A New Chapter

Its been 3 years since the last entry... Trinidad was just too much fun: the beautiful beaches; boat trips down the islands (or "DDI" as they say); the sweet SOCA music that gets your body moving; the amazing people of the islands; ...Carnival ah yes, Carnival... "The Greatest party on Earth"; and my personal favorite vice - the rum. Everything was just so perfect and flowed so smoothly on a daily basis, like we were meant to be there, made it so that we never seemed to have time to come back to this blog and make an entry. It was a big party, it was fun, you can check our Facebook pages and you'll see and maybe feel what it was... Needless to say, T&T is a must visit for every person, it is an amazing place! We will be back one day, we made too many good friends there not to have permanent links.

Moving on to 2014 and 15.....

Our family has accepted another posting, this one is in Seoul, South Korea. We moved into this fantastic little housing complex called "Yunhee Manor" this summer. It is located in an area called Seodaemun-gu ('gu' is for municipality), next to Ansan mountain. Ansan is filled with wonderful hiking trails and viewpoints of the City. The complex also has a great little playground for the kids and is literally located right next to their new school SFS (Seoul Foreign School). An old and prestigious American International school of the highest standards within Korea, and if you haven't heard about how important the education system is in Korea, this school is the epitome of it. We'll get more into our struggles with the education system later.

(Charles) Korea for me is an interesting adventure, it starts a new chapter not only because I have received a promotion, but it is my second time living in Korea. The first being when I was 21 years old as an English teacher. This makes living here sometimes feel like a déja vue for me... and one nice thing I haven't seen for a while: SNOW!!!

When you live as an expat, you come to understand that there are emotional cycles associated with the process of integration that you need to go through before accepting a new place as your home. This is usually a 6 to 8 month process where you go through many phases such as the honeymoon, where everything is new and exciting, the quest, trying to explain why you are there, the acceptance, of the new place for its differences, and finally, the integration, where you feel comfortable in your new home. Laura took pre-posting training in Ottawa before we left for Ghana years ago, and this was an integral part of what they taught spouses going off on first mission. As this is my second time in Korea, I believe that this process has been shortened quite a bit.  The honeymoon phase this time around is shorter for me. I bike to work when I can. Work is extremely busy, I'm the boss now, lots to do.  I've started playing squash again in a league at a prestigious Club called the 'Seoul Club'.  I'm not a member of the Seoul Club, but I did inquire on the costs to join, just for fun... a $76,000 US deposit (returned to you minus 10%), plus $300 monthly, and an extra $150 in food & drink expenditure need to be spent on a monthly basis to retain membership.  A hefty price to pay!  But I do enjoy the company and the competition at squash.  Rebuilding my skills, I won the last game, not doing too bad.  Laura also has me doing Crossfit on Saturday mornings after E&C's soccer.     

  (Laura) So many friends and family have been asking me how we're doing, 'how's life in Korea?!' I apologize for not being in touch but I'm finally feeling better now. The cherry blossoms are blooming and it's just beautiful.  It only took 8 months... We've each been through our ups and downs in Korea, and that's understandable considering how much of a MAJOR change Seoul is from the Trini lifestyle of beaches, limes & friends... E&C ask me every few weeks when we can go back. Trinidad is their home. It's all they know.

Coming to Korea was very difficult for me at the beginning. I wasn't sure what my purpose was or where I was needed after we arrived. We came here with in mind that 1) the girls would be going to the French Lycée and 2) I would be able to work as a nurse on the American military base in Yongsan. Since, we've discovered that both would be impossible. The Lycée was supposedly at maximum capacity for French students, turning away even native French speakers, and we later found out that they do not even hire non-American or non-Korean nurses on base. I later found out from another Canadian nurse also on posting here, that they don't even hire Canadian nurses anywhere in Korea because our license and education (BSN) are not recognized AT ALL. I was dumbfounded! And a bit at a loss. So, I started going to a nearby gym and hiking the mountain behind our house. I'm now taking a Korean language class that will be done in about 2 weeks and is going well. I can read signs and understand what they are saying in the bus and subway so that helps a lot. Especially when dealing with local merchants on the streets, in stores, at the hair salon, etc. I've been doing some seasonal invigilating for university students' exams at the Embassy, and have also started subbing teaching at the school which is a fulfilling experience to be with the students. These help keep me busy and earn a bit of extra cash. The cost of living in Korea is much higher than we originally anticipated it would be. So any extra income we can earn is welcome.   

