Clean sheets and quiet times...

So this weekend we went to Kumasi! It was an epic trip that taught me many, many things about Ghana!:

1. Timetables do not exist. Everyone tells you about "Africa time" before you leave but you can only believe it when you see it! We first went to the STC bus station only to be told there were no more buses by a very unhelpful woman, after which (stressed and tired) we headed hopefully to the VIP bus station where we prayed we would get a bus. Here, however, we were met with CROWDS of people and we told that we could get a number to buy a ticket but three buses had already been filled this way. Our numbers were 77 and 78...

2. You must be prepared to wait. We waited over two hours.

3. People in Ghana are incredibly friendly, that is true, but sometimes only to sell you something and it can get very tiresome with every second person asking you where you are going in the hope you will get into their taxi! However, some people just really want to help - for example the very kind man at the VIP bus station who helped us buy our tickets and get the right bus without asking for our names until the very end!

4. On the topic of buses they are very different! The VIP bus was very comfy and with big seats and blasting air conditioning! I had forgotten what it felt like to be cold again. By comparison the STC bus (we took on the way back) was small and cramped and oh so hot!

5. My guide book tells me music is very important in Ghana. So important, in fact, that no one bats an eyelid at the ear-splittingly loud music blaring on both buses we took! It was incredible and awful in equal measure. Sleep? No chance - unless you're a Ghanaian of course! Noise is consequently everywhere, from the man next door who LOVES to play his radio all day very loudly, to the kids at the orphanage!

7. Taxi drivers (we took a lot in Kumasi as road signs are pretty much non existent!) will always take you, but may not always know where they are going and most likely will not tell you this. So, when we asked one guy to go to the Kumasi Fort we found ourselves at the tro-tro station and therefore had to take a further taxi to the Fort only to find ourselves literally 200 yards from where we had started!

8. No one is ever completely clean. Well, I'm not and I can't imagine how anyone else imagines it! I only have to stand someplace and dust and dirt just seems to find me! This is obviously not helped by sweat, suncream and Deet. My feet in particular need regular washes, water permitting, but I still fail at getting them completely clean before I clamber into bed. It is IMPOSSIBLE! As a result my sheet needs a good wash but I am holding out until I buy some fabric that will do too. I fantasise about being able to buy a nice, clean, fitted sheet or a fresh new towel. Alas, I have lead to believe these are forbidden luxuries... like peace and quiet or feeling cold!

So.. enough of the points now. This weekend was really good fun and we saw lots of stuff - including the Palace and the crazy crazy Kejetia Market which was big, mad and oh so smelly! However I think after my beach trip I got some form of sunstroke as over the weekend I was SO hot and my skin was just burning up! This turned into a painful headache behind the eyes that is only just subsiding now. I had a day off work today to try to rest myself but I will return tomorrow and hope I will be better then!

I have decided to work with Cephas and the small girl Eryiam (?), who had never been to the beach, every day because they get no attention from the teacher so I plan to start simple teaching basic English - the alphabet can wait until they can understand some English!

Love to all, Sal xxxxx