Happy Birthday, Dad!

I forgot to mention in the earlier post, but I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my father who is one of the most important people to me in my life. I am always thinking of you, especially when I get frustrated and feel as though I cannot live here anymore and want to simply return home, because instead of encouraging these ideas you remind me that these feelings are normal for adjusting to being away from home; much more for living in a third-world country. You give me courage and strength when I need it most, and your faith and confidence in me to succeed in whatever I choose to pursue means more to me than you can imagine. I would not be here if it were not for your love and guidance over the years, especially in helping me decide where to attend school because if it had been up to just me I would have stayed close to home and not had the amazing experiences that I have. I apologize for any worries I may have given you, since I know you do so much for the the whole family and would lay down your life for us if you had to, and I want you to know on this day that I love you and miss you very much.

Trip details!

I don't have too much to say at this point, but I have an hour to kill as I wait to visit the Autism center where I plan to volunteer, so I thought I would write a new post and tell you a bit about the trip last weekend. I have felt the past few days like I am in the hostile phase again (according to the emotional stages they said we would probably experience while here: happy and energetic because everything is new and exciting, then hostile because we are frustrated or homesick, then comfortable because this becomes our new home - these are not the exact descriptions they gave, but close enough) since I am finding it difficult to maintain patience all the time, especially when I just want to get things done. For instance, I was told to meet with the community service representative this morning at 10am to leave for the Autism center, so I had to leave my music and dance class early (since it is from 8-11am) to get here, but when I arrived he said we would need to wait until 11am instead. So I walked back to my dorm and had a snack and read my book, then came back and was told that I have to wait another hour before we can leave. I am not even sure what the reason is for the delay, which is even more frustrating, so I am wondering now if we will even go at all.

Well, I guess you're waiting to hear about this past weekend, so I will finally indulge you. We pretty much followed the schedule I posted last week exactly, though we were maybe an hour or two behind at some parts. In any case, it was an amazing trip that I will not soon forget. The slave castle made me very emotional, and I know many others as well, since I have a hard time imagining such cruel things being done to innocent people, especially in such great numbers. I almost felt sick at some of the descriptions the tour guide gave, and was disgusted at the images that formed in my head as I viewed where it all happened. As much as I love visiting historical monuments and improving my knowledge of them, I hope to not visit another slave castle any time soon because it makes me ashamed to even be human.

After that traumatic experience, we went to Hans Cottage, which is famous for being built on stilts over a pond of crocodiles. We were not there very long, since it was just a short stop to have some drinks, but we did see quite a few crocodiles either swimming or lying on the land resting and were able to get fairly close without fear of being attacked. After that we drove to Kakum National Park, which was my favorite part of the trip, since it was a rainforest where we had the chance to walk across these 7 canopies connected by trees and rope through the forest. We did not see any wildlife other than butterflies, but we were told that forest elephants and monkeys lived within the forest somewhere and could be seen if you stayed the night and camped out in the park (which we unfortunately did not have a chance to do). However, the canopy walk itself was very exhilarating, especially if you are somewhat afraid of heights and wobbly bridges, and made me feel as though I was in an Indiana Jones movie or some sort of wild adventure. Hence the name of my blog...

That night we had traditional Ghanaian food at tables right next to the beach, and then a bonfire was made for us to sit around as we enjoyed the calming waves and fresh air. The next morning we had another large breakfast buffet (omelets, beans, crepes, croissants, bread and jam, cereal, oatmeal, tea, coffee, juice), which filled us up enough to not need much food until dinner, since we had another 4-5 hour drive home that afternoon. We had the chance to go into Cape Coast to visit the slave castle and the town, though most of us were too exhausted and decided instead to relax on the beach since the weather was so nice and we did not want to pass up an opportunity to utilize a clean beach resort. I am glad we got that time because the ride home was pretty invigorating- people having loud conversations about topics I am sick of discussing (like Michael Jackson), and drinking a bit too much- which makes me wonder how we are going to survive the 12 hour drive to northern Ghana at the end of the semester. Well, I guess I can say it was entertaining, but after being so used to living alone most of the time I was relishing the moment I would go home to my room and escape the large group of people I had just spent the entire weekend with.

