thursdays

So the semester is wrapping up quickly here. I can't believe that it's already the end of November and I will be home in a little over 2 weeks. While I'm very excited to be (very), I am really enjoying my last little bit of time here in Ghana.

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, which made me very homesick, being so far away from friends and family. I explained to my Ghanaian roommate what I would be doing each day of the Thanksgiving weekend had I been home, and that sort of depressed me a little. HOwever, our group had the opportunity to celebrate a good AMerican-style Thanksgiving at the house of a Ghanaian Calvin student. His parents cooked us turkey, stuffing, cranberries, macaroni, collared greens. It was fantastic. Good food and good fellowship, making for a genuinely good holiday.

This THursday I leave for a week vacation in Togo, which should be pretty exciting. We're doing it vagabond-style, staying in cheap hotels and eating from foodstands on the sides of roads to keep things as cheap as possible, but I'm very excited to spend time in a new place (and I got a sweet stamp in my passport). Also, it will be my first time in a non-ENglish speaking country, so I'll have to brush up on my French skills, which will be a interesting and wonderful challenge.

Next Thursday I come back to Ghana and begin the "wrapping up" phase of the semester and then the following THursday I'm outta here. It's crazy how fast it's going, but I am looking forward to coming home and seeing all my friends and family again.

I hope that everyone finishing up projects, papers, and finals is doing well, working hard. So begins the holiday season. Christmas is only right around the corner, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

Team USA?

So, I have a friend in some of my classes here a Jerusalem University College who used to play basketball for Arizona state. He went on a basketball ministry trip to the Middle East and some scouts from the PBF (Palestinian Basketball Federation) offered him a contract. He took it, so he is a professional basketball player for a team out of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Well, every year Palestine gathers the best players from the PBF to play for their national team against other Middle Eastern countries. So this Palestinian national team organized a game against the Americans from the league. My friend said they didn't have enough players, and since I was an American I could play. So one night I crossed the security wall, went into Bethlehem, made my way to the nicest gym in Palestine, and played for Team USA against the Palestinian national team. It was absolutely ridiculous. We won.


This story sounds really good the way it stands, so I don't think I will go into detail about the quality of basketball in the PBF or the seriousness of the game (evident in our lack of uniforms and numbers). I think I'll probably tell this story the rest of my life without going into those annoying details.