July 3

Happy 28th Birthday, me! Here begins the biggest birthday present ever: an adventure in Ghana.

First night in Ghana. We arrived safe and sound with no major catastrophes. In New York a three hour layover turned into five when JFK airport was hit by a storm. Once the flight was finally ready to leave, the American flight attendants had their hands full trying to get the passengers to form on straight line. Jill had told me that queuing is not a well observed cultural norm in Ghana, and this confirmed it for me. That is, I suppose, one of the many European customs that i take for granted.

Once we arrived, our first task was to exchange money. I broke $400 American into Cedis, but the lady at the till (who was asleep in her chair when i approached the window) changed all of my money into 50 Cedi Bills. I have since discovered that nothing in Ghana costs as much as 50 cedi and small verners never carry enough change for that. Of course debit and visa are out of the question. It makes me realise how dependant on big chain stores and manufacturers we are in North America. My generation never carry cash because we don’t need to. Literally every store has a debit machine. Even my school has one to accommodate the spending habits of our families. But here, the economy revolves a lot more around small business and change is a valuable commodity.

The next task was selecting a taxi. we carted our bags out to the curb and batted away several would be cab drivers while Tyler pulled out his ipad. We had been warned to be careful who we accept as a cab driver and Tyler wanted to reread the instruction email. We eventually agreed that the cars labeled “taxi” were safe enough, flagged one and climbed in. At the gate of the University campus, the guard stopped us. Our driver got out and argued with the guard for a good 20 minutes, while we sat in the back seat bewildered. Apparently, they expected him to submit his license, and then pay to get it back when he left the campus. In the end, he just paid the money up front and kept his licence. This confirmed what I’ve heard that bribery is  common and often expected here.