Airport-01-26-12
Okay, sitting in the airport in Seattle now. I can barely calm myself down enough to write. I've been
shaking since the drive up here. I probably look like I'm on crack the way I'm frantically looking around
and eating my cheese puffs. I'm looking for Anna who said she was on the same flight as me...

01-26-12
5.35 pm
O'hara airport, Chicago, Illinois.
The flight from Seattle to Chicago was good! Except it seemed really really long-not a good sign when I have two more flighs yet. Anna, lives in Seattle and is going to Ghana was also on the same flight as me. She's super awesome and attends a small liberal arts school in California (about an hour from LA). I napped the first hour of the flight, ate a protein bar (Odwalla!) had some OJ and read a bit. I'm feeling pretty tired, but excited because talking with Anna got me pumped but also calmed me down a bit, because we both hadthe same questions and concerns.

Airport-01-26-12
Okay, sitting in the airport in Seattle now. I can barely calm myself down enough to write. I've been
shaking since the drive up here. I probably look like I'm on crack the way I'm frantically looking around
and eating my cheese puffs. I'm looking for Anna who said she was on the same flight as me...

Made it to Ghana! What a day! And surprisingly I don't feel super tired. I slept about 7 1/2 hours on
the place from DC to Accra, which was amazing. I couldn't even keep my etes open for some of the time,
like eating breakfast. I'm pretty thankful that I did because I was awake and ready to go when we got to the airport at 2pm. There were 8 of us on the same flight from DC to Accra so SIT picked us up early (instead of pm). We all squeezed into a tro tro and went to the hotel (GRNA-Ghana Registered Nurses' Association). On the way to the hotel Annie (from Pittsburgh) was hit on by a seller on the street. He leaned into the tro tro and talked to her-I expected that to happen, and expect to happen many many many more times. But we all just kind of went with it. These are things that everyone is gonna have to pick up and learn how to be assertive. It was funny though because we were in rush hour (if that is a thing here) and we kept stopping at the light and the same guy kept coming back to the tro-tro, 3 different times! Since we got there early I was able to settle in. Annie was my roomate and we had a joint bathroom with Elizabeth (from Clevland) and Emily (from Pittsburgh). Then the 8 of us chilled outside for a couple hours before we had our first Ghanaian dinner. It was nice to chat with everyone and really get to know everyone's personality and major, hometown, etc. Then 7 of us were supppppper hungry and ansy and bored so we decided to venture out of the compound. We walked down and past a little market (?) I'm still unsure what it is. But people were playing soccer and there were chickens and chicks running around and we were walking towards the sunset so it was beautiful out! But that night for dinner we found out that we weren't supposed to go out of the "compound". It was all laughs though. Also, to drink water most people drink out of these plastic sacks that you just suck the corner of, they have pretty much been our lifesavers!! The meals here have all been really good so far. Mostly rice and kind of a stir fry mixture with carrots, meat, onion, etc. The way to eat here is mostly buffets (family style) and everyone grabs a little bit first then you can go back for seconds if you're still hungry, which has worked out well.

10.25 pm Accra 01-28-12

There are 19 SIT kids and they are all super creative and have unique interests. Some of the kids want to do their ISP on hebal medicine, dance, midwivery, religion, drumming, weaving, hair weaving, etc. Not much really happened today. But we had our orientation this morning at 8am. Us four girls thought that brekkie started at 8.30, but that was the latest we could meet the group. Even though we were all ready to go, we were just dilly-dallying in our rooms hahah. I had my first taste of fruit in Ghana-mangooooooo! We just  went over the syllabus, do's and dont's, staying healthy, etc.Some of the do's and dont's were to greet a big group of people from right to left and use the right hand to eat, hail a taxi, raise your hand in class, etc. Everyone greets each other, 3 sentence minimum, if they know each other. Don't stick to one internet cafe at one time of the day, because people will start to notice and watch and might plan something...But during our break at 1 we chilled outside in the gazebo and the clouds were getting darker and grayer and we were all
excited beacause a storm was on it's way. It gradually built up into a complete downpour. Buckets Buckets Buckets of rain. After the lesson we were finally able to visit a market! Except we had to wait for about 25min for our leaders to get cabs and tro tros. The cab I was in was with Aleah, Yasmine, Annie and Sierra, the driver was also blasting Celine Dion's CD...Everyone else had a leader with them. The driving here is much crazier than in Japan. In Japan it was more of an organized craziness, here I've only seen 2 stop lights and no stop signs. Everything is a free for all-alot of short-stopping and close calls of getting hit. It's awesome!! Hahah. I trust a Ghanaian to drive, more than me, so I'm not going to question their method of maddness. Thank god Yasmine's cell phone worked because our cab driver definitely didn't know where he was going. Finally we met up with everyone and we all got cool orange Nokia phones, all 19 of us.Oh and on the drive I saw a woman with two large cases of eggs, stacked on top of each other, balanced on her head, while carrying a babyon her back. Sheer strenght and balance. To carry that baby for 9 months in her belly then to carry it on her back while balancing eggs on her head!!! It was a process and required massive patience. Especially since no had eaten since 12.30 and it was dark by the time we left. But I got some awesome night shots and we all left together which was nice. We all ate like lions.