So some of you may remember Snowy, our cat in Trinidad... Unfortunately, we decided to leave her behind with a loving family and friends' of ours, Chloe's auntie at pre-school. With this exchange came a (not-so-smart) promise we made to E&C that they could each get a new kitten when we came to Korea. Maybe we should of thought that one through a bit better... But neways, the girls are in love with their new kittens Blue and Cuddles. Welcome to the family boys! (PS: Never take your kids with you when shopping for a new pet - they jump on the first one they see and Velcro themselves to it!).  For Charles and I, they've been a major pain in the derrière, with all-kinds of "purebred" health problems (we never had troubles like these with our little bastards Napo and Loki).  Although they are very cute and good company, they've been somewhat of a source of frustration for me.  I like my house to be neat and clean.  They keep pooping in other spots than their litter box.  Blue has had ear mites, an eye infection, fungus (ringworm) on his claws and skin, and something like a cold - which the vet is attributing to Feline Herpes that's supposedly incurable. Cuddles is a fluffy Persian, and just looks annoyed all the time.  So that's where a lot of our energy has been going into trying to get them healthy.  They are doing much better now. We've put them back on the healthier, more costly cat food, and I recently bought a second litter box... needless to say, they are happier and pampered now.  The inappropriate pooping has stopped :)  But enough about them...

Eva is adapting slowly... Her personality has changed a bit since we first arrived here. She seems to be into the whole "BFF" thing and puts all her energy into one friend at a time, even though Charles and I have been explaining to her that it's important to be inclusive of others and have lots of friends since in this lifestyle of ours, they will come and go, as will we.  She just had a very close friend leave Seoul four weeks ago and she was very upset about that... She now clings to her one expat friend (a sweet German girl, who's father works for a Korean cie. that deals in explosives) at school.  Well, more like they cling to each other.  It seems as though in her class there are "cliques" of Korean girls and expat girls. The only problem is that the school is almost 80% Korean so that doesn't leave Eva with much choice. We've been pushing her to get closer to some of the boys in her classroom, if it's too difficult to integrate the girls but she has been reluctant to say the least.  And so, the "Pre- Pre-Teen" mind-games begin, I guess!! Anyways, we are confident that she will be OK.  She has good days and bad, like all of us. On a positive side, her character is somewhat insensitive (like her father), so that's good because these things don't seem to upset her too much.  But I know her all too well, like a tinier version of myself.  

Back to talking about our struggles with the education system in Korea.  E&C go to SFBS (Seoul Foreign British School), the British side of SFS.  The reason we sent them to the British side was because they had French language instruction as a second language for Eva.  Chloe is taking Mandarin as a second language (our little half-Chinese speaking baby!).  Unfortunately, Eva has not been able to attend any second language classes because she is still in the process of catching up.  It's incredible what the Koreans do with their children's innocent childhood...  Fun, play time, learning through play...  NO WAY!  It's practically non-existent.  Every minute of every day, whether on holiday or after-school and on weekends, Korean children are expected to study and be schooled on various topics like piano, mathematics, English literacy, and many others.  There are thousands of institutions across the nation dedicated to this purpose called "hogwons", and thousands of English teachers brought in from overseas to be employed by the latter.  Sometimes I wonder if they are more like an added babysitter service so that some parents don't have to take care of their children.  With this in mind, Eva's schooling is slowly progressing but we've been told by her learning support educators that she still has to work hard to catch up to the same level as the rest of her fellow classmates, especially in maths and literacy.  I have to point out that Eva can think up and write a page-long story, she can independently read a short novel, in math she is doing multiplications, simple algebra, and has now started short divisions. She's in Year 3, the equivalent of grade 2 at SFBS. She's 7 going on 8 years old... really... how much can you push a child?  Actually at our last parent-teacher meeting, they told us that she would never catch up to the same level as some of her classmates and that she would require learning support every year as long as we were posted here.  Chloe doesn't have this problem because she is starting school within the system.  She's 4 going on 5, and can already read small sentences, write her name in full and count up to 20.  Brilliant!

