Tuesday 27 September 2011

Has it really only been 2 weeks???

The title says it all! :-)

I started work last Monday - what a bizarre week! Let me give you a flavour of what I faced:

Monday
2 key questions I was asked that stick out for me are:
1) Have you worked before? (?!?!?!?) (Following further discussion this week, it turns out I look like I've just left school - I'll take the compliment, I think....)
2) Are you offended easily? (No, I don't think so) Oh ok, so if I were to slap you would you be offended? (!?!?!?!)

Following 2 hours of introductions I was then sent home with the view to starting properly on Tuesday. It was agreed that, in order to help me settle in, the driver would take me and my neighbour to the nearest supermarket on Tuesday to buy things I couldn't get locally.

Tuesday
On arrival at the office I was told the driver would be ready at 10.30am. This turned out to be 11.15am in reality. I pop over to my neighbour's office to tell her; when we come back out, 3 (out of 6) colleagues from my office are waiting to come with us. Turns out it's an office road trip! The office car is a pick up truck (I always wanted one of those!!) - just as we're about to get in, I'm told "Rachel, you had better sit in front because of your hips" (?!?!?!?!  what's wrong with my hips??)

Afterwards, the driver stops by the apartments to drop things off - we're followed up the stairs by my office who want a nose; so I end up showing off the apartment and introducing everybody to my other neighbour who happened to be working from home. Then it's back to the office - 3 hours later! Random... :-)

Following that trip it turns out that my apartment is now a local attraction...

Wednesday
Public holiday. I spent the day attempting to clean with minimal water, as it was off. Not an easy task! Carpenter was due to come to the apartment but didn't make it. I was asked to phone back on Thursday to see if he could come then instead - actually, this was relayed through my flatmate as it turns out I still can't understand Ghanaian's on the phone.... the accents are really strong!!

Thursday / Friday / Monday - can't really remember doing much other than reading... Carpenter showed up on Thursday - I was told 4pm; he arrived at 6.30pm - that's how the Ghanain's do it! He did a very impressive job of making my mosquito bed posts though.

Today (Tuesday) I arrived at the office at 8.30am as usual, to be told I was going to attend a press meeting at one of the Ministries. We had to be there at "9am prompt" according to the letter. One taxi ride later, we arrive at the Ministry 10 minutes late. We are shown to a waiting room which starts to fill up over the next hour. 2.5 hours later, a Director arrives to tell us that the Minister is not in the office and is unaware of the meeting; and there is no update to give - sorry for wasting your time, we'll call you.

I return to the office, grab some lunch and then sit down to work when the power goes off - the electricity credit has run out and can't be topped up until tomorrow morning, so I'm sent home for the afternoon.

Tomorrow I am due to attend some training with airport staff about accessibility for disabled passengers. Sounds quite interesting - I'm curious to see the attitudes towards the training, especially after this morning's experience.

Moving away from work, I had a very busy weekend. Two volunteers who are staying outside of Accra came to visit - Vincent and Joesphine. Vincent arrived early on Saturday morning and was staying at my apartment; Josephine was staying elsewhere on Saturday and with me on Sunday. While Vincent and I were waiting to meet up with the others, we went exploring. The most famous street in Ghana is called Oxford Street and is clearly aimed at toursists/ex-pats. To give you an example, I have never walked into a Western Supermarket and been unable to afford anything. It's like Harrods but with groceries. A tub of Hagen Daaz cost over 33 cedis (I'm on a daily budget of 10!) It was so depressing.... The others arrived around 5pm and we went for dinner. We found a Western type place which served (grilled) fish and chips - fantastic!!! The food in Ghana is generally great, but it was so nice to have a taste of home! A few drinks were then had (I won a t-shirt!) before heading back to bed at 9pm (!!!)

Just as well we did - I was awoken at 4.15am on Sunday morning by a man with a whistle, another man with bells, and loads of random guys chanting, singing and jumping about! This went on until around 8am at which point the Church started. We have a church at the back of our apartment - let's just say the Sunday service is very loud, and very long (minimum 5 hours). I've concluded that Sunday is a write-off day when it comes to sleeping. Probably just as well the landlord has a 10pm curfew before he locks the gate (which we discovered earlier that week).

On Sunday we went to the beach for some lunch. It was a fantastic place - so good to see the sea (you forget when you're standing in the middle of a polluted city that it's right on the coast); the breeze was fantastic and the food portions were enormous! We're heading back on Saturday for a leaving do which should be good (although quite sad as a lot of the established volunteers will be leaving between now and December).

My brain is struggling to take in everything that it needs to. Between familiarising myself with the local surroundings, culture, work environment, heat and learning both Twi and sign language, I'm exhausted!!! I feel very lucky to be in the apartment that I'm in as it has almost everything I need, very friendly flatmate/neighbours, is pretty much mosquito free and is secured in a compound. The only downside I have come across so far is the guard dog outside my window which barks at the slightest thing and has recently taking to howling at around 5am. Who needs an alarm clock! I need to work on my daily routine though - as I'm a late bird at home, I'm finding that although I'm waking/getting up early I'm still going to bed at my regular time - that'll need to change.... :-D

Think that's all for now. I'm sure much more has happened but I just can't think. In the meantime, here are some more pics for you to enjoy.

Best Wishes to all
Rachel

1) The results of a double-apartment cookathon on Thursday night. We had fried plantain, rice, red red, some random veg mix and salad - yum!!

2) Our updated living room (been playing with furniture) - looks less basic!

3) Fantastic job done by the carpenter!

4) Western dinner (look, there's chips!!!!)

5) I don't think my feet will ever be clean again.... :-(

6) The view at osekan.







Sunday 18 September 2011

1 week in...

