Hi everyone, John Humes here. It has been an enlightening couple of days here in Kopeyia! We have been working hard on learning the dance for slow Agbekor, which has been giving the entire group a formidable workout every morning. Having learned this dance back in the States, it has been refreshing to relearn it and fix the little mistakes we inevitably make. While the lessons are strenuous, the teachers could not be more helpful in ensuring each student fully understands the moves or drum hits, etc.

Today we visited the market for the first time. It was definitely a bit stressful being surrounded by so many locals and observing the variety of products being sold, but overall it was fantastic to finally be given a chance to really immerse ourselves outside of the Dagbe Center where we are staying. I bought several yards of various fabrics to be made into clothes later on, along with some handmade bracelets and a yo-yo to give to one of the kids at the center. During this market visit we were given a few responses that we could use if engaged by merchants. The people in the market were mostly very happy to engage with us. One woman asked my group where we were from and we told her America. She happily replied "I love your country!" which obviously made us happy. This made me appreciate how lucky we are to be treated so nicely in a foreign country, and made me even more aware of the negative way foreigners are treated in our own.

In the afternoon our group split into those who wanted to work on the dance for fast Agbekor and those who wished to drum. I was in the latter group, and was extremely excited to be working on a challenging piece. Again we learned many small tips that would improve our playing. I cannot wait to branch out and work on other pieces. As a musician the exposure to another culture's approach to the universal language has been priceless, and I eagerly await my chance to apply all of these skills to my own music!