WARNING...dosen't travel lightly!

Sherie and I made it to Ghana! I slept the entire flight from Amsterdam to Accra. Apparently, I was twisted up into a very stange fetal/pretzel position for about 7 hours. Thank God for ambien! The Ghanaian man sitting next to me told me he had no clue how I slept like that. I arrived with a total of 4 bags...4 HEAVY bags! My checked suitcases weighed in at 68 and 54 pounds.
After a 30 minute trip in the car, we made it to the Manna Mission House where we will be staying for the next four weeks. We were very surprised to find that there were six people already there! We were expecting to be the only ones. There are six students from UVA who are working at Manna Hospital this month. I was happy to find that our bedroom does have air conditioning, but none of the other areas in the house do. The power tends to go out quite frequently, so I am thankful for the flashlight that Mama sent with me. The water in the nasty shower isn't warm, but I prefer a cold shower anyways! It is insanely HOT here, and incredibly dusty. All of the sweating grosses me out, especially because it makes the dust stick to my skin!
I slept in on Monday and then Sherie and I got a tour of the hospital and made a trip into Osu to go to the grocery store and explore. Six of us took a tiny hatchback cab into the town. I bought a phone to use while I am here, so I welcome phone calls and texts!
We all woke up early this morning (Tuesday) and made our way to work. It is a short walk down a dirt road from the house to the hospital. Everyone here works on Ghanaian time, which means that nothing starts when it is supposed to. This works out well for me, because I have a serious punctuality problem! I spent the day working in a tiny, hot room with Dr. Asari, a young, Ghanaian doctor. He asked me multiple times why in the world I would decide to come to Ghana. He seriously thought I was crazy! I saw a wide array of patients today. My patients ranged in age from 9 months to 86 years. Their diagnoses were everything from an anal fistula to chronic hypertension. My very first patient was a 6 year old with malaria. I was so excited to see a case of malaria....until I diagnosed about the 9th case of the day! I knew I would see it while I was here, but I had no idea how common it would be! I learned yesterday that Kim and Ashley (my classmates who just spent the month here) got malaria while they were here. Izzy, one of the girls from UVA, diagnosed herself with malaria yesterday. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably also get malaria. I am not very happy about it. I'm a huge wuss when I am sick! Until then, I will continue to take my malarone and dump loads of deet on my skin.
I am adjusting to the Ghanaian culture relatively well. The people here are very friendly and many speak English in addition to Twe. I haven't tried any of the food here, because a lot of it isn't safe. I have bought lots of fruit from a lady who keeps a stand right outside the hospital. I am already missing my family so much, and can't wait to see them again! I didn't bring my camera to the hospital, so I will upload some pictures tomorrow. I will try to keep everyone updated by this blog, but please feel free to email me! If anyone wants to call me or text me, my number here is 011-241587682. I would love to hear from you!