Confessions of three middle-class, white, American girls in Ghana:
1. Yes, we all screamed at the sight of a lizard the size of my index finger on the wall in our room, but I was the only one paralyzed with fear! My two other roommates, Michelle and Deidre, were able to trap it in a glass and deposit it outside in the bushes.
2. Our first attempt to make food in Ghana and we ended up making fried rice-- yes: rice, egg and corned beef :) As Deidre said: "only we would be in Ghana and make an American dish". (But here's the confesion part: It tasted amazing! And if you know me, corned beef would so not be my first choice of a meal)
3. Our conversation on deciding to cook dinner (since we didn't buy enough at the market to really cook anything with):
Deidre: Let's just make the gari (pronounces it gah-ree)... is that how we say it?
...................... we light the fire and start up the stove. put a pot of water on.
Corrine: Should we wait till it's boiling or put it in now, like oatmeal?
Michelle: I dunno. We can wait until its a little bit hot?
Corrine: Okay. *Shrugs shoulders*
Michelle: Do you think the Milo will be good in it?
Corrine: Well, Milo isn't really sweet so... no. Maybe we could squeeze some orange juice in it?
Michelle: *reacts with laughter and shaking her head 'no'*
Corrine: How about we melt some of those M&Ms in it? That would be a little bit sweet?!
4. Confession: The meal described above: EPIC FAIL! We opted for tuna and bread in the end.
5. Deidre was explaining to us her excellent survival instincts: "It's why I can't talk to people on the street here. I just think: GET FOOD, GET SHELTER, SLEEP, DON'T TALK TO THAT PERSON because they are distrupting that flow!"
6. Wanting to repay someone for their kindness usually leads us to thinking how we can bake cookies on the stove.... everyone would like a good cookie or doughnut right?
7. Looking at our mosquito bites, you'd think we were a luxury for the bugs here. And yes, they still itch like mad!
8. Our idea of a 'fun night' is to sing along to the Wicked soundtrack, which miraculously is on Michelle's computer. American? Oh yes.
9. We teach Ghanaians how to cook.... popcorn!! (put anything you want on top-- salt, sugar, milo, the works!)
10. We bake chocolate chip cookies from cake mix and take them to school to share with the kids :) what?! It's american!
11. Our idea of a "HUGE" spider apparently is not that big.... oops.
12. SUGAR OVERLOAD!!!!!!! plus, we think ice cream or chocolate and a good chickflick will solve any girl problem so when we offered a FANICE to Matilda, our neighbor, because she had cramps... she just looked at us with this look like "how will that help anything?" :)
