January, 2010
Ok so...Africa! I guess I'll start from the beginning. The 10 hour estimated flight time turned into 8 and a half hours, and it was very bearable. I watched three movies on the plane and slept a minimal amount, but it was ok because that helped me to adjust to the time change.
As we flew over Accra, all of the houses looked surprisingly big and luxurious--as it turns out most of Accra has half-constructed infrastructure--so a lot of the buildings are just cinder block frames. We got a short explanation for that in class the other day. Our economics teacher told us it has to do with inflation--and many people build homes with their own pocket money so it can take a long time for them to have enough to complete the project.
When I stepped off the plane, I walked into 98 degree heat and something like 98% humidity. So the new standard is to sweat through all my clothes. When I was going through "customs" (they didn't look through my bags at all) I met two other kids on my program: Alyssa and Jack. We got our passports checked at the same time and told the customs officer we were students, which was a mistake because he questioned us for a long time and then stamped our passports for 30 days. I was a little worried about that at first, but the SIT coordinators have taken everyone's passports for safe keeping and to take care of extensions.
As we flew over Accra, all of the houses looked surprisingly big and luxurious--as it turns out most of Accra has half-constructed infrastructure--so a lot of the buildings are just cinder block frames. We got a short explanation for that in class the other day. Our economics teacher told us it has to do with inflation--and many people build homes with their own pocket money so it can take a long time for them to have enough to complete the project.
When I stepped off the plane, I walked into 98 degree heat and something like 98% humidity. So the new standard is to sweat through all my clothes. When I was going through "customs" (they didn't look through my bags at all) I met two other kids on my program: Alyssa and Jack. We got our passports checked at the same time and told the customs officer we were students, which was a mistake because he questioned us for a long time and then stamped our passports for 30 days. I was a little worried about that at first, but the SIT coordinators have taken everyone's passports for safe keeping and to take care of extensions.