Week 1: I've Survived!!!

Sorry for the marathon letters. I cant ever decide which details to leave out so I just write everything down. If you cannot make it through all the words just scroll down and there are some pictures. Love you All!!

May 3, 2012

 After we were finished at the internet café we went to Wiamoase with Cassie and Natalie so they could show us their town. It is hard to take bucket showers but I am learning. It is hard to go to the bathroom in a hot smelly room but I am learning. It is hard to eat fufu and stew just like what we have been having for every meal. It is hard to see the way they live here. It is hard to not clean my own dishes and make food I want because I have been told about how I need to be sure to sanitize everything and stuff. But it will get better. I will get used to it. I have faith that it will get better and that Heavenly Father knows me and that I am supposed to be here. Back to Wiamoase…we went to the market in and started dancing with little kids in the center because this big truck with speakers was blasting music. They all laughed as we danced, I love the little kids. They make it worth it. Being here this first week when it is so hard. Ryan I forgot to tell you last time…there are huge lizards here running all around the backyard, I try to catch them all the time for you but they are SOOOO fast. Like crazy fast. Not huge like an iguana but big compared to the ones we try to catch at home. And Emily, soccer fields here are mostly just dirt and some random patches of weeds. Roseville’s field looks like a dream compared to this. I have yet to play soccer with the little ones but I will soon when I am all situated and I know the town better. Anyway back to Wiamoase market day…there were tons of people selling things everywhere and we walked all through it. The fish sold here and everywhere  is dried and laid out on platters and carried around to sell but I cant even look at it because it is always covered in flies and seem to be half eaten by them and just try to imagine how it smells. But there is a lot of exciting stuff going on at the markets and there is a lot to see. I enjoy that. Also Wiamoase is more in the jungle than here. Wiamoase is more agricultural too, and it is more hilly so you can see the jungle around better. Asamang is pretty flat, what Ive seen of it at least. When we were leaving the market there were these guys doing acrobatics where we were dancing with the kids and it was nuts. So cool. As we walked back to Madame Esthers house we walked past these kids who were using slingshots to shoot mangos out of trees. Mango trees grow super tall I never knew that. We bought a bag of like 10 mangos at the market for 50 pesewas which is like 25 cents, less than that. Mangos at home are like 3 dollars!! I ate two today they are so good. It just started raining again. It is super loud because the roof is made of tin. Earplugs and sleeping pills do the trick though. By the end of the day my hair is so gross Ash, I usually just put it in one French braid but it falls out throughout the day with all we are doing and such. I need to just start doing a bun on top of my head and wear headbands everyday, those are really going to come in handy Ma. Man its like a monsoon out there seriously!! Sorry this is so scattered…anyway after we got done playing with the little kids for awhile we went back to Madame Esthers and chatted with Emmanuel, her son for an hour or so and waited until she came home so we could say hello. Natalie and cassie gave us some bread that Madame Esther had given them that morning and it was way good so I am going to figure out where to get it. I did not want to leave Wiamoase but that’s just because I was having a hard day today and I knew that I would come back to fish stew. We came back awhile later and mama was in the yard pounding fufu. Fufu is made of plantain, cassava, and yam that is cut up and pounded in this mortar like bowl that is on a stand, a huge stick is used to smash it into the bowl and water is added so it makes a sort of doughy substance. I was excited to taste it but then I saw the stew it was going to be eaten with. Whole fish with bones and these huge fatty chunks of cow thigh were in this broth that was spicy yet bitter. After seeing how all the fish and meat is kept and cut at market today I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. I tried but almost threw up. I was also in an emotional state because just a few minutes before we arrived at our house some goats were running across the street and the taxi driver tried not to hit them but he was going too fast and he ran right over one of the goats. I didn’t know what to do I was in such shock. As soon as we got out of the car I just started sobbing and when I went into the gates and told mama what happened she. Grandma, janet and junior started laughing because I was crying over a goat. They said that the owner would be happy because that meant he could eat goats meat now because they don’t like to kill them til a certain age or something. I don’t think I was just crying because of the goat  though, I think it just was the trigger cause I cried for a long time. I was just overwhelmed with everything that was going on and it was finally time for an emotional release. That is also why I couldn’t eat tonight. I ate a mango for dinner instead. It will get better on Tuesday that is just what I keep telling myself. Wait until Tuesday. Its like a mission in that I just have to make it over the hump and then I know that I will be fine. After I stopped crying