Back to "Normal Life"

Ok, Again, Sorry for the delay… I guess that’s just a part of life here. Our phone lines are iffy at the best of times…

Let’s see, what can I tell you today?
Well, I moved this weekend! I’m now living about a 15 min walk from the SIL center in a funny little compound (you have to go outside to reach the kitchen) with Barb. So far, so good! Although today I realized that maybe I had it better living at the centre… school was finished early, but I wasn’t ready to go home and sit and do nothing. At the centre there’s always people around to visit with, or I could retreat to my room for a few hours then pep out and see if there was anything interesting going on… Now if I leave the centre and then return, people ask me if I’ve forgotten something. :S
Not so sure about this set-up but the company IS comfortable, and it’s nice to have the excuse to leave the bubble.

ok, some stories from Ghana…

Does anyone other than my sister and I watch Lonely planet? (great show!) I think it’s called Pilot Guides now, and both Bethy-B and myself (at one time or another) have set our hearts on marrying one of the hosts- Ian. ANYWAY
I saw one episode about Ghana during my “all I want to do in this world is go to Ghana” stage (unfortunately, NOT hosted by Ian) and in it they were looking at some crazy coffins that were being made at the coast. So, I’m on my way to a funeral with my host family (yes, another interesting cultural experience, another story another day) and I’m just about to open my mouth to ask “hey, where about’s would I see some of those interesting coffins?” and instead I squawk… (Like in Haroun and the Sea of Stories, when Rashid finds he can tell stories anymore) “awk” Says I. Because as my mouth is trying to form the aforementioned question, we drive past what looks like a carousel animal warehouse … but the sign reads “quality resting places, woodworkers, coffin makers”. (or something along that line… I was so surprised I couldn’t quite make out the words)
Yeah, no joke, these are coffins made to represent the life of the dead person in them. A few days later I went to one of the carpenter’s shops to see them being made. It was really neat, so much work… just for something that was going to be buried! If you were a farmer, you could be buried in an ear of corn, an onion, okra, tomato A CHICKEN!!!…. You own taxis? Choose to be buried in a car… A king/prince… a lion coffin… a carpenter? A wood planer. A pilot? an airplane. An animist Priest? A cobra…. fisherman? A fish, lobster or crab. There were coke bottles, beer bottles, a turkey, a red pepper… I saw SO many different types, but my favourite had to be the Nokia Phone, when you opened it up, it had stitched into the lining “check your messages”. In the workshop they were busy working on one that was a castle…. so much work! They were hand carving the brick detail into the walls!

Ghana had this one really neat thing that I think I might start up when I get back to Canada… So, in Canada, we go window shopping. We go from store to store, just looking to see if we are interested in what they have… sometimes, we really just look in the window… When you are sitting in traffic in Accra, shopping comes to your window! People spend a lot of their time in traffic…. I think I spent about 16 hours of my two weeks sitting in traffic. That would be a fairly conservative number. While you are stuck in place, there are people weaving in and out of the cars, selling everything from gum to toilet paper! You can buy freshly roasted plantain/plantain chips or shish kabobs, a new antenna for your vehicle, a calculator or a puppy/kitten. (My hosts informed me that cat tastes a lot like goat). It’s all very handy!
School is going well, I’m feeling a little more like a teacher… slightly more organized, although life is a little chaotic with four extra families on centre (not many of the kids WANT to concentrate!)
Pray for the many activities happening this month on centre, there’s a bunch of big meetings and conferences/training and consulting stuff going on, many people are coming and going, pray for safety and that much would be accomplished!
PRAISE GOD!!!! The Crocker family (the family that I often go to village church with) is safely back in Togo! They were in The Ivory Coast for training all this month, but were evacuated on Thursday. They had to spend the last week or two staying in their compound due to the situation… no one was allowed to go out. They were airlifted out (with a 10 minute warning) by the German air force. The kids were pretty happy because they didn’t have time to pack their school books… unfortunately for them, the next group of people to be airlifted out had time to pack their books for them… So they are safe and sound and going through some debriefing stuff along with others who were evacuated….
Pray for safety for those who may still be there…. and that the situation would die down soon.
Praise God I’ve finally gotten my Togo Visa… I guess I’ll be allowed to leave the country. It is a two year visa… The Friesen’s are really hoping that I’ll come back (no longer are they using subtle hints)
Pray that God would lead in this area, and that they would be able to find a teacher sometime soon…
ok, enough.
love you miss you, email me!
ladylesley@hotmail.com