Day 17 - Top 5 Things I Like about Ghana and Miss about Home

We are over half-way through the assignment now so we challenged our team members to come up with the top 5 things we like about Ghana and top 5 things we miss about home. 

Note - These 5 things come after "my family" on the "miss" list and "my CSC team members" on the "like" list since we thought that everyone would have these same items on their lists

Here is my list


What I miss about home (other than my family whom I miss tremendously)

• Reliable internet.  The hotel has wireless internet but it does not always work, and if all 11 of us are at the hotel it is highly unlikely you will be able to get onto e-mail or onto the IBM site.  Internet at the client site is not much better - sometimes even worse
• Real brewed coffee.  They serve only Nescafe instant coffee throughout Ghana.  Most do not know what brewed coffee is.  I have not had a real cup of coffee since I left home
• Sidewalks.  Most of the time we walk on a worn path at the side of the road. - but sometimes when there is no path so we have to walk on the road.  Lets just say that pedestrians do not have the right of way in Ghana.
• My pillow.    The hotel pillows are too hard and too high for my liking.  I'm sleeping on the 12 inch by 8 inch pillow the airline gave me on the flight over.
• My exercise routine.  At home I run  3 times a week, swim once a week and do a weight class one day a week.  Here I am lucky to get 30 minutes on the treadmill in a week although I did manage to swim laps in the hotel pool one day this week  I have yet to try to run outside due to the heat and lack of sidewalks. 

#2 - Real brewed coffee

What I like about Ghana

• The friendliness and graciousness of the Ghanaian people.  They pride themselves on being a welcoming culture and they truly are
• The fresh fruit here is amazing - for breakfast our hotel serves a big plate of fresh mango, papaya, pineapple every morning.  It makes the fruit at home seem tasteless and colourless
• I love the Ghanaian fashion - particularly the women.  The colours and styles are amazing.  After having worn my "kaba and slit" for a day I have a real appreciation for how the Ghanaian women can looks so beautiful and cool in the sun when it is consistently 30+ degrees
• I love our client meetings where Theresa serves us breakfast, snack and lunch within a 3 hour time-frame.  I have some serious weight loss in front of me when I get home
• Believe it or not - I love the food.  I have been sticking pretty much to a vegetarian diet and making out pretty well.  This was a bit of a concern before I left since I am quite a conservative eater.   There are also a wide variety of ethnic restaurants around Tema  - the local Indian and Korean food restaurants have become some of our favourites

#2 - Fresh fruit for breakfast every morning

#3 - Ghanian fashion

That's it for another day in Ghana!