the gutters.

-I can’t believe I haven’t talked about the gutters yet. There are huge gutters, really more trench-like holes, that line pretty much every street. On campus, in town, in the city…all over. I have already accepted that I will fall victim to one of them at some point, but I’m still going strong. Pretty much everyone has a close call at this point.

-Its getting into that phase where everything isn’t so new and confusing…its still exciting and I have so much to learn but things are starting to feel more normal and habitual.

-Its funny how you have to work a little harder here to get things done that are so easy at home. For example, each professor has a set of readings for the class but they are only available at different copying stations throughout campus…the syllabus might be in one building and the readings in another. Then you go to where the teacher says the readings are, pay the copy man, and come back the next day to pick up your copies of the readings. Its quite the process (it feels like) because it involves a lot of walking around and searching.

-Other things…drinking water, showering, laundry, eating. Etc. The drinkable water here is sold in these things called sachets which are these little plastic bags of water with the amount equivalent to about one bottle of water. They are 5 pesewas each (less than a nickel) and if you buy them in bulk (these really big bags that have 30 sachets in each) its about one cedi (less than a dollar). You can either just rip off the corner of the sachet and drink it that way, or fill up your water bottle. So its things like that that take a little planning ahead because you can't really go without water duh.

-Laundry, too…there aren’t really washing machines available in mass so you can either pay someone to come pick up your laundry and do it by hand or do it by hand yourself. I don’t have laundry in my budget so I fill up a bucket of water, throw in my clothes and some detergent, scrub them, rinse them, hang them, and iron them. It’s more time consuming but it’s not a burden or strain…its just another thing you do. It has made me realize that having everything be so convenient all the time doesn’t make life that much better…Its fun to sit around and talk with your friends while doing laundry or walking around campus all day. Its slower…its less stressful.