Back from Kumasi

So after a jam packed weekend of traveling and Soccer, I’m finally back in the Accra area. A group of 11 of us left on Saturday morning to find a Tro-Tro to charter all the way to Kumasi. We got a ride to ‘Circle’ which is a market/Tro-Tro station in the middle of the city. We crossed over many dirty rivers that run through the city to get there and it smelled pretty bad the whole way. There is so much trash in the rivers that most of them are colored gray and look pretty toxic. Something really needs to be done about all of the pollution. People need to stop going to the bathroom in the rivers and gutters on the side of the streets. Enough of that griping, we got to Circle and we were standing in the middle of mass chaos, there were like hundreds of people trying to do the same thing we were. We insisted on getting one that would only cost 6 cedis a person. There was this one guy who kept coming up to me and saying “Jack, Jack, I will help you get a ride, you just need to trust me and understand Ghana and love Ghana!” and then he gave me a couple of hugs. I must say that things like that are pretty common here and I let it slide for awhile but then he started to get annoying because he never came back with a Tro-Tro for us. To the left of me, a fight started breaking out between two guys who were trying to find us a Tro-Tro. There were punches thrown, and eventually they broke it up. Amidst all of that, I was trying to hold onto my bag because I thought it might get stolen at any minute. About a half and hour later, we finally got a Tro for the price we asked for. We all quickly piled in and pushed some Ghanaians out of the way in the process because we all wanted to travel together; because it was a 5 hour trip. So after all of that, we were off. I had a window seat, which turned out to be a bad idea because I was getting dirt blown on my face the whole way there. I was also right over the left rear wheel and was pretty cramped so needless to say, I was not so comfortable. After a few naps and a quick rest stop where everyone got out and stretched, we started playing a rousing game of naming famous people based on the last letter of the previous name said. The game lasted almost 2 hours because we really had nothing better to do. At 7pm we arrived in Kumasi and got dinner. The dinner was delicious but I didn’t realize how dirty I was until I went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and my forehead was grayish/black and it looked like I had black tears running out of my eyes from all of the dirt. Also, my shirt was completely dirty and sweaty and my hair was spiked back from all of the wind blowing on it. The bad part was that we were at a pretty fancy restaurant so I was embarrassed even though everyone else was pretty dirty as well. The only difference was that it was as if I was trying to look dirty because I have such a long beard right now. After a nice dinner, we went to our hotel which had no running water, so I had to remain dirty for another day. Literally as I lay down on the bed I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the next morning at like 6. We had breakfast and got our tickets to the game and then had lunch later on at this place called ‘It’s my Kitchen Restaurant’. We wandered around Kumasi for a little bit and we all picked up some soccer jerseys and other apparel and went back to the hotel for a little bit to relax before the game. At 3pm we made our way to the game to get some good seats and as soon as we walked through the gate I was charged by this woman painted in Ghana flag colors. She wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave her a little bit of money which I thought was ridiculous but anyways it was kind of funny. The crowd was extremely excited and everyone was as loud as possible. Ghana was playing Benin by the way, and it was a quarterfinal qualifying match for the World Cup. In the first minute, Ghana scored and nothing else happened after that. Throughout the course of the game I saw someone lighting fire crackers off in the stands and I think one of them hit someone. In another area, someone was lighting a blow torch and flares to help ‘cheer’ for the team. Needless to say, it was pretty crazy. Luckily after the game, one of our group members had arranged a bus to take us home immediately. After we got on the bus most of us fell asleep and once again I slept for the whole ride which turned out to be more than 4 hours. I don’t think I have ever slept that well on a bus before. We got back at 2 am and I went straight to bed. So here I am waiting to see what happens this week. I’m going to assume that I will probably do a lot of sitting around the hostel like usual and go to classes. If only classes were more exciting. Phew, what a weekend.

-Ryan

Dr. Acula I presume?

