Harmattan

Dust is in the air, on my clothes, covering my feet, and in my nose. It's everywhere, it's the Harmattan. This is a time in Africa when the winds blow desert sand from the Sahara to the south. It usually occurs in January but has held off just for us to be able to experience it. I didn't understand what this would be like until I woke up the other morning and started walking and could see the dust in the air. Driving in the trotro this morning was the equivalent of driving through fog.

Speaking of walking, Felix and Grandma want to give me a walking medal for all of the walking I do. There are quite a few other students that do more walking than I, but every time I tell Grandma and Felix I am going somewhere I say that I will just walk. On a typical day I will walk for about an hour. This morning I got up, walked to the trotro, got on the trotro and off at Madina. Then once in Madina I walked down the road to get a trotro to Adenta. On the way back I took a trotro to Legon, walked around campus, and then walked to the shared taxi stand (about 15 minutes away from campus), got out at Blue Gate and walked for another twenty minutes home. There's always something to see along the way.

Today at Tot To Teen I observed the teacher I will be working with teaching English Comprehension. When I was leaving, the preschool children where outside in the courtyard (a giant concrete area) and when they saw me they started yelling "obruni, obruni" and swarmed around me. They started grabbing my arms and wanting attention. It was pretty overwhelming but when I told them to go play, they ran away laughing.

Then when I got home I was greeted by two of the nursery school children running up and hugging my legs. It was a great way to be welcomed home.