October 20, 2009

I’ve been in Ghana for just over a week now. I spent a couple of days in Accra, mostly sleeping and recovering from the worst of the jet lag, and then I flew to Tamale EARLY Wednesday morning. I am doing well. I’ve certainly had to make some adjustments, but that comes with being in any new place. The heat has certainly been a, not unwelcome, adjustment. My thermometer on my bedside clock was reading 31 degrees last night. Fortunately the power came back on Sunday night after a nation wide black out over the week-end, so I had my fan. That’s certainly been something else to get used to—the power outages, which have been averaging about one a day. I’m still amazed by the amount of generators that were uncovered everywhere Friday night in order to watch the Ghana vs. Brazil football match. I watched Ghana bring home the cup in extra time, despite being the underdog, over a nice cold bottle of Star.

Razak (the Ghanaian Project Coordinator) took me to get a mobile phone the day I arrived. Certainly faster than in Korea where it took me a used phone, 4 months, and Kim to get set up. My other significant purchase was Betsy. Betsy is my bicycle.  Betsy has seen some better days, but I love her all the same. Front basket and all! Especially for the price of 75 cedis (roughly translated I think that comes to about $50?). Plus they promised with the receipt that they’ll do all of the maintenance on her while I’m here, and if she’s in good shape when I leave they will buy Betsy back. So Betsy is my transportation to the Polytechnic, home and around Tamale. I pile my front basket full in the morning, and bike for about 15-20 minutes to get to the Polytechnic. I’m hoping a long dormant sense of direction kicks in sometime soon, since I find Tamale even more confusing than Seoul (and there’s no subway to hop on to get back to my neighbourhood).

I’m living in a guesthouse. I’m settling in quite well, I would say. My room’s nothing elaborate: 2 twin beds (already pushed together to create a makeshift double), a desk, built in closet and attached washroom with a sink, toilet, and showerhead. No shower stall and no heated water, but I haven’t found myself missing either. In fact, I found myself just the other night wishing my shower water was a little colder (the water’s not cold, it just not warm…?). My sink is my washing machine. The guesthouse does have a lovely young lady who will wash laundry, but so far I’m managing well by myself. I just wash out most of what I wore that day in the sink each night, and hang it up to dry. The lighter items are usually dry by the morning. My favourite part of the guesthouse is the garden walkway that all of the rooms open on to. It’s filled with tropical plants and lizards! A week in and I still love the lizards. I’ve seen small to medium sized lizards (the largest of those probably about the length of my forearm). The other animals I’ve come to adore are the goats that run around everywhere. One of the first things Razak told me about after picking me up from Tamale Airport was how in Tamale they don’t fence in their livestock. It’s very true. There are goats everywhere; perhaps no coincidence as to why most menus have an extensive list of goat dishes. I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat any goat yet… seeing the kids jump around everywhere just doesn’t seem to make it an option. I’ve also seen cattle clogging the roundabout on the road, and plenty of chickens. Negotiating the road on Betsy around the pedestrians, other bikes, motorbikes, cars, cows, goats, chickens, potholes, and foodstands is a bit of a challenge. I’m up to it though.

I’ve been eating most of my meals at Swad, a “Fast Food” place that’s about 2 minutes from my Guesthouse by bicycle. I’ve been really careful about drinking enough water and eating proper meals since I had a small scare at the Tamale Airport when I almost passed out. Fortunately there was a very nice Danish couple who helped me, and I’ve felt much better since then. I think the small scare was good to emphasize I need to pay extra attention to taking care of my health while I’m here. Coincidentally the Danish couple are staying at my Guesthouse.  Anyway, Swad has a huge range of choices for food—Ghanaian, Indian and Continental. I’ve already fallen in love with jollof rice, and have been making my way through the menu—samosas, omelettes, spring rolls, falafel sandwich. I think there’s more choice on that menu alone than in all of Truro. My favourite dessert there is fresh pineapple. I keep looking at the groundnut soup and the guinea fowl on the menu, but seem to always end up going to something that will be lighter. Perhaps once I become a little more accustomed to the heat I’ll feel hungrier.

Well, that about sums up the impressions of my first week in Ghana.

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