Kelly: 1 - Malaria: 0

September 13^th – 15^th

Oh how crazy the past few days have been.  On Monday night, I went to bed with a slight fever.  I informed my staff, and waited until Tuesday.  By Tuesday morning I still had a fever so I went to school to talk with the staff.  As the day wore on, I began to feel better so I went to Twi class, and listened to the lectures.  A former SIT student from this very Ghana trip was actually visiting.  She went on the trip in 1999, and is now a minister on sabbatical, hence the amazing traveling! She is only visiting Ghana for a few short days, and is then off to other countries in Africa.  Anyway, it was very exciting to hear from a former student.  She knows exactly what we are all going through, and gave some great advice. It was also nice to see that some survived the trip, and liked Ghana so much that she promised herself she had to come back!

So I continued on with my day, until I got home to Auntie Maggie's house.  I felt very hot, sweaty, and tired.  I took my temperature, which turned out to be 103.3, and decided to call Papa Attah.  Papa had Auntie Grace, the homestay coordinator, meet Auntie Maggie and me at a post office.  Auntie Grace drove with me to Garden City Hospital in Kumasi.  I knew I had to go to the hospital, but I was emotionally holding up pretty well for a while.  As soon as we arrived at the hospital, rain started pouring outside.  There was thunder and lightning, and it was literally the hardest I have heard it rain since I've been here in Ghana.  The lights were flickering in the hospital, while I was having trouble communicating what my symptoms were, and I just started crying.  I was also frustrated because anyone who felt my body just kept telling me that I didn't feel warm, yet I was burning up!  And then there was confusion with my last name, and everyone at the hospital kept calling me Elizabeth instead of Kelly. 

Right away, a nurse told me that she was going to admit me for the evening.  I went into a private room with a bathroom and 2 beds.  The room was pretty nice, with lots of windows.  Soon a doctor came in to see me.  The doctor thought I should be tested for malaria, and I went to the lab.  I had my blood drawn for the test.  The odd thing about hospitals in Ghana is that no one wears gloves.  I never felt like anything was dirty, but the hospital does not seem quite as sterile as those in the US.  I went back to my room and received 10 pills for my first malaria treatment.  Auntie Grace brought me some cream crackers for dinner because I had almost no appetite.  She spent the night with me, which was very kind and helped out with my fear.  I received the results back the same evening, and sure enough, I had the malaria parasite present.

The next morning, I had a headache but felt a little better.  I still had a low fever, and took some more treatment.  Auntie Grace brought me breakfast, and I slept almost all morning.  Auntie Maggie brought me lunch, and I slept quickly after lunch.  I was supposed to be discharged at 3:00 PM, but I ended up being very tired and cold.  I got so cold that I was shaking, and had goosebumps everywhere.  The nurses took my temperature, and decided I needed a malaria injection…in my bum.  One shot in each cheek.  I really hope I don't ever have to experience that again.  My bum is still sore from those shots.  Anyway, the shots brought down my fever, but I was told that I had to stay at the hospital for another night.  Later that afternoon, Kwame, one of the SIT staff, came to visit me.  I sat up and talked with nurses and Kwame for about an hour.  This was a really fun conversation.  The nurses were all in their early twenties, and were for the most part, all Muslim.  The nurses wore blue and white dresses, and the "big nurses", or nurses with a higher degree, wore white shirts with blue pants.  The whole afternoon chat made me feel a lot better, and it was nice to have more interaction with people my age.  Auntie Grace brought me dinner later in the evening, which was white rice with some sort of fish and pineapple.  I really missed America food while I was in the hospital.  I do like the Ghanaian food, but when you're sick in a foreign country, sometimes all you want is familiar food.  And all I wanted was my mom's teakettle tea.  But I survived, and slept the night.  The lights were kept on the whole night, which was sort of frustrating.  And people came in all night long.  A nurse slept in my room to keep me company, which was very nice.  At one point in the night, I woke up and saw a man mopping my room.  The hospitals are just very different here apparently.