Chloe is great. Such a sweet little girl always seeking approval from her older sister.  She's very sensitive, unlike Eva, and takes things personally, especially if you laugh around her.  She may get upset if she thinks you are laughing at her when really you are not.  But like Eva at that age, she is happy to play with just about anyone, and has lots of friends in her Foundation class.  She is doing very well at school and in general here in Seoul but she still talks about 'going back to Trinidad and staying there forever.  Like that everything will be perfect'.  Ahhh, sweet and innocent.  She doesn't really understand the concept of being on posting.  She loves to sing and dance, and make people happy.  Maybe I'm biased but she'll always be my baby.

So that's it for now, but we will have more for you coming soon... They call Korea 'The land of the morning calm' and with a population of 50 million, any quiet moment is welcome.  Plenty of new and exciting places to explore and things to see.  For us, this chapter is just beginning... So Stay tuned. 

C,L,E,C                   

Maracas Beach

Forgot to add these pictures and video of the girls at the beautiful beach only 20 minutes away from our house... just as a bit of a tease in case you were wondering whether or not you should come visit ;)

Love, C, L, E & Chlo

Livin’ the lime life

After a wonderful summertime in Montreal and Gatineau, good weather, fun times with family and friends, and a great few weeks spent in my parents’ ‘’Full House’’, we were finally ready for our big move to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in the Caribbean islands, also known as the West Indies. Everyone has been asking us how it’s been going since we’ve arrived in Trinidad, and all I can say is 'so far so good'. Coming from life in Ghana, anything will be easier. I now feel like some sort of a travel veteran (even though I am not, and have not seen as much as many), but that's what Africa will do to you. As most of you know, Ghana was a difficult country to get comfortable with for me in the beginning, but as time passed I did start to feel more at home and at ease with the whole idea of 'expat life' and made many dear friends that I now miss very

much. Eva misses her little friends too quite a bit but she'll be ok. It’s a special way of life to get used to, especially for someone like me who has always worked, is used to being a part of the workforce, and who is now a ‘housewife’ or spouse. I am still torn about whether or not I like it. Now, we start a new life on our second diplomatic posting in T&T. Good thing about experiencing a move like this the second time around everything goes faster because you know what you are doing and you are better prepared (psychologically). You know what to expect. Although it is a new country with different customs and culture, and things are not always what they seem.

We landed at 5am on a Thursday in Port of Spain, Trinidad. A High Commission driver brought us to our new house in Maraval, in the East end of the City. Sleepy and dazed, the sights we were able to take in, while the girls slept in the van, were breathtaking. A warm haze covered the city and there were mountainous tropical rain-forests all around us. It was humid, so humid you could breathe it in. This is what we live in now I thought, and for the next three years. So we arrived at our house, tucked away in a private nook called Fairways Close. First thing you see through the fenced-in gate is the pool and the huge white front patio. Awesome, we thought. We went for a dip as soon as the girls awoke from their nap. Inside, the view from our house is truly beautiful. We are located right on the mountain-side with flowers, palm trees, all kinds of tropical vegetation and birds visible. When I say tropical birds, I mean tropical, beautiful, colourful birds of all kinds. We have a ton of perroquets that come a fly around and ‘caw’ in the late afternoon. We have a mango tree and a lime tree (that actually belong to our neighbour, who have given us the blessing to eat the fruits) already giving us lots of produce right now, during the rainy season. Security is tight; guards come regularly by pickup truck on patrol, 24-hrs a day. We are also very close to the beach, much closer than in Accra. The closest swimmable beach is 20mins away called ‘Maracas Beach’. We’ve had the opportunity to go on several occasions already with our crappy rental car we’ve been using until we get our newly-ordered Nissan X-Trail. On the Sunday, only three days after arriving, friends and neighbours of ours, also Canadian who are with the High Commission and who have two young girls close to Eva’s age, brought us to the beach and introduced us to a few friends. It was great fun. People here are really welcoming and kind.

