Dance Shows: and more important things

I was not going to post before this weekend and my first of three big dance shows for the semester, but I found myself sitting in the computer lab with nothing to do and feeling like I needed to talk to people from home. So here I go- continuing my one way conversation with all of you!

As I sit here one of Ghana's favorite American hip hop songs has come on the radio, it is called "All The Above." I never heard this song before arriving here, and now I cannot go a day without hearing it about five times. I wonder, is it as popular in the U.S. as it is here? There are a few other American songs that get played on repeat everywhere I go, including "Forever Young" as well as maybe 5 Nigerian songs that dominate everyone's playlists, radios, and pen drives ( the favorite way of storing, playing and sharing music here.) I promise to bring those songs home!

I also am working on bringing some Nigerian movies home. People take them very seriously here, including my host sisters, but they are probably the funniest genre of movie I have ever seen. Their budget is slightly higher than that of Breakfast Club and always include, a king, a betrayal, a fight, a conflicted man (always played by the same man no matter the movie,) witchcraft or a ghost or a curse (some include: cartoon snakes in peoples mouths, glowing green people, and lightening bolts that look like they have been drawn on the screen,) and fantastically horrible sound effects. Don't believe me just Youtube it, or wait for the real deal! They are all the same, despite the title and are all very cheesy and loved. What are better, or worse, than Nigerian movies are Ghanaian movies. These films have titles like, "She is Not My Wife 1 and 2," and if Nigerian films had a baby with dubbed Tella Novella, which is also very popular here, that would be a Ghanaian film.

Also, as most of you know I have a summer skirt and dress collection that is completely illogical for the amount of sun that I usually see at home, sorry that collection is growing. This is due to two factors here in Ghana. Firstly, the fabrics here, whether Batik (spelling) or printed, are some of the brightest, most fun that I have ever seen. You have to be careful to buy the ones made in Ghana; do not buy the Chinese imitations that are cheaper and thus appealing, because they are horrible quality. The Ghanaian ones are all beautiful, some are very funny with bowling pins, high heels, telephones, and bird cages printed on them and some very skillfully dyed. (I am working on learning how to do this type of dying so that i can do it at Bard.) And most fabrics are only 4 cedis a yard which is 2 dollars and 70 cents a yard!! Secondly, there are seamstresses everywhere you look. On the walk to my house from school there are 6 shops with multiple people working away on anything from mens shirts with paisley to woman's church outfits covered in sparkles (Ghanaians love to sparkle: men and women.) My house also has about six seamstresses working at the shop so there is that. Not every seamstress is good, but most are fair (they are working on very very old machines.) However, something that all of them are awesome at is looking at a picture and making the outfit in the picture. They can look at the most complex outfit, and without a pattern they can make it!

With these two things at your finger tips wouldn't you come back with a suitcase of brand new clothes?

So the important things are the things that I will bring back to the states to show all of you. I think I will also bring some musical instuments (am contemplating how to make a drum my carry-on.) If you want anything, at all, please let me know. Bootleg videos are pretty good, as are beads, cloth, hand fans etc.

miss and love you all, thanks for tuning in!