Day One!

I have arrived! After more than 24 hours of travel, I am now safely at my house in Ghana. Today, myself with a group of 7 other volunteers arrived at Accra Airport and then reached our home after a very bumping 4 hour drive. In Ghana they decided that the best way to control the speed limit is by having speed bumps every 800m on the road. This combined with roads full of potholes and a ton of people swarming cars to sell food and clothes means a super bumpy ride. But, we survived nonetheless.
During our ride, I had a flashback to my neighborhood in Muskegon with all of the deer we have, but instead of seeing a deer on the side of the road, we saw a baboon!
Once we arrived at the house we were greeted by 2 other interns that have been here for the last few weeks. We had dinner with some of the staff and then headed out to the city of Hohoe to explore. We ended up at the interns' favorite bar. As I sat enjoying my Sprite, it was so humorous to me that unlike in the US where most bars and clubs are full of women dancing, here, the dance floor only consisted of men. And let me just say, they showed up all of us American girls that decided to join them. They weren't huge fans of my salt and pepper move.
Now, we are back at the house for the night. We are still waiting on 2 other volunteers to arrive from the airport.
Having only been in the country for a day, I would say that the major differences I see between the culture here and in the US is their extreme friendliness here. Wherever we went tonight people would say hello and smile. I would say this does not happen in the US, where half the time people ignore the people around them. Our security guard for the night is especially friendly and he is known for memorizing all of the volunteers names and where they are from, including all of his past volunteers! From talking to the interns I have come to realize that I need to chill out a little bit. They made me realize how important it is to talk to the locals and develop a relationship with them since we are living in their community. (Don't worry mom and dad, this doesn't mean I will be going off with any strangers!) But there it is so important to be open and friendly with the people that share the community I have just come into.
With so much excitement in one day, I am exhausted.Tomorrow will bring a full day of orientation and an Ewe language lesson which is the local dialect spoken here.
More to come soon!
Elizabeth