Hippo Birdie to Ewe, quick update.

Today is Mommy's birthday! Happy birthdaaaaaay Mommy! I love you very much. For your birthday I have friended you on Facebook. It's about all I can do from Ghana, so I hope it's enough! Also I will call later, but you are asleep now (yay time zones).
Thank you for letting me study abroad, and thank you for trusting me enough to go to Ghana.
When I first decided to study abroad, I talked with friends about my options. They complained of parents who were restricting possible locations, or worse, suggesting against studying abroad in general. My parents have always been ridiculously supportive in my crazy antics (Sure! Go travel around Europe! India? We'll help you live there for the summer!), and I couldn't be more appreciative.
So I'm sorry that I'm not closer and that I can't be there for your Birthday. But I hope it's wonderful nonetheless.


In other news, we are going to Kumasi tomorrow. We have to be AT school at 6:30 am. Some people live more than an hour away, so it should make for an interesting morning. Fortunatly, I very close to campus, making my morning trip comparitively easy. We'll bus for five hours before arriving at our hotel, where we'll spend one night before meeting our second host families. The rest of the day one will be touring, orientation, and free time. Kumasi is a large city, so I anticipate being able to access the internet, but honestly I have no idea. Some days the entire internet is down. The entire internet of Ghana. It's ridiculously wonderful.
After that, we're headed out to the Bush Country, where we'll do the village stay et cetera. Things are starting to begin, and it's about time. Accra and I are about done.
On another train of thought, privacy in Ghana is quite different. People in the internet cafe think nothing of looking over my shoulder and reading my blog post, email, or looking at my facebook and then adding me as a friend later. Different culture? Hitting on the obruni (Twi for white person)? Just creeptastic? Take your pick, ladies and gents.

I have some more stories (Church, polybeat, awkward), but they'll have to wait. I need to go pack and write a paper. Hopefully I'll be able to sit down in Kumasi and relay a couple back to you. Stories, not papers. Unless, of course, you'd like me to tell you how the three books I read all talk about the opposition of Western Education to Ghanian Education. I could arrange for that to happen too.

In conclusion, Happy Birthday Mommy.
And to everyone else, be safe! Don't do anything I would do.
Love,
Obruni Lo