an obruni in Accra...

well my first week in Accra Ghana coulnd't have gone much better. my orientation has gone really well, and I only have one day left in the capital before heading to my placement saturday morning. i have nothing but positive things to say about volunteer abroad.. they have been fantastic, and definitly recomend them to anyone who has interest in doing work abroad.

the week started out with a few days taking it easy and checking out the local area... everyone wants to talk to the obrunis in town! haha, thats what they call white people in Ghana = obruni. I'm starting to respond to it as though it was my name - and have never felt they are refereing to me with that term in a negative sense. they are nothing but curious and want to hear where you're from and why you are in ghana. the children especially are very interested and will run up and try to touch your skin and wont know what to make of us pasty white folk! haha, little girls in particular always ask to touch my hair and giggle to themselves calling me yellow...

we have spent the past 4 days doing language and cultural training - and i gotta say, twi/chi isn't as hard as i had initally anticipated. its coming along really well and i'm hoping by the time i head home i'll be pretty fluent! we also spend our days learning traditional Ghanaian dance and drumming. They are both challenging and really really fun to learn... and our teachers are very patient with us "obruni's who can't dance." haha. We have learnt two traditional dances and the drumming that goes along with them... I have to say i love the drumming. The past few days another volunteer and i have just been playing and enjoying the drums whic are hand made by our teachers! yesterday we went to see two of our ghanaian friends dance... and they were beyond fantastic - it was actually unbelievable how talented they were. They sand dance and played the drums, and it was such a humbling experience... they were amazing.

we've also spend days on the beach; cleaning up and looking around. sights included... the crashing waves, children running around, and a mama pig with her pigglets, haha. yes, pigs, horses, and lots of garbage can be found on the beach... so there are only a few beaches in accra you can actually swim at... which i find so painful, because i LOVE to swim! we did make it to a beach for a day of swimming and it was fantastic... but i also learnt that very few ghanaians know how to swim - and are discouraged when they are children to play in the water... mostly because of the dangerous currents along the coast.

I have one last day in Accra for orientation, to work on my twi/chi and learn how to cook two traditional Ghanaians dishes! I'm really excited... cheers till i make it to an internet cafe again!