I didn't want them to feel burdened like they had to make a fuss so I didn't let them know it was my birthday, but I did bring a little cake to share from the local supermarket here in Accra. The cake survived the trip well, but it was quite stale (not surprising). Tasted alright though. I bought chocolate and vanilla and I ended up trying a small slice of both. They had nice chocolate shavings on them when I picked them up from the bakery counter, but the cashier decided to turn the cake upside down in the container in order to scan it at check out so as to avoid the burdensome task of having to lift the scanner up from its dock... so the shavings all fell off and had to be re-placed upon arrival ;)
But the highlight of my birthday evening was definitely the spontaneous decision by my hosts to make up a huge batch of homemade old fashioned buttered popcorn on the stove that evening to enjoy around a game of skip-bo. Good times all around :)
Joseph also treated me to roasted corn and roasted plantain (thought I'd had plantain in every possible form, but forgot that I had not tried it roasted until that day!)
It was neat! The sugaryness (sp?) of the plantain made that blackened part taste just like the outside of a roasted marshmallow and then the inside was warm like... well, warm bananas. It was like having a banana flavoured roasted marshmallow. Can't get better than that.
Oh, Denise and Mom, I wanted to show you a picture of how the purses are carried sometimes here because you were interested :) This lady took the same bus as I did to Kumasi on Thursday:
Here is a picture of my little bus mate eating her rice and peppe (pepper, sometimes in sauce form ;) out of a plastic bag. There is very little here that can't be eaten or drunk by biting a hole out of the corner of a plastic bag
While I was up in Kumasi, the local church that my missionary friends work at was going to have their annual Sunday School trip for the children in the neighbourhood who had managed to memorize chapter 12 of the book of Romans over the last couple months. A few years ago I memorized a chapter in Romans (not chapter 12 mind you...) so they had mercy on me and let me come along :) We went to Lake Bosomtwe which is a beautiful huge lake to the southeast of Kumasi. I didn't get up the nerve to swim in the lake because of bilhazaria (sp?)... but the beach and lunch was fantastic and I had fun hanging out with my new 2 year old friend, Divina (see below)
This is the entire Sunday School class. Doris, see what I was saying about how with my skin tone I'll absolutely never be mistaken for a Ghanaian? :P Actually, I have seen about 3 other Ghanians in my travels who have the same skin tone as me, but they are very few and far between! I am often called Obruni (white man) when out and about, mostly when I am also wearing my glasses...
Serving lunch (friend chicken and rice -- a Ghanaian staple)
Denise, don't look at the next photo. You will regret it.
A dying millipede at the picnic. The poor thing was stepped on and sorely abused by several children going to and from the lunch. But it took a lickin and kept on tickin surprisingly enough (even after its back half was almost totally severed as seen in this photo...)
Lake Bosomtwe is near some mountains in Ghana.
This is me and Miss Divina.
Little Miss Divina could use your prayers. She has a developmental delay such that she is still not crawling, walking or talking. She was also very sick when I was up there to visit. She had to be admitted into hospital the Sunday of that weekend and put on an IV. But I hear that she is doing better now.
As I mentioned above, the kids who come to the Sunday School at the Believers Bible Assembly in Kumasi do a bible memorization challenge every year and they get money for their school fees as a reward (in addition to the trip to the lake). Last year they were memorizing Psalms and this year they were working on Romans. Each chapter had a money value attached to it and on Sunday while I was there they presented each participant with their reward. These kids in the following photos got a huge bonus because they had memorized the entire book of Romans during the challenge. (Last year some of the kids managed to memorize the entire book of Psalms! I couldn't believe it).
Another highlight of my trip to Kumasi was getting to taste Banku and fish for the first time. I quiet enjoyed it! Banku is essentially a ball of fermented corn dough. One is apparently supposed to take a hunk of it and some of the soup with the fingers and swallow it whole (no chewing!) Good times.
Emma and Jesse were having their supper at the same time.... though poor Emma kept falling asleep while trying to eat. Happens to her more often than not apparently...
On my way home from Kumasi I rode in what is known simply as a "ford" here (it can sometimes actually be a Ford or not, but its basically a step up from a trotro and travels faster than the bus). We had a traveling preacher on the bus giving a sermon for the first half hour (he got off the ford once we reached the edge of town). I tried to snap a surreptitious shot of him, but you can't really see him with his Bible standing behind the guy sitting beside me:
When I got home from Kumasi on Monday my landlady was having Fufu for lunch which she shared with me so I got to try that too (the other staple dough-type food here but much more labour intensive. I am told it is basically cassava and yam pounded (quite literally) together with a huge mortar and then cooked. Also put in a soup to generally be eaten with the hands. I think I prefer fufu to banku, but enjoyed them both!
the weather has been FABULOUS here and I'm really enjoying it. Tolerably warm in the daytime, nice and cool at night. I'm really going to miss it. Though the Ghanians seem to be feeling the chill more than me ;) I see many of them, like Mrs. Baisie, wearing sweaters and coats (it can't be any cooler than 22 Celcius at any given point here...)
That's my update for now!
