Quick Update

Life has been good ever since the return of the UNC/miscellaneous group on Monday evening. In fact, I had the most fantastic meal during my entire stay in Ghana so far Monday night. Carly, McKenzie, and I made some delicious pasta with tomato and basil sauce. Carly brought a blend of spices from back home that is to die for! We had a great time preparing, eating, and even cleaning up. We listened to random classical music on my iTunes while we ate. I don't know how many of you watch the Office, but it's our very own version of "The Finer Things Club." The comparison is almost perfect, except we have 2 girls and 1 guy vs. the actual club which consists of Pam, Toby, and Oscar (1 girl, 2 guys). I'm sure Eric is proud of my Office trivia knowledge. Last time it was third in the beet eating contest, next time it will be first in the trivia challenge. Too bad I'll have to miss the Office Convention again this year. I'm really going to be depressed if I can't watch the episodes online at NBC.com (hope I'm not breaking copyright laws by saying that).

Yesterday was a typical Tuesday. Three classes beginning at 11:30 a.m. and going until 7:30 p.m. Thankfully, I have a two hour break right in the middle of that to get something to eat and go to the bathroom. By the end of my last lecture, all I can think of is the delicious Veggie Supreme Pizza waiting for me at Pizza Inn (got to love gas station food). We got smart this time and had the rest of the group order our pizzas for us, so they were ready by the time we got there. Otherwise, it takes 45 minutes to and hour to get your pizza. When we came back to ISH we had cake in celebration of Callie's 22nd Birthday! It was pretty good for Ghana, but it wasn't quite the same as those delicious cakes my mom gets for everybody's birthday back home. Even though I won't be home for my birthday, I hope there will be a nice big cake awaiting me when I return (wink-wink, Mom). Everybody hanged/hung (I never know which one of those to use) out in my room for a little. Thankfully I didn't have any classes today to worry about and could stay up a little later than normal.

Today was pretty busy, despite the fact that I didn't have any classes. I woke up around 9:30 a.m. and immediately got dressed so I could walk up to the History Department and pick up a packet to read for next class. Side note, textbooks are nearly impossible to come by here in Ghana, so we have to pay for photocopies every time we have a reading assignment. Turns out they didn't have them ready yet ("Tomorrow" they said. That's what they always say). Then I went to the Economics Department to drop one of my Econ classes because it won't transfer back to Penn State. Next on the agenda was Barclay's Bank to exchange some money. That is always quite an experience. Imagine trying to stuff 100 people into a room the size of my family room (hopefully most of you can picture the size because I'm a terrible judge of dimensions) and there is almost no semblance to the lines. People always cut in front of you unless you literally remain inches away from the person in front of you. After that was over, I went to the Political Science Department to drop one of my PL SC courses that doesn't fit into my schedule. Finally, I stopped by JQB to drop off my registration form at the international programs office before heading back to ISH to take a shower and eat lunch. Then I went to the main entrance to meet up with Callie, McKenzie, and Carly to come to Busy Internet in Accra (which is where I am at present). I'll probably be here for another hour or so to send out some emails and do a bit of research for my Sociology class. There's a little Shania Twain playing over the radio right now that's driving me crazy.

So that's all the day-to-day things that have been going on since I last blogged. Now I have just a few random things to mention:

- I've developed a small rash on my right wrist that seems to intensify in sunlight. It itches from time to time, but otherwise doesn't really bother me much. Hoping it goes away on its own though.

- I went to put my Kent State or Penn State hat on today, only to discover that they're both growing mold. Disgusting, I know, but I like them both too much to part with them. I'm going to hand wash them and pour some boiling water on them and see if it helps. It's probably a result of my sweat, dirt, and Hunter's residue that's been sitting in humid, tropical weather for nearly a month.

- The weather here is completely unpredictable. It can rain, be windy, cloudy, and sunny all in the same day. Makes it very difficult to predict when to take my rain jacket and umbrella, so I usually take them everywhere.

- One of the cleaning ladies brought her children to the hostel with her the other day. The son's name was Jones and his older sister was named Elizabeth. I sat and talked with them for a couple minutes while their mom was cleaning the bathroom on our floor. I gave them each a piece of gum and they loved it. Then we played a game where I would pour some multi-colored chips out on the bench (Jones is using them to learn how to count in school) and they would race each other to count them first. Elizabeth usually won, but Jones didn't seem to mind.

- I love the girls from UNC! The southern accent (mostly Carly) and personality beats northern girls any day. If I wasn't so close to graduating, I would definitely consider transferring to UVA or Chapel Hill. I will most definitely be visiting Genevieve and Kyle again, (and now Carly, McKenzie, Callie, Maggie, and Mary Beth) this spring! For the record, my wife must be from south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

There's a lot more I could add to this list but I've been working on this entry, the last entry, and a couple emails for a while now and I'm tired of thinking! I think I'm going to use the rest of my incredibly fast Internet time facebooking and looking up airline prices to Cairo (that's right, I might be flying to Egypt for 10 or 11 days later this semester, if the "Price is Right" (which is another (triple parenthesis...I know you hate me right now Rafik) thing that I miss from back in the States)).

Salutations (Charlotte's Web anybody? Which, coincidentally is the name of a beautiful southern city that produces equally beautiful southern women),

Greg