I LEFT MY HEART IN NIMA (and playing catch up with other posts)

friday

i lovve big breakfasts: oatmeal, bread, fruit and hot chocolate--all American favorites yet so different. today we went to the Dubois Center; an amazing place. thanks to my African American History class, i knew about him already. but to tour his actual home and see his artifacts and belongings was just, wow. a quote of his really caught my attention: "one thing alone i charge you. as you live, believe in life. always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. the only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end come slowly because time is long."

on the way to the Internet cafe we run into...yes: BIZMARK and RAEGAN and some of their friends. it's crazy how aggressive they are, swarming around the car like flies.! when one boy tried to bother me and get me to buy bracelets for 15-dollars, raegan told him to "back off my wife." um, yea right. we tried driving away from them but raegan and the boy ran after us in the middle of traffic.! i tell you what, give-up is not in their vocabulary AT ALLLLL. when i'm finally in the cafe, a little irritated from the heat, some other guy keeps following me.! i kept moving computers and so would he. later i found out from Dijorn that he was trying to come up to me to ask my hand in marriage.!? i mean wow, these Ghanaian boys are just wayyyyyyy too much.

the highlight of my day was the dance class. kojo, richard and morgan were our instructors--the coolest people ever. what i love about it is is that they had this attitude of just having fun and not worrying about how we looked so we all had a great time. i got a wooooork-out and it felt really good. i sweat bullets and i didn't even care. at the end, i conversed with them and it's amazing what the American aspects of culture they love. for example, kujo loves noodles--he considers it a treat. we can easily go to the store or whatever and get noodles when we want.! that's what i consider so beautiful about the people--they are so simple and content with the little "treats" they get--while we're going to four-star restaurants and going on missions just to satisfy our stomachs.

usually Africans use an American name, an African name, a day name, and/or their last name. well Kojo, Richard and Morgan gave me a whole bunch. my day name is Adwoa because i was born on monday. my Ewe names are Mawufomor (God's way), Mawuenya (only God knows), and fafa (cool). My Hausa names are Sekina (star girl) and Hajia (chief's wife) and my Twe name is Kitwua (slim/skinny).

saturday

today was honestly the second best day of my life other than the day i was baptized. the day started off with a nice breakfast: eggs and--deeeeeeelish. we were going to go see the children at the orphanage but they had to cancel. so for the first time we had a chill morning. at three o'clock we left to finally meet the students. the bus ride to nima, where the students live, was eye-opening alone. compared to alajo, where we are staying and their homes, it's as if we're in a mansion. despite that, the people all looked so happy and seemed to enjoy where they lived.

as soon as we arrived to the school, i fell in love--not even with our students at first because we we waiting on them to arrive but seeing the other children there made my heart sing. one girl i met was Isabella; two words could describe her--breathtakingly gorgeous. some may not think so because she's bald, but i thought she was beautiful with her dark chocolate skin and strong-featured face and she had a beautiful voice that captures your attention. that's what turned my head, her singing--a powerhouse full of beauty. just when i thought i was filled with joy, the students came and from that point on, i couldn't help but to keep a smile on my face.

i happen to have a favorite--ajara. i fell in love with her as soon as she walked through the classroom. all of the kids are wonderful and i instantly knew that on the first day. ajara is another beauty--my little princess. while i was looking around the room, she came and sat by me. she asked for my name and i asked for hers--immediately embracing me with a warm hug once we introduced ourselves. she became my instant sidekick. today was a short day and the students briefly taught us about their country--the history, language and culture.

the memory that will live in my heart forever is going to their homes. Nima is a very poor place and where they lived was in a very poor state. yet, they enthusiastically took us in as well as their family members, pulled out plastic chairs and wooden benches from all around and just showered us with love and hospitality. i mean, i wasn't even thinking about how things looked and the bad living conditions but we all just sat around together and had a good time. some of the little girls taught me little hand games and i taught them some American hand games we played as children. i speak the honest truth when i say this was one of the best days. one of my favorites of the relatives is one of the oldest, Iesha. she is just so cool and has this energy and SMILE i lovvvve. unfortunately, we had a little concert to go to and it broke my heart to leave the kids. i know we just got here and i'm not leaving for another two weeks but i know i won't be able to bare the day i leave. i feel like they've already touched my life and i've touched theirs so i want to come back.

