we made it!

I’m alive! I’m in Ghana! This is amazing and I already love it here. The plane ride was painless since I slept 8 out of the 10 hours and then had a bunch of paperwork to fill out once I was awake. When getting off the plane I had my yellow fever vaccination checked, my fingerprints taken and then trekked through customs without a problem. After some slight harassment I found Kofi, the ProWorld staff member who was there to pick me up. We waited for one more student named Leah and then went to wait for our “tro-tro” which is what they call busses. Upon our tro-tro arriving we realized that the bus was already full of American students and that 16 of us and all our luggage would have a cozy 4 and a half hour ride to Cape Coast where we would meet the rest of the staff. The amount of poverty here is unexplainable to those who have never seen it. It’s honestly amazing that these people live perfectly happy like this and really makes me thankful for everything we have at home. After getting to Cape Coast we settled in to the ProWorld bunkhouse, had some dinner and went to bed since we knew Saturday would be a busy day.

            That brings us to today, Saturday, our day started with 3 hours of orientation where we learned some interesting rules like, never use your left hand, say “silly” or cross your legs since those are all huge insults. After a LOT of information, we got to go on a tour of Cape Coast stopping at all the local “hot spots” including a restaurant on the beach called One Castle. For lunch I had vegetable coconut curry with white rice and it was surprisingly very good. After what seemed like hours of walking we headed back to the bunkhouse and waited for our host families to come pick us up! I’m lucky enough to have Skylar, a student from Chatham University sharing a homestay and worksite with me so we made the two hour car ride together. Our family’s home is beautiful and we are so lucky to have such generous people hosting us. Tonight for dinner we were offered rice, hard-boiled eggs, vegetable stew/sauce and some type of meat that I was too afraid to try. Now it's 9:25pm and we are getting ready for bed because work starts tomorrow and our family likes to wake up at 5am!

            Just some interesting information….. I feel like I’m in fast and furious every time I get in a taxi/car since there are basically no rules for driving. We’re sweating and sticky at ALL times, even when sitting in front of a fan. I already brushed my teeth with their water, which you’re never allowed to do (don’t worry I realized right away so I’m still alive). We drink purified water out of plastic bags since they don’t have plastic water bottles. Everyone here is extremely friendly, and I’ve already received 5 marriage proposals. The internet here is insanely slow and difficult to find so again, I’ll try to post as much as possible and for those of you waiting for emails, that might take a while since microsoft outlook refuses to load. I’ll also post pictures when I get a chance! Overall, I’m loving every second of this experience so far and can’t wait to start work tomorrow!