i like your chin!

Tuesday.

The weather needs to change around here. I seriously believe that it has some effect on my energy level.

This morning I did not want to get out of bed. I had clean sheets, and it was really cold; which is the perfect sleeping combination.

One of the inters working in the Krobo office came to Cape Coast for a few days to work on a dog leash prototype, and today we went to Adjumako (a small village about 2 hours away) to work with the women on making a sample. We took one of the guys from the office with us, because the women speak very little English. This was extremely helpful, because there were lots of instructions that needed translation.

When we arrived at the village there was only one woman at the office, but eventually more came. One of them kept telling me that she liked my chin. I think that's the first time I have heard that line. We worked in a single room work space that had a nice size porch for the women to also work at. They use singer hand crank sewing machines, and when I asked for an iron they lit the coals. The iron was a true antique. They put hot coals on the inside, and it weighed a ton! These are some of the reasons everything takes so dang long around here. Not to mention my safety scissors from preschool cut better than the ones I used today. Luck for us we were cutting straight lines so I just ripped everything.

We spent the entire day there, cutting scraps, sewing them together, folding them, ironing them....and then finally weaving them. There are about 10 women who work in the office and they picked up the technique pretty quick! It was just very repetitive, and I was exhausted at the end of the day.

Tomorrow I am staying home for at least the first part of the day to do some folding for our shipment next week. I swear, every time I turn around there is another shipment. This time I had the bright idea to bring the dresses home and fold on the ping pong table. Normally I am crammed on a tiny table, or laying them on top of chairs...its a nightmare really. Plus when I stay home I have the added bonus of coffee and my pajamas!

Peace. Love. The village experience.