A day without turkey...

Top 10 Things About My Ghanaian Thanksgiving:

1. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song at breakfast
2. Hurling yam balls
3. Dinner music provided by Shaggy, including the "Angel of the Morning" remix and "It Wasn't Me"
4. Old-school hand turkey centerpiece
5. Wisdom singing: "Happy Thanksgiving to America...Happy Thanksgiving to America...We are now a part of America...Even though we live in Ghana..."
6. Mama Pat calling us her kids
7. Wisdom singing: "I'll never forget the day that Jesus washed my sins away...I'll never forget Lauren...I'll never forget Molly...I'll never forget Lesley...I'll never forget Dinah...I'll never forget the day that Lesley fed us lots of food..." And from Christian, the backup singer: "...never, never, never..."
8. Feasting with eight Ghanaians who thought it was America's anniversary
9. Talking to my whole family in New Mexico as they passed the phone around at my aunt Carolyn's house
10. Esenam, with her big beautiful smile that comes out when you least expect it, shy, gracious, and so very, very kind

This is a picture I did not take of the looks of absolute confusion on our faces as people around the table began to raise their plastic plates up in the air, and we timidly followed suit and stifled our laughter. Cheers!

Pause

I took a pause from teaching and village life to go back to Accra, the land of good internet access, for a couple of days. We are going to brave the downtown market tomorrow, which is the scariest place in the city, quite possibly in the whole country, if you ask me.

We went to the Amedzofe waterfall last weekend. It is an incredibly steep hike down to it, so much so that you have to hang on to a rope as you descend. The whole thing was very Indiana Jones. I only fell once...but I am somewhat ashamed to admit it was before we even got to the part with the rope. The falls were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Being there was one of those moments where I just paused, and it hit me, I live in a village in Africa.

Another thing that makes me pause and realize that I live in a village in Africa are all of the creatures. Giant millipedes are my least favorite. Followed at a close second by giant spiders and giant cockroaches. The three of us are becoming much more adept at killing them, but we haven't quite figured out how to do it without screaming. Give it time...

This is a picture I did not take of Lauren, Molly, and me, having a Celine Dion dance party in a darkened room with a bunch of Africans and two women who are about 60 years old. Priceless.