Let me start off by saying if there were any man in Ghana from which I would accept a marriage proposal, that man would be Daniel Agyie! Ok, that's a bit much, but seriously this guy has more manliness in his body than all of Rhode Island(He still has a long way to go to catch up to Bear Grylls who recently surpassed the state of Texas). Agyie led the Black Sattellites (Ghana's U20 team) to a victory in penalty kicks over B.R.A.Z.I.L in the U20 World Cup!!!! Accra went crrrrazy!! Ben and I watched the game at some friends' house just across East Legon (~3 mi from our house). The game was intense, but the walk home was even more memorable! We were hoarded by Ghanaian fans yelling the title of this post, taking shirts off, and dancing and jumping. One specific group with about 15 guys all yelling and jumping around wildly came up and I automatically joined in the jubilation. A guy grabbed me by the shoulder and yelled, "Ben!" I turned around and noticed Isaac, the gatekeeper from the Beacon House Orphanage. "Awesome!" I thought, then I looked down and noticed not only did Isaac not have a shirt, but this guy had taken the trousers too to reveal way-too-skimpy draurs. To make it worse, Isaac immediately pulled me in for a World Cup jubilant hug.............................Akward
Saturday, we went with a couple of friends, Kofe and Devine, to Caprice Road towards Center Accra. This place is lined with bicycle and motorcycle shops...... HEAVEN ....... though the 1200cc crotch rockets were really appealing, we stuck to the plan to get some bicycles. Bartering was not one of my favorite things to do back home, but here it is almost like a game. The merchant gives you the obroni price, and you see just how low you can get it until it matches the obibini price. The great thing about it here, is that once a price is agreed on, the whole thing is put aside, handshakes are given, and it's like chatting with a good friend. The guy in this picture was the toughest, He wouldn't budge over 30 cedies below his original price of 220 cedies, which we were told was still too much, but I got a blooming $800 kona mountain bike for the equivalent of about $120 and Ben got a $600 Giant for $90! Anyways, I needed to supplement my cedi supply with some USD, so this guy took us to the back, to confirm the exchange rate. He took us to an alley behind the bike shop where about half a dozen guys were all standing around this one guy with a roll of bills, and gucci shades on. Godfather. After checking the exchange rate, the godfather turned to me and asked, "Do you buy slaves, too?" Akward silence ensued on my part, then the whole group started laughing and trying to sell each other to us jokingly. Haha! Joke on the obroni...... punks!
We chatted with them for a while, and they turned out to be the typical laid back Ghanaians I've come to endear. You have to love the attitude of the people here!
Ben with Gabriel and Grace.. both spoken for by adoptive families. That's a really good feeling! I've loved meeting the few adopters I've had the chance to run into at Beacon House. It's fun to see the fresh relationships of adopters and adoptees and imagine how they will be in 5 years and the love that will develop there. (I don't know about Grace, but Gabriel's moving to Washington State..... I'm jealous)
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