I went out to chat with mama and I told her that I couldn’t do the fish anymore. I just need to be better at communicating and it will be all good. Besides the food and the bathroom everything is good. I can honestly get used to it. Dad, its like the backpacking trip, I may have cried a lot but I look back with such fond memories and by the end I was so happy to be out there. I just need to get that same attitude here and know that I can do hard things and that this will prepare me for something in the future. I know that there are lessons I need to be learning out here right now, I am just going through culture shock I think. Thank goodness for the gospel and the Lord or else I would have no idea how to deal with this. I have such respect for these people because they are so grateful for what they have when it is nothing compared to what I have. But you don’t need things to be happy. Just like I don’t need running water. I can and will be happy here and I am for most of the day but sometimes there are hard things. I can already tell that I am going to be a changed woman after this though, there is no way that this experience couldn’t change you. After dinner the power went out for quite some time. Luckily the moon was very bright at that time so it was fine. We all sat outside chatting and we watched some videos from a disc one of the girls who came in the fall had sent to mama on my laptop. When the power came back King brought out his music and was teaching us some African high life which is like the hip hop the teenagers here are into. We danced around for about an hour and it was super fun but by the end I was honestly drenched in sweat. Before it rains here it gets even hotter than it was before, even when the sun is not out so it was sweltering hot! Mama and Grandma and the kids were all laughing at my dancing because whenever I would learn one of Kings moves I would do it for awhile and then do my own thing and they thought it was so funny. I am glad I have found a way to make them laugh because I am still trying to learn Ghanaian humor. For now it is enough to speak a few words of Twi to the people because they smile and are happy with you. I then took a nice bucket shower and am now under my mosquito net listening to MoTab and writing you all. Hymns calm me down and help me to feel peace. I love the hymns. I never thought I would love them as I do right now. Well, tomorrow is a new day and you bet I am going to embrace it! Love you all!

May 4, 2012

            Today the time seemed to pass by sooooooo slowly. It is only 8 o clock right now but I am in bed early because Jackie and I are going to watch a movie since we are so worn out from our activities today. This morning I woke up at 6:15 to roosters crowing and goats bleeeehing. They sound like humans making really strange noises sometimes. I listened to Elder Busche’s advice that I downloaded onto my iPod so I could remember to embrace each day and then I got ready. Jackie went out with Mama to get porridge and beans bread because they had it the day before and we said we wanted that tomorrow instead of gardeners stew and rice. Again. I was excited to try it because mama was calling it cocoa so I thought it would taste chocolatey but noooooooooooo. It tasted weird. Not as bad as gardener stew though. I ate the whole thing, and the beans bread which also tasted strange but these are things I just have to get used to. They are acquired tastes im sure. I am excited for next week when we can get oatmeal and bread and fruit for smoothies. I think with food that I can actually stomach I will have more energy and will be happier. I didn’t think that the food would be the hardest part this past week but it definitely was. Today was good though. At 8 am Jackie and I went to the hospital to start volunteering and getting to know people. Jackie went to the maternity ward and I went to see Salid who I met yesterday and will be overseeing my work. They were in the middle of doing rounds at the females ward so he had me join them. I obviously know nothing about nursing or medicine so while they were talking about diagnosis and conditions in Twi it didn’t matter but then either the doctor (who is a white woman from Holland…she has been there for 5 months) or Salid would look at me and tell me what was going on. I would just smile and nod. For the female ward there were all kinds of things going on. Paralysis, old women not being able to swallow…nothing too out of the ordinary, but then there was a woman who had gunshot wounds and we were looking at her x-rays to see if any of the bullets were in the bones…there was one bullet in the bone and 5 bullets total. I didn’t ask what happened but she didn’t come from Asamang. Don’t worry.  