Life in Legon

Sorry I haven't posted yet - that means I have been fully immersing myself in Ghanaian life and now have lots and lots of updates to share.. right? Right! It has been quite the long and adventurous week (I can't believe it has only been a week!) Ghana, in a few words, is hot, cheap, gorgeous and chaotic. First off, let me give you the timeline of the last couple of days. After a full day of terminals and on-flight food, which was surprisingly delicious, I finally landed at the Kotoka Airport Wednesday night, where we were picked up by our program and brought to the Ange Hil Hotel, the site of our orientation for the next 3 days. After hours upon hours of lectures, which were boring but obviously necessary, and hanging out by the pool, we finally emerged from the hotel bubble to embark on our West Africa adventure.

From the hotel I was driven by my host dad in the oldest stick shift car I've ever seen. Once we arrived at the house, which is beautiful, I rushed to get dressed and was swept off to a family party outside of Legon. I spent the next 40 minutes in slow moving traffic observing street vendors selling steering wheels and bootleg DVDs, and trying to get my baby host cousin to play with me (he warmed up to me eventually). Upon arrival, I was first  offered a seat on a plastic lawn chair placed in a circle in the driveway, followed by a plastic cup of brandy, then malt soda, then fresh grilled Tilapia, head and all. This was my first taste of Ghanaian transportation, hospitality and conversation, most of which was in Twi-glish: the sentence starting in English and trailing off into Twi, the most commonly spoken tribal language.
Since then has been a blur of unpacking, lectures, meandering around University of Ghana campus and hanging out with my host family and fellow international students. I could not possibly write the details of everything in one post, so I will leave you with these tantalizing FUN FACTS that I have acquired during my time in Ghana so far, and continue later...

1. Because of the immense heat, people generally start their day at 5:30 or 6am.
2. It is only safe to drink "Pure Water," which is cheaply sold in plastic bags about the size of my hand - just too big to fit in a standard glass, but not enough to fill a water bottle
3. Phone service and Internet broadband are pay-as-you-go
4. Internet browsers in Ghana do not like to open Clark Email
5. This may just be my family, but we have a watch dog, not a pet dog, that is let out of his dog house at night to guard the house. His name is Boss.
6. This may also just be my family, but we toast our bread in a waffle iron
7. Food etiquette: Families generally don't eat together, you eat with your RIGHT hand, and always "invite" those around you to share in your food.
8. All activity comes to a screeching halt when the Ghana soccer game is on.

9. Everybody wants change and nobody has any.

10. There are open gutters everywhere. Ghanaians never fall in them.

And what's coming next? Specifics I am not clear on since, in classic Ghanaian style, nothing is ever fully planned ahead or timely. However, I do know that I will finally be starting classes and visiting my internship site (a public hospital!) at the beginning of next week. Photos to come!


-Reposted from  http://ghanastudy2012.blogspot.com/