I have one more week left. 6 days to be exact. I'm finally enjoying living here, and will really miss it. I'm sure I won't know exactly and to what extent I'll miss people and the environment/Ghana, but it's been a really, really great and unique experience. I know I'll come back and visit again...so thankful to have made lifetime friendships with some of the locals here.
Last night, 7 new volunteers came. None from America, all from the UK. There's a new girl, who's ethnic background is Bangledeshi, in my room. I guess we are the Asian room of the house. Haha. Its so interesting to be the weathered/experienced volunteer and seeing the "newbies" (as they are called) arrive and adjust. I remember when we were all very pale and burning (not I though) in the beginning of our stay. This girl is a bit shy, and has never flown out of the UK before. I think Africa will be a crazy and interesting experience for her!
Speaking of daily living, when I was on the tro-tro one day, I thought it'd be funny to list to you what I've endured/experienced/adjusted to lifestyle wise. Here then, is a candid look at how I've been living:
1. Developed heat rash (very itchy) for the first couple of weeks.
2. Amazingly, had tiny sweat bubbles trapped in the pores of my arms and legs. It's so weird- others got it too...you can literally squeeze the bubbles and pop them.
3. Cut my hair short (was going to shave it) out of frustration with sweating on my pillow at night.
4. Drawn water out of a community well (and charged for it!)
5. Taken many bucket baths and carried many buckets of water.
6. Washed my clothes in buckets
7. Shared a toilet that we don't flush unless utterly necessary (to save water)
8. Had my mosquito net fall on my face many times
9. Slept with mosquitos in my net at night (truly torturous) and of course was eaten during the night. Extremely frustrating!!!
10. Swept the floor of my room with the Ghanaian reed broom- a really great broom I think! It's a bundle of reeds tied at one end, which you fan apart in a twisting motion when using. Then just twist the reeds back together to make the bundle again.
11. Sweated on and was physically stuck to people on a daily basis- in taxis or trotros.
12. Used toothpaste in lieu of pimple cream. This works for those of you interested.
13. Pee'd in a toilet shed- toilet made up of a concrete floor with rectangular cut outs.
14. Pee'd in nature, outside of the shed.
15. Carefully peeled apart napkins and tissue paper to prolong toilet paper supply.
16. Went to the hospital for fevers.
17. Took Immodium tablets (at the village I took it to prevent my having to use the shed too much. The idea came from the 2 other girls, Becca and Anna. Haha)
18. Sweated nonstop and realized the extent of which I could smell. No matter your race, you will smell when sweating profusely under the African sun.
19. Smelled the sewage from the open wide gutters along the streets on a daily basis.
20. Ate snacks from the plethora of walking vendors- plantain chips (yum!), spiced tofu kebabs on a stick (could this be influence from the Chinese community here?), many meat pies (the buttery crusts taste like chicken curry pastries from the Chinese bakeries at home), drank coconut juice from a coconut (the vendors use a machete to hack open the coconuts, then cut it open for you to eat the insides), eaten mangos with the skin on it (Ghanaian style), watermelon, oranges, pineapple, cacoa fruit (with cacoa beans in the middle, which we don't actually eat), Fan Ice (frozen yogurt in plastic pouches, drank water daily from plastic water sachets, eaten boiled corn from the roadside...and more
21. Slept in a thatched hut (on beach), in my uncomfortable bunk under my moquito net (with boards pushing into my back, creating bruises), slept on the floor with a thin mattress in the village, slept comfortably in the botel with thick foam mattress, as well as a nice mattress in my friend Linda's house.
22. Had flies swarm about me while on the sweaty, challenging hike to Umbrella Rock at the Boti Falls.
23. Lived in my flip-flops (surprisingly!) and had them turn a reddish/peach color due to the red dirt.
24. Had a terrible phelgmy cough for the first several weeks. I hated it, my cough would wake me up at night and was exacerbated by the extremeley dusty road conditions.
I'm sure there's more but I can't think of anything else.
I have yet to journal my thoughts on race and America/Ghana...that will come at a different time.
Thanks for reading this long list. Hope it was interesting, see you at my next entry!
~T