Embarassing moment: one of the guys was telling me to come closer because he wanted me to be able to hear the doctor and he was saying it in Twi which is “bra fo” but he was holding hand sanitizer out so I thought he wanted me to have some and I put my hands out. Everyone started to chuckle and he said come closer in English. I laughed too. Ghanaians make fun of white people a lot but it is not a personal attack, they just think we are funny so I try not to feel bad. We visited a few more beds and then went over to the childrens ward. There were about 10 babies in there at the time, all so cute, many of them had malaria and pneumonia which come hand in hand sometimes so I was trying to listen extra closely and I must have had my knees locked for awhile or something because I all of a sudden started feeling super nauseous and tapped the guy next to me on the shoulder asking for the bathroom…the next thing I knew I was lying on a bed and the Doctor and all the nurses were around me. Yep, first day on the job I passed out. I have never passed out before so that was weird. I think it may have been a combination of things including the heat and the Ghanaians kept telling me it was from prolonged standing time but it had barely been 2 hours so I don’t know. Either way im famous now, all the nurses talked to me for the rest of the day. I sat down under the fan for the rest of the childrens ward rounds and made some friends(adamfo in Twi) with some of the female nurses who want to know all about America. A few times today people commented on my watch and asked if it was expensive and if I got it in Ghana. It is just a workout watch from Target so I said no but they didn’t believe me I don’t think. Then when I was sitting there in the childrens ward chatting one of them, I forgot her name, said “I like your watch, give it to me.” I was a bit taken aback so another nurse repeated what she said as if I hadn’t heard. The girl who told me to give it to her then said that I could just go buy another one so give it to her. I told her that it was my only means of telling time and was my alarm clock so I need it while im here so I need it. It was super awkward but my Twi teacher at BYU warned me that their culture thinks all white Americans are rich. People ask Cassie for her camera all the time because she wears it around her neck and they all say that we can just buy another one. It is hard to know what to say because I know that we have more money than they do monetarily, but our US dollars are just worth more. Anyway, after the rounds I went to Salid and we sat down for about 2 hours discussing the summer. He asked me to write down my name, what school I have completed, courses I have taken that have prepared me to do this research, my expectations about what I want to learn this summer, and my purpose for doing research and such. He then wrote down his education and goals. He is very accomplished and has very big plans for his future and it was awesome to have such an intelligent and interesting conversation with him. That is one thing that is hard because beyond the basic greetings and how are yous, I cannot converse with many of the Ghanaians at a level that is stimulating conversation. Their simplicity is something that I am learning though. After talking to Salid I went to the maternity ward to see Mama and Jackie and hung out while they did child immunizations. The mothers all love their babies so much and it was so sweet to see all the 6 week old babies. We all had corn on the cob for lunch and boy it has never tasted so good as it did then. I love corn here. We were at the hospital from 8-2 and then walked home.  Even though I have only been at the hospital for one time and haven’t seen much I am starting to wonder if I need to change the focus of my research. There are 3 doctors at this hospital and at least 1 is white…im not sure if the other white man is a doctor or not. That means that she must be excluded from my study because she has not been here for her whole life and isn’t Ghanaian. The reason I am here is to observe another culture and learn about them. if I wanted to understand Holland’s health care administrators and the relationships they have with their patients she would be great, but I don’t know if that will be too big of a variable to overlook. Also, its not like America where you are sick and you go to the doctor and he takes you into a room that is private and you just interact with the doctor. I think that is kind of the constructs I set up within my research ideas beforehand so I need to figure out this next week what kind of research is actually going to be possible and what is not. I also do not know if the IRB has approved my research proposal yet but hopefully they will email me soon. Ma, could you maybe call the IRB office at BYU and ask about the status of my application. I don’t know the number but BYU info will know. At home we sat under the shade of mamas trees and read scriptures/read books for awhile and tried to keep ourselves busy so we didn’t fall asleep because the heat makes you so tired. It is way hot during that part of the day so you have to seek solace under the shade and cannot do much. Oh fun fact, the Ghanaian alphabet is missing certain letters, including “l” and “c”. two pretty important pieces of my name…in Ghana every child receives a Ghanaian name according to the day of the week they were born on. Mama looked ours up when we got here and I was born on Wednesday so my Ghanaian name is “Akua”. All the children in the village and mama and grandma call me that, most other people too just because many cant really say Lauren. So I am now Akua (auk-wee-ya). It makes all the people excited when we give our Ghanaian names probably because they can pronounce it.. Mama made us dinner with chicken tonight. It was gardeners stew but without the fish taste and the chicken was chewy but it tasted good. We had it with yams. Mama had us try water yams which are cheaper than cocoyam and they tasted just like mashed potatoes. We loved them but mama doesn’t like them as much. After eating (which we usually do in our rooms by the way…Ghanaians do not eat meals together very often. Everyone takes theirs and eats it at a separate part of the house or at a different bench) Jackie and I went out to play soccer with all our pals who yell to us through the gates all night. We haven’t had energy yet