Day 21

Tuesday May 21nd, 2013

Today was the first day that I have been frustrated with Ghana.  I don’t know what it was.  We went to Korlebu Teaching Hospital today.  It is a really nice hospital in Accra.  It is the hospital that most resembles an American one.  We went into the ICU and saw all the cute little sick babies.  They were so tiny.  They looked like little dolls.  They are supposed to only have 40 babies but they take about 70 and double babies up in the little incubators because they feel like they need to help.  And they don’t want to push people away.  I thought that was great.  They had a separate room for the kangaroo therapy that moms and babies do together.  That was really cool to see.  But the hospital itself was so dirty.  There was rust near anything water and it was just conditions that would not be allowed in America.  It would be shut down.  We got turned down from many other locations to visit, which was okay.  We were in the emergency room and saw a little baby with the swollen brain.  It was so sad.  Because at home they could put a shunt in a fix the baby for the most part, but here they don’t do it.  So that baby will probably die.  It is really sad.  It bummed me out.  We went into a little pathology museum and saw infants and fetus’s being kept in liquid and things.  It really bothered me.  I used to love that kind of stuff but it doesn’t really appeal to me anymore.  It helped me realize again that I have made the right decision on my schooling.  We went into a board room to wait to talk to the CEO of the hospital but she ended up not showing up after about 30 minutes.  We really were working on patience today.  We went to lunch and fed the African lions—little kittens.  Then we went shopping at the market again.  I had fun not talking and when I did it was all in Estonian.  I even bartered with a guy in Estonian but eventually people felt obligated to help me because I had the language barrier.  It was pretty fun.  I had a blast doing it.  I really wanted a painting today but I couldn’t get the guy down.  Now that I am home, I am kind of bummed out.  I really want it.  If we go back, I am going to just buy it.  No matter what the price is.  We dropped Jessica off which was kind of sad.  She was even crying as were some other girls.  Of course.  We got home and the power was off.  So we helped Lisa cook dinner.  It was pasta, delicious again!! I loved it.  I went to shower and my shower was electrocuting me.  Then the doors are all crooked and things are dirty.  We got moved to one room then to another.  It really tested my patience today.   It doesn’t sound like much but I really did get annoyed.  I feel guilty but its true.  Nothing in this country is consistent and I have been okay with it but I guess being in modern Ghana brings my American out and I am getting frustrated.  Okay rambling.  I need to sleep.