I tried to post while in the Amsterdam airport on Wednesday, but I believe I lost my connection before I could send. All of Ghana has been offline from the time I arrived til just now.
So, to catch up - the trip was LONG. I managed a quick train ride from the Amsterdam Airport into the city on Wednesday morning and walked for an hour. It was dark, cold, and foggy, and after an hour, my shoulders were aching from the two laptops, two digital cameras, camcorder, and books packed in my backpack, so I went back to the airport early and did some work - sending off last minute requests to the IRB for my research and trying to catch up with student emails. The internet there, though, was expensive, so I just bought 30 minutes and made do.
I was impressed at the number of bicycles and cyclists in Amsterdam. There had to be hundreds - more like thousands of them. They have wide avenues for cyclists, and pedestrians, beware! I managed a few decent photos of the canals. I hope to get to the Van Gogh Museum on my trip back when the backpack will be lighter.
I was so grateful to Peter French for collecting me at the Ghana Airport. It reminded me of the airports in DR and Panama - busy, crowded, and people everywhere trying to get me their taxi, carry my bags, call someone for me on the cell.
It took hours to fall asleep that night - perhaps because I was still on EST, perhaps because I got a three hour nap on the last leg of the trip. But I felt good enough in the morning, and Peter, Grace, and I took a trip to the Accra Mall. I was glad I had my camera to take photos of a mall that hardly looked different from one you might find in the States. I know some people still think that flying to Africa means landing in a jungle.
In the afternoon, Peter took me for a tour of the campus and I took lots of pictures. There is a beautiful bell tower library and tower at the top of the campus hill at the meeting hall and vice chancellor's office. From the hill, one can see downtown Accra. Right now it is an unclear view because of the harmattan - the winds off the Sahara that sweep desert dust hundreds of miles in the air. I walked into the courtyard of the Volta Dorm for women students, and it was beautifully set for an outdoor evening meal with flowers on all the tables. There are termite hills 8 feet tall and several feet in diameter dotting the landscape.
One exciting surprise Peter handed me in the evening was an envelope addressed to me. It was an invitation from Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN and his wife, to the banquet being held on Jan. 22 at the meeting hall! I will go with Peter and Grace tonight.
He also gave me all kinds of information he received from the Carolyn Miller Elementary School that included so much information - numbers of students (just over 400), costs for items such as books, internet, etc. Teacher salaries are about $40/month. At the mall yesterday I bought several children's books and text books to bring back and add for my collection for Comparative Education (which I never get to teach...). He also gave me my formal letters to conduct research at the camp.
I will go to Buduburam tomorrow for four days. I don't know what I will have in terms of electricity and running water. It is doubtful I will have Internet access, so this blog may have a several day pause.
This morning Grace, their driver, and Doreen (a local girl who has been Peter's assistant) tried to go to a local outdoor market. But the police stopped us because the the registration was expired. So much for the market as sorting it out took all day. I did observe an interesting event as we sat in traffic and wish I'd had my camera at the ready. A police woman was standing outside a van, pulling him over as well when another man came up gave her a hug with one hand very near her breast. She put a hand by his, a wad of money exchanged hands, and the man, smiling broadly, walked back to his car and took off. Bribes are probably the faster way to get around the police.
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