So a quick update before I go away on Saturday for the World Cup Qualifier. The last few days have been kind of boring. The good thing is that the internet has been up and running almost all week. It has been easier to keep in touch with the outside world. I went to see my good friend Dr. Umar yesterday and the day before. I haven't talked about him yet but I will in a future post. He has been really helpful and kind. I had some tests run on me just to make sure I didn't have Malaria/Typhoid or Kidney infection among other things. I am starting to think that I was having bad side effects relating to the other medication they had me on, as well as my Mefloquine. Funny thing was I had an ultrasound done on my abdomen to check for irregularities. The tests were negative on that so I guess that is good. It was kind of funny because I obviously couldn't help but think they were checking to see if I was pregnant (Junior is a terrible movie by the way). After that I kind of just hung around the room and chatted with people online for most of the day. Last night some friends and I went to a school production of Dracula. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the effort they put in. They had creepy sound effects and music throughout along with demons runnning through the audience with masks. The play was in an outdoor amphitheater so they were even able to take out REAL torches to add effect. All of the Ghanaian girls in the audience were terrified of the people running around in the demon/vampire/monster suits. It was pretty funny. Of course, there were comments from the peanut gallery like "Immoral Man" when one of the characters kissed someone, and "A+" when one of the female characters laid on top of a male character. The best comment was some people who kept yelling "Sexy Dracula" every time the guy came on stage. Let me tell you, the guy who played Dracula was really into his character and he played it with a Johnny Depp meets David Bowie meets Prince meets Michael Jackson feel. The guy who played Van Helsing literally looked exactly like Hugh Jackman from that movie. They do a really good job with their plays here, a lot of the students show up for support too which is cool. The best two things that happened however I haven't mentioned yet. Towards the end of the show I turned around and a MAN ON FIRE ran down the stairs. Someone had literally lit his legs on fire for added effect. He was supposed to be a representation of Dracula while Van Helsing was stabbing him with the sword. Nobody could believe that they actually risked pyrotechnics for a school production. Everything seemed to work out just fine however and the show continued. When the show was over, all of the characters, demons/ghouls included got up on stage for a bow. I said jokingly to my friend that now would be a good time to play "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, and sure enough the song started blasting out of the speakers while the whole cast danced to it. It was a really incredible experience and I loved every minute of it. You really can't deny the Ghanaians when they put effort into something. So today I will be hanging around and getting some rest before heading up to Kumasi for the game on Sunday. It should be an interesting and intense experience for sure. I promise to stay safe and will tell you about it when I get back.

-Ryan

#34. Rumours

Rumours is one of those albums that really is comparable to a greatest hits compilation. Almost every song can be heard on the radio on a daily basis. Some of the songs may seem a bit overplayed nowadays but if you can step back from that listening approach you can find that this is really one of the best pop/rock albums ever. It is not the most diverse collection of songs but it does seem that it is with all of the different textures the band utilizes. There are three main vocalists that really shine here. Stevie Nicks is not as present as most would expect her to be. I think a common misconception is that she is the lead member of Fleetwood Mac. She mainly shares the singing spotlight with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (a guy) and Christine McVie (keyboard player). All three of the aforementioned are also the lead songwriters for the group. I’m not sure who wrote which song, but I am still getting into the band as a whole. This one first came into circulation for me around senior year of high school. I believe I picked it up at a local library and realized that it was really good all the way through. The most important factor to consider when listening to this record is that all of the songs are written after a few key break ups between band members. Nicks and Buckingham split, as did the McVie couple. All of the songs are break up songs about most members of the group. Listen to the lyrics, they are really good and offer different perspectives on the respective break ups. The songs are much more powerful if you keep this in mind.

The album starts off with a surging acoustic guitar and into ‘Second Hand News’ sung by Buckingham. It sounds really upbeat and happy but if you listen more closely it is kind of depressing. I am always a fan of songs that hide their meaning with a sunny melody. Next up is my favorite ‘Dreams’ with Stevie Nicks on vocals. There is something about this song that really works for me. I’m not sure if it is the great atmosphere created by layering keyboards and acoustic guitars, or if it is the bass line. There are so many good parts about this song I can’t say enough, not to mention it is one of my favorite of all time. When the chorus hits with “Thunder only happens when it’s raining” with the three part harmony I can’t help but sing along. I think Nicks is the best lyricist in the group (i.e. ‘Landslide’ on the self titled album). Moving on from there we have ‘Never Going Back Again’ a little ringing acoustic ditty by Buckingham that floats along nicely. Then ‘Don’t Stop’ which I think was written by Christine McVie but sung by Buckingham, is one of those songs that everybody has heard. Not much more needs to be said about that or the next track ‘Go Your Own Way’ which is also another famously overplayed song (great however). Once again, listening to these two with the previously mentioned tip will enhance your experience. The sixth track ‘Songbird’ is sung by McVie and a quiet piano ballad that brings the album’s intensity down a bit. Her vocal is really nice and it feels like she is singing it live in a recital hall or something. It avoids being overly sentimental because I know that the lyrics are a result of a newly found appreciation for love after her breakup. ‘The Chain’ kicks things back into gear with an interesting vibe (countryish/blues/gypsy music). This is a really cool song because it shifts halfway through and becomes more aggressive and there is a mini guitar solo. The lyrics sound really angry and the music accompanies well. For most of the track, it sounds like Nicks and Buckingham are arguing back and forth over the fairness of their breakup. I’m still impressed that the band members in these tough situations were able to work together and finish an album with this content. ‘You Make Loving Fun’ is yet again one of those songs you will hear on the radio very frequently and deservedly so. Apparently it is about McVie’s husband cheating on her (gotta love the cynicism here). This track has a really late seventies vibe to it which kind of sounds dated a little, but it is bearable, and I like the song. ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ is another Nicks vocal that is one of the more forgettable tracks on here, but I mean that’s because every other song is a classic. ‘Oh Daddy’ is apparently about Mick Fleetwood, the band’s founding member and drummer, who was able to keep the band together during the hard times they faced at the beginning of recording. ‘Gold Dust Woman’ finishes the album off strong with another Nicks vocal and gypsy rocker feel. Has anyone seen that SNL skit about Stevie Nicks and her Mexican food style restaurant? They make fun of how she is trying to be a gypsy all the time…pretty hilarious. Well there you have it, number 34. I think I am finally getting back on track with these. I will have a Ghana update soon as well. Go enjoy this record and stop knocking Fleetwood Mac because they are poppy. I promise you will enjoy this album thoroughly.

