Africa Day/Memorial Day

Hey hey!

So I've now been here six days, but it definitely feels like longer. We haven't had power for three days and it is hotter than hell. (At least it is better than having no water.) The lack of fans are starting to really wear on us, though. We start work tomorrow and I am wicked excited to do so!

Yesterday a beautiful woman came to our house and made out lives complete. Her name is Tina and she explained to us that she is available to cook for us, if we would like. Would we ever!! She will come for breakfast and dinner and prepare box lunches for us to take to work. She's absolutely lovely and an awesome cook. Last night we got fried chicken, homemade french fries, and a pasta and veggie dish. To be honest, the local food here isn't so great. The one thing it has going for it is that they use a lot of peppers so the dishes are all hot. (For this reason, Mummy, you would hate the food. Everyone else in my life, you guys would love this.) For some odd reason, they have a LOT of Chinese food, but (believe it or not) it is not the best Chinese food I've ever had. The main local food enjoyed here is TZ. TZ is maize meal that is boiled through water to make a ball of gelatenous matter that they serve with peanut soup. The texture is very bizzare and it is pretty bland. The soup wasn't so banging, either. They eat a LOT of meat here, which was a relief to Mark but a bummer for Yue and myself. It's nearly impossible to order vegetarian dishes here. It's also nearly impossible to find a good source of protein that isn't meat. Tina is taking us to the market today so we can buy breakfast fixing, beans, soap to wash our clothes with, and whatever other food we would like. It's really great to have someone who can cook us delicious local food that we have some say in (ie. chicken on the side, please).

In Ghana, the rainy season spans from May to September. This means it rains nearly ever day, typically at night (for whatever reason). Later in the season it will start raining all day, all night, and possibly all the next day. Again, coming from Maine I thought I was rather experienced with gnarly storms. Apparently the sub-Sahara climate makes for much, much crazier storms. Every night we have been awoken by INTENSE winds, rains, and thunder. I'm talking wind so strong i was convinced out cement house was going to blow over. Rain so strong I thought the tin roof was going to fall in. No joke, the thunder was so close and so strong that I felt the vibrations. All this combined makes for a really loud storm that is impossible to sleep through. Luckily, I love storms and was thoroughly enjoying myself. Jess, however, was kinda frightened. What we are all wondering is what happens to the mud huts we've seen all over the place with thatch roofs. I have to assume the strong rains wear on the walls of the houses and cause them to melt and the winds HAVE to blow the roofs off. It's a mystery to us, maybe we'll figure it out before we leave. The strangest thing is when morning comes and we go outside to greet the day, the land is dried than ever as if no storm was ever experienced. Silly desert.

The neighborhood kids finally got the courage to come over and play with us. They are so curious about us, it's funny. They have great senses of humor and are very polite. The girls started singing “Hips Don't Lie” by Shakira and dancing, I just about died. The boys loved playing frisbee with Mark. We gave them some gum and they thought it was the neatest stuff ever. Their names are Josephine, Richmond, Antoinette, Gloria, William, Genevieve, and Judy. When the kids had to go home for dinner, William stayed behind and got to play computer games on Mark's laptop. It was so cool to watch because he was enjoying himself so much!!

That's about all that's new at this point. I'm still having very vivid dreams that alternate between being disturbing nightmares and very realistic, but pleasant, everyday events back home. I've been told it's the Malarone (malaria medication) that is making my dreams go crazy. Whatever it is, it's a trip.

I hope everyone is doing well back home!! Until next time, take care!