Blogs from Legon, Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa - page 5

After orientation was over on the 11th, we moved into our dorms/homestays. I am in a dorm called Ghana Hostel, or Pentagon by students. It is a dorm with flats instead of corridors. It is sort of like Ytterboe at St. Olaf but only has three double rooms connecting to one main common area that has a table and chairs, a "kitchen" which is more like a small room with empty cupboards and counter space, a small deck where we hang our laundry and two bathrooms. The 15 CIEE students that are living in Pentagon this term are the only Americans in this dorm. I do not have a roommate yet, but supposedly I will soon.... I do have three others living in my flat right now. They are Nigerian and are really nice. I haven't ... read more

Soooo...everything is going well here...the power hasn't gone out for a week now, knock on wood. The water is another story though- it goes out about every other day. Fortunately, we have been making a few trips to the markets down town...(will tell you about those details later) so we can get buckets for storing water when it is running. Either way, the showers are cold in my dorm, so no matter what, getting clean is treacherous! I tell you, the sticky sheets and sweaty nights are the hardest part to adjust to. I wanted to mention stuff about getting around here because it is SO different than back home. So we have these things called "tro-tro's" which are like 15 passenger vans that are the main mode of transportation. These vans come in all shapes ... read more

So in case any of you are still convinced I'm going to be living in a a hut surrounded by lethal insects and one misstep from contracting AIDS, this will keep informed that I'm still alive. I leave in three weeks. What have I gotten myself into, Pat... read more

I would first like to thank everyone for all the amazing school supplies that you have sent!! First, Jarod Leleux and the school board for donating some MUCH needed textbooks. Now when we teach we can actually have a lesson plan!! Bethany has been working with the teachers at GCP and showing them the basics of teaching like how to write a lesson plan and how to use a textbook and the supplementals like end of chapter questions and stuff. I feel like the kids are able to get a little more of a quality education now. And I would also like to thank my sister Tanya and John's mom for sending pens and pencils! And Matt Maddex and his amazing Communication Studies 2063 classes for the boxes with the tons of school supplies. We were ... read more

Whew, what a rough couple of days. I guess we should have taken it as a sign from above to expect a less than perfect trip when we set out to find a cab at 6 in the morning in the pouring down rain. Last Monday, 3 of the girls and I took off for the Ghana border to travel across Togo and into Benin for a little whirlwind trip. As it started, we woke up at 5:30 am to pouring down rain and screaming wind, but we decided to head for the hills anyway. Well, of course, there was not a taxi to be found outside of our hostel, so after getting slightly soaked, we found one and made it to the station. The station in Accra was as crazy as usual and before we ... read more