Day 1

The first thing I did with Emmanuel when he got here was to take him out to eat. It was great! We went to In-n-Out Burger. Emmanuel had never had a hamburger before, so he was very interested. We stayed there for about half an hour, and then went on to do the exciting things.

Right after eating, I took him to the pier in Santa Barbara. We walked along the beach for a while, with the ocean rolling towards us, and then rolling back out. Ghana isn't very close to any oceans, so Emmanuel hadn't ever heard one. He kept talking about how beautiful it was.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was time to get onto the pier. There were so many things to do there! We saw about twenty pelicans on the shops, in the roads, and just about everywhere! I think they're so cool, and I'm pretty sure Emmanuel did too. He kept laughing about them, wanting to know more.

Another thing we saw were fishermen. So many fishermen! The whole end of the pier was piled with fishermen. They all had their nets and were hoping to catch a variety of things: crabs, fish, I think one was looking for jellyfish, but I couldn't understand him very well. Emmanuel was amazed.

Later, we went into the taffy shop. Emmanuel, of course, had never even heard of the stuff. It was really sweet and gummy. Emmanuel kept getting it stuck in his teeth, but he just laughed about it.

After that we went into the aquarium. I showed Emmanuel all the cool fish that were just off the coast. I think he was amazed. Then I showed him the place where you can pull up your own creatures. We could smell the salt water in there really well. It was like being out at see, but inside!

I knew that Emmanuel's favorite part was the touch tanks. I enjoyed it when he felt the squishy part of the sea cucumber and recoiled back in surprise. I told him that if you kiss one, you get seven years of good luck. He tried, but one of the people that worked there told him not to.

Next, Emmanuel and I went to my friend's house, so that Emmanuel could meet her dad. Matt Roberts is the Parks and Recreation Director of Carpinteria, and I thought that Emmanuel should know him. We had a great time there; Matt talked about what he did, and Emmanuel was
very gracious about all of it. Emmanuel thanked Matt and we left.

After that, we went back to my house. My mom made us lemon chicken. The food filled us up, and we were ready to play some board games. The first game we played was the game of LIFE. It was really fun. Next we played Go Fish. Emmanuel was really surprised to find out that there weren't really any fish!

Finally, we went to bed. I remember thinking about how kind Emmanuel was to everyone. I want to be just like him.