Funerals and Festivities

Check out some pics of my early months here in Ghana

Photos of the Family Trip

Western Region

On the Road Again...

Mole

Kumasi & Obo

Butterflies, Birthdays, and Boiled Dinner...

Obo has erupted in butterflies. For two days, butterflies have been flying en masse across our yard. I've counted at least 5 different types, but honestly, they zoom by so fast it's hard to tell sometimes.

I've never seen anything like it. And thankfully, they don't come in a swarming cloud like a plague of locusts. They sort of trickle by, on average spaced between two and three feet apart, although there is the occasional high density burst. They seem to be catching a strong stream of air blowing across our yard and using it to carry them... somewhere. I don't really know where they're headed. But it's kind of magical.

Of course, as expected the predators are about and even more excited than I am. The swallows are circling our yard and we have a higher number of dragonflies than usual.

In other news, we've been celebrating around here. Of course, my birthday was a few days ago, and festivities included a movie marathon, all my favorite foods, and a dance party in the rain! All in all, a pretty great day. And Mus had a gorgeous silver bracelet made specially for me. And then St. Patty's Day brought about corned beef and cabbage for dinner, although we abstained from any green beer.

For those of you who don't know, I'm arriving in Wisconsin on April 9th. Call me!

And some birthday photos for your viewing pleasure...

When my brother Adam spent his birthday in Ghana a few weeks ago, he was "ponded" or had water dumped on him. A birthday tradition I have experienced in the past here in Ghana. But I think this year I was excused from it, after dancing in the rain.

I'm about to open my present!

I Can Be Your Man...

Today on the way to the cafe, May and I climbed into a taxi that was veritably thumping with a popular local R&B hit. The song was playing, on repeat, right at the threshold of decibels where it doesn't physically hurt yet, but you still have the impulse to cover your ears anyway. And the driver, a young 20-something, was jamming out, singing along, even practicing the hand motions from the music video. The ultra-cheesy lyrics that went something like this:

“I promise on my honor,
to stay by your side.
I'm gonna tell your mama,
that's you'll be my wife.
'Cuz I can be your man,
and you can be my girl.”

And he performed this entire act in a taxi full of four 20-something females.

Now this isn't a terrible song by any means- it's probably higher on my list than any standard Backstreet Boys song- but it's not awesome music. But after listening to it at four times, at that volume, it sunk considerably lower on the list.

Finally, the driver switched the song and I breathed a sigh of relief. Except the new song was this extremely overplayed local song about a prostitute. If you are ever in a bar when this song plays, you will find everyone yells out the word prostitute in a local language whenever the word comes up in the song- I can only liken it to how people tend to break out into spastic arm movements when YMCA is on. May and I actually winced when this song came on.

As for bad news here, it seems the entire country of Ghana is, for all intents and purposes, out of both kerosene and LP gas. We've checked in various cities- no one has any available for purchase. So cooking is now a bit of a challenge, and charcoal grilling is now our only method of food preparation. Lucky for me I have May and mus to brave the charcoal flames and feed me- otherwise, I'd be on a strictly raw food diet.

Lastly,

Check out these photos taken when May and Mus and I went to the zoo in Kumasi...