My first Saturday, Anthony took me swimming. Of course, I'd already been in the water, but I was hot and sweaty from playing basketball with Ben and Emmanuel, so I didn't mind. Anthony can swim, but he's not very confident in himself, so we're going to work on that. My goal is to get him to come out to the island with me eventually. He doesn't know this yet. ;)
When we got back, I rinsed off with a bucket of water, then set down to read a bit more. I'd gotten hooked on the Millennium series, which starts with the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've not read many fiction books in a while, so it was kind of nice to start again. Aankit had mentioned that I'd been seeming a bit antisocial (even though he didn't come right out and say it), so I decided to read out in the main room area. It's a lot harder to concentrate there, but no one was asking me to get involved, so I was happy trying to finish my book. Gladdis, our house cook's younger daughter, came up behind me and started playing with my ponytail. She was being gentle, and it seemed like she wanted to play with all of my hair, so I took out my ponytail and let her play with my hair down. She asked me for a brush, so I got mine out and I read while she put almost my entire head into those little bitty braids about a centimeter thick. When she was done, which happened to be about the same time I was done with my book, she told me to look in the mirror and see if I liked it. I don't think I look good in braids at all, but I could tell she'd put a lot of effort into them, and they were very pretty, organized braids, so I said I liked it very much. Then, she brushed them out and put my hair back up in a ponytail.
Apparently, Gladdis got bored after that, and she left. Since I was done with the book, and didn't feel like starting the next one, I got out my bracelet making thread and found a scissors. Those who know me know that making bracelets is calming for me, and helps me relax and focus. It's a repetitive action that requires some concentration to keep the thread going straight instead of curling in on itself. My goal was to make a bracelet the colors of Ghana: red, yellow, green, and black. I started making it, and Tina comes to sit by me to help. We're alternating rows (she does one, then holds it for me to do one) when it starts to storm quite loudly and violently. The rain is coming through the gaps in the window panes where the glass folds over on itself, and we had to move the sewing table into a protected corner. Of course, the power also went out, like it usually does when it rains or gets cloudy. Since it was starting to get late, it was darker. Tina and I kept going on the bracelet, and there were two rows she flipped the string, making the wrong color show up. At first, this irked me a lot. I didn't say anything, but I'd figured on taking the rows out in the morning when I could see so I could fix them. But, come morning, I saw the rows, and thought immediately of how much Tina had smiled when we were working together and how, at first, she didn't understand that I wind one string all the way across a row before doing the next one. And how she looked so intent when she was winding the knot on a string, looking up at me to make sure she was doing it right. It was not only a bracelet to remind me of Ghana, but one to remind me of Tina as well.
We did stop when it got too dark to see, though. It was still bright enough outside to see what was going on next door, so, when I went out to the balcony to watch the storm, I saw a bunch of the locals outside as well. The odd thing for me was to see them in the ocean. They weren't far into it, but those waves were strong, as I had felt earlier that day swimming with Anthony. I looked closer and realized they were laughing, singing, and dancing. Some appeared to be praying/thanking some higher power (most Ghanaians are Christian, to a certain extent). This was the first real rain of the rainy season, which starts mid-May and usually goes until the end of June/beginning of July. And rain is certainly something to celebrate. How else does everything stay green and yummy? After seeing this, I just wanted to sort of bask in the simple joy that I felt watching the celebration of our neighbors. Luckily, since the electricity was off (light off), we didn't have News Hour, so I was able to. (Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy News Hour, I just wanted to be able to let the happiness around me seep in). It was a very happy night for me.
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