in love with african art

Today was one of the busiest days we’ve had, and I got the least amount of sleep I’ve gotten this entire trip last night, but strangely enough, I felt very rested and not too tired or exhausted today. We spent a lot of the day in the shade, and didn’t do too much walking around. We started off at the Artist Alliance Gallery right by Labadi Beach (the beach we will visit on Sunday afternoon). The Gallery is beautiful and has beautiful work from artists all over Africa. I even found two paintings that I LOVE. Sometimes I wish I had endless amounts of money so I could collect art from all the places I’ve been/will go. Mom- if you’re looking for new art to decorate the house, let me know ;) I’d be happy to purchase. The owner of the gallery, Professor Glover, showed us around and talked to us about the traditional and contemporary African art. Traditional art, he said, always served a function. It “performed” as he calls it. He pointed out that museums in America that display African Kente clothe in by hanging it on the walls have it all wrong. The finely woven cloth was meant to perform by being worn—they were not made to sit as table cloths or hang on walls as décor. He had some paintings hanging in the gallery and they were all really beautiful.
We couldn't take pictures inside the gallery, but the doors were decorated with these metal sculptrues! :)

I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to the U.S. Embassy and the Ambassador gave us a little speech, welcoming us to Ghana, telling us about the customs, etc. etc. They really tried to recruit people to join the Foreign Service. I thought it was an interesting time to be giving a recruiting pitch, but I guess they had their target audience sitting in front of them.

But, back to today. After the museum we went to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. Kwame was the first president of Ghana, and before he became president in 1960, was active in gaining Ghanaian independence from Britain. He married an Egyptian I order to further his main goal was to bring Africa together for the sake of Africa. He’s a revered figure here in Ghana, and many dedications, festivals and special events are still given in his name and honor.
Standing next to the Mausoleum

My friends Gillian and Mallory

We went to the University of Ghana again. The whole registering process is getting kinda old, especially when all we did today was get our ID cards and it took 3 hours. Honestly. I don’t even know what took that long, because from the time we turned in paperwork to put ourselves in the computer, til the time we were called in to take our picture, we were waiting around for 3 hours. Nothing is speedy here and when it’s hot outside, it tries your patience. Anyway, now I have a new ID card! I’m officially a University of Ghana student. :)

We also met with representatives from various NGOs and non-profits, and I met two of the recruiters from the West African AIDS Foundation. They were very kind and I think I’ll enjoy working with them a lot. Hopefully I will have an interview with them sometime next week- I’ll keep you posted on how all that goes.

Then it was time for dinner at Tante Marie’s- Our Monday, Wednesday, Friday dive. Good food and good company as always.

Now I’m catching up on all my emails and registration for classes, etc. Tomorrow Gillian and I are skipping the Univ. of Ghana orientation to sleep in. We’re going to pretend we don’t feel well. Most people at this point actually haven’t been feeling well at least for a little bit. Diarrhea is common among students here throughout the entire semester as we get acclimated to the new food, water, environment, etc. I haven’t been too sick, but there have been some students who stay home the entire day because they’re so dehydrated and sick. I’m grateful my stomach is tough and that I’m feeling alright so far.

Tomorrow we’re going to the Univ. of Ghana after the orientation to finish registering for classes or something. I’m actually not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but apparently something. At this point we’re just going with the flow and doing what they tell us.

Some random things: I don’t miss any food from home, yet. It’s been exactly a week since we began our journey here from JFK. There are really good European cookies called Digestives stocked in our pantry (gross name, delicious taste). That’s all for now.

love love love