Exploring!!

Sunday July 5, 2009

I didn’t write about Friday because I was so tired after staying up and watching Fast & Furious 4 with the older kids. Anyways I went to work and we had devotions with everyone in the office which was interesting. I worked on a few different things and Philip, Abraham (the other man that works in the office) and I met to make a schedule for the month and discuss what needs to be done to prepare for upcoming seminars. ICM is basically responsible for organizing several seminars all throughout the country so there is a lot to do. I will be doing some traveling to a different region of the country at the end of the month for 3 days and on Tuesday I will also be traveling with Frank’s group after we pick them up from the airport. Before watching the movie, the entire family had a devotion to together at the house. . . I think they do it every Friday.

I have some corrections to make to my previous posts. First of all what I thought was a spout on the little bags of water was actually just a hole you bite in the plastic. . . my bad! And the little specs bugs are actually ants. So they seem to have the smallest and the largest ants I have ever seen. Another observation that I can’t believe I forgot to mention is the way people carry things here. Most people don’t have cars and therefore walk everywhere so they carry things on their heads!! Well the women do. Now that I think about it I have yet to see a man carry anything. And they carry heavy things. . . like REALLY heavy at least 70 or 80 pounds! And the women also take cloth and wrap it around them and their babies to carry them on their backs. Why we don’t do this in America I don’t know. It makes complete sense. The baby is touching you so they are happy and they are strapped to your back so your arms are free. Genius!!

On Saturday I got up and went to the market with Janet, Philip Jr., Pearl, & Karen. /the market is on Wednesdays and Saturdays so it can get pretty crowded. Apparently Janet is usually the only one that goes in (When I say in I don’t mean inside) but Pearl and I joined her while Karen and Philip Jr. waited in the car. It is an open air market where there is tons of food and spices and anything else you can imagine being sold. Everyone called me Obruni (white girl) and would ask how I was and that was about it. Everyone also stared. . . like really stared at me which was a little awkward but it gave Pearl and I something to laugh about. Before we started shopping Janet got a carrying girl. Basically you pay them to carry all of your stuff. . . on their heads of course in this like tub thing. The market was pretty neat. Definitely not something I would want to do all of the time but something that has to be experienced. It is crowded and smells pretty bad in a lot of areas because they have smoked whole fish everywhere which is used in a lot of sauces. People are trying to squeeze through these tiny areas and there are guys with these big carts that will try to come through that yell “I go! I go!” and let me tell you they go!! They will seriously run your ass over!! I quickly learned that if you hear “I go” to move out of the way!! There were also live snails like the size of softballs. I couldn’t believe it!! Apparently they are pretty expensive. There were all sorts of little live sea creatures to buy too like crabs. We didn’t get any of that stuff but bought tons of other things and this little lady carried it all on her head all throughout the market for like 2 hours probably. Anyways it was so heavy that by the time we got to the car she and Philip Jr. both had to lift it and then when we got home Dennis and Philip Jr. both had to carry it into the house and these boys are not little.

After market, we all went on shopping adventure because Karen had Prom that night. It was the first time her school had done it so we had to find a dress and shoes. American girls would not be able to handle this kind of shopping. The shops typically only have one size or maybe two in each style and Ghanaian women tend to be bit curvier but Pearl and Karen are both very thin. Needless to say it took a while to find a dress but it was fun shopping and seeing different parts of the city. We were gone for quite a while and had these little doughnut things to snack on at the side of the road that were really good. People also walk around selling coconuts that they will put a hole in so you can drink the juice then they will cut it up for you to eat. Pretty freakin great!!!

After we found everything we headed back to the house and made fufu which is a project. First you have to cook cassava for a couple hours as well as some plantains. After you cook it, you have to pound it into this dough mixture with this giant mortar and pestle. (I have pics of this so you will see!!) I did some pounding for a while but my arms got tired pretty quick. The boys are the ones that usually do the pounding and Pearl scoops the mixture from the edges to the middle. I know if my brother was pounding something with a huge stick I would never put my fingers near it but apparently they do it about every week!! You eat the fufu with a spicy soup. . . super spicy soup that has meet and veggies in it. The base for the soup is chilies, onions, garlic, and ginger so you can imagine how hot it was.

Once we finished lunch Philip, Mama Essie, and I went to the mall to try and find an ATM and a phone for me. People go through cash like crazy here so finding an ATM with money in it was a challenge!! We never found one at the mall that would work but it was interesting to see the mall. We later went to a bank and I got money and we stopped to get Mama Essie a treat from the store. We ended up getting ice cream, Lays, and peanut butter.

On Saturday I wore long pants all day. Previously I had worn skirts. Saturday night I went to bed with several bites on my legs. How this happened I am not sure. I was outside a little more than normal, but not really at dusk or the evening. Apparently they flew up my pants and started chomping away because they are grouped together on a couple spots on my calves and on my ankles. Bummer!! They itch like crazy and I guess it’s time to break out the repellent!

Sunday morning I got dressed and went to church which everyone dresses up for. Most women wear traditional African clothing to church which hopefully I will own by the time I come home. There was a wedding at church so that was neat to see. It kind of took place like in the middle of the service and they didn’t take anything out of the service so we were there from 9:30 until 1:00. . . quite a while. You would not believe the way people dance in church it is so cool. Most of the songs weren’t in English but it was still interesting to see/hear. The sermon was done in English but there was also a translator for those that only speak Twi. The wedding was similar to those in the states but the wedding party also consists of a little groom and bride which I need to ask about but basically it was two little kids dressed like they were getting married in addition to the flower girls, bed man, and maid of honor.