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