once upon a time there was a concert. it wasn't good. until the end when we had to leave. the end. i was a little upset at that point because we had the option of staying with the kids. overall, i was still happy to see them period.

sunday

our morning began with going to worship service--well Bethany, Erik, Vivian and myself. oh, wait; it actually began at 12:00 midnight when we wished Jamie a happy birthday and gave her a big group hug. back to worship: the population is huge.! there are over 1300 members and they can't even all quite fit in the building so there are speakers set up for people who have to sit outside and even stand upstairs and downstairs. the service was good and most importantly they followed what we do at our congregation back home. my favorite was the singing--such beautiful voices and projection. unfortunately we couldn't quite sing along because they sang in their local language but they were kind enough to do several verses in English so we could follow. also they did the same with the lesson. the English service starts at 7:30 and we didn't know that so we went to the service at 10:00 which is in the local language. nonetheless, they still translated for us which i thought was very kind.

next stop, NIMA.! before we headed to the school, we went to the student's home to celebrate Jamie's birthday. i just love them--despite their conditions, they went out and bought lots of drinks, put on some music and made the birthday very fun. jamie said it was the best birthday she had and i feel that was the best birthday i went to.! it was my day to teach the class--i wasn't too happy because there was a graduation going on so not only did i have to compete with the loudspeakers but also the people on the opposite side and all the traffic noises. my spirit was dampened but i still pushed on and remained organized. not only that, everyone pitched in to help me out and it helped a lot. the most important thing was that the students got my point and according to everyone, they did so that's what made me happy.

my lesson was on colors and how we see them in the world around us. i presented two color wheels and pictures for examples. i then let the children draw and color any ideas of what they wanted to take pictures of and that turned out great. haha, oh and i almost forgot; while i was out with the kids, three boys stopped me...TO ASK MY HAND IN MARRIAGE. first of all, i didn't get why they were all trying to ask when they were all friends. secondly, they really don't care--i said i had a husband back in the states and they said i can just fly back between Ghana and the U.S and have four husbands. what the deal.?! luckily one of the adults stepped in and scolded the boys calling them foolish--it was hilarious.!

FUTBOLLLLLLL.!

on wowzaaaaa, the absolute highlight of my day. i hated to leave the kids but i want to see me a soccer game.! wow, what an exciting game and i never watch soccer but this was crazy.! my heart was jumping as soon as we sat in the stands. i LOVE the people's energy.! all the cheering and enthusiasm. WOWWWWW.!? and to see the expression of Kojo and Morgan's faces: priceless. i guess we were supposed to be on Ghana's side of course but whatev.! i just loved the game. CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP. AWAYYYYYY.! ayyyyyy.! Ghana scored a goal and the crowds ROARRED.! i loved it.

OH. NO. WHO DID WE RUN INTO OF ALLLLLL PEOPLE.? yess, RAEGAN.!? why.? and he found us. we didn't find him.! how.? we were in a huge crowd getting goat and onion kabobs with spices sprinkled on them. deeeeeelish.! and only 1 cedi--i musta had about four.! but back to raegan; talk about stalker status.! to top it of he sat with us for the remainder of the game. just fantabulous (another one of my made-up vocab :] ) right.? well actually i don't have to worry about him now. according to him, he's "leaving me for Karen." OYE,OYE,OYE,OYE. OYE, OYE.! i love love love the crowds.! for souvenirs i bought a flag, braided rope and a wristband. sounds like i spent a fortune.? NOPE. the flag was 1 cedi, the braided rope and wristband was 50 pesua.! oh and the game was technically free but check this out, the tickets only cost 4 cedis and we can sit wherever and we got front-row seats.!