day one

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Ok, so im here in Ghana, and its still my first day. However, I do know enough already to form some basic ideas about my new home.
First, it’s a place of Biiiiiiig contrasts. 1) Everyone here dresses extremely smartly, the men are all in suits and the women dresses and its just a a Wednesday… Yet, there is no toilet paper at all anywhere, and the toilets themselves are indeed foul. 2) My room has lots of furniture and its quite nice, there is a fan, closet comfy chair, desk, and balcony… yet there is no place to hang my mosquito net which is a necessity. I was right in thinking that living here is akin to camping in a city. Also, there is no water here in the hostels because something is broken…. Not in sinks or anywhere, especially not in the toilets.

Anyways, you get the picture about the contrasts, now I will describe to you my bucket bath 
I reallllly really needed to take a shower, I mean really. I had been in a plane for pretty much two days straight. But, like I said, there was no water. What I ended up doing was buying a 3 gallon green bucket to ‘flush’ my toilet, and take a bath. With my lovely little bucket I managed to rinse and then soap and rinse again while using the cap of my soap for a dumper cup thing… ou, and I used my comb as a way to spread the soap about in my hair. ( I didn’t know how much water helps to lather things up! ) In truth it was really refreshing, but I’m not sure if it was the bucket part, the rice soap I bought, or just the fact that I had forgotten what bathing feels like.

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Comments

[Joyce McNaughton]

Wow
Dearest Marla, What an experience! Already. I'm so thankful you arrived safely. Hope they fix the water problem SOON! What do you do for clean drinking water?? Loving you, Grandma Joyce

[Grandma Audrey]

Glad You're Safe
So glad you arrived safely, but I can't believe the conditions--especially the lack of water. Do they have bottled water to drink? Your Day One Blog seemed to indicate that this wasn't going to be a permanent condition. I sure hope so. Hope also you find some good food. I'd think they would treat a guest better than this and you would have some help. Take Care! Much Love, Grandma Audrey