Our first shabbos guests!

[Note: Okay, I know we still haven't posted about last shabbos, when we visited the Jewish community of Ghana in Sefwi Wiawso. But it's incredibly long- both the transportation and the actual shabbos experience, so I haven't gotten around to it yet. So I know it's out of order, but first, this shabbos:]

[Oh and it's Rivky!]

We went to the Jewish community in Sefwi Wiawso last shabbos, and we stayed with a really big family who had two extra bedrooms for us. They were so sweet and good to us, and we invited them to come to us for shabbos, not actually expecting it to happen. They took us up on it, which was awesome, and three of the children- Anthony (22 years old), Patrick (20 years old) and Sarah (17 years old) came for the weekend. This was HUGE for them. I think Patrick had been to Accra once before, but Anthony and Sarah had never been. Sarah had never even been to Kumasi, the closest "big" city to their village- three hours away. She had never spent a night away from her house before! Though she didn't say it, it was clear that being in Accra was a huge step for her, and for the rest of them.

For shabbos, we made a lot of food- on Friday night, we had stew, boiled plantains and salad and 3 challot, on Shabbos day, we had fish, yam balls and sauce, salad and 3 more challot, and then we also had a sizable seudat shlishit, including two sweet challahs, one with chocolate chips (fancy, I know).

It was just so interesting having them for shabbos. When we went to Sefwi Wiawso last weekend, sitting in shul and talking to them in the house, we were visitors in their world, and having them in our dorm with us, they got to experience a taste of what Orthodox American Jewry is like. We sang kabbalat shabbat and zmirot on shabbos. Patrick and Anthony sang along, and Sarah read along in the Artscroll English. During seudat shlishit, we all sang some of the songs they've been taught by American visitors through the years.

One thing that was really interesting- on Friday night, during dinner, a girl on our program came in and talked to us for a couple of minutes. She told Anthony, Patrick and Sarah that she was Jewish also. When she left, they asked us about her, and we explained that even though she identified as Jewish, she didn't feel compelled to have Shabbos dinner. They didn't understand how someone could be Jewish and not do shabbos. We tried to explain that in America, plenty of people identify as culturally religious, but not observant, but it was pretty alien to them.

On motzei shabbos, Cornelius and Richard (and Richard's cousin) picked us up and we all went to the beach. The beach is always cooler at night, but it was especially awesome because Anthony, Patrick and Sarah had never been to the beach before. They had never seen the ocean! At first, they were slightly nervous, but one by one, they all came with me and we put our feet in the water. I felt privileged to be there with them for something that I don't think any of them will ever forget. Sarah is really shy, and she has such a sweet smile. At one point, the wave came in a little high and our skirts got wet- she grinned and squealed, and it was really awesome.

Today was a chilled out day. Pretty much our entire dorm went out, but I spent the day at the apartment- took a long shower (we had running water, while Teaneck was out; a fitting way to end Adar, no?), read a lot. Hadn't been by myself in a while, it was nice.

Patrick definitely had the best English, and last night, he wrote us a really sweet note- for posterity, I want to write it over. He drew a picture of himself, Anthony and Sarah, and then he wrote:

"We really do not know how much to thank you all for hosting us all among you, and taking us, as your brothers and sister, that is really mice you have show to us that we are all one as a whole to be Jewish.
We are going back home to tell our community and parent about what you have done. May the Lord Almighty bless you all and grant you peace.
Ladies, do you know what we like most about your hostel? All your friends are friendly and share everything with us all. May God bless them too.
We are very sorry we have to leave on Sunday but we hope everything is well with you all.
We also thank Yamit mother for paying for our transportation. May God grant her long life and prosperity we are hoping to see her sometime.
We say that you all: meda wo fe; Todarabah.
May God send you back home safely and best in your exams when you come back to Ghana!!
We also enjoyed your food! You are all best in cooking and making sauce. We tell you all the food we eat is among the best food we have ever had. Bye to you all!"

HOW FREAKING CUTE IS HE???

It was just great because we were able to give back to them a little bit of what they gave to us. They told us that every couple of weeks, they host American Jews who are visiting for shabbos. But that means they are always hosting; they've never before been the guests, they've never seen how other people make shabbos. I think they had a good time. Hopefully they'll come again before we leave, but who knows. We'll definitely be in touch with them, though.