This coming weekend many people are doing homestays with local Ghanaian families, but I do not feel ready to live with a strange family for three days at this point in time, so I am opting out with a bunch of other people who are instead going to a Ramadan festival outside of city. I am considering going to that as well, since I have heard that it is a huge deal here and a lot of fun, and it will be nice to get out of the city again and see more of rural Africa. I just hope it is not too far away, or very expensive. I will let you know my final decisions about that later, but for now I will leave you to take in what I have told you so far since I am still trying to grasp it myself. I do not believe I will realize I have lived in Africa until I am back in the United States and have had time to really mull things over and understand all the feelings and adventures I am experiencing.

Weekend trip itinerary

Okay, everyone, here’s the itinerary for this weekend:

Saturday, Semptember 12, 2009
6:30am Depart for Cape Coast/Elmina at 6:30am sharp
(Solomon’s Lodge residents will be picked up at 6:20am)
9:00am Arrive in Elmina, check in to Coconut Grove Beach
Resort and eat brunch by the beach.
10:30am Depart Coconut Grove for Elmina Slave Castle
11:00am-1:00pm Tour UNESCO World Heritage site, Elmina Slave Castle
1:00pm Depart Elmina Castle for Hans Cottage, a famous
restaurant built on stilts over a pond of crocodiles
1:30-2:15pm Rest stop for drinks/refreshments at Hans Cottage (lunch
will not be served so suggested to bring packed lunch, snacks,
etc. for road)
2:15pm Depart Hans Cottage for Kakum National Park
2:45-4:45pm Visit Kakum National Park and cross renowned canopy
walkway
4:45pm Depart Kakum for Coconut Grove
5:45-7:00pm Rest, play volleyball, enjoy the beach, pool, etc.
7:30pm Dinner on the beach with bonfire and sample traditional
palm wine
Free evening

Sunday, September 13, 2009
7:30-9:30am Breakfast at hotel
9:30am-1:00pm Free time (Bus will be available to go to Cape Coast to visit
Cape Coast Castle, explore Cape Coast town, eat lunch, etc.
Suggested to pick up lunch for the return trip to Accra)
1:30pm Check out of hotel and depart for Accra
4:00pm Estimated arrival time in Accra

Does this sound amazing or what? We are all so excited and cannot stop talking about the trip since we received this schedule last night. Don’t worry, I will try to take as many pictures as possible.

Except for the fact that I have to write two short papers for classes next week, I have been much happier lately. I am finally starting to feel normal and can exercise my body more; I am planning to join Daniella and others in yoga at least a few times a week, if not everyday, since it makes me feel so open and flexible and ready for the day. Tonight all the girls are coming over to Solomon’s for a movie night where we will watch Mulan and eat a bunch of food that people are making. We’re hoping to make this a weekly activity, which I am excited about since I love movie nights.

The only bad news is that lately a lot of people have been getting sick and going to the hospital, though most of them have been due to food poisoning. One girl that is there now actually tested positive for malaria, though since they found it so early they have been able to treat it quickly before it gets worse. As everyone has been saying, it would be much better to get malaria here in Ghana than in the United States because they are better prepared for it here and know exactly how to treat it whereas in the States it is much less common. I just really hope I never get it, since I am through with being sick.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I have been very sunburned and tan already, since the sun is so much stronger here and my sunscreen only lasts a couple hours before I have to reapply it. Most of you probably won’t even recognize me when I get back in December!

Finally in Africa

After three weeks of living here in Ghana, I haven't felt like I've really seen Africa until recently. There were a few days at the beginning where I noticed the way people carry themselves here that definitely differs from the U.S., and other aspects of the culture that I am unfamiliar with, but I still felt very sheltered by NYU with vans driving us everywhere and someone accompanying us everywhere we go. Now we have more freedom to explore on our own and see more of the city, and even other towns as some people have already done. Yesterday the former mayor took our Global Connections class on a short tour of parts of the city where slavery was very prominent. Another professor gave us the history as he showed us where slaves were kept after being captured and transported here from all over Africa, and then where they were forced to march down to the shore where the ships awaited to take them towards America. I was speechless the entire time, imagining the horrific circumstances back then, but it was interesting to see how the area has changed over time. People still live in these homes where slaves were trapped a couple hundred years ago, and children roam the beach as though no tragedy had occured there. While most Africans tend to avoid speaking about slavery, since it is definitely a very sensitive subject for them, it is interesting that they do not stay away from where much of the trading took place.

