Friday, November 27, 2009

Benefits of Living in Ghana

During this Thanksgiving Time, I think it is important for me to reflect on the benefits, the cons, the positives of being in Ghana rather than in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I miss everyone back at home but since I am here in Ghana, I need to embrace the many blessings that I have here while they last. Here is the best of the best reasons by it is great to live in Ghana! (they aren’t in any order, just whatever pops in my mind)
1. You can get your shoe fixed for one cedi(less than a dollar) and they come to your house to do it!(let me explain, the sole of my show was flapping and when I was running one morning, I heard the shoe repair guy. He carries around his box and hits it to let everyone know that he is there for business. He just walks around the street waiting for a customer. I don’t think he was expecting me as we met at a corner by the house because I was so happy to hear the box. I told him to meet me at my house as I ran ahead to get my shoe. He came inside the gate and I watched as he took care in fixing my shoe for a cedi, don’t worry I gave him a little extra!

2. You don’t have to wear a seatbelt in a taxi(oops shouldn’t have written that!

3. When you are in traffic in a taxi, you never have to complain of hunger because there are always people at your window selling you things

4. You can get chicken and rice on the street for 1.50.

5. People acknowledge you wherever you go as they call out oh brunei(how nice!) (can you hint the sarcasm?)

6. If you were desperate enough, you find someone to marry you in a heartbeat as long as you take them back to the states! Don’t worry, I’m not desperate

7. As soon as you get out of a taxi, you have instant friends wanting to sell you their product or make you a bracelet with your name on it.

8. You find out about a holiday the week of.(We have known for awhile that the Muslims have a holiday on Friday(now today) but the Ghanaian government was not recognizing it as a National Holiday. On Monday afternoon, we got the call from the American Embassy that the Ghanaian government decided to call it as a national holiday! I guess this happens quite often. It messed up some of the school plans as we have our Christmas Musical on Saturday and we were supposed to have rehearsal at the hotel on Friday during the school day. On Monday, we had to switch everything to Wednesday. Crazy but we are surviving so far.

9. You make a family quickly with the other teachers and bond through the ups and downs.

10. Living here makes you appreciate the consistency of electricity and running water.( The morning of Thanksgiving we didn’t have any water so we were afraid we couldn’t have it here but it came back!

So after this list, I am sure you are all dying to get over here! My house is right under where the airplanes land so feel free to parachute off of the plane into my courtyard. The more the merrier. Enjoy the extending weekend!
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