Looking back: Cooking and shopping

I remember the first time I walked into the kitchen after arriving at our home last year. I'd seen pictures of the house and new what it would look like, but it's so different to see something in person. And as I walked into the kitchen...that new smell hit me. That new house smell you're acutely aware of when you move somewhere different.

That smell.

I remember the smell and I remember looking around, feeling really intimidated.

Our sponsors graciously left some groceries on the counters for us until we could get to the grocery store. There was homemade banana bread in the refrigerator as a welcoming from the Ambassador. There was a bag of sugar that I thought was salt. There were condiments in the fridge with labels in a language I couldn't read. There was a half a loaf of bread. There were pots and pans and dishes in the cupboards to hold us over until our boxes arrived.

I stood in the kitchen hunched over the island, replaying everything I was told up to this point...."Don't drink the tap water. Don't cook with the tap water. Bleach all your fruits and veggies for two minutes and then rinse them off. There's no need to bleach fruits like bananas and pineapple where you peel the skin. Keep your food tightly sealed to keep out bugs. Scrub the poop off the eggs and bleach them before cooking. And make sure to check and make sure they are fresh because nothing is refrigerated and you have no idea how old those eggs are. Always use a transformer to plug in 120v appliances."

Upon arrival everything began to flood my mind at once. Every time I'd go into the kitchen, I was overwhelmed. It took me a while before I could get into the swing of simply cooking here. I was so overwhelmed with transitioning, that even cooking seemed like a huge endeavor.

Because so much more than cooking was involved. I had to learn how to shop. Learn how to read French and Arabic labels. Figure out how to order cheese and meat at the grocery store not only in French but in kilograms, and demi-kilos, and every increment in between. It took a while to figure out how to calculate that all in my head and figure out in pounds how much I was getting. It took a while to learn Burkina's currency and even know how much to pay for something.

It took a while to find my groove. Nothing was convenient anymore. Everything required extensive prep. And everything cost more money. For such a poor country you'd think the cost of living would be lower, but it's not. A brand name loaf of bread equivalent to what you'd get in the States (like Wonder) costs you between $8-$9. A demi-kilo of cheese which is approximately 1 pound costs you between $8-$10 depending on where you buy it. Flour is over triple the price. Salmon runs you between $80-$100. Liquids are measured in liters here instead of by the gallon and it costs us $7 for the equivalent of a gallon of milk.

And of course there are many things we found that you can't buy here at all. There are many fruits and vegetables that Burkina neither grows nor imports such as blueberries, raspberries, asparagus, squash, celery, and many that you can only find for a couple months out of the year like strawberries and broccoli. And due to the fact that Burkina doesn't have a port and import and transportation prices are so expensive some times it takes months before they are able to restock certain items in the stores. Every now and then they will have cream cheese and cheddar cheese or ricotta. But those are luxuries that aren't frequently available.

We've gotten really good at going without many foods or finding things to substitute in place of certain things.

Over time I've figured out what to buy, how to cook it, ect. And there are many things that I just make homemade now, like tortillas because you can't purchase those here, so I make a batch every week for our Mexican night. I also make our own bread, and I've found some great recipes for homemade enchilada sauce and sloppy joe sauce too.

I've had some disasters. Of course. Things are just different here. Even with all the same ingredients, somehow, the meal will turn out differently.

For a number of months I had a local orphanage, AMPO, that also runs an organic farming school, deliver me a basket of veggies each week along with eggs and a chicken.

The first time I had a chicken delivered I think I had a small undetectable heart attack.

It was abSOlutely horrifying!

When you are used to walking up to the frozen food section in Kroger or HyVee and getting your nicely packaged chicken breasts or thighs for dinner...there is really no way to prepare you for the horror of seeing a freshly killed chicken arrive at your house in a brown paper bag with feathers still sticking out of its skin, its face still attached with its legs wrapped around and stuffed inside its beaks with its claws coming out the back of its neck. 

I let out a good scream, "BLAH!!" and then determined myself to cook that thing and gut it and present it for dinner.

Yeah, I only lasted three "go's" before I called it quits. Some things just aren't worth the trouble...and that was one of 'em.

From then on I just stuck to buying frozen whole chickens from the store. When they could be found.

Its turned into a weekend tradition to go to the boulangerie and buy a couple of baguettes, mash up some avocados and tomatoes and eat ourselves an avocado "sub". It's simple and baguettes are a local staple here, with boulangerie's on nearly every street, you can buy a large baguette which will feed three people for 130 franc which is about  $.25.

