abetifi- two weeks

we have been in abetifi for two weeks now. it seems like no time and lots of time. :) we are having cultural orientation at the ramseyer training center. it's a good place to get started on africa b/c they train a lot of westerners!
life in africa is much slower paced than in america. that may be stating the obvious, but it really is true. we are learning how to "be" rather than "do." it's not easy for us "obrouni's." when we are walking on the streets kids of all ages call out "obrouni!!" which means "white person!" it's interesting be a minority. never before have i been the minority, and i think it will be even more different once i get to my placement in peki.
two weekends ago we walked to a neighboring village, pepease, which is about 4 kilometers away, and uphill the whole way back! :) we made for quite the spectacle. our cultural teacher told us that that town had probably not seen a group of four white girls walking through before.
so far we have been to church twice, in twi each time. each sunday the preacher took pity on us and translated a tidbit of the sermon so we'd have something to think about! the first sunday we also had communion, which the pastor said in english for us. it was interesting to see a presbyterian church in africa and how similar it was to my presbyterian church back home. just by the order of things i could tell when we were saying the lord's prayer, the confession, and such. it's cool how god works...!
yesterday during culture class teacher yaw (pronounced yao) took us to one of the town's garbage dumps. we thought that was a little odd. we commented that if someone came to our country we would never think to take them to see our garbage. but i was thinking maybe it is important to see that. to know that when my garbage is taken away, after dinner, or out of my room, it's not just gone. it becomes someone else's problem. it doesn't just disappear, something has to be done about it. teacher yaw told us that when the dump looks like it's getting full, someone, whoever sees it first, just sets it on fire. sounds dangerous to me!
last week we bought some fabric and took it to a seamstress to make dresses for us. that's pretty much how clothes are here. we went to pick up our dresses today, and we look like a regular african group! except that we cannot figure out the correct way to tie the headdresses! all in good time!
things are good here... and that's about it!