Cape Coast is where I roast...

Greetings from Cape Coast! I am happy to be writing from my new location. Katy and I left Ejura last Thursday morning. It was hard to say goodbye to the boys, the students and teachers at the school, the neighbors, and the townspeople of Ejura. We spent most of Wednesday walking around taking pictures of all the people we have come to know and love over the past five months.

We stayed overnight in Kumasi Thursday night. Katy had to pick up a parcel at the post office and we stayed overnight in order to take the speedier option of the bus (vs. tro tro) to Cape Coast early Friday morning. Our post office buddies have become quite good friends by now. After my temper tantrum during my first package collection, I figured they’d write us off. Instead, they have been extremely kind…Edward paid for my second-to-last package, and when I picked up my final package, I didn’t have to pay anything. (makes me a little curious about all the other charges, but nonetheless, it was nice not to have to pay for the last two).

We arrived in Cape Coast and immediately settled into our room. We are staying in a room in a house. Think of the house as an apartment building, and the apartments are just single rooms. The room is nice - about the same size as our rooms in Ejura. All the neighbors have been nice and helpful. The only downfall is that there is no running water, except for a pipe at the front house where we fetch water for bathing and cooking. But, I’m back to bucket showers again and outhouse-style toilet (it is a real toilet top, but just an outhouse below). If you would have told me a year ago that I would have been living like this, I would have laughed in your face. But, it actually isn’t that bad. Everything is kept really clean and tidy by the women in the house. (Not sure yet of our cleaning responsibilites…sure hope we can get off the hook on toilet duty). =)

We have purchased cooking supplies and are going to give African cuisine a try. Many people in Ghana use charcoal as their main heat source for cooking…however, we are going to try using gas burners instead, as it may be a little easier. I’m sure rice will continue to be a staple, but I’m excited to add some other foods into the mix. Not sure about the whole meat thing - I think we have to buy a live chicken at the market and kill and clean it in order to enjoy it and I don’t know if I’m ready for that quite yet.

There are many children that live in the house. They have been so excited to have two obrunis living here. They found out I was a teacher and the other day I had my first impromptu tutoring session on my porch with Benedicta and Eunice. They call me “Teacher Sarah.” So cute. There is a little girl here who is about two years old. Her name is Anita. She is deathly afraid of me. Every single time she catches a glimpse of me, she runs away screaming at the top of her lungs. The only time she doesn’t scream is when her mother is holding her; then she covers her eyes with her hands. I’ve seen her peek through her fingers a few times, but I’m pretty sure she’s subscribing to the philosophy that if she can’t see me, then I for sure can’t see her. I will try to get a picture of her at some point…maybe by the end of April I will succeed! It’s funny because I think most of the kids in Ejura were used to us. There was an occasional baby that would cry when his/her mother would thrust them into our arms unexpectedly, but for the most part, they liked us.

I think we will try to start volunteering next week. Our friend Atu has been asking around at schools for us and I think we are going to volunteer at a Girls' School…right across the street from the beach. I am excited at the prospect of seeing how another school functions here. It will also be interesting to see what a girls’ school is like.

I am enjoying living in the city. There is an internet café literally next door to where I live. And they sell cold Fanta. I can check my email and enjoy a pop on a regular basis, and I don’t have to travel two hours in a tro tro to do so! Awesome! There are many restaurants here, as opposed to the one restaurant in Ejura, that made only one dish. There are also lots of obrunis here…which is an odd feeling. We definitely got used to being “the” obrunis in Ejura. Here, we’re just considered to be more tourists. That will take awhile to get used to, I’m sure. It is interesting to note, however, that several people have recognized me already from my second appearance on t.v. Apparently, I made the news again during our visit to Accra for the football match. About ten people have told me they saw me on the 'telly.'

The only thing I don’t like is the weather. It is so hot and humid here. I’m back to sweating buckets again!!! No good!!! Ejura had cooled way down, due to the Harmattan winds coming off the Sahara desert. The nights were especially cool - in fact, I was sleeping with a thick blanket and no fan most nights. Here I’m back to sweating the second I step out of the shower, errr…I mean the bucket bath. And I sleep with the fan on full blast. The only time I don’t sweat is when I lie perfectly still directly in front of the fan. And I thought coastal cities were cooler. Not the case.

As I am sitting typing this, two of the girls in the house, Jamila and Marian, who are both 19, are braiding my hair. Jamila politely asked me if I ever comb my hair. I said, “No,” and she was utterly confused. I told her if I were to comb it, it would become a giant afro. She wanted to see, so she found a comb and began attacking my hair. Soon enough, she was laughing hysterically, and my hair looked like it belonged in a 1980’s Debbie Gibson music video. I think she was overwhelmed at the way it looked - any form of curls long gone. She started to braid my hair and then her friend Marian showed up and now they are almost done with my whole head. I know it will look silly, but it sure feels nice.

Ghana has made it into the semifinals for the Africa Cup. Tonight they play Cameroon. Everyone here is elated and sporting Ghana colors, flags, jewelry, and clothing! I am excited to watch it on t.v.

Well, that's it for now. I have a lot of new pictures to post and will get them online soon, but right now I'm going to go lie in front of the fan.

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