May 8, 2012
We woke up this morning with the power still out but it is
fine during the day minus when we want the fan on because it is SO hot. Jackie
and I went into work for a few hours in the morning so that we could start our
real hours. I did rounds with a Ghanaian doctor today and didn’t pass out!!
Granted he did go about twice as fast as did the woman from Holland. Salid is super busy so whenever I am
not doing rounds or things I just do some work on my own in his office until he
is not needed and then he comes to chat with me. Tomorrow I start my full
hours. I will be working from 8 am – 2 pm MWThF. I will then try to do 3 more
hours of observation or interviews when I leave the hospital. I don’t really
know where the research is going to go but I’m jumping in. After work we went
to the Internet Café in Agona to write our families. The power went out halfway
through but they had a generator so we could finish. I love love love that time
at the café because hearing words of encouragement, strength, and support from
my family, as well as just what is happening back at home, gives me so much
joy. I just cried while reading the emails because I cannot believe that
Heavenly Father has blessed my life with such a beautiful family. Even Sarah,
who is only 13, said some things that seemed to be wiser than her years. I love
that family of mine. King and other teens his age seem to really love music.
The whole time at the internet café, Kings friend, who runs it, was blasting
Adele and Beyonce again and then some Lil’ Wayne and such. I love it. After the café it
was FINALLY time to go to the market. This is a huge, busy market but nothing
like Kumasi this market I actually enjoyed a lot because it is super organized
and we were able to stay away from the fish and get food for our meals that we
can eat and really Mama only fed us the mackerel gardeners stew as emergency
meals in the beginning because the hospital had not paid them yet so she was
living off of very little, it just happened to be the week we came. The food
really has been great ever since then and I am starting to really like it. We
took our stuff home to Mama and then went to Wiamoase so we could have a group
meeting. Jackie and I brought the fabric because Cassie and Natalie found a
seamstress who would make them dresses for 7 cedi which is awesome so we went
and picked out our patterns and gave her our fabric. The dresses should be done
by Saturday so maybe we can wear them to church on Sunday if we go pick them
up. I conducted our first group meeting and in it we discussed challenges and
difficulties of the past week, how we were dealing with them, goals to improve,
challenges or concerns about our projects, blessings we have recognized, and
then it turned into spiritual talk which is the best. The other best part was
PEANUT BUTTER!! They had gotten us a loaf of bread and Natalie brought out the
peanut butter so we feaster upon that and let me tell you that was a welcome
taste for real! I loveeeee peanut butter. After our meeting Jackie and I went
back home but we had forgotten to get the ground nut paste for ground nut stew
so we navigated the market by ourselves and found it. We were so proud. We are
becoming true Ghanaians. The taxi system is different on Market day than other
days so we weren’t sure where to go and everyone was yelling at us to get into
their cars so I found a policeman and asked him where the taxis to Asamang were
and he directed us to a taxi. We had fresh green leaf stew for dinner and ate
it like a champ. Jackie and I are thinking about becoming vegetarians while we
are here and just getting our protein from eggs and the protein powder I
brought for our smoothies because I really like the stews when they do not have
the meat in them, except chicken. Chicken is good. We ate in the dark because
the power is still out. It has been a good 24 hours and another storm is a
brewin but as our light dwindled Jackie and I just decided to embrace it and we
started listing the things that we were grateful for instead of worrying about
the power. It turned out to be a marvelous night. Watching, listening, and
feeling a storm develop was magical. There was a lot of electricity in the sky
so as the sun was fading the sky was constantly lighting up but it wasn’t quite
lightning yet. When it became fully dusk it was super breezy so we weren’t
suffering from the heat and then we started to see fireflies. I have never seen
a firefly before so at first I saw it above my head and thought it was a
shooting start but then it started zooming around and I was so excited. Then I
kept seeing more and more and there were 3 flying around at one time. Had the
power been on I would not have noticed these little bugs and the magnificence
of their creation. My sweet brother Ryan said in his email something to the effect
of “how can people look at the moon and say that there is no God’. That hit me
hard because every night before I go to sleep I have stared up at the moon
because it was the one familiar, constant thing that I knew all the people I
loved could see too. And it is so true. How can people look at anything in this
world, even those that are manmade, and say that there is no God. For all
things denote that there is. I am amazed by His power and grace each and every
day. Even just being able to recognize the blessings that come without having
power and running water in our lives made Jackie and I have such a beautiful
night as we sat and watched God’s power replenish the earth. We were even able
to take a ‘shower’ in the rain. That is the closest to running water we will
ever get for a shower so we live it up! This is a challenge. But it is a
beautiful challenge. I love all that I am learning here. I love being
challenged and being forced to discipline myself with my time each day because
no one else is telling me what to do or when to do it. I have to have certain
things accomplished at the end of this experience for my school credit and it
is up to me to get those things done. It is up to me to figure out my research
and it stretches my mind. I am grateful for this challenge.
