The First Days...

The first two weeks of the research and study tour have rapidly drawn to a close! I cannot believe how quickly the time is passing or how great the team is functioning!! I apologize to those of you who have been faithfully waiting for an update but when this is posted it will be the first Internet access I’ve had since leaving Sunyani on May 7.

The first week of our trip was a whirlwind of meeting up with old friends, helping the students adjust to a new world, and dealing with the temperature change from Vancouver Island (10-14 degrees when we left… on  a lovely sunny day) to Accra  (30 degrees on arrival) and Sunyani (aver. 30+ degrees). The students really impressed me and did not use AC at all during our first week! J

While in Accra we stayed at the GILLBET Guesthouse… near the Korean embassy and very close to both the airport and Ossu. I totally recommend it – book early though as the word is out on how great it is! The rooms are somewhat basic but clean and …. Sorry for the topic change but right now I am sitting in the restaurant at Mole looking at an elephant out on the savannah below and wanted to share that with someone as my students are all still asleep!

So back to the room description at GILLBET! While the rooms are typical of a Church run guesthouse (extra firm beds and few ‘extras’), there are other features that make it a great place for a short or long stay. You can get a number of rooms that all share a kitchen and even better there are great gardens and lots of bird sounds rather than cars!! There is also a tire swing but as Shannon found out, you need to watch the approach to it after a heavy rain as you'll be likely to land on your arse in the mud!!

Our journey to Sunyani took a slightly different route this year as we went through the Eastern Region to avoid road construction. The only real highlight of the trip was a bathroom break...a common highlight in Ghana... when the girls and Joanne (nursing faculty member) discovered that they needed to pee into a small trough!! I missed that action as I was already in Camel training mode!

Returning to Sunyani was a like returning home and over the few days that we stayed there we worked to get set up for our trip to Wechiau. The students did the requisite trips to the taylors and I made numerous trips to the bank trying to accumulate enough money to head north! The best change? You can now use Chip-cards here!!!

Other things that haven't changed? Usbett still has some of the slowest food service in Ghana but sometimes it is worth it! I know that this is a boring blog entry but I promise that the next one is worth it! It's about our time in Wechiau and will star a Goat Named Dinner!!