While we were at the Village of Hope for mid-term break, our new university student friends, Enoch, Caleb, Derrick, Ato, and Philip invited Jordan and I to a Jazz festival the following weekend. My first thought was heck yes, that would be so much fun....a jazz festival in Africa! Then my second thought was it's the week right after mid-term break and I can almost count on it that I will have so much to do. My third thought was...screw it! Let's go to the Jazz Festival! And Jordan's thought the whole time was WE ARE GOING!
So, I asked Head of Primary if I could miss school on Friday and she said that wouldn't be a problem, just give my lesson plans to my assistant. So, Thursday, I was getting everything ready and telling my assistant everything she could possibly need to know about what class would be like that Friday when a nice little beeep beeep beeep came fro my phone. It was a text message from Enoch saying that Jazz Festival had been postponed until further notice, but that he hoped Jordan and I would still come to Accra. Well shucks...I was excited about this Jazz Festival and Jordan....well he was at least 20 times more excited than I was. So now I was in a pickle...how am I going to break the news to Jordan? Well, easy, just call him and tell him. So, I did, and we both decided that we still wanted to go to Accra and hang out with our new friends.
We left early Friday morning and Enoch came and picked us up at the bus station in Accra and took us to the University where we met the other guys. We then went to a really nice hotel. I felt like I should be somebody special being in that hotel..but truth is I wasn't. There was a concert going on outside by the pool area which we enjoyed for a little bit and then we went inside to the Jazz bar. I seriously felt like I was back in my old New Orleans stomping grounds. The ambiance was cool and dark. Dimmed lighting, red leather couches everywhere, a few tables and the bar was in the back, and a small stage in the front. It was simple, but nice. We sat down right next to the stage and waited for the musicians to arrive. We ordered and ate some food while we waited...and for those of you wondering, I ordered fufu.....JUST KIDDING, I got pizza!
Now, I really don't know anything about Jazz music....but these Jazz musicians were good! I enjoyed sitting there and listening and watching them play literally 5 feet in front of me. It was awesome and well worth the trip to Accra and a nice Plan B due to the fact that Jazz Festival had been postponed.
After the jazz bar, and after discussing, and more discussing about what we would do next, we all decided that we would go to the beach. (It was reassuring to see that people in other countries have a hard time making simple decisions too haha!) It was a clear night at the beach, a chilly breeze and half moon which lit up the sky. We sat and watched the waves come and had good conversation...one of which was did the Americans REALLY go to the moon!?!? We left the beach around 2 in the morning and went back to Enoch's house to sleep.
The next day Enoch took us around Accra, we got to eat at a LEGIT gelato shop and we went to the mall of Accra. Sunday we went to church with our friends Paul and Ernest and then Ernest took us to the bus station so we could head back to Kumasi. But it wasn't soooooo easy. We got to the station and saw long lines of people, no buses, no trotros no nothing! Well, it turned out that there was a football (soccer) match in Kumasi that same day and so there were not buses or trotros in Accra...they were all in Kumasi. So we waited for about an hour and a half and finally this small bus came. Long story short...we literally had to fight our way on that bus. We got on and got to Kumasi safely! Thank you, God!
It was such a nice weekend. I am so thankful to Enoch for letting us stay with him, and for him taking his weekend to spend with us. We had such a wonderful time and it was nice to get out of Kumasi and go the "BIG city". It was a little bit of an escape, and I would even say it was much needed which of course I am thankful for. But, like I have said before, I can't forget why I am here. I was greeted Monday morning with hugs and welcomes from my students. That is why I am here.
I hope you are all fine and enjoying yourself as the weather gets cooler....as for me...the weather is only getting hotter!
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