WOW!

Plane ride to Ghana: not fun. It was SO long, and my dad and I were next to this very unhappy baby who wouldn't stop screaming and. . . yeah. Not fun. My dad managed a couple hours of sleep, and I managed a few minutes. The last couple hours of the flight was awful, and I stayed true to my recent habit of always getting motion sickness. So as my dad was waiting to turn in our landing forms, I put a few of the "Delta In-flight Motion Sickness" bags to use. Joy beyond all end. After clearing all of the official steps and getting our luggage, we were way happy to turn the corner and see Ben and Narteh, both sporting their Empower Playgrounds hats. Oh, and I forgot to mention that while in New York, my dad and I both had to go buy sweatshirts. It was cold and rainy, and we needed them for the chilly plane ride anyway. Needless to say that in ninety degree weather with major humidity, the sweatshirts came off faster than Ghanaians selling food surround an oncoming car. . . :)

After a short drive, we stopped at the hotel that my dad and I are staying at to drop off our luggage and straighten up. It's pretty nice; we were happy to test the shower and see that it actually worked! We then headed off on a two hour drive to the school where they were installing a playground today. On the way, we bought some bread (which is AMAZING) from a girl on the street. When we got to the school, I immediately felt like I had a neon sign over my head that said, "Stare at me!!!" For most of the people in the village, I was the first white girl (" old brunie" is their term for white person) they had ever seen. All of the kids were pretty shy at first until I reached out to give one of them a high five. Instantly dozens of kids were reaching out (and pushing and shoving each other out of the way) to grab hold of my hand. My skin looks as white as computer paper when it's next to theirs.

I was just marveling at the madness and really enjoying the whole thing until one of their teachers (all of their teachers walk around with large sticks or branches to whack any unruly students) came over and said, "Be careful, don't tear her skin!" I thought that he was kidding, but when I looked up, I realized that this was one of those teachers who never jokes. Ever. All of the little kids pulled their hands back, and I saw that, under the pressure of all their little hands, I hadn't felt their fingernails digging into my skin. I have battle wounds. After a few minutes of them just staring at me, I took out my video camera and taped them. A few waved, but none of them completely realized what it was.

Then I turned the screen around so that they could see what I was filming. Then they went NUTS. (I'll post video later.) All of them wave and yell; they just all want to see themselves on camera.

After a while, I sat down to rest for a few minutes. I looked around and noticed that a group of kids were all trying to imitate what I was doing. So that turned into a game of facial expressions. The little kids laughed and laughed at me moving my eyebrows, flaring my nostrils, and moving my eyebrows. It was fun.

The merry-go-round was installed in just a few hours, and instantly dozens and dozens of kids piled on it to play.

After a while the teachers tore all of them off of it and we listened to the headmaster of the school, the minister of education, and a few others speak, and the girls danced. . . I even joined in! (Again, I'll post video later) My dad got to "cut the ribbon", (take off the blanket) on the merry-go-round, and the ceremony was complete. They presented Ben and Narteh with a sheep--or a goat, I still don't know how to tell them apart here. I'll say sheep--to thank them for their service. They then treated us to "biscuits and minerals"--crackers and soda. (And yes, Trevor, they do have Coca-Cola here).

We had dinner at a chinese restaurant, and my dad and I are now looking for a new hotel for a series of reasons, which I might talk about later. For now, I'm signing off. Please comment! -Jazmyn