May 9, 2012
Jackie and I woke
up at 6 this morning to workout. We just made it up as we went and got our
heart rates good and pumpin. We then bucket showered and headed to the hospital
by 8 for our first official full day. I did rounds in female and childrens
wards and paid particular attention to the malaria patients today. I am trying
to figure out what angle I want to come at my research with now because the
methods I had in mind before are not going to work as I had planned. That was
anticipated but it is hard to figure out what to do now. I just walk around
making observations and digging in my brain in the hopes that the inspiration
will come. I already had some ideas today while conducting Participant
Observation so we will see what comes. I am proud of myself because I am
getting used to the sights. I am getting used to the smells, and I am getting
used to the sounds. All the things that may have attributed to me passing out
last Friday are becoming easier to see, easier to hear, and easier to smell.
They are becoming sort of familiar even and definitely easier to deal with. I
know that Heavenly Father knew I could do this and knew that I needed this
experience as I can already tell that it is going to make a change in me. After
a few hours of Participant Observation I went back to Salid and he took me
through malaria. I know everything about it now; way more than I ever learned
from Wikipedia and medical sources online. I know where the protozoa comes from
that lives in the mosquito, which is harmless in the mosquito but harmful to
humans, I know all the different types of protozoa and which type of malaria
they cause, I know how to treat those types of malaria, how to diagnose them,
what the signs and symptoms are, and prevention measures. All the malaria talk
made me TERRIFIED of getting it. I have been so paranoid and have been itching
all day now. Such is the life. I read over my course contracts and syllabi
today as well and I am in for a real treat because I have got a lot of work to
do. Last week I think I kind of forgot that I am here to do school and that I
am also earning 9 credits while I am here. So these long days will start to
feel short as I run out of time to do assignments and research. Cassie and
Emmanuel had an interesting talk the other day that I just remembered. He was
saying how America
has sacrificed a lot to get to where we are economically and in terms of all
that we have physically. They discussed how though a country like Ghana
does not have much, they have their integrity. And that is so true, people here
are amazing. So respectful and resourceful and their morals seem high. America
has a lot but it did not come without a price. Now, I of course still love America
and will surely be coming back so don’t worry Ma and Asha, it was just
something interesting to think about.
May 10, 2012
Jackie and
I got oats at the market the other day so we had oatmeal and mangos for
breakfast, the oats are way good, I wish we did not refine our sugar because
pure sugar cane like they have here is super good. Plain oats and some sugar
tastes so good. Today at work I started to really dig in and try to figure out
how I am going to carry out my research. I have gotten to know the layout of
the hospital and I know all the different wards and who is in them. I know
where everything is and I have been introduced to a lot of the nurses and staff
so I can really go anywhere I like in the hospital and I am welcomed with open
arms which is super awesome because it takes some people a long time just to be
able to gain access to the places where they wish to study. The doctors are a
bit harder to get to know because they are so busy. I have done rounds with the
doctor in the female ward 3 days in a row now but I actually don’t even know
his name, mostly just because I cannot remember most of the Ghanaian names.
