Hi family & friends, as the Ghanaians say; "Akwaabe". Welcome to my blog! If I had to describe these first days in one word: WOW. Everywhere I've been, so much is going on, so many people, so much talking, so many contrasts all around you... Where do I even start? I will just chronologically tell you a bit about what I've done and seen. I am currently in the bus, going from Accra to Kumasi (where I will work). This is called the VIP bus, which means very very nice seats (yes, better then the Delaware Express) and AC blowing (good thing I'm used to that after my time in the US). The past 2 nights I stayed with a host family in Accra, where Victoria picked me up from the airport. That went pretty smooth, except for the fact that I took the offer from a cab driver to make a call with his phone when I couldn't find her initially, after which he obviously wanted me to buy him credit... I just played the dum tourist not understanding him, and apparently my acting skills weren't so bad :-) After a warm welcome with a cup of tea Monday night, I had breakfast at Victoria's house the next day. Here in Ghana, if you're a guest somewhere that (appearantly) means that they let you sit and eat, while they continue doing their own thing. It was enjoyable watching what was going on: Victoria "communicating" to her sons that they need to get ready for school (I say communicating because it looked like yelling to me but I think it was just talking), granddad sat on a chair for at least 1,5 hours trying to call someone with his phone upside down against his ear so that didn't work quite well, and her 2 daughters (15&17) were washing clothes (together they wash clothes for all 7 family members, kind of funny to think that some of us during college bring our laundry home for our mom to wash them for us, opposite worlds..) An impression of Victoria's home: Victoria took me, with her 15yr old daughter (Deweeze) into Accra, which was just one crazy day with so many impressions for me as new-comer to Africa. I literally felt like I needed eyes all around my head and a slow-motion modus to take it all in. We spent most time at the market, which is a very hectic happening. Some things that stood out to me:
We also went to the beach, and having lunch there was a hysterical experience. It is very common to share your food, so the three of us got 2 plates, as you can see in the pictures below. Eating with my hands, which is how they do it, wasn't even that strange, but when I put the bones from the chicken away, Victoria just grabbed it and started eating. "You didn't eat it right!!" She 'told' me. Ghanaians may not be efficient with their time, but definitely with their food. She thought there was still chicken on that bone so she finished it for me :) As you can see in the picture, Deweeze is carrying my backpack. Apparently it is common that they want to do everything for you as 'obruni'. I tried to explain about 4 times that I could carry my own backpack but then I decided I would just let it go. It was actually funny to see my Delaware Field Hockey backpack 'walk around' in Accra when Deweeze walked in front of me.
Besides walking you take the taxi or the 'trotro' a lot, these are really old vans in which a lot of people can squeeze and they are very cheap. As I was observing the trotro, how half of the door was missing, and the stick was falling apart covered in ductape, it suddenly just stopped working on the middle of the road. It was so funny to see how this was clearly so normal for everyone, they stayed so relaxed. In the Netherlands we always complain about our trains not going in time, or not at all, because we always 'need to be somewhere at a certain time', but here it was no problem. We just ended up walking the rest of the way home, so preparing dinner was postponed, no problem. There are so many more experiences I want to share but I will leave it here for now, more updates coming! Excited to see Kumasi soon!
6 Comments
Shari Holmes
8/31/2017 08:50:50 am
MJ- WOW! What an experience you are having and will continue to have. I enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your pictures. Looking forward to seeing and reading more from you. Take good care and enjoy this incredible experience.
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Marjelle
9/5/2017 05:07:12 am
Thank you Miss Holmes!!
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johanneke
8/31/2017 02:25:26 pm
hey schat hoe leuk is dit!!! ik herken dat kip eten, charles eet ook alle botten op! zijn familie is klaar voor je overigens!!! haha
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Marjelle
9/5/2017 05:08:58 am
Haha hilarisch he!! Ja ik zal hem eens even contacten zodra ik hier een beetje gesetteld ben haha, even landen :)
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Patti
9/3/2017 01:15:45 pm
Loved reading your post MJ! Please keep posting.
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Marjelle
9/5/2017 05:09:58 am
Thank you! Yea I was sad I couldn't be there:-( I saw they revealed the sign, how cool!! Hope you and the family are doing well!
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