Blog Number 13
February 18, 2008

Whenever people think of funerals, no matter what the age of the person, most people automatically think of lots of crying, and an extremely sad event. This past weekend, we had the funeral for the roommate to Bright (my co-op) ‘s sister. She was 40 years old and passed away from the Chicken Pox. So I was fully prepared for this to be an extremely emotional day. So again we had to board the bus at 6:30am. However this week our journey wasn’t quite as long. We were only going about 45 kilometers from Accra to a village called Somanya. This village is where Auntie Agnes grew up, but I didn’t know that until Friday. So anyways, we got there extremely early and sat around for some time. Again a group of teachers all went, however this time, the teachers were much more of the younger teachers from the school. This ended up being the best part. Bright was busy most of the day helping out Tsatsu so we didn’t see him that much, but he continued to stop in to check to make sure that I was ok! He even introduced me to his mom and elder brother who came 2 hours for the funeral.
All day, us teachers just sat around, talked, ate and drank. There were girls who walked around carrying the jewelry that they make, these beautiful beads that are specialized in this region, and would customize bracelets to fit each person. One of the male teachers bought one for me. It turns out that the bracelet only cost 75 pesoes, which is about 75 cents! I couldn’t believe it!!! I ended up having to buy a few more sets!
Once the teachers rejoined the full group party, we were met with more drinking, and plenty of music and dancing. I was having a great time just watching and talking with one of the teachers, until one of the older male teachers grabbed me by both wrists and pulled me out onto the dance floor. Rather then fighting it and returning to my seat I decided to stay out and get a few African dance lessons. Almost immediately I was swallowed up in the midst of just about all of the older men and women at the funeral, all wanting to hold my hands, or show me how, or dance with me. Thankfully one of the other teachers grabbed my camera and got some pictures, because it truly was fun to be taken in by this crowd, demanding for my attention.
We didn’t end up leaving the party until about 5:40pm and returned just before 7:00pm to Accra. It was such a fun day, and definitely one of the best since I have been here.
Sunday was an extremely low-key day. Other then some wash and grocery shopping, I just hung out around the house. We had the rematch of football from last week, where Partey and I ended up beating Michael and Gaybril 20 to 19 in an intense 3.5-hour game played in 99-degree weather. I ended up tearing up the bottom of my feet because I played in my sandals, but it was TOTALLy worth the win and now the bragging rights around the house
School today was the same as many other Mondays. My Spelling lesson went really well and I taught the students another new game, but only after they finished their exercise that I gave. Also, Many of the teachers, including the head mistress, came up to me because they heard that I had such a good time at the funeral that I even got up to dance!! I confirmed what they heard, and reinforced how awesome the teachers treat me while I am with them.

Tonight the electricity and water are both out. I didn’t think to get my flashlight out before it got dark, so now I cannot find it! So I am lying in the pitch black, with no fan and am just about dying! It is SOOO hot tonight and absolutely no breeze!! Since the electricity has been out since early today, the fridge is no longer cool, which means I cannot even drink a cold glass of water! Ah nuts!!

Hope you are all enjoying the snow!
☺ Chelsea ☺