First Impressions

Jamie Pickett

Wow, we are definitely in Africa.  The first time I think it really set in was when we were driving from the Airport and we saw a group of ladies in traditional dresses with loads of fruit on their heads. I have always thought that I’ve been pretty good at balancing stuff on my head- books, water bottles, laundry baskets- but these guys blow everything I’ve even attempted out of the water. One person said they even saw a guy balancing a TV on his head! Maybe they will teach me while I am here.

The Heat- I have heard other interns say this before, but I never know I could sweat so much in a 24 hour period.  I’m like a little kid sleeping in their car seat with a coat on- all the time.  The shower only has cold water though, so that will be really nice at the end of the day.  A lot of people will always carry around a handkerchief or similar just to wipe the sweat out of their eyes. Some of the clothes that the Africans wear look like they would be extremely hot, like a lot of black, jeans, and long sleeve shirts. They obviously have adapted to the heat and humidity.

The People- The people are really friendly and their English is hard to understand, although it is getting easier.  Ross and I have learned some things to make it a little bit easier to communicate though.  For example, when people ask “how are you?” our normal answer is “I am good”.  We have since learned to say “I am fine” because that makes more sense to them. Another interesting thing is that when you shake hands, you slide your hand off theirs and snap your middle fingertips together. (Normally when you snap, you press your middle finger against the top of your thumb and it snaps on the base of your thumb.  When doing it Ghanaian style you press against the other person’s middle finger and it snaps on the base of your thumb).  I am not very good at it yet, but the kids are usually willing to practice with us! 

The Place- Ghana is beautiful! There is a lot of foliage and red dirt. This means that our feet, the bottom of houses, clothes, sheep, goats, tires, and anything else that comes in contact with outside ends up red.  Where we drove outside of Accra there is no garbage cans and as a result, the garbage ends up getting trampled into the red dirt.  There are also a lot of chickens and goats everywhere.  I was surprised to see how unique a solid building structure was. If not made out of mud and clay bricks, a lot of the buildings are made out of wood and tin and it looks like nothing truly fits.  The Abu’s house that we are staying in is one of the few exceptions, however, and has cement, wood, tin, tile, and paint. 

All in all, Ross and I have been in Ghana for 2 days and are absolutely loving it! We love the people, our hosts, the other interns, and are excited to begin classes today.