Many months ago I stopped ordering from Ampo and started buying all my veggies at a local market we found in a nearby neighborhood.

A lot of people here will have their household help go to the market for them to purchase all their veggies....but I like to do all our shopping myself. I like to go to the market, walking over the uneven and murky ground covered in egg shells and fish bones, weaving in and out through the different vendor stalls, and purchase veggies for a few days. I have certain ladies that I go to to buy certain veggies from, and after a short time they've come to recognize me and will throw in little gifts from time to to, like a couple oranges (which are green here and not orange), for returning back to them each week.

And due to the different foods available here we've all learned to eat different things than we did in the States. I have become quite fond of avocado and mangoes and there is a local dish called rizgraw that we all enjoy. And the girls now eat a lot more eggplant than they ever have in their lives because it's available year round in abundance. Marvelly's favorite drink is mango juice and both girls have a deep love for couscous that now supersedes Kraft macaroni. And of course baguettes, with anything on them is always a favorite.

So slowly, over time, We've started to find our way. It wasn't an easy transition, but we've gotten the hang of it.

And now when I walk into the kitchen I don't feel that overwhelming feeling I was plagued with in the beginning. The new smells have worn off and become familiar. Every now and then though....I'll walk into the kitchen, and I will catch a wiff of what it smelled like in the beginning, and it will take me back to those first few weeks of being here. And I will stand and marvel at how far we've come.

Yes, we are getting the hang of it. Getting the hang of living here, adjusting to new normals, cooking and eating and shopping included. It's a continuing process, but a process I'm glad to be making.

The rest of the story.

We have lived in Burkina for a year now. And over the course of this past year I have talked about many things, but some stuff I haven't. Sometimes there is too much to talk about, and not enough time to say it all, so little things get set aside.

So, I'm going to set off for the rest of the week to highlight some aspects of our life here that I haven't mentioned or gone into the details of.

Can't believe it's already been a year....

The story of our Ghanian journey

We pulled out of town on Friday August 2nd at 7am to set off on our two day journey down to the southern coast of Ghana. The trip from central Burkina to the city of Accra is just over 600 miles. In the US that would take you roughly 10 hours to drive going slow. Here, in Africa land...it took us 24 driving hours.

Twe-nty-four hours!

Granted, we lost 2 hours at the border crossing...but still, 22 hours is not much faster!

It. was. long. The main reason the driving took so long is that every single time you approached a village the speed limit drops to 50 km (30 mph) and there are monster speed bumps to drive over to make sure that you don't blow past the lower speed limits. It got to be so ridiculous that we started to time how long it took to drive between speed bumps....which on average was every three minutes. So we'd have three minutes, sometimes only one, to drive fast and then we'd have to abruptly stop for speed bumps and drive 30 mph until we passed the "village" which was sometimes nothing more than a single shack set way back from the road. And then not to mention all of the police checkpoints, which is basically just an excuse for them to stop you and seek a bribe by any means necessary. I lost track at how many times we got stopped there and back. Which also didn't help our traveling time.

But the kids were troopers through it all. We piled five kids in one car with Isaak and Rhyan (bless their hearts) in the front to throw food back whenever they got restless. =) And then the rest of us plus baby Jonah road in the minivan pulling the trailer.

However, despite the incredibly long drive, the scenery more than made up for it. Oh how I love to sit and watch the world of Africa roll by outside. It has become one of my greatest pleasures.

I was surprised to discover how different Ghana was from Burkina. As soon as you cross the border, the change is distinctly noticeable.

The first major difference I saw was the architecture. In Burkina once you get outside of the city, all the homes are made of mud and straw.

In Ghana, the village homes had triangular tin roofs. Many were still built in a circle with walls connecting each building to establish community with a common courtyard, but just the fact that they had tin roofs with windows was so much more modern looking in comparison.

And then many of the homes throughout the country we saw didn't even have walls surrounding them. In Burkina, every home, typically, will have some sort of gate or wall surrounding the property, but that was not the case in Ghana...many of the homes were accessible to walk right up to just like in the states.

This picture depicts three of the significant differences between countries.....to the left is a public urinal, in the back is a church, and all the buildings roofs are pointed.

