I have gone into the office every day this week for probably about four hours each day. I really enjoy it. It allows me to get out of my house and to be productive, since I don’t have Wi-Fi at my house yet. This is where I've set up my blog. I’ve also begun to read research on some of the stuff that I want to do while I’m here, including research some of my colleagues have done. It’s been nice to get to know the office people. I’ve met lots of office staff and several other faculty members. I like the flow of this week and getting into a routine.
Some highlights:
I had lunch with the only female colleague I have met thus far. Her name is Medina and she is in the Theater Department here, but she has something like a cognate in music education. One thing I didn't expect when I came is that all of the professors (or the VAST majority of them) are male. I have met tons of men (all very warm and friendly), but only one female. Medina has assured me there are a few more that I will meet soon. She is also very nice and I think we will be friends!
I had lunch with John and one of his former students (a female, by the way). We had a long conversation about how much things cost. As a snapshot, the lunch of jollof rice and chicken that I eat pretty regularly at the restaurant by my house costs about 30 GHS (Ghanaian Cedis, said like CD). Converting it to American dollars, that's about $3.50, which I think is quite inexpensive. But I have been told by several people not to convert money, but just to think of it in terms of how much things cost here so you don't spend as much. When I told John's student how much my lunch cost, she was shocked at how much it was and said it should not be that much...maybe it should be like 5 or 10 GHS. They said this is due to inflation - it is pretty bad here too. So that conversation helped me better conceptualize how to think about money here, though it is very difficult not to always think in conversions.
A few pics: This is a pic of my office and the music building, which we share with a few other departments. The other pics are of food. One of a typical breakfast at the restaurant (about 20GHS). The others of the market near campus and the booth I have gone three times this week to get lunch with different folks. I have had the hot dog-looking this with potato wedges primarily (about 6 GHS). The other things in the box are fish (here, they eat fish with scales and everything on it), pieces of chicken, and chicken gizzards. Since this week has been more like a typical day-to-day week, I don't have a ton of exciting pics otherwise.
I realize I need to take some pictures of people...that will come soon...
If the restaurant you're going to caters to non-Ghanaians/foreigners, prices will be adjusted accordingly. There's an automatic "surcharge" for coming from a wealthier country. As you point out, the cost is still cheap by, in your case, U.S. standards, but to locals it seems outrageous. Context is everything, and there's no easy solution: if you pay more than locals do, then you reinforce the idea that all Americans are wealthy and should be taken financial advantage of; if you insist on paying local prices in a place frequented by few locals, you'll look like a jerk.
So go easy on yourself. Be nice. But don't be a complete pushover.