And here we are! Landing in Ghana was interesting. We walked down some steps from the plane to a bus, which drove us to the terminal. Oh my gosh. The heat and humidity are atrocious; it's good that I'm familiar with this kind of weather! It took me about 5 seconds to put my hair in a bun, tuck my bangs back with a cute headband Amy made for me, and realize that I will have absolutely no use for my mom's cool foreign straightener here. Anyway, then we waited in line at the immigration desks forever. The guy who helped Chris winked at me because he thought I was his girlfriend. Haha. When we finally got through that, we went and got our bags, passed easily through customs, and headed outside to meet Oliver, our friend who was driving us to our hotel.
Holy moly. Walking out of the airport felt like we were walking onto a red carpet surrounded by paparazzi. There were soooo many people picking up passengers, and taxi drivers and luggage helper guys trying to get our business. I followed sheepishly behind Chris, totally overwhelmed and fighting the urge to grab his hand like I always do Craig's when we're in a crowd. We found Oliver and got on the road with him.
That's when I knew I was in for my next adventure. The drivers in Ghana are CRAZY!!!! I don't even know how to describe how nuts the drive to Olivia and Oliver's mom's house was! When we pulled up, Oliver asked Chris if he knew about the electricity issues they've been having the last 3 or 4 months. It turns out the whole country is having problems where the government cuts different neighborhoods' electricity off whenever they feel like it. There's no schedule or rhyme or reason; you ever know when you're going to have electricity and when you won't, nationwide. While we were standing there talking to Olivia's mom, it happened to come back on.
From there, we went to the hotel we were supposed to stay at. We had made reservations, but they suddenly had no rooms available so we finally ended up a different hotel right around the corner. Now I've never considered myself to be spoiled or a princess or whatever, but I have to admit how shocked I am at what life it's truly like in a third world country. And I know I've only scratched the surface as far as what I've seen. My hotel room is not the kind of place I'd ever have imagined myself staying at. But here I sit, grateful for the window unit AC and the dim light of the tv.
Chris took me to a little outdoor bar tonight for a drink and it was sooo nice to sit there and have grown up conversation and begin to find myself again. I haven't done anything like that in nearly two years. Even when Craig and I do go somewhere and leave Charlie with a sitter, he's always in my mind and I always know I need to hurry so I can get back to him. Tonight it was just Brittany, the most delicious beer I've ever had (and I'm so not a beer drinker!), an outdoor table with a disco ball lighting up the sidewalk, and music from 2005. And it was awesome. I came to Ghana to use my gifts as a teacher to help students and teachers here. But I think Ghana is about to do even more for me than I could even hope to do for it. I can't wait!
Tomorrow we're headed to the airport early to try to find our lost friends who never showed up, and then it's off to the village! I'll let you know what happens!
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