Malaria and other Adventures

Now before you start getting worried... I did not have the malaria, my roommate did, So witnessed first hand the joys of being awake all night to the sounds of wretching :D As a whole it didn't seem too bad- she got over it in 3 days and is pretty much back to normal now, except for the funny twitch and noise it makes every time she breathes, hehehe J/K no long term effects. Apparently it takes two weeks for it to actually take effect over your body,and she got it two weeks to the day we entered Ghana- those nasty mosquitoes were waiting for her as she got off the plane.
As for me, I haven't had any problems other than the normal foreign travel stuff.

Since I am still waiting for permission to begin my research i ahve had a lot of free time and have gone exploring and am trying to become as Ghanaian as possible. This week, I plaited my hair, which means I braided it. Yeah, It looks amazing- one other girl was brave with me and did it, but hers only lasted 3 days before it drove her crazy and she took it out. The worst part is that they pull your hair super tight. That is a smal price to pay for not havign to worry about hair in your face or bugs in your hair or even washing it :D it is super easy to take care of and I think it looks nice. Next time I might not choose black, maybe red or purple or white... we'll see.

Coming to Kumasi today was also an adventure. WE were walking towards the tro-tro station and this huge van came barrelling by us and the guy pointed towards town adn said to kumasi. I brought my hair up and called it by bringing the fingers to the palm. the tro tro stopped and we ran over and climbed in hoping we would come out alive. There were only a few passengers inside so we realized it was a dropping tro-tro. perfect. So we sat down and didn't negotiate a price and we took off. I am pretty sure we were going nearly 60 mph, which on roads here is like going 90 at home. there are enormous pot holes that cover the road so they swerve everywhere. Sometimes there is on coming traffic too. I am pretty sure they rewire the horns to the lights and windsheild wiper bars to provide easy access. So they honk at everything, around curves and at cars and bikes and pedestrians. i think one driver honked at a goat too, but it didn't help much. The worst thing that sometimes happens is when your side of the road is broken so you are on the other side and another car is coming and there is a person on the side of the road too. our driver will gun it and swerve and you think you are going to die right there. Today our chair was loose so we could teeter back and forth with the motion of the tro tro. this scenario i mentioned above happened and there was a bike. we were going so fast and it was too late, so we hit the hole, which turned out to be half a foot deep. I went flying in the air and I was so scared I was laughing. the door holder turned and looked at me and pointed and laughed too and the driver tured around to apologize. The other two girls with me were just clinging to things, I don't think they thought it was as fun as I did though. I looked down at the floor and I could see out the bottom to the road. the metal was ripping, but that was the least of our worries.

So when we got on the tro tro it was relatively empty, but we stopped for other people along the way and managed to stuff fifteen people in a van the size of a suburban (well it was a little taller than that).
The best part of the ride is that it costs less than a dollar for an hour and a half of driving- super cheap and so worth it.

I ate a caterpillar

So each time I come to the internet i write this nice long update and then right as I am clicking to post it the computer shuts down. I have learned my lesson and will give a shorter update, but I hope to include pictures.

We have safely arrived in Wiamoase and have settled into freshly painted rooms. They are a nice bright blue. Last week on thursday was market day in town, so i decided to go check it out. I walked to the center of the village and found an old woman sitting on a porch. She didn't speak english and I didn't speak enough Twi, but we got along well. She introduced me to her friends and we all went to the market together. I sat with her as she sold things and met a bunch of other people. one of her friends spoke english very well and she invited me to come to her house to chat more, so I said sure and followed her. She is very kind and she invited me back to teach me how to cook tomorrow.

I ams till waiting to be introduced to the school so I can get a letter of approval to do my research there and start, hopefully some time this week I can start.

