Ohhhh Uncle Ernest...

HAPPY MARCH THE 6^th!!! It’s Independence Day here in Ghana, and that is a BIG deal here.

The school kids are all lined up and ready to start at 7am. Petra and I made our way down to the PAC, a huge open space in Asamankese. It was PACKED. There were people lined up all the way around the open space where the kids would be marching and it was really hard to see.

Petra and I were just casually walking around the groups of people to find the best place to stand so that we could see through and we realized that EVERYONE was turning around to look at us instead.

I think it was the most uncomfortable I have felt and the most funny moment since being here. It was pretty hilarious that we would be more interesting to watch than the actual ceremony that was taking place...a couple of men tried to kiss us on the cheeks and claim us as their “friends” when all of the women with children nearby yelled at them and scared them off. Note to self: always stand by a woman with all her babies around her, she will back you up!

Soon enough, they grew accustomed to the fact that we were there and they turned back to watch the parade. A large pack of children start accumulating around us while we watched and their faces were completely focused on us instead of trying to squeeze past the people to see the march. We moved several times during the morning to get better spots and a few of the kids followed us everywhere we went. One girl wouldn’t let go of either Petra or my hand the WHOLE time.

I was proposed to today. This is a usually a normal occurrence, but today was a little different; this guy would NOT leave. After kindly telling him that I was already married, and showing off my lovely "wedding" band, he insisted that I needed two husbands. That Ghanaian men had all the power. I then told him that I was quite happy with my husband back home. He insisted that he was really fast and that he was a fantastic football player....so I told him he was too short for me...don't know if that's rude or not but the look on his face told me he was shocked that I said it. Maybe he isn’t used to being rejected? I told him I liked my men nice and tall and that he just wouldn't do.

He said that he was ready to be married but that he didn’t have any money. I finally explained to him that I had LESS money than he did and that school in Canada is very expensive. I am 40 grand in the hole. He started to back off. I should have added that I can’t cook worth anything...maybe he’d run away? This happened while we were still watching the march, so all the kids were laughing hysterically as I turned him down.

I promise I wasn’t as rude as this makes me sound. I was however, very clear that I did not want him as my husband. I have definitely seen better looking Ghanaians.

LOTS of people at the PAC

I will explain what the march is:

Everyone circles around the huge field to watch while the school children march. They literally march. Like military soldiers almost, in a parade. They march by age and in packs with the school that they attend and their teachers march in front of them. They all wear their school uniforms so that they can be distinguished.

They have such serious faces as they walk, and they circle the whole PAC. The young children march first, then the older kids, and then the vocational schools. After that, the football (soccer) team marched and in the afternoon they played a football match.

Snail...it's HUGE!

On the way home, we saw this lady sitting in her shop with a big basket on her lap. She pulled what looked to me like a seashell out of the basket. I thought it was cool looking, so I ran over and asked if I could see. She held up the shell and much to my disgust and dismay, a slimy and extremely large snail body crawled out of the shell. I THOUGHT SNAILS WERE SMALL! They laughed at me as a jumped back and refused to hold it. They told me that they taste very sweet. Here’s hoping I never get tricked into eating one of those...

We had class today, and still a good number of students showed up. That was encouraging. We are slowly finding out which students are there for good and are the most dedicated. We have some that haven’t missed one class yet. It’s fantastic.

Felicia came wearing her Ghanaian hat for Independence Day and Auntie Julie was wearing a Ghana bracelet.

Felicia in her Ghanain hat

Uncle Ernest and I had a funny conversation today in class:

Uncle Ernest: Carolyn! You look so sweet. You should send a picture to your boyfriend!

Carolyn: Send a picture of what Uncle Ernest?

Uncle Ernest: You’re dress! You look so sweet in it! Your nice dress from Africa!

Carolyn: I bought this dress in Canada Uncle Ernest.

Uncle Ernest: Where? Where Where Where in Canada?

Carolyn: Manitoba.

Uncle Ernest: Oh. Well you look so good, send a picture to your boyfriend.

Carolyn: I don’t have a boyfriend!

Uncle Ernest: Aaaahh. Why you not have boyfriend?

Carolyn: I just don’t....

Uncle Ernest: Ooohhh.

Thanks Uncle Ernest haha. I am a perfectly content single girl back in Canada.

We had another interesting conversation while we walked home. Petra and I were asking about what happens if people are unable to have children here. (Keep in mind that these answers aren’t for EVERYONE in Ghana). They said that if they are barren, often the woman gets blamed and the man can leave her to find another partner.  I asked about adoption and Uncle Ernest said that the rich people can pay the hospital to take someone else’s baby away from them. They just tell those people that their baby died...I couldn’t believe that that happened. Apparently there is one story that is a huge court case right now. I asked about InVetro (spelling?) and about putting the sperm and egg together outside of the woman, and then putting that into her. Uncle Ernest was BAFFLED. This was his response:

“Wait, what!? So they don’t have the sex? What about the sex? Do they do an operation to get the baby out? How big is the baby when they put it back in the woman? THEY DELIVER IT NORMAL? So..they put the baby in the woman, and THEN they have the sex? What about the satisfaction?”

Haha.....oh Uncle Ernest....

So, yup. That was my day in a nutshell. It was swell.