Hi all! Yay for my first post since I arrived. Things so far have been amazing. Maxwell, a staff member from our in-country partners, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) met us at the airport two nights ago. Our first experience involved getting conned out of 10 cedis (about $8) by people in the airport, but things have gone up since then :)
Our house is fantastic. It's on the University of Ghana campus which is just north of Accra (about 20 minutes from the city center). We have 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (one shower with running water!!). I really expected no running water and sharing rooms, so it was a great surprise! Our 'house mom' is Auntie Mary. She's an incredibly beautiful and kind Ghanian woman who greated us all with huge hugs. She lives next door to the house, so it's nice to have her close by.
Yesterday we went around Accra with Maxwell. We went to the IWMI office and met the director (not our boss). He went to the University of Michigan for undergrad and Purdue for his PhD so he was happy to know that I went to a Big Ten school as well. He's a very nice man and offered us great advice for our safety and health (in a much less scary way than the S. African soldier from the security meeting).
We went to the Mankota market today, which is a huge market in the city center. Reena and I bought so much fabric so we can have clothes made here, since there's no way I can survive with pants. We took some of the fabric to a seamstress already who is making skirts for us for $4. It's our 'test run', so if we like the skirts, we'll take all the fabric to her.
We have no internet in our house, but it is supposed to be set up in the next week or so. Then I can upload pictures to the blog.
It is really, really hot here. The humidity is very intense, so as I'm sitting in the shade in the internet cafe I'm sweating like crazy. I'm sure I'll acclamate soon!
It was wonderful to read everyone's blogs so far! It sounds like you all are having amazing adventures. Next time I'll have more to report about our project, since we're really digging in next week. Stay safe everyone and happy travels!
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For you sake, I hope you do acclimate to the humidity! I lived through many a typhoon season where you could literally cut the humidity and serve it as cake on an invisible plate. Didn't seem to matter how long I was there, never got used to it. Sitting and watching TV was enough activity to make me break into a sweat! Praise A/C. Hallelujah.
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