and felt like we just needed to sit and chat with mama so it was our first venture out to play with the kids. So our field was about 20 feet long and was hilly, made of dirt, had steel and cinderblock on one side, and mounds of burned trash on the other (most people just burn their trash here)… to score a goal you had to hit a cinder block on the opposing side of your own. These kids are good!!! They were all playing in crocs or flip flops and were running up and down with such sure feet. They would slip sometimes and just get up and keep going. After a few minutes we had an audience of younger kids and girls. Parents who could see us from afar were watching as well. It was sooooo fun!!! I love soccer, and I love these kids. Even though we cant communicate super well they just adore us and their happy attitudes bring me so much joy as well. Jackie and I subbed out for two other boys who came along and King took us over to meet some of his friends, he is quite the celebrity with the “obruni sisters” living at his house. It was fun to see some more kids our age and they invited us to play soccer with them tomorrow. Their mothers were offering us food while we were out in their yards and we politely declined…even though so many of these people have so little, they want to share all that they do have. It is wonderful to see. We went back to play with the kids and Unis and Ivan, who live with us right now, were running up and down the field with these leaf pinwheels they had made that would spin when you ran. They were awesome and I thought they were so cool so I asked them to show me how to make it, pretty soon all the kids were grabbing leafs and twigs to make them and we had races with them for the next 20 minutes or so. Every single one of the boys wanted to race me because I kept beating them and they couldn’t believe it. I don’t think they realize that my legs are twice as long as theirs. It was a very fun night. After that we were exhausted so we went in and chatted for awhile with mama and then decided to call it early. We took our bucket showers and settled into bed to watch a movie. It was nice to just relax with the fan on us. We fell right asleep after the movie and I didn’t even need a sleeping pill!

May 5, 2012

       This morning we woke up at 7 (though more like didn’t get out of bed til 7 because we are awoken at 6 by roosters and goats and all sorts of things), got ready, and went to Wiamoase. There were a few funerals there today and we wanted to see what it would be like. We have the taxi thing down now so it is not stressful or scary like it was at first. And they cant swindle us for money because we know the rates. We made it to Wiamoase by 9:30 and just hung out with Cassie and Natalie for an hour or so at their house. When they were ready they took us on a tour of their town beyond the market because the funeral services didn’t start until 1. walking past the school where we saw the boys shooting mangos out of the trees we saw their little friends Kofi and Kobe out playing in the dirt. We walked over to say hi and saw that they were playing mancala. They, or other school children maybe, had dug holes in the ground and put little rocks and things in for the pieces, it was so cute and made me think about how much I love that game. We started walking out and saw the funeral processions everywhere. They set up these huge black and red tents with chairs in a square all around the photo of the deceased in the middle…more about the funeral later. We walked through the market and down the street and after about 10 minutes I think we had gotten about 7 ‘I love yous’ a  few marriage proposals, and a lot of “me ho ye’ which means I am fine with which we respond ‘me nso me ho ye’ meaning I also am fine. When we respond in twi ever the people say ‘ayyyyyyy” and get so excited. Because of the funerals there were A LOT of people in Wiamoase and funeral events and processions everywhere. Walking through town we really do feel like celebrities because everyone wants to talk to us and the little kids run up and touch our hands. Once we were out of the main road we saw the Salvation Army Clinic where Natalie will be working and tried getting directions to the school where Cassie would be. They had driven there in a car the time she went so she couldn’t remember which road to take. We kept walking and the cemetery was up the road so we just decided to keep on walking so we could see the cemetery. People also ask us ‘where are you going” a lot and when we would respond the cemetery the little kids would scream and the adults would ask if we were afraid or say we were going to die. Ghanaians are terrified of cemeteries because they are afraid of ghosts. They believe that the ghosts of their ancestors will come and get them there. Because of the funerals there were people there finishing a grave for a man who had just been buried an hour or so before. The graves are beautiful and are usually made of some sort of shiny tile and have a color picture on a tile at the head. Its not like a cemetery in America though, they don’t clear away anything they just build around it so they are just in the midst of the jungle basically. When we left the cemetery one of the men working there said he was going to walk back with us. It is so funny how time is so different here. In America everyone has a schedule and so many activities to complete throughout the day but here they are just on their own timetable and how hard they work or how long they sell determines their wages for the day (similar to America) but its not