As I was saying, second time around things happen faster, and we seem to be more and better organized. Eva has already started school at the International School of Port-of-Spain, in Westmoorings (at the West end of the City). Her first day was on the Monday right after we arrived. We even managed to organize her daily transportation, a sort of private taxi service or pseudo-‘school bus’ by a family-run business called Mr Jeffrey, to and from school every day. This is very helpful for me because otherwise I would have to become a full-time ‘chauffeuse’ to this gang. As it is I have to bring Charles to and fro work every day, luckily it’s not too far and there are back roads we can take to avoid traffic.

And now, Chloe is going to daycare 3 times a week, to and fro, as well as a baby group once a week. So that’s plenty of driving around for me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we’ve had to familiarize ourselves quickly with driving on the other side of the road. Charles had the experience of driving on the left side of the road in South Africa when we were there on vacation in May. Honestly, it has been fine for me getting accustomed to driving with the wheel on the right. When you don’t have a choice, you get used to it faster I think. Otherwise I would be stuck at home all day and I can’t be bothered with that. I also mentioned that we signed Chloe up for daycare near our house at a place called Casa de Bambini. This place was recommended to me by another good friend. I believe it offers some of the best care for Chloe in town, they also run a Montessori school for older children. It’s not cheap but it’s very nice and the ‘aunties’ are reliable, CPR-trained and very experienced. Anyways, Chloe will be going 3 days a week, 8 to 1:30pm for now, until I find some work then we will see. I think the girls have been adjusting well to their new environment and home. If anything it has made them closer to each other. They are really close now, have been playing together more, and seem to genuinely love each other. People always say children adapt even faster than parents do. That was all part of my plan.

Eva enjoys school but is very tired at the end of her jam-packed day of lessons and activities. They really keep them busy all day, she has actual lessons and a curriculum up on our fridge, like a big girl! One day in the life of Eva at present for example: Up at 5:50am, eat breakfast & brush teeth before her ‘school bus’ arrives, Mr Jeffrey, at 6:45am, first class Language Arts, 2nd Math, then 30min break, 3rd and 4th lessons in the Learning Centre, then Lunch, followed by 5th class Cooking and 6th Phonics, ending at 2pm but she only gets home just before 3pm because of traffic and dropping off the other kids on the ‘bus’. Crazy, huh? for a 4 year-old! I was worried at first but I think she’s getting used to it all and making friends at school. There are also other classes on her schedule like Spanish, Media (where they do intro to computers), PE, Town Meeting, and Parent Story Time and Crafts. But they seem to do Math and Language Arts almost every day. On Thursdays she also has Gymnastics after-school from 2:30 to 3:30pm. We also plan on signing her up for swimming lessons, probably on Saturday mornings, asap. I know it sounds like a lot but Eva’s a tough cookie, she can handle it, and it is better for her to stay busy.

Another thing I have really been enjoying so far is tasting all the awesome Caribbean food: their local ‘trini treats’ like pickled mango (yum!) and tamarind balls, and street foods, like the famous-at-the-beach ‘Shark and bake’, ‘doubles’ and roti, and corn soup. This is something we could not do at all in Ghana and I regret now, because of issues with food hygiene and handling, we were at high risk of becoming seriously ill (and, as some of you remember, Charles and I even did experience becoming ill on several occasions). There’s a lot more Caribbean food left for us to taste and experiment, so I am excited about trying as much as I can. One thing I have come to really like too now are testing the various hot sauces on sample. You can find all types here and put them on anything and everything you can imagine  Need I say more? Charles is in paradise. Not so good for the girls because they are not accustomed to spicy food, but maybe their palates will develop a taste for small amounts of ‘pepper’ like the locals call it, as time passes.