Many people have an American name as well and those are easy but when I cannot
pronounce the name I cannot remember it. What is hard is figuring out when it
will be a good time to get to know him. When I feel like I want to go say hello
he is rushed off to another patient or another place. I will find a time and a
reason to get to know the doctors though because they will be crucial in my
research. I am starting to really get the hang of it here though. Sometimes it
is really hard to motivate myself to keep doing it though because the days seem
so long and I already feel like I am running out of things to observe but with
each new day I will find new things to research. The language barrier is way
tough. I can only do so much without having any idea what is going on around me
in conversation. Many people can speak a little bit of English but they only
speak it when necessary so most of what I hear is in Twi. I can pick up a
little here and a little there but it is not much. I will work on that.
After
work today Jackie and I bought orange Fanta’s from one of the shops so we could
drink something other than water. It was goooooood. At home we watched Mari Mar
(the Mexican soap opera with English overlay) with Mama, it is so funny I love
it. I then wrote up my field notes for the day which took 3 hours. I am trying
to decide which would be best, to write up right when I get home and then just
hang out with Mama and the kids at night, or to go out into the community and
stuff right after work, and then write up later. The thing that worries me is
that the power will go out so I have been doing it right when I get home
whenever the power is on. After writing Jackie and I went out to talk to Mama
while she cooked dinner, we ask to help but she won’t really let us. I guess we
would not really know what to do anyways. That is one thing that is way weird,
we get treated like celebrities I swear. Mama won’t let us do our laundry or
help with the cooking and cleaning and Janet does a lot for us. She is gone for
the next week because she had to go take her exams in her home town. Janet is
going to school to become a secretary, apparently it pays very well here
because those are the people that are very educated. We miss having her around.
I realized that I hadn’t washed my hair since last Saturday (except for the
rain shower on Monday) while we were sitting there talking so I asked Jackie to
help me wash it. It is sooo hard to wash myself because I have to bend over and
dunk my whole head in the bucket but when I flip it over it is in a tangly mess
and then some might not be wet…it is just hard. So I brought a bucket and my
shampoo over, I sat in a chair, and Jackie helped me wash it so I didn’t have to
flip over and get it all tangled up. It hurt my neck way bad to hold it back
but my hair is clean. I did Jackies next just cause its easier so every few
days we are just going to wash our hair that way. We’ve adopted the TIA
philosophy. This Is Africa. Since we had power
we wanted to watch a movie so we hunkered down around 8, watched Forever
Strong, and went to sleep.
May 11, 2012
I have CRAZY
vivid dreams every night and when I wake up in the morning it is hard to
remember that I am in Africa. Jackie said she
has been having tons of dreams too that she remembers so we think it might be
partly because of our malaria medicine. When I said my prayers this morning I
had to remind myself to just BE HERE because my dream was about everyone at
home, though it was a combination of Provo and California all in one.
It was a little stormy today so the weather has been great meaning that it
rained today so it wasn’t sweltering hot. I could have even worn my pants today
and felt fine. I am going to start going to work at 7:00 instead of 8:00 now
because Emergency Ward and Male rounds start at 7 and I need to start observing
the doctor’s interactions with males. I still need to figure out how to get
over the aspect of the interactions being with different doctors though because
I am not quite sure how that is going to fit into the results. There is a
security guard outside of emergency ward because they don’t want just anybody
to go in so while I was waiting for the doctor to come he was talking to me and
he wouldn’t speak English. I was trying to pick out words but finally said
‘mente Twi paa paa” our favorite phrase which means, I do not understand Twi
very well. He laughed and then started saying phrases and asking questions in
Twi and afterward would repeat them in English. During that 20 minutes or so I
was given away as a wife a few times and people around all told me that they
will come back to America with me when I return with which I respond “daabi”
meaning No, or “minni Sika, me ko Sukuu” meaning I have no money, I am a
student. When they ask to come to America they mean for me to pay for
them to go there and live. I love Ghanaians, really it is so funny to be here
sometimes. One man was very persistant in giving away the man next to him as my
husband (even though the man was already married). When I said no he said what
is wrong, is he not a boy, I said no, he is a boy…but I have a boyfriend at
home (if anyone wants to claim that title by the way I will gladly take you on,
I need a consistant name because right now when they ask I just throw one out.)
