Off to Kumasi!
September 10, 2011
On Thursday, instead of having class, our group went to Calabash Dance Africa directed by Kofi Gademeh. The dance and drumming studio is located in New Town, a developing-ish area of Accra. The studio was on the second floor of a building directly on the side of a busy street. Kofi had his drummers play multiple songs for us while the dancers performed many traditional dances. The dances were from Togo, Benin, Senegal, but were still very traditional African. Ah, the costumes were amazing as was the performance! Kofi had our group get up and learn 3 different dances as well. We will be dancing almost everyday once we get to Kumasi, so this was a short preview!
On Friday, we left for Kumasi. The entire group was expecting to literally take a tro-tro to Kumasi, which was terrible thinking about on a bumpy road for 5 hours. So we were all very anxiously surprised when a bus pulled in to the University! We had an actual bus, a very nice Western treat! The ride took an hour longer than expected but we stopped a few times for gas, and once to allow a woman selling turkey and yams on the bus for our lunch. The drive to Kumasi was absolutely beautiful! There were trees everywhere, big hills covered in trees, and just much more green space than we have been used to in Accra. The landscape started to look a little more like what one may picture Africa to look like. Kumasi still has roads, dust, dirt, etc. but there are definitely more trees and even patches of grass!
We arrived at Lizzie's Hotel, and went immediately to a place called Kandie's for lunch. Unfortunately we are mostly upstairs in the hotel, so we had to carry all of our luggage upstairs. At the restaurant we ate rice with chicken and had fanta. Nothing in Ghana has started exactly on time, basically because of the culture. We were supposed to take a tour of Kumasi in groups, but the tour started an hour later than expected. Our group got to dance outside of Kandie's and just hang out, but the "Ghana time" was getting to some of us. Taking the tour was frustrating for everyone. Because the sun sets around 6, our tour was cut very short. My group ended up stopping the tour, because we could not see anything anyway, and we walked back to a tro-tro station. Everybody was really frustrated, cranky, and kind of hungry. Eventually we got back to Kandie's and ate pasta with spicy red sauce. I think the entire "tour trip" tested a lot of our patience and street skills, but I know experiences like that are something that I will learn and grow from the most.
Last night our SIT group stayed up late and bought some wine and local beverages. It was nice to have a night just to hang out, especially right before our homestays. Right now, it's about 8 AM and I can't sleep anymore, probably because we have been waking up so early for school. I'm really anxious to meet my homestay family today. We are going to Kandie's for lunch again, and then off to meet them! Apparently, the people in Kumasi are a little more excited about our visit, which is similar to our own American culture. I really like Kumasi, but honestly have not seen enough of it yet. It is a much smaller city than Accra, but still seems busy. The atmosphere is definitely different however, and I'm really excited to learn more and see more.
I thought we had prepared you for such experiences the time we were in Milwaukee looking for a restaurant in the slushy snow! Amy, Trish, Em, and you had wet feet and were exhausted by the time we found the restaurant. You were in tears! Remember?
ReplyDeletehahaha, that experience totally reminds me of this one! i definitely remember that. the warm building with the rootbeer was sooo nice though : ) a nicer end to that tour than this one.
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