Thursday, January 21, 2010

Arrival!

11 January 2010
I’m in Ghana and I love it! I now know all eight students of the other in my program and we’re all super excited! Julia and Kelly, the other two double-x chromosomed Goucher representatives haven’t made it yet, but I’ve already had an excellent time with the other two ladies, Emily and Elsa, as well as John, Alex, Peter, and Will. We got into our rooms, (which are great by the way, but I’ll talk about that later) and were eager to shower after sitting in our clothes/ the airport for 22+ hours and sweating promptly upon arrival in Ghana. But… no water in our shower. Now, we have 48 showers at our hostel. And we tried a decent portion of them, running from room to room in our towelish ensemble, arms full of self-cleaning products. We’d turn one on and get really excited—“Oooh, I got a trickle!” And one lasted long enough for me to get soap on my face… but only that long. Luckily, we got enough trickle out of a sink to splash off a bit.
Not enough to rinse out the citrus smell present in my towel courtesy of the “Veggie Wash” that now covers half of the items in my checked bag. So… turns out I won’t have clean produce, but my clothing could be citrus fresh for days!
Our packing suggestions list recommended bringing dark sheets… because they get dirty easily and light ones would need to be washed more often… Back home, our first reaction was, “Gross, I do plan on showering before getting in bed!” But it looks like that plan has already been shot down. Don’t worry— I’m sure we’ll get the hang of the water thing eventually. Until then, baby wipe bath it is!
Other than the shower business, I’m really pleased with the International Student Hostel. It’s kind set up like a motel, in that the rooms all open to the outside. My roommate, Emily H., and I are at the top of the four floor building that forms a square around a grassy courtyard, which reminds me of the quad at Goucher, simply because it is a grassy place where people could hang out during pleasant weather. The rooms are spacious and have a fan and excellent cross-ventilation windows, making the lack of air-conditioning quite manageable, at least at night. At the back of the room we have a door to a balcony that has a view of the city of Legon. It’s delightful! I love my room.
This may not seem super significant to some of you, but I am thrilled to report that not only does Avon Skin So Soft bug repellent not make my skin red and irritated; it also actually smells really good! Gramma, thanks for that wonderful stuff!
And that’s about it so far! (We got in pretty late.) I’ve barely gotten any sleep and we need to be up in the morning tomorrow, so it sounds like the perfect time to sign off! Later!

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