The first week, for real!
Me and Mrs arrived at Kotoka airport around 18.00 on Wednesday the 22nd. We nervously passed through passport controls, handed in forms with immigration information, got our Visas stamped etc. All of a sudden we were outside the airport, and saw a man waveing both his arms with a big smile on his face. This was uncle George who came to greet us together with his daughter Maa Abena. We were driven to their home in Tema. Tema is a city with roughly 700000 inhabitants, and it is divided into 20-something communities. Uncle George, auntie Joyce and Maa Abena lives in community 9. Dinner was served when we arrived and after eating lovely food we soon passed out in uncle George's big bed that he kindly lent us for our stay.
The next day Mrs went to get her hair done, and me and uncle George went to the exchange bureau and did some shopping. On friday we went on a short visit to Vivibon, the school where Mrs is doing research for her project, looking into the Ghanian schooling system. The school is located in Nungua, and we also met uncle Fred and auntie Helen and saw their house were we are staying while working at he school. In the evening, after returning to Tema, we went to Brian's Place, a bar and restaurant owned by Mrs' uncle Brian. We had appointed to meet him there, and he had the chef cook us a wonderful meal of yam and fish.
On the saturday we went to the fishing market were we took a stroll, looking at fish for sale, fishermen untangling their nets (Nej, inga barnslavar i sikte, mamma. Det måste vara en företeelse från landsbygden.), and fields of small fish spread out on the ground to dry in the sunshine. We had a soothing drink straight out of decapitated coconuts before returning to community 9. In the evening uncle Joe came to pick us up to go see his house. House is maybe not the right word, it is at least on the verge of deserving to be called a mansion. It's huge! During our tour through the house I got lost twice, even though uncle Joe was guiding the way. In a similar fashion as our other hosts, uncle Joe fed us properly. We had chinese food and a very nice time!
On sunday we packed our bags and left for our first stay in Nungua with Fred and Helen. We also met their sons, Derek and Leroy, Unidentical twins, and the younger Moses. Unfortunately Leroy was ill, but Derek took us to school the following day. We met the director and the headmaster of the school, and was informed that the school was, and still is, undergoing end of term exams. So both during Monday and Tuesday we sat in as "envigliators", a terrifying term that means that we were handing out exams and making sure no cheating was going on. In the evening we met uncle Alex and auntie Emelia and their son Justin, relatives to a friend of Mrs' dad.
Today, Wednesday the 29th, the school had an extra holiday. Why? Becaus of the total solar eclipse that occured today. This morning we were outside the house in Nungua with special eclipse shades on our noses, looking at the moon slowly covering the sun until it hid it completely for about 4 minutes. Beautiful!
Mrs' has had her last Hep B injection today, an excursion that included waiting in the waiting room for 3 hours, becuse the nurse forgot to tell the doctor about our visit. In the end the doctor wasn't even needed and the whole thing could have been done in 5 minutes from entering the clinic. Annoying, but at least we got it done. We then headed for Legon and met Mrs' cousin Nana Efujaa at the university campus.
Phew! That's the first week! Looking back on what I've written it looks kind of compact and not very intresesting to read... Hmm... Might leave out more stuff in the future, and write more detailed on certain events. I've found a decent Internet cafe with broadband now, some pictures are on their way.... As soon as I remember to bring the cord for the camera with me...
The next day Mrs went to get her hair done, and me and uncle George went to the exchange bureau and did some shopping. On friday we went on a short visit to Vivibon, the school where Mrs is doing research for her project, looking into the Ghanian schooling system. The school is located in Nungua, and we also met uncle Fred and auntie Helen and saw their house were we are staying while working at he school. In the evening, after returning to Tema, we went to Brian's Place, a bar and restaurant owned by Mrs' uncle Brian. We had appointed to meet him there, and he had the chef cook us a wonderful meal of yam and fish.
On the saturday we went to the fishing market were we took a stroll, looking at fish for sale, fishermen untangling their nets (Nej, inga barnslavar i sikte, mamma. Det måste vara en företeelse från landsbygden.), and fields of small fish spread out on the ground to dry in the sunshine. We had a soothing drink straight out of decapitated coconuts before returning to community 9. In the evening uncle Joe came to pick us up to go see his house. House is maybe not the right word, it is at least on the verge of deserving to be called a mansion. It's huge! During our tour through the house I got lost twice, even though uncle Joe was guiding the way. In a similar fashion as our other hosts, uncle Joe fed us properly. We had chinese food and a very nice time!
On sunday we packed our bags and left for our first stay in Nungua with Fred and Helen. We also met their sons, Derek and Leroy, Unidentical twins, and the younger Moses. Unfortunately Leroy was ill, but Derek took us to school the following day. We met the director and the headmaster of the school, and was informed that the school was, and still is, undergoing end of term exams. So both during Monday and Tuesday we sat in as "envigliators", a terrifying term that means that we were handing out exams and making sure no cheating was going on. In the evening we met uncle Alex and auntie Emelia and their son Justin, relatives to a friend of Mrs' dad.
Today, Wednesday the 29th, the school had an extra holiday. Why? Becaus of the total solar eclipse that occured today. This morning we were outside the house in Nungua with special eclipse shades on our noses, looking at the moon slowly covering the sun until it hid it completely for about 4 minutes. Beautiful!
Mrs' has had her last Hep B injection today, an excursion that included waiting in the waiting room for 3 hours, becuse the nurse forgot to tell the doctor about our visit. In the end the doctor wasn't even needed and the whole thing could have been done in 5 minutes from entering the clinic. Annoying, but at least we got it done. We then headed for Legon and met Mrs' cousin Nana Efujaa at the university campus.
Phew! That's the first week! Looking back on what I've written it looks kind of compact and not very intresesting to read... Hmm... Might leave out more stuff in the future, and write more detailed on certain events. I've found a decent Internet cafe with broadband now, some pictures are on their way.... As soon as I remember to bring the cord for the camera with me...
posted by Mats-o-palats-o at 3/29/2006 06:23:00 PM
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