Two Absolutely Amazing Tales of Wonder

So, I just want to share with you the crazy wonderful morning I just had!

It all started at 6:45AM when my alarm went off. I woke up early to catch the 7:30 bus to Akuafo Hall for breakfast and laundry. As I was sitting and waiting for the bus just outside of ISH, I could see a massive bank of grey storm clouds rolling in. As I was climbing onto the bus, the heavens let loose an absolutely torrential downpour! Water began streaming down the windows of the bus and it sounded like waves were crashing on the roof above me. Tina and I sat, grinning in awe of the rain and sat in the bus as it rolled slowly along the campus roads. After about 15 minutes, we were as close to Akuafo Hall as we were going to get, so Tina and I departed. We dashed off of the bus and sprinted through the rain about 100 metres to the hall. In the sixty seconds we were actually outside, Tina and I got completely drenched. We ran through ankle-deep puddles and arrived at Coffee Cue (a little breakfast stand behind Akuafo Hall) dripping wet.

We sat down with Emily, who had been there for a while. Tina and I both ordered breakfast and then just sat, enjoying the raindrops plummeting on the canopy above us. We saw lightning and heard thunder as loud as gunshots. The three of us listened to ‘Wavin’ Flag’, which fit the situation perfectly. We sat chatting and smiling for about two or three hours, waiting for the rain to lessen. I was getting very chilly because my clothes were not drying at all, so I asked the man in the laundry shop if he could dry my shirt for me. He graciously agreed, and once it was dry, it felt so wonderful to put again. It was far too wet to make it to the Institute of African Studies for our 8:30 Literature class, so Tina and I watched the episode of the Amazing Race that took place in Ghana. When 10:00AM rolled around, Katie showed up with her laundry and told us that our Literature class had been cancelled because our professor was sick. It was a glorious, wet, exhilarating, free morning, and I loved every moment of it!

I also want to add one glorious story about one evening on our northern trip:

We spent a lot of time driving in the Institute of African Studies bus, which we have dubbed the Obrunimobile (‘obruni’ being the Twi word for white person). One evening, we were driving up to either Tamale or Yendiwe drove into an enormous bank of thunderclouds looming on the horizon. The northern part of Ghana is quite flat, and if Montana is considered ‘Big Sky Country’, it has nothing on Ghana! As we drove towards this huge bulk of storm clouds, an absolutely electrifying lightning storm began. It was incredibly amazing that I cannot describe it well enough to give you even the slightest idea of how beautiful and awe-inspiring it was. It completely engulfed us. There was lightning in front of us, behind us, and on both sides of us. My neck was actually starting to hurt from turning my head from left to right so that I would not miss any of the show. It was more beautiful than any fireworks I have ever seen. Bolts of lightning slashed across the sky, often branching into an electric root system stretching from heaven to earth. It was often so bright that I would have a bolt burned into my retina for a few minutes afterward. The show went on for well over an hour, and it never let up. I have never seen more lightning in my entire life! Nor have I seen anything more awe-inspiring or powerful in my entire life. It was a storm that I will never forget.