which is usually the only way to get rid of that persistence though sometimes
they say that he can wait but while in Ghana I should marry. It is very
flattering indeed. I think when I was little I thought BYU was like that
because all I ever heard from my church leaders and things was that I would go
to BYU and be married within months. All a farse. Rounds were good and the
Doctor, who told me to call him Kizito asked someone to translate for me so I
understood a little bit more of what was going on. There were only 2 males with
malaria so my observations in the male category are far behind that of the
females, plus the male ward is much smaller. After rounds it was raining so I
did not want to go do observations outside, I talked with one of the
pharmacists for about 30 minutes because he was asking me about how I am
adjusting and about what is different in America, meanwhile the breeze from
the rain felt so good! I decided to read my anthropology books instead of
observing outside so I could figure out how to get better data and to make sure
I am doing everything right. I have read these chapters before but they didn’t
mean as much to me as they do now when I am actually here doing the research.
Being an anthropologist is hard but concerns I had and feelings I have were
addressed and it is completely normal, even for the most seasoned
anthropologist to go through what I do so that made me feel better. Around
lunch time I went down to maternal health to get Jackie. Mama had gotten us
chicken legs from the canteen to go with our dinner the other night and it was
very familiar to us so we wanted to have it for lunch. What we got were not
chicken legs. I think Jackie had the chicken spine and I had like the pelvis,
such strange shapes and we were hunting for meat. That might have been too good
to be true to think we could have a little taste of KFC. When I went back up I
took a peek in children’s ward and one of the nurses said “betanase” which
means ‘come and sit down’ so I did. For the next two hours I talked with the 3
nurses and the security guard about Ghanaian health care, politics, government,
education; the like. It was a lot of great information and then the security
guard came in because his wife and baby were in the childrens ward cause the
little guy has malaria. He taught me some more Twi. When it was time to go
Jackie and I walked home through the town instead of on the street so we could
see a little more. We get greetings where ever we go but since it was all wet
it was like walking in red muddy clay so we turned back to the street after not
too long. We could see the thick of the jungle at the bottom of the hill, we
found a hill yes, and I wanted to go there but we just couldn’t do it. when we
got home it was just about time for Mari Mar so we watched it with Mama and it
was so funny again. Such drama. There was a mirror sitting on the coffee table
so I took a look, yikes. Haven’t seen myself in the mirror in quite some time
now, I look great though let me tell you. Not wearing the makeups and throwing
my hair in a bun or a braid with a headband every day is a real treat. I wish I
could do this in Provo.
I do get lots of compliments on my hair though, about how much I have. Most
Ghanaians do not grow out their hair, they just have fake hair braided in so it
looks long. Today was a good day, I find that I am very happy when I just talk
to the people and learn about them rather than just thinking about what I need
to do, just getting out and talking to people teaches you a lot.
May 12, 2012
This morning Jackie and I woke up and went running. Now, I
am not supposed to run with the slipped disk in my back but I wanted to get
some sort of exercise outside of doing all we could think of in our room…plus
we had never seen what was to the left of our house. The town and hospital and
church and everything is to the right but we wanted to go see what else we have
got goin on. Jungle. It is allllll green everywhere and it was kind of foggy
when we first set out because it had rained last night, which also meant that
the road was muddy clay again but if we stayed on the car tracks it was like
packed clay so it wasn’t bad. We ran for about 30 minutes before it got too hot
and we had to stop. BUT it was beautiful. All around us was the purest green
and we just ran and ran until we knew we had to stop because it was so pretty.
