Thursday night we went to aphrodisiac for ladies night. It was a really crowded club with tons of scantily clad females and sketchy men. It was a good time, i guess, because it was free but the music wasn't that great.
Today it has been three months since I left home; I have 6.5 weeks til I return home. Its kinda scary...I mean I am excited about coming home, but I don't want to leave because I really like it here.
Saturday we went to a fetish market in Jamestown. We drove past gorgeous buildings like the supreme court building, the barclays bank and even a woolworths with a parking deck ( I felt, for a fleeting moment, like I was back in a US city) and then we hit Jamestown. It is more or less a slum town of Accra and it was run down and decrepit and slightly depressing, especially after seeing those buildings. We found the fetish market, located in the lumber yard, where they sold anything from monkey paws to dog heads to thunder rocks (rocks that come from the sky when it thunders?) to fertility dolls to dried chameleons. It was interesting to say the least. from here we headed to the Arts Center, which was a big mistake. At the Arts center all they do is harass you..." my sistah, please come look at what I have. What are you looking for? I have paintings, mud cloth, ghana shirts. Please just for a second, no pressure. How much would you want this painting for? How much do you have? Its very nice!" etc. every stall you walked past, and there were a lot of stalls. Not to mention the stuff there was overly expensive. I bought some fabric and some bracelets and then my money was spent, so we headed back to campus.
That night we got dressed up to go out and eat Nigerian food at a restaurant (Uchi's place) in east legon. I mean...it was a cultural experience...the food was...TOO SPICY. I ordered Eba, which is a big lump of doughy something but it tasted a lot better than fufu. With the eba I got bitterleaf stew, but it wasn't a stew, it was full of dried fish (which I must admit I can't stand) and probably three pounds of pepe (no joke). The good thing about the stew was the goat meat.
by justinesghana
It was pricey for something I didn't want to eat (50,000 cedis) but CJ, the birthday boy, was really happy we all came to eat his native food. We watched some Nigerian music videos, drank some home-made gin (5,000 cedis for a shot), and had a good time until midnight when some went out dancing and the rest returned home to sleep.
Yesterday, Karen and I decided to jump on a random tro-tro and see where we ended up. Stupidly, we got on a tro-tro to Adenta which wasn't far from campus at all. But we walked around the town, which was a pretty nice development area, and drank some fanta at a relaxation spot in a garden owned by a former botany professor at Legon. It wasn't anything too exciting, but it was a change from campus.
Last night we went to see a play about Yaa Asantewaa and the golden stool. the story is as such: the golden stool is very important to the Ashanti people. It unifies them and if someone else were to possess the stool, they would go into turmoil. Well, when the brits came in, they wanted the golden stool and wanted to rule Ashanti because of the gold that was under the earth. So, the british arrested the Asantehene (chief) Prempeh and took him to Cape Coast. They were also given a fake golden stool to take home to the King (the real one was dug up accidently when they were building around Kumasi and it now is in the palace there). Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother, rallied the people to fight the British in a long resistance. The play was amazing...there was more than 100 people in the cast and at least 50 people on the stage at all times, so it was far from boring. Half of the play was in Twi, but you could understand what was going on without knowing the language. The play was narrated by a story teller, had real obrunis playing the british, and had really great dancing, singing and drumming. I was really glad I went.
Today it has been three months since I left home; I have 6.5 weeks til I return home. Its kinda scary...I mean I am excited about coming home, but I don't want to leave because I really like it here.
Saturday we went to a fetish market in Jamestown. We drove past gorgeous buildings like the supreme court building, the barclays bank and even a woolworths with a parking deck ( I felt, for a fleeting moment, like I was back in a US city) and then we hit Jamestown. It is more or less a slum town of Accra and it was run down and decrepit and slightly depressing, especially after seeing those buildings. We found the fetish market, located in the lumber yard, where they sold anything from monkey paws to dog heads to thunder rocks (rocks that come from the sky when it thunders?) to fertility dolls to dried chameleons. It was interesting to say the least. from here we headed to the Arts Center, which was a big mistake. At the Arts center all they do is harass you..." my sistah, please come look at what I have. What are you looking for? I have paintings, mud cloth, ghana shirts. Please just for a second, no pressure. How much would you want this painting for? How much do you have? Its very nice!" etc. every stall you walked past, and there were a lot of stalls. Not to mention the stuff there was overly expensive. I bought some fabric and some bracelets and then my money was spent, so we headed back to campus.
That night we got dressed up to go out and eat Nigerian food at a restaurant (Uchi's place) in east legon. I mean...it was a cultural experience...the food was...TOO SPICY. I ordered Eba, which is a big lump of doughy something but it tasted a lot better than fufu. With the eba I got bitterleaf stew, but it wasn't a stew, it was full of dried fish (which I must admit I can't stand) and probably three pounds of pepe (no joke). The good thing about the stew was the goat meat.
by justinesghana
It was pricey for something I didn't want to eat (50,000 cedis) but CJ, the birthday boy, was really happy we all came to eat his native food. We watched some Nigerian music videos, drank some home-made gin (5,000 cedis for a shot), and had a good time until midnight when some went out dancing and the rest returned home to sleep.
Yesterday, Karen and I decided to jump on a random tro-tro and see where we ended up. Stupidly, we got on a tro-tro to Adenta which wasn't far from campus at all. But we walked around the town, which was a pretty nice development area, and drank some fanta at a relaxation spot in a garden owned by a former botany professor at Legon. It wasn't anything too exciting, but it was a change from campus.
Last night we went to see a play about Yaa Asantewaa and the golden stool. the story is as such: the golden stool is very important to the Ashanti people. It unifies them and if someone else were to possess the stool, they would go into turmoil. Well, when the brits came in, they wanted the golden stool and wanted to rule Ashanti because of the gold that was under the earth. So, the british arrested the Asantehene (chief) Prempeh and took him to Cape Coast. They were also given a fake golden stool to take home to the King (the real one was dug up accidently when they were building around Kumasi and it now is in the palace there). Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother, rallied the people to fight the British in a long resistance. The play was amazing...there was more than 100 people in the cast and at least 50 people on the stage at all times, so it was far from boring. Half of the play was in Twi, but you could understand what was going on without knowing the language. The play was narrated by a story teller, had real obrunis playing the british, and had really great dancing, singing and drumming. I was really glad I went.
1 comment:
You drank gin? Oooooooooooooooh, I'm mo tell yo daddy! Anyway, glad to hear you are still experiencing exciting times. Miss you. Take care.
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