I woke up around 5:00 AM to find someone bringing me warm water to bathe with.  I had a shower in my bathroom with cold water, but it was running water, unlike my homestay, so I was pretty excited about using it.  I ended up just using the cold water shower because it felt better anyway to use cold water, and an actual shower head.  I received another set of injections in my bum to help the malaria, ouch, as well as another set of treatment.  The doctor came in to visit, and was concerned that I may have typhoid fever as well.  At this point, I was getting very frustrated and confused. I just wanted to know what I had, and what was going to be done about it.  I had another little mini breakdown, and called my mom.  This was actually probably the best thing I could have done to get answers, however.  She called SIT, and talked to Yemi who said that I was being treated for malaria and for preventative typhoid fever.  He also told her not to worry.  I was told by Auntie Maggie that I was going to have to stay in the hospital until Friday morning.  All I wanted was to go home to change my clothes, and be by something sort of familiar.  Plus I felt like I was missing out on a lot of great experiences, like an African Priestess' shrine. 

I was feeling better and really could not sleep very much.  And I was getting tired of just laying down.  Auntie Maggie left, and I slept until around 2:00 PM.  At about this time, I realized my phone was going to die.  I borrowed a charger from one of the nurses, except when I was going to charge my phone, the power went out.  So I just lay in bed, and waited for someone to come visit me.  Kwame and Papa Attah came, and told me they wanted to speak to the doctor also.  Papa Attah told me that I should be walking around the hospital and getting fresh air.  This was my first stay in a hospital, basically ever, and I honestly was not aware that it was all right to just get up and wander around.  Especially in a hospital in Ghana, where I really had no idea where I was going.  But I walked up to the main room with Kwame and Papa Attah, and waited for the doctor there.  Auntie Grace came to bring me dinner, as well.  Papa Attah and I went in to speak with the doctor, and he said that I could be discharged as long as I did not have a fever.  I was so relieved to be able to go back to Auntie Maggies, and be alone for awhile.  I took a taxi home, and ate Auntie Grace's dinner at Aunite Maggie's house.  I have a lot of pills to continue to take, and I have to get a check-up on Tuesday.  For the most part, I am feeling much better, and I will continue to get rest until I feel completely better.

Though I missed some things with my SIT group, I feel like I also gained the cultural experience of a Ghanaian hospital!  It was a scary experience, but also a great learning experience.  I made friends with the nurses, and a couple of them asked me to be their friend on Facebook.  One nurse wants to do henna on me, and gave me her phone number.  They were all very nice, and took great care of me.  In Ghana, it is culturally customary to greet anyone you meet.  But instead of just saying hello, you must ask how they are doing, etc.  This was somewhat odd in the hospital, because everyone who walked into my room said hello and asked how I was doing.  Then they usually asked me how my health was.  I was often confused whether or not to say how sick I was or wait until they asked me about my health.  Oh, the cultural shock.

Auntie Margaret and the Beautiful Kumasi

September 11, 2011

I have arrived in my Kumasi homestay, and everything is going great so far!  My homestay mother picked me up yesterday afternoon.  She is actually a grandmother, who is strong, beautiful, and just awesome.  She came up to our group and introduced herself to everyone, while I was secretly hoping the entire time that she was my homestay mother. And she was!  We live in an area of Kumasi called Boukoum.  I'm not sure of the spelling yet, but the pronunciation is correct.  The area is much different from Accra.  One interesting thing about Kumasi is the great influence of Islam.  In Ghana, the farther North one moves, the more Muslims generally live in the cities.  There are Mosques everywhere in Kumasi, and a lot more Arabic writing around.  I even can hear the call to prayer from my homestay!  The one thing I really do like about Ghana is how noisy everything is.  I fell asleep listening to chatter, goats, drumming, and singing.  This morning I heard a gospel choir, and currently I can hear music that resembles a marching band.  In Kumasi, there are also trees, grass, and open spaces.  Our house is very large, and much more open to the outdoors.  Whenever I eat meals, I eat on a back porch that is beautiful and completely open to the air.  Boukoum has a large quarry for stone, so I think a lot of the jobs here are in that industry.  Becca, another SIT member, and I live within walking distance from each other and will go to school together.  I think we are within walking distance, but I will have to wait to see on Monday for sure.

Yesterday, my homestay mother showed me my room, which has a huge bed and is very big!  Then we walked over to a restaurant/bar in the neighborhood.  I met my homestay mother's daughter, brother, granddaughters, grand nieces, and general friends.  We had some Guinness and Star together.  This was probably my favorite time thus far in Ghana, because everyone was cheerful and happy.  The weather was beautiful, and it was very nice to relax.  My homestay mother is named Auntie Margaret, and her daughter is Julie.  They looked at pictures of my friends and family, and were really excited to hear about my life in America! This was a really welcoming experience.  Julie thought my dad was really attractive, and told me that she wanted to come to America to marry him! This morning when I woke up, she called me daughter and reminded me of how much she liked my dad, hahaha. 

