A full week

So I have now been in Ghana for a complete week. I don't honestly feel like I can tell you all a whole lot about what my city is like, or what Ghanaians are like because I have spent most of this week working in the office or only making trips to town to meet local NGOs. Still, the weather so far has been beautiful, I have heard that this cool weather will not last long so I am trying to enjoy it while it does.

My first volunteer arrived yesterday morning and we have spent this weekend completing her orientation. The first day she arrived we brought her to lunch and went through the first section of orientation information. She ordered Fufu, which I had not yet tried. It is made with cassava a type of root plant from what I can gether, and is rather like a thick dough. A stew is poured over the top of this cassava, and it is pulled apart and eaten with your fingers. She allowed me to try hers and I have to admit that it is not my favorite dish thus far. Ghanaian food has quite a bit of oil which has been a slight adjustment for me.

I must admit I have been experiencing culture shock. I think sometimes that with all of my travel experience and time spent outside of the United States, that maybe the next trip will be easier. As I mentioned, I have not had a lot of time to explore, which is probably adding to a bit of the anxiety I am feeling, wondering what my life is going to be like here in Ghana for the next year. I do recognize that it is culture shock and some ways to deal with it, but it does tend to make me more emotional, irritable, and I have to focus on remembering that I need time to adjust to everything here and to stay calm.

So far, people have been nice- but very curious about me. It has been normal for people to call out to me and ask me where I am going and what I am doing here in Ghana. This morning a woman followed me down the street as I walked to work saying, "Wait for me, I want to talk to you". When she caught up to me, she asked where I was going and said that she wanted to be my friend. It is a bit tiring in places like the bazaar because it is a bit of an overload on your personal space at times (which personal space is a relative concept depending on where you are).

Orientation seemed to go ok for my first try, luckily Sarah was here for one so I could see everything that needed to be done as next month I will be receiving volunteers on my own. Lawerence, my project coordinator, is of course always here to help me. My permanent phone number and address here in Ghana will be:

00233278315083

Briana Jones

ProGhana Service Corps

PO BOX AD 443

Cape Coast, Ghana

West Africa

This phone number I will not have until Sarah leaves on this coming Friday, if you want to contact me before that please call me on my temporary cell phone 00233202461244. By the way, the "00" before the number is for you to dial outside of the United States, so if you are using a calling card you may just need the country code and then the number. The country code is 233 and I have listed that in the phone numbers above.

Next week, I will be living and working in the same place. Basically we have a large apartment that has separate office space and a bathroom, I have my own bedroom and attached bath but it is in the same apartment. On one hand, it is nice to not have to travel to and from work, but we will see how much I like always being in the same space for living and working all the time.

The picture above is of Cape Coast castle which we walked by yesterday evening. I thought it was very picturesque with the young girl standing in front with her wares carried in typical Ghanaian fashion on top of her head.

I hope everyone is well, emails are always welcome. My love to all.