Today I accompanied my roommate Sarah and another friend named Alex to a beach in Jamestown (which is known as a sketchy area of Accra, though I did not feel uncomfortable there) where we met with the organizers of a new program to educate children in Ghana. The leader, another girl named Sarah who studied in Ghana a few semesters ago and just graduated from NYU last spring, came here to start this organization that imports books from the U.S. to use with Ghanaian children in after-school sessions so they can become better educated. I greatly admire that she took the initiative to start this organization herself (and with some others who are in NY), so I went today to find out more about it and perhaps help out during the semester. We ended up meeting most of the children (close to 100 of them!) and playing with them for a couple hours, which made me feel again like I was really in Africa. They tugged on me, poked me, held my hands, as though they had never seen anyone with light skin before. They were mesmerized by all of us and insisted on playing games with us and teaching us phrases and words in their language, teasing us when we messed up. It just made me realize the difference in attitudes toward races; in the U.S., historically people of darker skin were feared or avoided, whereas here those of light skin are admired and objects of fascination. Wouldn't the history of slavery have made these attitudes opposites? I find myself wondering. In any case, I am looking forward to spending more time with children, especially meeting the ones at the autism center where I am hoping to volunteer soon.

I forgot to mention that this past weekend I got pretty sick again- a 101 degree fever on Sunday. I am unsure of what happened, though the nurse seemed sure that it was from some food I ate, or water; there is bacteria in almost everything here so it is not difficult to get sick from something. Nearly everyone has in some form or another, so I at least don't feel alone. I took some medicine and rested in bed all day and by yesterday was pretty much recovered. I was still pretty weak yesterday, especially after getting up early to take an exam at Legon (which I unfortunately could not miss), but by dinner finally had an appetite again. You'll never guess what they had for dessert, which totally made my night- chocolate mousse! I had actually been wanting to make it the weekend before, but since I got sick I couldn't, so what a surprise it was to have it at Tante Marie where we usually only get either fruit or ice cream. Plus for the regular meal they had roast potatoes instead of plantains which made me so happy; I have definitely been missing potatoes and hope that they are served more often. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my angel of a friend Daniella gave me a few bites of her roasted eggplant Sunday night (knowing that it is one of my favorite foods), so that helped me feel much better. Tonight at Sunshine Salads they are actually serving vegetable lasagne, which most of us are very excited about, since we don't get pasta very often either. Ah, it's so nice to have my appetite back again! Just in case you're interested, Daniella and I are planning to make a charred tomato bisque in a few days (recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's cookbook that I brought with me) and I'm hoping to make my mom's breadstick recipe if I can manage to find yeast somewhere. :)

Oh, and about the party Friday night, there were a lot of people (mostly men) from the University of Ghana and other places where NYU students had met them who came and mingled with us. At first we all stayed kind of segregated with NYU students in one group and Ghanaians in other small groups, but after awhile people started dancing (we had a couple DJ's blasting music) and then getting more comfortable chatting together. A couple hours after it began, the acrobats performed for us (I wish I had taken pictures, but you'll just have to take my word that they were pretty exciting to watch) and then the CRA's revealed a cake welcoming us to Ghana that we all had some bites of. It ended around 11:30, though it was supposed to go until midnight, but I was relieved because I was exhausted from dancing and not feeling well most of the week.

I am very excited for this weekend because we're going on our first field trip out of Accra to Cape Coast, where the bulk of the slave trading took place. It takes between 2 and 5 hours to get there, depending on traffic, so we're staying the night in a hotel on the beach that NYU arranged for us (how spoiled we are, hehe). I don't have the itinerary yet, but I from what I hear we're leaving about 6am Saturday morning and spending the day taking a tour of the slave castles and doing a canopy walk in Kakum National Park. Then Sunday morning we have time to either relax on the beach or go into town to shop and look around until 1pm when we drive back. I will give you more information about it once I know more; if I don't get a chance to update before then, you'll just have to hear about it when I get back.

I think that's all for now; except that internet has been working for a few hours, woohoo! Let's hope this lasts..

Internet again!!

I know it has been a long time, but as I mentioned last time the internet has not been working well here and in fact we have not had any in our dorm since last Friday. I actually wrote this post yesterday but have not been able to post until now...

