first ten days

Greetings from ghana. So far I have been living in an international student hostel (ISH) with mostly other californians and some from indiana. Our group of about 50 has been attending orientation lectures and traveling to nearby accra. We definitely stand out as "obrunies"(foreigners). The flight here lasted about 20 hours, and from there we took a bus to the campus. As obvious wealthy foreigners we are constantly getting hustled for money; I sometimes feel like I am a walking wallet. On sunday 7/27 we went to the beach. There were numerous bars and restaurants there, as well as arts and crafts. The temperature of the ocean here is the warmest I have ever felt, but the ocean and beach are covered in trash. The garbage disposal system seems inadequate everywhere here. I brought a frisbee to the beach, and met some locals who wanted to play, I could tell that frisbees and americans were novelties to them. The next 5 days were filled with lectures on aspects of ghana (economic political historical) and a traditional african drum and dancing class. I have been spending most of my time with other americans, as it will take some time to bridge the cultural gap to befriend ghanaians. I have been fairly healthy so far; one morning I woke up with two bug bites on my neck and a very swollen upper lip. I went to the doctor who said it may be bed bugs, so I sprayed my bed with Raid, no more bites. The money system here is in cedis and pesoways. one cedi equals about 1 dollar and a pesoway about one penny, which makes thinking about money fairly easy. Local food here is cheap, I have been eating food from vendors on campus for usually about one cedi. Ghanaian food consists of a lot of fried rice, cabbage, fried plantains (like bananas, very delicious) fish and chicken. Most locals eat fufu, which is some sort of dough with fish sauce over it and chicken or fish on top. I did not like it because I don't like fish. There is plenty of mango coconut banana and pineapple for very cheap everywhere.
The customs here take some getting used to. The handshake consists of a shake, a grip, and then snapping your fingers off of the other persons middle finger. The left hand is seen as the dirty hand here, one must not shake, wave or eat with it. Making a fist and waggling your thumb at someone is equivalent to giving them the finger.
The dorms I have been staying at is 4 stories high with an open air hallway and central courtyard. The showers have no hot water, which is a little rough. The power goes out for a few hours every few days. Today I am leaving the hostel and moving into the larger dorms, which has even less comforts.
The weather here is hot and humid. This is the wet season, so it rains about every other day. This is nice though, it is a warm rain.
The city of Accra is a massive free for all. Everyone drives fast and crazy, not stopping or slowing down for anyone. People are also always honking their horn. Most shopping is done in outdoor markets, each stall having random things from clothing and electronics to tires and tvs. Almost everything is bartered for which can be both fun and annoying. Although english is the dominant language, most ghanians speak Twi to each other. This leads to lots of talking and laughing at the foreigners who cant understand. The english here is much different, talking can be tedious. I have adopted a slight ghanaian accent when talking to them, which can make it easier. Most people get around here in tro-tros, which are vans that seat about 20 and run routes like buses. These usually only cost about 20-50 cents. taxis are more comfortable, costing about 2-6 dollars depending on distance.
Last weekend we took a trip to the city of kumasi, about 6 hours by bus to the north. The rainforests and plants there were very different and lush. There, we went to visit a large lake and met a local chief. In northern ghana the king still has more power than the president; we got to visit an old palace. On the way we stopped at 3 craft villages which sold crafts and fabrics. We were swarmed by locals trying to sell us trinkets and jewelry. I can't decide if giving these people money is good since it helps them out or bad because I am supporting generic and mass produced tourism. I did buy a really nice sounding xylophone. I have been playing some soccer but i am not very good compared to most locals.
The locals are very friendly, but a lot of the time they only want you to buy something or help them out in some way. I bought a cell phone but international calls are expensive.
That’s all for now, hope everyone is doing well and feels motivated to get out there and travel
Much love - Forest