The weekend (sort of in brief)

This is an entry for Thursday to Sunday/Monday

So today was a great day- (Thursday)

This morning I had drumming. We have finished the first song and we are going to be tested on it Tuesday- I think I am good- I am planning on purchasing my drum this weekend so Monday morning I can practice!

I came back to ISH took a little nap. It is so hot here today that your body just needs to shut down every once and a while. I also attempted to make a list of the people and things that I wish to get them…. Lets say its impossible for this moment.

Mallory, Andi, JohnnyKansas, Jess, my friend Israel (Ezra) from class and I decided we were going to go out for dinner tonight. It was a lot of fun. We went to Osu which is about a 40 minute trotro ride from Legon. So on our way back to Legon from Osu we got onto a trotro and just because the guys that we were out with are gentlemen they let the 4 girls onto the trotro first- the back row was empty so the 4 of us sat down and as we were traveling I sat there and looked at the ‘picture’ of the trotro. The four girls are Oburonis in the back row. I know that the comparison is not the same because we were not forced to sit in the back, but I had a sense of the day of segregation and the separation of races would feel like. I know that I can not express in words the way that it felt sitting there. I will think about it more….

It is about 11pm here (writing this) and I am ready for bed- I have to wake up at 515am to leave in the morning for Kumasi (Kumase- city under the Kum tree)- I might have wrote this whole entry for no reason cause I might not post it until next week- oh well.

Midge

It is now Sunday night and here is a recap of the weekend. We left late (if that wasn’t a surprise but this was a little uncalled for… what ever I know patience is a virtue). Our first stop was the Manhyia Palace. It was built in 1926 as a ‘gift’ from the British after taking one of the Asantehene Chiefs, Prempreh II into exile. We were not allowed to take pictures so that’s all I am gonna say about that.

Our next stop was the National Cultural Centre which is a fair trade market with almost every craft that you want. I bought a nothing on my first visit because I knew we were going back (at this point I thought after we were going to the carving village because I wanted to get a drum and I saw one that I really liked). Just walked around and looked at prices because most places do not allow bartering here. We then headed to our ‘guest house’ which was on KNUST campus which is the Kwame Nkrumah (recognize the name?) University of Science and Technology- the little bit of the campus we say was beautiful. It’s the second best school according to our guides compared to Legon- not sure if that is bias or not? It was a very nice place that we stayed.

Saturday morning started with a few errands which did not involve the whole group, one was very frustrating because it wasted an hour of 32 of the 38 of us that were on the trips time. I know we are all a group but plans should have been made outside of the groups travel. We then went to the Kente Weaving Village-Bonwire. The fabrics are very pretty but it is not my style that is for sure…. I did buy some though. Two shawls- one is a gift and one is for my as a wall decoration. I also bought some basic purple and yellow fabric to have a drum bag made out of. (for the drum I still do not have.) We then headed to the
??????? (I have to find the name of this one). It’s a village where they take Kente weaving and stamp it which an ink found from a tree’s bark. We were able to pick out up to 3 symbols of the 150 in traditional Asante beliefs and make a strip of fabric. I have to get the guide to the symbols I can not even remember the ones that I picked. After lunch at a local restaurant we headed back to the Cultural Center and the Kejetia Market which is estimated to be the largest in West Africa. After thinking about the drum all night I bought it. I love it, until you see it, its hard to explain it have an elephant and butterfly on the base and has a red, black, and natural stains on it. LOVE IT!!! So now I can have a bag made for it! I also bought a few paintings. I did not make it to the market because the guy I bought the drum from and I made good conversation about fair trade and the sales in America of goods. It’s great to be able to talk about things that affect both ‘worlds’ of mine. We headed back to the hotel for the night.

We then headed out Sunday morning where we went back to the Cultural Center because some people were not happy about Saturday because we were told it was closed by a local and it wasn’t- but if they were so lazy in going to look they would have seen it wasn’t- so we went back which ended up being great for me because I went into one of the shops that was closed on Saturday and found some great things- I am not going to share because I want all of these things to be a surprise for people!

Our last stop before getting on the 280km drive back to Accra was the Ahwiaa village or wood craving. All of the things are so beautiful it was hard not to buy everything. I got many different things here to. No telling…. The sales men would be in line waiting for you and would get angry if you didn’t go in their shops- not in a bad way- we had a time limit. The bargaining was good here. Andi and I had a great system down. We got some great deals together.

We then headed back to Accra we got back at 9pm which was a miracle. I didn’t think we would get back till 11pm or so. I unpacked- looked at what I bought and then went to bed. It is now Monday morning as I write this, I am a little tired, but cant be for long because Bethany and I are heading to Teshie today to go to the orphanage to see what we can do with them. I still think I might look into another spot and work with two groups. I saw the Kumasi Habitat for Humanity- I wasn’t quick enough with the Camera though. I am going to look for the Accra branch and see if they might have some office work to do. For one I really do not have clothes to build in here or shoes.

That’s it for now. Midge