Up Too Early

It is currently 7:30 AM local time, 3:30 AM body time. And somehow, I am awake. I went to bed at about midnight last night and set my alarm for 6:00, so I did get some sleep. I don’t know how long this will last, but as of now I seem to be doing okay in the time zone. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to deal with jet-lag, but I seem to be doing okay for now.

Our flight from Heathrow to Accra was delayed due to weather. I was watching a very nice show of lightening and torrential rain out the window of the plane when the captain came on the intercom and informed us that we would be delayed. First twenty minutes, then another fifteen, then another thirty, then indefinitely, then in approximately fifty-five minutes we were meant to take off. As it turned out, air traffic control decreed that one plane was allowed to take off toward the south every four minutes, which is a very serious delay when you consider that usually one plane takes off approximately every twenty seconds.

So by the time we landed in Accra we were about two hours late. I had no problem getting my baggage or clearing customs. They took my picture and all my fingerprints, but they didn’t ask me any questions really. I ended up waiting a while for most of the girls to get off the plane, because they didn’t catch the first couple of busses to the terminal from the airplane. After that, there was more waiting because two of the girls’ luggage didn’t make it onto our plane, although we’ve been told that the bags are probably not lost, they probably just didn’t make the connection in Heathrow, so they’ll probably be in on the flight today.

The guest house that we’re staying in tonight is quite nice. It’s two people to a very good sized room, and there are seven of us in the one guest house. There’s a common living and dining area and kitchen with a mini-fridge with scones that Rachel (our non-academic coordinator) gave us. There are two bathrooms, both with running water and a shower type thing. There is one with a real shower head, but there is one temperature of water and that temperature is cold. The other one has a nice bathtub with a shower head that you have to hold yourself, but it has hot water, so it’s kind of a pick your poison kind of situation. But the bathrooms are clean, as is the rest of the place, and amazingly, air-conditioned.

There’s not much on the agenda for today. We’re going to be going to get phones and cash in a little while, but mostly just hanging out waiting for the rest of the students to arrive. Tomorrow is when the fun really begins. Now I just have to try not to sleep until a reasonable hour, to try to get into the time zone.