First I'll tell you about Accra!

As I was going into Accra, we drove on the oldest road in Ghana and saw the largest mall in West Africa! I also saw the largest hospital in Ghana. We drove past the largest cemetery too.

There are markets everywhere in Accra. The shops and vendors line the streets and people come up to taxis to sell things. Guess what!!! I saw the market that the pit stop of amazing race was at! Its huge! But even bigger is the central market. I went there the second day and it was kind of overwhelming. The market is like a few streets filled with people. Then you can g through these nooks and crannies until you get to a whole new part of the market. There are people everywhere! I would have been soooo lost without Mary and Emil. I got to see it all from the second floor of a building and its like a whole lot of colors, people, and noise.

On Saturday I also went to a funeral. It was very interesting to see. Tons and tons of people come to funerals. Some people were inside the church singing and dancing but most were just chilling outside. Everyone wears black and red traditional outfits.

I also got to go around and meet a lot of Mary's Aunties and cousins and some of Emil's friends. Unless its very close family, when people here visit friends or family they drop in for about 10 or 20 minutes and then go to the next place.

I stayed with sister Evelyn one night and then the other nights we stayed at the church's mission house in Adenta. Sister Evelyn is a big lady who is very very proud of her weight. She wants me to be like her when I go home, so she feeds me like crazy! I usually can only eat about half of what she puts on my plate.

On sunday we went to church and I met an American! It was crazy because I could tell before he even spoke that he was American. The way he walked and stood was so familiar. And when he started talking I was like "Yup. Definitely not Ghanaian." I didn't even realize that Ghanaian people did these things differently until I could compare it like that. He's from Michigan and is working in Accra for a few months.

Over the weekend I actually started to miss Ho. Accra is a very busy place. I wouldn't call Ho a mellow or calm place but compared to Accra it is. I missed that. Also, even though I am still in the process of establishing Ho as home, its the closest thing I have to it here in Ghana. 

I stayed until Monday. On monday though we didn't do much so me and Florance just hung out and talked. We left to get on the tro tro to Ho at like 3:00 and we didn't leave until maybe 5:30. The trotros that go long distance don't run on a time. They leave whenever the tro tro fills up, even if that is two hours.

Ghana is a loud place.  At school girls are dancing and singing, on the street people want to say hello and chat, at home music is playing, goats are bleating, chicken are clucking, dogs are barking. By nighttime, I am out. For those of you that know how I feel about a lot of noise would guess that I would be rather grumpy right now. Actually though, I've been really enjoying it. People here are so spirited and the noises just seem to fit with the environment. Maybe by the time I get home you will be able to whistle around me and I won't even be bothered! haha. Anyway when we rode the tro tro it was dark and we drove through open land and a few small town. It was so peaceful and it was so amazing to just think. I felt so refreshed by the time I got back to Ho. To make things even better, Florance and I decided to have a girls day on Tuesday and I missed school! We walked around Ho and watched TV. Accra was amazing! I am so glad I had the opportunity to go but its good to be back.

School is getting better and better. I'm starting to get closer to the friends in my classes. I sit next to a girl named Sarah. She is somewhat quiet (for a Ghanaian) but, boy, can she sing! I visit Esther's class before and after school everyday. Sometimes we all sing and dance. They know Justin Bieber! But now I'm getting closer to my own class so I usually hang out with them after school. I don't stay super long or anything just like a half hour of hour.

The power here will sometimes just randomly go out! The first time I thought it was fun but once when it went out from like 4 to 8 it was not so fun anymore. haha Also I took bucket showers in Accra! I forgot to mention that! Also if the power goes out for an extended amount of time we take bucket showers.

I did laundry for the first time here two weekends ago! I am so proud of myself! Afterword though I got a rash on my hands :( It was gone by the next morning, though, so all is well. Then we hung the clothes up on a line. I'm not gonna lie, its kind of weird to have my undies hanging up for all to see but oh well haha.

The driving here is crazy! They drive very very fast on dirt roads and pathed roads that are not exactly smooth. Also people walk all over the streets and the taxis just speed right passed them. About 90% of the cars on the road her are taxis.

 Also Florance and Papa have been working very hard to teach me Ewe so that I know what is going on around the house. I learned the basics like days of the week, some greetings, parts of the body, numbers, and other random sayings.

 I know I told some of you that I would try to post on a certain day of the week, but, well, that isn't going to happen. Its impossible to follow a schedule here. I never quite know what ill be doing every after noon or how long the things I do will take. People don't really plan things around time. At all. Also I can't control the power outages, so I'm sorry to say that I'm just gonna keep on posting at random days like I have been.

I guess that's it! Thanks for reading! It means so much to me!