HELLO BUCKET SHOWERS AND SWEAT!
So, first of all I am sorry I have not written earlier, there was a black out in Accra and it has lasted 2 days and is probably still going, HOW INCONVIENT, but parentals we are all still alive so you can stop worrying and waiting by the phones. Haha!
After a long 35 hour journey, of no sleep, too much food and major tetris competitions with Erin, the Ghana girls arrived in Ghana greeted by a wave of hot sweaty air! Say hello to sweating, who says you need to go on a lemon detox when you can just come to Ghana! In a very over whelming airport with trolley wars going on between everyone to get out of the airport, it was a relief to be met by Tina and Seth in their Australian t-shirts and big white smiles and gorgeous Felicia, who gave us all motherly welcome hugs. For most of us, it still had not hit that we were actually in Ghana but that soon changed when we observed goats running across roads, people sleeping on the ground, the lower class houses and the dirty clothing of the
locals.
The colours of Africa are amazing though, all the women wear bright
colours and fabrics, and I am so looking forward to wearing the traditional Ghanaian
clothing. Seth, Tina and Felicia live in the upper class area of Accra, so it
was quite a relief to get out of the chaotic streets. We were staying in a room with bunks and a bathroom, and it was a relief to have a shower….well a bucket shower, which was a very interesting experience! Paulina, the cook made us a delicious lunch, and we all liked it! But it is obvious that T and S are slowly acclimatizing us into the food starting with a more westernized food then going into traditional Ghanaian food. As we were so tired, we hit the sacks at 6pm and slept a solid 12 hours!
The next day, Tina ran orientation with us where she went through the Ghanaian culture and how to greet people etc etc, and all I can say is well I have to change to right handed as doing anything with your left hand is disrespectful. Silvia took us down for our first walk to the shops to buy sim cards. Children run up to you
yelling obruni obruni, (Meaning white people) I just want to adopt them all!
Now mothers, I have to prepare you for the next bit. Seth decided to take us
down to the famous Kokrobite beach for a swim. We all jumped in the back of the
ute (and this is not the bad part haha) and went for a bumpy ride on the road. It
was so much fun at the start, waving to all the children with wind in our hair,
but that 10 min journey to the beach soon turned to a 2 hour journey minus the
beach. As it was a public holiday there were people everywhere and we were
drawing so much attention from all over. There were people coming up to us touching
us, calling us and honking us, wanting to shake our hands and saying “I want
you”. A few even tried to jump into the back with us but Seth, on the ball,
would stop the car in the traffic jam and stop them. It was a very interesting
experience, but we at least got to experience something that we can only get in
Ghana!!!!!
Funny moment was definitely when Eliza waved to a lady and she came
up to her and said “you wave at me” and E says “yes I did” then the lady goes “you
want to be my girlfriend” and E misunderstanding the question goes “yes”, and
then the lady says while touching her chest, “you want to bathe with me” and Eliza
thinking swimming at the beach and not actually in a bath goes “yes”. Eliza soon
realized as we had to tell her that that lady was looking for a girlfriend. Seth
then decided as it was too busy and we were still far away from the beach to go
home as it was probably not safe for us! Lucky us as 10 people died at the
beach that day from drowning and being trampled!!!!!!! See parents it was good
we got hassled as we did not go to the beach!
The next day we went in our first ever tro, tro!!! Which is a van type vehicle which takes you to specific places. We made our way to the biggest market in Accra, the Makola market! And ohsmig (our new replacement word for oh my god) it was big!!! Silvia showed us some gorgeous material, so we can get some stuff tailored made!yay! It was so hot in the markets, the amount of sweat we sweat I swear we can fill our drink bottle up haha. We brought Mickel a new ball, that is Felicia and Seths
gorgeous 5 year old son, as his had a hole in it. We made our way to the beach
for some drumming and dancing lessons. It was so much fun!!!! Erin was the
funniest to watch, she would concentrate so hard on the man drumming then on
her own hands which were stiff as wood! Maja did not know the difference
between her left and right hand!
M.A was the pro on the shaker! Eliza has no musical timing at all! Iona pulls
the funniest faces when she has to repeat a sequence! And me, shannyn, I like
to think I was the expert haha. We got taught some dancing moves and it is all
in the hips, it was so much fun.
So the next day was definitely an experience! The power went out YAY……not. It is so hot at night when the fan is not on and really difficult to sleep. Today we were nearly acclimatized getting up early at 6 and going to bed at around 8! We had a language lesson which was interesting considering I cant even speak English properly! We then had our first cooking lesson, and mum, sorry but I still have not improved as a cook, 2 min noodles is the best you will get at home! M.A and I were making red red, a bean dish and Eliza, erin and Iona made a rice dish, and maja had a snooze as she has a cold. The amount of oil they put in their food is astonishing, one serve forthem will be a weeks worth of oil for us at home! And we were pretty proud ofthe result, it was yummmmy!
We then gotready for the beach, yes take 2, and Oh smig, was it worth it. The beaches are beautiful here in Ghana! I am talking white sand, waves, palm trees and traditional fishing canoes. We spent 2 hours in the warm water and it was just what we needed! Definitely going back soon! Dinner was not the best we had had, it was yam and a cabbage stew which was so spicy our mouths were on fire! So we endeavored out on our first solo trip to the big supermarket. Picture this, 6 white girls sitting on a curb of a street at 8pm drinking banana milk, not really what we imagined coming to Ghana, but it was so gooood to have some dairy!
Today the power was still off, so another bucket shower and no fans. We got our things together and now we are heading off to our host families. We are excited and nervous!
Shannyn
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