Not too much has been happening lately except the finalization of our class choices and many people getting a little sick; a friend next door had to go to the hospital two days ago after throwing up 7 times from some bacteria in her system. She is much better today, though still a little feverish, but otherwise the rest of us have just been getting colds or upset stomachs.

Tonight we have a “social mixer” at our dorm with everyone in our program as well as others people have invited from around the city. It should be fun with a lot of people, many whom we won’t even know, but I don’t know what will be provided except drinks and maybe music. I’ve been hearing rumors about entertainment like acrobats, but I will let you know later on if that turns out to be true.

Last Sunday night Daniella and I cooked a potato gratin and corn salsa for dinner, which both turned out very good (although the canned corn she bought turned out to be mashed up instead of in kernels), and sat down with some other friends that cooked to chat and enjoy our food together. It was a nice reminder of home, since I definitely miss cooking for myself and with Daniella, and it was also nice to have others compliment our food as well. However, less than an hour later, as I was chatting with my parents in the other room, I heard an explosion from the kitchen and someone scream, though at first I thought she had just dropped some pans or something. However, a bunch of people ran over looking worried, so I joined them to discover that one of our ovens had basically exploded when one of the girls tried to light it. The gas had apparently been on for awhile, which she did not realize until afterward, and when she went to light it the oven caught fire and blew itself out of the wall, giving her some burns on her legs and in her socks (which she luckily had on). Otherwise she was perfectly fine, just a little in shock, but that definitely taught us all to be extra cautious about turning off the gas and electricity when we are finished with it. That is probably one of the major stories we will all remember from our dorm, though of course we still have a few more months to create even more.

I must admit that this past weekend I went through a period of severe homesickness, since it was frustrating not being able to talk to my parents without the internet or have the same comforts I do at home like certain foods, technology, my friends, and my cats. Many others have been feeling the same way though, so it has made it easier being able to connect with them in that way and know that we are not alone. There is a fantastic group of people here, and I feel very lucky to have them around me since they are all very understanding and caring when someone is feeling under the weather, or just needs to talk. I am lucky once again for my amazing roommate, Sarah, who has so much in common with me and has helped me through many decisions I have needed to make here, listening and giving advice when necessary. These people have made me realize as well that these feelings are normal and just part of the challenge of living in a foreign place, which I chose to overcome on my own and help myself grow into a more well-rounded person. I know it can only happen by experiencing the good and bad, since it would be impossible to delve into a new culture without getting frustrated at least once or twice.

I have been enjoying most of our meals at the restaurants, though by now I much prefer Sunshine Salads, where we go Tuesday and Thursday, since it serves more international food like Italian, Indian, Greek, etc. Tante Marie can be very tasty, especially the fried plantains and usually the vegetables and rice, yet I think I am getting tired of having the same cuisine three times a week. I am more accustomed to variety, since at home my family tends to cook something totally different every night, so I’m not sure I can get used to eating rice and plantains as often as they do here in Ghana, as much as I may like them. At least we are provided with food five days a week, which I definitely cannot complain about, since buying enough food to cook every night would get very expensive. I still have not tried any of the other restaurants, though I hear the Chinese food (which is most abundant) is pretty good, as well as a few Indian restaurants. They even have sushi here somewhere, so I will let you know when I test that out.

As for classes, I have decided to drop the Twi language class since I just felt it was too much and that it would not be entirely worth it in the end. I am happy just to learn a few words and phrases to get around and make people smile, since although most of them do understand and speak this language, there are over 40 others just within this country that are entirely different. I just don’t feel that learning this one language out of 44 would benefit me much except to chat with some people here in Accra, since no other countries in Africa speak it either, and I would soon forget it after returning to the U.S. I already have four other classes anyway: Global Connections with the former mayor, that is basically a way for us to learn more about the city of Accra and its relation to the rest of Ghana and the surrounding countries; Society, Culture, and Modernization in Ghana for my Anthropology major which is basically what the title implies; Black Diaspora at the University of Ghana, Legon which is a history of the Atlantic Slave Trade from an African perspective, which I have always been interested in learning; Music and Dance at Ashesi University where so far we have about an hour and a half devoted to the theory of African dance and then the last hour learning rhythm by playing instruments (bells, rattles, drums). We have not actually started dancing yet, which I am itching to begin, but our instructor insists on having us understand the theory and rhythms before we actually do the movements, so I guess I have to practice my patience that we are supposed to maintain while living here.

