FIrst Impressions

Ever since we arrived in Accra it's been cloudy and warm. About the same as Oregon was before I left actually, except this is their coolest month and it's the warmest back home. It rained a bit today, also like Oregon. I'm living in East Legon, Ghana, which in light traffic is about a 10-minute ride to the center of Accra. Unfortunately light traffic never happens, and the whole city seems to be in perpetual gridlock.

This is the outside and living room of the house, featuring Tom, Alicia, and Zarif. Tom is from Detroit and his charming personality reflects it, while Zarif is from Bangladesh by way of New Jersey. Alicia is from Oregon, and is thus relatively normal. All told there are nine of us living here and in the program. So far said program has consisted of orientation, touring the city, and our class in Twi (pronounced Chwri, sort of.) We learned to ride the trotro, Accra's unique form of transportation involving 12-seater busses packed to the gills with riders, and rode it to Medina market, Accra's largest market.

This is the view down the street from my house. The little stalls sell basically everything, and I've made friends with some owners already, especially the man that sells delicious fried rice, coleslaw, and fried chicken. Ghana is clearly poor, but not so poor that anyone appears to be starving or dying in the streets. In guidebooks and such it's often called "Africa for beginners," and I can see why between the friendly locals and relative stability and prosperity.

Thursday night a local dressmaker came by at our request and everyone played dress up for a while. Most of the women ordered beautiful and cheap dresses, and I bought a Ghanaian-style shirt. I'll leave you with this picture of Taryn (this is the only time I've seen her not smiling) and Zarif wearing traditional African hoodies. Thuglife, yo.