More of today's photos in slideshow section 2 - click HERE to view.
(back-dated post completed July 19)
We slept until about 9:00 today – we are always so tuckered out here. We went to breakfast, and were disappointed that there were no croissants, none of the yummy little cocoa-filled croissants (a FAVORITE), and God forbid…no Milo! Milo is a popular hot drink – like hot chocolate, but with some malt in it. Yummy! I like to put a bit of Milo powder in my coffee. (Which by the way, is inevitably single-serving instant Nescafé.) Milo is the highlight of the girls’ breakfast. Akos feels the need to put sugar cubes in it, too. Oh well, we’ll cut down on sugar back home. AT the end of breakfast, though, our lovely omelet chef brought out a can of Milo! Hooray!!!
I went to the office with the girls, where they happily watched movies on their respective electronic devices. Akos LOVES to watch AFV’s Animal Extravaganza – over, and over, and over, and over… I finally started catching up on my blog. I did at least a month’s worth of posts this morning (had typed the text beforehand in Word, and selected and compressed the photos, which made it much easier.)
After that, Lydia was ready to go to the pool, but Akos refused to go. By 2 pm, I finally drew the line and said we needed to give Lydia a chance to do what she wants to do also. She threw a tantrum then refused to speak the rest of the afternoon. Fortunately for Lydia, Jaida came by the pool. She is such a darling little firecracker! She is staying with her Nana (grandmother) for a whole year in Kumasi! (She is from Atlanta.) Nana asked me a favor – asked if I would watch Jaida in the pool so she could play with Lydia. Nana has 23 sorority women here on a service project to build a well and bring books and other supplies to schoolchildren. She is very stressed with managing all that and trying to entertain
Jaida, too. We were MORE than happy to oblige. The two girls frolicked in the pool until after 5:00. Nana came and talked with us for a while – she is from Chattanooga – and has been back and forth to Ghana for decades (one of children was born here.) She returned for good a year ago. I asked her if her ancestry was Ghanaian – she answered, “Well, that’s a long story, but here, I’m a queen mother. I have 2000 people to look after. That’s what I do now.” Holy Cow! I’m dying to know how a woman from Chattanooga becomes a queen mother of Kumasi! I got my picture taken with her, and we had a group photo, too. She would like to keep in contact with us, and wants to see how Akos is doing as she adjusts to American life. She kindly offered to help us in any way – for ourselves, Akos’ birth family, or anything, saying, “I can go anywhere in this country.” What a wonderful, warm woman. And she called me “my sister.” I was quite honored, to say the least! Can’t wait to hear her stories – I’m sure she has plenty!After the pool, we went back to the room to change for dinner. Once we got to the room, Akos warmed up to us again, played a little with Lydia, dressed in a lovely lilac-colored dress, and was happy to go to dinner. She had rice and sausage (hot dogs) and ate both of the “sausages” with no prodding! Yay! She ate some of the rice, but the serving was huge, so I can’t blame her – I could never have finished all that, either. Lydia had egg and cheese sandwiches – two of them to a serving, and ate every bite. I had Brain Teaser, which is Fanti Kenkey (sort of firm doughy stuff, said to be sweet, but it tasted tart to me – almost citrusy), with grilled snapper with Ghanaian salsa and pepper sauce. I again asked for NO head on the fish. It was really yummy! The kenkey wasn’t my thing, but I ate about half of it anyway. The salsa was spicy but good. I tried a taste of the pepper sauce (which I had requested mild) – it tasted good – kind of sweet and mild, like Gourmet Café’s salsa fresca back home. That lasted about 12 seconds…then the fiery spices hit me full on! OMG – I had to down some water quick, and took some of Lydia’s French fries to try to ease the burn as well. Holy Cow – that was hot, hot, hot! After the girls ate so well, I decided to treat them to dessert - ice cream and "pancakes" (crêpes) - Yum!
Went to check my e-mail at the conference center – slightly closer than the main office. The girls were tired – Lydia was about to go to sleep on the floor. So, we came home around 9 pm, and are ready for sleep.
Goodnight!
Jeanie
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