Lastly, I just thought I would let you know of a personal choice I made starting the second week here: to be vegetarian. I do not have a very strong reason for doing it, except mainly that the meat here has not been very appetizing and I have thought about becoming vegetarian for a long time as a healthier lifesyle. I decided it would be much easier to try it away from home, since I would not have to worry about insulting my parents by not eating many of their meals that include meat. I have a feeling I will not be able to maintain this eating pattern when I return to the United States, but for now I have not had trouble avoiding dishes with meat since the restaurants we eat at every night cater pretty well to vegetarians and on the weekends I tend to cook only vegetables anyway.

I feel like that is enough for now, since as I said before nothing major has happened in the past week, but I will really try to be more adamant about updating this blog so that each entry doesn’t end up this long. Thanks again for reading and I hope that I will have more good news next time. I miss you all so please keep in touch with your news as well!

Getting settled in classes

Hello again, everyone! Today was the second day of my classes and I think I’ve finally gotten my schedule figured out, though it is still tentative for this week. I am for sure taking two classes at the NYU campus: Society, Culture, and Modernization in Ghana (which counts toward my Anthropology major) and Global Connections: Accra (which is taught by the former mayor of the city who will take us around and give us tours for some of the classes). I am most likely taking the language class, Twi, since it also gives us more information about the culture of Ghana along with the learning to speak the language. Plus the people here love it when you can speak some of their language to them, so I feel like I should at least try.

As for the classes at the other campuses, I am taking a history class at the University of Ghana called Black Diaspora, which basically talks about the Atlantic Slave Trade and the impacts it had on the African continent. It will be interesting to get an African perspective on it, so I’m excited for that class; also because the professor seems very knowledgeable about the subject and lectures very well. I love the campus of this university as well since it is huge and very natural looking with trees and plants everywhere, though it does not look fabricated like many campuses in the U.S. that look too perfect to be natural if you know what I mean. Anyway, I tried a class at Ashesi University today with a few other people called Africa in the International Setting, but none of us liked the professor because she treated us almost like we were in high school. There was too much focus on writing a thesis and a correctly formatted paper, and we are all sick of that since we had writing classes our first couple years. So instead I’m going to try out a dance class tomorrow morning and see if I like that; it will be nice to have something not academically challenging as my fifth class anyway since I don’t want to be overwhelmed, especially since I will also be doing community service.

Speaking of community service, I signed up for an autism organization for children where I will hopefully be working with autistic children and becoming more familiar with the disorder. I feel very passionate about it since Jacquie has been such a big part of my life and is very dear to me, so I want to make a difference in the lives of other children who suffer the same disorder she does because it makes me feel as though I am helping her too. This also reminds me of how I miss my family, though I do not feel as homesick as I used to since I am becoming accustomed to being away from home for long periods of time. Plus I am so blessed to have Daniella, one of my dearest friends, and other great people here that I am slowly getting to know that keep my mind off home. I feel much more acclimated here than I did when I first went to Florence, and I seem to get along with people much better too; but that might be because we were forced to constantly be together the first week of orientation. In any case, I am so thankful for the people I’ve met so far and am looking forward to spending the rest of the semester with them.

Adjusting to a New Culture

Sorry it has taken me so long to write; the internet connection here has not been ideal, plus the orientation schedule has kept us all extremely busy this week. I guess I left off on last Tuesday when we took the tour of the city with the former mayor (who is actually one of the NYU professors as well), so I'll continue with what I remember starting Wednesday.

We woke early again and left on our bus at 8:15am to visit Ashesi University, which is a small private school in Ghana that we are allowed to take a few classes at if we wish. I still have not decided if I am taking one there, but I'll get back to my tentative class schedule later. After receiving a short lecture on the aims of the school and touring around the three main buildings, we went back to the NYU Academic Center for a discussion on the "Cultural Do's and Don'ts" of Ghana which included using only our right hand to hand or receive things from people, not offering to go out with someone unless you intend to pay for him/her, and calling elders "Auntie" or "Uncle" as a sign of respect. It may take awhile to remember these customs and many more that were explained to us, but I feel that many Ghanaians are understanding of our cultural ignorance and are willing to help us feel at home here. Afterwards we took our first tour of the University of Ghana, Legon, where most students here are taking at least one class because there are so many offered. As opposed to the 400 students at Ashesi, Legon is a public school comprised of over 30,000 students and offers a much larger selection of classes. We spent a few hours there registering in their system, since everything unfortuately for us takes much longer to process here than in the U.S. (another aspect that we will be forced to get used to), though we had to return the next day to actually register for the particular classes we wanted to take.

