more "everyday" events...

"Traveling makes one modest--you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." (Flaubert)

This quote came up in the book I've been reading since I arrived in Ghana: Dark Star Safari, by Paul Thoreaux. He is a travel writer, and this book describes a trip in which he starts in Cairo and travels all the way to South Africa. It's been really interesting for me to read while living in Africa, because even though he doesn't go through West Africa where I am, a lot of the culture is similar.

Last week I was babysitting the kids one night, and they were just staring at the TV. I thought, enough of this, let's get their brains working. So I brought out a deck of cards, with the intention of teaching them how to play Go Fish. To begin, I shuffled the cards...and then we never got past that point! They were fascinated with the shuffling, so we spent the next hour just shuffling cards :).

I am growing really attached to my family here. I've been living with them for about one month now. My host mom has a really good sense of humor, and likes to laugh. Sometimes she will start telling me a story, and will start laughing so hard that she can hardly get the story out. And, of course, it's that contagious kind of laughter, so I always find myself laughing along with her.

I haven't described my room here--I have a room to myself, which is usually the kids' room. It's pretty nice--there are a lot of windows, so I get a little bit of breeze, but it's still pretty hot in there. I sleep the way Ghanaian women sleep, with just an African cloth covering me rather than a whole sheet.

I've also been dressing more nicely here than I ever do in the states. Each day I wear a skirt and blouse, and I still sometimes feel like I'm a bit too casual. But, yesterday while at the Batik-making place, I picked out two African cloths, so I'm going to have some outfits made.

Usually to buy cloth you go to the market--which is, I think, the most interesting place you can go in and around Accra. The market is absolutely filled with activity, and people, and smells, and you have to be able to bargain...but you can get things much cheaper there than anywhere else. Next week I'm planning on going to buy some Nigerian lace (another beautiful type of cloth you see a lot here). I'm getting much better with the bargaining, thanks to the Twi classes...speaking Twi has also allowed me to have some really interesting conversations with some of the market women.

Anyway, I think the only other piece of interesting news is that I bought an African flute, and I'm going to start taking lessons next week...finally I will have a musical outlet! (I really miss my violin, and my iPod :) )