No more hand holding. This is it, trying to figure out how to get to school, get home, interact with the people on the street. My host brother Felix took me to campus today where I met up with other CIEE students on the way there. He told me where to take a taxi to on the way back, what to tell the driver. After touring the campus, which is really large, we were on our own. No one was there to tell us what to do, where to go, it was our turn to figure it out.
Surprisingly I wasn’t nervous. After struggling to get a shared taxi, which is a taxi in which there are four people and the fare is the same for every person, two other students and I decided to get a chartered taxi, one that drops you off for a fixed price. As it turned out we had the same stop. Getting off of the taxi though I was alone walking home, only worried about falling in the gutter, everything else I knew would work out. I recognized where I was supposed to go, even from just driving it once, and ended up getting to my gate without a problem. Although along the walk back a small girl ran up to me and hugged my legs while an older girl asked me if I had money. I told her I had spent it on the taxi. I have not been carrying very much money on me at all and have a very cheap cell phone, for just this reason.
Every day is an adventure, learning something, where to go, what to do when someone asks for money. I’ve found that one of the most interesting questions that is asked quite often is “Are you Christian?” Just today when we were walking to get a taxi, another Ghanaian student named Frank, was also going to get a taxi and we started a conversation. Turns out he’s a Psychology major so perhaps I will see him in a class (although with 30,000 students that’s pretty unlikely). One of the questions he asked Tali, another CIEE student, and I was whether we were Christian. The focus on religion and questions intrigue me. When Alexandra and I were talking about going to church with our host families she asked me if I would go to church with my family. I said yes and she replied that she would also go maybe once or twice. I said that I would like to go every week with them and she was puzzled why I would want to do that. I told her that I would like to learn, to question my own beliefs, and to find out why Ghanaians believe. Just tonight Grandma Gritty, Phyllis and I read the Bible and she said a prayer afterwards. I was touched when she thanked God for bringing me for, for she’s sure there’s a reason, that I will learn, and that they will learn from me.
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