Overall Rating: 9/10
Track Based Rating: 9/11
Best Tracks: Second Hand News, Dreams, Don’t Stop, Go Your Own Way, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun

#35. Californication

Californication is a pretty funny play on words and also a perfect summation of what the Red Hot Chili Peppers are about in general. All of those years prior to this album where Anthony Kiedis was rapping about Sir Psycho Sexy and whatnot is only a distant memory. The new and improved Chili Peppers with a reinvigorated John Frusiciante are definitely the best they have ever been. Some think that the energy of their earlier stuff is gone, but hey, it’s okay because they are getting older and they need to change up their style if they want to be taken seriously still. This was a landmark album in my collection because I got it for Christmas one year (Sixth grade maybe?) along with Creed’s Human Clay, good thing I stuck with the Chili Peppers. I listened to it so much while I played Tony Hawk or Crash Bandicoot on my Playstation. I always thought it was good music to skate to. There are a lot of high points on this and some of the best songs of the Chili Peppers career by far. Most of the videos for songs off of this album were really cool and I remember watching them during my MTV/VH1 days. How could you beat that Scar Tissue video or even the title track’s video game-like version of the Peppers? Oh and how could I forget the German Expressionism video for ‘Otherside’? Anyways, despite what people think (Matt), the Chili Peppers are a good band and have some pretty good rock musicians. I read Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography freshman year of college and still laugh when I see him on TV or hear him on some of these songs because I know what he went through whether it was fabricated or not. The man is luck to be alive and it is good to see that he is trying to make good music because I’m not sure I would have liked him as a person if I met him somewhere. Anyways, Flea is a great bassist and Frusciante is talented and innovative guitar player. Chad Smith is a good fit for the band as its drummer, and Kiedis is a hell of a frontman (seriously, check out his autobiography). On to the music…

‘Around the World’ has an incredibly loud opening bass part that nearly blows my speakers if I have them on too loud. The riff is funky and the bassline is really cool. Flea really knows how to play the right note at the right time. The chorus is wonderfully catchy and a step in a new direction for the band. ‘Parallel Universe’ continues the momentum with a blistering 4 minutes of more good interplay within the band. The outro jam is pretty good and a nice release after the intense chorus parts to the song. ‘Scar Tissue’ is next and one of my favorite songs from the band and in general. The mood is perfect and the guitar solos are fantastic. I remember listening to this song a few times during a family trip to Lake George and it was when I knew that I truly liked rock music. ‘Otherside’ is another winner and a song that I think my Dad likes. If you listen to this album, I want to remind you of how much attention should be paid to the guitar and bass. ‘Get on Top’ is one of those funky/raunchy tracks that the Peppers do best, except this time the song structure is pretty good and the energy is really high. ‘Californication’ is probably the second best song on this album behind ‘Scar Tissue’. I think it does a perfect job capturing the whole California vibe through its music and lyrics. I think this was when the band really stepped forward as songwriters. ‘Easily’ is a good song that is mostly there for filler I think but stands as a pretty good filler song. Actually the more that I think about it, it isn’t filler, some of the later tracks are. ‘Porcelain’ is really low key and has some interesting lyrics and overall sounds pretty strange on a Chili Peppers album. I like it because it expands their sound a little bit and usually that is a good thing for most bands. ‘Emit Remmus’ is alright but not one of my favorites. It has a pretty interesting “riff” that consists mostly of feedback while the bass line dominates. There definitely are some cool changes throughout, like in most songs from this disc. ‘I like Dirt’ is pretty fun in my opinion and not really a throwaway track. The lyrics aren’t that great but the music sounds really cool, and Frusciante enters with an awesome Hendrix like solo in the middle that I really dig. After that the album becomes either good or bad depending on the listener. I could see how some people would think that it doesn’t close that well but the songs are growers and actually challenging in some way, so I appreciate that. ‘Velvet Glove’ is really good and ‘Savior’ has some interesting changes that elevate the record with new levels of psychedelic flavoring. ‘Purple Stain’ is pretty raunchy but interesting and raw sounding in a weird way. ‘Right on Time’ goes by really fast and has some good energy, but I’m not sure if it is really necessary. ‘Road Trippin finishes it out with an introspective song about traveling with some friends. It is hinting at the next step the band would take and overall it is a pretty good closer. The only complaint that I have about something on this album is the way it is produced. Sometimes, Kiedis’ vocals seem too loud and that he is too close to the mic or something. I kind of like how raw the album feels though and it definitely sounds more like an artistic achievement compared to the overly produced newer albums (that I still like however). Even if you don’t like the Chilis go check out this album from start to finish, I want to know what you think.

