12 things I learned my 1st 12 hours in Ghana

1.  When they say it's hot in Africa, they aren't kidding!
2.  All traffic laws are merely a suggestion that is rarely followed.  Someone makes you mad?  Honk excessively and swerve around them.  Traffic moving too slowly?  Just got off the road to bypass it, then speedily re-enter the road.
3. In addition to #2, when you glance over at the speedometer and it reads 110, don't panic.  Note:  it's in km/hr NOT mph.
4.  Ghanaian have the strongest necks.  Those pictures of people carrying things on their heads are not just for tv.  Women here carry everything on their heads, including suitcases.
5.  Bucket bathing is not that bad! The cold water is quite refreshing!
6.  Everyone will tell "Obroni!!!!" when they see you on the street.  It means white person or foreigner.  The kids will want to touch you.  The adults will wave and laugh and all around you will feel like a celebrity.  Don't let the fame go to your head.
7.  There is this thing that they call "5:30 am." While we only have one 5:30 per day, they have 2 here and you are expected to get up and be ready for breakfast.
8.  Apparently it is perfectly acceptable for the police to stop a van full of obronis just to ask for the girl in the front's phone number.  Hey, what are police checkpoints for, right?
9.  There is a reason the Ghanaians beat us in the World Cup.
10. Goats and chickens roam the street freely here.  And roosters crow at all hours of the day. They are confused and delirious from getting up so early every day (see #7)
11. When they told us that everyone speaks English in Ghana, what they really meant was everyone who has who has gone to school speaks some English.  But really it's hard to tell because of the accent barrier.
12.  Ghana is beautiful!  Our house is on top of a mountain and it's just gorgeous!

Things have been going well so far.  Jet lag wasn't too bag and I think I am getting adjusted.  People are very friendly towards Americans here and they all want to talk to us and touch us because it's quite obvious that we are not from Ghana.  Yesterday we went on a hike to try to see a waterfall, but our guide got "confused"  so we only saw part, but a beautiful part it was!  He continued trying to find the way for a few hours and we followed behind the *whack whack* of his machete.  It was definitely off the beat path, or any path for that matter, and not a tourist area. The forest was gorgeous!  Today we came into the city (Accra) for orientation to the medical side of the trip (and to the internet cafe! wahoo!)  Tomorrow we will drive all day to the northern part of the country to go to a couple towns and to a national park.  We'll stay there a couple days, then head back south.  The food here is very different, but not bad.  I'm not used to eating spicy foods so it will take a little adjusting.  Gotta run! Will update again soon!