Rain!

Once again, the sky looked ominous. Previously dark skies did not lead to rain. When I walked out of the building, I walked right back to take my sheets off of the line. Headed out again, I wandered by the Night Market, ordered an egg sandwich and watched the vendors close things up. The sky grew darker and the wind began blowing things over. A display of plastic bags narrowly missed me. Of course, Arabic class was scheduled to start in 25 minutes but with any luck the rain would hold out long enough for me to trek to the other side of campus.

Of course, luck only held out for about five minutes as large drops began to fall. The previously bustling campus was scurrying for shelter. I followed suit, having neglected to grab a raincoat and slipped into a tiny convenience store. The sky got so dark that I thought I had sunglasses on at twilight.s

Then, the sky opened up, raining as hard as it possibly could. What can I say, it was my first torrential downpour in Ghana! After forty minutes of idly talking to a new friend, I got the urge to go to what should have been my first Arabic class. We sprinted between buildings. The rain let up enough so that it resembled a torrential downpour in the Northeast. I said screw it and began to walk towards the New End Block. I looked into Room 1. Spanish was being taught there. Room 2 was teaching psychology and Room 3 had another class too. No Arabic! This is particularly irksome as I need to take at minimum two years of a foreign language. Skipping a semester’s worth would set me back a year as each level is only available every other semester.

What to do? Phone numbers are must helpful. I went back to the Modern Language offices and asked for the lecturer’s mobile number. A kindly TA must have surely taken pity on the drenched and sour faced American. I called the number and even remembered how to greet in Arabic, As-Salamu Alaykum! While there was no lecture this week, next week for sure there will be one. Where? I will have to recheck the notice board as the location has already changed several times.

If one is curious about why I am so excited for rain, it marks the end of the Hamadan, when the dust from the Sahara comes down to Ghana and coats everything. It also makes the air very hazy and the sun is usually obscured. Plus, it makes things a tad cooler, around low 80’s instead of high 80’s!