Good news about both our Sea shipments from Montreal including all the stuff we bought at Costco, Loblaws and some items I added from IKEA, as well as the bulk of our stuff, coming from GHana, it will be arriving at our house this Friday, so that’s great! We already received our first Air shipment from Ghana a few weeks ago, with the kids’ beds, our TV and other electronics and important stuff. Looking forward to getting ALL our stuff though, so we can start decorating and feeling more at home here in this giant white house. We were even playing with the idea of painting a little bit, a few walls throughout the house here and there. So we may still do that to add a bit of life to our home in the meantime. Once the house is a bit more presentable, we will be happy to host a few parties, or ‘limes’ as they say here.

I’m keeping myself busy of course, joined the baby group here ‘Busy Bees’ almost immediately with Chloe; as well as the CWC (Canadian Women’s Club of T&T) to meet people and socialize. I haven’t had a chance to do a whole lot of employment research yet, although I did apply online to one posting for Abbott pharmaceuticals as a sales rep but did not hear anything back. I would like to start investigating more seriously for work opportunities in the next few weeks, but I am not rushing into anything that I may regret. I’m hoping to find something not too stressful, work in a doctor’s office or clinic, doing a contract or part-time work on a project in the public health sector or with an NGO. It may be a tall order. We will see what happens, I have three years. Right now the priority is getting settled with the girls and Charles in our new home, and getting comfortable here. We’ve also started running again here. I go for about 25-30mins early in the morning 4 times a week, with a friend. Charles goes in the evening. We even started running together, with Eva & Chloe in the super-stroller, last Saturday morning around the Savannah Park downtown Port of Spain. It was great and the girls enjoyed being out and the fresh air. We are very excited about my mom & aunt Vicky coming to visit us in October. Charles is leaving for a week to go to conference for work in Ottawa, so they are coming to help with the girls and visit T&T. We are planning to bring them to Tobago for a long weekend before Charles leaves.

Anyways, after a long day at the beach, I am tired and going to have to say Good Night and until next blog! XO

From 2010 to 2011...

Bonjour à tous,

Well it’s been 4 months or so since the last blog update, figured we should be providing a bit of news on what’s going on here in Ghana. First things first, Charles’ parents came to visit us at the end of November for 21 days, we had a great time and doing things together again was really enjoyable. We toured around Accra and discovered a bit more of Ghana as well. The first thing Charles & his dad did when they arrived was go visit the area where used motorcycles are sold. That’s right, as crazy as it sounds, they bought a bike ‘’a cool little 250cc’’, a Honda Clubman, it seems to be a model that was sold exclusively to the Japanese market. Charles has been riding it ever since and he seems to be enjoying it especially in traffic where he can zig-zag through the cars and go in between trucks to get through. He says the trick to riding a bike here is that you cannot hesitate, others will see once you are committed, and you have to integrate yourself with the flow of traffic. I've heard him say more than once: "It’s a heart pumping adrenaline rush just to ride through traffic here". Going back to why we bought the motorcycle in the first place, other than for fun, we needed an additional means of transportation to go on our vacation to Axim, on the West coast of Ghana, almost in Ivory Coast. Axim has amazing beaches, beautiful scenery and some good resorts. We stayed in one of the most expensive resorts in Ghana, the Lou Moon Lodge. A European style resort that was made to look like something out of the Flintstones but very nice, with AC in each room and spacious. Everything was made in a cement-like structure or clay, we loved the style. Here are some pictures to show you. The beach at this resort was inside a bay so there were no waves (!), which was great for Eva and to do some snorkelling (we saw a giant multicoloured fish, Charles’s dad saw a couple of octopus and lots of little tropical fish). Unfortunately, after the second day at the hotel, tar balls started to show up on the bay’s shore and in the water which was somewhat upsetting! They came from an oil rig/ships ejecting their fuel/oil at large. Charles and Eva both got some on their legs and it had to be washed off with paint thinner. Needless to say, this process was not a very enjoyable thing to have done because the paint thinner burns when you scrub it onto your skin. It did however make us ponder on Ghana’s ability to control the offshore drilling that started this year. Ghana has become, in 2010, the newest oil producing country with the development of numerous oil rigs offshore. It is a mixed blessing they say with several environmental and political questions ahead: How will they be able to control the environment? How will they make sure that oil revenues are not at the expense of destroying the livelihood of others like fishermen or farmers? Hopefully, the government of Ghana will be able to impose some rules and not leave it to corruption. Nigeria, a neighbouring country, has had oil for decades and this has made it one of the richest countries in Africa, but with one of the highest disparity status between rich and poor. Oil can be a curse if it is not managed well. Anyway, the other side of the resorts’ beach that was not in the bay was free of oil and other debris, and was fine to swim in.

