6/15

Tonight is very exciting. I just saw a lunar eclipse, and in a few hours I’ll be watching the Boston Bruins play game 7 of the Stanley Cup at Champs Sports Bar in downtown Accra. Cesar and I are representing the good guys against the slew of Vancouver kids staying at the hostel that will be joining us for the game. I don’t have any Bruins gear with me—not that I own much Bruins gear—but I’ll be wearing my US Soccer jersey with pride. There’s nothing more American than putting Canada back in its place.

Today we had our first really legitimate day of class with lecture and discussion. I was worried that getting through 3 hours of class 3 days in a row would be tough work, especially with two hours of discussion each day, but today it was enjoyable. We talked about how Africans and African-Americans remember the slave trade. I felt somewhat out of place talking about the subject. We have a 50 year-old African-American who sounds strikingly similar to the author of a book we read this week, and after hearing her very vocal thoughts on the issue, I felt like I didn’t have much authority to pass judgment on the matter. I hope that class continues to be interesting and that I grow to be more comfortable about talking about the Atlantic slave trade in the company of Africans and African-Americans for whom this issue touches much closer to home.

Our group has befriended a Ghanaian who lives at the hostel, Antonio. He’s been a real help. Very friendly, he’s studying something to do with computers and he’s helped us figure out all of our technological issues of phones and Internet connection. He is a very nice guy and genuinely wants to be our friends. I hope that he doesn’t become overbearing or a burden to anyone, because while I think everyone likes having him around I could see it becoming an issue down the line. He means well and doesn’t want to take advantage of foreigners—he just wants to be our friend.

Will and I played basketball with some people this afternoon. It was a group of 15 year-olds, a quick 23-year old, and a Rastafarian. The Ghanaians are better at basketball than I thought they would be! Being one of the tallest on the court I easily held my own, but it was really fun to get out and play pick-up with people. Sports are a great way to interact with people and remove a lot of barriers. I’m definitely going to play a lot of basketball this summer.

An interesting note: When the Red Sox won the world series in 2004 there was a lunar eclipse. It’s a sign. Go Bruins!