Kristi Goes to Ghana

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane…

January 29th, 2010 Posted in Preparation | No Comments »

That is the song Karli called to sing to me because she thought I left today!  I don’t leave until tomorrow at 8:20pm.  Her call did remind me to post my flight information though, so here it is:

Flight 1 - BA0296

From O’Hare (Chicago) Departing  20 January 2010  20:25 (local time)
To
Heathrow (London) Arriving  31 January 2010 09:50 (local time)

Flight 2 - BA0081

From Heathrow (London) Departing  31 January 2010  14:50 (local time)
To
Accra Arriving  31 January 2010  21:30 (local time)

I will be picked up in Accra and stay there overnight, and then will be taking an in-country flight from Accra to Tamale.  I am scheduled to arrive in Tamale at 07:30 and will be picked up by Dr. Jean’s friend; depending on her schedule, Dr. Jean may be there to pick me up as well.  They will take me to Saboba, where I will be spending the next 4 weeks.

Coming home, my information is as follows:

I don’t have specific information on my in-country flight from Tamale to Accra yet, but believe it has all been arranged for me.

Flight 3 - BA0078

From Accra Departing  27 February 2010  23:45 (local time)
To
Heathrow (London) Arriving  28 February 2010 06:35 (local time)

Flight 4 - BA0295

From Heathrow (London) Departing  28 February 2010  11:35 (local time)
To
O’Hare (Chicago) Arriving  28 February 2010 14:20 (local time)

I feel ready to go.  I am mostly just excited.  I thought I would be more nervous, but I don’t really have anything to be nervous about.  I know all of the details for my travel, and I will be staying with Dr. Jean and her husband, Bob, at their home.  Dr. Jean said that their household help will be like automatic friends for me, so I won’t have to worry about being in a new place without anyone to show me around. 

I hope to take lots of pictures and come back with lots of stories to tell.  There will be an Ob/gyne group coming in mid-February from New York and I will have the opportunity to go to Mole Game Reserve with them to see elephants in the wild!  Don’t worry… I won’t get too close to the elephants.

I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for good souvenirs while I’m there! 

Getting Ready

January 22nd, 2010 Posted in Preparation | 1 Comment »

I am trying to figure out how this blog works.  Hopefully I will have it figured out by the time I leave so I can keep everyone as updated as possible.  For now, I do know that if you click the link at the top “Saboba Medical Center, Ghana” you can find a lot of information about where I am going to be, what I am going to be doing and what the culture is like.

I leave in eight days (wow!!) and I still have some shopping and all of my packing left to do.  I am hoping to get the shopping and packing done by Sunday so I can finish up my Sub-internship on Wednesday and head to Dunlap to rest and say goodbye to some family.  Then I head to Chicago Thursday evening to spend some time with Peter (my fiance) before he drops me at the airport for my flight Saturday evening.  I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by, and that I am leaving so soon.  I am really excited, but also a bit nervous! 

I will post my flight information for those interested in a few days!