Work & Play

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Thursday, June 27, 13

            It seems that I rarely get a full night’s sleep here in Ghana.  Today, I woke up at 5:30 for a 6 AM birding safari.  The tour lasted 3 hours, and we spotted 36 different species of birds.   

It was an incredibly calm morning; we’d walk amongst the bushbuck and cob, monkeys, and warthogs with the first light of day.  They’d often get startled, then habituate to our presence, and continue eating or sleeping.  

 After breakfast, I continued transcription and napped, and did more of the same in the afternoon.           

            Before dinner, I managed to finish my transcription (or should I say I caught up to my interview list).  It felt good to finally push away my looming workload, so I decided to head outside to photograph some monkeys and chill by the pool.  I talked for a few hours with two Canadian girls, comparing and contrasting our ways of life, and spent the evening doing the same with a new friend, Clarence, a 19 year old guy from Austria who has spent the last month working at an orphanage here in Ghana.  I finished off the night with some bitters and a bucket shower.  Tomorrow we head out on a 4 AM bus to Tamale then down to Kumasi once more before heading to Cape Cost after that. 

            I’ve now transcribed 123 pages of interviews and chronicled 50 + pages of my journey here, which can only mean one thing: I’m nearing the end of my time here in Ghana.  It’ll be the 28^th tomorrow, which means I’ll have less than two weeks until I’m in London.  Of course I’m excited for another adventure exploring on my own, but having assimilated well here in Ghana I realize that it’ll be hard to leave.  Explaining my project to the people I meet, I’m able to answer their questions with ease, and often in too great of detail; I’ve learned a lot here and have lived here for over a month (it seems like a lot longer when you’re living out of a backpack and moving every few days).  It will be a real treat to look back on my time here and think of how much I learned and how it has changed my character and behavior.  I highly recommend something like this.