Churchie Church, Church.

Happy Easter. I think it’s holidays like this that really make me miss being home. I miss being able to go to my home church, sing songs in English, hear the traditional brass instruments...

Ghanaians don’t do “family” things for Easter. They just go to church for an extra hour and a half...

This blog may make me seem SUPER frustrated with life here, but I do really like it here. I have just had an exhausting and frustrating day. Blogging has helped unleash some of that frustration.

We got up this morning and I had to iron my dress...I wasn’t going to, but Auntie Joe said that I should. I’m just glad she couldn’t see the ketchup stain from last week and the spot where I spilt tea on it this morning...yup. I am SUPER clean. Blah.

We got to church around 9:30am. They were singing praises and playing music and there was a little boy in a John Deere t-shirt playing the drums. He couldn’t have been more than 4 years old, he was pretty talented!

The choir director was all decked out with his little plastic keyboard that had a tube attached to it which he blew into to keep it running...strange? He also had sunglasses on...inside...he looked like Kanye...

The women’s group had traded their white tops and black skirts from Good Friday to all white wear with white cloth on their heads as well, for Easter.

The congregation was LOVING the music this morning so dance time went a little longer. We had to dance at the front for a good 20 minutes.  A little intimidating at first, but you definitely get into it. Besides, if you don’t dance, you have Auntie Joe dancing towards you and saying, “are you feeling shy? Come and dance. Follow me,” and off she dances to the front. Might as well follow.

Doris was there, Felix and Smart were there. The Minister of Education was there.  It was nice to see familiar faces.

After that came the rough part. As soon as praises are done, comes the 3 hours of talking in Twi. Today, that meant 4 hours. It was a challenge.

First they called the Harvest Committee up...we didn’t know that this was happening until I started looking around and reading a little pamphlet that a man was holding from far away. Of course, Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie were on it...so were about 40 other members of the congregation, who they called up one by one, stating their name and what group of the church they were leaders for. They all sat in chairs on the left side of the stage for the rest of the service.

Then came the half an hour long prayer.

Next was the sermon. That wasn’t so bad...I people watched and journalled through the whole thing anyway. The pastor said, “Petra” in the middle of his sermon and we thought we better pay attention. I don’t think he was actually talking about Petra, but it caught our attention. Halfway through, we looked at the clock and Petra whispered, “this is NOT going to be done before 1pm.” We were getting ansy.

Next came the offering. There were about  7 of them while a man SCREAMED some stuff into the microphone while trying to get more money in the bowls. It was at this point that I bailed. It was super hard to breath in that church and I was not able to sit still for any longer listening to Twi. I think my little heart issue was acting up again because I was NOT okay during that church service. I just got up and left for a bit to sit outside.

When I came back in after about 20 minutes, it was announcement time. For an hour. I know this sounds bitter, but Petra and I were exhausted and just tired of not being able to understand what was going on. I realized how hard it is to sit like a lady and definitely was sitting in a dress with my knees up on the pew in front of me. If I did this in church at home my dad would have smacked my legs down...you just TRY and get me from here, Dad. Hehe.

I looked around and noticed many people in the congregation had their eyes closed and looked like they were sleeping, so I decided to join them. Of course, they just had their eyes closed and were listening as I was slowly falling asleep...but they didn’t know that...

This evening I had class. It was supposed to start at 2pm, but all the churches in the town closed pretty late (ours closed at 1:30pm...blah) and I welcomed a later start when the women didn’t show up. For some reason, church services just WIPE us out and make us exhausted for like 2 hours afterwards. I am so looking forward to church services back home!

We learned about financial statements in class and they are working on making their own income statements and balance sheets with as much information as they could gather. They have been collecting information on their revenues and expenses since near the start of when I arrived, so we are working on it. They are definitely adjusting well and that makes me excited!

26 DAYS TIL HOME! THIS IS NUTSSSS!

The countdown!

Double DUTCH

Tonight I realized how nice it is to walk after dark. Auntie Joe doesn’t usually like it when we walk to town in the pitch black, but it had been so hot today that we needed to take a cool walk.

    1. It is dark which means it is cool. Bearable walks are always nice!

        2. Everyone doesn’t stop you to talk every 2 seconds because it is either harder for them to see us (which generally doesn’t seem to work) or we can ignore them and blame it on not being able to see them. This sounds mean, but you need a break sometimes. It is nice to take a walk and not get stopped all the time. People here don’t understand the concept of just “taking a walk” and feel the need to know where you are going. We really weren’t going anywhere specific, we really WERE just walking.  

