Guest Post - The types of expats you meet abroad

Now that we've been here for about a year, I've started to notice a trend in the type of expats you come across while abroad.  While not exhaustive, and some might fit into more than one category, I think these are the basic stereotypes.

Debbie Downers

This sucks, here sucks, the food sucks, the sunglasses sold on the side of the road suck, and I'm going to look at you like you're crazy if you find any enjoyment, whatsoever, in this hell hole.

Most people are in this phase at some point when they are abroad and away from home, but most people come out of it.  The Debbie Downers see only doom and gloom and find most enjoyment about complaining about their situation.  I suppose misery does love company. I generally agree that a lot of items purchased on the roadside are not those that would score highly in Consumer Reports, but if I find myself in conversations with a Debbie Downer my strategy is to finish my drink ASAP and excuse myself to get a refill.

Do-you-know-what-the-problem-is'ers

You know what the problem is? XYZ country needs to implement ABC.

They have the answer for all of the country's problems.  In all likelihood, he or she read an article online and couldn't wait to regurgitate facts about fiscal stability and the politics involved.  These folk are openly sharing their knowledge of all things wrong with a country and the solution to fix it.  Their favorite platform is anyone who has spent less time in the country than them.

Holier-than-thou 'ers

Maybe they've been in the country longer, or maybe they've lived in more countries, regardless, you're going to get a faceful of culture as they constantly one-up your stories with their own adventures.  The sense of pride and arrogance will be immediately apparent.  The best way to turn off Holier-than-thou 'ers, who might actually be pretty nice people otherwise, is to get a better traveled expat involved in the conversation, or include a local.  

Look, ma! I'm a local!

A glance will give you a suspicion, a single question will give you the answer.  This person might be spending a week in Ghana, but you can bet that they'll tell everyone back home they lived in Africa.  Said person will be wearing only clothing and jewelry made in Ghana.  Goofy pants and a smelly shirt.  Guess what - the locals are trying to dress like Americans/Europeans.  Even they don't wear the crap you have on.

How do you know for sure that you're dealing with someone like this versus someone who actually spent about 3 years in the bush (because they can look similar)  "How long have you been in Ghana?"  

And that ends this edition of "Name that expat"...

Year One in the Books

Hard to believe that on this day one year ago, Dan and I boarded a plane to Accra, leaving our US life behind for awhile. We tried to check our expectations with our bags and be as openminded about this two year experience as possible. In honor of our halfway point on this adventure, I thought I'd do MY recap of the year.

I would say the first 60 to 90 days was a bumpy landing for me. Getting used to day to day life here and adjusting to the idea that this is home for the next two years definitely took some time. Learning where you are going without street names or knowledgeable drivers was a challenge, along with food expectations/grocery shopping, unforeseen circumstances with Dan's office, etc. We found an apartment that we liked and picked out some items to furnish it which made it start to feel like home here.

Then came the waiting game for our air and sea freight to arrive. It's true that when you live without your stuff for 1-3 months, you realize how little of it you actually "need". That said, you do feel more complete when you get it back because it's the stuff that feels like home. Football season and trash talk with friends back in the US made the transition a bit easier, although I admit it was difficult to adjust to working from home full time and not having as much interaction with people as I used to. I thought I had done a pretty good job of adjusting, but apparently hadn't portrayed those feelings outwardly enough. Dan actually thought I wanted to ditch him and this experience and go home... a thought that never once crossed my mind. I suppose it just took me a bit longer to get comfortable here when I didn't really have a routine that required I change out of yoga pants more than once every two days. I've actually grown a fondness for needing to physically go pay for internet and power credit as it gives me a reason to get out and about a bit...even if I do still go in yoga pants. Hey, there are some perks to working from home! Lululemon, all day; every day.

Then we came back from Christmas to have three months in Mozambique. I still maintain that the experience there was worth having. The food was good, the wine was better, and the infrastructure was solid. But living in a hotel certainly took it's toll and we didn't really have any friends. The multiple hotel issues took its toll but we honed the ability to laugh things off. It says something for our marriage that we literally spent every moment that Dan wasn't at the office together. We didn't run out of dinner conversation or want to punch each other in the face (well I shouldn't speak for Dan haha), so I consider that a victory. Hotel-living was not my favorite and I don't think I'll be quick to sign up for it again for that length of time.