Immediately after returning to the Academic Center, we had a quick discussion about our internet connection with the IT director that ended up being a waste of time, especially since we were all exhausted. We then we took a trip out to Koala market in Osu, a different part of town, where we chose from a selection of imported products that were mostly too expensive for our student budget, so we did not get much besides essentials like soap and laundry detergent, as well as pasta for Daniella and me to cook with this weekend. We discovered that we will probably have to return there for other necessities like olive oil, since the outdoor markets did not supply any, but otherwise I would prefer to do most of my shopping at the cheap outdoor markets where we can bargain for many of the products.

Dinner that night was at Tante Marie again where we were served more Ghanaian food like rice (the most important food here, I've discovered), some sort of stewed meat, salad, and banana crepes for dessert.

Thursday we were allowed an extra hour to sleep, since we did not leave until 9am for our Medical Care lecture followed by a meeting with most of the NYU professors that introduced themselves and which classes they will be teaching. We then had lunch at Ashesi University where we would be eating if we take classes there, and returned to our dormitories to rest until dinner at 7pm and Sunshine Salads. One of my favorite meals so far was that night since it was all Indian food with basmati rice, salad with chickpeas and other vegetables, a chickpea curry-like dish, samosas, and paneer. I am loving having these two restaurants as our meal plan for the semester, since not only do we get a variety of food, but most of it is delicious as well! So after dinner we were taken out by our CRA's to a bar for a couple hours where we had drinks and danced with Ghanaians, which was a lot of fun. This one Ghanaian guy danced with me twice, though he didn't really talk to me at all which I found strange; he simply gave me a quick hug after each song ended and walked away. I also got hit on a few times by this Ghanaian woman, which was very odd since homosexuality is very taboo here, and a man lectured us on important things to remember while in Ghana after we told him we were American. He also expressed his great love for America that we've noticed is prevalent throughout the country since Obama visited in July. There are still thousands of posters everywhere saying "Akwaaba (welcome) President Obama!" so in contrast to the indifference that we experienced in most of Europe, the people here love us for being Americans.

Okay, I realize that this post is getting too long, so I will try to make the last few days brief. Yesterday we woke and went to a national art museum, though unfortunately I was feeling pretty sick and could not stay for the tour, so I was taken back to visit the nurse and then go back to my dorm to rest for a few hours. Around 1pm I was feeling a bit better and so joined the group as they departed for the University of Ghana for the third time (since I forgot to mention we returned there Thursday to register for our classes) to get our ID cards, though to our dismay we discovered that we cannot get them until next week. So instead we waited on the bus as a few in our group still had to register for classes, and I started feeling pretty sick again from the bumpy ride and lack of food all day. We finally returned home around 4:30 and I ate a little bread before lying in bed for another few hours, missing dinner since I had no appetite, and then I managed to finally talk to my dad on my new Ghana phone. One of the CRA's had very nicely asked the restaurant to prepare a chicken soup for me, so I sipped on that with some rice until I started to feel much better. A few of us girls then decided to watch When Harry Met Sally downstairs in the common area, which was really fun and a nice relief after feeling miserable all day.

Lastly, today we were allowed to sleep in until 9am and spent a couple hours in a two markets that were a lot of fun because everyone was very excited we could speak a little of their language and we got to practice our bargaining skills. We also just got to see the busy center of Accra where everyone does their shopping and spends most of their day, so I am looking forward to going there more often. I am loving this country increasingly more the more I see of it and its people, so the idea of spending four months here is not as daunting as it seemed at the beginning. In fact I am extremely excited to become more acclimated here and to really understand and experience the everyday lives of Ghanaians, if not most of Africa, so that I know my time here will have been worth it. I will let you know of my schedule next week once I have decided exactly what classes I'm taking and what organization I will volunteer for, but for now thanks for reading and I hope I've given you a positive perspective on Ghana so far!