First Day of School

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, it is nice to know that I have so many loving people supporting me.
My birthday included some traditional hazing, an event called ponding, in which everyone throws water at you out of a bucket. It was pretty fun. I reieved a few gifts of massages and candy, and got to go to Accra's enourmous soccer stadium to watch a game. All in all it was a very good birthday.
School starts today, even though most classes have not even announced when they will take place. In ghana most people dress semi-formally to go to class, so I have done the same, which is different than I am used to.
Some of my friends have been getting robbed, one at tazer-point and one from his room while he was sleeping. So we all have to be on our toes.
I am taking 5 geography calsses and an intro to drumming class. The geography classes include Tourism, rural resource development, hydrology, and african geography. They all sound pretty interesting.
Keep posting comments, it helps to know that someone is out there reading this.
love, forest

august 18

I have been moved into Legon Hall, which I believe is the worst dorm on campus. Everything is dirty, the bathroom is disgusting, and the water is only on 40% of the time. Both of the doors in my room are broken. It seems like everything I buy here either does not work or breaks quickly. But I'm not complaining, If I wanted life to be easy I would not have come here.
On a brighter note, my roomie and I went to a nightclub where someone was shooting a music video, and insisted that they needed more white people. So keep an eye on MTV.
I'm starting to get better at soccer. It's not that i was particularly bad, it's just that everyone else is really good. We also visited the botanical gardens on campus, saw really intesting plants and really vicious ants.
Everything else is going good, my spirits are high, hope everyone else is enjoying thier life too.
love, Forest

august 13

Hello again from Ghana. I am still doing well, still getting used to the unorganized, chaotic manner of Ghana. Some friends and I traveled by tro-tro to a fishing village two hours west of Accra called Winneba. On the way, while trying to push through a crowd to get on a bus, I suddenly felt hands in both my pockets and in by backpack. I quickly brushed the hands away and scrabbled onto the bus, only to realize my cell phone was gone. It was less of a pickpocketing and more of a straight-up robbery. The others I was with had narrowly avoided losing their wallets. About 30 seconds later someone leaned into the bus and stole a white box and then took off. It must have been a group of thieves stealing from everyone. I tried not to let it bother me and took it as a lesson in economic disparities and carelessness. When we finally got to the village, we check into a nice touristy hotel and headed to the beach. It was a palm lined paradise, with warm water and sandy beaches. The ground was covered in strange glowing bugs, and we saw crabs and jellyfish too. The next day more friends arrived and we spent most of the day at the beach. We played Frisbee with the local children, did some body surfing, and enjoyed the sun. A group of about 40 people were nearby hauling in a fishing net that was about half a mile long. After mush work, we got the net to shore. It contained jellyfish, eels, snakes, octopi, crabs, and all sorts of other sea creatures. Later we headed into town and saw where they were selling all of these fish, it all looked disgusting to us. We then headed back to school, most of us with substantial sunburn.
I am now trying to register for class, which is very frustrating, confusing, and time consuming. I am taking a beginning drum class and a few geography classes. You can buy beautiful medium size drums here for about $40.
Some of the other Americans have gotten malaria, but luckily I have stayed healthy. Living here involves a huge amount of walking and stair climbing.
They have moved me into the worst dorm on campus. It rarely has running water and most people do laundry and take showers out a bucket. It seems that the working decorative fountains around campus are mocking us. All is well though, I am adapting.
Hope everyone is doing fine, feel free to either leave comments or email me at forest.carter@gmail.com
Love, Forest

first ten days

Greetings from ghana. So far I have been living in an international student hostel (ISH) with mostly other californians and some from indiana. Our group of about 50 has been attending orientation lectures and traveling to nearby accra. We definitely stand out as "obrunies"(foreigners). The flight here lasted about 20 hours, and from there we took a bus to the campus. As obvious wealthy foreigners we are constantly getting hustled for money; I sometimes feel like I am a walking wallet. On sunday 7/27 we went to the beach. There were numerous bars and restaurants there, as well as arts and crafts. The temperature of the ocean here is the warmest I have ever felt, but the ocean and beach are covered in trash. The garbage disposal system seems inadequate everywhere here. I brought a frisbee to the beach, and met some locals who wanted to play, I could tell that frisbees and americans were novelties to them. The next 5 days were filled with lectures on aspects of ghana (economic political historical) and a traditional african drum and dancing class. I have been spending most of my time with other americans, as it will take some time to bridge the cultural gap to befriend ghanaians. I have been fairly healthy so far; one morning I woke up with two bug bites on my neck and a very swollen upper lip. I went to the doctor who said it may be bed bugs, so I sprayed my bed with Raid, no more bites. The money system here is in cedis and pesoways. one cedi equals about 1 dollar and a pesoway about one penny, which makes thinking about money fairly easy. Local food here is cheap, I have been eating food from vendors on campus for usually about one cedi. Ghanaian food consists of a lot of fried rice, cabbage, fried plantains (like bananas, very delicious) fish and chicken. Most locals eat fufu, which is some sort of dough with fish sauce over it and chicken or fish on top. I did not like it because I don't like fish. There is plenty of mango coconut banana and pineapple for very cheap everywhere.
The customs here take some getting used to. The handshake consists of a shake, a grip, and then snapping your fingers off of the other persons middle finger. The left hand is seen as the dirty hand here, one must not shake, wave or eat with it. Making a fist and waggling your thumb at someone is equivalent to giving them the finger.
The dorms I have been staying at is 4 stories high with an open air hallway and central courtyard. The showers have no hot water, which is a little rough. The power goes out for a few hours every few days. Today I am leaving the hostel and moving into the larger dorms, which has even less comforts.
The weather here is hot and humid. This is the wet season, so it rains about every other day. This is nice though, it is a warm rain.
The city of Accra is a massive free for all. Everyone drives fast and crazy, not stopping or slowing down for anyone. People are also always honking their horn. Most shopping is done in outdoor markets, each stall having random things from clothing and electronics to tires and tvs. Almost everything is bartered for which can be both fun and annoying. Although english is the dominant language, most ghanians speak Twi to each other. This leads to lots of talking and laughing at the foreigners who cant understand. The english here is much different, talking can be tedious. I have adopted a slight ghanaian accent when talking to them, which can make it easier. Most people get around here in tro-tros, which are vans that seat about 20 and run routes like buses. These usually only cost about 20-50 cents. taxis are more comfortable, costing about 2-6 dollars depending on distance.
Last weekend we took a trip to the city of kumasi, about 6 hours by bus to the north. The rainforests and plants there were very different and lush. There, we went to visit a large lake and met a local chief. In northern ghana the king still has more power than the president; we got to visit an old palace. On the way we stopped at 3 craft villages which sold crafts and fabrics. We were swarmed by locals trying to sell us trinkets and jewelry. I can't decide if giving these people money is good since it helps them out or bad because I am supporting generic and mass produced tourism. I did buy a really nice sounding xylophone. I have been playing some soccer but i am not very good compared to most locals.
The locals are very friendly, but a lot of the time they only want you to buy something or help them out in some way. I bought a cell phone but international calls are expensive.
That’s all for now, hope everyone is doing well and feels motivated to get out there and travel
Much love - Forest