Hanging in Tamale

Hey everyone. Thanks for the comments that people have been sending! nice to hear from everyone since I know I am lazy about checking people's blogs. Its nice to know peopel are reading mine! Here is a super long description of our time in tamale so far that I wrote earlier today. Patrick and I were supposed to start work today, but we never made contact with our country coordinator. So I think we'll start tomorrow.

The guest house we’re staying at is really nice. We have fans and air conditioning which has definitely come in handy for some of us. There is a library that has some really interesting books, some gardens which are really pretty and a bar/restaurant that serves burgers and pizza and such. There is also a good restaurant near by that serves all sorts of good food. I had a falafel sandwich today which was yummy. I’ve gotten in the habit of buying water in bags. It is purified and much cheaper than bottles water, and I have to drink soooo much of it to stay hydrated. I’ve already gotten a sunburn (even with SPF 50). The sun is so ridiculously hot, but it is less humid and there is a breeze which is nice, so it’s cooler in the shade. I also have lots of bug bites (my bug spray has 30% deet). Actually, all my bug bites are swelling up so much and so itchy. Two of them in particular had some puss which was really gross and I think one of them is infected. Oh well. Such is life.

Yesterday we went into the town which was pretty cool. We went into the market which was much less intimidating than the market in Accra. This city as a whole is a lot more relaxed and slow moving than Accra and I think I like it better. A bunch of the girls bought some really nice fabric and we’re going to have some traditional outfits made for us by local tailors which will be really cool. Then we went out to lunch. There is a low of rice here and it usually either is fried, or has some sauce and sometimes meat that you mix in. The traditional food is fufu and banku which are both maize paste which are made into balls and dipped in soup.

After lunch we went to the National Culture Centre which was basically just a market with a lot more crafts. I bought a beautiful painting and a mask. I’m such a shopper so I have to remind myself that I’m going to be here for 3 months and I don’t need to get everything now.

Me and my roomie for now (Jessica) made a HUGE faux pas. We were walking through the market and there was the square of concrete that was blocked off with stones that was a muslim prayer centre and from what I understand you can’t wear your shoes in it, and I don’t think women are supposed to go in at all. Well imagine how well it went over when 2 white girls walked right into it. Some guys yelled to us and we came out and apologized profusely. Yikes!

This town is mainly Muslim, although the guest house we are staying at right now (at the Tamale Institute of Cross Cultural Studies) is run by a Catholic church and we’ve seen a few Christian churches. There isn’t really much conflict here about it though. Everyone is quite religious here, but no one cares what religion you are. On the way back through town, it was one of the Muslim prayer times and it was really interesting to see. There were a few mosques that had loud speakers that were blaring the prayers and at the prayer centre that Jessica and I walked through there were rows and rows of people praying, while the market and the hustle and bustle kept going on around them. It was neat to see how the religion fit into, and didn’t disrupt, the rest of the city.

The architecture here is very different too. A lot of the houses are made out of red mud around a frame of sticks and branches with thatched or grass roots. There are also a lot of stone buildings.

So things are mostly going really well. I'm excited to get started on my placement though.
I'm just going to post some pictures too.
Take care everyone!