Merry Chritmas

(just quoting)

and a Happy New Year!

from Ghana

Stuff we've been doing

we had a little housewarming

we went to Tafi – eight of us went to Tafi, an incredible landscape. we hiked in the jungle, swam in waterfalls, drank coffee, dark local coffee, and fed bananas to mona monkeys.

polo!

we went to Keta, for the installation of the paramount chief

and relaxation

and cowboy hats

(details to follow)

A walk around our neighbourhood

on my morning dog walk the sun rises through the harmattan

across the creek at the bottom of our street

a miniscule patch of green grass in a sea of red sand

a variation of a ubiquitous sign. usually these read 'don't urinate here'. these people take it up a notch and have a force field

Chai finally taught a Ghanaian dog how to play

some urban development

I think a Scottish guy lives here

corner stores (and every corner has several) are usually metal containers, dropped in place and personalized

Things That Grow at Our House

we got corn. it just sprouts up wherever

and a couple climbing passion fruit

but also baby plantain

and new coconuts

pretty pretty morning glory

this is the hammer we used to string the lines for the morning glory

this is C’s garden. onions, tomato, aubergine

this is C’s garden without the dog.

Things we eat

from campus at citi-veg. cost about 10 cedis ($6-7) 

joy juice. really.

local flavours: dried red chilis, honey (local is dark like molasses); dawa dawa flakes (fire into stews to build a smoky taste); volta river salt.

plantain: grill, add lime juice. sublime

this is what 1L clean water looks like

zee nuts

critters get fish

All about our house

this is a picture of us

this is a good picture of our new house

this is the gate and yellow wall around our house
 

this is us moving to the new house

get a life, shroud of turin. anna-marie sweats a happy face on her back

there is a boys’ house at our house (behind the dog). that is what they call a bunky here

four people live in our boy’s house. it has a bathroom and 2 other rooms. 

C & his wife S.  he is a gardener. she sells roast plantain. they help us a great deal with the house and neighbourhood

They have 2 kids. M 10 & K 9

G also lives with us. she is a national service student in the philosophy dept.  G has a couple rooms & a separate entrance. before she moved in with us she traveled by tro-tro 2-3hr trips between home & campus.  

inside is space for yoga

and we cook

there are no water pipes in our neighbourhood; our water is delivered to us

this is our mosquito net

this cat found us. its the smallest cat ever, a stump. it lives in the yard

same same red goat