Party Time, excellent

After not being too exciting when we first arrived, my household has started to discover the charms of the Accra nightlife. Which is pretty much the only thing Accra has going for it. On Thursday night, we discovered a place called Ryan’s Irish Pub in Osu. I was expecting a typical Ghanaian spot with Guinness on tap or something, but instead it’s a huge, green farmhouse-style building set into a verdant lot. Inside it looks like you’ve wandered into a trendy Irish-style bar back in the United States. The almost complete lack of black people inside really helped with that impression as well. We spent most of our time inside giggling at the fact that this place exists. We also drank draft beer and Soco, so as much as I kind of felt bad for hanging out in the least-Ghanaian place in Ghana, it’s still fun. Watching the creepy old drunk white men hit on dumb sorority girls studying here was also entertaining.

Saturday night was my housemate Beth’s birthday (actually it’s Tuesday, but Saturday was the party.) Everyone dressed up and we went to this club called Cinderella’s. For some reason there was a club right next to Cinderella’s as well, and it didn’t have a cover, so everyone was in there and we ended up spending the entire night in there. I never go clubbing in the US, so I don’t know how it compares, but it was pretty fun. There were a lot of Ghanaians there, unlike at Ryan’s, and by American standards the drinks were cheap. The great thing about Ghana is that everything is really cheap, but when I want to splurge on things that are fantastically expensive by Ghanaian standards, I just say “This would cost twice as much back home!”

We spent all night at the club, and ended up getting home around 5:30 in the morning. We ate canned spaghetti that one of my housemates thought was a good idea to buy, and then I walked around campus and watched the sun rise. It wasn’t very exciting.

From here on out, we’re planning to go out all the time. Also, I might skip out on most of my obligations next week to go to the Western Region of Ghana with some girls from another program at the university. Apparently the Western region houses the nicest beaches in Ghana, mangrove swamps, a stilt village in the middle of a lake, and an evergreen rainforest national park, so that sounds much more fun than going to class and my internship. Actually trying and behaving myself was fun for a while, but it’s officially party time now.

In spite of my last statement, I’m still reading books at an amazing rate. Here’s an update on what I’ve gotten through recently.
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (good until the climax which was stupid)
- Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (he wrote Atonement, and yet this book is still good. Who’d have thought?)
- Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (good drawings)
- Kafka on the Shore by a Japanese dude whose name escapes me (absolutely fantastic and I recommend it to everyone)
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (a little too much estrogen but not bad)
- Invisible Man by Ralph(?) Ellison (Kafka-esque and good)

Right now I’m at work on Ulysses again. I’ve totally got the first 3 chapters memorized since I’ve read them like 18 times now, and never made it much further into the book. Will I make it anywhere this time? Check back and see.