Red Red

As I'm sure you've already read, we've arrived safely and in one piece. I wasn't sure we were going to make it on the treacherous flight from London here. I don't know if Silan mentioned the fantastic (and by I mean fantastic, the scarriest) turbulence on the flight down. The stewardesses were laughing at us while people were screaming. Of course it had to be in the middle of a meal. Wine went flying. Trays were sliding all over. Silan looked like she was going to puke. It was great.

We got to the arrival area and it was the great awardness of trying to figure out whether or not any of these white people were actually on a CCS trip or if they were just, well, white people in Ghana. We eventually got our stuff together and went to find Yao outside.

I think Silan wrote about the Beverly Hills hotel so I'll skip that part....I've now been to my placement twice. I'm volunteering at the Victoria Christial Nursery with kids like 1 years old to 3 years old. They yell 'YEVU' which basically means white person. Over and over and over. 100's of times a day. Silan on the other hand gets called "China". Not "China man", not "Chinese", just plain CHINA. It's great.

Silan: Today it was announced by word of mouth (that's how things roll here) that the industrial action was over and health workers were starting to come back to work today. 3 of us, hoping to work at the hospital didn't go for our placements today; however, we did go to the Volta Regional Hospital and were given a tour of all the wards. There were 4 of us there (one was just coming along) and our names are Kristen, Christie, Rebecca and Silan. But to the woman taking us around and introducing us to the staff we were Christine, Christine ("2 Christines!" they would always say), Becky and Sarah. Sarah? Ok. I can be a Sarah. Thanks, Mom and Dad for giving me a name that no Ghanaian can pronounce haha. Apparently all of us (2 of us in reality) were nursing students as well. The hospital is huge and very nice as it is the hospital for the enitre Volta region. The physio unit has machines and equipment very similar to what is seen in Canada.

Janelle: We've just moved to another internet place because the power went out. Hopefully this will last longer. Power outtages are common here. I guess it doesn't really bother people here that much because everything moves so slowly. SLOOOOWWWWWLLLYYYYYY. When we get back to Canada, it's going to be culture shock like no other. What is this rushing business people talk about? I do not understand!

Besides passing the time with lots of reading, card playing, discussions about poo, we do a fair amount of eating. So far, the only real pattern that I've seen is red red. What is red red? I don't know. Someone said it was tomatoe sauce with oil. And yet it is spicy and has a kick to it. They put this in/with everything. Beans. Vegetables. More vegetables. Rice. There's also plenty of salad. ANd peanut butter. I've been avoiding the latter obviously but everyone else eats it like no tomorrow. Unfortunately, I can't eat any of the three fruits they serve here either. No mangoes, pineapple, or watermellon for me :( I've been eating the itty-bitty bananas with cereal in the morning. ANd laughing cow cheese. The two are my saviours.

I should get going as we have to go to a 'typical Ghanaian village' this afternoon where we get to practise our Ewe with the local children there. I'm not quite sure what that means but the continuing volunteers told us that we should look forward to meeting the chief! We'll get pictures up eventually. We promise!!