In Ghana

I arrived the night of the tenth and crashed at a hostel in downtown Accra. It's quite warm here and the air smells like a mix of fires and palm trees. Anyway, the next day I took a walk around downtown Accra. Upon leaving the hostel, I immediately felt quite out of place. Everyone on the busy sidewalks stared at me and every taxi that went by honked at me, assuming I was lost. I felt quite self-conscious. Almost every group of people I passed tried to engage me in conversation, something that I found exhausting. Most people when I made eye contact with them smiled and greeted me very kindly but there was occasional hostility as well, as one guy said to me, "This is a black man's country." Yikes.
Anyway, the sidewalks were packed with vendors sitting on the ground selling everything from onions to plantain (grilled bananas) to shoes. Few of the buildings here are above two stories therefore palm trees are often the highest point on the horizon, silhouetted against the perpetually hazy sky. The main roads are paved but alleys and sidestreets are dirt so the air is filled with a mix of dust and exhaust. Pedestrians mix with traffic in the crowded streets selling things to cars. I saw a bunch of men and women walking around balancing sacks on their heads.
Completely overwhelmed, I soon got lost and it was a couple hours before I found my way back to the hostel. When I arrived, they informed me that I'd have to find another place to stay, as someone had reserved my room. I looked through my guidebook and took a taxi to a beach-front hostel that's in the suburbs, about 30 minutes from Accra. Upon arriving, I walked down from High Road, past several huts situated on the sand dunes until I came to the entrance of a shaded compound. I was greeted with complex handshakes by the two rastifarians who run the place. They are also reggae musicians in a local band. Anyway the place was nice, with a patio overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately you can't go swimming on most of the beaches here cause they double as toilets for the locals. But there was no smell and it was a nice view. In the morning you can see pirogues, or the long sleek traditional fishing boats, slipping by at the edge of the fog. The rest of the day I hung out at the hostel, watching TV with the rastifarians. It's a lot to take in and I get tired pretty quick.
The next day, rejuvenated, I set out to explore Accra again. I took a taxi to the Osu neighborhood, which was a bit more touristy than the area I'd been in before. I then walked to a public beach and had lunch on the beach. Walking back along the coastal road, I helped a couple guys push their car to a local mechanic. By the evening the sun was a bright orange ball in grey sky and the haze had thickened. When I returned to the hostel, the rastifarians were watching Lord of the Rings. Lying on my bed, I could hear a nearby outdoor church service with the whole congregation singing.
It was nice but I felt, and still feel, a bit homesick, much more than I do at college. I miss my family and friends from back home quite a bit and feel a very long way from them. While I'm awkward at home, here the gap in cultures magnifies this extraordinarily. I dont want to have to start over making friends and getting to know people, but I suppose I'll have to. But at the moment Im feeling quite lonely.
Today, people from CIEE started showing up. I went out to lunch with the first four to a nearby chinese restaurant (chinese restaurants are everywhere here). they all seemed nice though, them being girls, the pace of conversation was incredibly fast and I could barely keep up with it. After lunch, Kwaku's son (Kwaku is a friend from the states who's from ghana), Raymond, came by and took me to meet some of their relatives in the area. I first met Ama's (Kwaku's wife) sister and her daughter then to Kwaku's brother. They also helped me get a Ghanaian cell phone. They were all quite friendly and welcoming.
By tonight, many of the CIEE people have arrived. It feels like the first week of freshman year all over again. We have an orientation dinner tonight at ten and I think tomorrow we'll go see the university.
I will post again soon,
love
Phil