Chief's wife

This morning, I had another language lesson with Edem (I misspelled his name as "Adam" in my last post). The other volunteers are learning another language that's spoken more in the region they'll work in, and their lessons seem to be very textbook. Edem is great -- its very informal. We'll go over lots of stuff, but he'll tell me what people actually say, which is different from what the books say. And I'll ask him tons of questions, like: "How can I not look like a complete ass on the tro-tro?" and "How do I say I'm a vegetarian?" and "What do I say to order this delicious porridge you're describing?". He also made me practice this one really common word over and over because I was mispronouncing it...aaand the mispronunciation is a word for "the private area of the female", as Edem awkwardly explained. I discovered that very dark Africans can blush. And as you all know, so can I. A lot. Which I promptly did. Oops!! On a less traumatic note, I also found out that children are named by the day of the week they were born on. Example: the name Kofi is a male who was born on...um, ok I already forgot which day but I think its Friday or Saturday. So, when I go back and look at my notes, I could tell you what day of the week Kofi Annan (yes, he's from Ghana) was born on. But many people don't actually use their real names. Edem's real name is something else, which I can't pronounce or spell yet. Some people don't like to tell you their birth names because in order to practice voodoo on someone, you need their real name. I joked with Edem that he must trust me, because he told me his. He laughed really, really hard about that...I think he thinks I'm crazy. At least I seem to amuse people here.
Yesterday a man approached me and (jokingly) asked if I was a chief's wife. I think this is a compliment. Sweet. And then he said Jen is a chief's soon-wife. She is a year younger than me, so perhaps this is fitting. Although I think over here I'm getting close to old-maidenhood.
So tomorrow we are going to visit a century-old botanical garden with Edem and afterwards, Joseph, Jennifer and I are taking off by ourselves to visit a national reserve rainforest for the weekend. Jen and I think we might splurge and get a $10 hotel room for one of the nights and have *real* showers and toilets. And AIR CONDITIONING.
Last night we watched the big soccer game. We asked for recommendations, and went over to this tiny hole-in-the-wall bar in Nima (an area of the city; apparently more Muslims live there, as a local guy explained). But, alas, the power was out there...I felt so bad for the little bar! They had signs up and looked so prepared for a night of booming business, and then the power situation ruined it. So then we went to the central area of Accra to a huuuge sports bar which was apparently the place to be to watch the game. It was ridiculously crowded. There was an interesting mix of people: lots of locals, but also many British ex-pats and other tourists (it was near a hotel). It was outrageously expensive -- and by expensive I mean $2 pints of good beer (how quickly I adjust...). It was lots of fun, though. I didn't think I'd really go out here, but luckily I'm with this group of people and we all look out for each other. And people are generally very helpful if you're lost -- which we often are. Next week I'll be on my own -- but I'll be working a lot, which I'm looking forward to so much.
Hope you are all well! I may not be able to write over the weekend since we'll be out of town. But if I can, I will. And I hope to return and post many beautiful rainforest and beach pictures. And pictures from the rain earlier in the week. I forgot to bring my camera, so I can't upload those today. Take care, everyone!! xoxoxo