Then and Now

We head home in two weeks, so I thought it would be fun to look back at some pictures of Elliot from when we first arrived here and some more recent pics. Enjoy!

Then (3/1): Still willing to let Dad help him drink from a water sachet.

Now (9/10): I can do it myself -- and eat a fried bread ball at the same time.


Then (3/5): Baby face!

Now (9/12): All boy! I wonder what he'll think when we go home and water doesn't come in bags anymore...

Packing, cleaning and sorting have begun in earnest. Actually, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that packing to go back is WAY easier than packing to come over here. At the moment, it looks like we will have just three checked bags to deal with on our way home, and I don't even think we'll have to weigh them. My bathroom scale has not seen so much use as it did in the days (and hours) leading up to our departure in February, and all four of our checked bags were within ounces of the 50-pound weight limit. Those bags, in addition to Elliot's frame backpack a couple carry-ons and the giant monster that is his car seat, should be a cakewalk between the three (well, 2.5) of us!

An open letter to the taxi drivers of Kumasi

Dear Kumasi taxi drivers:

Perhaps you have seen me walking in the vicinity of Bekwai Roundabout or standing on the sidewalk across from the new speedbumps on the road past Ridge School in the morning. I am the obruni woman with the short, curly hair and the little blond boy in tow. You may have also seen me walking along the Bantama Road with my little boy on my back, headed for the zoo or into town. Please let me assure you that, yes, I saw that your taxi was empty and available and no, I do not need a ride. Not even if you honk your horn . . . repeatedly . . . and not even if you pull up next to me, stop and demand to know where I am going, and not even when you look at me like I just fell of the moon when I tell you I am "just" out for a walk. I appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Veronica

Here are some pictures from our trip to Anomabo Beach Resort. It could have been sunnier, but all in all, we had a really great time. If only Dusty's research were focused on fishing instead of timber (sigh)...

Two thumbs up from our toughest critic.

What are YOU looking at?

Breakfast by the beach.

Treasure... in the form of a piece of coconut bark.

The pure delight of grabbing fistfuls of sand and throwing them over the bank.

A walk on the beach.

Catching up

Yes, we are still here. I have gotten behind in my posting. Honestly, there's not much new going on here these days. Dusty is still working up a storm (and still convinced he isn't doing enough). Elliot is getting funnier and more independent every day. He did take a little spill off the counter, the other day, though, so now he remembers to "sit down, so you don't fall down" (well, most of the time). And we're all recovering from, of all things, a nasty cold.

We've started packing and organizing for the big trip home, and Elliot has been talking up a storm about all the people he's going to see after we take the airplane.

Next weekend, we're going to the beach. I am SO excited. We'll be spending two nights at the Anomabo Beach Resort near Cape Coast. It will also give me a chance to go shopping at my favorite store in Ghana, Global Mamas in Cape Coast. It's part of a project started by a former Peace Corps volunteer to help local women improve their handicrafts for export and improve their livelihoods at the same time. Their stuff is even sold in museum stores in the U.S. I have an extensive shopping list made already, and I'm sure I will find more treasures once we are there. They have a Web site and a small selection of products available for sale in the U.S. Check them out at http://www.globalmamas.com/.

A matter of perspective

You're probably wondering what you're looking at... and why. Well, to you or me, this is a photo of a weird little open shelf in our kitchen that we've never used because anything we put there would inevitably wander off and end up amongst Elliot's toys or something. Now that I look at it, it's also a great example of how bad the lighting in this kitchen is. But I digress.

Yesterday, I was standing at the stove making lunch when, all of a sudden, Elliot appeared next to me on the counter. It seems to him, the funky shelf wasn't a shelf at all, it was - you guessed it - a ladder. Now that boy can be on the counter in a flash, and we are both at a loss as to how to block his access (or at least minimize it to times when we're all in the kitchen). I wonder what genius product Babies-r-Us would have to help us. Sigh....



