Hello from Ghana

I made it! The flight actually wasn't that bad. The free movies helped me not to lose my mind. 9 hours went by fairly quickly.
What a different world Africa is. Nobody could have told me what to expect or how to be prepared. It is something you have to see.
I was so glad when we were able to get all of our luggage and get out of that airport. My leader Lynley was waiting for us and we were so happy to see her! People were lined outside of the airport and men were asking to help with our bags. They helped load them into our big bus and talked to us about Obama. (President Obama is coming on the 10th and everyody is talking about it here. There are signs and people selling Obama shirts.)
The traffic is absolutely insane. Nobody drives in their lane and its just a big mess of cars cutting each other off. And they all honk at everything. Adults and children line the streets selling stuff. They walk in between the cars on the road and come right up to your window to sell you food or drinks or car chargers. Anything. The streets are dirty and there are big cement ditches that we have to jump over sometimes. People cook on the street and sell it.
We are staying at the Pink Hostel. I am in a room with 3 other girls right now and possibly 2 more when they arrive. The floors are tile and we share bunk beds and one tiny bathroom. There are only like 8 rooms per floor so my group occupies the entire 2nd floor.
It is so hot and muggy. Everybody was sweating even in the hostel. The air smells musty and like body odor.
Since we have arrived this morning, we exchanged money, went to the Koala market for some bread and water, and walked the steets looking for a place to buy calling cards. People stare and honk and yell at us when we are walking. Not mean things, just yelling. Its hard not to feel out of place. We got to ride in a taxi on our way to and from the Koala market and that was a little scary just because of the driving and traffic. One of our drivers bought a box of kleenex from a vendor off the street and he barely stopped. He grabbed the box and she grabbed the money as he was driving away. I thought it was funny. All the drivers want to take the Americans for a ride.
For lunch our hostel made us "grilled cheese" sandwiches and french fries. The sandwich had melted white cheese and lettuce and a tomato. We dont eat the lettuce here because it is hard to clean it free of the parasites. The fries were really good and salty :) For dinner tonight at our hostel we had brown rice with chicken and veggies in it, cooked cabbage with some gravy, and fruit that was mostly mango and papaya and white pineapple. It was good and none of the food so far has made me sick. haha.
We have just been resting the rest of the day. My shower today was cold. And the water comes from a spout that I have to hold up myself, it doesn't come from the wall. The sliding door to our shower came off its track and so we have to pick it up and move it when we take a shower. haha My roommates and I took a short nap before dinner and when we woke up, we could hear a pentacostal preacher on a microphone just outside our window. It sounded like there was an auction in our room and he was speaking a different language.
It is 10:45 pm right now and we have a meeting tomorrow morning with Lynley at 7:15 about the do's and dont's while here. She has to go the the airport after and pick up the rest of our group. We will be free to go to the beach or hang out at our hostel all day. It should be fun. :)
I will post pictures soon.
Valeri