Ghana be fun...

In to Africa...

Akwaaba! It has been a very quick introduction to the workings of this county so far, time has no meaning, or at least it is a reference to “Africa Time”. I learned this lesson pretty much as soon as I got off the plane and joined about 399 other people in the immigration hall. “No, matter” I thought, they have 12 queues here… four of those counters were for the ten or so returning Ghanaians, and I was hopeful that they would allow other people to move over once they had space. It was not to be, the officials manning those desks shut up and left a soon as they had processed their own queues. Having been shunted through various queues by officials who seemed to open and close desks randomly and seemingly at will, I eventually got to hand over my passport, and was waved through into the baggage hall without any hassle at all… apart from mixing up my right and left hand on the finger printing- I’ll learn one day. All in all the hour long wait could have been worse, and on occasion it has been.

The next hurdle was the baggage hall, and while most of the cases had come off a very overcrowded carousel quite easily I was still one missing… fearing the worst I set off in search of it. Despite the odds I did manage to find it. In a corner, by a door, and under a pile of other bags and suitcases that had arrived from all over the place. I have never seen an international airport with so much commotion and so many people. At least not at this stage in the proceedings; despite the controls, immigration, customs, and having to have all bags checked against receipts before leaving the airport non-passengers can freely access everything. Which was a great help when people from the school arrived to help move bags and push carts, but just adds to the chaos and mayhem when people are stood in the immigration hall holding sign boards with names on, or generally meeting and greeting by the baggage carousel, or asking if you would like a taxi as you move through the customs channel. I did however; finally get home, just in time for a shower and a straight to bed.

It was a good job I had a shower as it turns out, because I awoke on Thursday morning to find no electricity and no hot water. I am aware that this is a state often found in Africa, but again I still had my, “No, matter” head on, and naively thought that they security guard would turn the generator on and the water would heat up, and the lights and the fridge would all snap back on…. Turns out he would have done, but there was no diesel for it. Cold shows and unpacking beckoned.

In a desperate attempt to avoid unpacking, I have way too many clothes and pairs of shoes for any normal person… well maybe not, but when you are counting up the amount of clothes hangers and shoe racks you need it certainly starts to feel that way pretty quick- maybe the tally chart was the wrong way to go about it, 220 coat hangers is never going to look good when written in single lines; I went for a run. Well it started off as a run, I was originally going to try and run some kind of a lap around the “block” and I use that term loosely as I can, 1. Because they have very haphazard roads here, and 2. Because I have a very bad sense of direction and even running in circles could b a challenge J I have learned that EVERYONE here is VERY friendly and frequently wanted to have a little chat as I was running. I have never been asked how I am by so many people I have never met before. This could be because they genuinely want to know, or maybe because they are a little perturbed by the random stranger in a bright pink skirt running in circles. Think my money is on the second option; I was more than a little obvious. I have also discovered that it doesn’t matter what country you in, running thru a building site is never a good idea, although these workmen were very polite and chatty rather than the rude ones I have previously encountered, or, at least they were very polite and friendly in English- I have no idea what they were saying amongst themselves, but given how strange I appeared I could make a few guesses. I will be taking a Twi (Rosetta Stone should get one that) for beginners’ class on Tuesday tho, so maybe next week I’ll know what they are saying, then again, maybe I am better off not knowing.

So, 28 hours later and the water and some electricity is back. I am not 100% how the wiring in this house works… apparently it is on two different circuits powered by two different sub stations. This, on some level, makes sense. However, it does not explain why one half of a double socket works and the other half does not, why, if I have three lights in a sequence the middle one is on and the end two are not. Why would you wire a house like that? The dinning room does not work, but the bedroom above it does? The fridge and the kettle don’t work, but the microwave does? It is insane. There is no rhyme or reason to the schematic!

The interesting experiences didn’t stop there. There was the medical, for my work permit… the doctor invited me into the waiting room, and then decided they didn’t have enough seats and asked me to sit out on the step and wait…the fun didn’t stop there …taxis, setting up bank accounts, starting a new job, learning some Twi, the weather… but for now I’ll stop at the very first observation and continue again next week.