Monday STILL AT THE COAST!!

Okay, it is Monday and it appears that we will be here another day. Again, this place is beautiful but I was looking so forward to getting back and seeing Selina and the kids at Eban House and to start working on my donations.

Molly and I got up had breakfast, checked out of the hotel and waited in the lobby for Edward, and waited and waited and waited. He walked up about an hour or so late and we knew by the absence of the car, this was not a good sign for our return trip.

So the car may take longer than anticipated so Percy the other driver will come to the coast tonight after he drops Chalene off at the airport. We will leave early in the morning. Molly and I will treat the two of them to a good breakfast first! This means that I will not get to see Chalene before she leaves which also bums me out. The sadder thing though is that Edward is a hard working man and we feel bad as he feels so badly about all of this. He could not stop apologizing and we know this repair is costing him more money. He offered to pay for our hotel the extra two nights but of course we will not allow him to do this.

So Molly and I took our stuff back to the room and waved another hello to all the staff we just had said goodbye to! We got on our shoes and went for a hike along the beach to the Elmina Castle. It is also a holiday here in Ghana so there were many people playing on the beach. Many people appoached us and said hello. Everyone was kind. Some people asked us for things but I did not want to start handing things out and draw a crowd. There was a cute kid wearing a Ghana shirt of the flag and so I asked to take his picture. He asked for something and so I gave him a Clif energy bar which seemed to excite him. He walked off smiling with his bar. Another kid approached us and wanted us to take his picture as he saw our camera. I said of course and so he went to smile and then all of a sudden made me stop while he got his dead fish from the bucket. It was his catch and he wanted it in the picture. It was lovely. Then he immediately wanted to see the picture but I let him know that he could see it after he returned the dead fish with the eyes that looked at me back to the bucket!!

Molly and I spent five hours at the pool yesterday looking at the waves on the beach and will be returning there now as we are hot from our walk.

I did not let people know that they can read about Chalene's trip at www.my7passions.blogspot.com. She lives five minutes away and is adopting two sweet twin girls from the Eban House. She is doing two trips instead of one long one like me so she has been in Ghana the last week. She did report today that Selina is getting more comfortable with her and her sister and seems especially willing to be held and played with at night (she is probably too tired to resist!) so it looks like I will need to plan to be there in the evening!

To Laurel and Cheri- I will pass your message on to Edward. He is wonderful and will be glad to hear all is well with you! To Kristin Jag- no latte, no tea- I am sorry to report that I am in a sort of "detox" if you will. I miss my tea from Wildflower Bread Company and my ice coffees so much but lets look at the bright side only three or so more weeks to go!! :-)

I do want to mention some of my favorite things that I am glad I brought for future families that will travel here:
My neck pillow from Target. I have used this to sleep on the plane in the airport terminal and I use it at the hotels as they provide one pillow and I am a two or three pillow girl!
My Ipod alarm clock docking station. I bought this last minute at Walmart for about $35 for my ipod and I can't tell you how much joy it brings me plus it has the time and an alarm. It is small and easy to use. I can't tell you how happy I am with it!
The Mary Kay Facial Cloths my mom threw in my pile last minute. I just used the last one but they were awesome as they were basically disposable washcloths. They do not give you washcloths here and those cloths did not have any soap or substance on them so I was able to use my facial cleanser and body cleanser on them. Thanks mom!!
Energy Bars: They really eat only twice a day here and so sometimes in the afternoon you can get a little hungry. I got the clif ones from Costco. To this point, this is the only bit of chocolate I have had that is dark and yummy. I was brilliant to get ones with chocolate- in them as they don't melt. Edward had his first one the other day and really seemed to like it so if you are with him, don't forget to pack him one!

What I wish I would have brought:
A sleep sheet: Molly has one and it is basically two sheets sewn together and you sleep in it. I do not have one. I don't like to sleep all in the covers so I sleep on the bed with a blanket. The one at Rye Manor is a little warm and it has lots of fishing like strings as it is coming apart and so when I get in bed if I don't turn it the right way, my toes get caught up in the strings. One night I went to get out of bed and all these strings were attached to my toes and started making the trip to the bathroom with me!
Hankerchief- Don't remember if it is on the list of things to bring but you will sweat unlike you have ever sweat before and so a nice hankerchief would do you good!

To Kman and Cater- I hope you had a good day with Aunt Julie and that you are feeling better Cater. I love you both and will call you when I get back to Rye Manor!

Happy Memorial Day

Jennine