How much would you pay for a vacuum?

You probably all know those popular VISA commercials, well, here's one they should do for living in Africa. 4 plane tickets for research trip to Ghana, $6500. Malaria medication, $500. Extra toys to entertain 2 kids on long plane trip, $50. Buying a vacuum cleaner, priceless.

So I finally discovered exactly how much it would cost to keep Sarah sane during her time in Ghana, $90. That's how much our new vacuum cost. But it has already paid for itself in peace of mind. And getting a vacuum here is actually quite difficult since no one has carpet in their homes. But our landlord bucked that trend and carpeted our 1-bedroom apartment for some odd reason. I think Sarah was right when she said that it had never been vacuumed. So imagine how dirty my feet were every night, and the kids too. Not pleasant.

Plus, Sarah has always had an impulsive drive to clean wheverever she is, so it makes sense that a vacuum came to symbolize something more during her first week in Ghana. After purchasing a vacuum, we took it home and realized that the plug on the power cord was something we had never seen before. And I thought I had seen them all. This 3-pronged plug had 3 huge electrical posts that couldn't fit into any Ghanaian outlet or any other electrical converter that I was aware of. So we took it back to the store the next day and asked them what the deal was. Turns out the plug is specific to South Africa, and they don't sell converters here. So the store worker pulled out his tools and changed the plug on the spot to a regular Ghanaian one.

The next obstacle came when we got home, tried it out for a little while, and then it promptly shut off. We weren't sure whether the vacuum was faulty or if it just shut off after getting too hot. In Ghana, usually its the former. This instance turns out to be the latter, much to my and Sarah's relief. I think the whole experience was a perfect one for Sarah to see what it's like to live here. You can just never be sure what is going to happen. That's part of the beauty of it. And regarding our vacuum--I could visibly see the joy on her face after cleaning our entire apartment. It's amazing how gaining control over just one small thing can change our disposition.