There are a ton of farms next to us but the farms are plantain trees and mango
trees and such which make a dense forest look. It is awesome I tell ya. Beats
running on the pavement in California
anyday. Provo
has sights to equal it like the canyon and Provo River Trail but this is just a
different kind of beautiful than I have ever seen before. when we got back we
showered and were going to go into Agona so we could go to the internet café
since both of us are waiting on information from our professors and we were
anxious but the people who run it are Seventh Day Adventists and Saturdays are
their Sabbath so we couldn’t go. We decided to do school work instead and the
morning was still cool enough to be outside in the shade so we did readings and
I worked on my interview questions and such. I really wanted to just go out in
the community and be with the people but I did not quite know what to do because
like a third of the town was worshipping and Mama said people don’t do anything
on the Sabbath so I did not want to intrude on anything. We ate lunch later and
it was way good rice that Mama made, it is different than usual because she
likes to make special meals on the Sabbath. We didn’t eat it all so we could
eat it again for dinner. We needed something with it though so we went into the
market and found a woman selling eggs and we bought a few so we can have a
fried rice of sorts for dinner. We bought a loaf of bread yesterday on our way
home from work and it is already gone. The bread is super good and Jackie has a
jar of penut butter that we dip into so it tastes gooood. We also had to go
return our Fanta bottles because the lady recycles them. I started walking out
carrying the bottles and Mama said wait let me get Unis so she can carry your
bottles, I tried to protest but her mind was made up and Unis, who is 5 or 6
came with us to carry our bottles. Talk about celebrity treatment. It is hard
to not feel like I am not doing my part around the house because Mama won’t let
us help do things besides what is in our own room. But then Jackie said that
even though we are here for 3 months and we might think that we should be able
to help out, Mama still wants to treat us like guests and back home we wouldn’t
ask our guest to vacuum the living room or clean the bathroom. It is just the
gool ol hospitality that most humans display to others. I started reading “The
Bean Trees’ when we got home because Jackie just finished it and I have already
read half the book today. I keep having these déjà vu moments while I am
reading so I think I have read the book before but I cannot remember when it
would have been. Today has felt like a Sabbath for the most part since that is
what it is at our house which is kind of awesome because tomorrow when it is
our Sabbath we will be able to worship and rest and go partake of the
Sacrament. Jackie and I tried to fry out eggs tonight to go with the rice but
Mama just did it for us. Prince poured a lot of oil in the pan so they were
more like deep fried eggs. She put onions in them as well and it was so good!
We scarfed it down fast. While the rice was warming up and we were talking
outside King brought out his speakers because Ivan, the three year old wanted
to dance. We danced for about an hour and all our neighborhoodies came a
runnin. I think they heard the music but one moment it was just Prince, Ivan,
Jackie and I dancing and then we turned around to see about 12 little ones standing
right inside our gate. They all came down and we were dancing, I started to
notice that they were copying everything I was doing so I started making up a
little routine. We taught them the chicken dance and they LOVED it. While we
were eating we noticed Prince practicing it, so cute. After dinner a few
members of Mama’s Seventh Day Adventist congregation came by. King didn’t go to
church today because he has malaria. He has had it many times before and if it
not severe they just go get medicine. But they came and prayed in a circle but
before praying they stood in a circle and started to sing. Mama joined in and
then a man began to pray. Every once in awhile everyone would say “amen” very
loudly and I kept one eye open most of the time because I wasn’t actually sure
when the prayer would be over. Jackie and I were going to get ready for bed and
watch a movie but then King was leaving to go get his medicine so we went with
him. The whole time we have been here we have not gone out at night for obvious
reasons but man is there a night life. We went out around 7 and were out
walking in town for about an hour. There were SO many people out and King was
laughing at how we were so surprised. It gets so quiet around our house that we
just assumed everyone went to sleep but he said that we go to bed really early.
