Small Travels, Some Laziness

Tuesday, December 5^th – Aburi

The one thing I really wanted to get done today was to filling out the rest of my poker set. Oh, yes – I’m making a poker set out of coins from Ghana. It will be amazing.

I walked into two banks, but I couldn’t get rolls of coins at either bank. My morning had pretty much gone to waste.

I took a tro-tro down to the other end of Legon to get some lunch at Rich Love. They had no chicken, which was thoroughly disappointing. It didn’t really matter though. All that meant is that I would have more room for pizza tonight.

After hanging out in the EAP office and checking my email, Francis and I took a pair of tro-tros to Aburi. Nic the Carver told me that my carvings were done and he wanted to talk about staining them. Nic is a machine. He got a ton of stuff done in less than a week, and all of it is pretty impressive. He blew me away with the carvings I got done. Francis and I both discussed what we wanted done, and each of us took some (or a lot, in Francis’s case) stuff home. I brought back an awesome set of wall shadows, while Francis brought back a massive stool, six masks, two elephants and three drums.

We were back in Legon under a blood-red moon around 7. I had the taxi driver drop me at Pizza Inn and Francis continued to our hostel.

Pizza was amazing. The beer with it was pretty good too. And I won a couple games of pool, which always makes the night better.

Wednesday, November 6^th – Madina

Laziness. That’s all I can say. I think I stayed in bed – sleeping, reading or playing Hearts – until around 12:30. Finally, Francis and I found the motivation to move around 2:30. We went to the “Night Market,” which is a place where a lot of food vendors hang around.

By 4, we got a tro-tro to Madina. Francis needed to get some cloth to get some clothes made, and I decided that I was going to get a shirt made for myself. All I have are shorts and I figured I should bring at least one shirt back for me.

I bought some beautiful deep blue cloth, which will make for a very nice shirt, especially with the embroidery. Sandra does some amazing embroidery so I’m really looking forward to it.

About fifteen minutes after getting back to the hostel, our power went out. It's still Ghana

Thursday, December 7th

I stayed in bed for a good long time, in and out of sleep. I continued to read through “Things Fall Apart,” which is pretty good. Some of the names are difficult to pronounce; I could only imagine how much harder they would be had I not been reading and saying African names for the last four months.

Around 12:30, I headed to the university. I called Duncan to see if he wanted to grab some lunch. He told me that he and Francis were already at Babson’s, which is in the same area as Rich Love. Perfect. I walked back across the street and joined the two of them for lunch. Although it is no Rich Love, in my opinion, Babson’s is still pretty good.

After lunch, Duncan and I hit some internet for about half an hour. It wasn’t the internet that was so important; it was the drinking of very cold Pepsi that was. From the internet café, we headed toward Volta Hall. I put in an order for a very nice shirt with Sandra, our tailor. It should come out rather beautifully. A shirt like this would be very expensive in the States; here, it is costing me twenty dollars.

I really didn’t know what to do with the rest of my afternoon. I chilled out at the EAP office for a while, distracting people from doing their independent study projects and playing Hearts. I called Francis to see where he was on his return trip from Aburi and then ran into Duncan on the way back to Legon Hall.

While we waited for Francis to arrive, Duncan and I picked up a drum that he got made. He got it a couple days ago, but it had pink cloth around it, and he really wasn’t okay with that. The newer cloth is much nicer.

As we made our way back to Legon, I saw Nic hanging out outside of my room. He and Babs came back with Francis to bring all of Francis’s stuff back. Nic had finished the my last few carvings, which came out pretty amazingly. While they are not perfect (nothing is), I am very satisfied. He did a great job. I gave him a little money for his tro-tro ride back to Aburi.

Once Francis finished some business in Legon, we made our way back to our hostel. We stopped at the Night Market for dinner: rice balls, groundnut soup, and some beef skewers. It was all quite delicious and filling. I regret not going to this place earlier. The meals are cheap and good, and it’s not so far away.

