Market Day

Yesterday when I signed off I was heading to market. Three of us were supposed to be going with one of the attending physicians, but that didn't end up working out, so we headed out ourselves. We had some vague directions on how to get there and off we went. It was our first time out of the gates surrounding the BMC compound.

It was a pretty fun adventure. We had alot of kids following us around, some would just run up and hug you. Then this big group of children came running and chanting through the street, and our gaggle joined them. It's not that unusual, from what I could tell from my drive up here, for groups of kids to go out singing and running at the same time. Maybe if more of the kids in the US did that, we wouldn't have an obesity problem.

The market was slightly farther away than we thought, but that was alright, we just had to ask some people for directions. We did have a group of men tell us they were in love with us. This is actual common in Ghana, it's part of their humor. You are supposed to laugh. Then if they persist, you tell them that my dad will request 30 horses for my hand in marriage. In Ghana, it is common for the man to give a present (usually cows, but since Americans are supposed to be rich, the Ghanians think we should ask for horses). And 30 horses would be EXTREMELY EXTREMELY expensive for someone from here. Then everyone laughs and moves on. I guess it's supposed to be a compliment.

The market is like this mass of people, stalls, and items to buy. For my first true African market, I enjoyed the culture of it. Because we are far away from big cities, people push a little for you to buy things, but for the most part they aren't very pushy. We more got stares at our white skin.

We didn't buy anything, but I have 8 weeks, I'm sure I'll do plenty of shopping.

Tonight is my first night on call, so I better go check back at the hospital.