Today we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was really beautiful and nice and cool, which was so refreshing. I tried really hard not to freak out over the insect life, including both red and black ants that reached about two inches in length. I was not a huge fan. Still, it was really need to see the trees here. There were cacao and shea butter trees, and all kinds of palms. Some of the palm trees were planted by the British one hundred and seventeen years ago when they started the gardens.
Earlier in the week we toured Accra a bit and saw some major landmarks including the fastest internet cafe in the area, the Independence Square, the big traffic circle named after the late first President with the huge market growing out of it, and the area called Osu, where most of the western style stores and things are located. For those of you keeping score at home, there is in fact no McDonald's in Ghana. There is, however, a KFC in Osu. I didn't really exercise my haggling skills when I bought a purse, that I desperately needed, and three yards of fabric to have a dress made out of, but Rafka told me I got a decent price. The Ghanaian students in the program with us are Rafka, Phebe (yes, it's spelled without an "o") Angel, Hawawu, and Rockson. So far I've been closest with Phebe, but I hope that the others will open up as time goes on.
We also did a scavenger hunt in Medina and East Legon to get us familiar with the neighbourhoods that we'll be doing our homestays. I was officially the first of us to trip on the uneven ground and fall on all fours. Luckily, I did not fall into the gutter. It was extremely embarrassing, but I tried to laugh it off. Luckily, no one outside our group seemed to witness it. Still, the tour was a lot of fun, and I tried fufu for the first time. It's kind of a gelatinous glob of pounded cassava and plantain that sits in a bowl of soup. The way it is eaten is by using the fingers of the left hand to pull a chunk of fufu off, make a kind of bowl shape in it with the thumb, dunking it in the soup, and then swallowing it whole. I was brave enough to try this practice, and it was surprisingly delicious. I had it with groundnut (peanut) soup that was spicy, but in a sort of delayed way, and had chunks of chicken in it. It was really really good. I think it may become my comfort food here in Ghana.
I find I've been adjusting decently to the food. I mean, I like almost everything I've eaten, but I still crave familiar things like spaghetti, and dairy products. I find I've been sleeping a lot, which is a pretty common symptom of culture shock. I went to bed at about 6:00PM last night, but I got up again at 6:00AM. "The early bird gets the water" seems to be the rule of thumb here at the student hostel. I really don't mind bucket showers; they feel nice and aren't too hard once you get the hang of them. I don't even mind the trek down to the courtyard (when the taps are working) or across the parking lot to the water tankard (when they are not) to get water. What I mind is the trek back across the parking lot and/or up five flights of stairs with the water in order to have my shower every morning. This is necessary to shower, flush the toilet, and do laundry. I'm not really a fan.
I filmed a quick tour of my room at the student hostel with my cute little camcorder, so you can watch that here, if you like!
But tomorrow we'll be moving to our homestays and there will be a whole new set of adventures to tackle. I am very excited to meet my host family, and to have a place to call home for a while. As always, I will keep you posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment