I don't think I have mentioned one of the most wonderful things about Ghana. It is simply real Coke in a glass bottle. Apparently it is still made with the "old" recipe that uses sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and it is yummy. Especially in the glass bottle. You can buy a case of 24 bottles for about $6! One bottle by itself on the street is 30 cents or so. But it is more if you take the bottle with you. Even the case, we take it and when we are done return the bottles and get a new case. I have restricted myself to only one a day and not everyday of the week as it is so good but not very healthy.
I am thankful for the little washing machine that we now have in the garage area. It is a European brand and holds about 6 kilos of clothing and takes approximately 2.5 hours to wash and rinse a small load. BUT it is convenient and it doesn't take more water than it actually needs to wash the clothes. Which is really good as we haven't been getting water from the city for quite awhile now and our tanks are almost empty. We will soon have to buy a truckload of water to refill them. We don't have a dryer and I don't plan to get one. It is certainly hot enough here for clothes to hang on the line.
Men have at least one distinct advantage over women here and that is in the area of public toilets- or the lack there of. Suffice it to say that men are free to go wherever they choose -AND they do- while women must be more selective.
My friend, Mariah, has an outstanding singing voice. She was a school teacher in Argentina before coming here and was able to sing the National Anthem for the US Embassy there. She has a wish of singing it at every US Embassy of any country she is living in. Well the other night we were out to dinner for her birthday and she mentioned this. Of course in my usual smart aleck way I told her she should give us a sample right now. And she being equally smart alecky (which is probably why we get along:)) stood up and sang it right there in the restaurant. She did a fantastic job especially without any warm up. Anyway my point of this being that we all have a friend here who is in the Navy and works at the Embassy. Last time we saw him, Stacey, he mentioned the upcoming marine ball and we wondered if Mariah could fulfill her wish and sing at it. So Stacey has worked it out!! We (about 4 of us girls) are invited to go with Stacey and his friend, Matt, as a group to the marine ball and Mariah will get to sing. It is so amazing. How fun. What a crazy thing to be able to do while living in Ghana. I am finding it is good to have American friends. Hanging out with them occasionally is like having a little break. Even though I am still in a new culture, it is nice to be with people that have the same cultural background as I do. I can relax a little bit and not have to work so hard b/c we all basically understand everything we are saying and doing. I hope that makes sense. Of course there is always the danger of spending too much time where it is comfortable and not out with the people so I am watching that. Fortunately most of the time I really enjoy being out in the community and going to new places, etc. so I am not overly concerned. But now to find something appropriate to where to a fancy dinner. I think I know enough people here to be able to borrow something.
My chicken, Dixie, is big enough now to notice that "she" is a rooster but I have decided to still call her a her and also call her Dixie. I am just used to it now and I can't get too attached as a). it is a chicken after all and b). she will soon be someone's dinner. It is still really cute though how she waits for me at the gate and is practically on my heels as I come through.
Something a little bit gross - I have found that there are certain people groups here that do eat cats. Yes, cats. So gross I know. But for parts of Ghana it is common and even considered really good meat. And sometimes dogs are eaten too. I am happy to say that it isn't common in Accra but still....I can't even write about it anymore.
Cat, the white one that now practically lives in the yard, loves our night guard, Kwasi. She sits and waits for him to come and then follows him everywhere he goes, sits by him all night and meows for him to feed her. It really is cute. On the other hand, I think she gives me the evil eye and keeps her distance. Not such a bad thing though as I am pretty sure she would have ticks, worms, or other such icky things from roaming freely all over the place.
Margaret has been up country for about 2 weeks and returns tonight. Eva and I will be very happy to see her. We miss her. For part of the trip she was filming the work of some missionaries that are with her agency. And the other part involved traveling and filming the devastation from the flooded areas with two missionaries from SIM. Once she has a video made I will put it on here so that you can see what is actually going on. The little I have heard and read about sounds like it has been extremely hard on the people and will continue to be so as they no longer have the crops to harvest that they rely on for every meal. Please pray for the whole area up north.
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