Sorry it’s been such a long time since I wrote. I have officially been in Ghana for just over 2 months! In some ways it feels like a lifetime and others only a couple days. It’s amazing how I am beginning to feel at home here after such a short time. Since I last wrote I have traveled to Togo and gotten pink eye. Luckily the pink eye didn’t last longer than a week. Sickness is a way of life over here by the time I get back to the States I should be able to eat off the floor without blinking.
The group I am with went on a short trip to Togo to renew our visas we only got to spend a couple hours in the actual country. We basically had time to eat lunch. The city of Lome seemed very similar to Ghana with the exception that they speak French and the main form of public transportation are motorcycles. Yes, I rode my first motorcycle that day and I will say I was kind of scared. But I did survive. The first week of May I plan on going back to Togo and Benin.
I only have about 1 month left of school then finals start, which should be an interesting experience. Thus far I have only experienced group projects. These projects have been the most frustrating thing I have encountered in Ghana so far. I always thought I would enjoy living somewhere slow paced that was not concerned with efficiency. I was wrong. These group meetings last hours and little is accomplished. Rather than dividing the work up they will sit and discuss nothing. Eventually the group will have talked enough for somebody to write a paragraph of the paper. Then they will copy a paragraph from the book composed by the professor. At first I was concerned about this plagiarism because in America it is a big deal. When I was talking to one of my friends she said it wasn’t a big deal because they don’t know how to check if it is plagiarized or not and that the book the professor gave us was taken straight off Wikipedia. In some ways I cannot wait to be back in American school.
I will leave you all with a list I made on how you know when you have adjusted to Ghana:
1. When you find a bug baked into your bread and you eat around it.
2. When a fan feels like air-conditioning.
3. When your feet seem permanently stained red by the dirt.
4. When hearing people speak in tongues is a normal occurrence.
5. When you adjust to the heat.
6. When having people stare at you is normal.
7. When malaria doesn’t seem like a big deal.
8. When you accept stomach problems as a part of life.
9. When you wonder why America doesn’t sell water in bags.
10. When you look out your window and your surroundings are familiar.
