Etis3n from Ghana!

Wow, has it really taken all summer for me to get my rear in gear and make a blog post? I'm sorry guys for staying out of touch, but please know that even though I haven't been writing, I've been an avid reader and I love your hilarious stories and awesome pictures. (The shark attack photos were particularly terrifying! :) And Zizz's skydiving photos were ACTUALLY terrifying - girl, you are so brave!!! WOW! And Ashley - your hats and other creations are awesome! Way to go girl! :) )  Its hard to be Queen of Partay when you have no Partay People, and being so far from home has been tough at times, but meu has been a great lifeline to the family. Thank you so much for keeping my spirits up, you are all wonderful.

I do want to mention that I actually have been maintaining a blog on my personal website since I came to Ghana. I neglected to send the site out to everyone, sorry! but here it is: http://ebenjami.scripts.mit.edu/home/?page_id=242

But no one should bother combing back through my posts from 2 months ago, so let me just give you some highlights of the craziest, hilarious-est shenanigans I've been in since I came to Ghana:

- Hanging out with kente cloth weavers in Kumasi.
- Getting hit on by Margarine Man, the factory worker in charge of putting the labels on the margarine tubs. His pickup line? [Voice of awe] "And these - are the original flavor labels!"
- Ordering my first legal alcoholic beverage on the beach in Accra (it was a Heineken).
- Riding tro-tros (aka bush taxis aka the craziest ride in a passenger van that you will ever have) all around town.
- Dancing azonto with some very drunk 40 year old women at a wedding! :) (And getting pwned, btw.)
- Getting sent, on my 3rd week at work, to the neighboring country of Burkina Faso where I used to live, to recruit university students at a career fair, acting as a translator for my anglophone boss, and even revisiting my old middle school and my old English teacher!
- Exploring the old slave castles around Jamestown.
- Going down into a gold mine in Obuasi.
- Getting a shirt tailor made from legit Ghanaian fabric, and bonding with the seamstresses who called me "sister-in-law" when they found out I was dating a Ghanaian.
- Taking the 6 hour bus ride from Kumasi to Accra in the most comfortable Chinese bus you'll ever sit in - until the shocks give out :)
- Making friends with the fruit vendors, sundries store owners and 9 year old bartenders (well, okay, there was only one of those) in my neighborhood.
- Ordering cocktails at half-price cocktail night in - get this - Ryan's Irish Pub in Accra!
- Crowding around the radio listening to the breaking news of the death of the former President John Atta Mills.
- Staying late at the office for countless evenings, mostly to rock out in the back office with the other Ghanaian interns to Janelle Monae and P!nk.

Now you're just dying to read all my old blog posts, right? :)

Anyway, its been a great experience being in Ghana. I have learned so much about who I am and what I want to do and be in my life than I could ever have imagined - I certainly wasn't expecting to figure this out in the middle of Ghana, of all places. Who would have known that eating banku at a roadside chop bar could give you deep insight into yourself? :)

This is my last week in Ghana - I'll be shipping up to Boston (waaa-aaa-aaa-oooh!) on Friday and arriving Saturday afternoon. I'm really excited to be setting up shop in IFQ - but Noah, what's this about calling our study room the Rumpus Room? I had a good laugh over that one when Adrienne told me, but can you do me a favor and keep it on the DL while my mom's in town? Otherwise she's gonna ship my butt straight back to McCormick. I only barely got out of there alive last time! :)

But please keep posting and letting us know how you're doing - its so much fun to read about your adventures! I miss you all so much and I cannot wait to see you all again. So for now, goodbye, and I hope you all have safe travels for the rest of the summer and that you come back to Boston relaxed and super excited for another year at MIT!!!