So, today was market day, when our brave team of 12 ventured into the downtown area of Accra to go shopping, accompanied only by our brave guide, Moses.
as an introduction, you should all know that beginning August 1st, Ghana introduced a new currency, the Ghana Cedi. This New Cedi is worth 10,000 of the old Cedis... and it's about $.93 to a Ghana Cedi. So all day today we're dealing with 3 different currency's in our own minds... it was very confusing!
shopping in Ghana is nothing like shopping in California. Nothing has a price tag and everything is negotiable. We all learned a very valuable trick: walking away. :) After you've offered the price you're willing to pay, if it isn't acceptable, you just turn and start walking away, and suddenly the vendor is more than willing to comply with your pricing. it's definately nothing like Target.
We also were able to get some sight-seeing in today. We went to the University of Ghana, which was HUGE! and beautiful. we took a couple of pictures overlooking the city, it looked pretty incredible. I got totally turned around, but Moses was able to point us in the direction of Medina, where we're staying.
We also drove through the "beverly hills" of accra, by the current president's house (which was guarded by police) and the French embassy. There was one house we were all pretty impressed with, it looked new. We were informed that house (which was two stories and about as big as the houses near Day Creek would only be around $200,000 US dollars... we all contemplated moving to Ghana. :)
Tonight we practiced some songs to sing in the church tomorrow. I'm pretty sure we've settled on "Shout to the Lord" and "Amazing Grace/Jesus Loves Me." We have to get up in front of the congregation tomorrow and introduce ourselves... It feels a little like we're some kids show and tell project.
Tomorrow is all about church. There is a Bible study at 9:00 and service at 10:00. After service, we're going to take Loretta, Ama, Miss Kate (and i hope her kiddos) and Moses out to lunch to celebrate Loretta's birthday. Then we're hoping to shuttle soccer camp supplies over to the school in preparation for Monday (we're expecting kiddos to start showing up around 8:00, so we have to be ready!)
hope you're all having a FABULOUS weekend, and that you enjoy tomorrow's gatherings at Flipside!
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