Then we were back in Accra and these last 5 months have FLOWN by. Lots of travel, visiting with our parents and just getting back into the swing of everyday life here... it's been really nice. Neither of us can believe it's already been a year which I suppose is a good problem. Football is on the horizon again and, with that, comes the holidays with family and friends. I'm certain the remainder of the year will continue to be a blur and, before we know it, it will be 2016.

I think we would both agree that this experience has been more rewarding than we could have imagined. Seeing other parts of the world and making friends with people who are going through the same challenges has certainly made it an enjoyable year. We wrapped up our first year with friends, going out on Thursday and Friday nights and having people over for dinner last night. All in all, we are grateful for everything that has gone into this, and how we have grown both individually and together over the last year.

Thank you for putting up with my blog posts for a year now and coming along for this roller coaster of life abroad. On to Year 2!

Walking like an Egyptian - Cairo Part 1

After a few days in the modern architecture of Dubai, it was time to head home. When we booked our  flights we intentionally gave ourselves a 20 hour layover in Cairo. This meant two very early morning flights and a definite lack of sleep but I think we would both say it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. I could probably write four blog posts on just the 17 hours or so that we spent in this historic hotbed (literally)... but we will see how well I can condense.

We arrived and purchased our visa on arrival. We booked a room at a hotel very near the pyramids for $60 and I exchanged emails with the owner before the trip letting him know what we wanted to do and coordinating the timing. A driver was waiting for us at the airport and told us it would be about an hour to the Pyramid View Inn.

Along the way, we marveled at how developed the city is, but also the history contained within it. It's an interesting juxtaposition both when compared to Dubai but also just contrasting some new areas of the city with the old mosques or buildings lining the Nile that have clearly been there for centuries. Many buildings are unfinished with rebar exposed on the top floor. We were told this is because the government does not collect property taxes until a building is finished so people intentionally don't finish them. There are families living in them but they purposely didn't build the final/top floor to avoid paying taxes. In addition to our Tour de Cairo by car, we discussed what we wanted to see and do while we were there. Our driver mentioned that there was one thing that he highly recommended that we hadn't included. He didn't elaborate and eventually pulled up outside this small shop and turned off the engine. Ok, I guess we're getting out here.

It was the Egyptian Papyrus Museum. We walked in and there was a very knowledgable gentleman who spoke very quickly and gave us the rundown on how papyrus paper is made. Here's the Cliffs Notes: papyrus is a plant with a long stem that grows along the Nile. They cut a stalk off of the stem and peel off the outer layer exposing the inside of the stem. They them cut this inside into strips and use a rolling pin to flatten them out into long skinny strips. Once soaked in water, the sugars in the plant are ready to adhere the pieces to each other. They are aligned parallel vertically and then another layer is done horizontally, so essentially the front has vertical stripes and the back horizontal. I was surprised to learn that it is not woven like a basket. It is then put into a press to squeeze out the excess water and stick everything together with the plant's natural sugars. He explained that there are many knockoffs around Cairo made from banana stems. He warned us that they are very cheap but do not last because while banana is a decent alternative texture-wise, there is too much sugar in the banana so over time the paper eats away at itself.

We ended up buying two pieces of artwork from the museum, the perfect souvenirs from our express visit to Egypt:

After the museum, we were taken to the Inn where we dropped off our stuff, changed clothes and had a quick bite to eat before heading out to the pyramids. The entrance fee for the pyramids compound is a whopping $11, but you get hounded by people trying to sell you water, horse-drawn carriage rides, camel rides, etc etc. We walked in and past the Sphinx, then turned right and went around the Pyramid of Khufu (aka The Great Pyramid of Giza), then continued past the backside of the Pyramid of Khafre and ended in front of the smallest, the Pyramid of Menkaure. It's about 12km between all three pyramids so not exactly a short walk when it's 110+ degrees outside. By this point, I was overheated and, according to Dan, sporting quite the attractive sunburnt nose. So we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest.

Here are some photos from our exploration up close and personal with the pyramids:

 Sphinx and Khafre/Up close with Sphinx's busted face (Thanks Napoleon)

Pyramid of Khafre/Dan with Pyramid of Khufu

 For sake of showing how big the rocks are

 Us in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka Khufu), and up close with the base of the same pyramid

I'll stop here and save the remainder for the next post! :)

Ever seen a Mozambican Presidential Inauguration?

