Phillipine (another volunteer from France) and I rode a bus from Accra to Cape Coast on Monday. Emos, a global mamas employee picked us up at the station and took us to the volunteer house in Elmina. The volunteer house is my new home for the next 8 weeks. It’s about 15 of us living together in this house. We share 4 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a “living room” area. My roommate’s name is Hillary, she studies apparel merchandising at Iowa State. We share a very small room and sleep in bunk beds. I’m getting used to climbing up to my top bunk, setting up my suitcase as an extra step. After fixing my mosquito net with my swiss army knife, I was finally able to comfortably lay in my bed (without feeling suffocated). I’m getting used to taking short showers, which is difficult, not so much the using less water part, but the part about having to hurry up. I hate taking cold showers, but it so hot and humid here that the cold water actually feels really good!
Today was my first day at work at the office. The other volunteers have been showing me the ropes around here. Around 7:30am we leave the house, walk down a path behind our house, which is a short cut to the Shell station on the main road. Here, we hail a taxi for four of us at a time to drive us down to Cape Coast. George, another Global Mamas employee gave Phillipine and I were given a walking tour of the city so I (Philliphine leaves tomorrow for Accra) can get accustomed to my surroundings and know where I need to go for whatever I need. Maria, one of my new bosses, briefed me on the company’s history, production process, etc. The rest of the design team was here before me so I'm jumping into what they have been working on and starting to develop specific ideas for new home décor print patterns and designs.
Around 5 pm we head back to the house. The “Elmina Beach Resort” is literally a really short walk away from our house, so the girls told me all about getting a pool or gym pass for the whole time I’m here, this way I can enjoy their pool and wireless internet. So I went over there and got myself a pool pass, although I think I will mainly be using it to access the internet when I need to.
For dinner, you can make your own food or sign up to eat at Eli’s, a Ghanaian lady’s restaurant down our street. I will probably do a good balance of cooking for myself and enjoying Eli’s cooking. Last night I went to bed at 10pm, which if you know me is very rare. I woke up at 6:30 am which to my surprise was not too hard. I always knew that once I started working “office hours” my sleep would regulate. There are also less distractions here. I can just read my bible or read one of my books until I fall asleep.
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