Snapshots of Ghana

1. So there is this red dirt here. It’s all over everything. I think my feet are really tan, until i take a shower and realize that half of my chaco tan came simply from dirt. :( When it rains and there are mud puddles, the mud ends up all over my legs, and it doesn’t come off unless you scrub at it with a wash rag!

2. The sky here is absolutely beautiful. The season is changing (from wet to dry) and the harmattan winds are coming in. Thus every evening, along with a sunset, are these huge clouds moving super fast across the sky in these heavy winds. It really is a beautiful sight to behold.

3. My roommate gets up around 6 every morning which, for those of you who know me, is far too early for me! She goes to bed between 10:30 and 11:30 generally (which is usually fine by me – I’m usually wiped out and ready for an early bedtime!) but then is up at 6 without an alarm. In fact, the sun rises at 6 and the campus really wakes up then! There seems to be free reign to be loud once the sun comes up. One morning there was even a preacher in the parking lot with a bullhorn at 5:50 am! That was awful! And I used to think that a 9 am class was too early… Luckily, when I am woken up, I can usually go right back to sleep.

4. Mornings here make me happy, especially if I don’t have class till 10:30. Take last week Wednesday for example… I got up at 7 because my roommate was around that morning. I was able to take it slow, so I sad on my bed with my computer and played a computer game my roommate gave me, did some of my reading for my democracy class, drank a cup of French press coffee (which I brought with me so I could have real coffee every morning – otherwise they only have instant here, though there is a coffee shop in the mall which I got iced coffee at last week!) and ate cornflakes. I took a cold shower (no hot water heaters here) and then had to head to class. I stopped by the market on my way to class and bought a banana (you know, because they’re grown locally here. I actually saw banana trees when I was in Aburi!) Most mornings, when I don’t have as much free time in the morning, I buy and egg sandwich at the market for breakfast. They fry an egg and mix in some chopped veggies, then put it on bread (either brown bread or sweet bread are my favorites). And of course, I remember to take my anti-malarial pill every morning with breakfast. Usually I take a bag of water with me to class - yes, I love that I drink water out of 500 mL bags!

5. I just texted Dr. Patterson, my Calvin professor here. I love life in Ghana :)

Just a little taste of some of my daily schedule/life. In some ways very unique from my life in the States, but so fabulous!