Home to Ghana

Alan and I are still not quite used to calling Ghana our home and after 5 weeks away, it was a little harder than I thought adjusting back to life here. We were quickly reminded about the little annoyances that give us many laughs each day here. The first of which was when we came down the stairs from our airplane on the tarmac and were waiting in line to show our passports to a security guy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this Ghanaian guy behind us sort of sneak around to Alan's side going in for the big cut in line. Normally, when I see this happen, I position my body to totally block whoever is trying to pull a fast one. But, maybe Alan didn't see or hasn't learned this trick yet. So just when it was our turn to show our passports, this guy boldly thrust his passport in the security guy's hands. Alan exclaimed, "my friend...what is this?" Then the guy said under his breath, "well, you looked away." Alan luckily didn't hear this because if he had, we might have gotten into a verbal altercation. First of all Alan wasn't looking away and second of all, what kind of excuse is that?!! The guy proceeded to board the bus which was going to take us to the terminal and I was so tempted to ask him if he planned on getting to the terminal any faster after cutting in line now that we had to wait for 10 minutes for the parked bus to fill with passengers. After some deep breaths and a reminder that we are supposed to laugh on these occasions we were all set to proceed with our re-entry into Ghanaian life and culture.

Frank was very happy to see us when he greeted us at the airport and we were happy to see him too. Frank has become a part of our family here so we missed him and I'm sure he missed us also. So we briefly caught up in the car ride home and figure we'll have lots of things to share over the next few days. He's been busy taking his English classes while we've been away and shared with us that he finally has his clunker of a car turned into a taxi which he plans to drive on the weekends to make some extra bucks. Well, except for still missing shock absorbers in his car he's almost ready.

And so I've quickly gotten back to my routine of spending half of each day shopping for necessities usually requiring numerous stops at different stores to gather what we need. However, this week I really feel like I hit the jackpot, as I was able to acquire some rare finds. For example, I find found dill pickles which I've been craving and even dried cranberries which are virtually unheard of here. And just today, I came across a bizarre but wonderful store called La Fiesta Hacienda. Yes, that is the name. And what a party it was in this place. Their website says that they carry an assortment of imported food and grocery items from America which sounded like a little bit of heaven to me but needless to say my expectations were low. The place has an outside cafe where on the weekends they serve hotdogs, soda, and beer (how much more American can we get?). Inside were unfortunately mostly bare shelves as I later learned they only order every 4 months and are awaiting their next order in 3 weeks time. Most of the store was devoted to Christmas decorations and such which unfortunately Alan and I are not in need of. But, it was a jackpot for me because I found my long-sought-after cake and pastry boxes that I've been searching all over for and even contemplated getting made at a printing press. They had tons!!! And just the kind I wanted. I loaded up. Plus, after searching the whole city for chocolate and learning that the chocolate plant here is still shut down for repair (it's only been about 3 months), I found a Sam's Club-sized pack of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips! I grabbed them despite the exorbitant price that I'm too embarrassed to mention here.

And in between gathering necessities like dill pickles, cranberries and chocolate chips, I've been catching up with my friends here. I had tea and cookies with Marina and Gilda yesterday and we spent 2 hours sharing all the events since we had all been on vacation from Ghana. We are all booked up this week with dinner plans and outings with friends so it should be fun. Tomorrow, Marina and I are going to have a lesson from a woman to learn to play Bridge so we can join the Bridge Club. Like I need another hobby!

Hope to have some pictures soon but so far in our few days back, there haven't been any great photo opportunities.