"Hello" "I am fine"

Another wonderful day in Ghana. I am really starting to appreciate the slow pace, we often refer to as "Ghana time". Everything is fine when it happens. Schedules are not important and actually you can expect things to not happen on time or right away. The people are so trust worthy and happy and friendly. Today some children came up and just started hugging us in the street. I joked with a fellow volunteer, Val, about how they haven't had the "Don't talk to strangers" talk. The wonderful thing about Ghana is it isn't necessary. Plus being white we are absolutely loved here :). Maybe I'll stay.... ha ha jk. Today at the daycare was good. Another day of being the human playground but amongst the playing and the subconscious repetition of my "teaching" I did teach the children "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" which they absolutely loved. There are a few children that are between the ages of 4-5 that asked my name today and now instead of calling me "Yevu" the call me "Alitha". I guess now I can add that addition to the many names that I have been called. It was funny because on little girl Florence, who is probably 4-5, kept correcting the little ones about how to say "Alitha". It was so cute I couldn't bear to correct her. :) This afternoon a few children from Val's class came to play soccer, all 45+ of them. They asked to see pictures of me so I brought out a few pictures that I brought from home. So Smith's and Gracie you are famous now! They were really interested that I had an "Amaybo" (black person) family member. It became a game to find me in the picture because my fuzzy hair up in a pony tail and no make-up doesn't really look like the person in the pictures. A young girl was really excited to have a new "Yevu" friend and asked me to read a book to her. There are so many things that are taken for granted at home. I think of my kids in my first grade class that don't have a lot and get excited to have a new book, but that is nothing. These kids are excited to see a storybook and to be able to own their own would be a dream come true. Any kind of toy or belonging is precious. In the daycare today, a boy brought a toy car with him which was obviously cheap plastic. By the end of the day it was in pieces but instead of being tossed to the side, the children were fighting over each piece. One piece was used as a cell phone :) . Children are the same worldwide, their imagination is all they need.
For our culture experience tonight we had a talk about the cultures of marriage. Just as our countries view is changing so is theirs. They used to be betrothed, have forced marriages(if their children seem to be having a hard time the parents will abduct a girl and lock her in a room with a boy until they get married, mom and dad don't get any ideas), they did get married for love but betrothal was more common. In this country, the woman clearly stated that man was between a man and a woman as god intended, live in mates are frowned upon as well as divorce. It was comforting to know that some places still think that.
That is another thing that I really love about this place. They are really religious, predominately Christian, and they are not afraid to show it. They love Jesus, they pray all the time, and even kind of funny, the shops all have some sort of religious name for example, "Share the Love," Light of Christ" and then it will have some word or two of what they sell like fabric or food. It is really funny but cool at the same time to see their dedication to the Lord.