IOI 2010: Day 0 (Saturday)

We (the Ghana Team) got here (Canada) safely. The journey was loonnng...so long. I slept and woke up, slept and woke up, slept and woke up again, and we still hadn't reached Canada! And the transit was even more boring. But I give thanks to God that we are all safe.

At the Toronto Pearson Airport, we were detained by immigration for a looong time. The immigration officer kept on asking us the same questions over and over again. "What are you doing in Canada? How long will you be here? How many bags do you have checked in? So what is IOI about? So you have 1 bag each checked in? How did you hear about IOI ?....". Meanwhile, we were in the same queue with the Dutch team, whom, by the way, he had given clearance quickly. At least he didn't call his supervisor to come and check on us. In Bulgaria last year, we were unfortunate to arrive on Sunday, the day after all the other teams had arrived. We were at immigration for over 20 minutes. One officer would call another, he'd check our documents, then call another officer to come and check them, then he'd call another...All the people we came with in the plane had been cleared. We were the only ones left. But I understand. So many Ghanaians have gone to European/ American countries and have never returned. How do they know we are different?

University of Waterloo is cool. Infact Canada is cool. One thing I noticed was the absence of people walking on the streets. In Ghana, there is no main street I've seen without pedestrians. Even on the motorways, you'll find one or two individuals walking. But here, you just see cars, buildings and well organised roads. Oh, when will Ghana get to a place of an organised road system?

I met two Ghanaians here, who are students of the university. I didn't expect to see any. For all our IOI trips, I'd never met a Ghanaian. Not even when when we were in Egypt. So you can imagine my surprise when someone came to me and said

Maame akwaaba. Na 3tis3n?

I was so shocked I couldn't respond...lol. Nice surprise!

The food is ok. You know how picky I am...but I managed. Apples, meat, drinks, no vegetables, a little rice...you know, the usual...hehe. How I wish my brothers were here, esp Phil...(family abi you know why I'm saying esp Phil...:). Miss you all ).

Today (Sunday) is the opening ceremony day. Gotta go get ready!