Week 1

Akwaaba!    (hello in Fanti)
I have successfully completed my first week in Ghana!
Over all it's been a great experience, and I'm becoming well adjusted.  I am staying in the home of Fiifi Asaan and his family, Jessie (wife and excellent cook), Emily (age 7) and Jennifer (age 5).  I share a room with Katie and the boys room has John, Oliver, and David, all from the UK.  It's been great having a group to hang around with.  Peter is a young Ghanaian man who is our guide, and he's wonderful.  He makes sure we are well taken care of.
The school where I am working is called Mansek Music Service and provides lessons in many different instruments to the community.  We also go out into schools twice a week to provide lessons there as well.  They have lots of instruments available, and most of the pupils don't have their own so they come here to practice.  The instruments are in pretty rough shape due to the heat and humidity, and all equipment is insanely expensive since it has to be imported.  We've been restringing the guitars and violins, and got a new ride cymbal for the drum set, since the old one was split in half.  We are also preparing for a concert next Sunday, which should be fun.
The people here are quite friendly, and all are interested in obroni (white people).  The children in particular alternate between fascination and fear of us, and we can't go anywhere without hearing shouts of "obroni!" 
Unfortunatly I can't send any pictures at the moment.  I foolishly left my bag unattended the third day here and it was stolen, along with my camera and a bunch of other stuff.  However, I am pretty sure all my bad luck is out of the way.  My second day I stepped on sea urchins and spent hours digging the spines out of my feet, the third day my bag was stolen, and then I ran, upset, into the sea for a swim where I stepped on a rock, twisted my ankle and skinned my knee.  Later that day I was washed into another rock and filled my hands full of sea urchine spines.  I am hoping I got all my bad luck out of my system, and the next four months will go smoothly.
Takoradi is a busy, bustling place. The school is on the third floor of our building in the center of town, so we have an excellent view of the market place and action.  I still can't get over all the people carrying massive amounts of goods on their heads!  The beach is a couple miles away too, so we've been going there a lot to catch a breeze and some fresh air.  We are currently in the hottest part of the year, and it feels every bit of it.  There is electricity in our house (most of the time) so we have fans to keep us cool at night, etc.  There is also running water, but it hasn't worked since I've been here.  They say this is the longest it's been out for years, but it's fine.  There is a pump out back so we bathe with a bucket and a dipper and all is well. 
The food is delicious, and my greatest fear of getting sick to has yet to occur.  Ghanaians wash down their spicy food with a cold beer, and Peter has taught me the local song "In heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink all the beers here!"   Love it!  
Tonight we are going to see a live band play High Life, the local popular style of music.  Youtube it and check it out!  It's a lot of fun, kind of like reggae.  I'm going to try and keep this updated weekly, so I'll filll everyone in on all the wonderful adventures! 
Blessings.