    3.  We can hardly see the people. They kind of just blend into the night. It’s a little scary sometimes and it makes me wonder how many of them get in car accidents when crossing the street at night. It’s nuts! We can’t see them, but they can ALL see us!

        4.  All the children are out. It’s awesome. There is no school at night, so they all come out to play and all the bars or “spots” are playing music, so the kids are all dancing along the streets to the BLARING music. I love it.

We got halfway down the hill and in front of a shop there were a bunch of kids skipping rope. Not the one person skip rope, the LONG skip rope. Petra saw me stop in my tracks and she could tell I wanted to join. I went back and watched for a couple minutes until they noticed me counting jumps to see if I could hop in with them. I LOVED JUMP ROPE in grade school. I could spend hours in the school parking lot at recess jumping in and out of the rope and playing different games with it. So much fun. The kids LOVED it that I was interested and right away invited me to play. I was in.

They turn the rope sooo fast! I really wish I had brought my camera because these kids are talented! They were impressed on how quickly I picked up on the timing of their game though, and I was soon in their game. They do this “3 fast hops, then you have to hit the floor and then jump back up again before the rope turns another time” thing. Definitely a good way to meet lots of the kids all at once!!! (and get a much needed workout in there too!)

You will be missed, Grammy.

Yesterday was a hot one. Forget what I ever said before about cool mornings, yesterday was a scorcher. There was a slight breeze though, so that was kiiiinda nice.

Grammy <3

A bit of sad news. Mummy called us in the morning and Grammy, the old lady that lived with our host family in the first week, has passed away. She was Mummy’s mother so it will be hard on their whole family. We ask that you keep them in your prayers as they accept friends and family over to grieve and as they plan for her funeral at the end of May. Petra and I hope to go and visit them next weekend to give our condolences and see the family again. Grant them comfort and peace in the knowledge that Grammy is now in heaven with her Lord and Saviour. It will be a sad couple weeks for them as they adjust to not having her around as she was such a present part of their lives.

She will be missed. 

Today is Good Friday. Doesn’t seem like it at all being over here. There is church that we can’t understand, no family gatherings, no turkey...I really miss turkey. Right about now, my whole family will be in New Dundee by the lake together and I have to miss that. It’s kind of sad.

This morning Petra and I went to church with Auntie Joe. Now that we have been to almost all of the churches that our students attend, we have found that we prefer Auntie Joe’s the most. Even though we can’t understand it, it is the most like our churches back home and we have come to know a lot of the people who attend there so that has been kind of nice. We don’t feel like strangers anymore.

We have met so many people, and often we only meet them a few times, so it is hard to remember all their names and faces so we have associated them with what they do.

-There is Doris. She is the lady down the road with the purple store who sells drinks. She sells us our coke and laughs at us about how much we buy. She sometimes has phone credits.

-There is the lady who talks to us in a high pitch voice and sells us our bread in the mornings.

-The bofroot lady. She has told me her name SO many times and I can’t remember it. I know that’s bad. But she sells us delicious bofroot in the morning and we do love her. She can’t remember our names either, so that doesn’t make me QUITE as bad...

-Jacqueline. She ... I don’t know what she does...she walks around and she says that she sells stuff but I haven’t seen her do it yet and she is never working, but always says she is working...She’s real nice though and is the closest thing to a friend here since she is my age and always gives me a hug in the morning.

-Patience. She owns a store in town and sells us fanmilk.

-there is the “man” who has the lonely drug store on the hill

-there is the “man” who owns the pharmacy beside Smart’s shop

-there is the lady who always tries to sell me her child...

-Felix. He likes to dance in church. I didn’t know his name until last week when I finally asked. Until then he was referred to as the monkey man...he really looks like a monkey. It’s hilarious.

Petra and I know who all of these people are, and they know who we are, but we just don’t always exchange names.

Anyway, back from my rant about people. Church. It was pretty long today. We had communion since it was good Friday. I hadn’t been to church in a couple weeks since we had our vacation and then I was sick, so I decided to dress up. I threw on a little bit of makeup, wore nice clothes, wore my headband with the cute little bow and I even wore heels.

Auntie Joe saw me this morning and said, “Caro! You look smart this morning and your headband matches your shoes. And the rashes on your face are starting to go down. You look NICE!”

Thanks Auntie Joe...my “rashes” are gone because they are covered for once.

