Today was a bit of a slow day for everyone. The Global Mamas volunteers have meetings at the house on Tuesday mornings, and many of them opted to work from home afterward. My only obligation on Tuesdays and Thursdays is a 30-minute meeting with the teachers, and so I was back home by 12. It was a hot, muggy day. The kind perfect for lounging. And that’s pretty much what I did.
The meeting with the teachers went relatively well. One of the teachers’ sons was not feeling well, so he had to come to school with her today rather than go to his school. He made the meeting interesting, as he was crying and climbing on her as I was trying to ask her to demonstrate a song that she began to teach me yesterday. Although it was not the most productive meeting, I did get to learn a little bit more about each teacher, and was surprised and impressed to find that each of them earned their first college degree only AFTER having kids and getting married. Even now, Mary is working on another degree and has to travel to Winneba (over an hour from Cape Coast) occasionally to meet with her advisor.
One of the other volunteers at the school is leaving this week, and so she invited me over to dinner at her host family’s house. Unfortunately, she forgot that she was actually supposed to go to dinner with her NGO tonight, and it was too late for me to sign up for Eli’s tonight, so after leaving the school, I picked up some groceries for dinner. Although I really love cooking, and am used to making every meal from scratch, it is difficult to cook here. The main reason is because the water is not quite safe to drink. We use it to brush our teeth and shower, but that’s about the extent of it. Also, I’m never really sure what might be climbing all over the fruits and vegetables that I do buy. As a result, we have to be pretty careful when preparing ingredients. In addition, I have had a hard time finding many of the staples that I’m used to cooking with – tofu, green leafy vegetables, and vegetable broth to name a few. I did manage to throw together a pretty decent dinner: spaghetti with tomato paste sauce and black-eyed peas. I wouldn’t make it in the states, but it got the job done. I will be glad to return to Eli’s culinary arms tomorrow evening, though.
Unfortunately, my electronic luck ran out today. My faithful laptop charger bit the dust. I was afraid she might blow, and today, she did. Before leaving the US, we looked at the charger, and saw that it could handle the voltage here, but not much higher than that. Evidenced by the recent power outages we’ve been experiencing, electricity here is not quite as regulated as in the US. There have been instances where our fan will slow down nearly to the point of turning off, only to go back to full speed in a matter of seconds. I did bring a power converter with me, but my three-pronged charger would not fit into the two-pronged receiver. So, moral of the story, RIP laptop charger. We had four good years together. For the time being, I am borrowing the charger of another Mac user in the house, but will be on the lookout for computer stores in Cape Coast tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. I’m not entirely convinced I’ll have any luck, but it’s worth a shot.
It’s back to music tomorrow at the Aboom School, so I will spend the evening planning for that. Thursday is another training session, and I am still trying to map out just what those will look like. I’m not sure if it’s the hot weather or bread centered diet that’s making me so sleepy, but I might join some of the other girls on their morning run tomorrow to see if I can remedy that.
Usually not a fan of country music, I hate to admit how much I am loving a certain Kenny Chesney song these days. Okay, so it’s not reeeallly country, because he sings it with Dave Matthews. Anyway, the song is called, “I’m Alive,” and if you have iTunes, or even YouTube, it’s worth a listen. I have found that listening to it here in Ghana has really kept me grounded in the moment. There are so many new things going on – the chaos of Cape Coast, good days and bad days at the school, breathtaking ocean views and walking on canopy bridges at 6 in the morning. Although a slow, deep breath always does the trick, I can’t help but hear the chorus ringing in my head, “Now I’m alive and well/And today you know that’s good enough for me/Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see/Today’s the first day of the rest of my life/And I’m alive and well.”
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