How is shopping done? Is that daily? Truth to tell, I’ve not really been involved in any shopping yet. Pastor Tirumbu does have a relative with a small supermarket in town, and once we stopped there for eggs. They were out of eggs; but we waited while an employee headed across the street to the open-air market and returned ten minutes later with several dozen eggs. I know that there is a meat market where fish and beef (and occasionally poultry) are procured, and every few days I see a new bunch of plantains appear on the back porch, which I assume were purchased from the market along with the other fresh fruits and vegetables we consume. The canned things would all come from the afore-mentioned supermarket. If I ever find out more about the shopping here, I’ll let you all know.
Are your meals the same each day? Each supper tends to be different from the one eaten the night before, although they rotate between a few basic dishes. There’s always a starch – yam, plantain, rice, maize (which is served in a fermented, gelatinous form, a description which makes you think the stuff will be horrid, but which sets your expectations so low that when you try it, it’s surprisingly palatable) – with a tomato-based sauce and a protein – usually fish, sometimes beef or poultry, occasionally egg. God is very good in allowing me to take pleasure in what I’m eating. No one’s served me grubs, snake, monkey, etc., as was the case in one missionary story I read before coming to Ghana. =D
Do people in Ghana like your hair? OK, so nobody asked me this question; but I made it up because it will have an interesting answer. The surprising reply is: Yes!! I have always thought Africans’ hair has a fun texture – haven’t you? Imagine my astonishment to discover that they think the same thing of ours! After church on Sunday, I was surrounded by little children, and reached out to brush down a shock of hair that was standing upright on a little girl’s head. Immediately a number of them motioned that they wanted me to rub their heads too; and when I’d rubbed a few, and then asked them whether they wanted to touch my hair – well, suffice to say that that was the right question to ask them, and little hands were all over my head in an instant. “Will you cut me a piece of your hair?” several little voices asked. And the children are not the only ones fascinated. My mom was with me when we were visiting a village, and an interpreter asked me to bow my head to one man. I did so, wondering why, as he was not the chief. “He likes your hair,” the interpreter explained as we passed on. Another day, several women surrounded me, chattering in their own tongue and fingering my hair. I’m sure they’d love yours too – just come for a visit. =) These friendly people make me very thankful that God’s given me tough hair that can withstand an onslaught of grasping and pulling. =)
Are your meals the same each day? Each supper tends to be different from the one eaten the night before, although they rotate between a few basic dishes. There’s always a starch – yam, plantain, rice, maize (which is served in a fermented, gelatinous form, a description which makes you think the stuff will be horrid, but which sets your expectations so low that when you try it, it’s surprisingly palatable) – with a tomato-based sauce and a protein – usually fish, sometimes beef or poultry, occasionally egg. God is very good in allowing me to take pleasure in what I’m eating. No one’s served me grubs, snake, monkey, etc., as was the case in one missionary story I read before coming to Ghana. =D
Do people in Ghana like your hair? OK, so nobody asked me this question; but I made it up because it will have an interesting answer. The surprising reply is: Yes!! I have always thought Africans’ hair has a fun texture – haven’t you? Imagine my astonishment to discover that they think the same thing of ours! After church on Sunday, I was surrounded by little children, and reached out to brush down a shock of hair that was standing upright on a little girl’s head. Immediately a number of them motioned that they wanted me to rub their heads too; and when I’d rubbed a few, and then asked them whether they wanted to touch my hair – well, suffice to say that that was the right question to ask them, and little hands were all over my head in an instant. “Will you cut me a piece of your hair?” several little voices asked. And the children are not the only ones fascinated. My mom was with me when we were visiting a village, and an interpreter asked me to bow my head to one man. I did so, wondering why, as he was not the chief. “He likes your hair,” the interpreter explained as we passed on. Another day, several women surrounded me, chattering in their own tongue and fingering my hair. I’m sure they’d love yours too – just come for a visit. =) These friendly people make me very thankful that God’s given me tough hair that can withstand an onslaught of grasping and pulling. =)
Hey! Don't knock fermentation! =) I'm experimenting with culturing all kinds of things in kefir, and it can work out really well. I know you have refrigeration where you are staying (you do, right?) but many in the mud huts may not, so fermentation would be the perfect way to preserve food. Do you know if they drink/use/are aware of kefir there? It's a very easy way to preserve milk, and it would provide such a boost to the immune system, counteracting all that malaria, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the milk here isn't safe to drink. They do have "tinned milk," which is basically evaporated or what's-the-other-one milk, or milk powder (which is what I've been spooning generously into my hot chocolate each morning as my main calcium supply). Does kefir work on reconstituted powdered milk?
ReplyDeleteI remember our first days in Cochabamba when we used to ride the bus everywhere we couldn´t walk. Every time before we got on we would have to prep the little girls knowing their hair and skin would be touched because it was so different. One evening however it was just too much. I remember 3 little girls bursting out in tears after being touched and having their hair stroked one too many times.
ReplyDelete