I also realized that one of my feet had toenails that were painted, and the other foot was not. It really took away from the “nice” look of the heels...Auntie Joe just laughed at me. Sometimes she only paints the fingernails on one of her hands...

We got to church and there were a couple funny things that I noticed:

-they have a keyboard built into an organ box and they just set the keyboard on “organ” so that it sounds like one...

-they had an extra large amount of fake flowers displayed up front looking as silly as ever for Good Friday. I don’t think they realize that when they have fake flowers in bright blue, lime green, and hot pink, it doesn’t really help with the whole “fake” look.

-there were a couple who announced that they were going to be married this month during announcement time and the pastor had them come up to the front. The guy on the keyboard played the wedding song that you hear in movies when the bride comes down the aisle as they came up to the front...I couldn’t help it, I started laughing out loud and Petra had NO idea what was going on

-I got proposed to from the pulpit. Yup. It was after the offering and stuff so everyone in the church had seen me walk up to give my money, dancing away, in my heels. The pastor was in the middle of announcements and I was busy tuning out when I heard “obruni” and looked. Everyone in the church was looking at me and giggling. The girl beside me said, “do you understand? The pastor said that there are a couple guys who want to marry you because you look sooo nice.” I said, “me? Or do you mean Petra?” (hoping it was Petra)...She said it was me they wanted to marry. GREAT. I must have grimaced because the women across the aisle pointed to my face and started laughing. I turned real red.

After the 3 hours of church, there was a photographer kickin’ around for some reason and he wanted pictures of us at the front since the display of fake flowers was especially “nice” today. Oh geez.

So we took a picture of Petra and I. And then one with Petra and I and Auntie Joe. And then one of Petra and I and Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie. Then we threw in a random girl. Then a random man wanted a picture with us. Very strange. Very, very strange. I feel like a really weird celebrity at times but then we realize we are nobodies and I don’t understand why they want pictures of us haha.

We got home and it was pretty hot today. The power went off, of course, leaving us without fans so we decided to walk to town to get fanmilk. When we were walking back, there was a little seamstress shop that had a bunch of little kids in it. We waved, and there was a little girl further back who was kind of hiding behind her mom’s leg. The mother called us over and said that the little girl wanted to greet us, so we went closer and as we did, the mom pushed the child up to us. The little girl started SCREAMING! Poor girl. We often have mothers pushing their kids towards us telling us that we can have them. I think the little tiny children might be afraid that white people are going to take them away haha. I felt awful!

There were a ton of little kids who were trying to steal mangoes from the tree out front again. Petra and I watched for a while as the kids would give us a look and then sneakily try and throw stones in the tree to knock them out. At one point they were even throwing their machetes in the tree!! We finally decided we had gotten enough entertainment out of them and needed more. Time to snitch. I was pumped to watch Auntie Joe run after them with her stick and watch as she banged the stick on the table as she yelled at them. Pretty funny to watch them sass her from far away since she couldn’t get to them.

Then, across the street and over the fence and into another compound is another mango tree. The kids decided to climb the fence and go in there instead. Another child noticed and hopped the fence while yelling, “KIDS ARE STEALING YOUR MANGOES! KIDS ARE STEALING YOUR MANGOES!!” We watched as the kids all came screaming and climbing back over the fence to get away while the people who owned that compound beat them with sticks. Even though I don’t agree with that kind of punishment, those kids were being SUPER annoying and definitely had it coming for them. The kid who snitched on them climbed over the fence with a ripe, yellow mango in his mouth. Oh Africa...

Today marks exactly one month and I will be home. It’s a weird feeling...

"I like your Shit"

This morning I woke up and went for a 2 hr walk in the rain before Petra woke up. I love rain and it was nice and cool and raining lightly so it was perfect for a walk. I needed some time alone too. After being with only one person this whole time you can get tired of the same stories over and over again since we’ve run out of new things to talk about.

Auntie Joe almost didn’t let me go since it was raining. She said I would catch a chill. I went anyway.

Everyone was freezing cold and huddled in their blankets and jackets from the rain. Most of their shops weren’t open and people thought it was just the strangest thing that I would walk in the rain without somewhere specific to go.

I was proposed to 3 times, saying that it was good that I exercised, even in the rain and that they will marry me.

Enter Isaac, my kight and shining armor...or just the guy who carried an umbrella over my head for over 20 minutes of my walk, just because he wanted to...nice guy. Haha.