a white shirt and tie kind of thing. Sometimes people just start walking with us and stop whatever they are doing just to come be with us. It is very different indeed. Turns out the school was in the opposite direction from where we were and we basically ended up on a hike up this huge hill, down another, up another huge hill and down another…the school was at the top of the large hill so by the time we made it we were all exhausted from hiking and the heat. There are dormitories there and it was a very nice school, it is like the high school aged kids. They are on a sort of spring break right now so there were only a few people there. we explored all around the school and then went up another hill to this nice soccer field. From there you could see the whole village of Wiamoase which is bigger than Asamang as well as the surrounding jungle. Pretty cool. We then went back to the house to reapply sunscreen and to get water and wait for the funerals to start. We weren’t really sure what to expect everyone just told us that they would be from about 1 to 6. we went around 2 and just sat in the back. At the one we went to there was a live band and the funerals are set up with red and black tents in a big rectangle around a large picture of the deceased. Most everyone wears these beautiful gowns and robes that are black and red and they walk around the whole rectangle greeting the front row and shaking the hands of the family giving their condolences. The grandchildren wear white to show their gratitude for their grandparent and the legacy they have left behind. Black symbolizes mourning and red symbolizes sympathy for the family. Some people just wear one color and some wear both. The family wears both. It was funny to see the men in their robes because you could sometimes see their cargo shorts sticking out when they walked. When the chief of the town came by he had an entourage of people, one holding a big umbrella over him, one in front of him carrying a golden colored pillow so he didn’t have to sit directly on the chair, and then I think his wife and child were with him as well. At one point a lot of the old women started walking out into the middle and lightly swaying but they were all in unison and were doing the same thing with their arms so we thought there was going to be some sort of dancing so we kept waiting for it but turns out that one  was just 6 hours of greeting. We were laughing during that time though imagining all our mothers out there dancing because that is so not American culture. individuals dance but our culture just doesn’t really dance in publiv. At one point some old ladies came up to us and made us go out in front of the family to dance. We danced around and had them all clapping and laughing and the videographer of the service was getting us on film. It is so funny how much they love us here. Makes me feel so loved and welcome everywhere we go. It is just because we are such a novelty in these villages. We left the funeral around 4 and hung out at the house for just awhile longer and then Jackie and I took a taxi back home. We told Mama we were starting our fast tonight so we just hung out in the courtyard and chatted with King and read our scriptures and books for a little while until we could start getting ready for bed.

May 6, 2012

        Waking up this morning was wonderful because I did not sleep well last night. Our fan was making strange noises which led my imagination to run wild so I couldn’t sleep. Not to mention the fact that our door doesn’t lock so I just got scared. I always feel really safe here, so don’t worry mom and dad. It was just midnight jitters. The booze man, who lives with us, is rarely ever sober. But Mama calls him the husband of the house and he is our security she says. Though he may get drunk all the time I think that we are supposed to feel safe with him living here or something. Anyway, we should feel safe because Ghanaians love us. Please pray for me though, I could use it. We were so happy this morning because it is Sunday and we could finally go to church!! We woke up at 7, got ready, and then read scripture and things until it was time to leave. Church was at 9 but we wanted to get there a little early to meet the members. The most beautiful noises we heard as we were walking up to the church building were the sound of hymns. Jackie and I both almost cried. I just already felt the spirit before I even entered the gates. As we walked up to the church the Relief Society President and the ward clerk were out front. They greeted us and the clerk took us right upstairs to meet the branch president. He, along with about 3 other men, asked us if we could play the “organ” which is really just an electric piano and we were sad to say no. after introductions and such we went down to the sacrament meeting room and the meeting was about to start. At the beginning of the meeting there were not many people there but by the sacrament I think we counted about 26. the primary is the largest and there are only 4 women in the branch. With the opening song, another man asked us if we could play and we regretfully said no but Jackie got up to lead the music. She just started singing and everyone joined in around the second phrase on most songs, later when we sang in Sunday school we realized why…the person leading the music would sing the first phrase so everyone knew the tune and then the song would start from the beginning. Next time we will know. Though I did not know what many of the members were saying, I felt the spirit so strongly and later we were