A little less negative about Ghana...

Since I have been called out by a fellow blogger in Ghana, I will post that I do shop at MaxMart. I just apparently blog more about Koala. Probably because Koala frustrates me more than MaxMart. MaxMart usually has what I am looking for and they often have chicken. I was actually thinking about going there today, but I have not yet made it and I probably won't now because it is too late to not get stuck in traffic. Maybe tomorrow;).

That said, MaxMart was 2 of 4 times saying there was no chicken today - maybe tomorrow. Now in all fairness there is more than one MaxMart in town and I only went to the same one twice.

And then for fear that I might have started sounding too negative about Ghana in general, some of my observations:

-Much of everyday life here is a hassle to foreigners. It's even harder if you have young children. And the more young children you have the more difficult it is. Now, on the up side you can hire a lot of people to work in your house because labor is cheap, but if you are not the type of person who likes having people around you all day - particularly ones who don't talk to you - then it can be rather frustrating as well.

-Most of my cultural knowledge comes from what I read in books, not what I learn from my everyday dealings with the locals. Most of my dealings are with clerks in stores and my nanny and gardener. I do attend functions where there are Ghanaians, but it's still a mystery. Most of the Ghanaians that I deal with don't like to talk about themselves or their culture and their native language is a complete mystery. I know from Peace Corps volunteers that this is not their experience, so perhaps it's just the reaction I get being "rich". I have never lived in a country where the people were SO unwilling to share their culture. But then, I look at it historically and I can understand why it would come to that.

-Ghana is a place that I would come back to when my boys are teenagers or grown. When I have more freedom to explore and don't have to worry so much about what I am going to do with the children for entertainment and that because I have so many young children I am a slow moving target of opportunity.