Hey family and friends! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I am trying to keep up to tabs with family emails, writing a personal journal, and my blog without having too much technology around. Actually as I am writing this I am listening to my ipod for the first time since leaving my home last week. J Also, as I am writing this we just got the power back on after it shut off after dinner. I washed the dishes by the faint moonlight, and now at 9:00 pm the electricity is on, but we do not have internet so you are reading this after I posted it. Where to start…Saturday Kwame took us to the Accra mall after a breakfast of beans and scrambled eggs, delicious muffins (I have no idea what the flavor was though), and some instant coffee. The Accra Mall is actually really modern. It has a Puma store, Apple store, a cinema (theatre refers to the operating room J), and a game store which is a South African Walmart. Yes, it even had the low prices logo! It was the only place to find lasagna noodles before heading to the village. We ate outside the mall and had some pizza! This was actually the first pizza I have had since my food sensitivities a year ago, and it settled perfectly well…praise the Lord!!!  After some vegetable pizza, we traded some money in for cedas (Ghana currency) and headed to the Ghanian military base to try out for the army!....just kidding…Don’t worry mom and dad I only went there to visit Kwame’s pastor who is in schooling to be a chaplain. Kwame’s pastor is part of the Church of Pentecost, which is also found in America in places such as Houston, California, South Carolina, Minnesota, and New York and he was proud to say he has visited them! Except he said driving on American roads was crazy because we are not nice drivers. I can explain…you see this is a “hot” culture based on relationships, and we live in a “cold” culture based on how fast, efficient, and quick things can be checked off a list. Driving here is fast, but people pull out in front of other people because they know the other person will wait, you never drive to fast to not be courteous and yield for others. The church here in Kasei is also of that denomination.

Back to our visit to the pastor…his wife served us guava juice which was delicious, and Kwame, Gretchen, the pastor, and I talked about the church, culture, etc. All of the sudden the electricity went out and the long curtains to the floor were flying everywhere. It is so hot, that suddenly it just starts pouring, blowing, and thundering as is what happened tonight. Once the rain slowed down, we left to catch our flight to Kumasi at 4. We cut it close, but we got through a scan of our bag and pat down at 3:53 pm. Then we waited for an hour in a general waiting room because they were afraid the storm would hit Kumasi. That hour was interesting as everyone around us spoke Twi, a common Ghanaian language, and they continued to speak Twi on the bus that shuttled us to the plane when they wouldn’t let us out. In the end, Gretchen and I boarded the plane, slept, and arrived in Kumasi!!!! Dr. John told us the plane came to Kumasi, turned back around to Accra, and then decided to come to Kumasi after they decided it was safe to land. What a day! We then drove with Dr. John, his driver, Estella (a young, newly certified as of today, nurse midwife) to Kasei. Along the way we stopped for “biscuits” aka crackers J. At each village we drove through on the way people were crowded along the road watching the BIG football game outside on small televisions…by the way Ivory Coast won….Yay! J (This was the clear choice for everyone as they have a Ghanian player. The lights just went out again….I will finish tomorrow.

Anyways, after the two hour drive to Kasei, we arrived at St. Luke Hospital!! J I honestly feel close to home here, besides St. Luke Hospital, we have the Demco patient ward, and the Vogel home. Not to mention Dr. John has a Northwestern College glass plate, and love for the college…did I mention he has been to Orange City and is a fan of Foreign Candy and the Pizza Ranch? J

This is a long post, I am sorry for all of you slow readers, but I have learned SO much the past few days. Sunday morning after egg omelette sandwiches, we headed to church. Dr. John gave the message because the pastor was in Kumasi, and it was mostly in Twi. We introduced ourselves as Affia (me) and Accosia (Gretchen). There was lots of singing, dancing, and praying. The message was how we are all unique, and can use these gifts to serve God. Dr. John said we had no fear, which was crazy because I feel like I can be a scaredy cat…I can’t even make it through an episode of Monk without being scared of the dark. J The afternoon was spent visiting Stella’s friend, Winifred, and playing volleyball with some young men from the village. We played right outside the primary school using two tree stumps as poles and an old net. There is definitely a new meaning to the “talking” on the court after playing and seeing the difference when we don’t speak the same language! I scraped my knee and elbow, and they were worried about me, but I was perfectly fine. The parents were on the other side watching the adult men play a very intense, professional soccer game. Then it was time for dinner. We had fufu and some soup with hedgehog (0% fat!), entire crabs, and snails. I did my best on the fufu, but I struggled with the seafood portions. Hedgehog tastes like chicken! I think my dad should start bringing it home for my mom to cook for dinner J.

Today we started at the hospital with 7 am devotions. I spent time in the front where patients come, and I learned all about filing insurance. There are the capitated, re-capitated, and new capitations to fill out along with activated/deactivated insurance. I really enjoyed learning about their insurance computer system, and I will begin here this week before moving onto consultations, maternity, surgery, etc. Then we headed to Monday market…wow is all I have time for now, but I am sure a later Monday post will explain, but there is nothing like being in a huge market, and being one of two six foot tall white people (aka abrunee). Love you all, and sorry for the novel!! (The saddest part is I could have said so much more. J) 

PS Yesterday there was a lizard next to the toilet, I think I killed it without knowing it which is kind of scary. Today there was a scorpion in the door of the guest house, and Theresa (our mother) was surprised it didn’t run away and hide…..I do not know what to think of this piece of information. Needless to say, it is dead, and she has checked all around and now found anymore….and we have a picture!!!!!!