Happy New Year!

We made it to 2016! We have been in Ghana over a month now and are surviving well! We have even read a few Christmas cards. My daughter Anna has received our mail and takes a picture with her phone. Then we get to read them. We also actually got a couple Christmas cards in the mail. Christmas is much more low key in Ghana. There were a few decorations around but not a lot of hype. The day after Christmas is "boxing" day. It stems from a British holiday. There are tons of churches every where you turn and a lot of church groups were having revival style activities during Christmas and New Years. People love to dress up here especially on Sundays. Shopping is an interesting experience. There are a few 'regular" stores here but they remind you of our dollar stores with a lot of plastic everything. Fresh vegetables and fruits we buy at street markets along the road. Today I stopped in the car and bought tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, radish. yesterday was mangoes, pineapple and avocados. We can even buy things without getting out of the car. Vendors walk up and down between cars because traffic is often very slow. I have bought plaintan chips and cloths by rolling down the window to the car vendors.We have even seen street vendors walking through cars selling bras! I have tried to figure how that would work! Driving is very interesting. There is an art to driving here. People move in and out....as Lynn would say you give an inch and they will take an inch! People move in and out of traffic without stopping with their cars. It is quite interesting. One would never fall asleep at the wheel here from boredom. You have to constantly be on your guard.....we have learned so much. People here are very friendly and they always notice us :-) We are the only obrunies (white people) in the neighborhood! We have walked to the local football (soccer)stadium to work out in the mornings. We have made some good friends at the track stadium.