Goats, roots in the shower and serious stinkage!

I'm here!!! Yipee!!! After many (MANY) hours of travel, I have officially arrived in Accra! We left LAX @ 10:30 in the morning yesterday and flew to D.C.. I sat next to the CRANKIEST woman!! Not even two minutes after sitting down, she had already turned off my air and confiscated the entire armrest between us :( We landed in D.C. and had three hours to kill before our next flight. Ashley and I had some Wendy's for dinner and hung around. I got a chance to talk to Jennifer and she told me that her flight from JFK was overbooked so she and Crispin (another teammember) volunteered to take another flight. They got a $600 voucher, FIRST CLASS seats to London and then Ghana AND unlimited beverages in the Priority club!!! Plus they have a 5 hour layover in London and are going to do some sightseeing.

While waiting in DC, we met this super cool woman named Allie. Ashley and I talked to her for quite awhile. She's from Dallas and was on her way to Afghanistan! She teaches over there during the school year and comes home for the summer. She was blonde haired, blue eyed and spunky as all getup! She's convinced me to come teach with her in Afghanistan next year (HAHA! Just kidding mom! :) ). At about 8pm Andrea (another teammate from San Fran) came up. I have three words for you all... Amanda from Thailand (UG!) She's super clingy, a bit snooty and nervous. Luckily she clung to Ashley and poor ashley had to sit next to her the entire 10 hour flight! Hailey came up next and she is SUPER cool. She lives in Minneapolis and just took her BAR exam last week. She is mature, thoughtful, funny and cool. BEfore we got on the flight, we had to have our VISA's checked to make sure that they were still current.

On the flight to Accra, I was sitting next to a very kind woman named Nanee. She is originally from Accra but lives in Oklahoma. She was flying back to Accra for the one year anniversary of her father's death. She was REALLY nice! BEfore I sat down she picked up my pillow/blanket and even helped me put by backpack up top. While waiting for the plane to take off, my seat kept getting kicked and I turned around and there was a man standing in the aisle. I smiled at him. Two minutes later he is dragging this little girl (probably no more than 3 or 4 years old) and says "do you see this lady, you are disturbing her, quit being naughty." I completely flushed with embarrassment. On one hand... AWESOME parenting skills!!! On the other hand, would he have done that if I was black? There were only 6 people in the entire coach section that weren't black. The flight was pretty easy... we ate dinner and then I watched the movie "the losers." I dozed on and off but didn't really sleep. In the morning, they fed us breakfast (ham sandwich and yogurt). OH... I almost forgot the fabulousness of the people on the flight. I have never seen people so "done up" for flying. I was practically wearing my pj's and everyone else looked like they were going to a party!!! This one woman had her hair styled in this elaborate style with gold (YES GOLD) streaks in her hair. Nanee had gold eye shadow and two rings on every finger. Even the kids across the aisle were all wearing name brand clothing and looked very tidy!

We landed and stepped out onto the tarmac... AFRICA!!!!!! The earth here is bright red and the foliage is pretty green. We got in line for customs and it took FOREVER!!! Random people kept calling over their family members into our line and there was some guy bring all of his people straight up to the window!!!! Needless to say, we were one of the last few people to get through. Nothing like the smell of B.O. in a crowded room while waiting in line to welcome you to a new country! All of our luggage made it safely (YIPEE!!!!) We went outside and there was a man waiting for us. His name is Isaac and he has already asked us if we would marry him and he could move with us (he also teased us and asked if we would move here and build him a house!). He took us to the money exchange and we got out CD's (CD is the name of the money used here. one dollar equals about 1.4 CD;s). We got back in the car and his phone rang. He answered the phone and turned to Ashley and said "it's for you." LOL! Seriously? We've only been in Africa for a few minutes and she is already getting phone calls? :) It was our host BEtty and she was just letting us know to grab some food at the hotel and charge it to our room. The drive to the hotel took about a half hour and on the way we saw some random goat in the back of a pickup truck, women carrying EVERYTHING IMAGINABLE on their heads, babies is sacks slung around their mom's back and lots and lots of traffic.

The hotel is comfortable but a bit... um... definitely not a 4 star. Our air conditioning in our room doesn't work and there is something growing out of the ceiling down into our shower. I swear... the roots have broken through the ceiling and are starting to hang down!!! :) We went downstairs and met Karen and BEatrice. They both are SUPER cool. Karen is older and lives in Canada (works as a librarian). She has been in Ghana for 2 weeks already. Beatrice lives in Florida but is from Haiti... she is SUPER cool. Betty came in next and she seems a bit shy and reserved. Angela came next (she had already been here for one week volunteering at an orphanage). Last but not least was Tim (carpenter from WI). I've met him before and he is super cool.

So that's the group. We are waiting until Crispin and Jennifer arrive tonight and then Marc comes in tomorrow @ noon. We walked to an internet cafe a ways from the hotel. I am sitting here, sweaty and seriously stinky. No amount of deodorant is going to be able to cure this stink. Luckily for me... everyone else stinks too (hmmm... maybe that makes it UNLUCKY for me because i can SMELL them all?!). Probably wouldn't be able to write again so have a great couple of weeks!

Ghana is awesome! The people are super kind! Can't wait to tell you all about itwhen I get home!