We leave for Kumasi tomorrow! I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't discover the amazing vegetarian "kiosk" lunch place that my classmates just took me to today earlier. So yummy! Pretty sure the only customers there were American girls, haha. People here aren't usually vegetarian. They had a homemade beverage called "red zinger" that's brewed from some kind of leaf with pineapple, ginger, and brown sugar. It has quite a ginger zing to it, but pretty good.

I went to church twice this weekend! Once on Saturday by myself, and once on Sunday with my homestay family, since I slept through last weekend's Sunday service that I said I would go to. Sabbath was nice. I'd called the pastor ahead of time to find out how to get there, but the helpful people on the Tro-Tro insisted I get off at a different stop than what he'd said... so I started wandering around until I came across a guy named Aaron whose dad is an elder, who informed me that the SDA church USED to be there, but had since moved elsewhere. He walked me to it (we were fairly far away) and I went in and met the pastor I'd talked to, who was very friendly. He sat me down next to Eric, who interpreted the service for me, since it was entirely in English except for a few songs and a couple sentences (he kindly interpreted those for me, too).

They dedicated "Onward Christian Soldiers" to me...aka the "student from Walla Walla University in California!" I'd said that I live in Washington, but go to school in California, then when they asked my what my home church was I said "Walla Walla University Church" and, well, it was confusing.

After the service they had all the visitors come meet the elders and they gave us crackers and juice boxes and had us all introduce ourselves/say why we were there that day, and mention what we liked/didn't like about the service. Very friendly people. Everyone who came up to meet me would start to introduce themselves/welcome me in English, and Eric would jump to my defense saying (in Twi), "She speaks (literally 'hears') Twi!" which was only true enough for me to have a basic explanation of who I am, where I'm from, what I do, etc. It worked out. They're working on building a second level of the church so the kids can go upstairs instead of having to be outside, because it's too small right now.

As Eric was walking me to the Tro-Tro stop afterwards I asked him if there were ever people at the church during the week. He said that there were a few groups that met during the evenings, including a women's ministry group, which meets "to talk about marriage and preparing for a successful life with a good husband." Oh, Ghana.

Sunday's service was a bit more interesting, but I'm not sure I would want to go back. My host family took me to the Charismatic Evangelistic Ministry church (or soemthing like that). They had six gigantic speakers on each side of the church, and were shouting into the microphone. I wish I'd brought earplugs, as horribly sacrilegous as that probably would have been - it HURT!

Sunday we went to a funeral, which was basically a big drumming/dance party. They wouldn't let us play anything more than the chekeres, which I failed at because my wrist got really sore. Haha, oh well... Isabel picked up some asratoas (also called "televi shakers") for me at the concert that a bunch of people in our group went to on Saturday (I missed it 'cause of church), so I'm happy with those. I've never been good at the chekere anyway.

Sunday was also Claire's birthday, so we went out to celebrate after the funeral. The taxi was ridiculously expensive (by Ghana standards), but we had fun - all 15 of us went.

Apparently, people can tell I'm SDA because of my ears. All Ghanaian women, and no Ghanaian men, pierce their ears, except SDAs. Auntie Nana (one of our teachers) knew instantly because of that. Some of the people who have a kiosk along the street I walk down on my way to and from the Tro-Tro Junction by my house every day are very friendly, but have very different ideas of how women should behave. The woman was quite frustrated that I wouldn't let her pierce my ears ("Come! I will do it for you.") and after I lugged home a suitcase (lugging luggage, again, Joe) from the market, after I discovered that BA allows you two not just one, she insisted that I hadn't bought it myself. I said, "No, really, I bought it. Why don't you believe me?" She said, "No. You lie!" which Yemi, our Academic Director, said is more like "Get out of here" than literally calling me a liar. "Your brother bought it for you. Didn't he?" "No. I bought it myself." "Oh, I see. Your husband bought it, then." "What?" "Yes, your husband bought it for you. You couldn't have bought that." I finally left, and asked Yemi about it the next day. He said that here, just like students are expected to have no independent economy (hence the "student discount card" which works all the time and only requires you to say, "I am a student!" in Twi, to get all kinds of price reductions), women are expected to not be in charge of finances, so even women who do earn their own income often just say, "Oh, my husband/brother bought it for me" when they make a new purchase. When I walked home that day, she harrassed me about it again. I just said, "Yes.. my brother" and she was satisfied. So, thanks for the suitcase, Harley.

We went to a really great dance performance today! They had amazing drummers (SO AWESOME) and dancers who performed dances from all over Africa - Senegal, northern Ghana, Kenya, and maybe some other places. There were lyrics to many of them in languages from wherever that particular dance was from. I loved it. I did not enjoy the squatting over a somewhat slanted piece of concrete which drained into the open sewer that runs throughout Accra and flows into a big river of grossness to pee, though. Fun times. I carry TP and hand sanitizer with me everywhere, and it's quite necessary.

On a more pleasant note, I looove papaya! I used to not like it, but I love it now. I ate a whole one the other day, even though I'd thought I was full from the rice and stew I'd just eaten. So good. Mangoes aren't in season yet, but they should be soon!

Almost out of internet. I'm still having lots of fun and learning lots of Twi! We had a big test on Friday which involved singing a Twi song, pretending to haggle at the market, and doing a group skit. Fun times.