MAY 5th- MAY 7th

May 5th:
I woke up today with butterflies in my stomach. "What are these butterflies here for?" was my first thought. Then, like a ton of bricks it hit me- I'm going to Ghana. In less than three hours I will be on a flight headed across the Atlantic Ocean to a place that has always been but a dream. So right now, I'm sitting in seat 35B on Delta Airlines headed to Atlanta, GA. I'll have a three-hour layover and then it's off to Accra (pronounced Uh-craw). I'm not nervous, I wouldn't say that I had really ever been nervous about spending my summer in Africa-- partially because I've wanted this for so, bu the other part is because I feel as if I know them-- I know the people of Ghana. And because of that feeling, I love them. Feeling love for people I hardly know is something I learned to feel on my mission; what an incredible experience it is to sincerely love and wish the best for total strangers but it is one of the gifts of missionary work. And I'll tell you, it feels so sweet to be able to feel it again for the Ghanaian people... in fact, it does kind of feel like I'm going on a mission-- a three-month one. I must admit that I relish in this feeling for purely selfish reasons (I miss the feelings of missionary work more than anything, and I would do anything to feel them again... part of me wonders if that will be one thing that will keep my going during my stay in Ghana).
So with my knowledge and love in tow, I'm heading off for an experience that will forever change my life-- and this I am confident about-- that the Corrine that is writing this post will not be the same Corrine three months from now. Boy am I excited about that!!

May 7th:
Things already learned:
1. Ghanaians know what they want to do, and start doing it-- even without your permission. I cannot tell you how many times our bags were jus grabbed and we had to say "whoa, whoa! what are you doing with those? where do you want us to go?" It is not in a "I'm going to steal your bags" type of way but this is how they do business; it may be aggressive but we have learned that it is okay to be aggressive right back.
2. We have spent the entire semester pronouncing our town "Wii-ah-mwoah-say" just to come here and realize that no one knows what we are saying. Well, it is not because people don't know where it is but because we are saying it wrong! HA! They pronounce it: "Ny-ah-mah-say". Pretty different huh? It's a hard habit to break but we are working on it.
3. We are going to LOVE it here!! We spent the morning walking around the college campus we stayed at and just loving life. Sure, we might be in the honeymoon stage of this experience but it's a good stage to be in. Everyone is helpful whenever we ask them questions, etc.
4. Everytime I have talked to someone on the phone, whether it be Esther or Bro. Boakye (a member of the branch presidency), they always say "buh-bye for now". I wonder if this is something that is common-- we'll have to see!