Sorry folks! It's been a while. We had the glorious opportunity to 'house sit' for good friends of the Henrichsen clan. While the huge house in Osu was nothing short of heavenly, we were without internet for the duration. A fine trade off, but...
Here we are. Still here. Planning to bunker down for a bit of a long haul due to Canada Immigration here in ole Accra. A bloody nightmare, but more on that once I'm home!
The boys are AMAZING. All three. Finn is spelling, reading, swimming like a fish. Charlie (Dawuni) is crawling an wreaking havoc wherever a low shelf may be, and Danaa (William? Daniel? Still trying names on for size!) is desperate to walk before he crawls, and is FINALLY sleeping through the night. And so are we.
The days are still spent chasing around immigration, social welfare, documents, documents and more documents on almost a daily basis. Freedom to do this will come to an abrupt end as my Mom is all packed and ready to leave on Thursday. But not before we celebrate the wee boys' FIRST BIRTHDAY. Yes! One already!
But before this, I can give you some updates. Hmmm, where to start.
Life here has been very stressful, but I am slowly reconciling the fact that there is no quick return home. I battle between tears of frustration and an Oh Well, home will be there when I get there kind of attitude, to an absolute "This will not happen to me! I will not be stuck in GHana due to ineptitude of immigration officers who cannot process a file in a timely fashion". Not sure which one prevails the most, but the tears are definitely subsiding.
We managed to have a Halloween experience. A Bit hot and sweaty, but Luke Skywalker and a couple of Kung Fu Pumpkins wandered around Orchid Gardens with a swarm of ex-pat kids. Finn had a blast, carved a water melon instead of a pumpkin, and has just finished off the last of his booty (save for what Danette has saved for him at home!).
We are actively looking for apartments here in Accra as this one room hotel living has worn a bit thin, and cooking with boiled water has it's limitations. Unfortunately, apartments are for 'rich' Ghanaians and ex-pats, so I am finding it a bit challenging to find something within any kind of budget range. Upsetting how easy it is to keep the poor separate from the not so poor.
Trying to find vaccines for H1N1 is almost laughable, not to mention general vaccines for the wee ones. Health standards are so completely off the mark here that unless you are in Accra on a corporate ticket, and that corporation has it's own clinic, you are really limited as to what kind of care you can access. There is a national health scheme here, but my boys can no longer access this scheme as they've been adopted by Canadians, and until I get them home and registered in Canada, they cannot get medicare either. I've got some calls into some more experienced people, as well as some private insurance companies so that I can get to the bottom of this. I'm sure that I can.
For kicks, here are some recent photos.
If anyone sees Michael, give him a huge kiss. We are missing Daddy quite desperately and hoping that, if luck is on our side, perhaps he can swing down here to be with us for the month of December.
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