We had a great time, we stayed there 5 nights and then went down to stay in Busua Beach (an hours’ drive East of Axim, back towards Accra), this was our second time there. It is considered THE surf beach of Ghana as the waves here are more regular and can be used for surfing even thought they are the equivalent of Edelweiss ski hill vs. the Alps in France, but great for beginners. This is Laura’s favourite beach spot so far. It was great, we stayed at a little French inn, where the food is fantastic. We then came back to Accra for a few days, and then Charles stayed behind a few weeks while I went with his parents and the girls back to Belgium.

We had a great time in Belgium, lots of snow and good times. I enjoyed doing some shopping for Eva and Chloe for some summer clothing, but didn’t find much since it was winter. We left a lot of it in Canada and Ghana does not seem to have any clothes applicable for temperatures under 15 degrees. Charles left Ghana to come and join us on December 23rd, and had a bit of a rough time trying to get home on time for the holidays. We were a little worried as most of Europe had been shut down due to air travel delays and snow storms. Unfortunately, he did get stuck in Frankfurt for 10 hours, finally managing to get to his parents’ house on Christmas eve at 20:00 hours. He was exhausted. Belgium was a great holiday away from the third world, lots of good food, the girls played in the snow tons. Charles and his dad made a big slide in the backyard, they managed to turn it into some sort of bobsleigh and were competing on who could go the farthest. We think they made some sort of "village record" for the longest distance of a slide coming off a balcony. Eva really enjoyed sliding, she was screaming and laughing, she quickly stopped complaining about getting dressed up for the snow when she realized she’d get to slide!

Chloe has been a good baby, very different than Eva at her age. As most of you remember, Eva had terrible colics as a baby up until 7 months of age. We are thankful that Chloe has had none, is always smiling and rarely cries. Now, at almost 8 months of age, she has started acting funny at night, waking up around 3 or 3:30 am, completely awake and ready to 'party" for some odd reason... She used to sleep most of her nights but has reversed now! I guess they go through phases right? At least she doesn’t mind staying in bed with us, playing with toys and things quietly without complaining, and gives us an extra hour of rest early in the morning. She’s also a daytime power napper – 20 to 30 minutes tops! Can’t miss out on any action! She is now eating very well too, she wants to eat just like us as she attempts to take food out of plates and hands every chance she gets! And, some more big news in Chloe’s world: she just started crawling! She wiggles her body to get into a crawling position, gets her legs moving under her, and she’s off! Of course to get to this skill level she had to do a few face plants. Face plants in our house are problematic as most of our floors are made of marble, definitely a hard substance to crash into. (Fyi, after years of bad maintenance the marble is not that nice-looking anymore, so none of this OMG MARBLE!). But she’s a fast learner, and is even trying to pull herself up to standing position on the edges of furniture and chairs. She is growing pretty fast, seems to be quite tall compared to Eva – I think she will be taller – and, is very vocal, says a lot of ‘’mamamama’’ when hungry, and Charles thinks she’s now started the ‘’dadada’’ phase, but I can’t confirm that :P I also bring her to the British Baby group "Tiny Feet" on Wedn. mornings for a bit of bebe socialization; she seems to like it and usually crashes to sleep for an hour as soon as we get home.