asked to bear our testimonies. I got up first and started crying of course but I wanted to speak as clearly as possible so I fought through it. After a sentence or two one of the men would translate so it was slow going but I had a few of the women tearing up so I think that they understood what I was saying through the translator. Luckily there are enough people that speak enough English to communicate enough to understand what is going on and where to go and such. The intermediate hymn was “Count Your Blessings” and it could not have been more perfect for me. I started crying during the second verse because it says “ when you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold. Count your many blessings money cannot buy, your reward in heaven nor your hope on high”. I became very humbled because even though the past week was a very hard adjustment, I realized that I could do it. This three months will be hard because it takes a long time to do anything without running water but I am so blessed. After these three months I get to go back to America where I have everything I could ever want. These people live here. Permanently, this is their home. This 3 months is just a step in my journey to eternal life and it is essential for me and the lessons I need to learn. Everything that I am doing here is good and though it may not be comfortable sometimes, I can do it. I am gaining understanding about the afflictions and hardships of life by experiencing them first hand and all that I learn will bless others in the end and that is enough for me. The time I spend here will ultimately be just a small moment. That realization alone has changed my perspective completely. Yea last week was hard but that’s life. I can do it. Adjusting to new things in unfamiliar places are always going to be hard but I can do it. Not to mention it felt amazing to take the sacrament. During Sunday School we learned about Jacob 1-4 and luckily they handed us a manuel so even though we didn’t understand what they were saying we could study on our own. There were only 4 women in the branch so they just went to primary with the kids after and we weren’t sure what to do but the clerk took us into his office and gave us his phone number and said we could call if we ever needed anything. I asked if we could be let into the building after Jackie and I work each day so that we can practice hymns on the piano because I think it will be so fun to play for them in sacrament meeting. He loved the idea so soon we will start practicing. We went home and had our own mini relief society and chatted a bit and then listened to “Come What May” by Elder Wirthlin and then discussed it. It was a beautiful rejuvenator for our week. I am just going to put my trust in the Lord and know that He will guide me through this. We spent the afternoon reading scriptures and pondering and for dinner tonight mama made green leaf stew. It was kinda like cooked spinach with onions and peppers. It was super good so Jackie and I even ate two bowls. We couldn’t move after but it was the first time we had gotten really full so it was awesome. We went out to eat around 5 after trying to take naps in the sweltering heat. Even with our fan on we couldn’t do it because it was so hot but we just talked outside for hours and it was a wonderful Sunday.

May 7, 2012

  This morning we went on an adventure to Kumasi and King came with us so that we didn’t get incredibly lost. Jackie and I went to the hospital first to say that we weren’t coming in today so King said that he would meet us there. We waited at the taxi station for awhile but then one of the drivers told us to hop in and that he would just go pick him up. We went to the house and waited a few more minutes until he was ready and then headed to Agona to meet Cassie and Natalie at the trotro station. Taxis into agona are only supposed to be 60 pesewas per person but when he dropped us off I only had a 5 cedi and he wouldn’t give me change because he said that the taxi cost 5 cedi since we made him wait. I argued with him because we didn’t want to go get King, we were just going to wait at the taxi station but he coerced us into getting him. He went down 1 cedi but then I just got sick of arguing so I paid 4 cedi for Jackie and I. It makes me so mad when the drivers think they can swindle us because we are obruni. Even if we had rented out the whole taxi it should have only been 2 cedi 40 pesewas. Lame. So we got in line for the trotro to Kumasi and started waiting. It did not take long though because the trotros cram so many people in. Our first one was not that bad. It had pretty wide seats so even though I was sitting right where the tire was I had a little bit of room to stretch my legs next to Natalies. Cassie sat down in the row in front of us next to King and these two obebinis (black man in Twi) and just chatted and laughed with one of them for the whole ride which took about an hour and a half because we would stop randomly and drop people off or pick up new ones. When we finally got to Kumasi it was a mad house. Seriously it was nuts. Its worse than any big ciry I know of because there are hardly any traffic rules and people are just walking everywhere in between and in front of cars. We just got out at a random place on the street and then started following King into the crowd. He told us to watch our bags carefully so Natalie and I wore our backpacks on the front of us to protect our zippers. We all followed King in a single file line and it felt like we were trying to swim upstream. We walked for about 20 minutes to reach Barkelys which is the bank where we could take out money, young adult men would grab our arms saying I love you, marry me and things like that. We just tugged away and kept walking. When we were at the bank we met a white family from Arkansas. They have 3 small children with the fourth on the way and are Baptist Missionaries. They had been there for 4 years already! I cant imagine having small kids living in that town. We also saw 4 sister missionaries when we arrived at the bank because they were withdrawing money as well. They were all just from different African countries.  