Arrival! Akwaaba (Yo)

Today was the first day in Ghana. Akwaaba! ("Welcome!", in Twi, pronounced 'Tchree') My plane was originally scheduled to depart at 8:45 p.m. but didn't end up leaving until approximately midnight due to delays and baggage that was being transferred over from earlier flights. Happily, my baggage arrived with me (sunglasses intact). The flight took about 11 hours. Delta was great, offering a hot hand towel, sandwiches and milano cookies for snacks, and a lot of orange juice and tea. It was tough because I'm getting over a sinus infection and being on a plane in coach is no place to be sick. But, Delta had about sixty movies to choose from to distract me. They have individual touch screens to make selections for each passenger. They also offer a selection of CDs and radio stations to listen to. I borrowed a pair of Bose headphones from my good friend Louis to use for the trip, which canceled out the noise of the plane and let me get almost two hours of sleep.

(Side note: have you seen Delta Airlines safety videos? They're hilarious. Take a look here and here.)

Once I arrived at the airport circa 2:30 p.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time, AKA Ghana Maybe Time), I figured I'd be able to connect to wifi and send an email saying I got in to my dad, but that wasn't the case. The Accra airport is small, with only four luggage conveyors in its entirety. I went through immigrations and picked up my luggage. I converted some cash into Ghana Cedi, which come in bills of 50, 10, 5, 2, and 1. The exchange rate is roughly 2.4 GHS per USD. Shortly following this exchange, a man approached me as I made my way toward Abigail, the woman meeting NYU students and bringing them to the hotel. He helped himself to pushing one of my suitcases over to her and then demanded compensation for his trouble. Note to self: work on asserting / saying "no thank you." I foolishly gave an extravagant tip. FYI, Ghana has a non-tipping culture. This means that if you feel as if you have received good service, you can leave a Cedi or two, but it is not expected that you add a gratuity of 15-30% - as expected in New York City.

The bus that drove the NYU students to the Afia Beach Hotel had air conditioning, to my relief. Handicapped children tapped the glass windows of the bus as we idled at a red light. I saw women carrying bolts of cloth on large baskets atop their heads, stray dogs and cats darting here and there, a goat, people clustered around gravel cutouts, exposed piping from the sewer systems, mounds of rubble, trash in the red clay streets, men laying on stone steps of buildings, a woman nonchalantly hiking her dress up to urinate on the sidewalk, Christmas lights decorating a gas station, and barbed wire fencing atop many of the private residences in Osu.

Our hotel itself is rustic and charming. It includes complimentary mosquito nets. Rooms are doubles. Included within the bathroom are toilet paper, towels, two buckets, and a bar of soap. The hotel is located right on the ocean and has a restaurant, a beach-side bar, a tennis court, and an art gallery. I purchased a 24-hour Internet wifi coupon for 45 GHD before finding out that NYU is getting their own access ID for our duration here. In any case, it allowed me to send the email home that I'd wanted to let me parents know I got here safely and update the blog.

At 6:00 students reconvened to go out to dinner together at Tante Marie, a traditional Ghanaian restaurant. We were served roasted potatoes, beef strips mixed with vegetables, a lovely salad with a housemade dressing/dip, sticky white rice and a spicy tomato sauce (which was described to me as "not that spicy" -- I might be in trouble). Dessert was banana yogurt which was delicious.

I finished up the evening with a cold shower (if you want to heat the water, it takes 15 minutes after a valve is pulled, but who wants heated shower in 80 degree weather anyway?) . Hoping to get up early tomorrow to take some photographs.