The craziness

I have been a very busy lady these past few months.
I'm finally starting to become more acclimated to Ghana and all that goes with living here as a foreigner. I still haven't caught malaria yet, but hubby did again....
I have actually got a job at a dental office part time. The dentist is really awesome and she is located at the lizzy sports complex.
My best friend Nancy came to visit me for 2 weeks, and it was an adventure. I'm very happy she came because she lifted me out of this funk I've been in since we arrived. We travel to kakum, elmina castle, boti falls, and axim beach. Of course, we are in Ghana so some Ish is bound to happen like, when we got to the axim beach hotel, we found out (after I specifically asked numerous times over the phone) that our bungalow was not really on the beach. After a few expletives and apologies, we ended up staying there and moving to a two room bungalow right on turtle beach with a tire zip line next to the room :)
Also our two year old son caught the stomach flu, and a wicked diaper rash.
Annnnnd our car broke down on the way back to Accra from axim near takoradi!!
We actually (thought) we were fortunate to break down near a auto repair shop, but of course after many many hours and a cranky baby, we had to leave it there and find a hotel in takoradi.
The next morning they called and said the couldn't fix it so we had to pay 220 ghc to tow it 30 mins to takoradi!!
Sooo me and my baby, Nancy, and her friend that came along, had to take the diplomat bus back to Accra, and my husband had to catch the next one after because the stupid driver, even after I bought my husbands ticket, could not wait for him.
Thennn, those jerks wanted me to wake my sleeping two year old and put him on my lap, so someone could sit in the seat I paid for!! Gah!!
I told them I'm not moving my son your shit outta luck!
If I could understand two, I'm sure I would have heard people calling me all sorts of names as my friend told me later ( probably because they knew I'd go ape shit lol)
Sooo we made it home, Nancy made her flight, and tonight I'm in a gourmet cooking mood and relaxing on my porch!
Still was a great vacation tho :)

In sickness and in...malaria???

Well we have been in Ghana now for a little over a month and let me tell you, this is the most frustrated, stressed and god knows what else I've felt in the last month, but it's been a definite roller coaster of emotions! There!! 

Let's start with the house we live in. We are actually located in adenta which basically means far the fuck away from anything fun. The house is in these " estates" with the catch phrase "your well planned estates".... Really? Ok so let me get to it, day one when we came to look at the place after we were told the house was done, nothing was really done. Ok let me be fair and say the building was up and that's about it. No electricity, no fixtures, no tank, basically nothing that said move in now. 

That my introduction of how things are done the 'Ghanaian' way lol.

2 weeks follow of me losing my shit and hubby eventually losing his shit, living in a hotel for 2 weeks, screaming at the director, micromanaging, losing my temper again, dealing with shoddy work,  we finally move in. Sigh..... And to this day we are still dealing with it all! I swear those folks who run this place are scam artist. Every other day someone is screaming at them for something they did bad or for taking their money or both!!

On top of it all, hubby got malaria and was down for a few days well really a day, since we caught it so early. We actually went to a hospital in Ghana which was a complete waste of our time.  We were in a waiting room that was semi outdoors, that crammed us all in like we were sardines in a can...not good when the person in the front of you is throwing up and to top it all off the doctor wasn't even there!!! Gah!!! So we left and went to the pharmacy and bought the 3 day course for malaria.

Ohh but we aren't done yet.....I wound up with the flu/ cough thing that's been going around apparently , and every day for about 3 days I either have a fever or cough, but no malaria thank goodness :) The one saving grace is that our son is still healthy as a horse and that we found a reliable net that allows us to talk to our beautiful daughters and family stateside :))

Good things about being here is that I have met one person who's blog I followed as a way to know Ghana somewhat and prepare. He has ended up being a godsend to us :). We have also met a fellow American couple who have been amazing as well.

