With the exception of a one-week stay in a small town called Komenda, I have been in Cape Coast since the day after I arrived. I live with a host family in an area called North Ola, a quiet residential area that is within a 50 pesewas taxi ride of almost anywhere I'd want to go. [50 pesewas is equal to about 35 cents.]
I live on the second floor of a two-story house that's surrounded by a cement wall and a black metal gate. My host mother is Auntie Hettie, a self-employed dress maker. Her dress shop is in the house, so the hum of sewing machines is almost constant throughout the day and there are piles of cloth waiting to be sewn into custom-made dresses in all the rooms and hallways. 
My host sister is Georgina, a 12 year old who, in addition to attending school, cooks great meals for the three of us, cleans the house, and runs errands every day. Usually, I wake up to the sound of her sweeping the floor outside my room at about 6:15am. She teases me a lot - one of her favorite jokes is to tell me that she has seen one of my family members: "I saw your dad." "Oh yeah, where?" "He was over there [pointing to the street corner], sweeping." I don't get it, but maybe I will by the time I leave Ghana. She also enjoyed dressing up in the clothes that I wore on the plane ride here, even though it's sweltering hot here, and posing as if she were me. My favorite place in the house is out on the balcony, which looks southward on the neighborhood.
When I sit out there in the afternoon, it's a little shady and I can usually catch a breeze, always a welcome cool-down to my constant sweating. I also enjoy sitting in the room where two of Auntie Hettie's employees work. Dodowa and Beatrice talk to me mostly in Fante. Gradually, I am understanding more and more, but usually, I need a translation. When in doubt, I say "nyo" or "oho" [yes or no].
Not surprisingly, eating is one of my favorite activities here. This is the hallway outside of my room, which is the first door on the right (barely visible).
I eat breakfast at the table in the foreground - usually white bread and tea. In the states, I eat white bread rarely, if ever. But here, it's fresh, dense, soft, and delicious all the time! I sometimes eat it with pure peanut butter on top. It's great. The other day, I was a little sick, so I stuck to a white bread diet all day - not a bad predicament! I plan to write more about my favorite foods here in a future post (I promise it will be more exciting sounding than white bread!), but for now suffice it to say that I'm happy when I eat and I enjoy eating almost everything I've tried.My friend took some great pictures when we walked to a cave in Komenda. The first is our steep descent to the beach and the second is me, trying to see what it feels like to be a bat.