In Burkina all the buildings have flat roofs, it is an Islamic nation, and personal hygiene and healthcare are sorely lacking. In Ghana, a Christian nation, everywhere you went there would be churches on every corner. This is a former British colony and it's evident that the strong British presence influenced their architecture. And everywhere we went there would be billboards, words written on houses and buildings, signs on the sides of the streets...all promoting health and hygiene. In Burkina you are hard pressed to find toilets in restaurants even in the capital...and there is certainly no such thing here as a public restroom. The public restroom we stopped at in Ghana, in the middle of some tiny little city, was incredibly well taken care of. As we traveled there would be posters and signs all over the place promoting all different forms of medical information, ranging from how to protect yourself from malaria, to AIDS, to dry skin. Just the fact that they have public urinals is encouraging people not to relieve themselves on the roads like they do in Burkina. Ghana has a countrywide healthcare program and the people just look generally healthier. Which is no surprise when your country has taken steps to promote good health in all forms among its citizens.

The roads, with a few exceptions, were in great condition, even having guard rails and shoulders on  the sides along with street lights in many areas. Conveniences we're not used to having in Burkina!

These were really cool to look at as we drove through the Ghanian countryside. Termite mounds. I honestly thought that they were some kind of weird tree at first, and then Isaak told me they were termite mounds. Some reached up to at least 9 or 10 feet high, maybe taller. Just cool. Something you don't see everyday. One of the things I love most about living in Africa, is all the strange and interesting things we now see that are common to this part of the world.

Ghana is a beautiful country with a diverse landscape. The further away from Burkina we traveled the more lush the landscape grew. Slowly we started to see rolling hills dot the landscape and the further south we went the more dense and mountainous and tropical the scenery became.

Fi-na-lly, after our long two day journey we arrived in Accra, Ghana's capital! An incredibly generous family from the embassy allowed us to stay in their home while they were away on vacation, and it had the best outdoor patio! The first night us moms set out on foot to find a nearby restaurant, and discovered a little gem a couple blocks away that had all sorts of American style foods with everything from chicken wings to sushi! Isaak was in heaven! Man hadn't had a chicken wing in a year and I thought he might faint from joy.

The next seven days we filled our time with a plethora of activities.....

Twice during our stay we went to a nearby beach. This beach was called Bojo and only a short drive from Accra. The beach is a little island all its own, separated by a water barrier. To access the beach you must cross over the water barrier in a custom fishing canoe rowed by a man with only a bamboo pole.

 It was pretty awesome! On just the other side of the sand ahead the Atlantic Ocean awaits!

Ocean here we come!!! Ah! Happy day! The girls literally darted from the canoe and ran straight to the water.

Boy did we miss this sight!! It was glorious! The sand, the view, the water. Everything. We couldn't have asked for a better more relaxing way to spend our days.

Even Isaak, who is not as much of a beach enthusiast as us girls had a great time. He body surfaced one day and brought a boogie board the next. It was good to see him smile, and relax and be able to have fun.

Those were some pretty big waves, and strong too.

But the girls got right out there with Isaak and rode the waves and had the best time.

There was plenty of playing in the sand and of course I made a mermaid, what has become a tradition of sorts for the past couple years every time we go to the beach.

We laid and rested and dozed off in the warmth of the sun.

The kids played...building castles, digging trenches, catching crabs, and running away from waves. The water wasn't actually that bad...you just had to will yourself to stand in it for five minutes and then the coldness went away.

There was also a restaurant on site so we ate our lunch on the beach. It was the first time I had Tilapia in a year. My mouth was so happy!

Me and Isaak strolled the beach collecting shells and talked adoption and life and Ghana and Burkina and what movies we wanted to watch and everything and nothing. And it was grand. And then him and Sydaleigh walked the beach just the two of them collecting sea shells for the Mimi. =) Lots of little moments together to savor.

It was pretty surreal, to know that I was standing on a coastline in Africa. Sometimes the reality that we are here still catches me, and leaves me in awe, overflowing with gratitude. 

The whole gang together. These folks have been like family to us since moving here and we are so grateful for their friendship. God has been good to bring so many wonderful friends into our lives here and we have been able to make some incredible memories together. Now we can add Ghanian adventure to the list!

Our house came with a little guest, named Moo, who adopted us as his temporary family while we were there. I'm not a dog person by any stretch, so I found it odd that he chose our family to attach himself to while here, making himself right at home by Isaak's side every single night in our bed....with-out fail. He wouldn't get up in the morning until Isaak rose, he'd run outside and chase the car when Isaak came back to the house, he'd sit on his lap whenever he could and let the girls walk him on his leash around the yard. I've gotta say....for not being a dog person, he made me like him.

