We have arrived...

After 30 short hours of travel we arrived in Ghana. Today is my first visit to the internet cafe near our house. This will be a quick post because I only have a few moments left on my chat time and we left Charity at home today because she isn't feeling well.
Many things have changed since we were last here but many things are still the same.
When we stepped out of the airplane we hit a wall of heat, the humidity so high the air felt sticky. Charity's first impression was "it smells like hot dogs"...not entirely inaccurate.

The process through the airport is a frenzy but we got through it amazingly quickly. The immigration stop was straight forward...gathering our outrageous number of giant suitcases was a challenge in the chaos of heat, bodies, crying babies, and everyone else's outrageous size and number of suitcases.

To get through customs each of us had to push an overloaded and not well maintained luggage cart. The kids were awesome through this process with even little Charity pushing her tired little heart out.

When we made it to the greeting area we received an amazing welcome from some familiar faces and some new faces. They were well prepared for us with a bus for the luggage and a small old SUV for us. They raced us through the dark streets and wild traffic (everyone honks here just for the fun of it)...there weren't seatbelts in the back seat but I must let go of my Canadian thinking real quick!

We drove with the windows open and I welcomed the familar smells of heat, smoke and exotic foods cooking.

The house where we are staying is comfortable. Grandma was so sweet to get air conditioning in one of the bedrooms for us. Last night the power was out all night so we couldn't use it but with the windows wide open we were okay.

There was a lot of rain last night and the streets are flooded and red from the red clay. We saw a terrific display of thunder and lightening as well.

There is a school attached to the house, with children from age 1 to 9. It has about 70 students so there is action all day long. The first kids arrive around 6:30am and the last leave around 7pm. Tony's Mom ran this school in her early retirement but she has turned it over to a family friend now because she has moved back to her village.

We will go to the village this weekend because the 21st is Oliver's 12th birthday and Grandma wants to have a party for him. She says she will get some boys his age from the village to come to her house. It will be quite an experience for Oliver.

Oliver is a true Ghana boy, he has settled right in and is comfortable with the food, the family set up and the neighbourhood.

Grandma went back to the village yesterday but she left one of the girls who usually helps her to help me do the cooking etc. I'm a fish out of water here, but I am determined to do my best to fit in and get the most out of this experience.

So, we are all fine and once the jetlag has passed I hope to get back online with some photos etc.
I hope all of you are well.
Out of Africa....Jodi