It's official...I am in love with Ghana!

Hello!

This week flew by. It's crazy how fast time has been moving here recently. Here's what I've been up to:
Last weekend I spent a whole day at a park just outside of the city called Rufus Green with other exchange students, my friend Jeneni came over to my house and helped me do my laundry (whatta pal!) then we went to the Accra Mall. This weekend I had my first Twi lesson (so, so helpful!), got my cell phone fixed, had a hilarious conversation with a guy on the tro tro, went to a comedy show and out for pizza with my host brother and his friend (who was in the show and who I can unbiasedly say was the best act of the night). Today I'm going to the beach and then to a friend's house in Tema, which is a city just about thirty minutes outside of Accra. Otherwise I have been staying very busy with cadets practice and school stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to the U.S. Embassy to take care of my absentee ballot and later in the week we are having the first girls' soccer practice at school. Yay!

At home it was a week of change. My Auntie Hannah (who lives in the UK but was in Ghana for a few months and had been here since I came) went back home. My cousin Ekua, who I was really close to, left today  to start boarding school in her home village. I'm going to miss our walks at night to the market or in the morning to the bread stand, and her teaching me how to do basic things like washing my clothes. My 23 year old host brother Desmond just got back from a five week trip to Germany (where he was visiting an old exchange student), so I finally got to get to know him. This week we were without power most days (so many of the jokes at the comedy show were about how ridiculous and unresponsive Ghana Electrical Company is haha), and without running water until Friday. On Friday afternoon we were in the middle of cadets practice and we saw a huge gray cloud rolling in. We kept practicing and not more than two minutes later, it was suddenly POURING rain. Buckets of rain like I haven't seen since that huge storm in D.C. this summer. Everyone started screaming at the top of their lungs and frantically running back towards the school. It was total chaos and we all got drenched and it was hilarious. And that rain made us having running water again! It's the little things in life :)


Today marks exactly one month since I left DC. There are many times when this experience has been very challenging (you try hauling buckets of water in from the well outside every time you have to flush the toilet, even in the middle of the night!), but it is safe to say that I fall more in love with this country every day. On my walk home from school I go down a long road towards the sunset, and this is one of my favorite parts of life here. I know it sounds silly, but many times as I look around at the children playing soccer and the women pounding fufu and then look up at the red and orange sky, I am so happy that it brings tears to my eyes. I am absolutely in awe of this amazing country, and world, that I live in. All I can do to show my gratitude is to make the most of every single day. I am focusing on not taking a single one for granted.

Twi word of the day:
Medase (Meh-dah-seh) - Thank you