The snowballs' chance in H-E-double-hockey-stick

There are so many things to write about, I'm not sure which to start with; the heat, the Hammattan winds, the kind people, the languages, the way they are spoiling me, every topic needs it's own post. We'll have to do a couple of posts per week until I get used to everything and the newness wears away. Hopefully I don't pepper my followers too much these next few weeks, sorry everyone!

Lets talk about heat first, since it dominated most of my thinking last week. Here's some basic info on the weather in Ghana.

 Here are the top 5 things I like about the heat in Ghana:
5. You can depend upon it. This is not like the weather in Idaho, where if you don't like it, wait five minutes and it'll change. This is weather that's pretty much consistent all day, and all week.  It's also not like the sunshine in Idaho, where you look outside and notice how beautiful and sunny everything is and decide to take the children for a walk, only to actually walk around the corner and feel the cold wind, making you wish you'd ignored the sunshine and bundled everyone well. This sunshine is hot. Always. It makes choosing what to wear very simple: preferably as little as possible. If you can't sit around in your underwear, go for something loose, thin, billowy. Helps wick away the sweat that trickles down your neck, back, thighs, and underarms. Emmanuel mentioned some places in Ghana, during certain times of the year it'll cool down and I'll want a sweater or jacket, so I packed some of my cold weather clothes too. I'm not sure I believe him anymore. I have a feeling I will never ever shiver in this country. Maybe a local will shiver if it get down to 65 degrees...but not me. I'm giving the sweaters away.

4. It encourages good hygiene! I used to get kind of lax when it came to bathing the children; back in the States I'd let them go a few days between baths; they just didn't get dirty. But here, the heat and high humidity make me want to bathe twice, maybe three times a day, so they get bathed a lot more too. Which they probably need, since they're more exposed to dirt and germs here.

3. There are cosmetic benefits. The moisture is great for my skin (no more dry chapped hands, sorry moms in Idaho!). And really, I kind of like humidity, it feels better to me than a blistering dry desert heat. Dante and Iris look better too, since their hair seems to recognize it's homeland and has curled into tight little curls. In Idaho I could only accomplish that right after they'd had their baths and it didn't even last all day. They get cuter all the time.

2.It produces delicious tropical fruit! Mangos, pineapples, plantain, bananas, avocado, watermelon, limes, papaya, all kinds of yummy things. All available from your local street hawker as they carry the fruits down the street, balanced in a bowl on their heads. Amazing.

This hawker is selling bread rolls. That's a bus there next to her, called a "Tro-Tro."

1. I'm getting used to it. Slowly but surely, finding a way to cool down doesn't dominate my motives the way it used to.

The other night I actually felt cool and comfortable even. Then when I woke up and triumphantly boasted how well I'm adapting, Marion (my Sister in Law) told me it was the Hammattan wind blowing through the country that came late this year. I guess this isn't the hottest month. Those months are coming...


Fortunately I'm blessed with a refrigerator, freezer, and air conditioner, and sun screen, so I really have nothing to complain about!