Eva has been a great big sister. She loves Chloe and always asks if she will come with us places, or be there when I pick her up after daycare. She is starting to get excited about moving, and has been asking about her new school and house a lot. Once in Port-of-Spain, she will start Pre-Kindergarten at the International School or Port of Spain (ISPS). I just sent off all the paperwork this week (a big package of medical, registration and school recommendation forms, with passport pictures on top of that). Eva’s pretty excited about starting and making new friends! She's in for a surprise when she finds out that it's going to be blue & white uniforms ONLY once she starts there! That should pass well! (right!) Her hair wont stop growing, and she refuses to tie it uo nowadays. She's like a lion with a dark mane! I guess she has to live up to her astrological sign of Leo. Eva's also getting taller and has lost most of hair baby fat in her face now. She's a wonderful, beautiful & her own unique little person, and we are sooo greatful to have her sharing in our daily lives :)

Now, we are definitely in pre-posting mode, we have found out where we are going next and are getting ready to move. Eva is already very excited to be taking a plane and going to a new school. We are happy with this new destination, I expect more visits from friends and family. You’ll have a better chance at enjoying all kinds of different activities to do in South America or Caribbean, and you’re all invited to come do the carnivals, the diving, the swimming with turtles, the sailing from island to island, which will all be possible at our new home in Port of Spain, in dreamy Trinidad-Tobago. We are going to be there for at least 3 years and it should be very nice, we are very excited to spend some more time in the Caribbean. We were last there on our honeymoon visiting the islands from a cruise ship, and paid a fortune to be in that area of the world. Life is ironic at times..

I have to say, we did not sell Ghana very well for visitors but there was a reason, the tourism here is almost nonexistent and very difficult. Ghanaians have a very interesting relation with selling goods in their country to foreigners. For example, Charles went the other day to buy a bag of charcoal for the BBQ, we have been buying it in the stores and it is very expensive, 3 kg will come to about $8.00. Whereas if you buy a bag on the street, you pretty much have the same quality of charcoal for $15.00 for 25kg, the difference is very significant and worth the extra trip. So, Charles found a lady who had bags of the stuff to sell. He approached her to ask how much it was, she replied 18GHc, roughly $14.00. He said: ‘’Great, I’ll take one’’. She asked him where his bag for the charcoal was?... this lady would not sell the coal without a bag from the buyer. She didn’t seem to know how much it cost to buy one and did not seem too inclined to figure it out. Understand that we’re talking about a big potato sac here, the kind that you do kids’ races in! She basically turned around and started leaving because obviously, she would not be able to sell to a man who did not have his own sac. It’s a very interesting technique in marketing and salesmanship: you require that your customer have a certain item but you will not let him purchase this item from you. This situation happens fairly often and can be very frustrating to anyone not used to the concept. This is an example of cultural differences were had there been a personal relationship between Charles and the lady, she might have sold the charcoal to him with the sac because she knew him. But really, who has the time to start a conversation, create a relationship and develop an understanding with all the people you need to buy from? ...and if its this difficult, as if you'd ever go back? ;-) In any case, Charles had to beg her to sell him the damn bag, she even called her provider who called another guy to finally get a quote on the cost of an empty bag! Crazy! Total cost: $1.00, and the cost of 20 minutes of his time harassing a woman unwilling to sell her coal that she has for sale! These things are frustrating as we do not understand why they do this or their reasoning, but it is the way in Ghana. Soo many people here are extremely friendly though, and charming when you get to know them (others are just lacking in education).

In any case, this post has been long enough, we are ready to move on to our next destination. We will surely miss our "auntie" in the house, Becky, who I don't know what I would do without, I'm sure the place would look like a pigsty, but I also can't wait to see our new house and set it up for us. We miss you all dearly and hope you are doing well. We greatly look forward to seeing some of you soon in T&T!!! Don't forget in February-MArch - it's the CaRnivaL in T&T, so if you want a big party, this is the time!

Cheers!!!! Laura, Charles, Eva, Chloe & Loki (the cat)