Off to a running start....

Hello Everyone!

I fianlly have the chance to update the blog and let you all know how it is going in beautiful Ghana. Since arriving here on Tuesday, I have found myself to feel strangely at home, as if all of this preparation truly did prepare me! I feel as if I kind of fell asleep for two days and then woke up and BAM! -- I'm in Africa. I love having this opportunity to travel, meet new people, and experience a completly different lifestyle. The people here are wonderful; so kind and freindly to foreigners and they love it when you show that you are eager to learn about the food, people, culture, and language. So I jumped right in, starting off my first day by trying all sorts of delicious foods (such as red-red; fried plantation with a bean sauce) and of course, eating with my hands!

We (myself and the other two Canadian volunteers I traveled with) began our orientation with WUSC on Wednesday and got to meet all of the field staff at WUSC's office as well as the Ghanaian volunteers who have similar work mandates to ourselves. The staff here is also very nice and approachable and it has been great to get to know them. Unfortunetly, out of all the volunteers, I am the only one based out of Accra, so I will have to work on making new freinds once I move into my permanent accomodations which will hopefulyl happen in the next week! It is very interesting to be in such a huge city however. Accra is very modern in a sense -- a city with 2 million people, the urban sprawl is enormous and many of the warnings I heard about dress and behavior prior to coming to Ghana seem to be followed on a much more relaxed basis in the capital. I dont' feel out of place in my Canadian clothes for the most part, and well, Accra is just huge! Also, if you think you've seen traffic jams in Toronto, think again! Traffic here is absolutely insane! I travelled with Emmanuel, one of the Ghanaian volunteers down to Osu ("obruni" or white person town) the other day to run some errands and it took us nearly two hours to get back in the cab, literally just sitting in traffic for most of the time! I think traffic, along with the pollution from exhaust fumes will take a while to get used to and everyone keeps warning me that I don't want my house to be too far away from work or I will end up sitting in that kind of traffic everyday! One the other hand, life here is very informal -- people sell things on virtually every street that there is room to set up a stall. And if there isn't room for a stall, such as on some of the major downtown streets, they just walk amongst the cars selling everything from apples to toilet paper right up to your window! There is also the common economy of bargaining -- there are some things that are a set price (ie. cell phones, food, beer) but everything else has room for negotiation, my most current experience being taxi's. Lesson #1 - Dont' get in one unless you've already determined the price, especially if you're white! I am discovering that for the first little while until I figure out the rough costs of goods, I shouldn't really go shopping by myself as I am a terrible bargainer and will definitely get ripped off!

In terms of where I am staying, currently my accomodations are at a guest house near the WUSC office in Haatso, a sort of Accra suburb, but not in the typical Canadian sense of a suburb. I am quite comfortable there and during the week I am at the WUSC office, which is air conditiontioned, meaning I was spoiled all week. This weekend being out in the midday sun has just been so hot! It is very humid with the average temprature being in the high 20s to low 30s. We have also had some crazy thunderstorms in the last couple of days, and I mean CRAZY! My bathroom even flooded after one! I think the plans for today are to check out the lovely beaches of Accra and do some more reading (if I was a reader before, I am a massive bookworm now, having already gone through 2 books and visited a Ghanaian bookstore !). On Monday I will meet GNECC (WUSC's partner organization who I will be working for) and begin discussing my job with them and my permanent accomodations. Then in a week, I get to travel to the north of the country to Wa, where WUSC is holding their annual partner meeting. I am very excited that I get to start my intra-Ghana travel already!

This has been an insanely long entry so I will let you go now, but just know that I am having a wonderful time thus far and am adjusting well. There is nothing more exciting then getting to expereince another culture and to meet and discuss so many different issues with so many different people! From where I am sitting, I can hear the fesivities of the Sunday morning church goer's and here the cries of roosters (who live all over the sides of the road!).

Hope all is well with all of you -- I miss you all!
Courtney

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