whitney leaves, everything fun happens

...just kidding, whit(n)ey.

But in all seriousness, a ton of stuff happened this week while my friend Whitney was in London visiting friends. We went to a world cup qualifier for three dollars, toured the Cape Coast slave castles, FINALLY HAD A QUIET DAY ON THE BEACH at coconut grove, and attempted to throw a house party at Solomon's (one of the two residences) which ended up being a total failure because, like every house party I've ever been to in New Jersey, we ran out of refreshments less than an hour in. See, that's what I love about Accra-- one day you feel like you're living in some sort of dreamworld mystical paradise opposite universe where people are nice and your skin is tan...and then something will happen and it will just bring you back to earth and remind you that you're just another obruni who looks ridiculous dancing to hiplife.

I had one of those moments today when a girl approached me, Ivy, Katey and Kalin at UGhana to tell us that we had an appointment with the Lord on Saturday and that we should give her our cell phone numbers so she could text us and remind us. 

Me: I ran out of phone credit, sorry.

Kalin: Uhh how about I just take your number?

Ivy: I'm just not comfortable with that. Thanks for understanding.

The moral of the story is when faced with religious confrontation, most Americans are awkward. 

I got more dresses made by Marjorie, our favorite seamstress. One is cotton, in this pretty teal pattern, with a sweetheart top and thin straps and a bubble bottom. The other is just a simple style, with a high waist and a flowy skirt and one inch straps, but the fabric is really shiny and colorful. I'm probably doing a terrible job describing them, so I'll just put pictures up later. Good thing I'm trying to be a writer. 

This weekend was amazing, especially reading by the beach. While everyone was swimming or tanning, I was sitting in a pavilion, doing homework and wearing a sweatshirt. Typical. But it was really nice to be by the shore free from harassment, music and belligerent high tides. 

I'm proud to say that I went to a world cup qualifying game but honestly I had NO idea what was going on 100% of the time. I don't watch soccer. Plus, we were in the very first row and I know you're probably thinking, "first row seats for three dollars? Balllerrrr." And yeah, saying it does sound pretty awesome, but being there was actually the opposite of awesome. Our view was blocked by this stupid fence and guards who would purposely stand in front of you just because they can. All I knew is that when everyone started yelling and cheering, I assumed something good was happening and screamed something generically encouraging like "GO TEAM" or "YAY GHANA".

All in all, it's been a pretty excellent week. Even the sick kids (2 with malaria, 3 with bacteria related illnesses and one with sliced-oped hand) are recovering well. I mean, it's not good that they all went to the hospital but I'm counting it as a victory seeing as no one died or had to go home. NYU: 1, Disease: 0.