Getting Settled: Lessons
We’ve been in Ghana a week today. It feels like not a lot has happened, but I guess looking back, it has been a week of pre-production. A week of learning.
We’ve learned how to navigate the busy, unmarked streets of two cities. I don’t even hesitate to walk within inches of a moving taxi on the side of the road, and I know where to turn based on the businesses at that intersection. To get to our guest house, turn at the pink building with “POST NO BILLS” scrawled on the side, then left at “Because He Lives Tailor,” then left again at the woman with the big aluminum bowls of charcoal. Maps won’t do you much good; you just have to accept that you’re going to have to learn the place for yourself, ask a lot of directions, and get lost a few times. Even the directions you get will often be a nod, a wave of a hand toward the other side of the city, and simply, “That way.”
We’ve also learned more basic things; things I take for granted at home. It took us a few days to master the art of flushing solid waste down a toilet that doesn’t seem to do much other than swirl the water around. (Hint: it involves an extra bucket of gray water and a toilet brush.) I’ve learned how to wash our laundry without it smelling like mildew the next day, thanks to the fact that the Tide packages sold at Melcom assume you are washing your clothes in a bucket and not a machine. I’ve learned to haggle the price of a pair of sandals down from 100 cedi to 9, that apples cost seven times more than oranges, and that sometimes the extra cost for a cold water is worth it, even though you still have warm water in your bottle.
Most of all, we’re learning patience. We’re learning how to make do when the water comes back on, but simultaneously the electricity goes out. We’re learning when it’s okay to respond to a person on the street, and when to keep our sunglasses on and mouths shut. We’re learning that things take a little longer in Ghana. It may take a few days to get a meeting. You may have to wait another day for “the big man” to come home from his trip, or for someone’s phone to start working, or for it to just stop raining so hard. Things don’t happen fast, but in a way, it’s nice. It gives me more time to learn.
