Week 1. Complete.
It has been exactly one week since I landed in Ghana (at least at the time I wrote this) and I have experienced more new things in the past 7 days then in the last year. But here are some thoughts that are standing out to me as I write this.
First: Saying goodbye to my mother at the airport never gets any easier. Being the favorite (hair flip) and being the only girl makes it really hard for my mother to come to terms that I won't be near her for the majority of this upcoming year. But I hope that this blog will be my outlet for all of my feels and one of the forms I keep in touch with my family.
Second: I was not able to update my blog for a few weeks now. This was due to several reasons. One: I simply didn't have internet. And Two: When I finally did purchase 20 hours of WiFi (that's how you do it here, people,) I realized that Ghana was banned from Weebly. Yes, BANNED. There goes my attempt at a blogging (I thought) but after researching a bit I was able to get in contact with Weebly and they were REALLY nice about it and were able to let my account bypass the ban. Lucky Me.
Third: I. Have. To. Do. Laundry. By. Hand
I've done it twice in the past week (so it won't pile up on me) and each time I'm reminded about how really spoiled most of American society is compared to the majority of the world. I will tell you guys, however, that we can have our laundry done for us, but hey why spend money on something you already know how to do. (I did my laundry when I visit my family in El Salvador, but i'll save that story for another time).
Other Shenanigans:
Cho-Cho's (I think that's how I spell it): So Cho-Cho's are as close to public transportation as Ghana gets. They are micro buses, or in reality, vans that carry people from stop to stop for very low prices. My friend and I got on the cho-chos by ourselves a few days in. Getting to Accra Mall was uneventful, but coming back I had the misfortune of getting the seat next to the door of the van. Why is it bad you ask? Well in the chocho's there are two people: the driver and the cho-cho mate. The mate hangs from the door of the van and advertises for the cho-cho. He yells the destination (usually shortened ex. Circle would become cir) all the while the door is wide open. So coming back I had to hang for dear life as the van bumped around.
Kakun National Park: Lol I'm afraid of heights and I did a canopy walk. Lets just say it involved a lot of tears and laughter.
-KiM
It has been exactly one week since I landed in Ghana (at least at the time I wrote this) and I have experienced more new things in the past 7 days then in the last year. But here are some thoughts that are standing out to me as I write this.
First: Saying goodbye to my mother at the airport never gets any easier. Being the favorite (hair flip) and being the only girl makes it really hard for my mother to come to terms that I won't be near her for the majority of this upcoming year. But I hope that this blog will be my outlet for all of my feels and one of the forms I keep in touch with my family.
Second: I was not able to update my blog for a few weeks now. This was due to several reasons. One: I simply didn't have internet. And Two: When I finally did purchase 20 hours of WiFi (that's how you do it here, people,) I realized that Ghana was banned from Weebly. Yes, BANNED. There goes my attempt at a blogging (I thought) but after researching a bit I was able to get in contact with Weebly and they were REALLY nice about it and were able to let my account bypass the ban. Lucky Me.
Third: I. Have. To. Do. Laundry. By. Hand
I've done it twice in the past week (so it won't pile up on me) and each time I'm reminded about how really spoiled most of American society is compared to the majority of the world. I will tell you guys, however, that we can have our laundry done for us, but hey why spend money on something you already know how to do. (I did my laundry when I visit my family in El Salvador, but i'll save that story for another time).
Other Shenanigans:
Cho-Cho's (I think that's how I spell it): So Cho-Cho's are as close to public transportation as Ghana gets. They are micro buses, or in reality, vans that carry people from stop to stop for very low prices. My friend and I got on the cho-chos by ourselves a few days in. Getting to Accra Mall was uneventful, but coming back I had the misfortune of getting the seat next to the door of the van. Why is it bad you ask? Well in the chocho's there are two people: the driver and the cho-cho mate. The mate hangs from the door of the van and advertises for the cho-cho. He yells the destination (usually shortened ex. Circle would become cir) all the while the door is wide open. So coming back I had to hang for dear life as the van bumped around.
Kakun National Park: Lol I'm afraid of heights and I did a canopy walk. Lets just say it involved a lot of tears and laughter.
-KiM