LIZARDS, bucket showers and FUN!

Hello everyone,

Right, week 1 in Navrongo completed and the stories I have to tell! Last time I wrote I said I felt like a bit a tourist and sheltered from the ‘real’ Ghana – well it has hit me with full force this week! The journey up was very smooth – not too long, just one puncture (it was seriously flat) and one bribe…

We arrived into Navrongo on Monday afternoon; I am living on the college campus with another primary school teacher called Jennette who is basically doing the same job as me except she’s in the English department. Our driver took us straight to our house… it was covered in LIZARDS – I don’t think anyone had actually been inside the house since the previous volunteers left in July! Anyway, it got sorted and the college came in and ‘cleaned’ it (te he he… Sharon – you’d be amused at their idea of cleaning!) So we finally got in at about 3pm and it was still covered in the lizards, now I know that they’re actually great and they eat bugs and mosquitoes (yay) but I just hadn’t expected them and they’re a bit snake like (for those of you who know what I’m like with them…) so it did freak me out quite a bit on Monday! That and the house being… hmm how can I put this diplomatically? Well, let’s just say dirty and insect ridden. However, we’ve spent the week pretty much cleaning (I am now a domestic goddess!) and moving furniture round and it has turned out great and is really beginning to feel like home; I even have fairy lights up in my bedroom – very pretty (THANK YOU KIRSTY!) I just want to repaint my room (and find some blu-tac) and then I can start plastering it with all photos I’ve brought with me!

The electricity supply is pretty good and we’ve only had 2 power cuts (since Monday!) one was only for about half an hour and I have a wonderful battery light thing (thanks to Barb – thank you SO much it’s AMAZING!) and my iPod speakers were fully charged so we had light and music – great! Then the other time it was in the middle of the night so I didn’t even realise it had happened, so that’s all good. However, water… hmm this is where it gets a little more interesting! Basically I think the water has been off more than it has been on, but it’s actually not so much of a trauma as you’d think. We have a borehole about 25m from our house and LOTS of buckets – so really it’s just a case of being organised and then you’re fine. So, yes – bucket showers are basically the way forward – I’ve discovered that you can have a pretty good wash and even do your hair with one bucket of water – impressive or what?!

College starts next week, but we’ve already been in and met the third year students who are on teaching practise this year (they came back for a few days of training and then left on Thursday). That was an interesting experience. We had to introduce ourselves (to a mere 217 students) so I started with the usual “Hi, my name is Samantha,” (If I say Sam I get very strange looks and comments about it being a boys name) and you would not believe the thunderous laughter that prompted. We have very strange accents apparently! However, they all seem very pleasant and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in, but I think I’ll save the rest of the work stuff for my next blog so I don’t go on for too long!

So, I’ve told you about the lizards and bucket showers – now onto the FUN! (Although to be fair both of those included a LOT of laughter!) I’ll admit now, Monday was a bit rocky but everyday since I have felt more and more at home. We have made friends with a couple of Irish volunteers who also work at the college and we’ve been very busy discovering the various ‘spots’ around Navrongo – basically places where you can go to have a drink and some of them serve food too. Then last night we went to Bolgatanga (the main city for the Upper East region of Ghana) to a pancake and ice-cream party that some other VSO volunteers put on – so a great chance to make more friends and catch up with some of the people I met during training. Ooh ooh – I’ve bought a bike (push bike) we don’t get our motorbikes for another 5/6 weeks (VSO like to give us time to get used to the traffic etc, before they let us loose on them) and the college is about 1/ 1½ miles from the main town so it’s quite useful to be able to nip in and out – it’s quite a long way too walk when the sun is out… But, best of all it has a basket! So when I went to the market yesterday I was able buy all the stuff and then put it in the basket and ride back – I felt like I should be in an old fashioned film! Whilst I was at the market I also had fun trying out my kasem (the local language) I mainly got laughter as a response but the people really appreciated me trying.

Right, I’ve kept you long enough – thanks for reading if you managed to get this far! I hope you’re all well, take care.

Much love, Sam xxx