When in Kumasi....

Wow! Life is amazing, and Ghana is super-amazing.
I am in Kumasi right now having more fun than I can remember having in ages.
It all started with a trotro, or tiny bus similar to the ones the Mexicans drive, but more crammed. The trotro droppped me and Meredith off in the city center of Kumasi with two enormous backpacks weighing us down and foreheads full of sweat(yum). We began to treck the streets looking for the hotel that another German volunteer had reccomended. I knew right away I had left the village. Kumasi is incredibly crowded and full of traffic and I love it. You must constantly have your eyes open here, or you WILL get hit by a car. The whole you-hit-me-I-sue-you-thing hasn't really caught on, and no one wears seatbelts. Yay for safety! Anyway besides being crowded Kumasi is just awesome because it is both modern and traditional. Men walk wearing business suits next to people in traditional african clothing. There is also this gigantic market which goes on for miles, and sells everything from underwear to snails. There is also always music playing, sometimes the local "hip-life music" and othertimes Sean Paul. We had walked for about 10 minutes when I decided to ask a man for directions. Suddenly another man interrupted and said, "I can take you there." He was umm African(?) and well dressed, and very poised and polite, and I soon found out his name was Paul. He took us to the hotel, which turned out to be full, but he insisted that he would not leave us until he found us a place to stay. In the meantime we had some great conversation. He was 26 and wrote for a local newspaper. He also worked part time for Global Youth Network, another organization. We ended up hitting it off, and he offered to take us shopping in the market a bit later, and being that we would be homeless without him, we agreed.

We had ended up splurging all of $20 for a room with AC, shower, toilet and a double bed and were truly in heaven. I'm sorry but the bucket just doesn't beat the gentle feel of running water trickling down your skin and toilets are much better indoors away from flies and chickens. After napping and showering we began the days adventures. First stop was his sisters store which made dresses. Me and Mer picked out a design and then waded through the market for fabrics. I picked a gorgeous blue fabric with white lines, Meredith a more African printed green. I would say the cost of buying the fabric and having a pencil skirt and halter top made was alogether $7, yes a bargain hunter's heaven.

After the dresses we decided to have drinks and food at a nearby place called Flava Lounge (Flavah Flave!..sorry). At this point it was me, Paul, his friend Emanuel, and Meredith. Of course, we both wore wedding rings, and had boyfriends, but the men were still so incredibly nice. We talked about so much, my favorite topic being weight. Here is Ghana, it is not an insult to be called fat, simply a fact, and many men love fat women. The models, actresses, and musicians are all pretty meaty, yet the men are all thin and very muscular. It was so strange to them that women could be unhappy being fat, and FYI, when I say fat I mean FAT, not "i have a belly" or "my hips are big"--no big ass big hips big everything--big is beautiful! I also learned that men are much less sexual and vulgar here. They will always try to take care of a woman and are very nervous when it comes to putting the moves. The ball is much more in the woman's court. Women are often the ones to initiate sexual behavior because the men don't want to be disrespectful. Ummm Wow. Wow. Yea. Wow.

Later, we went to a club and danced and heard music and it was a lot of fun. There is no drinking age, but I was having too much fun to even think about clouding my sense. Why would I want to cloud the memories I was having. After hearing some amazing music, we went back to the hotel and happily crashed.

We woke up tonight at around 9:30 and got some beakfast, then met Paul around 11:30 to go to lake Bosomtwe. The lake was like a big party, with kids everywhere dancing and swimming. Meredithand I bought these ugly bathing suit from women on blankets. It was a really fun day and the water was gorgeous and warm. Lots of people came to talk to us about where we were from, and everyone loved that we could speak a bit of Twe. We also sampled this delicious Ghanian wine and danced to Hip Life.

Tonight we went to Vic Baboo and got some Pizza, which has honestly never tasted so good. Tommorow, it is back to rice, rice, rice.

Tommorow is also the 6th Sunday of the month and there is a ceremony at the castle where the Ashanti Chief is.

until then I am a bold American Obruni Acossia and I love Ghana!!!

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