Sunday, October 28, 2012

The first month

This is weird and unreal but I've been in Ghana for almost a month!! It really doesn't feel like it. We arrived in the capitol city, Accra, at dusk and had a police escort on the bus ride to where we were staying. The VIP treatment ended there. We have to sit through hours of lectures on various topics that are important but extremely dull. We got our first taste of real travel through Ghana by taking a trotro (a bus) to Accra. This sort of system would never be allowed in the states. The number of health and traffic code violations are ridiculous! There are about 12 people crammed into an old, decaying van with their goats and plantains. You are forced to sit so close to people that it is unclear if all the sweat on your body is yours. AC of course is nonexistent so while in motion its lovely but as soon as you stop its a sauna! We are now staying with host families in a small village in the Eastern Region call Adonkwanta. The electricity goes out every couple days and its rains daily. Everyone is so friendly! If you ask for directions they will stop what they are doing and take you there. Its so different from the states that at first I was sketched out by it.

We are all have language classes 6 hrs a day 6 days a week. But I never have free time. As soon as I get home I have to study Twi and talk with my family. Everyone is looking at me when I eat and whenever I go anywhere. They say "Obruni obruni" which is the word for foreigner. At first it was cute but is now getting annoying. I've stopped responding to it. We find out where we will be posted in a few weeks and the suspense is difficult. The country is so diverse that trying to think about service and what programs I might want to start is hard.

Bird list:
Pied Crow
Black Magpie
Cattle Egret
Village Weaverbird
Yellow-billed Kite

There are several that I haven't gotten a good enough look at to identify.

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