Arrival

JFK to Heathrow - about 6 hours
Heathrow to Accra - about 7 hours
Despite the long journey the travel was reasonably seamless. The British Airways crew on both flights were lovely. I slept on the red-eye from NYC and watched movies to Accra. Not a bad way to fly!

Flying into Accra was certainly a surreal experience. I was surprised that it was not much different from arriving in Los Angeles. The ground is filled with lights and traffic! I didn't expect so many lights so I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike LA the lights are almost all white, no big neon signs. But there is a sense of a grid around which the buildings and roads were built.

You exit the plane and walk directly down to the tarmac. It was not as hot as I expect either. It was very humid though - my ankles were the size of melons despite all the water I drank throughout the journey. Walking into the airport to go through customs the first thing I saw was a large welcome sign from Rotary! I thought this must be for me... but at alas, it was not! It was still neat to see a familiar sign - the message posted was a listing of all the Rotary clubs in Accra, 17 in all, and their meeting times.

My host counselor, Sam, picked me up from the airport. We went to his home and met his wife, than I went to the University. It was a quick journey because I arrived around 9 pm and there was no traffic on the roads out to Legon. I am living in a hostel with another Rotary Scholar. She has been here for about a week. We have a bedroom and two beds. We share our bathroom with another room. Right now we share with a really nice girl from Nigeria who is completing her doctoral studies in Health Science. The accommodations were much better than I anticipated - we have had electricity and running water every day I have been here, and a cold shower is much better than a bucket wash, so I'm pleased.

Living in Ghana has proved to be just as challenging, to be honest, even quite a bit more, than I anticipated. It is a completely different experience than anything I have ever done. I didn't realize the city would be quite so busy. New Yorkers are always said to move fast and in a hurry, well in Ghana, life seems to operate on hyper speed. It's a funny mix because no one seems to be in a rush to accomplish administrative tasks. But it's fast paced in other ways. Things are constantly moving. The halls of our hostel are hopping at 6 am! There are women walking through the halls selling bread and friends saying good morning up and down the hall. Since they do not observe the summer time change it gets dark around 6 pm. So the early mornings are not too bad since we happily go to bed on Ghanaian time too!

To say it has been an adjustment is an understatement. My roommate has been here longer than me and I have happily followed her around as I learn my way. It is an intimidating place when I am left to fend for myself. Each day I get a bit more confident and getting a cell phone - and finding a computer lab, really helped me feel more comfortable. The food is very different, so I brought a little granola and oatmeal to get me through the first few days and that has been very helpful. I have tried to explore some other items as well but it has not been a very tempting. So for now I am taking everything a day at a time and that seems to do the trick!

P.S. Thank you everyone how has sent me emails. I love to read them!