Out of place and time

I feel like I'm finally settling into some sort of rhythm here, or at least I know how to navigate my surroundings. There are two cafes that I like eating at. One is called the Basement Cafe, and they have standard Ghanaian food- lots of rice and meat. The other is Tyme Out, which is pseudo-Chinese food with a good selection of beers and soft drinks. Apparently, there is a Ghanaian rivalry between Star beer and Club beer. It's supposed to say something about you if you prefer one or the other. So far, Club is my favorite.

The group has been spending a lot of time just hanging out, doing this and that. Since I didn't really know anyone on the trip before I came, I feel a little out of place, but after talking with some other people, it seems that everyone is feeling that way- out of place in Ghana and in the group. I think that the group is starting to develop a sense of unity and continuity. Hopefully the Ghanaian element will fall into place soon.

One interesting thing about Ghanaians is that they take a lot of pride in their clothing. They dress up for class, they dress up for church, they even dress up to go to the pizza place accross the road from campus. We Americans (and Canadians) are unused to this standard, and we shrug off things like not wearing flip flops or not drying our hair before going out. Our roommates look at us like we're crazy, but they tell us that they already know that Americans are weird, so it's okay. However, I feel like it's important to meet their standards at least a little bit, and with our hot weather hippie clothes, that's a hard thing.

People have started getting sick with various intestinal maladies. This morning Sierra went to the hospital with food poisoning. I would like to think that I will be immune from sickness, but somehow I know that it's coming.

It has been raining a lot, which is great, because the rains were few during the major rainy season (in July). When it rains, mud puddles fill up with red ochre- colored water, and tiny frogs pop up from everywhere.

I got a cell phone, and it gets free incoming calls from the US. The number is 001 - 233 - 25- 516 - 4959. At least I think it is. If you get some random person in Ghana, I'm sorry.