My Acting Class

I realized that I haven't written much about any of my classes or campus life in general, so I'll get crackin' on that now. I'm mostly taking performing arts courses here--Drumming, Acting, and Traditional Ghanaian Dance. I'm also taking Twi (the local language) and History, Government, and Politics of Ghana. A lot of classes. In addition to this, I just started rehearsals for a theatre production. The difference between classes here and classes in the U.S. is that classes here only meet once or twice a week for two hours. So though this seems like a heavy course load, I'm in class for about the same amount of time as I am in the U.S.

So you want to know about my acting class...

I was really excited to take an acting class here and compare it to my acting classes at UMD. In some ways, this class is very similar to my acting classes at home, but occasionally something in the class surprises the bojangles out of me and reminds me of the differences between our cultures. 

The course is based in physical theatre--a theatre I'm pretty familiar with from home. The focus is on learning how to use the body to create works of art. We meet Mondays for two hours and do a lot of stretching and improvisation exercises. But on Tuesday mornings we meet at 7 and play sports. That's right--sports. Theatre kids playing sports. We've always talked about the similarities between theatre and sports at UMD, but we've never put them into practice. I'm really liking this aspect of the course though. So far we've played basketball, athletics (track), frisbee, and handball.

 

Sports are not the only aspect that make this course different. There is one little part that I'm finding hard to wrap my head around, and that is that we pray before and after class. Most Ghanaians I've met here are pretty devout Christians. But the fact that we pray in class still boggles my mind and honestly made me feel a little uncomfortable at first. At the beginning of the course, the professor explained that we can pray to whomever and whatever we want. But the students chosen to pray for us always recite Christian prayers (not surprising since most are Christian).

 

I asked a Ghanaian friend about any laws separating church and state in Ghana and he laughed! He explained that in public education they are supposed to be separate--teachers cannot force their religious beliefs on students. But this does not mean that religion is not apparent in school. It is such a big part of the culture, so it's not strange to most of my Ghanaian classmates when we pray in class. But I can't help but think about what an outrage this would cause in the U.S...praying in class just wouldn't fly. Apart from praying, there is no other mention of religion in class. It doesn't really bother me anymore--In fact, everyone here has been very accepting of different beliefs. A girl at the market asked me if I went to church this morning. When I replied, "no," she gave me a coy smile and said, "me either."

Monkeys, Mountains and Mayhem

The USAC group went to the Volta Region last weekend, home of a monkey sanctuary, mountains, and a huge waterfall. 

[photos by Celeste M.]

mmm banana and baby

 friendliest monkey

parasite tree

 should have taken this sign seriously...

 almost there!

 Finally at the top! Victory was bittersweet--the view was incredible but we were attacked by tiny nats that sometimes bit and got stuck in our sweat. yuck!

 Victory Sit

 Our tour guide trying to find some shade

 

 USAC group!

Wli Falls

 very cute baby at ze waterfall

 Celeste (the photographer) et moi

Ms. baboon

The Volta!!