Every Ghanaian that wants to travel abroad should have it in mind that he or she is going to an entirely different society with different strict laws and rules that guide their way of life. Comparing Ghana, an African country with a Western country, you’ll get to discover a wide gulf between the two. So many things done or things that happen here in Ghana which are normal for every average Ghanaian are completely beyond the wildest imagination of a Western counterpart. Those things never happen at all or if they ever do, will attract some serious penalties. I bet you’ll be surprised to find out that a lot of things you are allowed to do freely here are actually serious crimes abroad. Avail yourself of this good opportunity because to be forewarned is to be forearmed! These 10 Things below are some of the things that happen in Ghana but are completely different in foreign countries.
Here in Ghana, portable water cost almost nothing. You can easily fetch clean water for home use at very cheap rate and sometimes free of charge, depending on the area you are residing. Every Ghanaian, be it poor or rich can afford sachet water, and even bottled water. Also, in Ghana, you can easily fetch water from a public or even private running tap and go your way without receiving any form of embarrassment. But come to European countries, and you’ll fully understand the saying that nothing goes for nothing. One bottled water over there is actually costlier than a bottle of soft drink over here. Water is generally expensive in the foreign country in the sense that you pay for exactly as much as you use.
Here in Ghana, we call each mineral water by name. For example, Fanta, Coke, Pepesi, 7up, Soda water, etc. But in the west, they are all referred to as soda. Bear this in mind, in case you go over and someone asks if you want to take soda and you say no just because you were thinking it’s specifically the one we call soda water here.
It’s normal for you to hear people making such statements as, “I do not have credit/airtime”, “let me buy card”, and the likes. But this is totally out of place if you travel abroad. The normal thing there is post-paid bundles, in the sense that you are allowed unlimited calls and data access for which you are charged at the end of every month. Another alternative is the call credit cards which you can use for making calls at the public telephone boots.
Though there are traffic rules that indicate where one should stand and cross the road in some good major roads here in Ghana, virtually nobody keeps to those rules and it does not attract any form of penalty, just that your decision is at your own risk. Even when pedestrian bridges are provided to help in expressways, pedestrians insist on risking their lives crossing the road instead of using the bridge. On some occasions where some kinds of obstructions are constructed to make people use the pedestrian walk overs, you’ll still see people jump them over and cross the road; worst still, they resort to vandalizing those obstructions and having their way through the dangerous busy roads. But you dare not try this abroad or you pay heavily for your offence, and you can’t escape being caught.
It’ll be very strange for any Ghanaian if he or she comes to any fuel station and finds no attendant there; in fact, he or she will just drive away thinking the place isn’t open. But that’s the normal thing done abroad. There are no attendants employed at gas stations to render you the service of pumping the petrol or diesel into your fuel tank. It is a serve-yourself and you pay with your credit or debit card as the case may be. You have no business with any body and there are no preferential treatments.
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