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!