The good, the bad, the not so pretty lady...

Greetings all,

Disclaimer: my blog is meant to be a true diary of my trip and I'm sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly....

Since my last post I've started to get settled in my homestay and been to the university a couple times.
On Monday we had orientation with the other international students and then moved in with our host families/into the dorms. My host sister Rachel picked me up and brought me to our home which just happens to be a place that was a stop on our scavenger hunt on Sunday...so here's a pic of me and the homestay kids in front of the fabric store that my host mom Aunti Grace owns that is connected to our compound:

When I got to our house I spent an hour or so unpacking and then had some rice and stew for lunch. Everyone around the area greeted me whenever they saw me including Pookie (Abigail) my host cousin who lives with us...she is a typical 14-year-old girl who loves the internet, the Kardashians, and the tv show Pretty Little Liars. She immediately asked to see all of my electronic devices and wanted to take pictures and listen to my music..here's a pic of me and her:

She took me around for the afternoon to the nail salon and the pharmacy and started making all kinds of plans for us for the entire time I'm here. I had a dinner of Keke and palm nut soup (keke is kind of like a tortilla in a dough-like consistency and the soups/stews here all look the same to me for now) I didn't really like it but I ate it anyways thinking it would grow on me...(unfortunately that didn't happen) I met many more family members throughout the day many of whom live with us but I still don't know their names. The nuclear family that we have in the US (usually only parents and their children living in the home) isn't common here and usually many aunts and cousins, etc live with you just like I have here. I went to bed that night and woke up to a not so good morning...

I actually woke up around 5am ill and ended up deciding not to go to orientation...in fact I ended up going to the hospital. Luckily we only live about 2 blocks from a new private hospital so I went there. They treated me for traveler's diarrhea and food poisoning after ruling out malaria. I was on IVs from Tuesday morning until Wednesday around 11am when I was released. I did nothing but sleep for two days straight and fortunately thanks to the excellent care of my host family, program directors, and doctors and nurses am feeling better today. I went to school and survived the entire day.

I'm very fortunate to have both an amazing family back home and a great host family who checked in and visited me and won't stop asking me how I'm feeling...my host dad, Charlie just wants to have a beer with me when my medication is gone hahaha...I think he's heard some stories about Wisconsin!

Overall, it's been a trying few days...if I wasn't super religious already I think I'm taking some extra time to pray for the next few days. I have considered coming home but luckily today was a good day...the worst must be behind me, right? Either way I know this will be worth it in the end and I can't wait to start classes on Monday. 

I know many of you are curious about my living conditions, etc. so my next post will include some pics of my home and more details! 

P.S. it's crazy to me that on the Ghanaian news on Monday the tragic story of the shooting in Oak Creek was on...my prayers are with those families and it's really unfortunate that on my first day here I had to try and find a way to tell Pookie why the man did those things...rough...but it puts things into perspective for sure.