Hi everyone,
This is Wednesday morning and I'm at the Global Mama's office. We went across the street last night to Elmina Beach Resort to finally get internet. The resort is SO nice. Probably the nicest place I've been in Ghana so far. Very decorative woodworking and nice comfy lobby. The internet was fast and I was able to get my pictures uploaded! I've started an album here- http://s1213.
I'm feeling like I'm getting a little more settled now. I'm unpacked, know my way around Cape Coast a bit, have been to the office, have a phone and internet, so things are coming together! I'm getting used to the taxi system. We walk a short distance out to the main road and there are tons of taxis that come by. We point toward the ocean, which tells the cab drivers that we're going to Cape Coast. (You can point the opposite direction to show that you're going to the next town.) A car will pull over and we tell him 'shared cab to Cape Coast?' he agrees, and off we go! We often pick other people up on the way, and make stops wherever people need to go. I'd say its about an 8-10 minute cab ride and its 1 cedi each way (.50 basically).
There are food shops all along the roads in town that sell various items. This morning I picked up a loaf of fresh bread and bottle of water for breakfast. We go to a cart across the street from the office for lunch. Yesterday we had rice and beans (black eyed peas) with some sauce and boiled egg. There are a variety of items to choose from, so that will be fun! Last night on the way home we stopped by the kind of catch-all convenience store called Melcom's and bought some basic things like top-ramen packs, butter, chips, wine- you know, the essentials! haha. I also bought a big mango from a lady and am looking forward to having that tonight. :) We have fresh (purified) water in the house that our house keeper Ellen makes everyday. She fills big waterbottles for drinking in the fridge and fills another big container on the counter for washing foods etc. Surprisingly the water situation is not nearly as bad as people had said, so we've been able to eat lots of salads and veggies! Last night we made group dinner of macaroni and cheese with fresh salad- avocado, green beans, carrots, and apples. Yum!
We did an awesome batiking workshop yesterday with one of the mamas named Mary. We got to pick the stamp we liked, and then she showed us how to dip them in the hot wax and stamp the fabric. You can make any design you want, stamp the cloth and then the wax dries. Then we got to choose our color and Mary died the fabric for us. You let the fabric dry outside (takes like 10 minutes!) and then she dipped the fabric back in boiling water to remove the wax. She can then scoop the wax out and reuse it. Hang the sheet, let it dry, and you're done! There are pictures of mine posted on that website above. I got to keep it and can use it as a sheet, wrap, whatever! Pretty cool.
Today I am doing some stuff on my laptop (like this) and then will help the workers here check the merchandise that is getting packed up to go to the Accra store. Its fun to see all the designs. Okay, I think that's all for now!
Take care everyone, and stay tuned for more!
Colleen
