Worst Day Yet...

So, after I wrote my wall post yesterday, the day took a turn for the worse. After I left the International Programs Office, I went for lunch with Brandon. While we were trying to enjoy our meal, this beggar came over and sat down and would not leave us alone. He had a "sob story" about how he was a Liberian refugee and needed 4 cedi to get a taxi from campus to the refugee camp on the other side of Accra. I told him that we didn't have any money and if he would please leave us alone, but he kept persisting. It might sound mean, not helping him out, but if I gave 4 cedi to every person that came along with a story I would be broke by now. That was only the beginning...

After lunch, Brandon and I parted ways (he had another class). I started walking to the History Department to pick up our reading list for the semester. On the way, it started raining. Luckily I had a rain jacket with me, so I was fine until I got to the History Department. Once I picked up the syllabus, I waited until the rain slowed down because by this point in time it was pouring. As I was walking back to ISH, a torrential downpour began and I was utterly helpless. I was right in the middle of a long walkway without any protection. The closest building was 300 yards away. My rain jacket quickly became soaked (and likewise, permeable)! The worst part was, I had my laptop with me and the rain was seeping through my backpack. So I took my jacket off and wrapped it around my backpack to try and provide some protection for my laptop. Fortunately, I made it back to the hostel before the water got to my computer, but I was soaked and muddy. I jumped in the shower (second of the day) and put my clothes out to dry.

That afternoon, I was on my laptop and it was charging. All of a sudden the voltage converter I had started smoking and sparking. It's fried! Mom, you'll have to apologize to your coworker that let me borrow it (let her know that I'll pay her to replace it when I get back). Now I have to get another step-up/step-down converter. Until then, I can't use my laptop because it's low on battery. The worst is yet to come...

So around 6 p.m. we decided to go get dinner at the Basement. We were all craving some Red Red, something that the Basement is particularly good at preparing. Unfortunately, when we arrived they said they were out and we had to get something else. That's not the worst of it. On the way back to ISH (it was still pouring at this point, mind you), I fell in on of the thousand ditches that weave their way around campus. They're drainage ditches to prevent water from puddling up around sidewalks and such, but they aren't covered and when it's dark out, they are very difficult to see. My left foot fell in (with my $120 Nike Shocks on, making matters even worse), and my right shin caught the lip of the CEMENT ditch! I got a pretty rough scratch that was bleeding and my shin hurt like (pardon the French) hell the whole way back to the hostel. It's got a nice lump on it this morning. The thing that worries me the most though is that people frequently throw their trash in those ditches and they smell like sewage when you walk by them, so I'm hoping that scrubbing the scratch in the shower (third of the day) with soap and water, putting alcohol sanitizer on it, Neosporin antibacterial spray, Neosporin cream, and a band-aid took care of all the bacteria! I'll be keeping a close eye on it over the next few days. Oh yeah, and throughout the day, my stomach was upset!

So, needles to say, I was not in the best of moods by the time I went to bed last night. Today has been a little better, except the rest of the group left for the Volta region this morning around 7 a.m. until Monday. I would have gone with them, except Prof. Dodoo has already set up a similar trip for the Penn State group that's already been paid for. The trip this weekend would have set me back $230, so I chose to stay behind. But everybody else went. So it's going to be a pretty lonely weekend. Tomorrow, I'm going into Accra for the day. Going out to eat, doing a little shopping, listening to the Penn State game on the internet. Sunday I'll try and finish up my Sociology assignment that's due in two weeks, which should only take about 2 hours. So, I don't really know what I'm going to do with the rest of my time between now and Tuesday, but I'm sure I'll find something. I might possibly head up to Asamankese, about 2 hours north of Accra, to meet Mr. Evans Agyei (the Gideon that my grandparents met at the International Gideons Convention this summer).

Well, that's all for now. No questions from anybody yet. Sometimes I wonder if what I'm writing about is really interesting to anybody. If you want to hear about something in particular, to possibly pique your interest, let me know.

Peace,
Greg