What? School?

Hellooooooo!!!!! :)maakye! (pronounced ma-CHe, "good morning!")
sometime last week, I signed my name up on the list to join a sport team for my hall, volta hall (ladies with vision and style!), and our first meeting was sunday night. so i guess i'm used to sports team in the US, (think the movie bring it on- "this is not a democracy, this is a cheer-ocracy")where seniority/skill is king/queen, and things are generally set in when/how things are done. but its the complete opposite here. the meeting was extremely democratic, with everyone able to voice their opinion on anything from refreshments after the game, meal coupons, certificates for graduating seniors (level 400s), the practices of other halls, and also if/when you should skip lecture to go to a game/training.... everything was carefully written down for consideration and discussed democratically. oh ya, EXCEPT for the fact that we were to meet @ 5:30 am at the entrance to the hall to run as a group. yes, ladies and gentlemen, my butt has been out of bed, dressed, and attempting to smile, by 5:30 AM AAAALLLL week. i'm considering playing both volleyball and basketball, but we'll see how things go....
the best way to describe practice is probably: ghanaian. ok, i know, DUH, but to expand.... 1)LOTS of hall pride, 2) trainings are "compulsory" but there is no system to keeping track of people and who's there/not. this is significant bc there's such a housing crisis on campus, but athletes get guaranteed a bed, so it causes lots of problems when ppl dont see the people who were given beds! 3) i never know whats going on in terms of the schedule. ever. i think we have a game on monday??? 4) some of the girls are really good, but most 100s (freshmen) have never played. translation: the really good players have a lot of natural talent and have learned from older players for a few years, but prob never really "coached" - wow! 5) they accept int'l students a lot, but i've noticed that they all ask first how long i'm staying- one girl asked that before ANYthing else, and when i answered, she just said that a friend of hers from last semester left and she was really sad. awwwwww :( :(
anyway, i've had a REALLY good time playing- i'm def on the better half of the girls so far, but thats perfect- i LOVE getting respect for how i play- when you get a kill or make a shot and they give you a high five, its the best feeling bc you're getting the most genuine respect i've felt here - not based anything, but just for playing! i LOVE it! yay-ness!
Anyway, so we actually HAVE had classes this week: (well, still not all of them) - classrooms vary from being reminiscent of barns w/ outdoor-style chairs and speakers to regular halls, but if its flat, you REALLY need to sit in the front or else when the microphone goes in and out you wont be able to understand ANYTHING that happens.
each class selects a class captain who attempts to convey info between students and the prof - how to get the course outline, the reading materials which are generally photocopied, if the room or time changes etc... but its still really difficult to do these things. I actually met the head of the history dept, and when I mentioned that I was in his class, he asked which one, and even when I said i was NOT in the "black diaspora" class, he told me to tell every int'l student I know that the test next week in that class has been canceled. ummmmm ok?
in large lectures (200 or so?), int'l students (ID'd by being white) are not a large % of the class, but still get referenced specifically as int'l students, which is strange for me to be singled out, but even more awkward was a class of about 50 students of which int'l's were the majority, and the professor essentially taught the class to US, not the Ghanaians, which i really didnt like, bc all the Ghanaians around me kept protesting in twi, and making angry noises! booo! the flip side of that is a class that i am the ONLY american, but IT is the ONLY class that i have an american professor! DUDE! it was def weird to hear her give lecture, but i laughed when she apologized to the Ghanaians, and asked them (based on last semester's experience) to NOT call her before 8 am.... or on the weekends.... or on christmas... heh oh ghana....
oh and sometimes (student) preachers get up in front of the lecture before the lecturer arrives to tell us about how we should live our lives. thanks.
one of my favorite moments so far def came this last monday - i was having a bit of an up and down day, that had just gone down again when yet another lecture did not happen. after waiting for more than half an hr, most of the class was getting up to leave, when a friend and i hear some ghanaian girls calling out "obruni! obruni!" we both turn and they point at me and go off on how much they like my dress! i really like it, and i've gotten a lot of compliments on it but this was def the best! they asked who had made it, took a picture of me (awkward, but oh well), how much it cost, asked me to tell the tailor to come to their hostel! aaaaahhhh! you all know how little i usually care about how i look, how rarely i wear a skirt let alone a dress, etc, so it was REALLY nice to be so welcomed when i've been trying so hard to catch up to how well the ghanains dress here!!! i was SO stoked!!!!
yesterday's rain made for a strange day- i was going to just go to the market to buy running shoes, but in the last minute i reconsidered dropping a class and went to it instead. When we got out, it was raining too hard, so i talked with some ghanaian friends of mine until it seemed to stop, but as soon as we got out, it started again! we took cover in a half-built building until it calmed down again. oh ya, that was 2 hours later! i love how in the US, we all would have been in a rush to go do something different, had to go to get something done etc, and would have gotten significantly wet to go do it (you know that when its raining ppl just put their heads down and jet through it!) but they guys and i literally just stood around and talked for 2 whole hours!
on the more confusing end, after a nice afternoon nap, i noticed a girl outside of my door, looking at the hours posted on the computer lab next door (dont get too excited, i've only seen it open twice even though it says its open 8-5), so i decide to go be social and say hi to her, and see if she knows anything about the lab. she was very quiet but seemed to enjoy talking to me about all the rain etc, but then didnt have ANY interest in leaving. none. at one point i even got a phone call that my friends were cooking downstairs, so i suggested that we go down to watch/help, and the girl goes "no, i'm fine here". this would have been fine/fun, but i really dont think she understood a lot of what i was saying, and her responses were all short and full of giggles and then long pauses. i had NO idea what to do bc i was running out of things to say (she was not starting any of the conversations)!!!! ahhhh! she even asked if i had an pictures to show her, which i did (thanks teresa!), and was actually fun to have something continual to talk about! eventually (2+ hrs later) i was finally saved by the same friend calling and asking me to BRING something downstairs, but i was SO confused about if i did the right things or not or what kind of impression i made on her! bring on the confused-ness!
anyway, hope you all are well and enjoying whatever weather you've got! bring on the rain!
much <3!!!!!!!