The Arrival

After much tribulation on the plane and buzzing through busy traffic and the hustle and bustle of the city, I have finally arrived. No I'm not staying in a hut!! My host's beautiful, clean, new house comes fully equipped with a flat screen tv, wifi, hot water, burglar alarm system and everything that a normal American household might have and even a gorgeous manicured garden in the back yard. But don't get the wrong idea. This house is NOT in your everyday suburb. Just outside the towering 8ft concrete walls heavily lined on top with electric barbed wire, there is a bumpy, red, dirt road that host everything from roaming goats, chickens, shanties, pollution and the poorest looking houses you have ever seen, as well as some of the most elaborate houses you have ever seen. There seems to be no buffer zone between multimillion dollar mansions and plastic bag huts on the side of the street except for the gigantic concrete barbed wire lined fences that seem to be of the same stature of those at U.S. prisons. Safety is a genuine concern here amongst the well to do of Accra. The Yeboah's (my host family), as well as other wealthy families here not only have a heavily fenced in and gated property, but two guard dogs, a panic button system, a personal gate keeper, and barred windows on every window in the house. This will surely help me sleep at night as I lie here thinking about some of those looks I received from the poor street peddlers today. I could almost feel the hate radiating off of their face when they saw me driving through their neighborhood with a local like "haha look at that white girl, what is she doing here?" And I can't really blame them. I can honestly say I have never felt so white and out of place in my life when I'm outside of these protected walls. Inside the walls however, is a totally different story. Crystal, Glory, and Daniella are my very own African sisters after just one day! I absolutely adore them and they just love braiding my hair and dancing around the house with me. I even taught them the Ethiopian shoulder dance! Haha. Irene is like a mother to me and is just the sweetest, most caring and welcoming host ever and her husband George is just as nice. It's the rainy season here and the rain has brought a cool, misty  breeze through the house. It is night and the hot sun has finally stopped roasting everything and gone to bed. There is a lovely song being sung in a deep, soothing voice in their people's local tongue, "Tree" coming from outside the fence. I have no idea what he is saying, but it sounds so beautiful. The sticky, yet cool and sweet African breeze blowing through the blue flowered curtains of my room will soothe me to sleep tonight. It's been a long, but extremely eventful day. Until next time, -English