We went to church somewhere near agona with this little branch. I think there were thirty of us in a small classroom. We had a lesson on the plan of salvation for sunday school and the spirit was there, because truth was taught. The little branch will have a baptism sometime this week, but it will be here in Kumasi and we cannot come to support it.
Christiana is a neice to our landlord and she comes to coook and do our laundry for us. She is teaching me all the recipes to make Ghanaian foods. We have a good time together. it is unfortunate that everything is fried here, I am sturggling with it. The flavors are strong and the spices are hot. I love it. Christiana showed me how to make garden egg soup last week and then she allowed me to taste it when it was all done. I had a huige bowl full and it looked like in the soup there was a caterpillar, but I knew that we hadn't put any bugs in so i figured it was just one of the spices.... but then i found another one and asked what it was- christiana said oh thats not supposed to be there and removed it. It was too late for the first one though, I ate it and then regretted it. oh well its just a little more protein :D

the first few days

These are a few of my memories from the first few days in Ghana. Just remember I was awake for over 35 hours... so things could be a little shaky!
I exited the plane and was immediately surrounded by warm moist air and fragrant air. The air itself had the smell of a tropical city, but to add on top of that there were working men all around who I don't think even knew of the existence of deodorant. (don't worry, they don't smell as bad as american men who forget theirs) !
The city itself is full of bright colors, but the airport is set apart from the city and surrounded by a small jungle. The trees are bright green adn the dirt is a beutiful shade of red. It looks like rust and the once white buildings are now stained with years of wind, rain and dirt. The roof tops are also brightly colored greens, blues and the same red dirt color. Different parts of the city seem to clump together with one color.
I got off the plane and walked a few hundred feet and entered a building where our luggage was being piled. After a few minutes and a few worries that somehow my luggage was lost it came around the carousel and then I was ready to go.
I went through all the winding halls with customs and inspections and visa details, but they didn't hassle me. "i am just a student" is what I told them, no mention of research or anythign like that, not that i think it would be bad to mention, but just much easier to tell only part of what I was doing here- taking classes.
I arrived at the bottom of the airport and saw the room I was supposed to wait in and move towards it, but a guard stops me and says where are you going? i was about to panick because if I could go there then I would not know where I could meet my group. Then a voice from inside the room says, "she's with me!" Haleluja, margaret did come to meet me, even though that was not in our plans originally. Ahhh thery let me through and we entered the air conditioned quiet waiting room that was newly built and very comfortable.
Margaret and I would be there all day waiting for other arrivals.
The only problems throughout the day were missing luggage and a few police men wonderign what we were doing in there... Oh yeah and I also found my first Ghanaian husband.His name is Henry and he works at the airport- he is 25 and he wants me to meet his family and convince them that he should come to America. Margaret, against my desires, gave him our phone number and he calls all the time.
So because there were missing luggages, we had to stay an extra night in Accra. The city is busy and full of generous people. Our first full day we set out to the national museum and had a tour opf the peoples and cultures of ghana. It would have been more exciting if the room had not been like a sauna. By the end of the tour I was light headed and starving. We walked outside and thunderclouds had already set in, so it was much cooler than expected. We started walking back towards the hotel and stopped for food. I ate an already halfway peeled orange, actually I more precisely should say I drank it, because you squeeze it and suck, yeah it was good. Then we also had rice and some stew-like substance that we mixed in the rice. The spices they use here are way more spicy than almost anything I can imagine... except that one time I made salsa with habinero peppers... But it is tasty, so i am happy.
We took a long nap that afternoon and then part of our group went to pick up luggage adn the rest of us ventured out to find dinner. We met a sweet girl, named rose, who took us to a restaurant where we ate for under $1.50. wahoo! i love this.
It gets dark here around 6:15 pm so we don't have much of a night life, but that is good because apparently people get up around 4 am :D I am excited for this.
So yesterday, May 8th(friday), we travelled from Accra to Kumasi a total of 250 km, and it took 8 hours in a large greyhound like bus. Luckily it too was air conditioned. People sell things that are balenced on their heads and they will walk out in traffic and offer you what they have. Sometimes it is fish and plantains, bread or water sachets. it is quite a sight to see a woman with 12 loaves of bread on her head. They are graceful, thankfully.
So now we are in Kumasi and plan to visit the markets where I can buy a towel.... yeah I have showered in several days, but it doesn't matter much because neither have any of my fellow travelors or ghanaians...
I guess I should say Happy Mother's Day to you mom and hello to the rest of you!

Where do I begin... I have two days until I leave for a different world, and I am both trembling with excitement and fear. I have been preparing for this experience for a year and feel prepared as far as my research goes... but how do you prepare for everything else that comes with life halfway across the world?