What I've Learned In Africa:
1. It is impossible to keep your
feet clean here even if you wash them several times a day. Dust/dirt roads and flip-flops are not a good combination.
2.
Nothing can stop a mosquito
intent upon sucking your blood in the night- not spray, not long sleeves, not
nets. Nothing. They are invincible and far more strategic than you would expect
from a winged insect.
3. If you drive a taxi here you don't need to follow road rules, when you can just beep manically all day long at everyone and everything.
4.
On a related note, you can put
as many people as you can physically fit into a taxi…as long as you can afford
the police bribe if you’re stopped.
5.
Not having a running water
supply is no big deal. Just
grab a bucket, head to the outdoor tank and get over it. Anyway, it’s
refreshing and environmentally friendly to wash in cold water from a
bucket--we should all do it.
6.
Power outages in a hot climate
are, however, a very big deal- because we have no fans and it gets ery hot and sweaty very
quickly and not in a good way.
7. Camels are a viable mode of
transport, possible the most efficient one here and certainly more comfortable
than a packed trotro.
8.
If there’s a building with an ocean view, its worth climbing to the top, even if it means getting dizzy on a looong spiral staircase and rickety ladder.
9. For some reason they mostly
love to play American/British pop music from the 80’s and 90’s on the radio here.
Which is fine and not annoying at all when you hear the same Rod Stewart song
for the third timein one day.
10. Don’t take directions from Ghanaians in shantytowns; they probably
don’t understand your English and will always confidently say “go straight” even
if they don’t know and will end up in you getting
nowhere fast.
11. Better to trust Google maps which always knows the way, even in said
obscure shantytown in middle-of-nowhere Africa.
12. Don’t rely on the taxi drivers here to know the way to anywhere
either; they are as clueless as you are and probably haven’t been in the city
much longer either.
13. It’s actually no harm to accidentally brush your teeth using the tap water
occasionally or a get couple of mosquito bites…I’ve done both and am still alive (If I
contract cholera/malaria when I’m home, I will take this one back).
14. Living in a place where there are beach parties 7 nights a week is good for the soul.
15. Nobody needs a hairdryer, contrary
to my life-long belief. Didn't have access to one for 2 months and I never looked better if I say so myself. Anyway the humidity renders hair styling useless.
16. Avoid eating snail kebab, even just as a culinary experiment. I don’t care what the Frech say or if it is a ‘delicacy’, it tastes dis-guuuust-ing.
17. I can handle most things that living in very basic accommodation in
a developing country can throw at me, except the COCKROACHES! Can’t. Deal.
With. Them. Someone please just get those icky creatures away from me.
18. I can now use a tin opener if the tin doesn’t have that
little tab to open it. #lifeskillz
19. When I have enough experience/financial security to make
completely independent life choices, I will definitely live somewhere with a
climate that allows you to wear just a dress and flip-flops and still be warm
outside at any time of day or night. In fact, if I don’t sort a life plan out soon, I might just stay here
and become the guy who sells coconuts from a wheelbarrow for a living.
20. If there’s a choice between staying somewhere comfortable or going
somewhere risky.... GO!!!
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