After a month in Ghana, I feel like this is home. I am speaking as much Fante as possible because it earns you so much respect. I greet people in the street in Fante and they are always surprised by the white girl speaking their language. Some ladies around the corner from my house have offered to teach me some more and I think I'll take them up on that.
My neighbourhood is friendly and as I become a more familiar face, people welcome me home in the evenings. It's lovely. I pass a girl called Daina everyday and she has invited me to her house "so we can talk about ourselves." I play ball with some children too except the ball is a plastic sack of dirt that we throw around. I have no idea why but an Obroni catching the ball is hilarious to them!
Feeling more local means you're less likely to get ripped off. Apparently white = rich here, which can be highly frustrating. "odoso" (too much)and "todo" (reduce it) are among my favourite new expressions.
Monday I had my hair braided. Read: well over five hours of tugging, pulling and fiddling. Then they put wax in my hair and set it on fire - I was slightly worried at this point. It was painful and heavy for the first few days but now I like it because it means I never have to wash my hair ever again! Dirty hippy here I come.
I finished my placement at the orphanage officially on Friday. We had a big party and cooked chicken and jollof rice. Jollof is rice cooked in an oily, spicy tomato sauce. It's quite a process but very delicious. The children were in a fashion show on saturday night. The designer tailor made them outfits to keep and they strutted their stuff on the catwalk. They were absolutely adorable. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that I cried like a proud mother at their child's concert. I start radio placement tomorrow but I will keep visiting the kids till I leave because I'll miss them too much!!
Went to Kakum national park yesterday and did a canopy walk over the jungle. The seven bridges were constructed by eight men and were effectively 'well engineered' ladders joined together with ropes. The ladders had planks of wood plonked across them. The suspension bridges swung dangerously and the guide failed to mention that last week, one of the bridges snapped in the middle (my friends saw it swinging sadly) But fear not, I warned all the other tourists half way through the walk. The view was definitely worth it though.
We were told we didn't need any insect repellent because of some trees which naturally repel mozzies. Although a wasp and massive ant climbed up my jeans and had a field day. The ant had sunk its teeth into my leg and wouldn't let go till it had drawn blood the nasty thing. And... we saw a snake on the path. It was only small but big enough to give me a fright!
On the theme of nature, I pat a huge nile crocodile as well. I have photo evidence for those sceptics! The woman gave me a reduced price because I was 'a local.'
Despite jumping straight into Ghanaian culture braided-head first, there is one barrier which will always exist... the colour of my skin.
