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Well yesterday morning began abruptly. I did not set an alarm for my 7:30 wake up time and instead relied on my roommates phone alarm to wake me up. I think I slept through a couple of snooze rounds and ended up waking at 7:58 for a scheduled 8:00 pick up. My roommate, Christian from Dartmouth, was assuring me that we're on "Ghana Time" now and it was alright as I rushed around the room to get my backpack packed for my first outreach. Turns out, he was right. I ran downstairs, walked outside to see the car waiting for me and then waited another 30 minutes before we took off. Everything here is so laid back with a definite exception being made for driving. When not stuck in traffic, taxi drivers here are incredibly aggressive. Despite this, hundreds of people including children walk along the side of the roads inches from a collision. As we drove to the eye clinic to pick up an optometrist for the outreach we passed miles of endless activity. Vendors have shacks set up everywhere and there is an absolute buzz of activity. Being stuck in traffic is possibly one of the most exciting aspects of this experience so far.

The first outreach was supposedly an hour and a half a way right on the coast. About 10 miles into our journey, however, the transmission went out. We ended up pulling over to a conveniently located mechanic who couldn't help. The car was still functional but we decided it was not fit for the long journey so we turned around and headed back to the clinic. Our task there was a somewhat monotonous but necessary data entry process.

We returned home around 5. I took a cold, weak streamed but very refreshing shower and headed out to a chop bar to eat banku, red red, tilapia , and a beer.

The night ended with multiple rounds of catch phrase on the balcony with the other volunteers.

This morning, no car came to pick us up at the scheduled time. Turned out it was still in the shop, so no outreach again today. We therefore got a cab to the eye clinic and entered some more data, eventually leaving at around 3. Today I tried fried yams (like big french fries), and malta (a non-alcoholic malt drink by Guiness). Everyone here continues to be very welcoming and I'm picking up some greetings in the local Twi language. The people laugh at me but seem to genuinely appreciate my attempts to greet and thank them.

Don't know what tonight has in store. I'm scheduled to observe cataract surgeries all tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to this.

Pictures to come soon!

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