My first marriage proposal

Last week, Jon (a volunteer from Conneticut), Greg (a volunteer from California) and I were walking back from Happy Corner (which is a pub/cafe) when some men on the side of the road started calling, "Yevu Yevu." By now being called Yevu is such a frequent daily event that I barely respond but nonetheless, when a Ghanian attempts to make contact with you, it is incredibly rude if you continue walking and do not stop to say hi. So, as protocol has it, we stopped for a few minutes. The man came to the road and chatted with Jon while Greg and I hung back but half way through their conversation, the man looked past Jon to me and said, "You.... you be my wife." Not necessarily the marriage proposal I had in mind, to say the least! I told him that I had a husband (which we all know is VERY untrue but it's the only way to settle a marriage proposal), but to which he replied, "I don't care. I beat him up and then you be my wife." Greg stepped in and tried to say that from where we come from, you have to get to know the girl and THEN marry her, not the other way around but the man didn't take too kindly to that suggestion. At no point was I afraid or intimidated, as my entire experience here has been incredibly safe, but it was the man's inability to understand Western marriage/dating rules that had me miffed. He wouldn't budge on the fact that I had a husband so I pulled out the big gun: the ninja story! Apparently if you tell a Ghanian man that your husband is a ninja, they will immediately back off. So, all in all, my fake husband from Canada is a ninja! HAHAHAHA! So odd!

That wasn't the first marriage proposal, though. Yesterday, on the way to Ho, we stopped off at a very very small farming village high up in the hills. It was completely serene and quite beautiful! The elder nominated one of the youth to take us around the village and as we were walking, he flat out asked if I would come back to the village in a few weeks and marry him. I started laughing, not out of disrespect but because the guy was no more than 17 years old!!! Sooo, I started on with the story of my ninja husband back in wintery Canada and that was the end of that!