HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I have been somewhat busy recently with school and such and not a whole lot has been going on. In the past week I had a group presentation that went pretty well for us putting it together in 2 days. Our teacher moved up our presentation date from Thursday to Tuesday and didn't tell us until Sunday. It still went well though> i was able to present information about foreign aid in West Africa and why throwing money at an issue does not solve it.

Interesting news though: I saw the President of Ghana in person! My International Setting class went to a book launching about The Economic History of Ghana and President Nana Akufo-Addo (who's running for reelection this December) was there! He walked right past us. Pretty cool. All the American kids were really excited.

Last night was Halloween. My apartment mates threw a big cake and ice cream party for the class of 2010 and CIEE kids. It was really fun actually. They changed out the lights in the main room of the flat to colored lights and served a TON of ice cream and snacks. Yummm. Everyone was dancing to all kinds of music. I like that Halloween music in Ghana translates to Michael Jackson. It was really cool watching everyone dancing, although not so cool when they pulled all the CIEE kids into the middle of the room to make us dance to... the Captain Planet theme song. What in the world?? It was funny though. I'm sure we looked like the goofy white kids we are. They even played musical chairs which was super cute. Holly and I decided to make it more fun by dressing in our Halloween costumes for the party. She was a pirate and I was Tom Cruise from Risky Business. I even had some Ghana crew socks and Ray-Bans that I got from Tamale for 2 cedi. Unfortunately Ghanaians haven't seen Risky Business so I kept being asked why I wasn't wearing any pants or shoes. Later on, Holly, Emily and I went to a Halloween party that was hosted by a friend of a friend. More people understood my costume there. Tonight a TON of people, including most of our program, are going to this bar called Champs for another Halloween party. I'm going as a gypsy which should hopefully be a lot of fun.

Not much else has been going on. I'm still trying to plan a trip to the village on stilts and find time to go fabric shopping so I can get Africa dresses made. Oh and the weather here is sweltering. It's getting hotter and hotter, but at least it doesn't rain as often as it did when we first got here.

Ghana is still going great! I'm enjoying it so much and can't believe that I'll be back home in 6 weeks. Oh and this restaurant/bar called Headlines is having an election coverage night Tuesday night for all the American students. The NYU director planned it and they are even providing us a shuttle to/from the hostel. Apparently CNN and al-Jazeera are invited! I'm really excited. :)

Hope everything is going great everywhere else!! Love from Africa!

tidbit of the day: Many babies, especially in regions further north with more indigenous populations, receive cuts on their faces that depict what tribe they belong to. We noticed it EVERYWHERE when we did our big trip to Kumasi, Mole, and Tamale, although I'm not quite sure exactly how they do it to make it last for so long. The scars are pretty deep. Interesting...