markets, beaches, and school

So classes have started but I still do not feel like I'm going to school. I went to my Legon class yesterday (Colonial History in Africa) and the professor never showed up, which is I guess typical for the first week. After waiting for half and hour I went to lunch on campus with some of the other obruni (white person) students in the class. Aside form maybe two ghanaians we were the only people foolish enough to show up. I got some jollof rice, red red (bean stew), and some vegetables for only 80 pesewas, which is less than a dollar!
The Legon campus is beautiful. It extends from the base of a hill up and overlooks Accra. There are lots of little courtyards scattered within the main street, which are nice and shady. It's kind of it's only little village, with a bank and a post office. Yesterday, as we were passing the student housing we could see everyone's colorful laundry hanging up to dry.
This past weekend we were supposed to visit Torgome village in the Volta region (eastern Ghana) but the chief's mother died so the trip was post-poned or cancelled. Instead we went to Keneshi Market, one of the two major markets in Accra. It was quite overwhelming but also absolutely incredible. Aside from fruits and vegetables, women sold all sorts of meat from chicken and fish to pig legs. The market had indoor and outdoor sections. Most of the produce was outside, along with piles of shoes, pants, hats etc. while the meat was indoors. The upstairs portion inside was dedicated to fabric (!) and kitchen supplies mostly. The fabric here is so vibrant and relatively inexpensive. It's great, we can have pretty much whatever we want made. As we were leaving the market (waiting at the bus for stragglers) children slowly began to migrate towards us. We took pictures of them, while they danced and high fived and posed. When we went onto the bus the kids followed, at first timid, but soon they were crowding the front of the bus and showing off.
Sunday, we went to Labadi beach, which is the nearest beach I believe. It's rather touristy though and like always, the people selling things flocked to the horde of obrunis. So even when we're trying to relax someone is trying to get us to buy something. I've gotten pretty good at ignoring them though.
Anyway, it's still great here, although not as sunny or starry as i thought it would be. It's harmattan season, so the dust from the Sahara is getting blown into the sky and making the weather more gloomy- although really it's hardly gloomy at all.
Oh, and for the inauguration yesterday we went to this event the US embassy was hosting. We all watched the ceremony together and so many Ghanaians were so excited.

love,
katja

p.s. Chris your Ghanaian name is Kofi- it's pronounced just as it's spelled.