Yeah, neither had we. Actually, I've never physically been present for an American President's inauguration. The week that we arrived here in Maputo, we learned that the inauguration for President Nyusi was to be later that week. The inauguration took place at the Town Hall which is visible from the balcony of our hotel room.

Starting Monday morning, we were greeted with the sounds of crews constructing various stages and seating areas. A marching band practiced daily with a large contingent of the Mozambican military rehearsing their marching processional. Suffice to say after four days straight of one song on repeat, it still haunts my dreams. I catch myself randomly humming it subconsciously. It's going to take quite some time (and several catchy Taylor Swift songs) to override that tune.

Thursday was the big event. We found out Tuesday afternoon that the government had declared it a public holiday so Dan got the day off. Unfortunately, I work for a US/UK company who for some unknown reason didn't think that a new Mozambican President was a valid reason to give a day off. Thankfully, all events were very slow moving so Dan just knocked on the sliding glass door when I needed to come out and view something that had the possibility of being worth watching.

The morning festivities started around 8am with music over loud speakers. There was a red carpet rolled out and Nyusi arrived in a vehicle processional. He was seated in the center red tent on the right just in front of the Town Hall. There was a podium at the front of it to address the citizens.

After the soon-to-be President's arrival, the festivities began. There were small stages on either end that had dance performances on one side and a choir on the other. Eventually, the speeches began and we assume the President was sworn in. I say "we assume" because this was all done in Portuguese and over a series of loud speakers making it very difficult to decipher what was actually being said. Periodically, the crowd would cheer and stand in support. Once that was done, the party began.

Some local children walked through and stopped in front of their new President, sang a song, and released balloons the colors of the Mozambican flag into the sky.

After the kids walked on, the marching band led the beginning of the military processional into the area. That went on for quite awhile as several branches of military in different uniforms marched past and saluted the new President.

Upon the completion of the military processional, the seated guests rose and started to make their way out (around 1pm). Many of the public who came out for the event stayed behind. Music was played over speakers for another hour and a half or so. Finally, around 2:30pm, the booming bass stopped and people cleared out. 

It was certainly an interesting piece of history to witness firsthand!

The Sea Freight is here! The Sea Freight is here!

Praise the customs officials! The Sea Freight is here!

If you recall, we packed and shipped our items on 20Aug2014. We were quoted 2-4 weeks for air freight and 7-11 weeks for sea freight. The air freight took 4 to arrive, clear customs and be delivered. The sea freight took 15! Maybe they should adjust their estimates haha. The challenge is that customs required Dan's passport again to clear the sea freight. Not a huge issue except that we have travel plans that require his passport. I have to admit I think it made our customs clearance go a lot smoother given that we had a tight deadline.

All in all, we've survived just fine without our stuff but it sure is good to have it back. The major highlights for me are having our mattress back as well as our artwork/wall hangings. To me, those are what makes a place home, besides Dan of course. But, he was already here (old news haha)

The movers arrived and said they would unload the truck then unpack the boxes once everything got upstairs. The boxes just kept coming. There were four guys and they just kept bringing stuff in. Where did all of this come from?! How did it fit in our teeny tiny 827 sq foot apartment in San Francisco?! This apartment is almost twice the size and I don't have a clue where all of this is going to go! So after my initial freak out, I was ready to attempt the task of giving these items a "home" for the next couple years.

Slowly but surely the boxes came upstairs, the guys put our bed back together and moved the small amount of furniture we did bring to the appropriate rooms. It was a very busy day between getting my work done, the movers coming, unpacking, and dealing with an air conditioner that decided the day should start off with a lovely puddle on the living room floor (ha!)

Alas, most of the stuff is put away... aside from the electronics which I refuse to touch and I think Dan prefers it that way. With the unpacking almost finished, it surely must mean that it's time to repack. Seems to be the way of life, just a series of packing and unpacking. We're off to the US for four weeks of work, family time, holidays, visiting friends, wine tastings and New Years in San Francisco. The blog will be on hiatus during that time as we won't have any riveting Ghana stories to share with you.

Upon our return, hopefully we will have artwork up and everything in it's place and we can share some pictures of our Africa home. Best wishes, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! We'll talk to you in 2015!

