Monday, January 10, 2011

Arrived

After a long flight, I landed in Ghana. As I stepped out of the airplane, the heat hit me. The walk to the terminal was not too long, inside beautiful painted murals decked the walls. There were also remnants left of Christmas: Christmas lights, red arches, stars. Or maybe this was part of the normal decoration, who knows. I got thru customs pretty quickly and my luggage came 5 minutes after I got to the baggage claim. I walked out of the terminal and saw “Joe” holding the UNITED FOR SIGHT sign. Phew. I made it. One of the volunteers was on the same flight as me, was already waiting and another would be coming shortly. When the last volunteer came, we heading to load all our luggage in what I believe was a Subaru. I have never seen so many suitcases stuffed in one trunk. We all squeezed in, Jerome and Joe, and us three volunteers.
The drive to the hotel was quite interesting. Lets’ just say there is lots of honking and maneuvering into lanes. Ghanaians cross the busy roads all the time, so you hear lots of cars honking for the pedestrians to be warned. Then the merging is another interesting thing. I only saw one lane, but somehow that one lane became a 3 lane road. Our driver was amazing; we were literally within inches of the car next to us. So among all these lanes are vendors trying to sell their wares. They walk between the cars, when there is room, and sell everything you can imagine. The women balance the big bins of their wares on their head. Quite amazing. We finally arrived at our hotel. After checking in, getting our cell phones, vodaphone cards, we finally relaxed a little in our room. We, the volunteers, plan on grabbing something to eat at 7. Hope I can stay up until then. My room is decent, can’t complain. The thing I love is I can hear the roosters from my room. Tomorrow, I am heading to an outreach, looking forward to it. More later.

8 comments:

  1. You like those roosters...NOW. Let us know how that is later. Enjoy your experience.

    Therese

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  2. You are right, I may get sick of them quickly. LOL! So we went to grab dinner and as we are walking back on dark desolote roads, 3 little kids are playing and giggling. We walk by them and they say HI. I say hi and they start to follow us, I asked the little girl her name, it was Mandela and she was 7 years old. She grabbed my hand and her brother grabbed the other volunteers hand (at 9 at night!) I was just picturing Amelie walking down the street hand and hand with some stranger, her dad smiling behind us. Cute kids.

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  3. Carmella,
    I'm so sorry I was so out of touch with what you are doing. For some reason I went to your website today, which brought me to your Facebook page, then to your blog. I think this is so fantastic that you are where you are right now. I will continue to pray for you, your safety, and for many blessings in your work there. I wait with bated breath for your next post and all the pictures to follow your return.

    I'll be sure to say some prayers for your little family here in the states. I'm very proud of you and hoping to live vicariously through you while you are on this fabulous adventure!

    Much love! kelley

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  4. im telling amelie her mama loves all the roosters in ghana and that she should ask for one as a pet when you get home...jk!

    its so great being able to read about your trip on here. i saw in your other post a mention of what sounded like some local food...whats the food there like? cant wait to read more

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  5. Ashley, food is delicious. But then again, I have only had the jollof. Tomorrow I will post our special meal in the courtyard cooked by Valerie;). I had a kabob today with this amazing spice, I am going to look for it in the market, hope I find it:)

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  6. PS funny on the rooster comment to Amelie! :)

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  7. i bet the market will be a great...i think the best part of traveling is the food so i cant wait to here more about what youre eating there. the market will probably be filled with all sorts of interesting and tasty stuff you dont see here in the states :) im jealous!

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