Quick Unrelated Thoughts

What up, everyone- it's Rivky!

This is just a quick thought about living in a developing country- I'll hopefully be able to post more about it in the near future- but I think one of my favorite things about the country, which also make it so frustratingly difficult, is the overwhelming "developing"ness of everything. When people talk about a developing country, one assumes certain things- the electricity might not be amazing, maybe there isn't much internet, constant construction, etc. And all of that, plus much more, is so apparent here. I'll illustrate only about the construction- everywhere you are- on or off-campus, in the city or far out of the city, in poor or rich areas- there is constant construction going on. There are roads, but many, maybe even most, roads, are unpaved bumpy dirt paths. Walking to class is a constant tiyul(1), walking through shrubbery and taking shortcuts through dirt paths and sometimes even construction sites on campus.(2) My flip flops, which I bought the day before my flight, are so thin, I assume they'll break soon. There are also constant ditches and holes in the road and sidewalk and pathway- there is a huge ditch right outside the main campus, probably 30-40 feet down, 100 feet long, 20 feet wide. And it's not marked off- you're just supposed to know that it's there. Same with the gutters- they are entirely open, at the side of the road, and it's really easy to fall into them if you don't see where you're going.

But even though that's so frustrating, it's almost exciting to see the country being built around you. Even though I've been in Israel, where there is always constant construction, it's addition- they're adding a house, or a neighborhood in the Gush- they're not paving roads in the capital city. This is an entirely new experience, and it's pretty cool.

In terms of classes, I'm in a precarious situation. Besides for Twi(3), I've registered for five classes. I'm taking History of Western Medicine in Ghana, Faith and Practice of Islam, Africa and the Global System, and then African Traditional Dancing and African Drumming.(4) But because they won't switch the finals for us if they end up on shabbos, if the finals for any of these classes turn out to be on shabbos (we get a 'tentative' finals schedule next week), I have to drop the class and add another one.(5)

On Sunday, Zahava and I took a break and decided to be Western for a minute. We took a tro-tro to Shangri-La hotel, about a 10 minute ride, and paid 8 cedis to go swimming and lay by the pool and just relax, away from the people trying to sell you things, away from the heat and the noise- just relax. The best part- we hadn't had running water since Wednesday(6) and they had actual showers, so we got to shower after we swam.(7) After Shangri-La, we walked to the Accra Mall, where we watched Ghanaians watch the football(8) game on TV and drank South African yogurt, and then we went home. It was a very relaxing day- sometimes, you just need to get away from it.

(1) Very loosely translated as a hike.
(2) Near our dorm, called Pentagon, they're building the New Law Faculty. The building actually looks like a shul in the Gush, so we've been calling it the shul, as in, 'turn right after the shul.'
(3) Twi is the first language for most people in this region of Ghana, though they all learn English in school and speak it very well. We're all required to take a Twi ulpan-type thing, 8 hours a week for 6 weeks.
(4) All together, it's 16 credits, because drumming and dance are only two credits each.
(5) Obvious question- since this schedule is only tentative and the FINAL finals schedule comes out two weeks before finals, what do we do if something is changed and a class I am taking does end up with a final on shabbos? Answer: cry. Apparently, there is literally nothing they will do. But we're hoping that remains hypothetical.
(6) We got it back this morning, though! Baruch Hashem.
(7) I say swam, but I really only swam for 5 minutes. I was wearing an orange shirt to my elbows and they said I was only allowed to wear a white shirt when I swam. Go figure. Whatevs, 5 minutes was still nice, and I got to lay by the pool and shower and all that nice stuff.
(8) Soccer.