Ice Cold Lemonade on a Steamy January Day

>I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about our new home and how we're settling in.

I was just telling my parents how I felt like a hermit- I didn't want to talk to anyone but Mus, or do anything- I wasn't even that interested in posting in my blog. I just wanted to read and talk to Mus and sleep- my God, did I sleep.

Two days after telling my parents this, it was New Year's Day and BAM! It was like I was back from the dead. I started hanging out with the family we live with, started cleaning and doing laundry and making jewelry and taking pictures. I had been hoping I would snap out of this coma when the time was right, and it seems I did. I've had enough rest (although I'm still sleeping plenty) and I'm ready to rejoin the world.

Our new “apartment” is inside of a large and fancy house on the edge of Obo, in a neighborhood of up and coming fancy houses. Most of these houses are built by wealthy people whose families are originally from Obo but now live in Accra, and they use the house in Obo as a family vacation home. Some people come every few weeks for a weekend- others only come for major funerals and Easter, since this area has the largest Easter festival in Ghana. Our landlord seems to come every few weeks. We are paying rent for the place, which includes a private bedroom and bathroom, and shared living room, kitchen, etc. It costs us $300 for the 4 months I'm here, plus utilities, which is not super cheap by Ghanaian standards, but we felt it was worth it for us. We think we might talk about extending things so we can keep the place for next year- which means that the price per month will be less. Landlords don't like finding new tenants, so if you sign on for a long time, they give you a better deal.

While the landlord doesn't live here all the time, there's a family of caretakers who do live with us full-time. The family consists of the man, his wife, and an amount of children that is yet unknown to us. They are from the North, originally, but they've been living among Akans for awhile and speak Twi fluently.

Some pluses of the new place:

• We pay rent. This gives us more freedom- we can do our own thing and don't have to worry about being gracious house guests. Plus, we are guaranteed our room- we've already paid, so things can't shift on us.

• The family is fun. They are friendly and chatty and helpful. Mus and I have been hanging out with the two of the adolescent girls, Wasila and Nasia. They're very sweet- they come over and watch Home Alone, or watch Mus and tease him while he cooks (they think his cooking is odd because he cooks me obruni food a lot). Wasila often does household chores for us on the sly, like washing our clothes we've left outside to soak or doing our dishes. I also like the youngest kid, Yusif, who's five years old. He struts around and orders people around like he's a big man, and I think it's hilarious.

• The woman in the family cooks food to sell by the roadside. This is a MAJOR, unforeseen plus. Not only can we buy yummy things like roasted peanuts and donuts from her, but they are fresh and very reasonably priced and conveniently located right in our kitchen. Plus, we can buy some fresh ingredients off of her- she mills this flour out of beans that Mus and I are obsessed with, plus she said she would make us some unfermented corn dough (which you can't buy on the market) so we can try making corn tortillas. It's a win-win situation; she gets to sell some of her food before she even leaves the house, and we get cheap, fresh food and ingredients without paying taxi fare to go to the market.

• The family is generous. They let us use their dishes, their buckets, their brooms... All those little things that one would need to buy to start their own household, but seemed like a waste for us to invest in right now. Plus, we have a nice food exchange going. We dash them some snacks or sandwiches when we cook, and they do the same.

• The room is big and bright, with tiled floors and a strong ceiling fan and consistently running water (at least so far). It's spacious, and even has wardrobes for us to store things in. No passages to Narnia have been located as of this time.

• The kitchen is very nice. Tiled and easy to clean, with a gas stove and oven. The family doesn't use it much- they tend to cook outside.

• The woman does a lot of cooking over a campfire in the front yard, which smells nice and leaves my clothes often smelling like campfire smoke. Natural insect repellent, man.

• The grounds are covered in fruit trees- so happy! We have coconut trees, papaya trees, an avocado tree, and lemon trees. Man, the lemon trees are laden with fruit. We've been using fresh-picked lemons for cooking, drinking, and household cleaning like you wouldn't believe. It's been so nice.

• Our front balcony is a bird-watching haven in the morning. A flock of little songbirds the size of house wrens roost in the skinny little tree right in front of our porch, so if you're up early, you can watch them take off in the morning. We've also seen several species of brightly colored songbirds, hawks, and something akin to the toucan while sitting out there, enjoying our breakfast.

A few downsides:

• We pay rent. Less money for travelling.

• Poultry. They raise chickens and turkeys. So far they haven't been too crazy- they don't sleep under our window and crow all night or anything. But the rooster has it in for me- he makes aggressive gestures whenever I'm within 10 feet of him. I keep an eye on him and I'm ready to punt the poultry, if he comes at me.

• Small windows. This is my pet peeve about a lot of fancy houses I've seen. They often put in tiny little fancy reflective glass windows, which is great if they have AC- but often they don't. If you don't have AC, it doesn't matter if your windows are reflective- your windows will stay open all the time anyway to try and catch every scrap of breeze possible. Even in Obo's cooler climate you need the open windows. It also bugs me that a lot of these houses fancy don't install window screens. Mus and I fitted the windows with screens right away.

• We are on the first floor. The house is built on a hill, so while we're on the second floor in the front, we're on the ground floor in the backyard, where all the cooking happens. I wish there was a higher floor we could be on- higher floors give more privacy, more breeze, and more space between us and the poultry.

As you can see, though, the upsides definitely outweigh the downsides, and we are very much enjoying the house. Check out the lovely pics of our new digs.

This is the TV room for the caretaker's family

Sunset over Obo, as seen from our balcony

TV Room from the outside

Morning fog rolling in on the neighborhood, as taken from our balconey

Morning clouds settle on the hills of Obo

House from the front, with balcony atop pile of vines.

Our quiet little street

Walkway to the street from house

My Christmas bubu in front of the city lights at night. Taken on balcony by Mus.

Mus chilling with iPod on balcony.

Living Room

Yard

Kitchen

Canine version of Kimmy Gibbler. Next door neighbor's dog (of unknown name) who's allergic to humans and frequently sneezes on their feet. Enjoys food, sleeping by fire, and playing soccer with kids.

Dining Room

Me showing off my new attire in living room. Again, photos courtesy of Mus.

Looking from the house at the backyard. The building is the boy's quarters, a separate building with a couple of bedrooms and a bath. We live in the main house.

Back of the house.