Katherine Parker in Nepal

I love social dancing, particularly the variety found at Gaskell and FNW, but I have never been much for clubbing. So, I had a few trepidations about the "African Traditional Dance" class that was scheduled for four evenings of our orientation. It was very new, the energy is very different from the high, smooth feel of the rotary waltz I love so much. The dance instructors were all amazing, beautiful dancers, and they could execute isolated movement so well that I was somewhat intimidated. The music was also totally new and strange. The drumming is strong and powerful, the rhythms were strange and almost syncopated, but not quite. And the tonality was also new, the drums each had their sound, and the rattle and the bell, and then the singing and flute on top of it all. It was a total sensory overload. But the professor is amazing. He is totally attuned to the expression of dance not only as a movement of the body, but as an expression of the spirituality of the community and ...

Today (Sunday), I went to the early service at Trinity United Church again. The senior pastors were all off at their respective equivalents of Annual Conference (it is a Methodist-Presbeterian church). Once again, the music was great and the sermon left something to be desired. In the afternoon, I went with two others down to Accra in search of "Timber Market" somewhere around James Town or Ussher Town where they had read in the Lonly Planet guide that there was a place to buy fetish items. After 3 tro-tro rides and plenty of asking we decided to head out on foot. Along the route we met up with Emmanuel (a very common name here), who took us to the entrance of Timber Market. We had some difficulty explaining what we were looking for, but we eventually pulled out the guidebook, and that helped. There was a single stall deep in the interiors of a residential area that bordered on the Timber Market (where they make things like doors). The residents were delighted to see us ...

On Saturday I invited a group to go with me up to Aburi for a day trip. We were joined by one Ghanaian first year, Fiona. Our first stop was to the Tetteh Quarshie farm and homestead in the town of Maampong. Fiona explained that Saturday is "market day for funerals," which explained why there were about four taking place in the very small town of Maampong. The care taker of the Tetteh Quarshie farm was at one of them, but someone went to fetch him and we had a very interesting tour. Tetteh Quarshie was a Ghanaian black-smith who traveled to (some Island, I'll fill in the name later), where he befriended the local farmers with his ability to make farm equipment and so when he returned to Ghana they gifted him with a live cocoa plant. Several people had been trying to establish cocoa growing in Ghana, and he also tried first in Accra, but failed. Then he headed up to Maampong where the chief gave him 0.38 hectars with a creek and he succeded! We saw two of the orrigon...

Today was my first solo adventure in Ghana! Volta Hall was noisy last night, so I slept in until 8am and then read for a while before heading out at 9am (this is very late by local standards, given that I was woken up at 4am by the singing from the Pentecostal prayer meeting). I had a fried egg sandwich (40 cents) and a cup of Milo (hot chocolate, 80 cents) for breakfast at Akwafu Hall (another dorm, the name means farmer). Across the street and just to the left of the main gate of the university I caught a tro tro headed north. (A tro-tro is a kind of mini-bus into which 20+ people squeeze on a set driving route.) I'm not certain of the final destination of my tro-tro, but I asked the mate (the guy who is in charge of filling up the tro-tro and collecting the money) if it went by Zango Junction. I gave him 2000 cedi (20 cents) and at first he didn't give me any change. I didn't know the fare, but it is 3000 cedi for the 20-30 minute ride to the central Accra market. Then t...

After almost 3 weeks in Ghana, I am starting to settle into life here! I arrive on July 30th, and my luggage (intact!) a few days later. I am moved into my dorm room in Volta Hall with Isis, an Anthropology / Zoology student from CSU Humbolt. Orrientation was a blur of lectures, a visit to Kumasi where I bought some Kente cloth, and to the Castles at Cape Coast and Elmina (the location for the departure of so many slaves across the Atlantic). I am still trying to process these experiences. This week has been the slow process of registering for classes. I will mostly be reading in the department of Geography and Resource Development (Medical Geography, Hydrology and Agricalture Land Use Theory and Practice). I am also trying to register for a course in Epidemiology, and need to visit the department of Oceanography and Fisheries to talk with an advisor there about my research and get connected to the Ghana Water Board. My desire is that it will also work out for me to take dance, but...