Arrival in Brenu

Sunday 14th (Day 2)

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chicken fried rice - which suggests I won't starve on this trip

The shower at the hotel had only 1 tap (for on/off) - I realised what temperature all my showers would be for the next month.  Had a nice breakfast of bean omlette and toast before sitting out in the sun waiting for my taxi to arrive.  Eventually, allowing him an extra hour to account for the famous "African Time", I ordered a new taxi and started my journey to Brenu.  Taxi journeys in Accra are an experience.  Half the jouney is spent on the wrong side of the road, either to avoid the many pot-holes or to say hello to a friend or because "why not".  Oncoming traffic is not allowed to interfere with this.  All the cars are about 10 years past their "scrap by" date.

Got to Kaneshi and, for the privelege of being forced to use a certain bus company and not having a choice in carrying my 2 bags, 6 people demanded payment for the help they had given. In the end I gave them 20,000 cedis (about £1) to share - which left all of us unhappy.  I realise that this kind of service/tipping is a way of life here, but I find it hard to just live with it - hopefully I can learn to accept it.  They crushed my bags onto the Ford Transit and started on the 120km, 4 hour journey (apparently the "short" journey time was due to the effort the government had been putting into improved road building to support produce flow within the country).  Luckily I was next to a guy who was happy to talk about Ghana - food, dialects, politics, geography - I love the way Ghanaians are happy and ready to talk and be friendly - everyone on the bus was joining in - and all 20 of them were ready to remind the driver I needed to get off at Ayensudo.  The roads are OK (apart from the drivers) for about half the journey, before they become dirt tracks that are in the process of being turned into proper road but have not progressed for a while.  Again there was a portion of the jouney spent on the wrong side of the road.  Maybe this is a legacy of them changing from left to right in the early 70's.

Got off at Ayensudo and into a shell of a taxi that would only jump start.  The guy said he know where I was going and (sensibly) I agreed a fee before setting off.  We went to the school, the beech resort, a different school and back to town before we stopped by some people who turned out to be friends of Esthers (who was in an exam) and they pointed to the hostel about 50yards away.  Finally I was in my room - the sense of relief was amazing.

Bumped into the other volunteers: Emma - a nurse doing 3 weeks work experience as part of a health visitor degree Matthew and Morican (Mori) - Couple who have just got engaged - and are here for 12 weeks of teaching, the last leg of a year long tour of Africa.

Decided to inflate a couple of rugby balls for something to do - then took them outside.  40 kids appeared from nowhere and we had a good throw aound.  Every now and then some random cute toddler with a snotty nose and a huge grin would run up and hug our legs or steel my glasses.  After about an hour outside we were filthy and knackered - I expect that will be the norm for the next 4 weeks.  Had to go and choose my dinner at the beach bar before we went to eat (aparently you choose your next meal as soon as you finish your last).  The beach bar has a deal with the charity to provide all our meals (we get smaller portions and the charity pays a smaller rate).  I had chosen chicken fried rice - which suggests I won't starve on this trip - I could not actually see yams on the menu - what a shame.

Got home and read our notes ready for the next day.  Aparently we are going to introduce phonics to the school kindergarten classes (4 to 9 year olds).  No one has told the school we are doing this and we have been given lesson plans for the first 3 (of 12) phonic sounds.  Should be interesting.   Good job we all have a wealth of teaching experience to call on, what with me being an IT manager and Matt and Mori being lawyers.