who knows where the time goes?

In Ghana, the concept of time is so much different than in America (and Europe I am told). I wait a lot here. And when they say ten minutes, they mean half an hour or longer. Right now, I am waiting to do work. Any work, I just want to do something. I've done some office work, but mostly I've been reading, writing, traveling. The children do more work than I do. Life here is more difficult then I imagined it would be. I feel like alien, that I'm the black sheep, the most different. There are other volunteers here and the three working at the orphanage with me are all from Germany. Then, there are three other who are from Holland. I'm the only person here who can only speak one language. At times, I also feel that I'm being immediately stereotyped because I'm American- I have it so easy, I'm spoiled and rich. And maybe it's true. But I'm here and I'm trying. I'm trying to fit in. I'm trying to work.

The children are so fascinating here. I've observed many things about them. 1.) The "don't talk to strangers" rule doesn't exist here. Children will come up to you and grab your hand and walk with you. 2.) They eat the bizarre things. Kids everywhere put strange objects in their mouths, but usually by a certain age they stop. But here, they eat all kinds of things including chalk, garbage, staples. Someone even said that since they don't have milk, they will eat chicken bones for calcium, but I don't see how's that's possible. 3.) The kids love cell phones. They are always asking to use my phone to play games. One of the orphans, Manou, is always the first to ask me. He calls me shorty (even though I am taller than him, but probably not for long). 4.) The kids don't really have any toys. Instead, they mostly make up their own games. They also play with rubber bands-making webs out of them or this game where they toss them. They do have a few balls around and they play football (or soccer in America) too. They usually play outside so if they had toys they would get dirty. But I do wish they had trucks or something. The other day, I was terrified because one of the little girls in my compound was carrying around a large knife! She eventually went back inside and but it back. But it's so scary that a knife like that is within her reach and she could really hurt herself or someone else.

Peace like a River

There are so many children here. Everywhere. And they either ask "what is your name?" or shout "va vooe" (however it's spelled), which means "white person." There are two very young girls who live in my compound and they don't speak any English. But they seem to like me and like to come into my room. There's also one orphan here that I really like named Peace. She must be 6 or 7, and she always wants to be held or carried. I haven't done much of anything here yet. I've been feeling rather useless. Things are a bit unorganized and so laidback. Today I finally learned what exactly I'll be doing here. I'll be starting the first month doing office work, than I'll begin teaching English. I'm actually happy about that because I was scared about teaching and that way the kids can get to know me more and warm up to me.

You are welcome

I have so much to write about, I don't even know where to start. I guess at the beginning. I arrived here in Ghana Monday night. That night was horrible. There was no one to pick me up. It was about 10 at night and I was so terrified. My phone had no service and everyone who offered to help me wanted money from me. Luckily, an Irish girl who had just arrived as well came to my rescue and let me use her phone to call Pastor Ezekial (who lived near Accra, the capital, where I flew in) who I was originally going to stay with. I didn't have the number for the Agbozume orphanage, where I am now. Anyway, the pastor luckily picked up and was able to pick me up. He took me to a hotel close by to spend the night. The next day, the pastor picked me off and took me to his house. He said David, who is the head of the orphanage and supposed to pick me up, forgot about me because there was a funeral that day. One of the orphans had drowned. I really liked staying with the pastor's family. He lived at a school, so there were lots of children running around yelling, "white person!" (in their local language). He had a son who was around my age and another volunteer from Germany was staying with him as well. The three of us went into the city (Accra). It was so busy. People were selling everything, they would even walk in the middle of the roads trying to sell you things. It was so exhausting and as soon as we came back I had to leave because I was being taken to Agbozume, which is four hours away. I arrived in Agbozume Tuesday night. I have my own room here and live in a compound with other volunteers and some Ghanaians. There are two volunteers from Germany and two from Holland. There are so many children here because the orphanage is also a school. I haven't done much of anything yet, but I'll be an English teacher. These past few days I've been settling in and wandering about, trying to get used to everything. The toilet here is just a hole. It's disgusting, but I have to bear with it. We also don't have running water, so we have to order water (to bathe ourselves with) and people come and fill up a barrel in our room. We also haven't had electricity for two days, which is difficult mostly because I can't use my fan at night. It is so hot here, but in the afternoon it's nice and cooler. I have only really eaten rice ( with spices, fish, etc.) for lunch and dinner so far. I had a coconut the other day and I have bread for breakfast. Last night was awful though. I got extremely sick. I vomited so much, I didn't think it was possible to vomit that much. I still feel nauseus and can't really eat anything. I really hope this doesn't happen often.

hazy shade of winter

Well, I'm off soon. New adventure, new home, new people, new life. I know I'm running away from my problems here and I'll jsut have to face them again when I return. But maybe I'll figure out how to solve these problems. I'm hoping for the best. I feel similiar to how I felt four and half years ago when I went to California. I was terrified, but so exciting. But I had higher hopes for California, I built it up to be this magnificent place. And it was beautiful, but it certainly wasn't perfect. Ghana's not going to be perfect. I'll be living in a poor village, with little money. I have to use only bottled water. I don't even know if I'll have a shower. I'll have to be careful about what I eat. I'll be prone to sickness, most likely. I may or may not have internet access. And I honestly don't really know what to expect and what I'm getting myself into. But I sure as hell will learn a lot.