The rest of the night was spent in the hostel. I repacked a bag, making sure that all of the carvings were surrounded by soft clothing. The last thing I want is for this stuff to break on the flight home. That would be so disappointing. My first bag is right around twenty-three kilos, which is the weight maximum per bag. Luckily, my other bag won’t be so heavy, so if I have to, I can move one or two kilos into the other bag.

Friday, December 8^th

Before I went to bed last night, I made a couple lists: things I need to do, things I need to buy and their cost, and how my remaining days would be spent here. The list of things that I need to get done is getting smaller and smaller. The days left on this trip are such that I can count them on my fingers. While I know it is coming to an end, there has yet to be a major sense of finality.

Today’s mission was purchasing chocolate, and lots of it. I went into a store on campus and bought three boxes of chocolate – one for a gift and two for myself to distribute as I see fit. If I haven’t said it before, Ghanaian chocolate is really good. I don’t know what they do to it, but it is incredibly rich, and really can only be eaten in fairly small quantities. It’s going to be a real disappointment going back to Hershey’s when I get through all this chocolate.

For the better part of the afternoon, I spent my time listening to music, relaxing, and getting through the rest of “Things Fall Apart.” I really enjoyed this book. It illustrated very well the life of Africans before and after colonialism.

Saturday, December 9^th

Today was one of those days that I just wanted to be done with. Not because anything bad happened, though. I just wanted today to be over so that I could say that I only have one more week here.

Most of what I wanted to get done today was scheduled for the evening. I had nothing to do for the better part of the day, so I decided to put a study guide for my Organization Theory class together. I got about half of it done and then Francis and I headed to the Night Market to get some lunch around 2.

I finished my study guide following lunch, and this pretty much led into the evening. Francis and I returned to the Night Market to get some dinner. We have become masters of hitching rides to campus so we don’t have to pay for a tro-tro or taxi. People are very nice for picking us up and we always express our gratitude.

The entertainment for the evening was a very cool concert put on by students from Ghana and the US, as well as a band from Burkina Faso. The Burkinabé band was very cool and the American performers (from Philadelphia and Memphis) also performed quite well. Our friend, DK, who lives on the fifth floor of Annex A performed some of his spoken word stuff which, quite honestly, sucks. Still, it was only 20,000 cedis – well worth my money.

Sunday, December 10^th

I had the most difficult time falling asleep last night. My head was a Cineplex, with a different thought or memory or idea playing on every screen. And I had no power to turn off any of the screens. For hours, I couldn’t stop thinking, so I just rolled around in bed until 4 or 5 in the morning.

Thankfully, I had nothing of importance to do today. So I stayed in bed into the early afternoon. I still don’t feel very awake though. I had some crazy dreams last night, so the sleep I got wasn’t the greatest.

I had planned to go to Rich Love to try to buy some of her recipes around 1:30. I called Duncan to see if he wanted to meet me there, but he was working on his independent study paper. (Side note: I am so happy I am done with that thing.) He told me that he would be working until 3 on his paper and he would be willing to go around 3. I decided to hold out.

Rich Love, as always, was amazing, but today, it was even more amazing. We got a rare treat – green pepper sauce with shredded chicken. This was one of the recipes I wanted to get from her, but she wanted fifty dollars per recipe. Not only do I not have that kind of money, but I think I could figure out what was in her recipes without much effort.

Edith, the owner and chef of Rich Love, told me that she also had some business to talk about. She is considering opening a restaurant on campus and was looking for an investor. As much as I would like to help her, it is just too much of a risk. If I were in Ghana for the next two years, I would definitely do it, but being in America, there is just no way to track what was happening.

This meal put me in an incredible food coma. I am ready to fall asleep immediately. But I will hold out.

In the evening, a bunch of us had a very civilized wine party. I was in rare form. By the end of the evening, I was the most drunk I had been on the whole trip. The result was a not-so-fun evening, mostly on my hands and knees.

Thankfully, though, I did fall asleep very easily.

LDG