Discovering Accra

How do I even start..for the first time in my life, I'm actually experiencing culture shock...and weirdly, not in any way I had truly thought.

But moving back to the beginning:
I arrived last night on a flight from Amsterdam at approximately 7 oclock. It was already dark and when I stepped off the plane, I was hit by a wall of pure humidity. So much for dry heat - don't know where I read that but it could not have been more wrong. The airport reminded me of those I'd been to in Barbados/Hawaii/Nicaragua/BVI - open and tiny. Mind you - this is the main airport for the capital of Ghana - one of Africa's best developed nations.

I was greeted by several Ghanaian people from CIEE (whom I would soon learn are our "U-pals" = Students at the University of Ghana employed by CIEE to help us make the big transition). We (the U-Pals, CIEE assistant director, several students and I) drove to the Coconut Grove Regency - a beautiful little hotel with a pool and AC! We checked in to our rooms only to be greeted by several CIEE students on their way out to a local hang-out/bar (they'd either been there since this morning or for several days). Well, not wanting to miss out on the bonding, I dumped my bags in my room and turned right back around - not a Cedi in my pocket (Cedi and Pesues are the Ghanaian currency). It was well worth it. I met a good number of students as well as some local Ghanaians.

A note on Ghanaians: It's a little disconcerting at first (which is a very interesting commentary on America) but the sheer friendliness and happiness of the Ghanaian people is entirely overwhelming. In the bar, people had absolutely no trouble just walking over to us, shaking our hands and introducing themselves. My media-fed, manhattan bred mind was immediately suspect. What did these people want from me?!? Over the past 24 hours, I've had a few of them ask for money but for the vast majority of them, they were just being polite and interested in making a connection/ learning something new. Just today, while walking through a market, I had a man touch my shoulder (Ghanaians have absolutely NO concept of personal space). I absolutely flinched and did a little jump away. He laughed a little (but not unkindly) and said "Do not be afraid, I just wanted to say hello and welcome to Accra!" He shook my hand and introduced himself (and I back) and simply walked away with a smile. Now there's an example of American paranoia meets common decency if I've ever heard one!

At about 1 am, we hopped in a car and wound our way over the choppy pavement back to our hotel. I fell right to sleep and woke up at 645 to start a new day. Breakfast was served from 7-745 - a bizarre amalgam of boiled eggs, some cottage cheese - esque stuff, cereal and a few other things I didn't recognize.

Orientation started at 8. Lectures on culture shock, transitioning, housing, safety, health, communication, money, and other logistics were broken up through out the day. It was broken up with one major excursion - a scavenger hunt. These are among my favorite things to do abroad. I remember doing it in Amboise, France on my very first study abroad trip and it was a blast. It was INCREDIBLY different this time. There are no good maps of Accra. Public transportation has a very bizarre form of "organization" but you can hardly call it that. And my God, the city is big. We were given a few key twi phrases, an U-pal, and a list for each group of 5 and were sent out into the city. We only made it to a couple of the places in the time we were given but this is where I started to truly experience culture shock.

There are people selling things EVERYWHERE, talking in Twi right and left, babies wrapped to mothers backs with a beautiful Kente fabrics, cars that never seem to stop, women and men walking around with baskets of goods and water on their heads, and who knows what else - it was so much to take in! The gutters are literal moats dug into the ground with wooden boards over them. Buildings look neither old nor new - simply cheap. People everywhere say "Hi Oboruni! (which is fittingly the name of my blog - meaning foreigner, or in most cases, white person)" and people crowd together on barely-there sidewalks. While I'm still yet to be overwhelmed by the racial differences between Ghanaians and most people I'm surrounded by, the cultural differences are obvious. Personal space is non-existant and introducing yourself constantly is customary. On a couple of occasions, I got to greet local Ghanaians in Twi and ask for directions - which was really exciting!!!

My computer is dying to I've got to go but it's been an incredible journey already and it's just been two days!