and by 8:30.. i meant 10

goooooooood morning!

chilling at bari house (where the office is).. excitement of a little while ago- we're all sitting here working and suddenly there's all this shouting from outside- and we run to the door (any excuse to stop working.. haha) and there's a guy running as fast as he can go past bari house along flattop junction (the road) with about 20 people chasing him. he was carrying a couple yams (note: yams here are about a foot tall and not eaten at thanksgiving.. which.. they dont' celebrate anyways... and the yams are white.. it's like a stretched out potato.. kind of.. anyways..) so we're standing up on the balcony (the office is on the second floor) laughing- i guess the guy stole the yams and everyone who had been standing near the stand and the owners were chasing him down. just past bari house he tried to hop in a cab- but couldn't get the door closed fast enough and some of the people caught him. they took the yams and started beating him with them.. which is funny. but the story isn't funny.. because after they beat him with vegetables franklin said they probably took him back behind the front row of stores to hang him- that's how people deal with local offenses around here..
one of the major problems in ghana is that they have a judicial system (not too unlike the one in the US) but people don't use it- they want instant gratification, or revenge i guess would be a better way to put it. the politicians keep coming on the radio and encouraging peope to take criminals to the police station.. not to just punish the criminals themselves..

here's how this morning went.. haha
time- 8:05, i'm sitting with benedict on my lap and franklin is working at his computer
Franklin: oh kayte, we would like to be leaving around 8:30
Me: oh ok.
*jump in the shower, get dressed and packed up, return to the living room at 8:25 ready to go. Franklin.. has not moved*
Franklin: oh kayte, my own words i am eating them.. let's say we will be leaving at 9.
Me: sure ok
time- 9:45. still sitting in the living room while franklin gets ready
time- 10am- we pull out. haha. surprised? nope. not in the least :)

but- we're just hanging out and getting some work done. i have to turn in a draft of the china-africa project on thursday so it's crunch time- which is fine with me. i love this project but it'll be nice to start something new.. one can only google for so many hours at a time before it starts to get to you.. haha.
the guys came to refill the water tank this morning which means no more bucket showers! usually it's just on saturdays, but the people were late coming so we had to wait until today. the water is kept in huge drums outside, and it gets pumped inside. when it gets too low, it won't pump through, so you have to go outside and fill a bucket and shower like that. sandra says that the spicket (i've never tried to spell that word... haha.. i don't think that's right.. ) we'll say the "tap" in the kitchen hasn't worked since they moved in- so we wash dishes with water in a bucket and things air dry. there's definitely no excess here- at home everything is excess. i mean- i'm the last person EVER to blab on about water conservation and environmentalism because i think it's a bunch of bologna. my point is that at home almost everything i do is excess- the variety of food i like to stay happy, the gagets in my room, the game systems we have down stairs, the 5 or so tvs in my house, the school i have the privlege of attending... i mean.. i don't know. i'm not saying we shouldn't have these things- because i'm not giving them up.. but i think we just need to be a little bit more thankful for what we have. when you have water pressure in your shower in the morning don't rush to conserve water- just be thankful that you have what you have. because there are people who don't have it.

ok... back to work. leaving around 5 today :)