On the walk home, I met many more of Auntie Margaret's friends and family.  Her granddaughter, Anita, who is 10, walked me home as well.  Anita taught me a song in Twi before dinner! I want to write it down with her sometime today so I can remember the words.  Anita has an older sister named Evelyn who also sat with us.  Auntie Margaret's house is beautiful! She has a large gate on the outside, which actually keeps the goats in! She has many many goats wandering all around the house.  Yesterday, Anita let me hold a baby goat.  This was such a cool experience!  The goats wander outside of the compound but know exactly where they sleep and get fed.  One of the goats is pregnant, so maybe I'll even get to see some newborn babies.  At my homestay in Accra, I was used to be awakened by roosters in the morning.  Here in Kumasi, the goats woke me up! They kind of squeak at one another, and I heard one of the mothers looking for her two babies. 

Yesterday for dinner, I had plain rice with spicy red sauce, chicken, and salad.  Auntie Margaret kept telling me to eat and eat and eat.  She said she never wants me to go hungry, which definitely will not be a problem in this house.  I really like having a more motherly homestay mother.  She loves to hug and fuss over me, and she constantly calls me her daughter.  It's nice to have someone taking care of you, especially when you are so out of your comfort zone.  This morning I got to sleep in, and I ate spicy sausages with eggs and bread for breakfast.  I also had black coffee, Nescafe instant.  This was a nice surprise because I have been missing black coffee a lot recently!  The only downside to my meals is that I eat all alone.  People walk by and chat with me, and Auntie Margaret checks on me, but I am usually alone.  The Ghanaian culture, especially in urban places, seems to not eat meals together very often.  I do miss American meal conversation, as well as just sitting at the table after the meal is finished. 

Auntie Margaret is a very interesting woman, and I'm excited to learn more about her.  She has a farm with cocoa and many other things, but says it is too far to travel to with me.  She raises goats, and has a very large family.  She said that she was married when she was 19 but divorced at the age 22, and because of the stigma with divorce, has not remarried since.  She is also very religious, and is taking me to a Methodist church in her neighborhood.  Yesterday we were talking about snow, and she said she spent time in London and Germany, where she was able to see snow for the first time!  I think she will have great stories to share, and I'm excited to speak with her more.

K-Kumasi

Off to Kumasi!

September 10, 2011

On Thursday, instead of having class, our group went to Calabash Dance Africa directed by Kofi Gademeh.  The dance and drumming studio is located in New Town, a developing-ish area of Accra.  The studio was on the second floor of a building directly on the side of a busy street.  Kofi had his drummers play multiple songs for us while the dancers performed many traditional dances.  The dances were from Togo, Benin, Senegal, but were still very traditional African.  Ah, the costumes were amazing as was the performance! Kofi had our group get up and learn 3 different dances as well.  We will be dancing almost everyday once we get to Kumasi, so this was a short preview!

On Friday, we left for Kumasi.  The entire group was expecting to literally take a tro-tro to Kumasi, which was terrible thinking about on a bumpy road for 5 hours.  So we were all very anxiously surprised when a bus pulled in to the University! We had an actual bus, a very nice Western treat!  The ride took an hour longer than expected but we stopped a few times for gas, and once to allow a woman selling turkey and yams on the bus for our lunch. The drive to Kumasi was absolutely beautiful!  There were trees everywhere, big hills covered in trees, and just much more green space than we have been used to in Accra.  The landscape started to look a little more like what one may picture Africa to look like.  Kumasi still has roads, dust, dirt, etc. but there are definitely more trees and even patches of grass!

We arrived at Lizzie's Hotel, and went immediately to a place called Kandie's for lunch.  Unfortunately we are mostly upstairs in the hotel, so we had to carry all of our luggage upstairs.  At the restaurant we ate rice with chicken and had fanta.  Nothing in Ghana has started exactly on time, basically because of the culture.  We were supposed to take a tour of Kumasi in groups, but the tour started an hour later than expected.  Our group got to dance outside of Kandie's and just hang out, but the "Ghana time" was getting to some of us.  Taking the tour was frustrating for everyone.  Because the sun sets around 6, our tour was cut very short.  My group ended up stopping the tour, because we could not see anything anyway, and we walked back to a tro-tro station.  Everybody was really frustrated, cranky, and kind of hungry.  Eventually we got back to Kandie's and ate pasta with spicy red sauce.  I think the entire "tour trip" tested a lot of our patience and street skills, but I know experiences like that are something that I will learn and grow from the most.

