a productive day.

Today I felt quite productive.  It's funny what qualifies as "productive," seeing as how a good bit of the time I wasn't even successful.  I was trying to make reservations at hotels in Togo for my parents' visit, and find some information on medication here.  None of the calls to Togo went through, and each one cost me 82p per minute just for the ringing line.  That doesn't seem normal.  I don't think I'm dialing wrong, either... country code + seven digits is what the Internet assured me I should do.  I used about 4 cedis of credit today and hardly talked to anyone.

Anyhow, though, after all these phone calls, I was able to shift the rooms reserved in Elmina and find a lovely-looking hotel in Lome who (thankfully) responded to an email although they didn't pick up the phones.  Hoorah, we'll be staying in the Hotel Bellevue.  Hope it's nearly as nice as the photos seem!

I also drove way over past the mall, spending 45 minutes in traffic for a 20-something-minute drive, to put down a deposit on our TV stand with the carpentress who custom-made our lovely DVD rack.  The TV stand will hold our TV and be flanked by shelves, specifically designed by us.  It'll have a bit of Ghanaian-style hammered-metal embellishment, and be a dark brown color.  It may take a while to make but I think it'll be worth it.  Anyone in the market for well-made and classy wood products from shelves to mirrors, picture frames to lamps, may I please recommend Marihap Handicrafts, across the street from Wild Gecko.

I finished off the evening with German class.  We have an exam next week.  This is a big one - the Zertifikat Deutsch, which is actually nationally recognized.  For example, it's the minimum language requirement for citizenship.  I aced the last Goethe end-of-level exam but since then we've gotten into grittier grammar and the tests themselves are tougher tasks.  One of the speaking tests has us sharing and comparing info from graphs with our partners.  Somehow I seem to start every sentence with "I find it surprising/funny/interesting that..."

Off to CEPEHRG tomorrow.  Plans are coming together for my parents' visit - including them filling up a rather long shopping list!  The Amazon orders should all get there with plenty of time to spare... I'm ordering a dozen books and loads of camera accessories, since lately I have been getting more serious about my photography (or at least about my photos looking their best).

Right, bedtime!