Hopefully, by this months end I'll have more positive things to say about my experience here. I believe it will get better once we get settled. I'm realistic enough to know that things aren't going to rosy and fun, no matter what I thought before I came here.  Sooo I do look forward to a few small trips we have planned this week and next.  Until next time folks :))

We are here

We are in Ghana now!!!! I know I haven't posted anything new in a few months, sorry :) We have been super busy with preparing for the trip and spending time with family and friends before we left. Sooo...where do I start? We arrived here July 11th, I was expecting it to be hot, but it's actually been a lot cooler then the US ( they have been going through a heat wave with temps up to 110) when I first got here, I loved being here for like the first 24 hours! Lol. But you know you get the culture shock, get homesick ect ect..so I really wasn't feeling Ghana too much the first week. Namely due to the crazy traffic, horrible roads and people trying to get over on me because I'm American. My poor husband could barely help because he hasn't been in Ghana for 11 yrs. On top of that, the house we are moving into is not done yet because they claim the bank has been holding on to the money to pay them! Sigh...soo because of that we have been stuck in a hotel, eating out and taking taxis. I also go a little sick, guess my body was getting used to the new environment here. But I can say after that week of hell, we did get to see the beautiful side of Ghana. We went to Ada beach where the mouth of the Volta lake and the Atlantic ocean merge. It was soo beautiful. We spent few days there and I came back with renewed energy and patience :) So here I sit now in the hotel, the power went out, they luckily have a generator so it's not bad. We actually have to see about a generator next week after our container clears.. Aside from everything, I love Ghana for what it is and I'm excited to start our new chapter here :) Cheers till next time!!!

Tickets please

Hi all, it has been about 2 months since my last post. During that time we have been busy with 2 of our kids birthdays, girl scouts, farewells and research. We recently came back from a week long spring break vacation to north Carolina and va beach to visit and say bye to family. It was fun but of course when you have kids and a bunch of sad relatives, it's not much of a vacation just work lol. I can't believe that in 2 months time we will be in Ghana....sigh..so soon! We recently bought our tickets from Turkish airlines, and I'm hoping it will be a safe ok flight. I say ok because I don't know if any of you folks out there has flown with a two year old in tow, but judging on how he is in the car for road trips, I'm guessing it won't be fun lol. But luckily our flight leaves at 11pm so I'm hoping he will be asleep for most of the trip. It's been sad and exciting preparing to move. Sad because of obvious reasons and the fact we just showed our townhouse to 2 families this weekend. They were nice enough, but it is hard to imagine someone living I the house we got married in and started our life in :( But exciting because on our layover we get to see Istanbul for 22 hours before our connecting flight to Accra leaves. Plus the excitement of the unknown, of what this move holds for us, the newness of everything, starting over, having expectations, meeting new people and growing... So until next time folks....

And the ruling is.....

Happy Valentines Day Folks!!!

Oh and........

We are moving to Ghana for sure in the second week of July....

I think I was more excited when we didn't know. We told everyone at this point and its been really depressing, I mean I have been depressed. I guess when you think of all the things you have known your whole life, such as friends, environment, family...you realize what and who you are leaving behind. We have ad a few promises to visit and a few tears...but I feel like everything will be OK. I told everyone that they are only allowed to cry twice, once when I tell them and once when we leave. I want my last 4 months here in the states to be filled with good memories.

Any who...We are now setting things in motion as far as where we are living and the location, what we will be bringing, etc.. The location now is a town called Oyirifa (sorry if I spelled that wrong). The neighborhood is new, as well as the house.

Now on to jobs...I'm hoping the hubby will hear something back from the many he applied for located in Ghana, if not we got to the last resort which will be going to the Ghanaian location of his current company, which he does not want to do, because he feels like he has outgrown that place.

I keep telling my husband that Ghana will be new to him as well because lets face it, he has been in the USA since 2001 and has not been back...I keep telling him e is Americanized now lol. Of course he says otherwise.. lol

One thing I can say is that I'm excited to meet new people and broaden my horizons a bit. I really haven't been or lived anywhere other then the east coast.

BTW, does anyone know which airline is the least expensive that flys out of Washington Dulles to Accra? So far at the least expensive I have Turkish Airlines at 2665 for 2 adults 1 kid one way total (not bad right?)

