We'll be in Ghana by 8 am =)

The most incredible evening just happened. We had our preport meeting for Ghana. As usual, those meetings are long but informative. Esehnem (Interport student from Ghana) was soooo funny- she  has presented and sat in our classes. She's so blunt, its hilarious. She commented on the ship's attempt to have Ghanian food for dinner... she told us what was wrong with it and where to get the real stuff hahahaha. She also taught us (along with Shirley) some Twi (pronounced Chwee) phrases so that we can communicate although most people speak English. We (Alyssa, myself and some other folks) sung the Ghanian song “Ma Na Efe” with John (faculty/piano player/SAS choir). What's cool is that we finally added the percussion so it synched well and people started dancing in the middle of the stage. I also had went to the African dance class prior to the meeting, and to my surprise we were practicing a number to perform later that night for the preport meeting. During the practice the dance instructor appointed Obai or as she said “Obama” (he's now known for that since his sea--Arabian Sea) incorporated his imitation of Obama in their chant for the Olympics …. to lead us in the performance and practice. Everyone was in single file but branched to the left and right, forming a circle with inner rings.  It was sooooo much fun and the nervous jitters of dancing for our peers after less than an hour to somehow learn i!!! No one cared that we couldn't really stay on track since it was difficult to see the instructor... Later on the LLC's had a fake round of jeopardy where they “played” using rhetorical questions and answers (just to reiterate information we had on our green sheets). Then Dr. Bill and Laura had a group of students perform the piece of writing they wrote. They're a hilarious pair. Ever meet two old people whose work chemistry is so great? We always look forward to the tidbits because they come up with clever ways to deliver all of the health precautions. Finally the meeting ended and a ton of us were trying to figure out what to do between Monday and Wednesday. I am going to the reallllll African Drumming and Dance workshop tomorrow. We have to meet at the pier by 10 am. I CANNOT WAIT!!! I cannot explain to you the number of calories I certainly lost just by the earlier venture... we were sweating, we were laughing...it was exhilarating.  Great fun indeed. But to learn from the source is gonna be awesome. Plus its for my class (Music & Cognition) so that's perfect. Thursday I am visiting the castles and slave dungeons. That should be interesting to say the least. The preport meeting concluded. Afterwards, we stood around (a few of us) planning to all meet up in Malachi's room. However, some of the African music started playing and some people started dancing in the center. I didn't even know all of them (only one person) actually. But we started dancing and talking... next thing you know 3 hours pass. In that time span, we found a way to connect my laptop to amplify it. At first we were dancing and had to kinda huddle (and muffle our laughs) so that we could hear the laptop since we were in the Union...but then we called a water break and one of the girls went upstairs and got her ipod speaker system which essentially meant I could plug it in (and we switched up to the ipods/iphones for variety in music). It was soo much fun. Two girls were in there on their laptops, talking and they couldn't help but laugh. People would walk in and either join us, laugh from a distance or walk in and stare puzzled. We had to tell them we were just dancing for the heck of it. We played a range of songs. We played more african drumming stuff I had on my laptop.The funniest was when the females started teaching Jack and Mark how to move their hips hahahahaha. Jack was serious about it. He was really trying and it was hilarious because it looked like sporadic twitching hahahah. Then there was like this obsession period where everyone was trying to do the Beyonce dance (single ladies & crazy in love) hahahahahaha. Jamie was sooo serious about doing the “uh oh uh oh” part right she kept saying she was gonna practice everyday until she could do it hahaha.  We played Titanic (Mark, Jack, Mary and I) did some soppy ballet ensemble hahahaha. Heartbreaker was our opportunity to “model” or walk down the runway “aka start from the side and end up into the center.” We made a fool out of ourselves trying to learn how to “dougie” from this girl named Lauren (I believe)... hahahaha. Then we were trying how to do the Michael Jackson “beat it” dance. Jammed to the “Cupid shuffle,” “Cha cha slide,” and “Electric Slide.” Man there were so many moments.... ahhhhhhhhhh. All of our conquests were videotaped though. I will be replaying these videos tonight for my pleasure (and share em with the other folks). There's never a normal day on this ship. Gotta love SAS. We make moments Kodak. Funny story, we introduced ourselves once we was ready to leave the Union. Literally now a half hour ago. I guess that goes to press the notion that a human connection goes a long ways. We couldn't stop laughing at the randomness of it. I mean, think about it. We didn't know each other but we connected from a song. We ended up making it into this dancing frenzy on a moving ship ahahahah (I almost forgot about that part) while out on the Atlantic Ocean...nearing TAKORADI, GHANA! Talk about making everyday count. A part of me was apprehensive about Africa since I have some heavy stuff scheduled...but I am now excited and I know that I won't be the same person because of it. We're in Malachi's room at the moment... Obai is knocked out (snoring) and is somehow bridged between Kyle's and Malachi's bed. Anna is playing a game on Malachi's laptop, Malachi's playing his PSP... I am being extremely literal and typing this all up hahaha. Just happy. =) The fact that they are arguing about whether men should be forced to watch movies like “the Notebook” (Anna's claim that its better),  vs “Titanic” which Malachi swears doesn't make him “soft” because it is a “better” movie. Just another night on this awesome ship, talking 'bout nothing! Couldn't wish for a better evening... =)