Overall Rating: 8/10
Track Based Rating: 11/15

Best Tracks: Around the World, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Californication, I like Dirt, This Velvet Glove, Savior

#36. Appetite for Destruction

Well, after a long hiatus from posting in general I am back with some more reviews. This time it is a classic from the late 80’s; Appetite for Destruction. Now in some ways, this isn’t one of my favorite albums, but in a lot of other ways it is. This album mostly makes my list because of all the impossibly good hits that are on it; otherwise it is not that great. Sorry Steve, I’m sure you will disagree with me on that but that’s just how I feel. Like a lot of other albums that fall into the ‘quintessential rock albums’ category, Appetite was something I started listening to in 7th grade, but had heard most of the songs plenty of times before. Slash was my idol for a little while when I started playing guitar and I tried and tried to capture his guitar tone, but soon found out that I would not be able to do so without a Gibson Les Paul. This is by far the best Guns n Roses album because of its consistency and sequencing. The lyrics are well suited for the backing music and I’m sure nothing sounded this dirty since the Rolling Stones in the late 60’s. Unlike pretty much all other late 80’s hard rock ‘artists’, Guns n Roses were taken seriously and deservedly so. Axl and crew were singing about the darker side of LA while hair metal bands were adding to the ever growing pile of crap American 80’s music had become (thanks Reagan). Along with the Pixies and Sonic Youth, Guns and Roses were one of the only bands that should have been noticed in American music at the time. How many of these songs are still in constant rotation on the radio, almost all of them. Thanks to that important lasting quality, Appetite for Destruction makes my list of top forty favorite albums.
I’ve decided that I won’t be elaborating in great length on most of these reviews anymore until I make it to the top ten, therefore allowing myself some time to finish this project. Anyways, let’s get back to the action. ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ has one of the most famous opening guitar riffs of all time and it is also one of my favorite. The intro builds until the snare cracks and the verse riff comes charging in, one of the coolest things for sure. I’m not the biggest fan of Axl’s voice but at least he can write some pretty good lyrics for a hard rock front man (sorry Chad Krueger). The album continues with ‘It’s so Easy’ which is just okay but one of the better filler tracks. ‘Nightrain’ is a great underrated song that barely gets played on the radio. It featured some of the best Izzy/Slash interplays on the album. The solos are killing and the bassline is pretty good too. I can pass on ‘Out to Get Me’ because it is just more of Axl talking about how people don’t like him and blah blah blah. Mr. Brownstone is solid and another reason why the album is on my list. I love the chorus, it is so catchy and great to see that mom’s and dad’s everywhere can sing along to heroin addiction. The riffs and solos are incredibly good on every track and make up for lackluster songwriting on some of the tracks. The mammoth ‘Paradise City’ comes next with a great chorus as well and incredibly fast outro soloing by Slash. I tried forever to be able to play this whole song back in 8th grade but I just couldn’t do it. One of my memories of this song was watching the MTV VMAs back in the 8th or 9th grade or something, and seeing the new Guns n Roses play it. I must say that I wasn’t as impressed with Buckethead’s take on the soloing that time around. No one can really match the feeling that Slash plays with, especially no hard rock guitarist these days (some Metal guitarists excluded). ‘My Michelle’ is pretty good but my least favorite of the hit songs off this album. ‘Think About You’ is another filler track that I’m sorry to say is mostly forgettable compared to the more solid ones like ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘Anything Goes’. The album’s best song is next, ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ is the near perfect rock ballad that manages to be taken seriously. The opening riff is genius and the solo towards the end is probably the best on the album. The chorus is great, no wonder Sheryl Crow decided to cover it for the Big Daddy soundtrack. It still stands as one of the best rock songs ever and might be the best Guns song, I’m still not sure. ‘Your Crazy’ is more filler but ‘Anything Goes’ is actually halfway decent as another filler track. The chorus is decent and it’s a fun little song before the epic closer ‘Rocket Queen’. I think that ‘Rocket Queen’ is my second favorite song off of Appetite because it just has so many good riffs and the change at the end of the song really does a great job of bringing the album to a close. The main riff in the beginning is just funky and the chorus is pretty good. My favorite part of the song is the Slash riff/solo at the end in that upper register; it almost always brings a smile to my face and gives me a weird optimistic feeling every time I hear it. Maybe Axl/Slash and Co. wanted to end on a happy/bittersweet note after all the darkness in the earlier parts of the disc. I’m so glad that they chose to close with ‘Rocket Queen’ because the album wouldn’t be the same without it. So overall, I think that the filler doesn’t bring the album down too much because it is pretty high quality filler, especially if you really like hard rock music. Even though I’m sure that fans don’t want to hear it, I think that Guns n Roses are mostly a ‘hits’ band and not an album band. They have sooo many good singles and radio hits while most of the other tracks fall short. Try telling me that a Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 wouldn’t be better if it was condensed into just one album. Perhaps it would be overlong but it might be even better than Appetite for that matter. Anyways, Appetite is great because of its hits and not so much as a whole.

