Wednesday morning August 17
Monday I got to go to the first music faculty meeting of the year and meet my colleagues! That was pretty great. It’s officially the first day of the semester but we are not starting classes until the week of the 29th. So the next couple of weeks are just being in our offices, finalizing and getting ready for class the week of the 29th. I can’t wait for classes to start! I’m going to be teaching a grad music ed course on social justice issues in music education. I’ll also be team teaching a senior-level music course with John – this is for all music majors (they don’t have a music education bachelor’s degree here), focusing on lots of things related to music education for those who may go into teaching. I also got to go to my department chair, Eric's house on Monday. He has a lovely yard with lots of coconut trees in them. He and one of his students cut the coconuts so we could drink the water then eat the meat out of them. So good!
Tuesday morning, I got to here two thesis defenses by two different graduate students. Both were fascinating to me because I don’t know anything about the music they were talking about. Both were on different aspects of traditional Ghanaian music. One was on the Asanti Dansuom and one was on the Yaa Ampansah effect – look them up if interested. So great to be able to sit through those defenses!
The other pics are of a typical lunch I get at the markets next to campus. It's a sausage and some fries.
Tuesday afternoon, my new friends Medina and Maxwell and I went to Antoinette’s drum shop so I could buy a kpanlogo and a djembe drum. Antoinette suggested I get both of these so that she can teach me the technique for both. So I did! Her shop is so cool! It was full of drums and other musical instruments, as well as some African artwork. I will very likely be back to get a few more things.
Then I asked Maxwell if we could drive to the beach where Antoinette has drum practice. So we got to go see that and get a better sense of where she teaches. I treated Maxwell and Medina to dinner since they were so gracious to drive me around and help with those errands. We went to a beachside bar/restaurant and had dinner and drinks. I had chicken kebabs which were wonderful! Medina had chicken wings and Maxwell had pork. Pictures are my chicken kebab and Maxwell ‘s pork. It was such a great afternoon! I got to know them a bit better and we got to just chill out and have a nice, relaxing time by the beach. I feel like I was due for a good time since Sunday was so stressful. So happy to end today on a high note!
Комментарии