As I walked up the hill to go back to Auntie Jo’s, there was a guy peeing on the side of the road. That got me thinking about how dirty all the washed up liquid coming down the street was and I wished I hadn’t worn my flipflops. Yuck.

It was cool all day, thank the Lord. Oh my goodness I needed a break from the heat. I have seriously been dying for about 3 weeks now and I should have ran out of anything to sweat out LONG ago. I welcomed the cool weather while everyone else huddled in their houses. Petra threw on pants and a sweater.

We had class this afternoon. Not too many women showed up. Maybe it was because of the rain? Maybe it was just coincidence? It was kind of nice to have a smaller class for the day though. Anita brought Kate and her son as well who we had never met before. Kate is quite the charmer and she held my hand for most of the lesson today.

They learnt the different sounds that “sh” and “ch” and “th” make. They can NOT say the “th” sound. It makes “tooth and teeth” into “toof and teef” and they say “da dog crossed da street” instead of “the dog crossed the street.” It’s hilarious. They also can’t say “shirt” but instead they say “shit.” That one had me laughing for a while.

Then Auntie Julie’s phone went off in the middle of class. Her ring tone is an organ playing a church song and for some reason today that just made me giggle like crazy and I could NOT pull it back together. I was laughing at the phone, the women started laughing at me and then Kate started laughing just because she saw everyone laughing. It was pretty funny.

Carrying my Water

I walked to class with my water on my head. Pretttttty talented now, I’d say. 

When it rains, it POURS

This morning was nice and cool so we spent most of our time outside. The weather is starting to be more predictable lately. 


Cool Mornings -- Crazy Hot Afternoons -- Rains all Evening Long


I did some laundry this morning, just a little bit, but it's been a while so I got my knuckles all cut up again since they aren't used to being rubbed. It was too hot outside so I did my laundry in the shower. 


We had class this afternoon. I taught the ladies some tongue twisters using smaller words so that they could practice seeing them in full sentences. Our class usually goes until 5 o'clock but at about 10 to 5, the women started getting ansy and looking out the window. I didn't really notice until Auntie Julie just stopped everything and started the closing prayer. I looked outside and the sky was BLACK. 
When it rains in Ghana, people go crazy. The women all jumped up and booked it for the road to get home before the rain came. Of course, all the taxis were full because other people were also trying to get home and it would be the END OF THE WORLD if they got caught in the rain. 


Petra and I enjoyed a nice walk home as it started to spit lightly while everyone else ran. We can generally walk faster than they can run sometimes, so we weren't in the rain that long. 
Packs of school children were hoping the back of people's trucks as they came down the road so that they didn't have to walk. 

You can see the sky getting dark

We got back to Auntie Joe's and I realized that a couple of my clothes were still on the line. Never fails, whenever I do laundry, it rains. 


Auntie Joe was sitting under the porch of her store talking to Auntie Julie and waving a stick. We asked her what she was doing and she explained that the school children like to come by and throw rocks at the ripe mangoes. This causes all the other mangoes that aren't riped yet to fall and she doesn't like that. So she waves her stick, threatening to beat them with it if they come and steal mangoes. 
The children know that they are faster than she is though and so they just run onto the lawn, take the mangoes that are already on the ground and make a run for it as she comes after them. It's pretty hilarious. 

Mangoes

I was dancing in the rain for a while because it was so nice and cool...and yes, I was actually dancing. And I don't even care. People dance all the time here and I think they look silly so I don't care if they think I am too. It was so nice in the pouring rain!!! Mmm. Love. 

I was also eating crackers while I was dancing. Auntie Joe said this, "that is why your stomach is big, you are eating the whole package of crackers." Thanks Auntie Joe. Just because Ghanaians don't eat snacks, doesn't mean I am fat. 

Fat fat fattt

This morning I was feeling much better; just have a sore throat and a head ache. I will be fine.

We went to the market this morning since it was a little cooler in the morning. Glad we did, the afternoon was KILLER. I went to visit Anita at her stand and sat with her for a while. The lady that shares the stand with her brought her daughter since she was sick, but she was afraid of us. Started crying instantly.

It’s funny, at home if you are sick, you have to stay in bed and it’s almost like you are punished. Here when you are sick, you are spoiled rotten. This girl was given sweets and a big bottle of Pepsi. Which she proceeded to drink from a straw that she got off of the ground...and they wonder why she’s sick? Blah.

