**How you know that the computer you're working on has a virus: As soon as you boot up, it notifies you that it has a Trojan Horse.
Good to know, but W-O-W. This computer's been hacked.
Since there's no way I want to log into any of my accounts (for good reason, really) I'm not giving it anything to go off of right now, so I started another blog. Which hopefully will just include this day. If for any reason any other computer I log into has a Trojan Horse (which I thought were eliminated years ago? Shows how much I know) I will update this blog instead, since it's linked to an email address that isn't important.
Regardless, a summary of what's happened so far:
1. Breakfast- Fried Egg on a Roll with a Sausage link (Chicken) - 1.40c
2. Lunch- Chicken with Chips (Fries) -4.50c
3. Water and buying it- so interesting! Water comes bottled for about 1.00c (a bit less than an American dollar) but the best and cheapest way to buy drinking water is in a bag. These bags of water are plastic, sealed on all sides and only cost .05p at max. Oh, an explanation of the c/p's: c=cedi (pronounced CDs), the Ghanaian unit of currency, equivalent to about 1.38c = $1 US (that was the rate at the money exchanger anyways, which I just found out was a bit lower than the actual conversion rate today -1.42) and p = pesewas (sounds like pesowa), like the American cent.
(Check this link to see a pic of the Bagged H2O- http://api.ning.com/files/
So this bagged water is the equivalent of 400mL, and it's extremely cheap. Therefore, my two acquired water bottles are going to keep getting refilled this week with bagged water. It's funny, one water bottle (at least for me) is for drinking out of while the other will be used for brushing my teeth, as we can't use the sink water. A new experience, though every day I am more and more glad that I grew up camping, not much of this is outside of my comfort zone. Drinking out of water bottles, showering in very state-park-like showers, its all normal, just that I will be doing it for a month here!
4. Toilet paper is a luxury. I had no idea. They recommended that we bring toilet paper with us, but guess who forgot? Luckily, when we checked into our rooms last night we were each given a sheet and a roll of toilet paper. I guess I'll be buying more during my stay here.
5. Ghanaian roommates- don't have them yet. We will be meeting the girls tonight at our Welcome Kickoff dinner at 6pm. Can't wait! Can't wait for the food or to meet them. The food should be very good tonight, as our faculty mentors arranged this meal for us. Also on the note of food, it is going to be easy to get protein, it just is going to highly depend on the cost. My chicken at lunch today was a leg- served with half a plate of chips (fries) and a side of coleslaw. Note to self: Get rice instead whenever possible. They eat a TON of rice here, as well as plantains.
5. Street Markets. They exist. Everywhere. Everyone sells different things, from food to electronics, beverages, and there are a ton of beauty salons at different locations within the street markets. Joyce, the first Ghanaian girl who stopped in to give us a tour of campus (which is huge) said that you can get your hair braided for about 8.00cedi. You can also get extensions braided in for about 15.00cedi. That's incredible compared to the rates in the US! The demand is high, but the amount of people who sell the same things is higher, so prices are much lower for services such as this. Mani/pedi here is about 5.00cedi as well. That's less than $5 US. Incredible! However, if anything, I would get my hair braided, not too trusting of mani/pedi... I'm even for some strange reason thinking about dreads...we shall see what happens. I do know that whatever I would choose needs to be out before I start work when I get back. Going to Pixel (now Liquid Thread) with dreads...Elena can pull it off, but I would never try.
6. The lengthy plane ride here. Wow. So this plane ride took up over an entire day of life. Technically it was two plane rides, the first was 8 hours from Detroit to Amsterdam and the second, from Amsterdam here to Accra. In between the two was a six and a half hour layover, which turned into an 8.5+ hour layover due to rerouting the plane since apparently the second Icelandic volcano started? Whatever it was, it took forever. I can now direct you to anywhere within the Schoepel (Amsterdam's airport). I also didn't nap. At all. I slept for about 3 hours on the first flight and an hour nap on the second. Needless to say, I was exhausted upon arrival at 9:30pm Sunday and by the time we went through customs and arrived at our hostel -the ISH (International Student Hostel) - it was already midnight. And we met as a group right after. I probably went to bed at about 2:30am and was awakened at 6am accidentally, but fell back asleep and woke up for good at 8am.
7. Showers- Wicked awesome. Every day is going to be a long one, with lots of cold water showers. I'm thinking I'll probably shower at least twice a day, at minimum here. Which is great, since it feels amazing. The heat is intense, way more than I was expecting. I thought caddying would have prepared me for the heat, and it has, but not anything to this extent. No worries, though, I'll just drink a ton of the water bags!
8. World Cup- Everywhere there are ads for the World Cup, everything from the phone companies to Coke... it's great. There is Black Star fever right now down here. I'm hoping to buy a jersey before I leave. And the SIU guy from Turkey who sat next to me on the plane thought I was sweet since he had never met a girl from the US who knew teams and was excited about World Cup. I was shocked, but we discussed England's chances, and my growing support for the Black Stars while his team of choice is Argentina. Passed the time well on the plane, that's for sure.
9. Laundry- Simply put, I am going to be doing my laundry SO OFTEN. I want to learn how to properly handwash things. Can't wait.
10. Tomorrow- we are going to the actual city of Accra (Right now we are at Univ. Ghana Legon) so touring around the city is going to be great.
I can't believe I've had so many adventures since Saturday. Happy Belated Mother's Day, Mom xoxo!
Besos!
**P.S. I just got back from our welcome dinner where I got to meet my roommate. Her name is Franca, short for Francesca I think. She's super tall and a volleyball player for U-Ghana. You have no idea how excited I was when she asked me if I wanted to train with her while I'm here. Oh wait a second, let me think about that....YES! When we were walking around here earlier today on a campus tour, I was wondering if any girls even played sports, and I am so so glad to hear that they do. And now I will get to play volleyball. And hopefully some soccer. Score! :D
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