#qescholars

          So I broke the handle of my suitcase before I even left the door to the airport, I zipped up my over-packed backpack in Brussels for a tear to run up the side, and I have ripped off the zipper of two bags already since I have been in Ghana. It is safe to say, Brittany is still Brittany, no matter where in the world.

           It is day three in Ghana, and is it ever beautiful! The trees on campus are all swirly and tall, nothing like I’ve ever seen in Canada. The air is quite sticky and thick, have to get used to that one. But everyone is very friendly, always welcoming us with smiles, literally, saying “welcome to Ghana.” It is easy to see the Ghanaian hospitality.

           Through the streets ladies walk around with big buckets and baskets on their heads holding things to sell to you in your vehicle: gum, snacks, drinks, treats, you name it! How convenient right? I don’t understand how they balance them like that though, must take practice.

           A wonderful gentleman named Gideon has been showing us the ropes. He took us on our first tro tro ride yesterday just to get the hang of it. It’s like, a cab in the form of a very large van. There are five rows of seats, the back row fits four people and the remaining rows have three seaters and a flip up seat in the walkway for when the van is fully packed. There is one gentleman that sits by the sliding door, his job is to yell where the tro tro is heading to the people on the streets. There are also hand gestures for each specific place which is pretty neat. This person is also in charge of getting the money from everyone. (And it’s SO cheap!) On our 15-minute ride to downtown Accra I swear we almost got side swiped about four times, and then a truck smashed into the left side of a cabbie’s front end right beside us. I almost hit my head on the top of the tro tro I jumped so high, it was freaking loud, but everyone just kept on going and acted like nothing happened. Okay, cool.

           Another super sweet gentleman named Prince taught us Twi, which is not at all pronounced how you would think. The Twi alphabet is similar to ours, subtract 6 letters and adding two different ones. It actually makes a lot of sense compared to the weird English ways. “Me Pε aduane” means “I want food,” something I will be saying quite a lot.

           My first day I was brushing my teeth in the women’s bathroom and a man walked in whistling and hopped in to one of the showers. With tooth brush still in my mouth, I sauntered over to the door to double check I was in the right bathroom. “Female washroom.” I have now learned that the washrooms are unofficially co-ed, kind of neat, kind of different.

           Today we have a full day of orientation. I’m sure we are going to learn a lot more to report back to you all. I feel like there’s so much more I could tell you about these past few days already! But I am off to breakfast shortly. Missing everyone already!

           Lots of love,