Cell Phone Fail

The internet is making me crazy! My blackberry has been useless to me, and that is why I did not blog yesterday. So, this will be two for one.

Tuesday.

My plan was to stay at the house and pattern, however after receiving a few emails with updates about current samples, I decided that it would be more beneficial to go into the office and get things done.  I guess it was a good thing I went in, because it was a zoo.  In a nutshell, there were multiple issues with the patterns we had done, but because I was not the one who had made them, I was also unsure as to what was going on.  We ended up having to re-pattern a few things at the office, and take one of them home. I think I could write an entire journal on the frustrations of work yesterday, but because it is in the past and we have solved most of the issues, I will just continue on with the rest of my day.

I took a half day, because it was the start of the fishing season, and in Elmina this is a BIG deal. On my way to the taxi I decided to stop and get a sandwich.  While we were waiting for the eggs to cook they insist that you sit down and wait.  So a few of us are sitting there just minding our own business, when out of nowhere some white girl pops out and is like "Are you waiting for a grilled cheese?" We were like yes.... then she says, "What the F! How did you find this place? It took me like three weeks to find it."  We just sat there staring at her, thinking,.....did you think that you were the only person to know that you can get a killer meal here? Idiot. Then we were forced to listen to her talk about herself while our sandwiches cooked. I think it was the longest three minutes of my life. Finally, we got our food and we walked away as fast as we could.

We filled a taxi right away, and as we were driving one of the girls asked if her window went down or was it broken. The driver responded, please....I am coming, and continued to drive.  She then quietly said....ok, its just really hot back here. Next thing we know, he is pulling over to the side of the road, opening her door and manually pulling the window down. Talk about good service! After that happened, and we were back on the road, we pulled up next to another taxi full of Obrunis. We thought it would be funny to yell OBRUNI! to them, and they laughed. Then we took it one further, and said What is your name. Well, they did not hear us yell that one to them, so we said it again, but still no response.  Our driver thought that this was funny, so he leaned out his window and said ALLO! WHAT IS YOUR NAME! By the time this happened, we were driving off and laughing hysterically.

 Finally we made it home.  For the festival, there was a processional scheduled for 11:00, so when I showed up at 1:00 I was right on time. :-) I have this Ghana Maybe Time down.  First we were standing in an area where all of the village chiefs were lined up, dressed in their formal garments. Then it occurred to us that this was the spot where it would begin, so we walked further down the street to a spot where we could see it in action.  Soon after we sat down the procession passed by. It started with men carrying a staff from their village. Following behind these men there were some dancers and drummers. Then all of the chiefs were carried on what was basically a glorified chase lounge. Some had people fanning them along the way, others had more of a serious group escorting them down the road.  It was really cool to see all of the different clothing, and jewelry worn by the chiefs.

After  March of the Ektorp was finished (some of you will get that joke), we ventured off into the downtown area to see what other festival activities were happening. Everyone along the streets were dancing, and singing and having a good time.  We knew that there were going to be some kind of boat races happening, so we asked a random rasta where we might find these....then followed him through a series of twists and turns and somehow ended up near the river. Of course it was packed full of people, and I could not see a thing. A few people moved over and insisted that I step up to see, but after a few deep breaths of underarms in desperate need of deodorant, I gave my spot up to someone else.

That evening I had dinner with Tanya and Paul once again. We went back to Eli's, because I insisted that they try Yam Balls and egg stew. It is one of my all time favorite meals here. I have recently discovered it, but I could eat it everyday....and you know how I am with my food ruts.  After dinner we walked back to the house, where we were dead in the middle of a music battle. Shell had music, the restaurant in front of the house had music, and the store across the street had music. I'm not just talking about a little music either, Guinness dropped off speakers to all different spots around town, and they were using them to their full power. Apparently I can sleep through anything, because I was the only person in the house to sleep through the night. I have to thank my industrial fan for that!

Ok....a quick Wednesday re-cap

I stayed at home for an hour to pattern a new tote bag design. Then as I was walking out the door at 9:30, Peter the taxi driver was standing there. He was told to come to the house at 10:30 to pick up Tanya and her husband and take them to Kakum. I told him that he was early, so he offered to drive us to work, and I was not about to turn down door to door service.

We got to work, and we were hosting a women's health workshop, so things were pretty quite. One of the girls and I went to get lunch, and by the time we got back to the office it was a complete zoo. The workshop had ended and the women were all in the main office. It was complete chaos. Women were dropping off samples, and picking them up, and a rat ate half of our crayons, and I was fitting a dress, and checking a bib and it continued like this for the remainder of the day.

By the time I got back to the house, I just came to the hotel to try to check my emails and write this blog.  I got about half way through, and then it was time for dinner. Once again I met up with Tanya and her husband. We thought we would try something completely new, so we went to a African/Cuban restaurant. We walked down a long dirt road to get there, and the music was once again bumpin'. I think there were three options for dinner, and we all ordered the chicken with veggies and rice. It was definitely the right choice. It tasted just like BBQ chicken....for a minute I could have tricked myself into thinking that I was in Michigan eating at a cookout....then a bug jumped onto me and that thought was over.

On the way home, I thought it would be a good idea to just take the same road back to the hotel / house. Sorry Tanya! It was a bumpy dirt road, completely dark and in the distance there was a hint of fog....so any time someone came walking towards us it looked like a scene from a horror movie.  Thank you for being a good sport about it :-)

Ok, I think thats a good re-cap of the past two days.

peace. love. BBQ.