You Know You're in Ghana When....

This weekend was a really good weekend! On Saturday, we went outside Koforidua (which is about 2 hours away) and went down to some twin waterfalls. It was absolutely beautiful, and very peaceful. And I feel the need to mention it was also much cooler at the waterfall, and that is always a treat :) but then we went on a 2 ½ hour hike through the rainforest and hiked up to this big boulder on a mountain that overlooked the valley. It was so green! At first all the green made me think about New York, but then you see all the African trees and that image is gone! Watch Lion King and you’ll know what Africa trees I’m talking about. Haha. It was quite a breath-taking view. I took pictures, but it just doesn’t do it justice. I guess you are all going to have to go to Koforidua and see it for yourself :) don’t worry, it
will be worth it.

This week was our last Sunday in the Abomosu branch. I’m not sure I can go back to a ward where they don’t say “good morning” back to the speaker or speak in two different languages or have conversations from the pulpit. American wards are so boring haha. Did I mention that we were singing in church? Alison and I rearranged a version of How Great Thou Art, taught it to a couple other girls and then sang it in
sacrament meeting. It turned out really well!! I switched the words in one of my solos, but no one noticed but me and everyone really like our arrangement. It was pretty funny because afterwards the district president stood up and from the pulpit asked me if it was true that we had arranged the song and when I said yes, he made me stand up and said “this girl knows all!” haha. He’s a good guy. But now he’s recruited us to sing it again this Wednesday night when our housekeeper, Gloria, is getting baptized. I’m excited for that baptism!

I can’t believe that we are leaving this week. It’s hard to believe that it has been a month, it’s gone by so fast! And since I report to the MTC in less than a month, I can’t decide if it’s a good or bad thing that time is going so fast. I’ve had such an amazing experience, and I wouldn’t change a thing. To sum up my trip, I thought I would send you a list of things I’ve learned from Ghana. Lindsay and I came
up with this list. Hope you like it!

You know you are in Ghana when….
1. You can buy tampons out your car window
2. You’re grateful to have water AND electricity!
3. You have an IV bag hung on your bedpost by a headband (side story: remember how Alison had malaria? Well she got even more sick with some other bug and she was so dehydrated that she needed IV fluids. When we came home from clinic one day, this is how we found her!)
4. Driving off the road is smoother than driving on it.
5. You answer to “obruni” before you answer to your own name.
6. Sweat, bug spray, and sun screen have become your new perfume
7. Mosquitos, millipedes, giant spiders, wiggly butt bugs and lizards become your roommates
8. You play cards for 4 hours and still haven’t repeated a game.
9. Five marriage proposals and 8 “I love you’s” from random strangers becomes a daily ritual
10. You learn roosters DON’T just crow when the sun rises (which is wayyy annoying)
11. You appreciate not having warm water
12. Small children run around carrying machetes on their heads
13. You have to iron your socks and underwear, electricity permitting (this is to kill the bugs that are in your clothes before they burrow in your skin)
14. Chicken, cabbage, bread, and fruit becomes the new food pyramid
15. You have to suck water out of a bag
16. Pineapple Fanta and Fan Ice are the most coveted items
17. Natives tell you not to chew, just swallow your food.
18. A woman can climb into a leaking canoe with a baby on her back and a tree on her head
19. Tires and branches act as traffic cones
20. Driving on your side of the road is optional
21. The first thing people want to know about you is what day of the week you were born
22. Every question you ask a native is answered with a “yes”
23. A street vendor running along a car gives a whole new meaning to fast food.

Maybe that list is only funny if you lived through it all haha.
Anyway, I'm off to the Abu's to have fufu for dinner! Love you all so much and see you in a week! (some of you...)