„Welcome to Africa!" - the one sentence I hear most often here in Ghana. And the people who say it, mean it. Everyone's very open and friendly. When I arrived in Accra last Friday night the difference between the nicely ordered airplane (still the flight was different from any other I've been on, for the passengers were all using their seat rows as beds, furthermore the plane was quite empty) and the airport was immense. The passport checkpoint and the entry hall looked like they had not been renovated for years. But, the system was working. Slower than usual but it worked.

That's the phrase I think I can apply to almost every situation. It's gonna work eventually. Just not as fast as I want it to. So take it easy. A taxi driver waited for me at the airport. Somehow he got a wrong piece of information that he should get 3 people there. So we waited for 20 minutes until he finally called the guest house to confirm that the information was false.

I arrived at the guest house and the watchman, after having asked me what the flight cost, wanted to know my email address. A hypothetical ticket to Europ.

The next morning a British couple that has worked for Wycliffe for a long time accompanied me on the 12h bus drive from Accra to Tamale. After having paid all the fees (I even had to pay the people who put the luggage inside the bus) the ride started. It was marvellous to see the landscape change as we got further North. Just as I had learnt in my Geography lessons the vegetation got thinner the further from the equator we got. On our first stop we bought some fruits. I think it was the sweetest, most delicious pineapple I've ever had in my entire life. It was very good to have the couple accompanying me, so I could ask all the questions I had concerning the stunning country and the friendly people.

When I arrived in Tamale, Hannes Hirzel a youth group friend of my mother's and the father of the family I live with, picked me up. They've got a nice 4WD offroad X-Trail Nissan car which just perfectly suits the environment they live in. Hannes was the one who invited me to come to Ghana last year, so I had known his family before. They accepted me very quickly and especially with his children, John (3) and Margerita (5) I get along very well. I lift them up and swing them around all the time. We're having a lot of fun together. The amazing thing is, I have hardly ever seen them cry. They are happy and joyful for most of the time.

On Sunday, we went to a presbyterian church. Again it was different and as well different from what I had imagined an African church to be. We were sitting on wood benches, the sermon was about the good shepherd and how he cares for his sheep. When it came to fundraising, the whole church queued up and walked through the church, the aim being a pot where you could put your money in. Imagine a Polonaise in a club. And slightly different music, then you get the picture.

On Monday I had my first day in the office where I started to work on a dictionary in the Bimoba language. At the beginning I was a little bit depressed because it took me some time to get into the whole thing but on Tuesday I could already be productive and Hannes said that this was just perfect. So I am working, enjoying the weather, the people and I hope that soon I will travel acorss the country and work on different projects.