Every day in Ghana is its own adventure. When you think this country is done surprising you, it throws another unexpected twist your way. Every day is like a Quentin Tarantino movie, incredibly strange, yet oddly enjoyable.

Some quick observations I have made:

• Toilet paper is called “T-roll”
• The toilet is often referenced as “The white man”
• Americans are stereotyped as being rich, ignorant liberals
• My support for the supreme court ruling is ridiculed and challenged on a daily basis
• My name is now Morgan Freeman
• You can buy ANYTHING on a Tro Tro
• People willingly help you
• When my name is not Morgan Freeman, it is Obruni

Living in Accra keeps you on your toes. Even the simplest tasks turn into a journey.

I have been able to observe our cultural differences between my nook in the U.S. and Ghana. Some can take you by surprise, and some are life changing. What was, and still is, hardest to adapt to is the spotty electricity. At home we have the luxury of reliable power. If we were to lose power there, it would generally be a result of a storm or maintenance.

In Accra, we lose power multiple times a day. Sometimes our generator works, but not always.

One evening we lost power just after the sun had set. We had just gotten home from a trip, so most of our electronics were nearly dead. Our house was dark, and we were unable to do anything on our devices.

The majority of the group congregated to the living room. We sat in silence for a while, but before too long, someone thought of an idea to play a game. We didn’t have much light, so a card game would not suffice. We needed something 15 people could play in the dark. Someone brought up the idea of playing Mafia; it’s a game many of us played at childhood sleepovers.

Without realizing it, we had played Mafia in the living room for nearly 3 ½ hours. None of that time was wasted. It was so much fun to spend time and laugh with these wonderful people.

In a way I am thankful for these power outages. It gives us all a chance to take a break from the Internet zombies that we can turn into.

~ Obruni out