It was cool though to go see more of the town. We saw a lot that we had not
seen today, the farms and what is beyond our town and the nightlife. Not to
mention the dance parties with our groupies. Great day.
May 13, 2012
HAPPY MOTHERS
DAY MA, GIGI, and ASHA!!! I hope you have all had the most wonderful day and
that your children pampered you today. Ghana wishes you a happy day. This
morning we woke up and went to church. I love love love Sundays. No matter
where you are in the world it is a day to reflect upon the Savior and a day to
set aside for more worship than is normal in just everyday. I love it. So when
we got to church today we remembered that last Sunday the Branch President said
that we would be watching Conference which meant we didn’t get to take the
sacrament so we were bummed but excited to watch Conference again. We were
unsure about whether it would be in English or Twi but we got a little
combination of both. We watched Sunday morning session and just after President
Uchtdorfs talk the power went out. The Branch President just started teaching a
lesson about the duties of an Elder and a High Priest so we had a little
intermediate Sunday School lesson but then the power came back on like 20
minutes later so we finished the session. At first it was hard to focus because
the Twi was dubbed over the English and was really loud but if I focused really
hard and read the lips of the speaker I could understand. It was actually
really cool to listen to that session again. After church Natalie and Cassie
came to Mama’s house and we all just chatted about our projects and stuff for
awhile and figured out what we can do this week to be more successful…my
problem is that my IRB is not approved yet. I honestly have no idea why because
I am not putting anyone in any ethical dilemma or harming human beings in any
way with my research but they are just super picky about every single word on
the document so that’s been a tad bit annoying. Hopefully I can get it approved
soon because I cant technically start my research until I have that approval.
As far as my project goes, I am thinking about changing it to a case study.
Since there are only 2 Doctors at my hospital it seems to make sense to just
compare their interactions with patients as they differ according to gender.
Mainly the title I am thinking about is Doctor-patient
relationships in Asamang, Ghana: a case study approach to
gender analysis. That way I can just observe the interactions and not be so
worried about the patient having malaria because though there are a ton of
malaria patients, that aspect greatly limits the amount of data I can collect.
After figuring that out I feel more confident in the information that I CAN
collect. Mama made bean stew for lunch which is kind of similar to chili. We
ate it with yams and it was really good. I feel like I am going to gain weight
rather than lose it because of all the starch that I eat.
We all had dresses made from these beautiful Ghanaian fabrics and
they wore theirs to church and brought us ours because the seamstress was in
Wiamoase that we took the fabric to so when we got home Jackie and I tried ours
on, mine is super cute. I love love love it! It is a struggle to get on though
because she didn’t measure my hips so it is a taaaaad bit tight but I did it
and I wish I could wear dresses like it everyday. I think I will totally wear
mine back home! We then just sat out on the veranda talking and laughing for a
few hours about everything from the Gospel to college tuition to haunted
houses. We also talked about our mid-semester retreat and planned out a little
bit of what we want to do. It is going to be way fun but I can’t think too much
about it because it is still pretty far away. Our little friends and Nana left
tonight to go back to Agona and we are sad because Ivan is the funniest little
boy and he is SOOOO cute and Prince plays soccer with us. Unis, the little girl
is pretty shy and it took her a long time to warm up to us but we were becoming
pals. It has just been way fun to have the kids around us all the time. We will
definitely miss them. THEN I got to talk to my Mom! Sundays are the best for a
few reasons, one being the sacrament, two being a day to just hang out and rest
and ponder, and three I get to talk to my mother. Let me tell you, she is the
greatest woman I know and I hope that I can grow up to be half the woman she
is. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be with my family forever
because I don’t know what I would do without that realization since I just want
to be with them always. There was huge rain storm tonight and now the crickets
are just a chirpin outside. Thank goodness for the rain. I am so glad to be
here in the rainy season because it is the only relief we get from the heat.
