Hello! Akwaaba!

I arrived in Ghana safely last Sunday evening along with two other VSO volunteers from the UK, and three from Canada. This six of us have been doing in-country training for the week. This consists of us learning a lot about VSO's work in Ghana, having local language training, and asking endless questions to the current volunteers. The three current volunteers have been amazing at looking after us and answering our questions but after this week I'm on my own! Tomorrow evening I travel by coach to Jirapa. It takes 12 hours. (I have a feeling that a whole blog post will need to be dedicated to that journey).

So far I love Ghana! Accra is a complete assault on the senses - noise, heat, traffic, dust, chickens, goats, car horns. It's a busy, bustling city full of sounds, smells and lots of people. On Tuesday we went to Kineshi market. I don't think I've ever been to a market quite like it. You can literally buy anything there. People hiss and grab your arms as you pass. It's not hostile, that's just their way of getting your attention. Hissing is a very common way of getting someone's attention.

The fabric stalls in the market were amazing! Pretty much every type of pattern and colour imaginable under one roof. I bought a couple of yards of blue and purple fabric to get made into a dress by a tailor. There are loads of tailors in Ghana and it's easy to get dresses, skirts, tops and shirts made.

Food in Ghana is based primarily on carbs. Now, I'm a girl that enjoys a potato but even my stomach is groaning from the sheer amount of rice, yam, maize, bread, banku, kenkey, fufu etc. that's served with every meal. Apparenty in Ghana, when someone asks you what you had for lunch, the meal is defined by the carbohydrate "I had rice for lunch" or "I had banku for lunch". Banku is maize corn and cassava that's fermented and boiled; it's eaten with a hot sauce. It's an acquired taste. Safe to say I've not yet acquired it. On the other hand there are plenty of pineapples, pawpaw, melons and other amazing fruit available in Ghana.

The best way to get around is on a tro-tro; a shared mini-bus that goes in a set direction picking people up and dropping them off. They're hilarious, hotter than the sun inside, and you can shop out of the window when traffic is bad. I think I probably need a few more rides on a tro before I write more fully about them.

But the bubble of in-country training and staying in a hotel in Accra is about to burst and I'm heading to the Upper West in 24 hours. Armed with my new Dagaare language skills (which consist of "Good morning. How much are the tomatoes? What is your father's name?") I'm about as prepared as I'll ever be for the next step of the journey.

N gare le! (I'm off now!)

From Ghana with love xxx