Days of Our Lives in Ghana

Here is what a normal day in Ghana (if there is such a thing) looks like for Lael and I.

5:00 a.m.: The first rooster crows, wakes me up, I grunt for a minute and go back to sleep.
6:00 a.m.: Random loud noises start to occur on our hall. Sometimes it is African soap peras, othertimes english lessons (I think) and also one of the rooms is being renovated near us so we hear glass breaking and cement pounding (why it starts so early, I have no idea).
6:30 a.m.: I get out of bed.

Breakfast: On a good day, we go to the mall or the canteen next door. I usually get a spanish omlette with toast. Lael always gets something caffineated and something sweet.

Transportation: It takes us 2 hours each day to get to Korle Bu Hospital, so we walk outside our hostel and catch a trotro.
 
A trotro is a bus that carries up to 25 people at a time. It costs anywhere from 20 cents to $1 to ride. It usually takes us about 90 cents for our 2 hour cross town trip. Also, it is safer and more reliable that Marta!

 
Once we get to Korle Bu, we get down to work. We spend the day looking for charts and convincing docs and nurses to let us look through charts. The hospital has been a neat experience, it is very different than what we see in the States.

We try to finish work around 3 so we can avoid traffic and eat a late lunch. Our staple food location is Barcelos. Barcelos is like Ghana Chick-Fil-A. We always get the chicken and chips and I always get a soda (the soft drinks here are awesome, they are made from pure sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup).

 
We also love the Very Peri sauce at Barcelos!

At night time we often go to Osu. Osu is like the Buckhead of Accra. We'll go there for dinner and drinks. The funny thing is that we eat Chinese A LOT!! There are Chinese restaurants everywhere and they are pretty cheap for the most part! They are also the safest place to eat vegetables. I literally have eaten more fried rice in Africa than I have at home or in China!

 

Recently we've been watching the world cup everyday! Before the World Cup, we would go out to jazz concerts and other events around the city.

There is no twilight (sunset) period here in Ghana. It goes from light to dark in about 30 minutes or so. It is usually dark around 6:30 and street/city life is a lot slower once the sun goes down. I usually hit the sack around 10 and look forward to hearing the rooster crow.