The Amazing Race – Tamale edition

I’m not sure how chronological these post are perceived, I’ve tended to write them all at once and post about the past several days. I figured that breaking them up and adding pictures might be a little more pleasing than a 4 page post to read. And you might get tired of me asking this, but if you have any input I’m ready and willing to shape this blog to fit the interests of whoever is reading it.

Anyways, I’m still writing on Sat May 9th at like 12:30am. It’s been a long day but I’m not feeling too tired so here’s another post. So after arriving in Tamale at around 1:30am two overseas volunteer staff (OVS) picked us up from the bus station and herded us into cabs and off to our new home for 2 days the Catholic Guest House, again like a motel. After unpacking a bit and getting organized and hydrated me and my short term roommate Adam aka AFK his initials, crashed around 3:30am when prayers were beginning at the Mosque and the roosters were crowing. We slept in till 9, I had an awesome cold shower which feels amazing after the incredible amount of sweat one accumulates in this humidity, then breakfast was waiting for us in the middle of the compound

And yes, you guessed it, fried egg sandwiches, but this time with sliced mangoes and milo malt milk (kinda like hot chocolate). It was a great start to a great day, I gotta give it to Shamir, Gato, and Ryan for making us feel welcome, just like Mary and Kelly did in Accra. It was a pretty relaxed day, we sat around for a while and talked and asked questions, then went out to lunch where I had Banku (a doughy/starchy substance with sauce and fish) with an ice cold Fanta, again thanks to the OVS’s for leading our “field trip”, a good analogy our past Windsor JF Ashley told me was new JF’s are like puppies that are constantly learning and making mistakes, very cuirious, won’t stray because of fear of the unknown, and will pretty much follow you anywhere. After stopping by the bank we were off our leashes and the amazing race began! Well…..it wasn’t quite an amazing race but we were in groups roaming around Tamale on a scavenger hunt for things like Malaria meds, cloth, cell phones, the 2nd season of Lost (doing some chores for the OVS Ryan), and couple other things like Fanmilk (a tasty frozen ice cream treat). It was pretty fun talking to people in the market, or at least attempting to, which was pretty busy. If you don’t look where you’re going you easily run into someone or something. Everyone we talked to was pretty friendly and helpful often sending us to talk with someone else who might have what we’re looking for or know where to find it. Of course, being pretty ignorant and clueless our group ended paying thrice the actual price of some things, we didn’t know any better and didn’t know much about the Old Ghana currency which everyone tells prices in, and the new Ghana currency which everyone uses. On the whole it was a good day, learning how to interact and talk with a Ghanaian accent/different words to use among other things.

Another thing, although I’ve heard about it and seen pictures, it still amazes me how elegantly and gracefully women carry large items upon their heads without hold them with their hands. There’s so many new things to soak in it’s hard to cram it all into blog post without exceeding 20 pages, but I’ll do what I can. We ended the day by visiting the new house of 2 other OVS’s (Sarah and Wayne) and enjoyed some good food and drinks as well as good company.