-The children here are much less sheltered than in the "developed" world. I guess that the poorer children anywhere are forced to be more responsible than children higher up on the socio-economic ladder. Here, children of two or three know how to care for their month-old siblings.
- The people here are so friendly. I can smile, wave, or say, "Hi, how are you?" and they respond! For me personally, its a nice way to diffuse the awkwardness whenever random guys stare :) Now, after Ghana, I want to greet people in every country that I travel to and see how people respond. I know in the States its usually a gruff, short, reply and people are on their way, with the "Time is Money" mindset.
- At our previous hotel in Tamale, I realized how different the hotel-key system is here. Whenever we leave the hotel, we hand our keys in, and they know that they can then clean our rooms. But in Tamale, when I went to pick up my key after we got back from an outing, the receptionist remembered my room number with my face and just handed it over without a word! I didn't have to tell him or anything. In the US, they would:
(1) expect us to keep our keys and not have us turn them in when we leave...and the key would actually be a key-card, not keys like they are here.
(2) ask us what are room number is, not remember and just know when we came back to pick it up!
- Cars and lories honk all the time! Dr Arrington said that its a form of communication, just like English or Twi. But its always cool how vehicles honk at people and bikes also on the road to let them know they're coming. And even with such loud honks, people don't even turn their heads to look...they understand and know that a car or lori is coming and move over.
-Using the restroom along the long drives has literally been an adventure in itself. So far we've seen really nice toilets, terrible toilets, semi-pit latrines, pit latrines, and used the "bush bathroom" several times. I've realized its really not that bad, especially if you're wearing a skirt :)
- I've found a new sense of appreciation for the iPhone. I haven't been making phone calls on it because of the data roaming charges, but I can still do sooo much on it! I've taken pictures, listened to music, made notes...did I mention making notes? I've made several to record all the thoughts I've had and incredible things I've seen.
-A previous government here installed speed bumps on pretty much every major roadway so that drivers must slow down and accidents may be avoided. For us, it's definitely slowed us down!
-Driving around up North has made me realize how many more donkeys there are in the North! The first one I saw caught me off guard because there are virtually none down South. But all the villages in the North have them!
Ok it's late. More later!
Medasi,Padma
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