Anita’s sister was working with her today too and decided that I was getting fat and she too felt it necessary to let me know. She said, “ohhh you are getting FAT! Your body structure, it is just so much bigger. You look soooo fantastic.” Awesome. Thanks.

I GOT MAIL TODAY! From a lot of people. That made me super happy. Actually, we stopped at the post office before going to Anita’s and she was almost as excited about my mail as I was and proceeded to read it all. I guess it’s good practice for her to read English?

It was nice to be back out on market day and not feeling sick anymore. There is just something about being in town on a market day and seeing all the people. I love the busyness of it all.

We got back home and were just DRIPPING in sweat. The sun was so hot today and there was absolutely no breeze. Looking forward to washing up, I went to the shower and of course the water was off. It hasn’t been off in about 3 weeks which has been fantastic, but it sure had good timing today haha.

Since it was so hot, it was a perfect opportunity to work on our lesson plans. We need to have them finished up soon so that the new interns can get a copy of them and print some stuff out and look over them before they come. ONE MONTH.ONE MONTH.ONE MONTH!

It rained for about 5 hours this evening and I enjoyed sitting outside in the compound under the little roof the fresh air. 

Fools are for April

I was too sick to go to church today. Auntie Joe said my body was too hot (which meant I had a fever) and that I should rest small small and take my medicines. Cynthia was convinced that I have Malaria today too.

I had gone out this morning to talk to Auntie Joe and have her feel to see if I had a fever and basically just rolled out of bed to say good morning quick. I knew she wouldn’t care about my acne all over my face without makeup and my slept-on braid all crazy on my head. I sleep in virtually nothing here because of the heat, so I slipped on a tiny dress to go and see her.

She called from her bathroom and said she was taking her bath and would be out in 5 minutes time so I waited on the porch. While she was getting dressed, 3 ladies all dressed up for church came up bringing some food to Auntie Joe. Well that was embarrassing. I yanked down my dress trying to make it longer and not look skimpy and attempted to matt down my hair since it was insane and said good morning to them. Not my finest moment. I was NOT expecting company.

The other day I was reading a book outside the store for some fresh air and these girls came to look to buy some pots. They saw my hair and said that they liked all the different colours of blonde and brown in the bottom and Auntie Joe spent the next 5 minutes putting me in a friendly headlock with her arms around my head and my face in her armpit, rubbing my hair like I was her pet dog. I am a big “personal space” person and have had to let that go for Auntie Joe. She LOVES to hug me and rub me and pat me down. And usually just me too, it’s strange, she’s never really doing that to Petra. I mean, I certainly feel loved, but sometimes it’s a little weird. Yaa was sitting facing me and saw my confused look and just lost it laughing.

I had business class this afternoon. Which turned into tonight. The ladies both showed up at 5:30pm. Class was supposed to start at 2pm. They said that they had to pound foufou for their husbands and that’s why they were late. It’s a little frustrating because the power goes off on Sundays from 6-10pm so if they get here at 5, the second half of our lesson is in the dark. I always ask them if 2 o’clock is too early, but they always say it is good ... ergh.

So, I stressed that they must call me if they are going to be late. At least let me know. They said they would...we’ll see next time. Kate came with Anita today and coloured pictures with Petra while I taught. I love that little girl...she can say my name super clearly. Always have a soft spot for the children who can since most cannot.

I have a new white board in our house! No more using Auntie Joe’s fridge for a board (which we actually never really did tell her we were doing...) I wouldn’t be surprised if she wouldn’t be impressed. But, now it doesn’t matter because I have a brand new board to write on now and it gives me lots more space for notes!

Anita and Cynthia are really starting to understand the difference between an Income Statement and Balance Sheet and were excited when I told them that people learn this in University business classes too and they were soo smart. They’re starting to see the bigger picture now as to why they need to keep records. It’s nice to see it click in their minds and see them understanding. Cynthia even took the time to rewrite the flashcard definitions in her own words (still in English). Very proud of her for that!

Exactly 5 weeks from today, I will be in my bed at home in Kitchener. That’s crazy and it will come super fast. It’s a weird feeling because I am getting excited for home; for the people, for the food, for sleeping through the night without sweating...but there is so much more for me to do here yet and I know the time is going to go way too fast so I want to enjoy every minute of it while I still have it. I know that I will miss so many things about being here and will be sad to leave.

Funny thing: There is a high school in between Asamankese and Accra called Silicon Valley...HAHA. Just a silly side note.