Kumasi

Day 7-8: Saturday morning we got up and headed down the crazy road to Kumasi, which is a very large city in Ghana and I believes holds the 2nd or 3rd largest market. We got into town and went to the college in Kumasi where we stayed the night. The place was very nice. It was probably the nicest place I have seen since we have been here. It might have looked so nice because our conditions at Mole...different story. After we settled in and took a shower for the first time in three days, we went to dinner. We eat a lot of rice, so it was nice to eat something that had no rice. We were all going to have pizza, but we were told the pizza maker was gone for the day.Most of us ended up having mac&cheese which was pretty good. We had french fries a few times. Every time we have had them, they have been pretty good! They taste very similar to our home cooked fries, but these tasted better. I am guessing it is because it wasn't rice. The next morning we got up had breakfast and headed to town to do a few things before heading back to Tema. Our bus driver, who was amazing, called a friend of his and we went him at a place called the Palace. There we learned about the Ashanti culture, which is very interesting. I hope to learn more about the culture while I am here. This group use to be so large that is almost encompassed the whole country. They went through some issues with war and ups and downs, but they are still present today. After that, we quickly stopped at the culture center. We were there on a Sunday, so there was not much going on. We went into the shop, which was interesting to see some of the cultural items. Then we went to the market! That was a journey! The bus driver said he could not find a place to park, so he was going to point us to the market and we were going to walk. Not a big deal. As we were starting to walk down hill, a guy stopped the bus driver and told him he would take us to the market, find a place to park the bus, and show us around. I was unaware of the fact that James, the bus driver, did not know this man. The culture is very much a bargaining culture. You help someday out for a few cedes (their currency.) We noticed that for each stand the guy took us to, the owners would give him some money for bring us. Very cool to see how the culture works together. So we got on the bus and head to the market. James dropped us off and we headed into the mass craziness. The market is a massive, massive maze. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how this place is set up. There are hundreds of little shops. The shops are so small like 5X10 or something like that and the people are packed in there. Some people just set up shop on the sidewalk or the steps into the market. We walk down these steps and by people selling used shoes and jeans and head into the market. We were looking for two things basically because we only had an hour. We wanted some traditional Kenta cloth and some Ashanti beads. We are following our college student tour guide. We walk into the actual market and are greeted by the WORST smell ever. I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to smells and I almost lost it a few times. Imagine this....fish, pig, beef, and other meats, onions, peppers, tomatoes, other vegetable, fruits, clothes, shoes, anything you need to buy all out in the open, sun beating down on all of this, no moving air, few showers, massive sweating, and open sewers. All of those things mixed together. We were there at 11AM, I did not want to eat dinner after a shower and 7 and 1/2 hours later. I was so grossed out. It is crazy to think that this is the way of life for so many people. Don't worry though, I am a shopped at heart and was still able to buy some cloth and beads. (My mom would be so proud...hahaha) Actually, at some points, the smells were not bad at all. Very interesting. After the market, we loaded into the bus and headed back to the village through the roller coast roads! We got back, showered and had some dinner. After dinner, we went and tried to get on the internet. The internet here is very temperamental. I finally was able to get online last night around 10:00 PM and talk with the PU. It was cool to here the door bell and the trick-or-treaters while I was talking with them. Halloween is not celebrated here, but I would have to say the market or some of the bathrooms are probably some of the scariest things I have seen in my whole life! Now I am at school again, on one of the many breaks.............................From the first 9 days, I am getting the feeling that the school part is not going to be my favorite part. I think I had a GREAT first 8 weeks with an amazing coordinating teacher and students, that I had subconscious expectations. This is all a learning experience! That is all for now!