Overall Rating: 6/10
Track Based Rating: 9/12

Best tracks: Welcome to the Jungle, Nightrain, Mr. Brownstone, Paradise City, Sweet Child O’Mine and Rocket Queen

Finally an Update! Part 2

Last weekend a couple of friends and I traveled to the Volta region of Ghana. It is northeast of Accra and pretty close to the border of Togo. I felt as though I needed to get away from the dust and high speed (for Africa) lifestyle in the city. We bought tickets for the bus to leave at 3pm on Friday. Prior to leaving I bought a loaf of sweet bread (delicious by the way) and planned to snack on that until we got to Hohoe, our first destination. We waited at the bus station for quite a while, and in the background was a guy yelling things repeatedly on a megaphone literally nonstop for 2 hours. The bus didn’t show up until almost 4:30pm and a man was sitting in my seat when I boarded. I guess there was some kind of mishap at the ticket office and they gave two number 11 seats. Nonetheless, I sat next to him and everyone else had enough room to fit on the bus, so finally we left. About 2 hours after that we were just getting out of Accra. The traffic is so bad at rush hour that most of the time you are literally not moving for almost an hour. I started dozing off at this point to the sound of some Ghanaian talk show on the radio. The people were speaking Twi and yelling at each other in a really ridiculous fashion, some of the people on the bus were like “Please Driva, we do not wish to listen to this, we want to enjoy ourselves”. For some reason the mate in the front didn’t turn the radio down and I napped to the sound of Ghanaians arguing. About an hour later we were in a pretty remote area and I snacked on some bread. Another hour passed and the bus broke down in the middle of some small village. Most of the people got off the bus and decided to get some food at a local chop shop. I decided to stay on and hope the buss would start working shortly. About 45 minutes later, the bus was working again and we were on our way. I ‘slept’ for most of the rest of the way, but it took us about three more hours to get to our destination because people kept telling the driver to stop and let them out at their houses. At almost midnight, we got into Hohoe and got a taxi to this random hotel. I was a little cautious because the driver had a few empty nip bottles lying on his dashboard, but the hotel ended up being only 2 minutes away. We crashed there for the night without dinner and got up the next morning at 6:00am so we could get a move on to Wli. We walked around for a little while trying to find a ride to Wli a few towns over. We got into Wli at like 9:00am and stopped at the Waterfall Lodge run by a nice German couple at the base of the Wli waterfalls and Mt. Afajato. After breakfast, we found our way to the bat caves and prepared to hike to them. It was really hot at this point and I didn’t realize how tired I was. Nonetheless I soldiered on and we met Boss, our tour guide. He was this small guy wearing all green and a baseball cap. He only wore sandals which I thought was a ridiculous idea for hiking. He was really friendly and obviously enjoyed giving foreigners tours to and from the caves. It took us about an hour to get to the top of the mountain where the caves were. Before we proceeded we stopped at a homemade tree swing at the top of the mountain. Boss asked me to go first and so I hopped on and he pushed me and I swung for a while and then he came up real fast all excited and was like “and now your last time is starting Nooooooooooow” and he pushed so hard I almost flipped over the tree branch. This was the method he used to cool us all down before we went to the caves. So when we got to the caves we realized that we had to scale rock walls to get into them. Boss happily lead the way and guided us as we climbed up the walls. There were six caves total but only one of them was really cool, because it actually had bats in it. The bat cave was a little hole that we climbed into as bats were flying at our heads. Once in the cave, bats continued to fly out at us and I snapped a few pictures of the ones hanging in the caves. Boss started throwing rocks at them so they would fly around, he was so giddy and loved making us freak out. He started rubbing these flint rocks together to show us that they made sparks and to demonstrate how his ancestors survived up in the caves. He told us that people actually lived in those caves back in the day which was pretty unbelievable. I definitely wouldn’t want to spend that much time in there with all those bats and stuff…phew. So after sweating like crazy and finishing off the rest of the caves we climbed down the mountain with ropes and it reminded me a lot like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. We hiked over to this small waterfall which Boss climbed up on and drank water from. When he came down, he picked an avocado and handed it to me as a gift, I laughed and thanked him and carried it back with me. All in all, the caves took almost five hours, so naturally I was wiped out. We couldn’t find any transportation back to the lodge so we walked 4km on a dirt road, and I saw a millipede on the way which was pretty cool. When we got back I took a shower, had dinner and went to sleep. We were all asleep by 8:30 because we had to get up at 5:30am the next day in order to get some transportation to the mountain. Sundays are tough because everyone is at church, therefore no taxis. We managed to