11.10 pm Accra 01-29-12
Today we had our first Twi (pronouced like tree) language class. It started off with a dance, which I'll have to show everyone when I get back. Everyone went in a circle, but one part was when we grabbed the hips of the person in front of us and was supposed to smack their bottoms, right? So when we all sat down Pappa Yemi (the director of the SIT Ghana) said that that was the welcome dance and everyone was so uncomfortable and awkward when we did that part of the dance. And he said we grab each other to show that we take care of each other, we have them, and we spank them as a sign of encouragement to push them
to succeed and live. He said it's a metaphor for life. Also rhythm is very important in Ghana and Africa. You need to learn the rythm of life in order to succeed. Like me going to Ghana, I am a newborn baby (said Pappa Yemi), I don't know how people move, talk, think, walk. I need to pick it up and learn in order to understand. Learning the language was a blast, even though my brain was fried after. BUT we went to the beach after!!! It was only 45 min away and it was hot out, so the water was a perfect temp. I was a little cramped in my suit but because I just ate. After swimming for a good time the suit fit. After that I sat at the table and realxed in the shade, it was SO nice. But, consolation to all ya'll who may be jealous, my
time will come when I will be stressed OUT. So I decided to really realx today because it might be the last haha. There were a surprising number of white people out on the beach. Even though Europeans visit Ghana alot, Jan. doesn't seem like the peak traveling time. But ya, I swam, walked around, sat under the shade, then played frisbee! Which, Sierra (from lower east side Manhattan) was playing too. She found like the one of four frisbees in probably all of Accra. A man from Ohio was playing who has been there for 15 months so far, working on a construction project. Something about insolation then concrete, then insolation. I don't know...but both of his kids are in the US but he's thinking about retiring in Ghana. Becasue he's been teaching the kids on the beach to play ultimate frisbee, wich is an awesome idea because it's primarily
a western sport. So, I was super exctied, and Sierra and I want to come back Wed. night for Reggae night then Sat or Sun to play more frisbee hah. But, that has been the most exciting and eventful day of all!

Accra-North Kaneshie-Homestay
01-30-12

This morning was our last breakfast with everyone for a while! We had the usual and I downed my coffee, causing me to sweat of course, but I can't stop the habit!! After we went outside for our Twi lesson. It was hot out today, before it had been overcast, but there weren't many clouds in the sky today. But later today there was another awesome rain storm! We also learned a new dance today and it's usually performed at funerals, since we'll be attending a funeral ceremony later on. The drummers and dancer that came today offer classes to students at U of G and the SIT kids can take the class too, at an even lower price. So I signed up and it's only 15 Cedis for 1 1/2 hours. It's really really fun. Today Pappa Yemi talked about the importance of dance in Ghana and Africa too. He said that rhythm is ingrained in Ghanaians since infancy, when they are tied to their mothers back and they are working. The babies feel the rhythm with everything, they know which way their mothers are turning. "They feel every neroun in their mommas body working."And dance is also everywhere: funerals, weddings, and even when there's just music playing! At the hotel when we were dancing with the drums this lady came out and wanted to dance! Pappa Yemi said it's very anti-social to dance here. After lunch we packed up our bags and went to the U of G for the first time to meet our host families. The campus is pretty and peaceful, and spread out with lots of trees and buildings scattered around. It was while we were waiting that it began to pour and we moved inside. Grace and I are living with the same host mamma. She is a dance professor at the University and is working on getting her
Phd in dance right now. Her husband was on campus too, I don't know why since he works with imports and exports (?). But I rode in the car with Pappa John and Grace rode with Mamma Jennies. We stopped at her sisters house, Rose and met Rose's daughter and son and Mamma's daughter Nanna. They are both pretty cute and energetic. They taught Grace and I several popular games. One was where we had to grab the fingers of the speaker who says "I have lots of chocolate and ice cream" and in reply you say "And I do also, so what!?" Then more lines of different things, then the last line was "I have a big big big big cage with a..." then once they choose an animal everyone runs and the speaker has to try and catch you. It was a good pre-dinner fun. Dinner was SPICY. The spiciest meal so far, but it was another stir-fry like dish
with boiled yams, I think. I learned to eat everything before taking a drink of water, because the water just makes it unbearable. But while eating we watched Alma, a hispanic drama show. Tracie was eagerly keeping me up to speed by introducing me to everyone on the show and who they were married too, and so forth. Mamma's Mamma was also there and I tried asking her her name in Twi, but I didn't say it right, and she patiently sounded out to me the correct way. So Mamma is going to drive us to campus tomorrow at 5.45, getting up at 5! WOO HOO. A little bit of sarcasam there, but it works out because she's going to lead a dance class tomorrow that ends at 8, when our class starts. so tonight has been chill, just took my first bucket bath with a flashlight. Pappa John was trying to fix the lightbulb but I didn't mind. The light made a pretty shadow of myself on the wall. I get weird about lighting-all I was thinking is that I should've brought my camera into the shower haha. We just got a bucket and dumped it into a large bucket which is just collected water (I'm not sure from where).
Tomorrow should be fun fun fun!

02-Feb-12
UofG-Internet Cafe

This past week has been flying by. It is the custom here to bathe at night and in the morning, so I've been doing that. It feels really good, because when you wake up your entire body is sticky. So, I've been getting up at 5 and leaving at 6.15. Two days ago I bought coffee, I HAD to, I had the worst migrane! Haha
I'll update later, my time is about up at the internet cafe.