10 weeks

Hello again…I want to thank people for taking the time to read my blogs. It means a lot to me that people are interested in my experiences over here in Ghana and the support is greatly appreciated and needed.
My trip down to Accra was nice. The 4 hour bus ride went smoothly (left on time, arrived roughly on time) and was overly air conditioned. Once we arrived in Accra we said goodbye to John, a volunteer from England, who was headed home and we were greeted by Albert. Albert is a taxi driver from Accra and I had gotten his number from another volunteer when I was at the national park up north. He is very reliable and is an expert on getting around Accra, and his name is passed around by foreigners. When I called Albert, he was very friendly and was at the station to meet us. We then went to our hotel. Accra is a great city but there are few affordable hotels, and even those can be expensive. We decided to try the cheapest hotel in our guidebooks and wow, this was no where near luxurious. Oh well, we put our stuff in the rooms and headed out to the cultural center. The cultural center in Accra is a series of stalls back to back (and when I say series, I mean hundreds) selling basically the exact same things. There are wood carvings and wooden animals and masks, many different kinds of jewelry and paintings and African cloth. After about 30 minutes however, you have seen all there is to see. I am trying my best to wait until at least the beginning of July to start buying crafts but I am taking orders, so let me know if you have something in particular that you would like from Ghana.
From the cultural center we headed to the Accra Mall. I had heard that this was fairly brand new and extremely nice. From the moment we walked me, my friends and my mouths dropped open and stayed that way. I felt like I was transported back to the states. Everything appeared quite Western looking and there was a whole lot more diversity walking around. We walked into every store just too look and then there was the supermarket! We had to remind ourselves that we were still in Africa. We then walked to the food court and had our pick in deciding if we wanted pizza, salads or burgers for dinner. Christina, Emily, Clara and I ordered a pizza each and still found room for ice cream. We made our way back to the hotel. Emily and my room had been crawling with huge cockroaches when we arrived but we were told they would spray the room. 5 hours later the room still had roaches everywhere and we decided to pull the prissy American girl attitude and ask for another room. While we had to share a bathroom with our new room, there were no bugs so we were content.
On Sunday we woke up and had delicious egg sandwiches on the street just across from our hotel then changed into suits and headed for the beach. We decided to try the Coco Beach resort because we knew that because we could not afford to stay there, the facilities would be great. For 5 cedis we were able to use the resort pool (which was absolutely lovely) and use the beach in front of their hotel. We felt this was well worth it and happily found chairs to lay on and tan. A little over an hour however the clouds rolled in and we had to go to the covered restaurant area. Here I ordered a greek salad and listened to the radio playing none other than my favorite country songs. I was happy. The rain did not let up though so after a while we headed back to the hotel.
On Monday we had to say goodbye to Christina. She is from Denmark but is now in India for another two month volunteer project. How ambitious of her! Emily (the volunteer from my organization, also from the US) headed back to Kumasi but I choose to stay in Accra for another day. Clara was leaving (back to Denmark) on Tuesday and I have been bored at my place all alone so I wanted to try another day at the pool. Clara and I met with Megan, a girl from Minnesota who I met at Mole National Park, and the three of us found ourselves back at the same resort. There was no rain on Monday however and we spent a beautiful day lounging by and in the pool. Clara and I enjoyed burgers for dinner once again and then we relaxed in the hotel for the rest of the evening. I took the 11am bus on Tuesday morning heading back to Kumasi. I assumed I would be back a little after three but that was before the rain started to fall. I guess the heart of rainy season should really mean flood season. If it wasn’t blistering hot when it’s not raining, I’m sure flooding would be an issue. Due to the torrential downpour it took the bus close to 7 hours to actually get back to Kumasi. By this point I was beginning to lose all patience and knew I had to get back home soon before I had a mental breakdown.
Since Tuesday I have been hanging out with the kids and just trying to find things to do with all the hours in the day. I am so ready for school to start again. This month has gone on long enough and even though I enjoyed the time to travel, the days have started growing much longer and I have began wishing I had company. Last night I invited the kids into my room for another movie night. I let them color too, something they always enjoy. This weekend I plan on hanging out with Emily and Heather (a new friend from Canada), hopefully lying poolside at another hotel nearby.
Have a great weekend!
-Erin
I also finally received the package from my mother. The mail system does work, but it is just another aspect of Ghana life I must be patient with. Hint, hint, I would love any cards and or other notes. Thanks!