If any one out there, know of any more information or websites to visit that will help me, please email me or Facebook me @ www.facebook.com/JenniferAboagye

Thanks for reading,
Jennifer :)

Making Decisions and Telling People

Hello all!

Well The time is nearing where we are (almost) final on our decision to move to Ghana....We are def leaning toward yes at this point. We also have our master hearing in February where they make the final decision on our applications and such for the ever elusive green card. But at this point y'all can keep the damn thing! That's right I said it ;)

At this hearing we are hoping for a few things..

• More time
• Continuance of 6 months so we will be ultra prepared
• Voluntary departure so my hubby wont have that nasty 10yr ban

Soo that's what it comes down to at this point.

We have also begun the process of telling folks not as a 'we might go to Ghana one day' but we are now saying 'yeah soo you need to work on that plane ticket to visit because we are definitely going'. Soo far all but one set of friends have been really nice and positive about the whole thing. My mom is finally coming around to the whole thing and our kids seem excited.

I am starting to get the anxiety of having to move possibly this summer, wondering about all the little tidbits of info I may forget ex: how do i send my existing mail to another country, malaria, vaccinations, packing all our stuff up and making sure to arrange our flight so that we can be there to either receive our things in time, or go without until it gets there, (me) finding a job, car situation here and what to do about it because we are still paying it off, if my EVO will work ok there.... ect ect..

Sooo as you all can tell I still have a boatload of research to do, but I am SUPER excited :)

p.s. If any of you readers know how I can find out info about any of the above, please let me know that would be appreciated.

Excitement vs Judgement

As I have stated in the previous post, my family may be relocating to Ghana soon.
I guess I am what you call excited to go, basically excited to start over, be in a new place, learn, have my son learn about his culture, and me learning more about my husband.

I have been a bit overzealous about looking things up about Ghana, and reading blogs about what its like for other expats to live and work there. The other blogs have been esp helpful to me :)

Anywho I should probably stay on topic, I feel like when I tell certain friends and family about my plans, I encounter judgement from some and excitement from others. The ones who judge me seem depressed when I talk about or are the ones who say 'oh I don't think you will ever be able to make it there, you will hate it', or the few who say ' I don't know how you can leave your kids here' (my girls will be going in the summer with us and then we will decide if they like enough to uproot them lol otherwise they will be with their biological dad who lives in the US)

A definite buzz kill right?

And I have friends that are super supportive, don't judge my decisions, want to visit and know what its like when I go and so forth....These types I love because I feel like a friend should be happy for you esp if you are doing good, healthy things with your life, I don't believe in suffocating your friends and being soo negative about something just because you don't want them to go. Shoot i would bid farewell and hope they find happiness and adventure.

At this point I have decided to only talk about moving to my more positive friends and family. They let me go on and on about Ghana and how they may like it lol. I'm excited for the beaches for sure :) Not soo much about power outages and Internet going out, but like all things you adapt and overcome.

 We will be OK :)

About Me

Hey all, Soo I randomly decided to start a blog about my many trials and tribulations (lol) being a mother of three ( 2 girls and a boy) And being married to my man who is from Ghana and possibly having to relocate there one day.

OK.

I am currently 26 yrs old living in the US of A , I am a stay at home mommy.
I am African American with a few things mixed in but who really knows what that is..
Me and my hubby are currently going through the fabulous immigration system of the US ( I will get into all that one day)
I hope to meet Expats and local Ghanaians who can offer me more insight into what it is like to live and work there with a family and all. And hopefully it will make whatever culture shock I go through and possibly become friends of mine. I have never been away from here and I am nervous as all hell!
I mean don't get me wrong I am looking forward to it somewhat, but I am nervous.....
I love to read...about anything.
I love to cook.
Well now I sound all domestic....
I love wine and trying every type of beer I can! Annnd I love the beach and people and dancing.

ummmmm ......

Well I hope to try to write on here often..still not sure if I am a good blogger but I do promise to give my best shot :)