A couple days we went to a mall. Yes, Accra had a mall! A real one. I couldn't believe it. It was like walking into another world. One I used to live in but don't anymore. I walked in and was like, "woooow, look at all the pretty lights....". You'd think that I hadn't lived in the U.S. for the past 30 years! I had to keep scooping my mouth up off the floor. Culture shock will do that to ya! The mall also had an outdoor play area that the kids took full advantage of.

And it had a movie theater! So we got to go to the MOVIES!!! Whoo hoo! There were 8 shows playing (one of which was this local Ghanian movie called Cheaters that made Twilight acting look like oscar winning performances. The preview they subjected us to was so bad it made me want on a refund on those two minutes of my life! Ha ha!) However, our movies were awesome! We took the kids to the movies twice to see Turbo and Despicable Me 2. And me and Isaak went out alone one evening to see Man of Steel. It was so nice to sit in a movie theater and watch a show again! Ah, we loved it!

We also found a KFC in a different shopping complex. Nothing says American in Africa like Colonel Sanders! (I did not eat there though. I could live the rest of my life without eating at KFC ever again.) This shopping center also had a kids play area so the dads took care of the kids while us moms took advantage of a salon we found and got haircuts! *before picture* It had been a year since scissors have seen my hair, and I was way overdo!

Isaak even found a place to play Putt-Putt, which turned out to be probably the nicest putt-putt place we have ever been to. And, I won.  Because I rock the putt-putt. And the kids had a blast.

Me and my favorite girls. Oh how they enjoyed themselves.

The time spent at the house wasn't too shabby either. We played games. Watched movies. Laughed. Goofed around.

We took turns trying to break our necks on this balancing board thingy! Isaak came the closest. Sadly I didn't have my camera handy to document his fall. It was epic. He actually managed to fall backwards with such force that his legs actually flew out from under him, went wildly into the air, and he crashed onto his back. Thankfully he didn't get hurt, which would have been a real mood killer since we were laughing so hard at him!

We had dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse.

The teenage daughter of an embassy worker came over for a night to babysit so we could go out just us adults. We happen to find as close to an authentic Mexican restaurant as you can find in Africa.

Sydaleigh was even able to get her ears pierced. She only flinched. Not a single tear was shed!

She was SO proud of herself for braving the ear piercing gun! Love how special and confident it made her feel.

We were also able to pick up groceries to bring back with us to Burkina. I may, upon entering the grocery store, have stood for a really long time in front of the produce section....just staring. Total disbelief that I was looking at a bounty of fruits and vegetables, all in one place, and many that I have not seen in over a year....like celery, asparagus, blueberries, cherries. None of which Burkina has. Geesh, Accra had everything. We were able to bring back with us some Tilapia, a bag of broccoli, some chicken thighs and some Nutty-Butty bars! Oh yeah!

The kids had the greatest times together playing. The house had a wonderful yard that they used to the fullest. Every morning they'd run outside and before breakfast they'd all come in totally filthy from digging in the dirt, making mud pies, chasing each other or playing ninjas. Underwear makes for some awesome ninja face masks by the way. =)

And then there was the day we drove to Cape Coast.

And we visited a building on the water. A building that used to be a fort, but is now called a castle. But this is no castle like the ones we see in Disney. There were no happily ever afters here.

For beneath this wall where the cannons lay there runs a tunnel. And beneath this grand and stately building and underneath the courtyard that we crossed...there lies dungeons. For this building that they now call a castle used to be the British headquarters for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. And it was in these headquarters that they bought and sold people. It was in those dungeons that they held them captive. And it was through that tunnel they would walk to their fate...

The tour of the Cape Coast Castle started through a door off to the right. Through the doors lied a cave. In this cave is where the British would hold the African men. The men were chained and shackled and forced to live with a thousand others in chambers no bigger than 30x15.

The chambers had only three little blocks cut out for light, forcing the men to live in near blackness.

The chambers are now outfitted with a single light bulb for the purpose of the tours. In these chambers the men would live, having to sit in human waste up to a half a foot deep at times.

On the other side of the courtyard were the dungeons where the women were held. With but two small windows there was but a patch of light for hundreds of women to share. This place, this cold dark dank place, is where they would wait...wait to starve, wait to die, wait to be sexually exploited, wait to be sold, wait to sail across the ocean....

It is estimated that over 10 million Africans were traded and sold into slavery from the continent of Africa during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade starting in the 1400's and lasting into the 19th century.

Over 10 million people.