After we got our money we went to this wal mart like store, so we call it. It has a lot of things we like, even cereal, but man was it expensive!!! We found granola bars and we thought the box of 6 was 1 cedi 25 pesewas but when we got to the register it turned out that each bar was 1.25 it happened too fast to detest so we just bought them anyway. I also got top ramen so I could have that for a quick meal sometimes. Our objective was to find a gas stove so that Jackie and I have a way of cooking for ourselves so that we can eat when Mama is not home or when we want to make a meal that is familiar to us. We found a stove for 21 cedi so we bought it and then were looking for cylinders for gas. They were all huge and people wanted 40-60 cedi for them which is too much for the fact that we will only be here 3 months. We didn’t buy one because we wanted to go home and consult with Mama. Cassie and I were looking for backpacks made out of Ghanaian fabric because we have seen them and they look so cool but we were too overwhelmed to actually search well. It took up a huge chunk of our day just to do Kumasi and on our way to the trotro station to wait for one back to Asamang Jackie almost got pick pocketed. She has a side bag with tons of zippers in front and a guy grabbed one of the zippers and almost got ahold of her camera but she saw him and slapped his hand away. He just said oh sorry obruni. I would have been so sad if that happened to me and he had gotten something! We waited at the trotro station for probably an hour and then when it was our turn we started getting in and people just started toppling over us and pushing and trying to get like 7 people through the sliding door at once. Forget about the fact that we waited in line, they all just ran up and tried to get in. We all got in thanks to King and then we were off. This was way hot so we sweat off all the water we drank on the way home. The man sitting next to me was just holding his machete and other belongings. I don’t know when I will get used to that. We were all trying to take a little nap but then I heard the trotro mates cell phone go off…his ringtone was to ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. I meant to ask Mama last night about how they celebrate holidays but I forgot. It was pretty funny though. Tons of people have cell phones here because they have all these pay as you go plans, that is pretty much all it is and it is pretty cheap (to us anyway). When we arrived home Cassie and Natalie came with us to Mama’s so we could just hang out. We all sat and talked with Mama for a long time in the main room and I asked her about relationships here with boys and girls when they are young. She is very against dating at all until you are 18 as are many other people around here because there are so many young girls who have babies because they do not get properly educated about sex. That would be way hard cause some of these girls really are so young. Natalie and I decided to roam around for awhile outside so we went and met some people and played with the little ones until dinner time. We ate garderers stew again and it was still good and Janet also brought us a huge avocado to eat! I was full again yahoo. My body has gotten used to porridge and bread for breakfast, a few pieces of dried fruit for lunch (courtesy of WinCo and my sweet mother) and then rice with whatever for dinner. The nutritional value of these foods is great so I am not worried about getting enough food. Jackie and I are going to the market tomorrow finally so we can get all the things we need to sustain us that will please our palettes as well. It started pouring around 5:30, like torrential downpour! Natalie and Cassie didn’t want to get home too late since it starts getting dark around then so we waited to see if the rain would let up but by 6:30 it was still pouring. We just decided to run to the taxi station and it was awesome! It was such a warm rain so we were just running and singing and people in their shops would yell asking where we were going. They probably all thought we were nuts. It was thunder and lightning all the days so it was a little scary on Jackie and I’s walk back but when we made it into the gate it stopped. The power went off shortly after so we just hung out on the veranda with everyone and King played Adele and Beyonce on his phone. It was sweet cause there was still a ton of lightning every like 3 seconds so it was lighting up the sky and we just watched the storm until we were ready to go to bed. I didn’t dare tackle a bucket shower in the dark so baby wipes came in handy. When we woke up Tuesday morning the power was still out so it must have hit hard.

Below are some pictures from this past week. there are a few from our every day, the neighborhood kids that we play with, my house, the people i live with, and Jackie and I and the other girls....Not to leave out that beautiful platter of fish that I cannot eat. I love it here, I really do.