Love,
Jen and Dan

Guest Post - Dan's Tax Away Day Experience

Received this invitation in my email one day earlier this month:

My initial observations: Hotel looks nice! Umm, this is over night? That seems weird.  We spent 8+ hours a day together, why would we spend even more time together?  Given things tend to run on “Africa Time”, I wasn’t surprised to see the emphasis on the departure time. Cocktails at 10AM? Hell yes.  Seems weird though because not many people drink here. Tax Olympics, huh? Turns out these are events requiring physical exertion from tax accountants. Me Time is conveniently during Happy Hour. Dinner is formal and goes till midnight? I sure as s*** hope that this 7AM Aerobics line is a joke or is optional. I take notice that there’s no emphasis on the departure time – my guess is this means departure is at 12:30.

After this invitation goes out, I hear most of the office making fun of a poor guy who lost one of the events to a girl last year. Note to self – do not lose to a girl under any circumstances or risk being taunted for the next 52 weeks.  Time to hit the gym harder.  And maybe take it easy with the Welcome Cocktails beforehand. Although, I’m looking around the office and most people are much closer to sporting a keg belly than six-pack abs. Much of this has to do with the lack of exercise and the preferred local cuisine – Carbs.

Another example of Ghanaians not allowing anyone to live anything down: One girl has the nickname Zebra.  Last year, there was the same emphasis on a prompt and timely departure and, surprisingly, the bus actually did depart on time. In order to depart, the bus must circle around the building. This girl, only minutes late, was standing at the Zebra Crossing (aka, cross walk) right in front of the building.  She called one of her friends on the bus who said the bus would stop to pick her up.  As she stood at the Zebra Crossing waving at the bus, the bus drove right by…

So we’ve finally made it to the event day…

Not wanting to have a nickname or miss the bus, I made sure to wake up early and make my way over to the office.  I showed up at 7:15, and noticed the flaw in the invitation.  The invitation assumed we would be on Africa time.  The invitation didn’t take in account that the bus driver could be on Africa time.  New departure time: 8:30 – not bad.

Not wanting to experience a Forrest Gump moment (“Seat’s taken” “Can’t sit here”) on the bus, I got before most of the crowd and expected to have a seat to myself to hopefully stretch out and nap for the 2 hour bus ride. Since this isn’t Alabama in the 1960s, people are actually quite friendly and someone actually wanted to sit with me.  This didn’t matter because once everyone was seated the master Tote stood up and made everyone switch seats so they weren’t sitting next to their best friend.  The “Tote” is someone who is essentially a stand-up comedian and the entertainment for the day’s trip. The seat swapping process was for  the Tote to shout to the back of the bus “Back of the bus, who do you want? Sheila or Hilda?”  Back of the bus would respond “We want Sheila! We want Sheila”.  Then the front of the bus would have their pick of someone in the back, and so on. So much for napping.  I ended up at the back of the bus.

Not surprisingly, our rooms aren’t ready when we arrive at 10:30.   It also turns out, cocktail doesn’t necessarily mean alcoholic.  Cocktail can also mean, juice, water and coffee.

We were broken into 4 teams for the Tax Olympics.  The Tax Olympics included your typical events: Bag race, carry an egg on a spoon, etc.  For one event, the relay race, my team decided I should be running in it.  I’m not sure if they just really wanted to see a white guy run or if they legitimately thought I would be helpful during this event.  Turns out I’m not the slowest person and I didn’t lose to any girls. Each of these events took twice as long as they probably should. Why? Because everything was argued about.  Rules aren’t clear? Argue about it.  Your team didn’t win? Argue about it.  Think you deserve points for something your team did during the event? Argue about it. 

I’ll point out here that there was no prize for accumulating the most points.

One rather unusual event had me convinced I was going to end up being medevac’d out of there.  The event involved two parts.  Part 1 involved blowing up a balloon, tying it, and holding it over your head – first team to finish wins some points – easy.  Debate ensues.  Debate concludes.  For Part 2, those of us with balloons were encircled by the spectators – it’s now the coliseum.  The goal of part two was for all the gladiators to run around and attempt to pop each other’s balloons.  Your balloon pops, you’re out.  Last man standing wins.  The catch? You have to continue to hold onto your balloon and you’re equipped with any sort of sharp object in the other.  Now I’m trapped in a circle of death with 11 other people running around stabbing at each other with pens, pencils, earrings, sticks, etc.  I now I have 2 goals – don’t lose to a girl, and don’t be impaled.  Those are very conflicting goals because accomplishing the latter would be as easy to dropping my balloon and letting it pop, but then I would fail the former goal.  I decided to take the approach of stay-the-hell-out-of-the-middle.  My approach clearly worked because hanging out by the edges and dodging any attempts to pop my balloon/disembowel me resulted in my being one of the last two alive. My opponent was about a head shorter than me, so he stayed well out of my reach, which meant I was in little danger from being eviscerated.  All of his jumping around resulted in him dropping his balloon and having it pop on the grass.  Game over.  No injuries.  Argument ensues.

