Settling in...sort of

Well a few things have changed since I last wrote. We now have a working stove AND food to cook, so that is a huge bonus (although going out to different beach side restaurants for dinner wasn't all bad either). We still don't have any running water, and we are starting to think that we just aren't going to ever have running water. It seems as though most houses in our little town called Teshie, don't have running water. In fact, some of the houses that we have seen don't even have sinks inside. Most of the houses have their own resevoirs of water with a tap on the side, just outside in their yard. They would bring all of their dishes to the yard, with buckets, to wash them there. They also handwash all of their laundry (which amazes me at an orphange with over 50 children) and we even saw some of the younger children bathing outside - I'm not sure if that is what the older children do or not, but I sure am thankful we have a bathroom, even if there is no running water. For now, and maybe for the rest of our time here, we are going to our neighbours yard to their well and drawing a few buckets of water so that we can at least have a bucket shower, clean our dishes, clean our house and hand wash our clothes and this seems to work just fine.

We are also starting to feel like we are getting to know this city. It's a bit complicated and there are no street signs or numbers on the houses, so we just have to remember where to turn based on landmarks. We have gotten lost a few times already, but we have eventually found our way.

The babies still haven't moved into our home yet, so until they do, it's just me and Chad living in this huge house. It has been nice to get used to things a bit before bringing in so many children and that will all change soon enough. I think we're going to start bringing in the children sometime this week, maybe even today.

On Saturday we were able to go to one of the biggest and busiest markets I have ever been to. It was huge and ran for severl blocks in several directions. There we were able to purchase pots and pans, mops and buckets, cleaning supplies, sponges, fruits and veggies - it was a little nuts. As we were leaving, Chad was even able to spot where they were selling quite a few shoes...so I'm sure we'll be heading back there soon!

Last night we learned how to cook our first Ghanaian meal - a delicious chicken and vegetable stew. We had a lot of help certainly, but it wasn't too hard, so I think we'll be able to make it again on our own, and even once we come home again.

So I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post some pictures today and then some later on (our internet is a little slow, but it might work just fine)

This is our room: