Week one

It's been one week here in Ghana and it feels like I've been here for a while already. I think mainly since my days have been packed with things to do and I've just been very tired from traveling. I'm currently in Tamale, which is in the Northern District of Ghana. I came up here for my "vision quest" which mainly was just shadowing a current volunteer and to give us confidence that we can make it in the PC. From Accra it took us 14 hours of traveling to make it to Tamale, where we spent the night and traveled another hour the following day to where I stayed with a current PCV. JB did not accompany me on this trip, he stayed down in Accra. The have split up the group depending on what we're training for. So the Teachers didn't go on a vision quest. But tomorrow I'll be meeting up with him again at our long term training sight, where we will be staying together at a homestay.

So far the people in Ghana have been wonderful. Everyone is very nice and are always willing to help. Even if you ask for directions, many times they will walk you to where you are going so that they know you made it there safely. There is also a huge emphasis on greeting people. So it takes a long time to make it anywhere, because you have to greet everyone you know that you pass. But that builds a great sense of community and strength I think.

It's very different here than the U.S. or even other African nations that I've seen. Houses are small, but permanent. There are no township like neighboorhoods that I've seen, although there probably are some somewhere. There is rubbish everywhere. Water comes in little 500mL bags, that you drink out off and then people just throw those bags on the ground, so there's just trash all over. It is very hard to come by a toilet and if you do, the chances that it flushes are rare. And showers are a rare and when you have on, it will probably last for less than a minute.

All in all though, I'm loving it here and I can't wait to find out what region I'll be living in. Outside of the cities, the scenery is amazing! I could just sit in the bus and watch the land go by for hours, it's just beautiful. The people are happy, friendly, funny, and colorful. The weather, although very hot, is totally bareable.

Exciting news of the day is that Tricia (another PCV) and I rode in the back of a truck (Lory, there were benches in the truck bed and it was covered with a canvas) for an hour down a dirt road with around 12 people and a full sized BULL! It was pretty scary, cause the bull was not happy. But we lived and had some good laughs about it.

I dont' have any photos yet to load, but I will as soon as I'm able to.