After lunch, we had what was, in actuality, the most dangerous event – paddle boating.  The problem? No one can swim.  I knew people were worried (or maybe exhausted at this point) because there was no arguing and everyone was strangely quiet.  Everyone refused to get into the boat without a life vest.  No one drowned, no one argued. 

Someone decides to it’s time to play football (soccer) – Managers vs. Staff.  I’d like to say I was competitive due to my natural athletic ability.  Instead, I was competitive because I exercise regularly and am bigger than most others. There were a couple girls playing, but they were on the Manager’s team, so no risk of getting embarrassed there.  Additionally, expectations were pretty low for me being any good anyway.

My Me Time involved sitting by the pool bar, under a fan, downing water, enjoying cold beer and catching up on emails/work. 

After I get cleaned up and dressed in a 3 piece suit, it’s about 6:30.  30 minutes after the suggested 6PM photo time.  That should be a good enough buffer so I’m not the first person there, right?  Turns out – I’m the first person there.  7:00 rolls around – still waiting on the second person to come.  7:15 – finally people start arriving.  I don’t much care for pictures – it’s not something I enjoy participating in.  Ghanaians love pictures.  Unfortunately, everyone seemed particularly fond of taking pictures with the only white guy.  I started to get bored of taking the standard arm-around-your-neighbor-and-smile, so I started doing other poses like cross-our-arms-back-to-back. Unfortunately, this just makes everyone want additional pictures with the new pose too.  By 8:15 they insist it’s time for dinner so pictures come to an end.

Ghanaians typically don’t drink.  East Africans (Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya) make up for their Western counterparts’ lack of drinking and are renowned for keeping parties going till sunrise. The Kryptonite to the East African’s ability to party the night away on this particular evening is running around in the sun all day participating in the Tax Olympics.  Most people start heading back to their rooms around midnight. 

The next morning, on the 4^th wake-up call, I decide this 7AM aerobic thing wasn’t a joke and isn’t all that optional.  What was supposed to be an hour long session with a professional instructor turned out to be less than 30 minutes.  The instructor gave up on us because everyone was so exhausted/out of shape.  If she asked us to do 25 jumping jacks, by 15 half the group was done and by 20 people were on the ground. 

After breakfast the bus managed to depart at a rather timely 11:15.  I was napping  by 1:30 on our fantastic couch.

What?! No Halloween in Ghana?!?

Ok, ok... Let's admit that this isn't all that surprising. With as Christian as this country is, I can't say I'm shocked that they don't celebrate a little Pagan holiday that is chock full o' costumes and candy.

Those of you who know me well know that these three months from October to Christmas are pretty much my favorite. I love decorating our house for this time of year and Halloween is the kickoff to the season. So when we packed up our items back in San Francisco, I made sure that the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations were in the air freight. Yes, we may not have half our wardrobe or our real bed, but you better believe I've got pumpkins and turkeys out the wazoo.

So without further ado, here are some of our favorite decorations for this spooky special occasion.

Note: Sunday's post may be a little late as we're attending Accra's Oktoberfest on Saturday evening and it may take me a bit to send/upload the photos.

Introducing: Aspect Court

Hooray! We finally have moved into our new apartment in Accra! Friday was a crazy busy day of meeting the air freight and furniture delivery people, unpacking everything, and attempting to find new homes for our things. Nothing was broken and there were only a few miscommunications. All in all, we have had a very productive couple of days and are looking forward to settling in and spending our next 23 months calling this space our home.

The apartment is 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. Quite the size upgrade from our 827 sq foot, 1 bed, 1 bath apartment in San Francisco, though quite similar in market value. There's a master bedroom with an en suite bath, a guest bedroom with a sizable bath across the hall (you hear that, potential guests?!?!), and a small third bedroom which has become my office and our workout space. There's a large great room that will be both our living and dining space and a decent sized balcony. Currently, the balcony only holds Dan's most prized purchase... the grill. We intend to purchase some outdoor furniture from a vendor on the side of the road at some point (I think there's a new blog post brewing there).

