Wo ho te sen?

Me hoye. This is about the extent of my knowledge of Twi (pronounced chree) at this point! I am not sure of the spelling, but it means, "How are you? I am fine." Actually, we have been learning greetings, market bargaining, and numbers, and it is difficult but not impossible.

To back up, four other radically cool Princeton students who also deferred their freshman year (Kathleen, Aria, Cole, and Nick) and I have been in Ghana since Monday evening and are adjusting well. I am presently at an internet cafe with dial-up internet and so will not post too much, but wanted to ensure you that we are doing well and enjoying the culture, even as we are learning to struggle with the hard facts of daily Ghanaian life that rest in the background of each day. We are staying at a hostel for university students, but on Sunday or Monday we will move in with our host families. Over the last few days we have visited four of the five NGOs (non-profits) that we will be working with, one of us at each: an autism training school, the office for disabled students at the University of Ghana, a development project and skill training center in a slum of Accra, and a community-building athletic facility. The one we will visit tomorrow serves street girls and their children.

There will be more news later... For now, you can go to this link for an article about our Bridge Year orientation for a week at Princeton. I'm quoted if you read far enough, and I'm barely visible at the far right of the picture at the bottom with, clockwise from me, Aria, Nick, Kathleen, Cole, and Yaw, our program coordinator.

Ye da Onyame ase! / We give God thanks!