get a taxi at 6 and started climbing the mountain by 7. Our guide was a college kid like us (Ghanaian) and like Boss, was also scaling the mountain in sandals. The climb was literally an hour and a half up a vertical path. It was probably the toughest hike I’ve ever done. We got to the top and chilled for a little while and took pictures, then started going down. It only took us about 40 minutes to go down but I later found out that our guide Ata stepped on a thorn halfway down and finished coming down in bare feet. How bad ass it that? He played it off like it was nothing but I mean come on…like Americans would ever do that? We waited at the base of the mountain for an hour and a half for our taxi to come back, and then decided we weren’t going to give him full price because it took him so long to get us. He obviously wasn’t happy with that, but the German lady took care of it for us by telling him that because we got back past 11 we would need to be charged another night for the rooms (a good lie). He seemed to understand after that and finally left. I kind of felt bad though because he drove us there on a really terrible road that wasn’t paved or anything and had a ton of bumps and holes. Later we walked to the falls which was incredible, I got to walk under them and refresh myself. Another strange thing was that a young American couple about my age came up to me and asked me if I was Ryan from Massachusetts (I signed it that way in the guest book) and told me that they also were from Mass and knew people from UVM. I guess it really is a small world after all. I took plenty of pictures of the falls but have not been able to post them but plan on doing that when I get home and the internet is faster. One thing I forgot to mention was how much nicer all of the people were in the Volta region than Accra. Everyone said hello and told us we were welcome, even the little kids that were walking around had the same polite manners; it was really refreshing considering how inconsiderate and rude some American kids can be. When we got back from the falls we said bye to the German couple and headed towards Hohoe again to get a Tro-tro to Fume where were going to stay for the night, so we could see the monkey sanctuary the next day. We were driving out of Wli and the sky got darker and before we knew it we were caught in the middle of a tropical rainstorm. It was one of those awesome experiences I won’t forget. We were going about 80 down the country road while the road was flooding, I feared for our safety but at the same time was thrilled to be in such a situation. The roof was leaking rain on us because of all the holes and such and we passed little towns, it was really incredible. It stopped raining a little bit later when we got to Hohoe. We walked around the station trying to find a Tro-tro to Fume and two Fan Ice (Ghanaian ice cream…amazing) guys competed for our business by riding their bikes over simultaneously honking their horns. Like in the US, the ice cream man in Ghana has a goofy indicator of his arrival. The Ghanaians honk those little squeaky horns in place of the music that plays when the ice cream man comes by in the US. After getting some ice cream we boarded the Tro-tro to Fume. When we got there we got off at the base of this road leading to our hotel up in the mountain. We stood under a mango tree for over an hour while waiting for the guy to come down and pick us up. It quickly got dark out and the power in the village went out so it was literally pitch black for a time while we waited, little kids were coming up to us and trying to play by running away anytime that I approached them. Finally the guy named Tony came and picked us up. We drove up the mountain and got our rooms and chilled out. We waited another hour and a half for dinner and then we crashed. The next day we got up early to try to make it to the monkey sanctuary but there was really no way to get there and it was too expensive, so this time around we didn’t get to go to see monkeys. I rode in the bed of the truck on the way down the mountain and was naturally thrilled. We moved on to a town called Ho and spent the day there at a hotel and chilled out. The place even had a TV where I watched this weird low budget horror movie that was God-awful but nonetheless entertaining. For the rest of the time we hung out and had dinner at the hotel and went to bed really early because we needed to catch the bus at 5:00am back to Accra. I slept pretty much all the way back and this time it only took a little under three hours and after all of that it was home sweet home at ISH (international Students Hostel). I was kind of sad to be back because the trip was so fun and Volta was much prettier than Accra, oh well, I will probably go back before the trip is over. As another update, I went to see ‘Gran Torino’ yesterday which was pretty good and funny because Clint Eastwood is pretty much the man. The night before, some of my friends and I went to a Sports bar and watched some NCAA tournament games and then played Trivia because it was trivia night at the bar. We placed 6th out of 10 and I really want to go back and try to do better next time. The coolest thing is that apparently we have a TV room on the fourth floor of our hostel where they get ESPN which is carrying the tournament games, so last night I sat up there and watched some and probably will again tonight because why not? A few album reviews are coming soon as well, so hold tight I will be right back.

