I am here!

I made it! Whew...it was a long journey, but it is great to be here. I almost didn't make it...I misread my itinerary and thought my departure time was 1:50 pm on Tuesday. As we neared the airport at 12:20, I looked and it said 12: 50 departure time! Oops! Needless to say, there was much rushing...my brother sweet-talked the lady at the security gate to let me through faster, and I was the LAST person to get on the plane. They shut the doors, told me to sit down, turn off my cell phone, and fasten my seat belt. Away we went!

The flight to Amsterdam was good - long...but there were many movies to keep me entertained. After a layover in Amsterdam, I flew on to Ghana. I arrived in Accra at about 7 p.m. It was already dark. We had to get off the plane while it was still on the runway. It was rainy and hot! We were bussed across the runway to the terminal and while I was in line for Customs, I met a girl who was: 1) from Seattle 2) in Ghana to teach Art at another school 3) went to W.W.U. 4) knows people who teach in Renton and 5) is a nanny in West Seattle. Go figure! I go to Africa and meet my neighbor!

I was picked up at the airport by a man named Gunadiish, who is the volunteer coordinator for several schools. I spent the night in Accra at the director of one of the school's house. The next morning, myself, and two other volunteers were taken to the bus station. We took a six hour ride to Kumasi. I think it was about 150 miles. Maaike (pronounced like Micah) is here from Holland and Nathan is here from Kansas City. Katy will be arriving tomorrow from Texas. It's great to have other volunteers here at the same time. We thought we were supposed to get off at the last stop. Apparently, we were supposed to get off at the second-to-last stop. Oops. Instead of getting off at the bus station, we stayed on and landed in the middle of a busy sidewalk. Three white people with a ton of luggage standing on the side of the street. How funny we looked...as everyone was looking at us and laughing. We eventually figured out we were wrong and took a taxi back to the bus station, where we met Dada, the monk. He took us to the tro-tro station, where we crammed into a van (again with all of our luggage) for the two-hour trip to Ejura. There were 23 people in the van!!! It was a relatively uneventful trip. We arrived in Ejura and walked about 15 minutes to the house.

The house is fairly big. It is made of cement with wood ceilings and a tin roof. The windows are screens and there are thick wood shutters on the outside to close at night. There is a kitchen, library/meditation room, three volunteer rooms, and three other rooms where the boys and Dada sleep.

There are 8 boys that live at the house. Mahadev is the oldest. He just finished high school and will be teaching at the school. David is the cook. Kwabena, Christian, Kwame, Kwaku, Akwasi, and Set are the others. They range in age from 9-15. They are hysterical. They have helped us with everything. I'm sure at some points we look so dumb. But they just laugh and show us how to do things.There are animals everywhere! Cows, sheep, chickens, goats, cats, lizards, spiders. Just wandering around. This place looks exactly how it is portrayed on t.v. and in books. Everywhere I turn, I see an amazing photograph. There are also children everywhere! Neighborhood children are at the house all the time. I think everyone has to get a look at the three new white people. Everywhere we walk, we hear "obruni." That means, literally, white person. The littlest children don't speak much English, but they still come over to say hello.

On Friday Maaike and I walked "to town." I think we said hello to every person we passed. We went to five different shops to try to buy a phone card, which in the end didn't even work. Naturally I got a sunburn. When we returned to the house, two little girls rushed up to hug us and sit with us. Neither spoke a word of English. One little girl saw that my arm was pink. She kept lifting my sleeve to see my major farmer's tan...she was confused as to why I had white skin under my shirt sleeve and pink skin outside of my sleeve. Every time she lifted my sleeve, she said, "Obruni." Then...she licked a washcloth she was holding and she tried to scrub the pink off my arm!!! It didn't work, but I'm sure you can imagine me trying to explain a "sunburn" to a little 4-year-old African girl in English.

Today Maaike and I took a taxi to Mampong, a town about 35 minutes away from Ejura, so we could email. The communication issue has been the hardest thing to deal with for me. I was rushed through Accra, so didn't have a chance to get my phone adjusted to work here. The internet cafe in Accra was so slow, so I only got a small message sent. The pay phones don't work (at least the 10 I've tried) either. It has been hard not being able to call whenever I want or to email. But, overall, everything is going very well.

I am anxious for school to start. I think I am teaching Art, but still not sure. I haven't seen the school yet, but I have met the headmaster, Martins. We will all be observing the first day. I'm sure it will be interesting. Today I did my laundry for the first time. Yesterday I watched Kwabena do his...so I could learn how. It's more work that I thought it would be. Bar of soap and a bucket, basically. Two washes and a rinse. Then wring out all the water and hang. I'm sure I will develop some new muscles! =) I waited until everyone was at church today to do it, so I wouldn't embarass myself. A couple of little neighbor boys stopped by anyway and helped me wring out the water.

The weather has been hot. I learned my lesson about the midday sun. I won't go for a long walk again during midday. Last night the rains came. Wow. When the rains come, they arrive with a vengence! I was almost scared. The tin roof doesn't help much...I thought it was surely a hurricane! The boys all got up and put barrels under the roofline to catch the water...they're so resourceful! Today is much cooler and it has been raining off and on. It's muddy everywhere. Not a good idea to wear Crocs in the mud...I am slipping and sliding everywhere. The boys informed me that my shoes are "to control the cows," in other words, "farming shoes."

The food is pretty good. Lots of rice, beans, porridge, yams, plantains. No meat. I'm sure we'll have to take a field trip to eat some meat soon. We buy our drinking water and it comes in plastic bags. It doesn't stay cold, but it tastes pretty good - once you get past the plastic-y taste. Tomorrow is market day in Ejura. I am excited to see that. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I miss you all and for those who are teaching school, I hope that year has gotten off to a good start. I will try to send pictures as soon as I can, but I am learning that everything here takes longer than I think! I'm not sure how often I can update this, but I will try to do it every couple of weeks.

Sorry this is such a long entry. If you've made it this far, congratulations! I love and miss you all!

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