I don't have time to write a novel but here are some updates on my life this past week:

- Went to Kokobrite Beach to a beachfront hotel called Big Milly's Backyard. Google it, its so cool. It was a lot of fun until I realized I left half my money back in Dodowa. I could only afford to pay for the hotel (only about $15 a night) and for the taxi that got me there, then I ran out of money. I didn't really cry, I just had a brief panic attack. Luckily Crystal and I pooled the money together that we did have and that allowed us to buy 1 big water bottle each to last us the weekend and 1 piece of jewelery. We decided that we would save money by not eating while we were there and also by having other people buy us drinks. I ended up getting kind of sick at the hotel and had a really bad fever one night so I probably could have used some food but I was okay. We went to this really cool beachside bar and we were the only two white people and the only two girls. The upside is that we didn't pay for a single drink. The downside is that at one point there was a fight between two Nigerians and thats when Crystal and I decided to go back to our room. Apparently one of those Nigerians found me on Facebook and today I got a Facebook message from him that said "Hello. I met you at Kokobrite. You have blond hair and you were drinking a Star beer. Your friend is from Canada. I will see you again. SAM" Oh, Africa.

-Got lost going back to Dodowa and taxi drivers were trying to rip us off left and right and then yelling at us. Found an American couple who explained to us how to get home which made me feel so much better. Exchanged numbers with them, they're both 25, and might go back to Kokobrite with them another weekend.

-Got back to Dodowa really late sunday night and was exhausted but decided to go over and tuck in the kids. When we got there George told us that Kwame was in the hospital - he'd fainted from Malaria at school on Friday. Even though it was dark, George, Crystal and I walked into town and found 1 of the 2 taxis that exist there and the taxi driver drove us to the hospital to see Kwame. Kwame is the one who helps me serve breakfast each morning, wipes dirt off me whenever I'm dirty which is most of the time, and always, always, always, when he gets his daily porridge, looks at me and says "You are invited" which means I can have some of his porridge. Of course I never eat any, what kind of person do you think I am? So today after I got the kids to school I went and bought an orange soda and a bag of Obama biscuits (cookies with Obamas face on them. Only in Africa) and brought them to Kwame. When he got them he looked like he'd just gotten 20 Christmas presents. He covered his face because he was so happy and then he said "God Bless you, thank you so much!" He kept saying "God Bless you" H

- My typical day goes like this:
5:45 AM Wake up, brush my teeth
6:00-8:00 AM Get to orphanage. Begin bathing the smaller ones, brushing their teeth, getting them dressed, and serving them their porridge. Then walking them to school. Mercy loves school and marches/runs all the way there. Abena and Irin want to be carried but I dont have enough arms for all of them so they scream and cry and throw themselves down in the dirt and refuse to get up.
8:00-9:30 Go back to the orphanage and clean up breakfast, sweep the dirt floor (I haven't figured out why we do that because we are just sweeping the dirt around in circles but I do it anyway) and play for a little while with the kids who don't go to school (they say they are the "slow ones") like Daniel and Koko and then the baby Godwyn.
9:30-2:30 Free time to go to read/sleep/walk around/HAND-wash my clothes/take a shower/etc. Crystal and I have a daily tradition now of going over to the internet cafe and using the internet if its working and then going next door to the bar to have a Coke with Jacoby who likes to dance for us and propose to us. Beatrice our cook makes us breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast we usually have bread with some egg and this stuff called Milo but I call it African Crack because it tastes like hot chocolate and I drink a ton of it. I'm pretty sure its used to fatten up African children and its probably not best that I drink it like that but its soo good. Then I usually have a ton of energy and I walk all around the village saying hello to everyone.
2:30-6 Play with the kids at the orphanage (usually they are playing with the dirt, some old nails, sticks, rocks, spoons, a deflated tire, or metal cans. I thought this was a stereotype of poor orphanages but no, they actually play with these things), clean up their wounds and try to bandage them even though they're aren't any bandaids here. Sometimes we go with the older boys to the soccer field and watch them play soccer. Lastnight we did that and as I was sitting there I looked up and we were sitting under this mango tree, watching these kids who were AWESOME at soccer, and there was a beautiful orange sunset.
6-7:30 Eat our dinner at our house
7:30-9:00 Back to the orphanage to say goodnight, rock babies to sleep, hang out with the older kids.

The orphanage is about a 3 minute walk down this dirt path through a grove of plantain or banana trees (I'm not sure which). Today Abena and Juliet poked their head through my fence so I let them in, gave them some of my left over lunch, gave them CLEAN water bags (we drink water out of plastic bags here, not out of plastic water bottles. You tear the corner of the bag with your teeth and suck out the water.) then I painted their nails. Now I know that for the next several months I'm going to have kids popping their heads through my fence so they can get water and manicures.

Every single night I am EXHAUSTED but I go to sleep smiling. I'm getting your emails and they make me ecstatic. Keep filling me in on home life. I'll try to post pictures soon but I dont think its a possiblity at the hut here since the computer is from like 1995 but I have an internet stick for my laptop and it takes forever but I might be able to upload some soon. I think you can google-earth my village - Dodowa. Love you all.