Over ten million people born free but violently kidnapped from their homes during slave raids. Forced to walk in a slave march from their village of capture to the coast, which was sometimes up to 1000 miles. Once they arrived at the coast they were branded like cattle with hot iron rods. They were held captive in the forts for anywhere from three months to a year and then loaded onto a ship where they lived in even more deplorable conditions than the dungeons and forcefully migrated across the Atlantic to South and North America, or the Caribbeans.

It is estimated that of the some ten million people traded and sold into slavery....an equal number of Africans perished during the raids, marches, dungeons, and ships.
 
There is no way to comprehend such a number. Or such an atrocity. It is the greatest crime against humanity. The buying, selling and owning of people. And it happened on a scale that my mind can scarcely comprehend.

The last part of our tour brought us to this corridor. It is here that the underground tunnel opened up and the slaves stepped out. And it is through "The Door of No Return" that the slaves would then pass, to be loaded onto waiting ships, and embark on their new life of slavery towards their fellow man.

Except, when you cross the threshold of that door today...the only ships that are waiting are local fishing boats. Out on the sand there is no longer people shackled at the feet as they march out to sea, but Ghanians running and playing soccer and lounging in the sand.

There are fathers holding hands, unbound, running with their children in the surf.

You step out of that door today and you see a people who are free. Free to live. Free to choose. Free to play. Free to think. Free to be. Thank God, that there were a small number of brave and determined people two hundred years ago who chose to stand up against insurmountable odds in the face of extreme opposition and fight for what was right. Who were willing to dedicate their lives to bring freedom to others.

Prior to our vacation I did a lot of research on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, knowing that we would visit this castle on our trip. I also read "The Book of Negroes" while in Ghana to help put me in the mindset of what slaves endured as told from a slaves perspective. So being able to come here and retrace slavery's steps was an incredibly humbling experience. Visiting Cape Coast Castle was one of the single greatest things I have ever done. To walk and see and smell where some of the most monumental and significant history of our entire world took place was indescribable. A gift of immeasurable value. We were so so thankful for the opportunity to come here.

After leaving Cape Coast we drove up north a little ways to Kakum National Park and spent the afternoon in a tropical rainforest. As if our vacation hadn't been exciting enough, we figured we'd take it one step further and do the "Canopy Walk" before we left. This canopy walk, which is the only thing of its kind of the entire continent of Africa, is nothing more than a rope bridge made out of a narrow ladder with a piece of wood laid across it surrounded by a rope netting.

You are suspended 110 feet off the forest floor over the canopy level of the rain forest. That's a whole lotta space between you and the ground! With absolutely nothin' to catch you if those ropes give way!

The ropes were completely sturdy though. There was nothing to fear. Isaak wasn't totally convinced of that however...the man was literally dripping sweat he was so nervous!

Every time we got to a landing between bridges he'd have to wait to calm himself before starting out again! Really, if you're unsure whether you're afraid of heights before starting this....you'll know for sure when you're done! You. are. high!! Just to access the bridge you have to do a 20 minute climb through the forest that takes you up 600 feet to the edge of a valley and then you climb up to the platform of the bridge. And unbeknown to us, it wasn't just one little bridge to cross, once you got up there the canopy walk was a 1000 foot long circular walkway!

You are up there for a long time! So as long as you didn't look down to the ladder and focus on the parts of the netting that had ripped away from the wood, or freak out whenever someone moved and the whole bridge would sway back and forth...which oh yeah, was every time someone took a step...you'd be totally fine!

Me and the girls absolutely loved it. It was so thrilling. They are quite the little adventurers.

It was absolutely beautiful. To be suspended that high above the ground and get to take in the beauty and majesty of the rain forest was amazing. I kept trying to lean over the railing to get a picture of the ground below me, but the foliage was so thick, which is why they call it the canopy layer I guess, you could not see past the trees.

Truly, another incredible experience to add to the list. Ghana did not disappoint. We had the most wonderful vacation filled with awesome memories.

It was so nice to be able to take a little break from life in Burkina to come here and rest and enjoy each others company. To have a break from speaking French and be able to communicate in our native language for a short time. To enjoy some pleasures that Burkina doesn't offer. To breathe and get refreshed before starting another year here. And we did. We had the greatest time. We left filled up to overflowing and felt spoiled and loved on and blessed by the Lord in all that He provided for us while there. To a great vacation.

And, just in case we got to thinking that Ghana was so modern and western and progressive and so unlike the Africa we knew in Burkina....it'd just take walking past a pick-up truck in the mall parking lot and seeing a donkey strapped down to remind you where you still were! Sometimes there is just no forgetting you're in Africa! Oh how I love this crazy place!