First and Second week

Oct 8^th

The last couple of days have been a roller coaster. Been trying to get over my jet lag. It’s blurry with me though, is it jet lag or is it just my self-diagnosed narcolepsy?  Either way today was definitely the day that woke me up. I am in Ghana. I am in Africa.

To get us to integrate with the country the 26 of us picked groups of 3 or 4. Then we all had different tasks we had to complete. My group (Richie and Britney) had to get to Keneshie market in Accra. From where we are staying at (which is Valley View University) we had to take two tros tros (pronounced tro-tro),  one that got us to Medina and the other to take us to the market.  Tros tros are like bare vans that fit anywhere from 15-20 people. In one I could see the road through the floor but beggars can’t be choosers and these vans fill up.

I can say that Ghanians are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They must be for the PCVL to let us loose without being able to speak a word of Twi. Several times when we asked for directions Ghanians would stop what they were doing and actually walk us to where we needed to go.  They stop what they are doing and completely go out of their way to help us. The tros tros don’t try to rip us off and other passengers will actually make sure we get our change correctly and help us get off at the correct stop. Kind kind people.

The market sells everything you could imagine, except one thing- cigarettes. I find it very impressive that the Ghanians have socially banned smoking. I’ve yet to see a single Ghanian smoking and the only place Richie could buy cigarettes was in some really shady alley.

People try to sell you everything through car windows! The people (mostly women and children) will walk around and carry huge amounts of things on their heads. These women will be carrying bags of water on their head and go chasing after a van without dropping anything.

Oct 10

We went to the assistant ambassadors house today, Julie. It was a really fun evening filled with drinks and laughs. Wore a dress and everything. I’ll definitely be more “girly” by the time I make it back to the states.  Ghanaians (ga-ni-ans) place really high value on being dressed in a presentable manner. When it’s 95+ degrees out you will see Ghanaians walking around in pressed pants and a long sleeve dress shirt. The streets are littered with trash and public urination is socially acceptable.

Being a vegetarian has not been a problem at all. Everybody at VV is super accommodating. I did however find my first [live] bug in my food yesterday. I think it just crawled in there and by luck of the draw that scoop ended it on my plate. I wasn’t too hungry after that.

This is our last night at VV and it was definitely nice to be able to hang out here and get use to Africa a little at a time. Host family here I come!

Oct 11

We are now in Kukaruntumi. Tomorrow we meet our host family! Can’t wait. I’m really excited and looking forward to living in a very small community. You guys wouldn’t believe how NICE everybody is here. The culture is amazing. Their smiles are unguarded. The children will run after us shouting “obroni obroni” meaning “white person.” Guess I’m considered white here! Haha.