Still Alive!

So I’m at my placement now, I’ve got internet here but it’s terribly terribly slow. I’ve been trying to upload a picture for the last hour and let me tell you, that’s not gonna happen! I finished my orientation yesterday and went to the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition office to start my placement. It looks like I will be doing exactly what I thought I would be doing. I’ll be assessing needs and efficiency and providing training and manuals for the staff here. I’ve asked to meet with the office staff separately and to shadow them throughout parts of their day. We’re on Ghanaian time though so that hasn’t begun yet.

The infection in my mouth that I developed after I arrived is almost gone which is a relief as it’s good to be able to eat again. Although speaking of eating there are almost no vegetarian main courses here but the plantains and corn are delicious. The vegetarians I have met who are here long term have modified their definition of vegetarian to include the foods that include less meat.

On Tuesday I went to Makola market. It is huge! blocks and blocks and blocks! People sell all kinds of things from super glue to underwear hanging on poles on the street to meat kebobs. While I was there my pockets were picked at least four times! I of course keep nothing in my pockets but every time I checked the buttons on my back pockets were undone. Some thieves managed to do it without me even noticing but most I felt them do it. One of women I went with even saw someone reach in but man do they move really fast, he was gone in an instant. We took the tro tro there and back. A tro tro is a privately run minibus that runs throughout the city. They run on recognized routes(to the Ghanaians at least). There is a driver and a mate in every tro tro. As the tro tro drives by the mate yells out the window something like Cicciccicic(Circle circle circle) or Acaacaacather-sey(Accra Accra Accra 37) and if it’s the tro tro you want you can just flag them down and cram yourself in. You then pay around 25 cents and get off at a stop close to your destination. We left to go home around 5:30 which is rush hour which meant waiting in a 1 hour tro tro line and then an almost two hour ride through terrible traffic. It gets dark at 6:00 after which we have been told it’s a bad idea to be out but if we work until 5:00 I don’t see how it’s possible to get in before 6:00 with such traffic.

Yesterday we were invited to a musical at the National Theatre. They had taken parts of Cinderella and named the musical Cinderama. It was absolutely phenomenal to see the cultural spin on the story and to watch the actors sing and dance so very well. I am so glad that I had the chance to watch such superb Ghanaian artistry.

I’ve made plans to visit Cape Coast this weekend. I think and hope that I have made a reservation at a guest house. I’m planning on leaving early Saturday morning and hopefully getting on an STC bus. Hopefully that will pan out as I’d rather not take a tro tro, they drive really insanely.

Hopefully there will be more blog entries soon as I now have stable access to internet!