to eventually open up a chain of restaurants. i have one brother jeffery who is 18 years old and has been taking care of me; he took me on a tour around campus and the neighborhood. he is currently on his mandatory break after graduating from high school and is waiting to go to the university where he wants to study human biology to become a surgeon. i eat most of my meals with jeffrey out on their porch.I also have an older sister named shila who is 23 and two younger siblings; nana is a 10 year old boy who loves to play soccer and joyce is a 12 year old girl. our family lives on the second floor of a two building compound. my parents rent out the bottom floor and the second building to students at KNUST from accra.

other ghana observations...
-it's totally cool to pick your nose wherever and whenever
-6 people died at a soccer game last week between accra and kumasi from heat exhaustion
-although homosexuality is illegal in ghana, it's very common to see two young men or women walk together holding hands
-ghana recently had the closest election in its history, however, everyone is 10 times more excited and interested in obama
-there is no waste management here
-cipro is nice
-it's the dry season, but since we have been in kumasi we have had two huge storms, one this afternoon

alright i need to get going, but here are a few responses to some comments...

nye - yes
molls - what's an SkB?
alex - yes i do look a little south korean, have you kicked over any eggs yet in italia?
grace - you're a fufu
lars - you're a wenis

i miss you all!!!
love, dane