-Ryan

Finally an Update! Part 1

I apologize for my posting absence in the last few weeks. There are numerous reasons for why I haven’t been posting, but the main one is because there is quite a bit to talk about and I haven’t found the motivation to write about all of it. This afternoon (two days ago now) I talked to Cindy online and was shortly cut off because the internet is so damn unreliable (sorry Cindy, but there is no cake here ). The first thing I want to say is that I have been having a good time despite the rumors that have been floating around that I have been miserable. I think when anyone becomes ill, motivation is the last thing one can conjure up. It was kind of freaky because the doctor never really knew what was wrong with me. I am hoping that it is going away for good. Things have been better the last week because the symptoms of whatever it was (Acid Reflux maybe?) have been going down. The only thing that matters to me at this point is staying at this level of health until I get home when I can see an American doctor. I hate to say it but, the medical help here in Africa really is pretty bad, I had a good doctor but I can’t help but have an insecure feeling about the treatment because it is Africa. During that time I was down with the sickness (ooooowa..a…a..a.a..!) I went to see a University of Ghana production of The Vagina Monologues. There were two girls from my Isep group in it and I must say that they did a good job. According to the other girls here who have seen the monologues in the US, there was a lot of material cut out. It is no surprise that most of the guys who were watching it giggled for the first ten minutes every time someone said “vagina”. The crowd soon calmed down and the show proceeded smoothly without much interruption. The funny thing is that all of the stage productions that I have seen so far have resulted in a 50/50 participation rate between the audience and the actors. I can’t really remember what I did after that for the next week. There was a time when I was sitting in my room for most of the day just watching The Office. I spent hours watching every episode of seasons 1-4, watching every bonus feature including the commentaries. I actually haven’t finished season 4 yet but have been trying to savor it as long as I can because there are no other Office DVDs after that. Two weekends ago was the Ghanaian Independence Day or March 6th. It was the country’s 52nd year with independence, which is pretty impressive. A lot of our group got up at 5:30am to grab a Tro-tro and beat the traffic into Accra. We went to independence square which is basically a big open area with bleachers in the middle of the city. There was a parade with students and military men and women marching. The president of the country John Atta Mills was waving to the crowd in his motorcade. I managed to get a picture of it that I would like to post, but obviously won’t be able to. I even got a video of the flyover of jets streaming yellow, green and red smoke (flag colors). It was pretty exhilarating, but before we knew it the festivities were over, mind you it was only like 9:00am at this point. My group managed to catch a ride with some Canadian nursing students who were wearing a lot of Ghanaian colors. On the way home through the city we were sticking the mini flags and streamers out of the windows and cheering for Ghana. A lot of the Tro-tro drivers and passengers would wave to us and honk the horn in recognition. Before we knew it, we were our own Ghanaian pride parade. It is so nice to see everyone wave back at you instead of all the odd looks we would get in United States for doing something similar. Later that afternoon my friends John and Mallory decided to go to a movie at the local mall with me. We ended up seeing ‘Doubt’ with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It was a pretty good movie and I was in awe the whole time because the theater was stadium style seating with air conditioning. It was so much like a theater in the US that I expected to get into my Geo Prizm and go home afterwards. I’m pretty sure I am going to go back to the theater to watch Clint Eastwood in ‘Gran Torino’ this week. The price was relatively cheap at 7 cedis. Before I continue onto the next week, I just want to bring up a quick story about my ride home from the beach the day before. I had gone to the beach with my friend Ryan and I proceeded to get pretty burned. I wanted to seek some shelter so I decided to go home by myself. It wasn’t that bad though because some other people showed up, so no, I didn’t leave my friend there by himself. I crossed the street from the beach and did the hand signal for the destination I wanted. By the way, there are a lot of different hand motions for different destinations for the Tro-tros. Anyways, I asked the Tro-tro mate (guy who collects the fare) if it was going to 37 (a main bus station) and he said yes get in. So I’m sitting in it and for the most part I figured we weren’t heading in the right direction from the beginning. We ended up in a major traffic jam in the middle of the city in an area where I have never been before. As we approached the traffic jam the driver stopped short and I went flying forward and sliced my shin on the rusty seat in front of me. My leg starts bleeding and the other people are like “ooohh are you okay?” and they start yelling at the driver for being so careless. This one guy next to me says I need to get somewhere to clean it out. At this point the sunburn is really acting up and my leg is bleeding and I’m on the wrong Tro-tro. This guy in front of me says that this is the wrong one for me and wants to show me another one I should get on. So he walks me out in the middle of the street where we nearly get hit by oncoming traffic and leads me to another one. When I start boarding the other one, my friend leaves to find his own and I turn around and the one that I was supposed to get on is full and starts driving away. I’m now in the middle of the city and there is a crowd of Ghanaian males chanting in the middle of the street. Across the way, police are quickly arriving at an accident and there is no Tro-tro for me in sight. Soon after, another Tro-tro shows up and says it is going to Legon (my University town) so I climb in and no sooner after we get going a bunch of police officers stop the vehicle and tell everyone they need to get out because it needs to be inspected in order to continue.I decide to ask a guy next to me which other one is going to Legon, he points to one across the street. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not but he continued to seem pretty serious. I crossed the street again with oncoming traffic and pulled a frogger, and then I ask the driver where he is going and he says “Legon”, so after all of that I finally get on the right Tro-tro to go home. This is just one of many experiences in which we say WAWA (which means West Africa Wins Again). No matter how much we Americans want the service to be punctual and orderly, we just can’t get it. The other thing is that pretty much no Africans care how long it takes for them to get from one place to the other. I definitely appreciate the organized public transportation back home now compared to when I left. When I got off of the vehicle I started laughing because it was one of those situations like getting splashed with water from the side of the road where the luck is so bad that one can’t do anything about it but shrug it off and take it with a grain of salt, like pretty much everything else here. Just to finalize my point, I want to say that being here is an experience that I definitely cannot get anywhere else and have dealt with it pretty well for the most part considering all of the ridiculous mishaps that have occurred in the last two months. I can’t believe it has already been that long. There are only 4 weeks of classes left and then we have about a month for finals. For all of you out there who have fallen out of touch with me the last few weeks, I just want to say that I miss every one of you a lot and truly value our friendships and wish you could be here with me, however, I do not recommend coming here to learn academically because most of my classes are worthless and extremely boring. I’ve learned so much more about myself and what is important to me and also the culture here and what customs I should take back with me to the states. We are only a little past the halfway point but I think a lot of the rest of the trip will be more of the same except for the trips that I will take to other parts of the country. I am thinking about going to Kumasi next weekend for a World Cup qualifying game. This past weekend I went to the Volta region of Ghana for a break from the monotony of sitting around the University. I will post a whole section on that soon after this to get myself fully updated. Tonight I am going to try to watch some of the NCAA Men’s tournament at a local ex-patriot type sports bar. I have been without internet for the past few days so if this post sounds a little dated by the time it gets put up, my apologies once again. If there is any questions you have, try to post them on the bottom of this and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. It is very difficult to explain everything that is going on in a few posts so I will most likely save the minor details for when I get home in May. Best wishes to all back home and I hope to hear from you soon...

