Friday in Ghana

FRIDAY- She awoke at her usual 6:30am. Routine routine. "Mommy take bath", get dressed, brush teeth, take cough medicine, and so forth. She is starting to say "Eat" and "I am huungry". Her large eyes are just adorable as they change expression all the time. Today we pulled out the dress. She put it on so proudly and stood in front of the body size mirror doing a native dance. I had turned on my ipad to find some music and remembered I had the World Cup theme song. As soon as she heard it she started singing along and knew all the words (although it's cute to hear how she pronounces them-I'm sure she doesn't know what they mean). We started talking more with the ladies that do the breakfast cooking and housekeeping. They are so very nice and it's so nice to get a local perspective. We talked alot about American, but also about Ghana. Too much to write but I learned alot. They very much want to come visit. They must have an invitation to do so and I found out that just means a letter to the embassy. I totally will do that for them but I can't imagine how they could ever come up with the money on what they make (approx $100/month for 12 hour days 6 days/week). The cost of living is high as to eat at a place like Southern Fried Chicken (similar to a Kentucky Fried Chicken but a little nicer) would cost them 1/5- 1/4 their monthly salary.
Nearly everyone here speaks English, but their accents can be so heavy it is often difficult for us to understand what they are saying unless you really concentrate. Even newspapers and TV is in English, but then they all also speak their "region" language. There are four regions in Ghana and Emm is from the central. She speaks Twi.
We hung out all morning at the hotel. Coloring, jumping, doing nothing, dancing, singing, whatever....then we decided to venture out to the mall. We didn't know it but it was the wrong time to do so. Friday at 2pm = lots of traffic so a 15 minute ride turned to about a hour. The mall was an adventure. Tons of people around it (some begging everywhere) on one side of the street, but only higher up people actually go into the parking lot and in the building. It was relatively small and each store was very small. The prices were ridiculous (like $18 for a shirt you can buy at walmart for $5) but we had fun eating there. Chicken Abuti (sp?) and rice (again) and then ice cream. We got 5 different flavors but as soon as Emm tried the chocolate she dug for it and demolished it. We saw diversity here as there were people from India, UK and surely a few other countries. The Taxi ride home was once again an adventure in itself. A taxi was blocking one street exit of the mall because he had a cart full of stuff (there is a very small walmart like store attached) and it caused quite a scene. All of the other drivers were so angry, getting out and yelling who knows what. It went on for at least 5-10 minutes and many more drivers would honk and join in. For sure someone would have been shot if this scene was in America!