First week in Ghana

It sure has been an interesting first week. There are so many things to say. First of all, in my first week I have been harassed by a man posing to be a ghanaian armed forces member who wanted 20000 cedis or else he said he would take me to jail. He was later arrested and was on the front page of the daily graphic newspaper.
It's really hot here, sweating all the time. The money here is in thousands so you always have huge wads of money. The people are pretty nice for the most part, except because you are a westerner they believe you have all the money in the world so you get begged a lot and hassled to buy things.
I met a nice guy named Frank who is also my age and I have been learning how to drum with him. The other day I saw them kill a live goat by cutting off it's head. It was definitely a wierd thing to say and made me feel uneasy.
Accra is a huge and bustling city with people everywhere. The roads are so jammed all of the time and the smell of pollution is everywhere near the roadways.
There are hundreds of bars and nightclubs which I have been checking out a lot.
I also played soccer with a huge group of deaf men who play ever saturdays. That was a lot of fun. Also the police here are said to be corrupt and when I was with my in country coordinator Peter they pulled us over for not having reflectors on his vehicle. The policeman wanted a bribe, but when he saw me, the white man, he let us go because he didn't want to get reported.
The food is good here, and pretty spicey. I have been eating a lot of chicken and rice.
I am starting to become adapted to the culture and settle into the way of life.
Last weeked we went to Cape Coast and did the rainforest canopy walkway and saw some old slave castles. This weekend we are going to check out the waterfalls in Hohoe.
That's all I have for now, see you soon.

A lot has been happening. Two weekends ago I went to Hohoe where we swam under this huge towering waterfall in a national forest with bats hanging on the sides of the rock walls, and then went to a small african village where we got to feed monkeys banannas out of our hands in a monkey sanctuary.

This past weekend I went to a beach resort with a bar on the beach and a famous reggae band playing, danced all night, smoked some spliffs with about 20 rasta guys on the beach and drummed. At 3 in the morning we got to see all of the fisherman get in their dugout canoes and head out to see for their morning catch. they have to go out between 3 and 6 every morning because that's when the catching is good. it was pretty amazing how they worked diligently and quietly with a professional ease to it as they moved the heavy boats across the beach down to the ocean. then they have to deal with the large surf coming in and undercurrent. to move the boats they put boards down in front of the boat like a track and the logs underneath the hull so that the boat just rolls down and then they repeat that step. That was the best night I have had here so far.
Last monday it was republic day here so there was a beach jam and at night this one street with about 3 bars in a row was packed with people spilled out all in the streets and everywhere. honestly, i was the only white person. that's quite an experience, but the people are mostly friendly so it was fine.
the ghanians love their soccer and music i have noticed.
american hip-hop has a huge influence here and they love it, with many trying to dress like american rap stars.
the pineapple is the best fruit you can buy here, and they have these kebabs with beef and onions that they put hot pepper on which i buy all the time.
i have gotten pretty used to life here, but at the same time it will be good to come home as well. i now realize i am living the dream, as so they say. maybe not the dream of everyone, but the dream of most of the people in third world countries just to be healthy, have food in your belly, and have a roof over your head and spare money to have some fun with. so many people here have nothing, but they still remain happy. it's weird to see kids playing soccer around the sewer with no shoes or anything, but they still have fun and many have big smiles emitting huge white teeth.
until next time...

Dan Fenstermacher