Secular and Spiritual Work

I thought I would spend some time in this blog writing more about my experience at the University of Ghana and the classes that I am taking this semester. I mean, after all… I am on a study abroad semester, not only a weekend vacation semester!

Monday afternoons I have Music of West and Central Africa class. In this class we are learning about some examples of performance groups/musical styles that can be found in West and Central Africa. Some of the information is similar to what I learned in the world music section of the USU music history III class. But here we get to learn about it in more detail. I don’t have a lot of homework for this class… Just mostly reading from books and articles. I do have a midterm in this class next Monday so I will be studying for that this upcoming week. We will see how I do on my first test at UG! Monday night I went to FHE. The topic of discussion was dating. It was interesting to hear about how “dating” happens here in Ghana. There are some definite cultural differences that I observed as the men and women in the group talked about their different concerns and questions in regards to dating. It made me think a lot about what I consider dating to be and the purpose of dating.

Tuesdays are very busy for me. I start off the day with my Guidance and Counseling class. We are talking about the different methods of counseling and therapy. I have already studied most of the things that we talk about in class but it is refreshing to have a new approach to the topic as well as the material directed more towards how counseling is conducted in Ghana. This class is making me really want to study psychology and counseling at the graduate level! Then after that class I have my private drumming lesson. I am taking lessons from Johnson. He is the senior drummer in the music department and is also a “drum master.” In my lessons we are able to review the things that I learn in my drumming practical as well as learn other drum pieces that are not covered in class. He is a really great instructor and is very patient with me. Then at night I have my Twi Language class. I am not taking this class for credit. Instead I am auditing the course. This has been nice because I am able to attend the class without the pressure of having to study for the tests. My last class of the evening is Intro to Traditional Dance. This class is SO much fun! Even though I look like a stiff board trying to do the boogie, I have a lot of fun learning the different dance moves and meeting new Ghanaian friends. Boy do they really know how to dance! We were just tested on one dance called “Adowa” and now we are learning a dance from Northern Ghana. There is a lot of hip shaking involved on this one so it is good for me to practice that haha :)

Wednesdays the only class I have is my Introduction to Drumming class taught through the dance department by François. He is the one who helped me get my drum! This is a big group class, mostly made up of foreign students. He is a really great teacher and it is always fun to learn new rhythms. There are several layers to a certain drumming piece. The parts include: bell, shaker, first supporting (unchanging pattern on drum), second supporting (also unchanging pattern on drum but different from first supporting), and then the master drum. The master drum part is the hardest and the most fun to learn! When you put all of the parts together it sounds so complex compared to “western” music. But in theory it is really easy to put together.

Thursday mornings I have my early morning Institute class – “Teachings of the Living Prophets.” This has been one of the best institute classes I have ever had! Even though it is early in the morning, people participate and share thoughts about the chapter that we are studying. It is a great way to start off my day. In two weeks I will be teaching the Institute class so I am beginning to prepare now for how to best teach the class. Later in the morning I have my Drum Practical class with Johnson and then a rehearsal for my African Traditional Ensembles group. Our particular group is learning to sing some of the traditional songs that will be a part of the final ensemble performance. The songs are difficult because they are in Twi and Fante (the local languages). The timing of the songs is also difficult to grasp. I take my iPod with me to this class (and my drumming classes) so that I can take an audio recording. It helps me later on to practice the songs correctly. Then Thursday nights I have Twi and Dance class again.

Fridays are a free day for me! No classes!!! On most Fridays I have been going to the temple. It is nice to have that day to go or one extra day on the weekend for traveling. This Friday was another holiday here in Ghana. It is called Founder's Day. It is celebrating the birthday of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah. It is similar to our President's Day in America. 

Something great to note that happened this last week... The missionaries from the Madina 1st ward have received permission to come to the campus to begin teaching the students here! They can not "proselyte" but they can come to contact referrals and teach investigators. I have seen them quite often on campus and they are so excited to be here! It reminds me a lot of my mission and working with the YSAs on college campuses. I was able to introduce them to some of my friends from the exchange program. It made me really miss my mission. Even just being around the elders, I could feel the "missionary spirit" rubbing off on me! I hope and pray that they continue to have success here on campus and I want to do all I can to help them find people here to teach. The elders are both obrunies, Elder Tribe is from Alpine, UT (he went to USU but I never met him!) and Elder Robertson is from England.

This has been a nice weekend to just relax and catch up on some sleeping and school work. I am not the type of person that can travel EVERY single weekend. It is too mentally and physically exhausting for me to do that. I was going to go to Togo (the country just east of Ghana) on Saturday but the price for the visa went up very high so many of the students decided not to go. Maybe I will go later on during the semester. I found out that Ivory Coast closed its border to anyone traveling from Ghana. There was an attack at one of the army checkpoints and some people were killed. Apparently the people who were responsible for the attack came from Ghana. I feel like I am landlocked here in Ghana, surrounded by countries that are experiencing some type of civil unrest. It is making it difficult to create travel plans to other countries when it is not safe for us to go there.

I didn’t take many pictures this week. One place that I did go to on Wednesday morning was Cappa Cappicino, a coffee shop in the airport residential area. There are a lot of American-style places in that part of town. Cappa Cappicino is a nice little coffee shop where I enjoyed a morning listening to American music and a nice big hamburger!!! A little taste of home :)