Seriously Ridiculous

Hello hello.

So since the Slave Castle drain, its been pretty slow-going around here. The big news is that I have an incredibly bad sunburn. Shocking I know. Since this is maybe the 600th really bad sunburn I have received in my nearly 22 years, I guess it isn't that exciting. I guess the story behind the sunburn is better.

While the majority of the California students were out adventuring Ghana, Elena and I decided to explore Accra, the capital and nearest city to the small Legon, where the University is located. I know I have briefly explained tro-tros, however, I don't think I explained the ridiculousness involved. Tro-tros are the main form of public transit here, and they run like busses, with designated stops, and go to different areas of Accra/Ghana. These large mini-vans are operated by a driver and his "mate" who leans out the window of said vehicle calling out the destination. Unfortunatley, Ghanian English is like another language, so I have some trouble understanding what the hell is being said most of the time. For instance, a tro-tro going into downtown Accra to the main markets simply yells out "Accra" but in Ghanain English it is pronounced "Ack-craw" which is easy enough, but shouted over and over it sounds like "craw, craw, craw." The other major destination is Nhekruma Circle, which is like a turnaround, or station for many tro-tros. It is simply known as "Circle" and so the tro-tro mate yells out what sounds like "sek, sek, sek" which literally took me a week to figure out. After someone took mercy on me and explained it. So....this said, Elena and I decided that figuring out the tro-tro ridiculousness needed to be done before Canopy Walks or seeing Monkeys.

We jumped on a car going to "Circle" and found ourselves about an hour later the new friends of two Ghanaian men. The guy following me around offered to take me to Singapore. About 6 times. We escaped by jumping on a new tro-tro to Accra, which let us off at a very pungently smelling market, which we thought was near a vegetarian restaurant we wanted to try. We started walking through the market, bought bags of water (pure water is sold in plastic bags here for about 4 cents) and assumed we were going in the right direction. We were not. After 20 minutes of walking around in the burning sun we found ourselves at the ocean, and Ussher Town, (home of more historical forts) which under different circumstances we would have found interesting as anything. Unfortunately, we were hot, hungry, and starting to realize we had not applied sunscreen. We decided to take a cab, but in total ridiculousness, every cab that drove by was full. If you had any idea the amount of harrassment we endure EVERY DAY from cab drivers trying to take us places, the irony would be much more apparent. Eventually after walking into some random construction site, we flagged down a cab, which took us to the sight of the restaurant. Or so the cabbie thought. We then wandered around in the baking sun until some poor man took pity on us and practically escorted us to the restaurant. Luckily for us, it was delicious. What was NOT delicious was the dawning realization that the sun had successfully removed much or out epidermuses. Ouch. We decided to head home, which of course included more aimless wandering in the direction of some other "circle" and then a 30 minute tro-tro ride back to campus.

Upon return we surveyed the blistering...which is contained to my shoulders, Elena's shoulders and back suffered more than I did. However, in a lucky twist of fate, we hade puschased Cocoa Butter just that afternoon, which may have been the best spent $2.50 spent thus far.

Today was the beginning of registration for classes. If I had only unlimited money to buy unlimited minutes at unlimited internet cafes so I could relay the ridiculousness. Jeeeeeeez. I can sum it up mostly by saying I was expected to (and did, FYI) sign up for all my classes today, which are in 4 different departments without the slightest idea when the hell these classes might actually be offered during the week. I am talking about how I don't know the day, the time, the frequency during the week, anything. Good thing class starts in a week. Because that's apparently enough time to figure it all out. Seriously, everyone in the whole world who gets to register for online is insanely spoiled. In-SANE-ly. I will never be ungrateful ever again. This week. I love you.