An unlikely update

20-12-10

This morning, I woke up at 5am and moved to Cape Coast for my next placement with a TV station. It was around a 3-hour tro ride and I hardly remember it, I was that tired..a lot of my close friends in Accra are leaving around now , so early nights are a bit of a rarity. Originally, my second placement was meant to be in Accra with the TV3 network but as it worked out, Projects-Abroad made a mistake in assigning me there and it fell through. This new placement is with Coastal TV, a community TV station.

My new host family is my now my third and meeting them today, I am really looking forward to the next month. The house itself is in a large building that reminds me of an old school and it is in a nice area of Cape Coast, with a surrounding view of hilly suburbia. Many people live in the building (I will never meet them all) and my host aunty is nice but has taken on many volunteers before me, so she is quite matter of fact about everything. She has four grandchildren who run around and they are a lot of fun. My previous place in Labadi, Accra, was a good one as well, with a nice host aunty, great housemates and an unexpected litter of puppies, but I think I’ll prefer this one. Cape Coast is a down to earth city - so much more relaxed than Accra - and there is the awesome beach nearby and then in life, kids trump puppies.

(Home, Cape Coast)

For the last two weeks, I have been on a break between my placements. I am writing about my b&ft time in a seperate entry, so I won't comment on it now. In my time off, I went on a short trip to Togo and the rest, I spent in Accra, becoming very proficient at catching tro-tros and ticking a lot off in the guidebook. I like the city a lot now and I don't trip getting on and off tros nearly as much as I used to - all the more reason to move on to a new place.

This weekend just passed, I traveled along Ghana’s west coast to a famous beach destination called Busia. Among my friends here, it is easily the most popular coastal spot in Ghana and visiting it, I could see why. Not far out to sea, there is a small island that the very inspired can swim to. And along the coast, there are a number of cheap but nice restaurants and hostels, and beyond them, attractive rainforest that leads away into the distance. To get there from Accra took a 6-hour tro ride each way, but it felt worth it. Cape Coast is a lot closer to Busia, around 3 hours away and there's no doubt that I'll be going back.

And next week is Christmas. Already.. finally! Time here is a little difficult to get a handle of. I’m around halfway into my Africa trip and it has both been the fastest and slowest few months of my life. At times, I have waited longer than anywhere else. On Friday, I had two things to do: get a haircut and visit the post office. Together they took six hours. And that wasn't unusual. But then, looking back over my last two months, I have done and seen so much that I could have ever at home and so it feels impossible that things here can move so slowly. For Christmas, I will be going back to Accra to spend it with some friends, maybe drop into church on Xmas day and visit the internet cafe, for Skype.

As for New Year's... no idea.