Tamale town

Hi everyone, these have been an eventful couple of days and I am hoping this post goes through as I am not writing it in notepad as a I should be so that I don't loose everything if the page doesn't load. One thing I know is that I should have brought more of these MEC breathable shirts, my cotton T-shirts get soaked in an hour during mid day and then they aren't much use other than being wet. Although it is not too hot today and there is a nice breeze. The rainy season is late this year so people are anxious for the rains to come so they will have good crops this year. Drought is a major problem for the norther regions. I bought my first Ghanian cloth to make a skirt and shirt today, I will wait until Bawku to buy anymore clothes. I met two boys named Hassin and Fajarak who were tending to a store and they walked all over town with me while we looked at different clothes. They showed me the cultural centre which is where all the foreigners hang out and I am sorry they thought to bring me there because I wanted to see the market that people here shop at (which we eventually did see) We spent a good hour walking and talking, they were teaching me Dagbani and as we went to greet people Hassin would whisper the appropriate reply to the greeting so that it seemed like I could speak really good Dagbani. Then we went back to their shop and they gave me a sachet of water (filtered water is bought in sealed bags of 500ml) This is very typical of my experience in Ghana where people are willing to take the time and sit with you and talk even though it might be easier for them not to talk to you but to speak to someone that they already know. People here speak excellent english for the most part, it is taught in school and Tamale is the major urban centre of the Norther region. I hope my Dagbani will get better as well, I will have to force myself to speak more but I am learning new things everyday. People here see education as the highest priority for the future of their country so there is a large emphasis on being in school. I've found out more about my placement, I will be in the town of Zuuri 15km West of Bawku in the Bawku district in the Upper east region. It is small town of about 300 people with one borehole and electricity for the office. I am looking forward to finding a family and community that I can come to know and develop a relationship with.

Another story, yesterday I was coming home from the Communications and cultural studies centre in Tamale TICCS and I was waiting to buy water. There was a man ahead of me on a bike with a long flowing white shirt that went past his knees and a white cap on his head, I couldn't help thinking how he didn't get dirty since I'm always covered. I think sweating makes things stick to me resulting in the look of having just rolled around on a dirt road. The man that was ahead of me bought these red nut-like things that I wasn't sure if you were supposed to cook, ground or eat raw. He turned around and broke off half a nut and gave it to me and bit into his half. I couldn't think of what to do so I did the same, the nut tasted very bitter, kind of like radish but more fibrous and dry. The man road off on his bicycle and I had this half eaten nut on one side of my mouth (which was too dry to swallow it) as I tried to order water with the other side of my mouth. I decided the best thing to do was to rinse the nut out of my mouth because I didn't know what is was or where it came from so I quickly went around the corner where the woman selling the nuts wouldn't see and gave my mouth a good rinse. I later found out that what the man gave me was a Cola nut which people eat here to stay awake, it must have some caffeine in it or something. It was such an out of the blue experience which made me think that I need to develop more trust in people around me.

Sorry I can't upload any pictures today it seems