Ghana Called...

And asked for me to come check her out and tell you all about it.

I arrived safely this morning at about 8am Ghanaian (not sure of that spelling yet, I'll work on it!) time which is 4am YOUR time. I barely slept due to excitement and discomfort, but it was a smooth ride overall. There was another American group on the plane, apparently coming to do mission work, which I have a lot of respect for, but I think i prefer to just come and learn about their culture-not try and change it.

I kinda got in trouble as soon as we got off the plane because I immediately took my camera out to "capture the moment" Apparently, no photos are allowed in government buildings...they tackled me down onto the ground and I have a nice busted lip and cut eyebrow...



JUST KIDDING! They just told me to put it away, but the other story sounds way cooler :) (Sorry for the heart attack mom!)

Our hotel is called the MPlaza located in the capital of Ghana, Accra.... Check out this picture

It is pretty ridiculously nice. I felt sick as soon as we got there though, only because I didn't eat anything with my Malaria meds...Alyssa D. was kind enough to save me with some chex mix!
Went up to the room and passed OUT for and a half hours. I was out hard and we were only supposed to sleep for 4 hours...thus, I was a little late for the bus-thankfully they didn't leave me!

We drove through the city (on our air conditioned bus...this is much more luxurious than I was expecting, but I guess I am paying quite a bit!!) got some lunch (cheese pizzza....ugh...missing salad already!) and then got to the "busy internet" woot woot.

1 cedi and 40 pesowah (spelling??) is equal to 1 American dollar, so the exchange rate is definitely on our side. For example, I gave them $200 dollars and got back $280 Cedi.

The way of making a living from the Ghanaians is such a hustle, and so intense. From bags of water in a basket on their head to "hand made" carvings reading "sweet mother" on them...they work hard for the money.

Being here has helped me tap back into some of the journaling I really enjoy-just letting the thoughts flow and processing what I've seen. Especially driving past on of the largest Muslim compounds/communities...wow...almost indescribable, but here are some of my descriptions:

"true appearance of a slum. store fronts encasing the small run-down "homes," goats wandering through the sewer system, people interacting atop trash and dirt, beautiful beautiful people. Clotheslines, burning trash, outdoor restrooms and bags filled with water. Gotta make that money."

Not that impressive, but hopefully it paints even a smidgen of the image that I am seeing.

I think we are laying low today and having a very full day tomorrow...They said we should be able to get to the internet every other day-which is awesome....and every time I get on, I will pull up my g-chat/AIM, so maybe you'll catch me on there!

Everyone is so awesome, nice, and excited about being here.

Day 1.5=a success!

Missing everyone...
the sweaty traveler.


New Section: Daily Learnings...

1) Ghana was originally called the Gold Coast, until about 52 years ago when they became Ghana. Ghana used to be one of the empires back in the 12th century, the change was created to take back their history and restore the strength of their future.

2) There are 22 million people here!

3) Ghana supplies Switzerland with THEIR chocolate...They are huge chocolate providers.