I MADE IT TO THE VILLAGE!

Well, the journey to get here was long and interesting. It started off rocky. I was at the airport checking in and trying to move things from one bag to another bag and in the mix of it all, my phone got zipped into my suitcase and put on the belt before I even noticed it was gone. So you already know I made a scene cause that phone is my baby and I knew if I had to spend my last 2 hrs without a phone a would go crazy. So after shedding a few tears and complaining, the lady called and got my bag sent back. I got to make a couple last phone calls and I was off to the motherland.

The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam I sat next to a 400lb German man that didn't speak any English which is probably a good thing because I can get to talkin. So I just made sure not to drink a lot on that flight cause I was on the inside and I couldn't imagine making the fat man get up to let me out a bunch of times. So I slept a lot and watched a couple movies.

When I arrived in Amsterdam, I used the internet for a minutes and then found a chair that I slept on for 4 hours. That time difference had me so messed up. But when I woke up from my nap in Amsterdam I got some quiche and a latte and made my way to the gate.

On my way to Ghana, I sat next to a man that was originally from Ghana who was going back for a visit. He was real nice, gave me a bit of advice and assured me that the people would make me feel very at home. On my flight, half the plane was filled with Europeans headed to Ghana for vacation which I had no idea Accra was a tourist city. I spent my time on this flight sippin a little Chardonnay and watching "Sex in the City". I thought, I might as well enjoy this shit while I can.

So I got into Accra, went threw customs and got my bags. Then I stepped outside and was officially in Africa. There was tons of people outside holding up signs and it was overwhelming but thank God my man Joy was right there in the front. Joy is the man that picks all the volunteers up from the airport and brings them to their village. He is real cool and super nice. We took a cab to the hostel. And when we got to the hostel he gave me some time to settle in and then we went to grab some food. We walk to this restaurant in a hotel and the food on the menu was not at all African food. I order some shrimp fried rice as my first meal in Africa lol. But I can't lie, that shit was good.

So when I got back to the hostel, I was so ready to sleep. The hostel was... different then what i'm use to, but it worked. When I get a chance to post pictures I will. The funny thing is, as much as I was like "damn" in regards to the hostel, it seems like a 5 star now that I'm in the village. The hostel had a "shower" which I will describe like this. You open a old wooden door to a hole in the wall that is tiled. There is water that comes out of the wall on the right side, out of what you could maybe call a shower head but not really and then with a small step up there is the toilet. There is no wall, no curtain, just running water, which after my first bucket bath last night, it sounds like heaven.

After a wonderful nights rest I was ready to venture on. I woke up and Joy and I had breakfast downstairs in the hostel. We then took a cab to the bus station. The bus was small, and old with about 25 people crammed up in there. It was a long three hours and all I could think was I can NEVER EVER complain again about the greyhound or the megabus. When we got off the bus we waited at Joy's house for about 2 hours for a car to take us into the village. We sat and watch an old MTV VMA's dvd from about 3 years ago and ate bananas and peanuts. Oh yea, there is mad chickens and goats roaming freely here which the goats I can do the chickens scare me though. But back to my story.

We got in this car that was covered in red dust inside and out, which at that point I didn't understand. The driver looked at Joy and said "did you warn her about the road". And then they both chuckled. I was so clueless to what I was soon to encounter. When I say this road is bad..... THE ROAD IS BEYOND HORRIBLE!!! I thought more than once, I am going to die in this damn cab. Again, I will be posting pictures. But it's not until you have to drive on that road you can even imagine how bad it is. (oh, and it's definitely the road we take to come to the office, and it takes 45 minutes to an hour).

I arrived in the village in the afternoon. There is one other volunteer staying in my village (which I guess doesn't happen often). The crazy thing is she is from Bloomington,MN (5minutes from where I am from). She has been helping me get use to a lot of things, such as techniques to bucket bathing and knowing the language. Most the people in my village don't speak English so it is going to be essential that I learn Ewe. I only know to say "woezo" (welcome) and reply "yoo" (ok) and "Efoa" (how are you) and reply "edo" (fine). I have a lot to learn. I met a lot of the children yesterday. They are just too dang cute. There was also a funeral going on when I arrived, which with the way they do funerals, Friday the funeral starts and Sunday is the last day of "celebration" and they dance and drink all day. So this older lady came and got me and I was dancing with the people to the beats on the drums. It was fun and I just feel like I need to embrace each and every part of this journey when the opportunity arises.

After I danced, my caretaker Mary had prepared dinner for me and the other volunteer. We ate fish and rice. It wasn't bad. Then I took my first of many bucket baths outside in the bathing room (which is 4 walls about 5ft high, with a whole on the ground in the corner to let the water drain). Me and my counterpart Dela (a man from the village) walked down the road to meet the secretary of my committee. I am working with them to write proposals to get funding for uniforms for the orphans in the village. He was very nice. We sat and talked for a while about Ghana, America and Barrack Obama. They LOVE Barrack out here! When I was through talking to Francis (the secretary of the committee), me and Dela walked back. I have my own room here. Its nice. Has a bed, a fan, and a chair! Way more than expected. I slept good, and woke up to the morning sun at 6:30 am (no alarm clock).

This morning, I ate a good breakfast, egg sandwich and tea!! yum. Half of my committee came to greet me so I got to meet them and practice my greetings in Ewe. Then me, Dela, and Sara (the other volunteer) head into Ho. Mondays and Thursday are office days, so on these days we come into the town of Ho on "Hell Rd". We took a Tro-Tro, which is a van/land rover/the bumpiest ride ever. It's market day today, so everyone in the village was pushing and shoving to get on the tro-tro. It took us an hour of bumpy road to get into Ho. We made it and I met Bismark the head man of the organization "The Bridge". He gave me a brief but very informative orientation. I met a few of the other volunteers, one from Melbourne and one from New York. And then I came downstairs to the internet cafe to update my blog. And after typing this much I'll leave a closing reflection and be done.

Life in Africa is so different then America, yet so beautiful. I think the fact the people in my village are so happy yet have so little is a beautiful thing and it makes you realize that having everything is nothing. I can't wait to learn the language more so that I can make relationships with the people in my village. I also want to volunteer in one of the schools while i'm here. The kids were already using some of my pens and paper to write words and you can tell they have a passion for learning. The people here are going to teach me so much and I can't wait. I already love it here and know that this is where God wants me to be.