This morning Katja got up and went to (supposedly) the biggest market in Africa. It's a huge maze! It's 14 football (soccer) fields large! It's setup is totally random, so it was hard to find what we were looking for. There are people hacking up a pig on one side and someone selling sandals on the other side. We first bought Baflots which are sweet bread balls that are deep fried. So good! After wondering around for an hour we finally found material. We're going to have a seamstress in Sekyere make clothes for us. We found some movies to buy as well. The movies here are so funny! The story lines are like soap operas and the acting is really over dramatic.
We went back to Sekyere today for a funeral. Neither of us knew the man who died, but Nana wanted us to go. Margaret loaned me some traditional Ghanian clothing to wear. The skirt was a little hard to walk in and the head wrap gave me a headache. But, Nana was ecstatic about how beautiful he thought Katja and I looked. Haha! At Ghanian funerals everyone sits in chairs in a "U" shape around a picture of the person who died. First we went around the "U" greeting everyone in the front rows. Upbeat African music is played with singing and drums. People traditionally give the family of the person who died a donation for funeral costs. People can sit at the funeral for as long or little as they like. Nana had us sit for only about five minutes. Then, we went and got drinks at the "American Pub" (it's not so American looking, lol) and went back home.
After the funeral Katja and I left for Kumasi again. We met up with Michael and two more German friends of Katja's - Julia and Hannah. I can follow a conversation between two Germans pretty well - three is hard and four is really difficult. They all talk so fast! (Or at least it seems that way). It's been interesting getting to talk to Germans and see how they view what's going on in the world. Julia is from East Germany, so it was interesting to hear what her parents and grandparents thought about growing up in the DDR.
Our tro-tro broke down on the way to Kumasi! We got very lucky to find another one down that could fit four people. At the stadium we bought all kinds of fanfare. I think we were wearing more Ghanian stuff than the actual Ghanians!
Ghanians would stop us in the street all surprised and happy - "You support Ghana?! You support the Black Stars?!" It was great.
The game was interesting, but the student section at gopher football games is much more rowdy and exciting. I think I find football (soccer) rather boring to watch :/
But I got to have ICE CREAM at the game! SO good! You suck it out of a bag, but it's still yummy.
Katja is staying with a different family near Accra for a week, so I was on my own to get home.
It was a little scary. I got in a taxi outside the stadium. Traffic was dead stopped, so all these men kept coming to my window. Some of them were very nice and asked me how I liked the game. A few asked me to come home with them. Once stuck his had inside the taxi to stroke my face. Awkward!
Thank God I met someone I knew at the tro-tro station in Kumasi. Naomi, a teacher at my school, was there and she helped me find a tro-tro and a taxi in Effiduase.
We went back to Sekyere today for a funeral. Neither of us knew the man who died, but Nana wanted us to go. Margaret loaned me some traditional Ghanian clothing to wear. The skirt was a little hard to walk in and the head wrap gave me a headache. But, Nana was ecstatic about how beautiful he thought Katja and I looked. Haha! At Ghanian funerals everyone sits in chairs in a "U" shape around a picture of the person who died. First we went around the "U" greeting everyone in the front rows. Upbeat African music is played with singing and drums. People traditionally give the family of the person who died a donation for funeral costs. People can sit at the funeral for as long or little as they like. Nana had us sit for only about five minutes. Then, we went and got drinks at the "American Pub" (it's not so American looking, lol) and went back home.
After the funeral Katja and I left for Kumasi again. We met up with Michael and two more German friends of Katja's - Julia and Hannah. I can follow a conversation between two Germans pretty well - three is hard and four is really difficult. They all talk so fast! (Or at least it seems that way). It's been interesting getting to talk to Germans and see how they view what's going on in the world. Julia is from East Germany, so it was interesting to hear what her parents and grandparents thought about growing up in the DDR.
Our tro-tro broke down on the way to Kumasi! We got very lucky to find another one down that could fit four people. At the stadium we bought all kinds of fanfare. I think we were wearing more Ghanian stuff than the actual Ghanians!
Ghanians would stop us in the street all surprised and happy - "You support Ghana?! You support the Black Stars?!" It was great.
The game was interesting, but the student section at gopher football games is much more rowdy and exciting. I think I find football (soccer) rather boring to watch :/
But I got to have ICE CREAM at the game! SO good! You suck it out of a bag, but it's still yummy.
Katja is staying with a different family near Accra for a week, so I was on my own to get home.
It was a little scary. I got in a taxi outside the stadium. Traffic was dead stopped, so all these men kept coming to my window. Some of them were very nice and asked me how I liked the game. A few asked me to come home with them. Once stuck his had inside the taxi to stroke my face. Awkward!
Thank God I met someone I knew at the tro-tro station in Kumasi. Naomi, a teacher at my school, was there and she helped me find a tro-tro and a taxi in Effiduase.
Part of the market in Kumas
The market was very busy and it was a tight squeeze through the market pathways
More market
Mmmm...fish!
Walking around with my yummy Bahflot (sp?)
Katja and I in the traditional Ghanian clothes...good lookin' huh?
Hannah and Julia at a restaurant in Kumasi
Katja and Michael eating American food
We got into the Black Star spirit
Check out those earrings
Some guy walking around the stadium with a smoking pot...not sure what that was about
Libya vs. Ghana
Katja and I in the sun
The guy behind me at the match was wearing a MN Vikings jersey!! I asked him about it and he had no idea what I was talking about and pretty much ignored me. Wonder where he got the shirt from...
Julia, Hannah, Michael, and Katja enjoying the football match
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