8/30

            Today was our first cake and ice cream get together that the study center puts on once a month for all the UC students.  It was so yummy, I wish it happened every week! I was planning to stay in tonight and just watch a movie but then my roommate Jessica asked me if I wanted to go to a business dinner that her friend ( an American girl) was at for the company she works for.  I decided to go and boy was I SO happy that I did!  She had her driver come pick us up and take us to this French restaurant it was at.  She told us the people were going to be old…which they were.  Most of them were old enough to be my grandpa, but it turned out to be really interesting.  They are all part of this green company in Ghana that works to build schools, houses, roads, etc. throughout the country.  There were people from all over the world, Germany, the UK, Canada, the US, Belgium, Austria.  I was talking to a couple of them and they all have led very successful lives and love what they do.  It was refreshing to meet people who have a strong passion for something and have been successful in pursuing it.  The food was so good too! It was definitely food I wouldn’t go out to eat back home since I wouldn’t want to spend the money.  There were a lot of entrees, bread, salmon, lobster, a bellpepper wrap with feta cheese and for the main course there was rice, French fries, garlic shrimp, vegetables, fried potatoes, chicken, beef.  For dessert I ordered crepes with bananas and ice cream inside and chocolate syrup drizzled on it.  It was DELICIOUS! I felt so spoiled….the german man next to me ordered crème brulee since I said id never had it.  He took one bite and then kept pushing it towards me to eat.  Now by this point I had already had dinner beforehand, then a full dinner there, and a dessert.  He didn’t like it so I ended up eating the whole thing and by the time I left this place I was about ready to pop.  I hadn’t been that full in a long time.

8/31

            Today is a national holiday…the end of Ramadan, therefore there was no classes! This week I will only have class on Monday, im starting to feel that im not getting enough school! Me and a few friends took a taxi to a beach called Tawala.  When we were trying to get a taxi to take us there, not a single driver knew where this beach was located.  Finally we found one who said yes he knew and he’d take us for 6 cedis, so we got inside the car.  We start driving and he says “okay, you tell me where to go”…we all started yelling at him saying we don’t know how to get there, stop the car, let us out! He hardly spoke any English and wouldn’t stop the car.  My friend in the front was yelling at him and I couldn’t help but to just sit there and laugh at the situation.  We had one of our Ghanaian friends on the phone explain to him how to get there.  When we finally got there, he wanted more money but we all got out of the car and gave him the 6 and left.  The beach was really beautiful and had lounging chairs for us all the lay in.  There was a horse on the beach and as we were laying there a pig and its little piglets came running out onto the beach.  You definitely don’t see this at home!  Some of our Ghanaian friends met us at the beach and afterwards we all went to a restaurant called Citizen’s Kofi.  It was on the 4^th story of this big building and had a view overlooking the city.  It was so nice!  We were told there was Mexican food at this restaurant.  I ordered a burrito and surprisingly it was really good!  However, it was the most I have payed for a meal since being here, but definitely worth it and close to how much itd cost in the states.  We all piled in to our friend Wala’s car and drove back to the university. At night we all hung out and went to a popular local bar called Jerry’s.  It’s a really fun atmosphere and they play lots of Ghanaian music which I love!

9/1

            This morning I got up and packed to leave for the Cape Coast for the Fetu Afahye festival.  It was a mandatory trip part of our orientation.  It took us much longer than it should have and we arrived in Cape Coast late at night.  We went in to town to get some food and watch one of the dancing rituals part of the festival.  This festival is huge for the people of Cape Coast so as you can imagine there were people out everywhere!  We stood in a huge crowd and watched the dancing.  It was quite shocking at first to see the young girls dancing without a top on.  I keep reminding myself that there are many cultural practices and rituals that I am not used to however must be accepting of. We went back to the hotel around 1230 and I passed out!

9/2

            We woke up at 6am this morning, so I only got 5 hours of sleep.  We went back in to town and hung around for a few hours waiting to see the bull ritual.  We walked around in the shops.  I really like being here because its right on the ocean and so beautiful!  This festival starts the beginning of a new year and is a six week celebration with multifaceted components; religious, economic and political, gender, drama, art, music, and dance.  This weekend was a major part of the festival.  The bull is led from the cape coast castle to the shrine Papratam where it is slaughtered in order to honor the 70 deities in the area.  It was really crazy in the streets with people everywhere dancing and playing drums.  At the shrine, I couldn’t see the bull and looking back on it now im really happy I didn’t see the ritual happening.  I did however see it before hand tied up and the aftermath L It was a sad thing to witness, however once again this is a part of the culture that I have to learn to understand and embrace.  WARNING..there is a picture below that is graphic…please don’t look if you have sensitive eyes!  At night time we came back in to town and it was basically like one huge party.  People flooded the streets dancing, there was a huge stage set up where a dance contest was put on with music blasting.  My friend Kelsey and I wanted to go get ice cream so we had our student leader Gyimah walk with us since it was crazy out.  Its hard to describe how insane the streets were other than cars could barely drive in the streets and everywhere people were dancing and grabbing you.  We finally got to where the ice cream was and as we were walking back two guys sandwiched my friend Kelsey I went to push them away then another guy grabbed me so I shoved him.  Gyimah stepped in, and the next thing I know is I have ice cream on my shoulder and in my hair.  While Kelsey was getting squished, her ice cream fell on the guy and he wiped it on me.  Haha …oh goodness this was quite an experience. 

9/3

Last night I only got 4 hours of sleep, so it was REALLY hard waking up this morning! We went back in to town to watch the procession of the chiefs, asafo companies, and priests and priestesses ( a huge parade).  This was nothing I had ever experienced, more people crowded in one area than I think ive ever seen in my life.  You’ll see what I mean from my pictures and video.  This festival is also a time for people to express themselves in different ways, I saw people with white all over their bodies, people wearing masks, people dressed as the opposite sex.  Our group had an area where we sat and watched the entire parade.  This day was a lot of fun but so exhausting being in crowds and out in the sun.  At night our program director Aunty Rose took the group out to dinner at this restaurant on the beach.  For a second I forgot I was in Africa and felt like I was on some tropical island.  It was so beautiful!  This was  a fun trip but i was definitely ready to get back to my home in Legon where I feel comfortable!!