Culture Shock...And Awe

Well this has been quite a week.  I arrived ni Eguafo, my village, on monday and it was a slap in the face.  Not in a bad or a good way, but life is completely different than anything i've ever experienced.  There are 7 other volunteers in the 'house'.  We have two rooms with two sets of bunk beds and that's it.  We have electricity, which most of our village does, so it's actually quite luxurious in that erspect.  We have the only flushing toilet in Eguafo - granted, you have to walk to the faucet on our side o fthe village to fill a bucket to fill the tank to flush - but still.  Every evening i enjoy my bucket shower.  We have a wooden stall next to the tiolet that we stand in and dump water over yourself from a bucket.  Quite refreshing, actually.

It's very difficult to put into words what life is like here.  Extended camping trip with a roof, I suppose.  There are goats, dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks everywhere.  The goats make such a racket but generally quiet down at night.  \i was wakened this morning by hymns played over teh village loudspeaker and the routine crowing of teh roosters.  Also, the faucet for our side of the village is in front of our house.  Which is super convenient for us, but you begin hearing buckets fill at 5:30 am when the sun comes up.

The kids are kids, what can i say?  They are funny and love to hang out with us.  Their English is very limited, but we tutor some of the older ones in the evenings.  During the day we teach at school, which is more chaotic than my worst day in the classroom in the US.  Could it be that chickens and dogs walk through our open-air classrooms every day and teh kids are a little wild because they know teh obruni (Twi for 'foreigner') won't cane them?  Maybe.

Anyway, the saving grace for the adjustment period is the other volunteers.  These people are all (except one) about 10 years younger than me but they don't seem to be.  And they didn't beilieve my age either so I love them fo rthat!  We definitely support each other - talkng things out, airing frustrations, sharing plasters ('band-aids').  Every meal is eaten around the table together, which builds the bonds for sure.

Internet access is a 40 minute trek to Cape Coast but \i will try to update when I can.  Want to get this posted before anything (internet, power, computer time) is finished!