Week of February 28

Well this week I am happy to report for the first time in 4 weeks, we had minimal car problems. (just a fan wire broke and the fuel tank leaked) Also, we have a new more reliable driver who brings in 20 cedi on regular days and 25 cedi on Monday & Friday because those are Market days. Paul too has been driving it at nights and has been bringing in actually really good money. After much "marketing" as Paul would call it haha which really is just bargaining over the prices with tons of different buyers, we found a man who is going to buy it. We just have to get the car ownership papers from the guy that we bought the car from in Accra, and then the man will give us our money and we will be free of this car :) I am actually getting a little less hostile towards the Blinksta. I have actually learned a lot about owning a taxi in Ghana:
1) In Ghana, when passing a car on the road, taxis say hi to eachother. If it is day time they honk like 5 times. If it is night time, they flash their brights and then if they are feeling really friendly (haha Paul always) then they will also honk along with the lights. It's quite exciting haha.
2) In Ghana, no one fills their own gas well they actually use petroleum. So the man who fills up the pump is totally in charge. There is a switch on the fuel gage that stops the fuel from going in and just puts in nothing but it is still charging at the same time. So the pump man will press the switch, rack up the price and then pocket the money that was not used for fuel and no one will know the difference. That's why instead of telling them the amount of money you want of fuel, you always have to say the amount of gallons.
3) There are massive holes in the roads here so as you are driving there will be Many times where a car will be in the wrong lane, headed straight for you trying to avoid the enormous pot holes and will swerve at the last second to miss you.
4) Or boys from the villages will decide to make some money and will put some dirt into the holes. They then will pull a string across the road to make sure that cars stop and throw coins out the window before passing by.
5)I don't know if they do this in the US but here, the cars need water so every half hour, we always have to stop, get water and pour it into the Blinksta like we are feeding him.
6)If Paul takes half as good care with our children as he does with our care, we will have the most well kept, clean, orderly children Ever haha!
Also this week I went to Happy Kids Orphanage which is in area of the Hohoe district called Wegbe. There are 20 kids that live in the home permanently and then 60 kids that come from town to school. I taught the Nursery class and there were like 30 3-5 year old children. They truly are absolutely beautiful though and sang and danced the morning away, it was adorable. At times, as they danced, someone would get hit or walked on so there would be crying and I would just get to pick them up and hold them. Unfortunately, one of the little girls that I chose to hold had wet her pants so that was an unpleasant surprise. The book selection for kids isn't the greatest, but I was able to read them 4 books including Berenstein Bears, and a Disney ABC book (which they have No idea what Disney is) but they'd repeat after me, "A is for Ariel" haha and it was pretty cute.
Also, on Friday Paul's parents had us go see a man that they call the "prophet." It was like a 4 hour drive and when we got there, the "prophet" was a bigger man wearing a New York Yankees baseball jersey. He said a prayer for us though which was actually really nice minus the cursing away of evil spirits that were coming for me and Paul haha. Luckily though we had missed the Prayer day (which was the day before) where tons of people apparently come to gather and yell, sing and pray. The prophet then rebukes from them all the demons or devils that are inside them because of the witches and wizards that have used black magic or juju against them. However, there was still one man left from the day before in the dirt, chained to a tree because his demons were stubborn and wouldn't leave him. The prophet said that he would be chained for up to 3 weeks. It was quite an experience as is most of my time in Ghana but I truly am enjoying every minute to the fullest.
Yesterday Paul and I had a resting day and enjoyed in immensely; eating fresh cut fruit, hanging up pictures in our room, putting up the one mirror in the whole house, watching Casino Royale and playing Kings in the Corner. (a card game) We've now hit our One Month Anniversary and I can definitely say I've never been happier!