Settling In

Ghana Log 2

Ghana is the greenest place I have ever been.

As soon as we walked off the plane we were surrounded by huge palm trees, hundreds of trees and plants that I have no idea what they were, and vines covering everything.

Driving to our apartments we saw streets so packed with people that they were spilling out into the street, cabs (colored with orange panels in the front and back) driving crazier than NYC ones, and Ghanaians selling everything you can imagine in the middle of the road.

The first few days are a bit of a blur.

My ears were severely clogged coming off the plane and my cold was pretty bad that first day. Luckily, as can be expected, my cold went away very quickly. It must have been my nerves. Each day I woke up feeling better and better.

I've been here five days and love it.

The people are so friendly it is sick. I'm met with an unbelievable curiosity everywhere. I can seriously walk out my apartment and not see a single white person all day. Everyone stares - which sucks a bit - but they all are extremely eager to be interviewed (a huge contrast from reporting from in NYC).

Two days ago I got lost in our neighborhood in Accra, North Labone, and I met two Ghanaians, David and Juice, who helped me get to a restaurant. I had been lost in the blazing sun for over an hour and was extremely stressed out. They decided to stop what they were doing and walk 20 minutes with me to the ChocCheese (the weirdly named restaurant). They didn't ask for anything in return. It was amazing.

I have a gigantic apartment to myself and love my job. The undergraduate students are really cool and we are quickly becoming friends. My job is extremely rewarding - helping students work on stories and report actually rivals my experience teaching in California.

The main thing I needed to get used to was the unreliability of things. The water goes off, the internet is almost never working, the power goes out at least four times a day, and food at restaurants takes about an hour to come out - if you're lucky. Still, I find it kind of refreshing; I feel like my mind is becoming clearer without so many distractions.

I want to stay longer than I am set to be here. In fact, I've already been asking around about extending my flight.

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The photo in this article is by my friend Stephen Zook. Check out his excellent Dateline Accra blog.