Another Obruni In Africa

Sunday, November 7, 2010,

After a sleepless and miserable flight, I am now in Accra! It's just a bit after noon. The time difference is going to take some serious getting used to. The heat here is intense. I felt it the minute we landed. Hot and humid, not all that different from home in the summer. I was asked no questions at Customs, nothing about a return flight or anything. A woman just looked at my passport while a man leaned over and said "Obruni." I remembered seeing the word in a guidebook but I had completely forgotten what it had meant. So my natural assumption was that it was some sort of greeting or what have you. So he would say Obruni and I would say Obruni back. After awhile he just laughed and said "Oh Jesus!" and that's when I remembered that Obruni means Whitey. Oh, I'm obruni. Welcome to Africa.

I went to the pickup area to look for a sign with either my name or SYTO (Student Youth Travel Organisation) on it, but of course, no one was there at the airport to pick me up yet. I found a seat somewhere while I decided what I wanted to do. Right away I learned that the Ghanaians reputation for being extraordinarily friendly means that you will never be left alone, EVER. Everyone has been very well intentioned and nice but things like privacy and personal space don't really exist here. I waited 15 minutes before fishing out a phone number for the organization. During this time I was chatting with a man named Ernest. And by chatting, I mean I was busy watching the door for my driver and looking for a phone number while Ernest was busy trying to ask me all sorts of personal questions and shaking my hand constantly. Welcome to Ghana.

DAY ONE

Flight from NOLA to DC. I woke up relatively early today which kind of sucks. I can never sleep on planes so I'm already tired and I'll have a long journey ahead of me. Around 15 hours all together with the layovers. I'll spend the next 12 weeks in Ghana which I think is the longest time I've ever spent away from home in general. I technically don't have a return flight booked. So I am literally on a one-way flight to Africa. I can't think too far ahead or make plans just yet. Everything is still so up in the air.

Flight #2: DC to Accra. The cabin is full of screaming children. I dread trans-Atlantic flights. The next time my feet touch ground, I'm going to be in Africa. I can't really wrap my mind around that yet. I'm getting pretty excited but I am so so tired. This is going to be the longest flight ever. I told myself before I left that I would spend the time on the plane doing my personal narratives for the Foreign Service application, but I've pretty much accepted the fact that I won't. I'll just zone out and watch Inception five times. Also Office Space is available on the "Modern Classic" channel, ha. Sweet!