Differences

I didn't have as much time on the internet yesterday as I wanted so I couldn't write a very big post, but I'm back at the internet cafe in Dodowa now and the internet here is much cheaper than the Accra mall, although it's also much slower. It was nice to get out of Dodowa for a little bit. On the way back from Accra, we stopped at the market in Medina and shopped around a bit. They sell all kinds of things - shoes, clothing, bags and backpacks, cds, dvds, fabric, and tons more. I finally found some fabric I like and this morning I dropped it off at a seamstress to be made into a dress! I'll pick it up next week, I can't wait to see how it comes out.

We changed our plans for this weekend and are instead going to a hotel on a beach a few hours away tomorrow for the night. Maybe next weekend or the weekend after we'll plan the trip to the monkey sanctuary. I definitely want to go while I'm here, everyone I've talked to who has been has raved about it.

I knew that life here obviously wouldn't be the same as my life at home, but sometimes I still find myself shocked at things I know would never happen in the US. There are tons of small children, as young as 3, who just wander the streets by themselves or in groups with other children. They obviously know their way around, but I can't help but think they should be with someone older. The tro-tros have no schedule, so if you want to take one to a specific place, you have to stand at a stop and yell the place you're going at them as they drive by, and if they're going there they'll stop and let you on. They're also full to bursting because once the right one comes, no one wants to have to wait for the next, and they're extremely rickety and run down. One of the volunteers who has been here for a while said that once he was on a tro-tro when the tire popped. The customer service here is also so different. In the US, you're taught that the customer comes first, but here the customers comes whenever the employee feels like serving him. When I was at the mall yesterday, I went to the food court to get lunch and I had to wait a few minutes for the employees at the register to stop talking before I could order. No one here is in a rush or cares about being on time, so no one gets annoyed when things go slowly.