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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Day 65



Today I woke up early because we were going to spend the day in Kumasi. We met the other girls in Agona, got on a tro tro and left. It was raining a bit when we got to Kumasi so there was hardly anyone on the streets. Better for us. I called our friend Emmanuel who painted a couple of paintings for me but he didn’t answer his phone. We found it much easier to navigate Kumasi and found everywhere we needed to go. We went to the Immigration office first. It was a very painless process. We gave them our receipts and they came out 10 minutes later with our passports. They extended our Visas to the 30th so we aren’t going to have any problems thankfully. I got a hold of Emmanuel while we were waiting so we decided to walk back to Vic Baboos but he still wasn’t there. We were good on time but we wanted to go to the cultural center quickly. We made a stop at the obruni market. Afterwards we trekked up to the Cultural center, which took about 30 minutes. Thankfully we had Jackie and Cassie to help navigate us. I got a hold of Emmanuel again and he said that he couldn’t bring me the paintings that I’ll have to come by again to get them. Our time was very limited in Kumasi so I didn’t want to waste it walking all way back. He said that he can’t meet me so if I want my paintings I have to come get them. About 20 more minutes of angry phone calls back and forth proceeded until he finally agreed to meet me at the entrance of the cultural center. We made our way to the art area and craft area of the very confusing laid out center. We saw how Kente cloth was made and went to an art gallery. I wanted to go to the entrance to meet Emmanuel so we left after the art gallery. We all had words for him about how rudely he acted on the phone but he was too nice for us to actually say anything we planned. When I got my paintings I was floored at how beautiful they were. Each brush stroke was a different color but they all worked so great together. After I paid him and thanked him for making them we went to the museum. People have been telling us the whole time that we must go to the cultural center before we go. We each paid 4 cedi to enter the museum no bigger than a large family room. It was a guided tour, so the lady came around with a ruler and quickly told us most everything there. She spoke very quickly and basically read off the plaques available for each item. We tried to slow her down and ask more questions. After awhile we realized that was useless so we let her talk as fast as she wanted. I started to feel sick again and so did Lauren. She actually felt so bad she left with Jackie to go to the bathroom while Cassie and I stayed behind. She told us about the King and the Queen Mother and the history about the Ashantis. The coolest parts of it all was this drum made with leopard skin that when scratched actually sounds like a leopard. During war times the Ashantis would hide in the bushes and scratch the top of it to make the enemy think that there were jaguars or lions in the jungle. Cassie left with Jackie to meet a family friend while Lauren and I stayed behind and broke into our nutella cookies. We each had one and then decided to go to the restaurant. It was raining pretty hard so we sat under the cover until Armstrong and his whole family came. He has two sons, one named after Cassie’s Great uncle, and a wife pregnant with their third child. Cassie’s Great Uncle and Great Aunt came to Ghana 7 years ago on a couples mission and found Armstrong. He told us how his own mother was elderly and he has always felt compassion towards older people which led to him befriending Cassie’s Great Aunt and Great Uncle. He was converted before they left and met his wife, Doris, 2 years later. We were impressed the whole time during dinner how sweet he was to his wife and family. When ordering he said that his wife could choose and he’ll be happy with whatever she chooses. He held one of his sons while his wife held the other. In Ghana it is hard to find a man who respects his wife as highly as Armstrong does and treats her like a Queen. We left the restaurant and out to the vendor area because Armstrong wanted to buy something small for Cassie’s Great Aunt and Great Uncle. I talked to this painter for awhile before the other girls called me over and told me that Armstrong had bought rings for us and we need to pick out which one we want. We ended up buying the same ring with the Gnyame (Jin-Yah-may) symbol on it. The symbol means With God or Only God so we are going to use it as our Ghanaian CTR ring. We walked to the Tro Tro station and got in a very long line. It was still raining but the women had their caps on and were ready for the rain. As the tro tro pulled up the people actually got into the tro tro in the order they were in line. We have never, and probably will never see that happen again. The same friend that helped us climb through the tro tro window last time helped us again by letting us get into an empty tro tro. I was so tired from not sleeping last night that I actually fell asleep in the tro tro, a miraculous feat. We got into Agona and stepped off the tro tro to do some market shopping quickly. I was so groggy I could not comprehend anything going on around me. We only bought a couple spices and then left for the Internet cafĂ©. We had to wait about ½ hour for a computer to be free. I spent about 2 ½ hours talking to my Mom, Audrey, and friends. I finished up and Cassie said she was almost finished so I sat and waited for her. We came home and made our groundnut over rice. We made enough for ourselves and for one more meal tomorrow but we were so hungry we just split the leftovers too and had a feast. Matilda gave us some of her palm nut soup, which we had been anxiously waiting for the past couple of days. It had A LOT of red pepper and fish in it but I still really enjoyed it. I even ate all of the fish. The rest of the night I did some researching and some notes.
XOXO

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