Bead Bohemia

Saturday.

I slept for 12 hours last night. It is so quite at this house, even the roosters don't start until later in the morning.

Well today I did something that I never thought I would do in my entire life. I hitchhiked to the office. It kind of happened by accident, because I thought we were getting a trotro. We got in and there was only one chair, and when we dropped he just went on his way. It was then that Rebecca told us that we just hitchhiked.

We waited for two random people to come to the office for the bead workshop. We went with a man named Moses and made glass beads by hand. First we had to smash up broken glass. Then we sifted the broken glass to get the fine powder out. The powder is the part that goes into the mold, and eventually turned into a bead. After we sifted the powder from the glass pieces we prepared our molds. Each mold is a little bigger than the side of a cd, and has a little less than 100 spots carved out. In order to make sure there would be a hole in the center of thebead we had to stick a thin piece of cassava in the center and trim it flush to the top of the mold. Once this was completed we mixed in a powder dye with the powder glass.

To fill each mold, you simply pile the powder ontop and pat it in. Then shake it around to make sure it goes into every crack, and tap the bottom on the table. You then blow off the extra powder and you are ready to put them into the fire. They stay in the fire for about 30-45 minutes. Once you pull them out they cool for a few minutes, and then you dump all of the beads out nto a bucket to be washed. Give the beads a quick scrub between your hands and there you have it! Recycled glass beads!!

After our workshop was completed we set off to find the bead market, aka heaven on earth. Rebecca took us around to show us all of the fair trade bead makers, and at first I was so overwhelmed. Literally, my brain was on bead overload and I thought I wasn't going to be able to buy a single thing because there were just so many options. Then I snapped out of it.

My first purchase. Old African trading beads. These are a bit on the pricey side if you buy an entire strand, so I got three individual beads. What is interesting about the old African trading beads is that some women prefer to spend their money on these, because if there is a currency change the beads will consistently hold their value, where the value of the cedi might drop. After purchasing the old trade beads, it was a bead shopping spree. I just couldn't resist all of the hand painted beads. Hillary was laughing at me, and said that my eyes were huge every time we got to a new table. Its probably a good thing that I live in Elmina and not Krobo, because I would spend all of my money on beads. If any of you ever come to see me *hint hint* I will take you there.

On out way back to the house from market I ate some questionable meat from a street vendor, and then we just hung out at the house for a little bit until dinner time. For dinner we went to the Krobo version of Eli and he had yam balls. These were different than the ones I am use to, because these had a hard boiled egg in the center. Still sooo good though!

Hillary and I were major nerds when we got back to the house after dinner and we looked at all of our beads. I have no clue what I will do with all of these beads, but even if I just look at them I will be happy.

Sunday.
How many tros does it take to get back to Elmina?

Hillary and I were out of the house by 8:00 this morning, to ensure that we would have enough time to find our way back to Cape Coast. First we got a tro that said he would take us to Accra. We got in, and after many drops and pickups we made it close to Accra. Key word being close. We randomly pulled over and the driver said "Obrunis....out!" We said, are we going to Accra? He said No, I will pay. So he called another tro over and paid for us to get to Accra. Somehow I got stuck in the very back corner of this tro, where I counted 23 people surrounding me. Did I mention that I had to pee?

We told the driver that we needed to go to Circle Station, and I don't know who messed up, but where we ended up getting out was not circle station. After wandering around for a minute, we asked a tro driver how to get to Cape Coast, and he walked us over to a different tro and told us that he would take us to the stop. Into tro three we went. Again, shoved into the back, bladder maxed out and backpack balanced on my lap. We started driving, and we just started laughing because we had no idea where we were going. Thank God for the man next to us, who explained in clear English where we could drop. Finally we made it, and it was just in time to grab the last two spots in a fast car that was headed toward Cape Coast. We jumped in, and sill....I have not been able to pee. Because all I could think about was having to pee, I was a bit on edge. Adding to my annoyance was the man directly in front of me and the woman right next to me. First, the man decided that he didn't want to breath the air, so he wrapped a bandanna around his nose and mouth, looking like an idiot out of a western film. Then, he had this tiny can of chips that he balanced on top of his bag. I seriously think he thought I was going to take them, because every time I made a move he would put his hand on the chips. The girl next to me was a whole different story. She took up the entire seat with her crap, leaving only half a butts worth of seat for me. Then she was chomping her gum and bumping into me, and it literally took all I had in my body not to snap.

Finally, we made it back to Cape Coast and the driver dropped us right in the middle of market. Still....I have to pee. We basically power walked to the taxi stop, praying that they would be there on a Sunday afternoon, and thankfully they were. 5.5 hours from the time we departed I was finally able to pee. Gah!

Peace. Love. Bladder Control.