GHANA, WEST AFRICA JANUARY 16TH, 17TH 2004
January 16, 2004
WOW!! Nathan and I arrived in Ghana, West Africa today for our semester to study at the university of Ghana in Accra. The weather is hot, tropical, the crickets are loud, people are friendly and I can tell already this is going to be a hard place to leave after 5 months!
After a slow start from the Detroit airport , boarding the plane at 4,30 and not leaving the runway til 8.15, that was a really long time to sit on a plane without going anywhere! I was close to missing my flight from Germany to Ghana, but made it just fine. We were picked up at the airport and met up with our fellow u.s. students who arrived today and yesterday . the place we are living is called the international hostel, a dorm on campus.
I have a roommate from Egypt, her name is Marina, she goes to school in the us , I can tell we are going to get along great. she loves beads, fabrics, art stuff, exploring and we have a lot in common. this place has 200 people that live here, from Botswana, Liberia, Nigeria, Europe, Ghana, America, Japan and other places as well. we have a little porch off our room with a really nice view. Our dinner tonight was our first taste of Ghanaian food, delicious and fresh, they are easing us into it, so tomorrow will be more typical food, but the plantains we had tonight were delicious, and the vanilla ice cream was magnificent.
the city part we drove through from the airport to the uni, was crowded with people, even at night, selling bags of toilet paper and other items at our tro/tro.
more later, we are off adventuring tomorrow and doing the basics of getting accustomed to a place so unique! the people are so friendly here, and I feel very inspired already, its only day 1.
much love, Kathleen
January 16, 2004
So, Ghana has proven to keep my eyes wide open constantly. The weather is hot........probably high 80's to 90's and quite humid. However, the skies are hazy from the winds in the Sahara bringing down dust, so the sun is not directly on us, which is a good thing. I guess it is only going to get hotter from here on out too!! The food has been an adventure so far. A lot of it is pretty common to western food. But I think it is just that way for now because they are trying to break us in easy. The traditional Ghanaian food will take some getting used to. It is spicy, and has many different textures and tastes I haven't experienced before. I don't think my stomach is to happy with it right now actually.
Today we went on a tour of the city of Accra and saw some amazing stuff. The market was probably the most interesting with blocks and blocks of vendors with any product you could ever want. The bargaining system is quite fun and we make a large scene when we arrived there. We were almost instantly surrounded by vendors trying to sell us their stuff at very high prices. But we are smarter than the average tourist and know that you have to talk them down a long way. We also bought some fresh coconut and drank the water and ate the flesh right at the market place. IT is a delicious treat and especially on a hot day. The University is very nice. A beautiful setting with many nice and fun people. It is an extremely large campus that is very spread out. I think when we start classes in a after next week it will be a long walk. But, when in Ghana do as the Ghanaians do!!! Just bring plenty of water. Tomorrow we are going down to a beach on the ocean. I am really looking forward to being in the water!! Ok, well off to take my well deserved shower. Thanks to everyone that has written me back and I will try to write again soon.
Nate
January 17, 2004
hi ! today was wonderful, eyes scanning every which way in Accra! the city was beautiful with the people everywhere, clothes so bright and colorful, smiles and a lot of poverty though. the market is like the "mall" and many people have tables they are selling things at, but others walking around with things piled high on their heads, are mostly from villages, they come to Accra to sell things and
bring the money back to the village, or sleeping the street. people selling things everywhere! in our car windows, chasing us down the street. so many gorgeous fabrics, and nice people. everybody wants to help us! I saw the first other white people today finally. we got some fresh coconut on the street today, and drank the water/milk inside, it was delicious!
the food is great so far, breakfast was homemade bread and fresh pineapple, we at out for lunch, traditional Ghanaian food, and they had vegetarian. the Ghanaian salad I had was kind of like coleslawish, and the "vegetable mix" was delicious, saut�ed and spicy. Nathan had veg. shiskabob. others had some interesting meat dishes! On our way to breakfast today, walking about 20 minutes down a dirt road to get there, a tractor with about 5 Ghanaians on it, stopped and the 8 of us all climbed in for an interesting ride. they were all laughing with us, quite hilarious.
we all went out to a bar last night, being the only foreigners we stuck out, but there was a reggae band singing live songs, mostly US oldies, and others like LaBamba. funny to be in Africa, hearing those songs reggae style. we all had a blast and the beer here is quite tasty. The Ghanaians are teaching us Twi language, so that is helping when communicating with people, however it seems most people speak both English, and another language.
today we visited some museums also. William Dubois museum was really cool. Theresa the ISEP lady who takes gives us our orientation, and answers all our questions is awesome, she is African American, but has lived in Ghana for 16 years, as she married a man from Ghana. she is very nice, knowledgeable we call her "auntie Theresa" she�s having us to her house next week, she has 3 kids too.
tomorrow is beach day at Labadi beach, looking forward to that. we are going to an orphanage next week also, and maybe the Liberia refugee camp with lots of kids. tons of opportunities for volunteering, and they need plenty of help, I can't wait to start there. AIDS posters, signs and info is everywhere, this widespread problem seems as if people are getting much more informed about the issues. I am really looking forward to traveling outside the city and to some of the National Parks with monkeys and elephants
Ghana is great, hot, humid, hard for my body to adjust to the heat, being from the cold UP and all. Every moment is filled with excitement here....
love Kathleen