Elliot had an extended birthday, since one of his packages arrived on Thursday of last week. Here are some pictures of him opening his presents from Grandma (Mana) Shirley (Shudee):

Elliot's birthday wrap-up

We (well, I especially) have been wanting to go to the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary since we arrived here in February, so since we weren't going to have any kind of party for Elliot's birthday, we decided that would be the perfect day to go. We packed up the night before, so we could strike off first thing Saturday morning since we were just planning to go for the day. (This is the part where I kick myself for not pushing harder to make this an overnight trip. Why, oh why do I so easily second-guess myself? Anyway...) As we were getting in the car, Kofi asked if he could go along. No problem. So he jumped in the backseat with Elliot and we struck off, thinking that, with any luck, we'd be up there in time to hike around, have some lunch and get back into the car so Elliot could take a nice, long nap on the way home.

It didn't quite turn out that way...

First, there was the stretch of divided highway where we ended up driving like we were in England because on our side of the road, one lane was occupied by several parked rigs and the other was taken up with (you guessed it) oncoming traffic headed in the opposite direction. There were also cars headed in the "right" direction on the side of the road we were using, but somehow it all worked out. Once we got through there, it was smooth sailing on nice newly paved road... for awhile, until we reached the end of the newly paved road, at which point we were driving on soon to be newly paved road, which is not nearly as nice to drive on, as you might imagine. Unfortunately, the stretch of soon to be paved road lasted much longer than the stretch of paved road. When we finally made it to Techiman, we had already been in the car 3.5 hours and we had covered just 125 km, or just under 80 miles. And we still had about 50 km to go.

Fortunately, the rest of the drive was pretty smooth. Well, except for the last 12 km or so, but we knew that road was rough. And the monkey sanctuary was super cool!! I only wished we could have spent more time there, but by then we were pretty exhausted and thinking about getting home before dark! (We absolutely in no uncertain terms avoid driving at night at all costs here) But we were able to go on the guided walk, and we saw LOTS of monkeys.

You can read a good explanation of how the sanctuary came to be here: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=44060

We also were able to take an alternate route home. When we got back to Kumasi, it was time for pizza and presents, including the much talked about purple chair. Was it everything he'd hoped for and more? I think this picture says it all...

I know, I know, in future years, it will take more than a purple plastic chair to satisfy my kid on his birthday. I also know that if we were home, with more stuff available to us, we probably would have gotten him more (bigger! better!) things. But I ask myself, would he have loved those things as much as he loves his purple chair? Probably not. I think there are two lessons here. First, being a parent, it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between what your kid wants and what you want to give them. I hope to keep in perspective what Elliot (and any future sibling that may come into our lives down the road) actually wants and balance that with what we want for him. Second, it's the simple stuff they always love best!

Here are some more pictures from the big day. As you can see, he was one happy camper:

Adventures in toddlerhood

Here goes nothing! Elliot turns two tomorrow. To celebrate, we are taking our little monkey to the monkey sanctuary... and leaving him to live among his kind (just kidding!)


He's changed so much since we've been here. I still catch my breath when he's heading at top speed across the dining room to the one step down that leads into the kitchen, but he doesn't miss a beat and breezes right over it like it wasn't even there. And he was so proud of himself the other day when he managed to walk down all five steps from the front door to the porch while carrying his container of sidewalk chalk in both hands. It was quite a feat.

For his birthday, he is getting a kid-sized, purple plastic chair, and he is so excited about it. He saw it at a kiosk when we went to pay last month's rent, and it's all he's been able to talk about since. If only their tastes could stay so simple...

Some recent photos, showing a few of his favorite things right now:

The official spoon cleaner hard at work after making a batch of hummus (summus)

The highlight of each day, when he and Daddy split a "treat", ice cream in a bag from the convenience store up the street.

Sidewalk chalk, for drawing faces, shapes, snowflakes, animals and his all-time favorite, tro-tros.

The pied piper

Saturday is our day to get out of town, whether to go hiking or just to take a drive. A couple Saturdays ago, we visited the forest reserve where Dusty is conducting his research. As often happens, it wasn't long before we attracted a crowd. Not surprisingly, we are particularly popular with the under-4-foot set. Elliot loves to get down and explore when we go to new places, and everywhere he goes, the other children go too. He doesn't have a magical hornpipe, just very blond hair.

Am I being followed?

First self-portrait (just kidding! But that's what it looks like to me)

Look, we're the same size!