Feb 06 2008
Ghana Journal 2008
January 21, 2008- January 22, 2008
In The Middle
It’s the middle of the night in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I really have NO idea what time it is or where in time I am.
We woke up to 8 inches of fresh snow. It was still snowing when we arrived to the airport. Our flight was on time but we sat in the plane on the tarmac and did not take off for over an hour. This allowed only a 35minute layover in JFK.
Once in the JFK airport, we located the departures monitor and it said our flight to Accra was leaving 10 minutes early. With a whopping 25 minute layover, we are hoping to see our bags when we arrive in Ghana.
We had just enough time to grab some bad Chinese food and hit the bathrooms before we heard them slaughtering our names over the loud speakers with a final boarding call announcement.
We called Curry in Ghana and they gave us some last minute airport tips. It goes like this: “If anyone touches your bags they expect to be paid for it. So just grab your bag, hold onto it and DO NOT let go or someone will be ready to “help” you with it.”
Robi made the mistake of keeping $100 US of recently changed cash in one wad and when he pulled it out there was practically a riot. So change your money into cedi (sounds like CD) and then stash the bulk of it.
We also called Lucy while in New York. She woke up this morning to a letter and present from us. Her gifts were a pull-string Woody doll and a pull-string Jessie doll from Toy Story 2. She said she loves them.
Lucy’s class has a Flat Stanley assignment, so we brought Flat Stanley with us! 
Alex and Leah were so excited to get a meal on an airplane. Their flight experience is limited to Southwest Airlines, where you get a 1/2 drink and a bag of peanuts. Their enthusiasm wore off as they tasted each portion but left the better part uneaten. None of us finished the food. It was NOT good. Sadly that was our “last supper” unless you count the bad Chinese food.
I had been asleep but the sharp scent of beef and broccoli woke me up and I realized that 2 boxes of Chinese food were still under our seats. I hit the “Call” button numerous times but everyone must be asleep. I grabbed the cartons and set them on my tray table. Immediately, sleeping eyes all around us shot open and our neighbors were rubbernecking to locate the offending odor. (oops!) I think my popularity went down a notch.
Right now Derek is reading a book. Alex is drawing in his journal. Leah is watching “Robots” and Aaron is watching “Wedding Crashers”. The movie on the first flight was “Balls of Fury”. We didn’t watch it. The first movie on the second flight was “Balls of Fury”… we still didn’t watch it.
I am looking forward for the next day!
How is Leah doing with her broken thumb? Is it getting better?
I look forward to reading more of these.
Thanks for taking the time to write this for us. Can’t wait for more.
Oh, I can’t wait to read the rest of these entries! Thank you!
How exciting! I can’t wait to read more!!
I am going to Africa this summer with my church, and have really enjoyed reading your journals about it. I was wondering where you bought the skirts to wear? I can’t seem to find any simple ones that are reasonalby priced. Thank you!
I found my skirts and Leah’s on EBay. I searched “cotton skirt” and “linen skirt” and our sizes. I was able to get the for a couple of dollars each.
[...] Ghana Journal 2008 [...]
Rachel, I am a Ghanaian living in the US, state of Connecticut. In one of my web adventures, I fortunately came across your video about your visit to some Ghanaian deaf scools. I realy enjoyed your exceptional relationship with the students. It was to me really appreciable. It would be unkind if I do not write to commend you about the good work done. Many of such children needs help and kind people like you could help make their dreams come through.
Thank you very much Rachel, for the good work done.