Well, I'm almost one week in and still surviving. What a rollercoaster it has been. Training has been very intense but very interesting. Nights out have been fantastic. And I need sleep more than anything (hopefully it will come soon!!)

Wednesday's cultural evening was very good. There was an african band along with some traditional dancers. They were really good, but for us the main perk was to be outside and away from the hotel as we all felt like we had been cooped up in a little bubble for ages! Thursday night saw us at the local pub, which was repeated again on Friday. It is such a treat to be able to sit outside with a cool beer (I won't say cold as it starts to warm up from the minute it's taken out the fridge) listening to music and speaking to randoms. They really like old-school music here - Shaggy, Pato-Banton, UB40 (!!!)

I moved into my apartment yesterday and have spent some time making my room feel a little like mine. It's very basic, but I hope to be able to personalise it over time. I almost feel like I'm in an episode of Friends as the neighbours are always popping in and out. It's nice to know there are always people around - they're very friendly, although I imagine they'll become fed up of my questions fairly soon (so much to ask!!!)

Saturday/Sunday has involved trips to the local market (first one yesterday was terrifying; today's one was better - with it being Sunday, most people were at Church so only certain stalls were open which meant I could take some time to understand the layout, the negotiations etc - much better). Hopefully over time I'll become used to haggling and will know what most of the foodstuff is (haven't a clue at the moment!) My neighbour cooked lunch for the new volunteers today which was lovely. We've also visited the local spot (bar) a couple of times - can see this becoming a local haunt.....!

I start work tomorrow. Let's just say I'm a little nervous. However, I have a later start (10am) which means I can take time to figure out the transport system, and thankfully will be accompanied by a couple of volunteers which makes life a little easier!

I've found myself slowing down in pace this last week which is interesting. Life in the UK is hectic - here it is so much more laid back, quite possibly in large part due to the heat (each day is getting warmer). I still have to figure out handwashing, cooking, cleaning (found bleach on the market but no cloths), etc. Also met my landlord today who informed us that we have to start cleaning out our drains on a Sunday as there are maggots gathering.... lovely! Look forward to next weekend....

I now have two nights out in the calendar during the next couple of weeks so that's good as it gives something to look forward to. Randomly Wednesday is a public holiday so it should give me time to learn more about the local neighbourhood (haven't had much opportunity this weekend).

I've posted a selection of pics below - enjoy!

Deiyo!!! (Good Night!)

Rachel x

Pics:
1 - September's volunteer intake
2 - Thursday night
3 - Friday night
4 - Fufu with groundnut soup and "salmon"
5 - Living Room
6 - Bedroom
7/8 - Induction (yes, we do actually work!!)
9 - Us on the Tro-Tro










Wednesday 14 September 2011

Hello from Ghana!!

Hello!!

Wow, I can't believe I've been here less than 48 hours. The last 2 days have been crazy!

Arrived in Ghana late on Monday night (few delays leaving UK due to weather, but nothing major). The airport was an interesting place - I received my first marriage proposal at the baggage area, had a bizarre experience with customs, was hounded outside for English pounds and then was squeezed into a bus that seemed a little too small for all the bags we UK people felt the need to bring... :-) However, we made it to the hotel safely and it turned out to be really nice. I'd heard horror stories beforehand so was a little nervous, but the people with the stories must just have had really high standards....! It even has a pool and the food is lovely!

We arrived a day late (flights rescheduled due to September 11th) so we're having to fit 5 days training into 4, which is seriously intense (considering we've had very little sleep). However, the sessions are all really interesting and there's air conditioning. Not that we need it at the moment - the weather is lovely! Warm but with a really cool breeze.

I've now had 2 rounds of language training, with another session tomorrow. So far so good I think, albeit my notes are filled with my spelling as opposed to actual spelling (to help me remember how to say things) and I can't speak anywhere near as quickly as I'm supposed to.... Hard going, but my first visit to the market is likely to be an interesting experience!

It is normal in the first week of induction to visit a typical apartment, which we did last night. Turns out it's going to be my apartment (I move in on Saturday). I met my new housemate too, Ronald from Kenya. We travelled to the apartment by Tro-Tro - van/mini bus with around 12 seats in it - and took a taxi back. Interesting experience....enough said! :-D

Tonight we are going to a 'cultural evening'. Not sure what it entails but will find out soon enough!

I have free internet access at the hotel, but it's very slow and can only access certain sites (blog and hotmail are fine; facebook is a no-no). It's been a long time since I've had slow internet - amazing what you miss!! So to those of you who have messaged me on facebook, I'm not ignoring you and I will respond when I can (may be a week or so yet). Skype is a no-no too at the moment but will hopefully get that up and running at the weekend (fingers crossed!)

Hope you are all well!!

Rachel x

Friday 9 September 2011

3 days to go!

So after a year of planning, 3 assessment stages, forms, CVs, more forms, lots of waiting, training, nerves, questions, etc etc, it's all confirmed. Work's finished, flights are arranged for Monday, passport and visa have arrived, packing is almost finished - I'm pretty much all set to go. There are only two important questions outstanding - how to spend my last couple of days (between exciting tasks like defrosting my freezer) and what to have as my last meal in the UK.... oh the dilemma!

Although the nerves are slowly starting to creep in, there's no denying I'm excited. I'm hoping this is going to be the adventure of a lifetime, an opportunity to meet some fantastic people, experience a new culture and learn some new skills.

People have been so supportive of me going. I've had so many lunches, dinners and nights out that I'm now desperate for a break!! :-) Seriously though, thanks to everybody for your support so far - I appreciate it!

I'll do my best to update this blog regularly - hopefully it makes for interesting reading and gives an insight into life in Ghana. For those who're interested, please keep in touch by email (or snail mail if you can be bothered writing letters - there's nothing like receiving letters/pictures in the post!!)

Tattie-Bye!!
Rachel