Last night our SIT group stayed up late and bought some wine and local beverages.  It was nice to have a night just to hang out, especially right before our homestays.  Right now, it's about 8 AM and I can't sleep anymore, probably because we have been waking up so early for school. I'm really anxious to meet my homestay family today.  We are going to Kandie's for lunch again, and then off to meet them!  Apparently, the people in Kumasi are a little more excited about our visit, which is similar to our own American culture.  I really like Kumasi, but honestly have not seen enough of it yet.  It is a much smaller city than Accra, but still seems busy.  The atmosphere is definitely different however, and I'm really excited to learn more and see more.

Last Few Days in Accra

September 6, 2011

This is our third to last day in Accra, as our group heads off to Kumasi on Friday morning.  I feel as though I am finally becoming accustomed to certain things in Accra, which is a pretty comforting feeling.  As we live so close to the Madina Market, I know my way around the market and can walk to my homestay alone.  Since many of you know, I'm usually horrible with directions but having to learn my way around Accra is a really good challenge!  I also feel much more comfortable walking on the streets, in general.  The streets all have large gutters with sewage and garbage on either side, so as you walk, you have to avoid them at all costs.  The traffic is absolutely crazy because in most places, there are no signs, lights, or traffic directors.  Yet the tro-tros, taxis, and cars all figure out how to get to their destination.  And I have actually only seen one traffic accident.  Despite feeling more comfortable, I have been feeling a little more homesick.  I feel like the feeling kind of comes in waves and in certain situations.  I miss Coe and ASA, as well as all my friends there. I really miss my family too.  Amy is moving on with her life, and a part of me definitely wishes I were there to share in her changing life.  A boy on our trip, during a conversation about all of our homesickness, reminded us that everything at home will still be at home when we get back.  This was a really nice reminder.  Of course there will be a few changes, but I'll only be abroad once and my home, along with the people in my life, will all be there when I get back to the states.

Today for lunch, a group of SIT students walked across the University campus today to take advantage of a deal at a sort of pizza restaurant, comparable to pizza hut, located in a gas station.  The deal was 2 for 1 pizzas.  I ended up eating a very American puri puri chicken pizza that was delicious! We all drank coke or fantas and bought some ice cream treats for dessert.  I do really love the Ghanaian food, but today the western food was just what we all needed.

Tomorrow is our last day of the Twi language course in Accra.  We will be picking up a Twi language class once we get to Kumasi, as well.  We have to perform a skit in Twi with a group and do an oral quiz with an instructor.  Twi is quite hard, for many of my group members, myself included.  The language is extremely tonal.  However, the more I hear it being spoken, the more I can catch in conversation.  Terrin and I have a lot of studying to do tonight, and I know that the entire group will feel better once the quiz is done tomorrow. Yesterday Terrin and I tried to practice with our homestay brother, Kwese, who is 30 years old.  He told us that students can actually choose to learn a variety of traditional African languages in school, and he happened to not choose Twi.  However, most people in Accra speak Twi, so he knows how to speak Twi in most conversations.  His mother, our homestay mother, Helena, is actually Fanti and speaks Fanti.  Therefore, Kwese and his siblings all speak a mixture of Fanti, Twi, and English.  Jifa, my homestay sister, who is in her twenties, is the only sibling who learned Twi in school.  The whole family was extremely helpful, and I found it really interesting to learn that they had actually not been speaking just Twi to each other while we were in the house! Who knew?

Also, Terrin and I have a 2 year old homestay sister, however, she is technically our homestay mother's granddaughter.  Anyway, this past week she has become a lot more close to us and started speaking a lot more to us.  Her family is actually teaching her English because they know she will learn Twi from her friends and family later on.  Her name is Jo, and she is absolutely adorable.  Everyday when we come home from school, she runs up to our legs and hugs us. It's nice to feel a little bit more a part of this family too!

I'm really ready to travel to Kumasi, and begin traveling in general.  Walking home from school today, I thought, I won't be in Accra again until October.  And when I'm back in Accra, I will only have a month left in Ghana.  This was a comforting thought as well as an exciting thought! I'm really excited to compare different parts of Ghana, and see a huge portion of the country. 

I have taken a ton of pictures already, and definitely want to put them on my Facebook. I'm going to try to do so tomorrow so hopefully you all can see a little glimpse of my life in Ghana thus far!

