A Random Blog for a Random Day

The sounds of African instruments waft through my room to the beat of African hip-hop through blown up speakers. My head nods to the beat, my heart praises with the congregation “to God be the glory” and my arms wearily type the expression of my thoughts.  I thought a lot today.  Jamie and I headed to the school and wrote out our lesson plans for the fifteen kids we will be tutoring over the next two weeks. Jamie designed a beautiful place-value sign, and I created individualized worksheets for the kids.  We pondered over how to best display and teach the concept of one million. We sang silly songs because our heads hurt from writing about math.  We lost track of time and came to the house to eat dinner. 

I ate rice and pehpeh paste. Fresh pehpeh is hot peppers crushed with onions and a little salt.  Pehpeh paste is fresh pehpeh plus tomato paste. love pehpeh. I really love hot pehpeh. This was a hot pehpeh day. I love how my sentences are still following, albeit loosely, the format of extended form. This is why I minored in English, not math. Not that anyone can tell because my grammar is currently horrible. Nyame N’adom, I should have been raised on Twi.

Together Jamie and I prepared for our trip to Accra tomorrow. We are planning which souvenirs to bring home and are hoping to stop at Mama Mia’s for some pizza. I also read about a place that gives a $12 mani/pedi. It’s risky, and I’ve seen the lovely flith of the typical street pedicure. But my feet are absolutely disgusting. I’ve lost four toenails while here. As in, they have completely broken off (one even snapped up, so that when I bent it back down blood squirted everywhere, and I was greatly intrigued.)  Prince likes to step on my toes a lot, too, so even the ones that are still in tact are often bruised. Which is why I often wake up and thank God for nail polish.

Sister Lillian, Jamie, and myself completed Day 12 of the 30 Day Shred. My neck and upper back are sore after the second day of the second level. If we complete all 30 days of this workout in Ghanaian heat and humidity, then I am convinced that I am invincible.  Despite the soreness, tonight was a lovely workout. We moved our laptop to the roof and worked out as lightening lit up the clouded sky and thunder rumbled lightly in the background as if God’s stomach was empathizing with my own.  I complain, but I look forward to those workouts more than anything of the day (even my morning cup of coffee!) Really, I just love the excellent company of Sister Lillian and Jamie, and whoever else occasionally joins us.