I don’t think that anyone in Ghana knows that some people feel Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. Anyway, we have not heard anyone say anything about it. Maybe it is because they have so many other superstitions that they can’t be bothered with Friday the 13th.
We spent the day in Tamale again trying to get help renewing Steve’s nursing license. When we got to the office it was polluted with people. There was no electricity and the office does not have a generator so everyone was sitting in the dark. The officers were trying their best to help people use the internet on their cell phones. Of course, since the electricity was off the main computer in the office was also off. We talked to a very nice lady named Mariam; she said that when the electricity comes back on, they will check in the big computer to see if whoever entered the data connected to Steve’s nursing license typed the pin number in wrong. She told us to come back on Monday, they had put in a work order for the electricity but had no idea when they would come work on it. We told her that we would stop by before we left Tamale to see if the lights were back on.
We went over to Relax Lodge, the hotel / restaurant that is run by our Indian friends. We have not seen them since we have been back so we decided to get lunch from their restaurant. We don’t usually eat lunch with them because it takes them so long to prepare our meal. Today, we had plenty of time to kill so we decided to sit in the restaurant and enjoy ourselves. It was a good plan but they did not have the air conditioning running today. We did have a fan blowing on us but the longer we sat the hotter it got in the room. The food was delicious and after we finished eating, we sat and talked with Belvin and Varsa. We discussed all the ends and outs of Ghana and the political climate. Belvin and Varsa have a daughter that wants to go to the states to get her PH.D. If she could get in PH.D program in Ghana she would but she has been turned down twice. I don’t understand how all of that works but evidently the PH.D program is totally inclusive and carries you through the masters’ program straight into the PH.D program. Since she was rejected twice, she decided to go ahead and get her master’s. She hopes that after she gets the master’s degree, they will let her into the PH.D program. She thinks that it might be easier to skip the education in Ghana all together and go to school in the states. Schooling abroad is difficult and expensive no matter what country you want to go to.
We went back to the Nurses council before we left Tamale. The electricity was back on but the server was down! We are supposed to go back on Monday. Steve got one of the officer’s cell number so we can call before we leave Yendi. No need to spend 4 hours traveling when there is no need to.
Thank you for your help!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
The parents were gone again today; I saw them preparing to leave this morning and that put my whole day off! When Mom tried to give me my morning bottle, I flatly refused to even look at it, much less drink it. About 10:00 I really wished that I had a bottle, any bottle, I was so hungry! By the end of the day, I had eaten almost every speck of food that was in both of my food dishes.
The parents brought me a really good surprise when they came back this afternoon. They brought watermelon, not just one watermelon but 2. I love watermelon and we have not had a nice ripe one for 3 ½ months. There is some frozen watermelon in the frozen food that they pack for me to eat when they go away for a long time but frozen watermelon is not as delightful as fresh watermelon.
Mom would not give me any watermelon until I finished drinking my bottle because she knew that I would gorge myself on the watermelon and not drink my bottle. I was very hungry so it was no problem for me to drink the whole bottle and still gorge myself on watermelon!
I told you that the parents have put a long leash near the big mango tree so I can climb up in the tree. The problem is that I keep getting my leash wrapped around the small sucker branches. This evening Dad got the ladder and the pruner and cleaned off one of the large branches so I have more room to run without getting tangled.
I need the number of the fire and rescue people so that when I get tangled, they can bring a hook ladder and set me free! I hear that is what they do for cats; I am more valuable than a cat!
Love, Skeeter
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