Let them eat cake

Auntie Sharon and Auntie Lizzie are the women who work at the UC Education Abroad Office, and they take really good care of us. I think we are all going to universally miss them. It's really nice to know when you arrive in a new place that somebody is looking out for you. I passed by Sharon drinking water from a sealed sachet (I'll explain later), and she hit me on the arm and said "Let me see that. I am your mother while you are here. You're drinking that brand!". She's just very endearing. Anyways, on Februrary 29, the two of them ordered cake and ice cream to celebrate all of the February born students. We all arrived and the cake was 2 hours late (Ghana time, they call it), but we all gathered and hung out. In a group of 26 it's easy to lose track of people so it's fun to be brought back together for something like that. We sang and were merry, and then a group of about 10 of us walked out of the study center and off of campus to catch a taxi to Kineshie station. We were 5 to a taxi (legally too many, though everybody fit) and our taxi got a flat tire on the 30 minute ride there. Alicia pulled out her camera and started snapping photos (much to the chagrin of the driver changing the tire, I'm sure), and he fixed it remarkably fast. We sped on, and two of us had to get out as we passed a police barricade, but we met up on the other side at the station. From there, we caught a tro-tro to Swedru junction and got another tro-tro from there to Kokrobite beach. The driver originally dropped us off at Big Milly's, but they said they were full. We were looking at another couple rooms at a place called "The Dream" which was way too expensive for what it was, and once we expresed interest the man there became oddly hostile, demanding that we pay up front and suggesting that he would charge us twice as much if we snuck more than three people into a $30 room. At that point, somebody interjected that we could sleep in tents at Big Milly's for $2 each, so we went for it. The tents wouldn't survive long in Yosemite, and ours had a little opening on the bottom so it wasn't fully bug-proof, but after splashing myself in DEET, I survived the night. Part of the problem was that they were thick rubber tents and the air got so hot and stuffy after a couple of hours that we would wake up clawing at the zipper for air. Still, we made it work, and it was fun.
The 9 girls I was with were instantly attracted to the seamstress there selling fabric, dresses, shirts, and her skill at making alterations to things. here they are in various stages of trying on clothes that night. We continued on to walk up the road to the Kokrobite Garden Restaurant, also an inn, and I would recommend you stay there if you ever get the chance. Secluded and beautiful, the restaurant fulfilled our dreams as we ordered bruschetta, pizza, salads, pesto and red wine. It was such a fun decompressing dinner. Running around campus stressing out about finding classes, being sure that you've gone to all the departments you have to visit, etc in addition to going to lectures and trying to find out where they are hiding the class readings from you can wear you out. It was nice to spend a quiet weekend away.




We got back to Big Millie's and did more sitting before bed. That was a big theme of the trip. The next day, we woke up and had French toast with chocolate sauce at the same restaurant (YUM) and then wandered back to lay our towels on the beach. The sand was so hot that running the thirty feet between our towels and the hotel gave me second degree burns on my foot. Everybody got a little pink sunburn too, despite having re-applied sunscreen five times because we were just too sweaty. But that made swimming in the ocean all the more fun. We saw some fishermen pulling the net out and there were hoards of Ghanaian children swimming naked in the water. one had fashioned a surf board out of a large plank of wood (we stayed away from him), but it felt so good to be in the water. We read and lounged on the beach all afternoon and then put in our orders for dinner at Big Milly's. After much more sitting, we grabbed some raised seats because they were supposedly putting on quite a show for us. The show turned out to be not very impressive. Mostly pseudo-reggae music interspersed with some traditional dancing. The real fun part was sitting in a big circle getting to know each other playing long games of mafia.





Feeling remarkably like these children, I went to bed early when the air in the tent was still breathable.





The next morning was more of the same. A great breakfast and lunch at the Garden Restaurant, some sitting on hammocks (those who didn't fear sunburn played in the ocean again), and then taking some tro-tros back to Accra, and then to Legon. A quiet Sunday evening of dinner and sleep followed, and I felt much less stressed out. I wish there was a tropical beach so close to Berkeley!

I apologize for not taking many pictures that weekend. My brain was really fried. If you would like to see more of Kokrobite, I suggest you check out my friends Thien Vinh's and Natalia's blogs for better photos. You can find them under the links section of the blog :-)