Maniac Mondays!

When I was growing up in Michigan, we had a superstition of sorts. Basically it seemed like everyone got wild at the same time, and some people liked to blame it on a full moon. I can remember frustrated people looking out the window and at the sky and asking, "Was a full moon out last night?" Well, here in Africa they don't put much stock in full moons and the like, they have their own superstitions, but we do seem to have those 'full moon' days here.

The funny thing about Ghana though is it seems to always fall on Monday! Monday is our 'day off''. It is the day that we do all our town shopping, and I buy chop (fast food) so Patty has a night off. We take about 3 to 4 hours to go to all the little shops that we buy from so that we can have our groceries for the week. No Super Walmart here, the best thing to get in mind is China Town in San Fransisco, or the Common in down town Boston.

Some days are wonderful! We enjoy the patchwork of traffic, and the voices of people buy and selling. But other days... it is what I call maniac Mondays! Today was a maniac Monday. On these days it seems like all of Kumasi (about 2 million people) decided to shop at the same time. Picture the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving times ten, with less personal space!

On these days we wonder if it is the heat, the moon, or just someone kicking up the ant farm, but whatever the cause everything seems chaos! The kids seems to feel the vibration in the air, or maybe it's the tiredness of the parents, and dance to its funky beat. Normally by the end of such days, everyone is ready to be at home.

Once home, the kids run free on our 1/4 of a acre of concrete 'Terra firma', and Mom and Dad sit back and take a deep breath. Hhhhuuuuuuu! The Maniac Monday is past, and there is time for a little relaxation. I guess the blessing of these kinds of Mondays is that they make the calm ones so nice.

So to all those out there having a Maniac Monday, or Full-Moon Friday, or whatever we call it... take a deep breath, count to 3, and pray. Like my grandmother always used to say when I was little, "It will be better before you get married!" And if the reader is married, what are we complaining about? It already is better! Just think, we could have gone through that ALONE!

Here are some African Market pictures to put the reader in the mood!