-Ryan

#37. Paranoid

So I am floating along in the sewer system of some run down metropolitan area and I see a few giant crocodiles and rodents, there is a dim green light flickering at the end of a tunnel. As I approach the light, the air becomes cooler and the sewage rises higher to my shoulders. At the end of the tunnel I see a musical group playing rusted guitars and drums. There is a cloud of cigarette smoke drifting towards the surface of the sewer and I am pulled relentlessly forward. I see a man with greasy long hair singing into a microphone that may crumble to dust at any given time. The distorted guitars echo off the pipes and each band member appears to be on the verge of insanity. I am alone with this mysterious musical group and I begin to hear a timeless guitar riff that is emphasized by thundering bass and drums. When the music stops I am floating closer and closer to the world above and watch as the band evaporates into thin air and I am standing in the middle of a busy street in a large industrialized city.
Maybe that is how I feel when I am listening to Paranoid, maybe it isn’t. All I know is that most of this album sounds like it was recorded somewhere deep below the earth’s surface. This was when one could actually understand what Ozzy Osbourne was saying, Tony Iommi’s guitar riffs were not ripped off by every other rock artist and devil worship wasn’t a fad you could purchase at your local Hot Topic. This music was heavier than pretty much anything else that had come out at the time and it still pretty damn heavy. I can’t quite remember when I started listening to this album, but I do remember the effect that Iron Man and War Pigs had on me when I was in middle school. War Pigs was so epic I could barely contain myself from head banging, and I was still trying to learn the riff to Iron Man on guitar. As heavy as this album is, there are still some gorgeous quiet parts in Planet Caravan that give it some diversity.
Before I continue I want to tell a quick story about my friend Nic’s experience with Black Sabbath. One time when he was rocking out to Paranoid, his dad Chris promptly corrected him to play the guitar differently because “Iommi was a lefty”. After this, Chris went back to doing whatever he was doing and Nic continues to play lefty air guitar anytime Sabbath comes on.
Side two is not quite as good as side one but I really like Fairies Wear Boots and Hand of Doom. There is a lot more that can be said about this album, but I should get moving on to another review because I am pretty far behind at this point. Go listen to this CD at FULL VOLUME NOW.

Overall Rating: 7/10
Track Based Rating: 6/8
Best Tracks: War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, Fairies Wear Boots