Close to 4 weeks on the ground, and I still don’t speak Twi.

Close to 4 weeks on the ground, and I still don't speak Twi...... Not a word of it. Well maybe a word, but that's really it.

To compensate for my obvious failings in that direction, I have decided not to learn how to drum either. Or cook Ghanaian style. Or weave Kente cloth.

I'm just not cut out for it. I try. Well at least I try to convince myself I should try. At least.

The fact is, I don't really have the excess energy.

Here I am, in a foreign country. A foreign business environment. Trying to make a positive impact to a company that does things in a different way, with different technology, and different goals. with different hopes, and different beliefs. Especially different beliefs.

I get up at 6 in the morning. Do some basic excercises to try and keep my circulation going. Have a well-prepared breakfast of oatmeal and egg sandwiches (Thanks to Rose and Richard), before being picked up for a 40 minute drive through the chaos that is Accra rush-hour. At work, when i'm not trying to figure out the mysteries of linux firewalling, IP masquerading or Wireless microwave links, i'm probably on the road. The sweltering mid-day drive to find the radio-link and do some reconfiguring. 25km. Windows down to make the heat bearable, the dusty roads ensure that I am soon feeling the grains of sand between my teeth.

And then there are the quiet periods. When I get time to send an e-mail to my girlfriend, my friends, my family, or to post another post on geekhalla. The time when I get a chance to really enjoy the, for Ghana, incredible 64Kbps connectivity that I work to keep up and running.

When work finishes, and at the end of another 40 minute drive, there is either exhaustion, or social activities.
The monday night Hash House Harriers, the wednesday night ethiopian buffet at Nuku's. The Thursday Trivia night at Champs. The bar's, restaurants, weekend trips to Cape Coast, Kumasi, Mole and wherever. The books I want to read. The showers I want to take. Yes, let's not forget the showers, for they are one of the days absolute highlights, when there is an opportunity to wash away the dust and dried up sweat of a day of sweltering heat.

After all this, I just can't seem to prioritize Twi, cooking, drumming or any other of a long list of worthwhile pursuits that I had sworn to myself I would at least dip into while in Ghana.

To all you cultural-immersion, "wring-every-last-drop-out-of-life" enthusiasts, I sincerely apologize. I guess I am a leisurely traveller.

One that refuses to pretend to live like the locals. Refuses to pretend I have to find the cheapest dinner option, or the most authentic cultural experience. But alos one that likes to experience, even the little bits of Ghanaian life that I ingest through some form of osmosis. I may be nothing more than a rich ex-pat, who comes to Ghana to experience the life, but at a distance. Who eats the food when it suits him, and refrains when he prefers. Who enjoys the atmosphere of the ex-pat bars. The air-conditioned Italian restaurants that are well outside the budget of most of the local population. I confess. That, too is a part of me.

For I am here, first and foremost, to try and impart some of my experiences in the Internet field, on some of the locals. To see if I can't make that tiny difference to the local economy. I am also here to learn, suck-up, breathe and be enriched. To share the culture, to live a little corner of the life, and to have fun. And I'd rather feel a little of the local culture and understand it, than try to grasp it all in one giant bite, suffering terminal cultural indigestion for the months that follow.

Hopefully I'll return to Denmark, richer, fuller and a better Human, even if I still won't speak Twi......