First Free Weekend in Accra, Ghana

September 4, 2011 – Accra, Ghana Homestay – Madina Old Road

This was our first weekend free in Ghana! On Friday night, Terrin and I stayed at home and played with our five and two year old host sisters.  They are really fun to play with, and they love hanging out with us in our room.  On Saturday, almost the entire SIT group met at Legon (the University) and took a couple tro-tro's to Labadi beach.  We were all super excited to see the ocean or Gulf of Guinea.  The beach was beautiful and really big.  We were definitely able to see home similar this beach was to the Caribbean.  I literally had to keep reminding myself that I actually was in Africa.  There are restaurants, umbrellas, chairs, drinks, and tons of people.  The weather was gorgeous and very sunny.  There are a lot of people selling things on the beach, as well, and I bought a Ghanaian flag and painting to take back home!  The ocean was warm and very fun to swim in.  Unfortunately, the beach itself is quite dirty as there is basically litter everywhere.  In the ocean, the waves are so big and the tide is so strong that swimmers are not allowed to go much past their chest.  Apparently, many people have trouble swimming out far with such strong waves.  And the litter in the ocean hit your legs in the water, which made me kind of sad.  I think all of us got a little sunburned too because we all literally stayed at the beach from the morning to around six p.m.

For dinner, eight of the SIT students took a tro-tro to Osu.  Osu is closer to downtown Accra, where there are big buildings and the lifestyle is a bit more westernized.  We found a restaurant called Mamma Mia, surprisingly an Italian restaurant!  There was pizza and chicken nuggets and French fries.  I ate a delicious pizza with eggplant, olives, and mozzarella cheese.  The area and restaurant were definitely the most tourist-y place we have been to so far.  It was kind of nice to be in a more familiar type of restaurant and sneak a little Americanized food.  After dinner, we were all exhausted and came back to our homestays. 

This morning, we were supposed to go to church with our family but our family is having visitors over so we ended up just eating breakfast with them.  Our host mother said she would take us to church sometime this week, which would be a really interesting experience.  Terrin and I decided to go explore a little bit. A lot of the other SIT students are going to church, so I think we only have a small group of three students exploring today.  We are planning on taking some tro-tro's to Jamestown.  Apparently Jamestown is near the National Museum, the National Theater, Osu Castle, and Nkrumah's Mansion.  Since today is Sunday, the area itself shouldn't be too busy and it will be nice to explore a different part of Accra.  Hopefully our afternoon plans work out and we are able to see some museums or something.  Tonight we are going to try to visit an Internet café near our house for the first time, which hopefully goes well too!

Accra, Ghana - First Homestay

August 30^th, 2011 – Madina, Old Road, Accra, Ghana – Homestay

We have already done so much as a group that I cannot even believe that I have only been in Ghana since Friday.  Up until Monday, we were all staying at the Suma Court Hotel.  On Sunday, we were able to attend a funeral ceremony in a small village.  The funeral ceremony was very interesting because unlike those in the United States, funerals are celebrations of the life that was lived and the entrance into the new after life.  The entire village is usually expected to attend.  In this particular funeral, we were outside under a small roof with wooden benches scattered in a small square.  All of the women and men of the village were dressed in outfits made of the same fabric.  People not dressed in this fabric were wearing black, red, or brown, which are traditional mourning colors in Accra.  The men were on the other side of the square set up on benches in two rows facing one another playing drums.  The drumming was amazing.  As the songs were played, the women would get up and do traditional dances with one another.  In a couple of our previous lessons we learned how to do some traditional dancing so the women of the village were able to pull us up and do some small dances.  The women were so strong and powerful, and extremely beautiful.  They were also extremely friendly and generous.  The family of the person who passed away were dressed in beautiful black outfits and passed out ginger biscuits, a drink made from maize and water in a small baggie, and small baggies of gin.  The entire ceremony was very interesting and filled with music.

On Monday, we arrived in our homestays in Ghana where we will be staying until September 9^th, when we move on to Kumasi.  I was fortunate to be placed with another girl because my homestay is a bit farther from the University campus.  Terrin and I arrived at our house in the Madina of Accra.  The streets are all made of red dirt and there are booths and vendors lining all of the streets.  The streets are quite busy but smaller than the ones where the Suma Court Hotel was located.  Our house has tiled floor and windows.  There is no air conditioning or running water.  This means for using the toilet, the sink, or the shower, we have to use buckets of water.  Surprisingly, I am already used to this system.  The shower was not at all as bad as I was expecting because of the heat in Ghana.  And the teeth brushing is something I've gotten used to!