Here are some photos of the new space. I intentionally took these before anything got delivered as I wanted you to see the "blank canvas" if you will. Once we get things situated (read as: get all the dirty laundry washed and put away), I'll take others of the furnished space to share with you. Hope you enjoy these in the meantime!

Living/dining space looking out onto balcony

Kitchen... though I'm quite sure you didn't need a descriptor here.

Guest bedroom

Guest bathroom (hell-oooooo, soaker tub. Have I mentioned 

I love that corner ledge for a glass of wine? Just sayin')

Lessons Learned in Ghana - Part 1

I thought it would be fun to compile a list of "lessons" that we have learned over the course of our two weeks here in Accra. Some of these may shock you and others may not seem odd at all.

• There are very few street signs, so we're going to have to learn how to get around pretty quickly... especially once we have our own vehicle. Thank goodness for Google/Apple Maps.
• Cab drivers are not familiar with street names, due to the lack of signage. Thus, you usually have to give them a landmark that is close by to where you want to go. For example, the Bistro 22 restaurant we went to, we told the cabbie Zenith Bank which was across the street.
• There are no real addresses or personal mailboxes. Our apartment lease literally states the address of our compound as "Off (insert street name), Opposite (insert landmark or noteworthy place across street)". All of Dan's coworkers get their personal mail delivered to the office.
• The US Embassy is laughably large... unnecessarily massive. We really want to go in to see what they have in there taking up that much space. I'm certain we will at some point. Future posting on that? Likely.
• Cabs are prevalent where we are currently living. There are no sidewalks here, but if you are walking down the side of the street, open cabs will often honk at you to offer up their service. Also worth noting, cabs do not have meters so you should always negotiate the cost of the trip up front before getting in.
• Ghanaians speak English with a British twist. They use British vocabulary and their pronunciation is decidedly British, but with an African accent. This makes it slightly more difficult to communicate with locals as the American accent makes it hard for them to understand what you are saying (and vice versa for that matter).
• Dishwashers and Dryers are NOT common appliances here. Very few apartments come equipped with them. Washing machines, however, are considered a standard kitchen appliance and are often located in the kitchen or in a small utility room off the kitchen.
• The "nosh" (you're welcome, Gram) of choice here is toasted peanuts. These are what you get to snack on when you order a drink while seated at the bar.

That's all for this installation of Lessons Learned in Ghana. Something tells me there will be more like this one haha!

The Big Adventure...

As you may know, Dan works for an accounting firm here in San Francisco. We'd been offered an opportunity to live abroad for two years on rotation with his firm. After much deliberation, we agreed to give it a try! We both love to travel and figure that this decision would allow us to experience new places that we likely would not otherwise. So here it is...

We are excited for our new adventure, but getting to this stage in the game was anything but smooth. This opportunity has been on the table for almost a year and we just recently got all of the necessary logistics worked out in order to book our departure date and organize our relocation. Suffice to say that our first experience as expats has been a rocky one but we are not going to let it get us down.

Some of the "lessons learned" that we wanted to pass along (should any of you find yourselves with a similar opportunity):

• Go visit the country before committing to the big move. While this is not a "must", it is "highly recommended"
• The country's consulate in your home country will be your best friend (in our case, the Ghana consulate in Houston has been a life saver. I think I have them on speed dial)
• Remember while packing that you may have differences in voltage and plugs so adapters and transformers will likely be a necessity
• Timely responses to emails and phone calls are generally uncommon in Africa, so be prepared to follow up and try not to get discouraged
• and most importantly, PATIENCE is a VIRTUE (especially when waiting for news)!

My last and probably best recommendation to you: join a website called Internations.org. Think similar to Facebook, but for expats. You sign up and create a profile and then can change your location to where you will be living. There are forums with Q&A, people looking to buy or sell items that may be helpful, apartment hunters, expat gatherings, etc. You can add friends and private message people for assistance. I met a friend on this website who has been in Ghana for a year now and she has been incredibly helpful to us. I so look forward to growing our friendship when I arrive in Ghana.

Only a few days left until we leave the United States for our big adventure! So much to do in such a short time! :)