So here we are, Ghana 08 :-)

Been here for almost 2 weeks now, sorry we haven't blogged until now the internet is so slowwww and its a bit of a mission on one of those tut tut mini bus contraptions :-) 22 people in one today lol 5 people to a seat for 3 :-)

ok erm.... we arrived in Accra after a suitably turbelant flight over to be greeted by the outgoing platform 2 trip was nice to see them albeit briefly.

I'll update you by the days - it may be easier :-)

1st October - We stayed in the PInk Hostel in Accra for our one week orientation - setting up the mosquito nets was entertaining shall try and get pictures up at some point to explain lol 1 net over a bunkbed :-) girls room and boys room but yeah first of october and we were taken to the SYTO building and were talked to by a local doctor who ran through predictable problems whilst we're here and how to prevent them - it was fairly helpful :) We had our first lunch here in the hostel - fish + rice .... Neeru found a maggot in her salad which put a few of us off lol. WE then returned to have a drum lesson - albsolutely brilliant, female and male rhythems - the fumai fumai rythem llol - then a break - we dared a wlk into the town *well, myself, Tom, Adam and Joe did* and regretted that lol friendly yes they are but they're also intent that you willl buy something from their stalls and will stop traffic and drag you across the rod to prove a point lol. Saying that we all returned wearing bracelets with our names stitched into in the ghanian flag colours ... need to be more resiliant me thinks ...

then a dancing lesson to the rythem which was hilarious, i don't think any of us are going to be african dancers however Abbeys energy was something else :-)

Later that night we convinced Eban *our coordinator* to come with us to a reggae beach party with Koffeee *a guy met at the hostel* such a good night, 7 people in a 3 seater taxi :-) :-s bonfire, stars, dancing, live music was brilliant and i got me a fiance :-s lol called beos.

2nd October - Had another lesson in the SYTO building from Sarah a member of DIFID who has promised to come and visit us, then a beach trip :-D :-D we were swamped with sellers and the waves were incredible!!!! :-D Night time = a sports bar and dancing lol, Kofee made one dance move look smmoth myself natalie and amy looked like chickens and providd amusement for the locals lol. then an MC bar with a few locals performing - quite an upcoming thing here it seems :-)

3rd - first lunch out,. fufu nd oh gosh joe was hilarious trying to pull about his crab whilst putting his hands into his bowl of soup and fufu as was neeru tom etc - well one thing is for sure, our gag reflexes are all fine, lol poor mubz too. Tom sur[rised us all at the end of the day with his magic tricks which prompted the locals to perform too :-)

4th - a long day of driving and viewing poverty, there was a funeral in almost every village we passed they seem to be performed on saturdays - alot of the caskets were so small :-s :-( hit quite a few of us how real this has all suddenly become. Mosquito nets are up too :-) took some doing... we're now in a hostel as our house was being used bt a family throughout a big funeral - a murdered son was being buried in our village :-( but the hostel is great. shower _ toilet + spiders too :-s lol

5th - myself, tom and natalie went to church with Johnson (caretaker at the hstel) we were introduced to the comunitee which was ace, and spent the entire day after playing with every child from the village and nearby ones too absolutely brilliant day everyone was involved from mubz with his red cards for football to abbey joe and amy with their congo lines :-) first storm tonight :-)

6th - jog to work having moved into our real house, walked half way up the mountain at lunchtime with Neeru and deena trying to beat adam, abdul and riyad's attempt,

7th - first real day at work - raking, shovelling and digging :-) and joe had a lottery win too :-) tom once home decided to munch on some biscuits he'd lft in his room :-s bad idea - they were crawling with ants as was the inside of his mouth after :-s lol

8th - walked up the mountain, some of the group werent feeling very well so went home, we did it in 41 minutes + :-) impresive for a first go and the view from the top is incredible, will upload photos when we get a chance :-D

9th - HoHoi via tuttut minun bus lol., we had to get out of it to cross a ditch in the road which was flooded lol then pile back in tis quite an experience. Storm at home knocked out all power so we palyed cards by torch light :)

10th - RAIN!!!!!! :-D working in the rain and sunshine beforehand - really productive day and Adam discovered a scorpion :-s lol yeuch. Mubz and Ryiadh on route home found a shop and were invited to a guitar concert in a locals house looked brilliant :-D

everyone here is settling in and having personal experiences and the group here are incredible - thanks ever so much platform 2 from all here :-) it's been an incredible start, Amy's 21st tomorrow then a new week :-)