Our family consists of four siblings, ranging from ages 20 to 35.  There are two boys and two girls, but I have only met three of them so far.  Both of the daughters have daughters that live in our house.  They are adorable! The youngest is 2 years old and the oldest is 5 years old.  They are so fun to play with, and yesterday we got to color with the older girl.  The food is excellent in the homestay, and I'm hoping to be able to cook often with them.  The family has many cousins and friends also living in the house and in houses next door, yet the entire compound has one main gate to close it off from the street.  Basically, I have only met a few people who are living in my house at this point, but I'm anxious to meet more.  Terrin and I share a very nice room with a ceiling fan!  Yesterday at dinner, we ate with one cousin who was 29 years old and one brother who was turning 30 on Wednesday.  They were very welcoming and spoke English very well.  We talked about a lot and even heard some popular Ghanaian music!

Today, on Tuesday, we left for our first day of school.  We walked down and got a taxis to Legon, where the University is located.  The taxis ride was only 1 cedis which is about 60 cents!  In the afternoon we will normally catch a tro-tro that takes us home.  The tro-tros are small buses that are cheaper than taxis and ride on specific routes.  Yet the driving is very unpredictable and crazy here, and I've seen many accidents already.  The tro-tros are also extremely crowded and something that will take some getting used to.

This afternoon we went to Nathaniel's aunt's home for his birthday celebration.  The ride was a little hard because we were a large group of foreigners traveling together.  Getting so many stares and being constantly beckoned was not something I was expecting to the extent that it exists in Accra.  Yet, Nathaniel's family was super welcoming and gave us amazing food! We had an okra soup, fried plantains, different rices, fried chicken, and ice cream with guava, pineapple, and watermelon! Yum!!!  Riding home from his family's home was extremely difficult and very stressful.  Because Ghana is so close to the equator, the sun sets around 6 PM.  This means that we should normally be home before the sun sets.  However, when we drive home, this is also usually rush hour traffic.  Nathaniel's family drove a group of SIT members, including myself, to a taxi round to get a taxi heading for the Madina.  Without their help, I honestly am not sure we could have figured out how to get home.  Eventually we were able to get off at a TBB Bank in Madina Old Road, which is the road our house intersects with, and we met Kwese, our middle homestay brother.  Terrin and I were very happy to see him and have him show us the way home!  The streets get very crowded in the dark and look much different than they do during the day. 

The Internet has been a pain to get on however. I finally bought a modem that supposedly gives you Internet in any place, it is painfully slow though. And I am able to get on the Internet in my homestay.  The Internet has been broken at the University for a week which is really unfortunate for both keeping in contact with friends and family, as well as blogging. I will try my best to blog as often as I can! And email!

Arrival in Accra!

August 27^th, 2011 – Suma Court Hotel LTD, Accra, Ghana

Finally in Ghana!  Traveling seemed to last forever, but thankfully was pretty simple with no delays.  A few members of our group still haven't made it to Ghana yet, due to delays, and one girl has a missing piece of luggage. 

I stopped on the way to Ghana through Amsterdam.  Unfortunately, the two girls I was traveling and I had an 8-hour layover.  However, the Amsterdam airport is pretty sweet, making the layover a little less boring.  At the airport we met up with four other members of the SIT group (three girls and one boy), and departed for Accra.  I was excited to fly over Africa but the weather was pretty cloudy so there wasn't much to see.  I had delicious airplane food somewhat surprisingly too!  I decided to try out the vegetarian meal, and I was served "fried tempeh in a basah sauce" with a falafel spread on two pieces of bread for a snack. Yum!

Landing in Accra was super exciting and kind of emotional.  I truly could not actually believe that I was in Africa, after only two plane rides.  As soon as we landed we got off the plane right onto the runway.  The plane was pretty warm anyway, but our entire group started sweating as soon as we got off the plane.  Customs was pretty easy, as we quickly found the group leaders and other members of our group.

We dragged our luggage across a street and into a dirt parking lot, where we loaded ourselves into a large type of van and started on our way.  After a long drive through various types of neighborhoods in Accra, we arrived at Suma Court Hotel which is about five minutes from the University of Ghana.  The hotel is beautiful!  There's multiple rooms with two people per room, tiled floor, tapestries, and small statues everywhere. 

So far the food has been incredible! Last night we ate fried chicken, avocado, boiled yams, vegetables in a light curry sauce and creamy spinach with fish! We also tried some delicious white wine from South Africa and some "Star" beer.