The usual after work scene. Journal, reading, field notes, and rice with some sort of stew:
May 14, 2012
Now right when I
said thank goodness for the rain did I get it. it rained SO hard last night
that Jackie and I did not go to bed until about midnight, shocking since we
usually go to bed at 9 here. It’s the best. Mama is frying something right now
and it smells so good! Around 10 we were settled in bed and it started raining
so hard that we were yelling way loud to even hear each other speak. We just
put in our iPods and tried to drown out the noise but the room would light up every
other minute and then the thunder would crack so loud and so close that it felt
like our bed was shaking. Then all of sudden I felt water on my face and arm
and I opened my eyes and our door had flung open with the wind. We jumped out
of bed and shut it and piled up a bunch of stuff on a chair to barricade it
from doing so again. I never understood when people said they were afraid of
thunderstorms but boy do I now. Our shutters kept flying open too and Jackie
was getting wet in bed so we slept backwards on the bed to keep the water off
our faces. Somehow the power stayed on for quite a long time because I could
feel the fan but we laid there for 2 hours just hearing the rain, feeling the
thunder, and just trying to concentrate on our music so we could fall asleep
but man was it loud. I honestly was scared and so was Jackie even though she
grew up with thunderstorms. It was just SO LOUD and it never stopped. Of course
we woke up this morning with no power and it is still off at 5:30 in the
evening, the same thing happened last week but I am getting fast at typing
because I have to write up 5 pages of expanded notes for my research everyday
and write in my journal before my computer dies when the power is off so at
least im learning a new skill! Jackie just asked Mama what she was doing and
she just said “I am surprising you, I have a wicked agenda”. I think she is
frying plantain to go with our bean stew. I love this woman, she is so funny
and such a good mother away from home. She loves surprising us and we eat great
food nowadays. Granted, it is usually the same meal for a few days in a row but
we cut fish out of our diets so it’s all good stuff. Today I learned a lot a
lot at the hospital. I talked to a lot of different people and we had very
intellectual conversations about education, politics, Obama’s same sex support
(which Ghanaians hate. They are mad at him and are convinced the Romney is
going to win, which I support obviously), health care obviously, and other
various topics. I love it when a few people just sit and talk I always learn so
much. During rounds the same nurse who tried to give me away in marriage to his
brother asked me if I was 15, 16, 17, or 18 and I laughed thinking he was
kidding, nope he was serious. I told him that I was 21 and he was surprised.
Must be because I wear a headband tied in a bow with a bun on top of my head
and no makeup everyday; im looking real good here fellas, watch out. I took a
break from writing to eat and oh man fried plantain is so good!! We ate it with
bean stew and I think we are going to eat them all the time now cause we love
love love them!! It is still raining, it hasn’t really stopped since last night
and with the power out and my computer almost dead Jackie and I don’t really
know what to do with our night. The problem is that it is almost dark and its
only 6:30 so we cant go to bed until 9 but we cant really read or do much else
without light. We like to sit and talk to Mama while she cooks so we will just
do that. Toto had it right though when he said that ‘God blessed the rains down
in Africa’ all this rain makes for a nice
crop. Oh Mama brought out an avocado earlier and it was HUGE. Like the size of
a cantaloupe, I am so excited to eat it tomorrow. The fruits and things here
are so good and are definitely in abundance…I always find myself feeling so
grateful at the end of a night where we did not have power because it causes us
to really sit down and enjoy life. After eating we got out a deck of cards and
sat and played for about 2 hours by candlelight all the while we were singing
hymns with Mama. It was so peaceful and calming and it really causes you to
find things to do with your time that don’t involve technology. We rarely do
that back home. There are so many distractions that do not always allow us to
sit and enjoy the more simple things in life. It was a beautiful night. And I
am going to become a champion card player by the end of the summer I am sure of
it.
The usual after work scene. Journal, reading, field notes, and rice with some sort of stew:
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