So, right now it's 1:06am and I'm glued to my computer "watching" the OSU vs. Penn State football game. Currently 2nd quarter and still scoreless. God bless ESPN and the College Gamecast - without it I would be lost this football season. Despite the fact that Mix 97.1 radio station proudly displays on their web page that they broadcast all the OSU games online - they don't and those broadcasts were something on which I was banking to get through this season. So even though I don't get to watch or listen to the games, ESPN provides "real-time" updates during games that's good enough. GO BUCKS!
Today was a pretty great Saturday - until I broke the wine glass. Meg, Amanda, Jules and I got up and headed to the pool at about 9am. That's a pretty standard pool time for us. I mean it's Africa so of course it's already hot and the sun was shining. Even though my face is now uniformly red from sunburn (curse you SPF 15!) the pool was totally worth it and relaxing and amazing. We left when the Ghanaians started doing cannonballs into the water right by our stuff. Thanks guys. The pool to which we go, Shangri-La, has this mini-market out front with a small but varied selection of stuff and since they know us now they usually give us pretty good prices. I bought soooo many Christmas presents today! It was so much fun picking out everything and there is still so much to get. After the pool we walked to the mall (air conditioning, holla!) where I bought the aforementioned wine glasses. Mind you, Meg already bought a set of 4 about 2 months ago and all 4 were broken one by one over the weeks.
Break in story for a few quick lessons in "How to Know When You're in Ghana."
Lesson #1: prices are generally opposite of what you come to expect in the States. Evidence: While shopping in the grocery store today, Meg and I stumbled on to cream cheese. Cream cheese!!! While marveling at the wonder of cream cheese I noticed that next to it was some caviar. (Lesson #2: Ghanaians shelve things in the oddest places. Evidence: caviar and cream cheese and cereal was in the same aisle as whiteboards and picture frames.) When I think of caviar I think of expensive French restaurant or something. Well, this caviar was cheaper than the cream cheese. Only in Ghana will cream cheese be more expensive than caviar. Oh speaking of expensive - later during the shopping trip we found berries. (Berries!!!) A small container of strawberries was how much you ask? GHc 12! (Ghc 1 is about $1) Then, there was a container with three types of grapes - about 20 grapes per type - for the low low price of Ghc 22. Lesson #3: They let you sample wine in the store. Evidence: They let us sample wine in the store. Sounds crazy but it's true! Meg and I wandered in to the wine section and each got to sample a Sauvignon Blanc and a Shiraz. The Shiraz was amazing!
End of today's lessons.
With all of us swamped with bags from our purchases, we crammed into a taxi and came home. I made the most amazing dinner tonight! Rice cooked in this yummy vegetable soup, cabbage, carrots, green pepper, and chicken. It probably doesn't sound too good but I assure you that it was. Oh and Meg made homemade macaroni and cheese! That was pretty fantastic as well. Now the sad part. I was washing dishes...moved the wine glass out of the drying rack so that I wouldn't break it with heavy pots...and proceeded to then knock it off the counter - shards everywhere. BRAND NEW wine glass, GONE. Dang.
Okay so some updates about what's been going on the last week.
Last Saturday (so, a week ago) we didn't have power allllll day. From 1:30pm until 9:30pm. Thankfully one of the students at school had let me borrow a book so I was able to lie around doing my best not to sweat and read. This is the first
time that the power was off for an extended period of time. What do you do when the only source of entertainment is your computer and there is no power??? I read and I read and I read. Even though the power was out and that stunk, last Saturday turned out to be one of my favorite in Ghana so far. Without a way to cook any dinner for ourselves, Meg and I decided to go get egg on bread. (One of the best things about living in Ghana: street food.) We left the house and the whole street was dark. We went around the corner toward the main street and still everything was dark. We got to the main street and looked left and right and STILL everything was completely dark. This was a bit unusual because usually when the power goes off it's not EVERYONE. With the power off as far as I could see - the sky was amazing. Remember: it was only about 6:30 when we left the house but it was already dark outside. It was a little disconcerting to look up and be able to see so many stars though because I didn't recognize a single constellation. I'm used to walking outside at night in the States and being able to name off at least one constellation. But this African sky is totally new and I don't recognize any of it. I felt pretty far from home then. So anyway, Meg and I were on the main street and it was totally dark except for the candles burning at the stands on the side of the road and headlights from cars. We walked past a salon where someone had pulled their car so that the headlights were pointing directly inside where someone was doing a woman's hair. It was cool to be able to see lights from Accra in the distance. It's hard to explain why this night was one of my favorites because really
all Meg and I did was walk to get egg on bread and the power was out. But it was so cool to see that life in Ghana and the stands on the side of the road were totally unaffected by the power outage. Life in the States stops without power but in Ghana - it happens. One of the pictures I've posted is from the power outage night. I lit candles next to my bed just to be able to read. Reading the Bible by candlelight was also pretty great.
The other picture I posted is from dinner last Sunday night. This girl named Karen was in Ghana for 1 month and we got to be friends with her for the last 2 weeks she was here. By herself she organized a trip to 3 countries: Ghana, Georgia and...Guatemala? I think that was the 3rd one. Anyway, 3 countries each starting with G and she was working on something different in each country: health, human rights, and I forget the 3rd. She's pretty awesome and has moved on to Georgia for the next month.
Alright, so the 3rd quarter of the football game just started. I was hoping that this game would be a blowout by OSU so that I could go to bed assured of an OSU victory but with the score tied - I have to stay up and it's already 2am. My apologies if this post makes little to no sense. I'm pretty tired and seriously ready for bed but I have to stay up for this game!
When else can I update about my week? Hmm... Oh, I've started reading the Bible chronologically and I'm loving it! There are so many stories in the Old Testament that I don't know that finally I am learning. I just finished Job and I really enjoyed finally learning the story of the man I hear so much about. My favorite passage: (that actually wasn't spoken by Job but by someone talking to to him)
Yet if you devote your heart to [God] and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp. -Job 11:13-20
I think it's my favorite passage from Job because it just makes so clear that all we have to do is reach out to God, give our sins to Him and let them go, and then He will take care of us. Darkness will be morning, we will have security, hope and safety. What an awesome God.
Okay, well I think this post is really long enough. I'm going to go try and stay awake for the rest of the football game. Wish me luck and go Bucks! That almost rhymed.
