Sorry for the previous cut-short posting. We haven’t had too much time to spend online. On Sunday we took a trotro (minibus) to Accra to attend a church there with some friends from Cairo. We had a wonderful time meeting up with them and spent some time at their house after church which was so relaxing. They are here with the US embassy so they get a shipment of American food and American tv programs so John was thrilled that we can watch American football at their house.

Accra is so different than anywhere I have ever been. There are no tall buildings anywhere, no western chains that you expect to see in every country (not that that’s a bad thing, just surprising). You won’t find a recognizable restaurant or store here at all. It doesn’t really feel like a big city. That afternoon we went to the football match at the national stadium. Ghana beat Sudan and was the first African nation to qualify for the World Cup! It was a really fun experience. We got tickets for just a few dollars and saw more Obruni (white people) than we had seen since we arrived.

Monday was a hilarious experience because it was supposed to be the first day of school for the kids. They were so excited they woke up at 2am, I kid you not, they were dressed in their uniforms and had their backpacks on – they were so wound up! The bus was supposed to pick them up at 6:30am but after sitting outside for an hour, waiting (not to mention the 4 other hours they had been up) we called the school to find out it started on Tuesday (though they told us last week that it started Monday.) So we were very thankful when the bus arrived Tuesday morning (and the kids had followed strict orders to stay in bed until 4:30am).

We’ve been having a bit of difficulty dealing with the food here. They cook everything in tons of palm oil and they don’t eat too much fresh produce, which we really miss. We’ve been doing some cooking for ourselves, though we have a cook here too. The food prices are ridiculous because most things have to be imported, so it’s hard to figure out what is affordable and still have a healthy diet. Last night we broke down and went out to a Chinese restaurant. It was pretty standard price for a dinner in the States and the food was so good. There are a lot of Chinese here and it is probably the easiest ethnic food to find.

We’re finding more and more to do here, the possibilities seem endless. There is a lot of potential in the work, but the issues are so complex and cultural that it can be very overwhelming. For now we’re taking it a day at a time and working through things as they present themselves. There is so much to learn it’s hard to know where to begin!