MAY 13th

May 13th:

So I realized tonight that I might want to explain who the KEY PLAYERS are in my life right now (those in Ghana) so when I talk about them, you can picture them in your head.

Me: My name is Corrine. I'm 23 yrs old, from North Carolina and am an Anthropology Major at BYU. I have a buzzed head (pretty awesome... I know), wear skirts everyday since I've been in Africa, and haven't shaved in eight days.

Diedre: She is 21 yrs old, from Idaho and is a Public Health Major at BYU. She is uber cute, has light brown hair that is always in a ponytail and one of her favorite things to talk about is food. Deidre also has not shaved in eight days.

Michelle: She is 24 yrs old, and definitely the mother of the group. She is from St. Louis and is a Geography major. Her hair is brown and almost to her shoulders but you wouldn't be able to see it because she is always wearing this "I'm headed to the beach" looking hat that she wears all the time. Michelle loves to schedule things and has a really cute laugh. She hasn't shaved in eight days either.

**** Us three lovely ladies who decided it would be a good idea to spend the summer in GHANA, also decided to see who could go the longest without shaving- hence that detail added at the end of each bio. (Don't worry-- I'll be sure to keep you updated on that status as the summe progresses.... it looks like Michelle might be caving already!) Besides having shaving contests, eating baked ground nuts, and doing our laundry by hand, we ALSO will be studying the people and learning more about the culture. Me, I'm studying dance; Deidre is studying maternal health; Michelle is studying the health clinic and its self- sustainability. Where in exactly in Ghana will we be doing all of this fun stuff? We are residing in a town called WIAMOSE.

Wiamose: This lovely town, roughly seven hours from Accra, is both charming and steep. (I'm telling you... it is going to take me all summer to be able to run up the hill that goes into town... it's so long... and steep!) This town has around 11,000 people and everyone is so nice... They have just about everything here-- a health clinic, several schools, a market place, and even your normal assortment of churches to choose from! They speak Twi here and laugh everytime we say what little Twi we know.

*** I think we are really going to like it here. All the children run up the street when they see us, in their school uniforms which I swear makes them a million times more cute, shouting "obruni, obruni" (which means "white person" in Twi) and saying "how are you?". We reply and then they run off. So cute! In the town of Wiamoase, there is a lovely woman named Esther who lets us rent two rooms in her home.

Esther: She is our host mother. She has medium-length brown hair with golden highlights and bangs. She is always wearing beautiful dresses and greets us every night with a smile. She is one of the busiest women I know--she is up every morning at 5:30am cleaning, or cooking, or doing laundry. From there, she leaves to go teach at the secondary school all day and is back by 5:30 or sometimes 6:00pm. She is one of the nicest women I know-- always thinking of others (particularly me, Deidre, and Michelle) and will cook us food, when we don't have any, no matter how tired she is!

**** Already we have come to LOVE Esther and rely on her like she is our mother-- in a lot of ways, she will always have a place in our hearts as such. So this blog is dedicated to the journey of my summer in Ghana and because tomorrow (our EIGHTTH day in Ghana) will be our first day at the INTERNET CAFE, and it'll probably just be a weekly thing so enjoy..... the adventures have only just begun. And please, I know you are all dying to see who shaves first!