South African Ladies Tea (for Charity)

Tuesday I attended the 3rd annual SA Ladies Tea - a very well done event they do for two local charities.  Each table is hosted by a different South African woman who invites her friends and we eat, shop, and win door prizes, all for a worthy cause.  This years theme was Flower Power and you'll see our table behind the photo 'bus'.  :)  

Our lovely table

The ladies at my table

Below are photos of a few other tables

OK, so I won TWO times at this party - which I can assure you has never happened before.  First, I won the 'table' drawing which was a tiered china stand (I gave it away when I won a second time).  Then I won the 'hostess' drawing which was a large gift basket (hamper as they call it) full of South African items from a local South African grocery store.  As you can see, inside my basket was the normal gift basket items - champagne, champagne flutes, juice?, but then ketchup, baked beans, tuna, mayo, and canola oil.  I have gotten a very good laugh out of it.  It was very well done - a fun event, and I was happy to be a part of it!  

The goods


Each guest took home a party favor of African Liquer and a thank you card that said - "When you plant a seed of love, it is you that blossoms." 

Yep.

Chase and Drew Update

For several weeks, Drew attended a class held at another family's house with a Montessori teacher, Miss Virginia.  Most of the kids here attend full time preschool so these kids were waiting for their fall term to start.  He loved it!  Now he's back home with me every day but I'm looking for something similar to do with a few other kids in our house 1 or 2 days a week.  

Chase has started karate after school on Mondays and is currently doing swimming in PE.  He really enjoys it.  He has a little homework each day (he's only 7 and we already butt heads) and he is asked to have playdates with friends almost every day.  This is the story of his life.  Friends + Activity = Sheer Happiness for him, but ask him to write a sentence you can read and you can forget it.  :)  Oh, he can do it - but it takes WAY TOO MUCH TIME as far as he's concerned.  It is our one goal this year - with his teacher - to get him to write legibly with words you can understand. Focus. Focus. Focus.  This weekend he starts soccer (football).  We'll keep you posted. 

Birthday parties are a big thing here - we just had 2 in one week.  A Lebanese friend and an Italian friend - and they were HUGE affairs!  Both lasted a very long time.  The kids had so much fun!  Pics below of some party fun!  

The boys continue to adjust very well.  They do miss their grandparents and cousins, little friends from our moves, and maybe the occasional Double Stuffed Oreo, but their life here is very good.  They haven't missed a beat.

Drew about to get his face painted - he was so excited!

Spiderman

Driving the bumper boats (these went very fast - again, Ghana does not have the same safety regs as the US).  :)

Chase opted for the clown - that's a first.

Random Picture Post

Pool Rules at a random pool

After an EXHAUSTING search for lightbulbs at stores that seemed like the right places to go (think Walmart) - HERE, this tin building on the side of the road, is THE PLACE that seems to specialize in lights of all kinds.  *Sigh* And so this is my new one stop shop for all things lightbulb.

Look at the size of those YAMS!

Restroom sign at a local restaurant

Military Cemetery in Accra - we attended a funeral here

And, this, on my drive to school, a herd of cows right off the highway

People of Ghana

Babies always carried on the back

The carrying things on their head will never get old to me - I love it!

In his Sunday best

Village kids (fishing village)

And why not?  It's exhausting pulling in fish all day!

Labor Day

A group from the Embassy spent the day at a private beach club - White Sands.  About 2 hours drive, through crazy traffic, dirt roads, and shanty towns, and then......you arrive at a destination that has that power to transport you to a place other than regular, everyday, Africa life.  I know I keep repeating myself, but these are the times that I am completely fascinated.  Anyway, it was very nice, a relaxing Labor Day spent with new friends.

The pool view - look across you'll see the beach/fishermen

We rode wooden 'rafts' across to the other side (a man on each side pulling us to shore)

The table setting

My prawns

My drink

My view

I have never spent a Labor Day exactly like this one - who knew Africa would be the place?  

African Adventure Take Two (part three) Wli Falls and Drumming

We ended our first day in the village of Wli (pronounced Vlee) where we spent the night.  I had prearranged for a show of African Drumming and Dancing, not really sure what that meant.  At around 7:30, pickup trucks started pulling in with all kinds of people piling out of the truck beds.  It appears that the entire village came to put on the drumming and dancing show.  They gave us a show for about 2 hours.  These people aim to please I tell ya. It was plenty of drumming for me, I couldn't get the pounding out of my head for another couple of hours.  :)

The next morning after breakfast, we walked about 10 minutes to the entrance of Wli Falls - the reason we came to Wli in the first place.  A leisurely hike and you are at the largest waterfall in West Africa.  There is a second waterfall a little further up, we opted only for the lower falls this trip.

Please note in the cliff looking photos, that all the black blobs you see are BATS.  Bats are everywhere here.  In another photo, all the black specks in the sky are bats flying away.  I should note that every night around 5:45 ( it is totally dark here each day at 6 pm), bats fly over our house.  We look for them - as if it's our way of accepting days end.

I really enjoyed our time in this region.  Sleepy, little villages, mountains, green, and very peaceful.  I hope to come back.

The drummers were setting up

This is about half the group - the rest came out to dance

Sunday morning in the village

On the way to the falls, doing their laundry

Our destination

The bats

The bats flying

A shop along the trail to the falls 

And naturally, each boy got a drum from the village