Weekend of Oct 15
This weekend has been an interesting weekend. I went to a run through of the final program that the department is putting on. It’s the story of Christmas. It’s a big production that involves the choir, the dance class, and one of the drumming ensembles. It’s pretty much everybody who is in the music department all the students putting on this play. It was pretty cool to see. Because they do some more Western-style choral pieces and they also do some Ghanaian choral pieces, and some Ghanaian dances and drumming ensembles. So that was Saturday morning when I got to observe that. There will be more run throughts and the final concert will be Oct 25 and 26. Stay tuned and hopefully the sound quality will be better than what this is here. It’s my camera that wouldn’t pick up all the sound because it was quite loud in the auditorium.
Keep in mind this is the first run-through, so it's in-progress. And my camera was not able to pick up all of the sound because it's quite loud in the auditorium. They sound really good, but you can't really tell that from this video.
Then my friend John-Doe invited me to a potluck on the beach. He’s from the Volta region which is about a 7 hour drive from here. So he is part of a social group of other people who live here who are from the Volta region. It just gives them a sense of community here. By the way, people from the Volta region speak a completely different language than people who are from the Central region, which is where Cape Coast is. So when they get together they speak their native language of Ewe. People in the Central region speak Twi or Fante. Otherwise, the common language most everyone speaks in Ghana is English. Anyway the picnic was really fun. They were super nice and welcomed me right in. There were several professors who were there who I was able to sit with and talk with for a while. Also several UCC students were there, all of them males. That continues to be a major theme: that people in my world are mostly men. Anyway one of the highlights of this afternoon was that they brought drums and set up a drum circle. I was totally enamored with that. Most of the time while they were playing I was standing right over them watching the drummers. What seems to typically happen is that several guys play the drums and then the women dance around the drum circle. The women were really fun and inviting and that they pulled me into the dance line several times and taught me the dances. So I danced some and I watched the drums a lot! Super cool to be able to experience that. John-Doe also brought his trumpet, and he played along as well. Everyone sang some of their traditional songs as they danced and drummed. It was just such a cool experience. Hopefully these videos and pictures will capture some of that. The potluck was also interesting too because people made food at home and brought it just like a potluck. John-Doe is very good to look out for me and so he had one of the women take me and show me exactly what was available at the potluck to see if there was something that I would want to eat. I have determined I really don’t like fufu or banku so I was really hoping there would be jollof rice and chicken. And there was, of course! So that’s what I had for lunch. Whoever cooked the chicken did a great job because it was really yummy. The jollof rice was also tasty. Also today was the first time I had palm wine! I had heard about it before I came here but I haven’t had the opportunity to try it until today. Palm wine is not something you can just get at any restaurant. It comes straight from a tree with no additives or preservatives in it. And as it sits throughout the day, it ferments. I really liked the flavor of it but one of the professors told me to take it slow—not because of the alcohol content because that was pretty low in this particular mix—because it might not agree with my stomach, especially since was this was my first time having it. So I had a couple of glasses. It smelled very smoky but it didn’t taste smoky. The professor explained to me the process of how it ferments which does involve smoke. The other thing I saw is that people also make their own bitters, it seems. The guy in the pic below is holding up to the huge bottle of essentially bitters that he made himself and he put in the bottle. I took his picture because I couldn’t believe how big the bottle was! I did not drink any of that because it smelled exactly like whiskey and I am not a whiskey fan. This whole experience was just so cool and not something just any tourist to get to experience! I’m grateful that John-Doe thought to invite me to this and that all of the people there were so warm and welcoming of me while I was there.
Saturday evening I was able to go out to Hutchland City which is a restaurant I’ve been to before with Antoinette and Jonas and her three grandchildren. But this time I went with my neighbor Keith and the manager of Sasakawa, Felix, along with one of his friends. Keith lives at Sasakawa and he is a retired chemistry professor from Georgia State University in the US (he is originally from Jamaica). He is such a fun and nice guy. Once we finally figured out that we were both from the US and both here by ourselves, we decided we should hang out. I’m glad I finally connected with Keith and Felix. Keith had never been to Hutchland City and he liked it because they had live music. The vibe is really chill there and it’s a nice outdoor area. So we had a fun evening just eating, drinking, and listening to the music. They’re a fun group of people. I’m sad that Keith is actually leaving in about a week and won’t be around anymore. But will probably do a couple more things together before he leaves.
Sunday evening, Jonas and I went to Oasis Beach around 530 so I could take pictures of the sunset. Oasis Beach is a bar and restaurant right on the beach in the downtown part of Cape Coast. We went there last Sunday and this Sunday simply because I wanted to go and experience some tropical/vacation vibes. And it definitely delivered! You can have a cocktail while sitting on the beach and just enjoy the breeze and the sound of the waves. Last Sunday there was an amazing full moon that was just so cool to the witness. This weekend it rained a bit while we were there and I didn’t get the best sunset picture but I’m sure I’ll be back. It is fun to hang out with Jonas. We have fun conversations and are starting to develop a friendship as well. I’m making real connections here, which feels nice!
The weekends are often hard for me because part of it has been not having a lot of planned social events or friends to call to randomly do things with. That's a big part of my life in the US, but it's something I've had to confront here. So it’s been really great to have so much to do this weekend.
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