Spring break started with a day off on Friday! Well, that's when it started for me but it kind-of started the day before for Amanda because her mom flew in to visit and got here Wednesday night! She was able to go with Amanda to school on Thursday and meet her students and most of the teachers at the school. Joyce, Amanda's mom, also brought TONS of goodies for Amanda and Meg and I and for that we will be forever grateful! Especially for the Oreo's :-)
I guess the official beginning to spring break was actually dinner on Thursday night at La Galette - a standby favorite restaurant! Jonathan accompanied us ladies and it was a fun time!
While to some it might look as if Jonathan and I are holding hands - we are in fact not. It's just a slightly awkward picture, haha.
Friday morning began with a ride in a tro-tro to Medina market in search of some fabric. Unfortunately, Friday mornings are apparently not a big time for the market because a lot of the little shops were closed. However, Amanda and I did find some good fabric and Joyce the seamstress is currently fashioning for us some fun PANTS! Joyce, Amanda's mom, is having a skirt and dress made. Let's hope they're ready on time and don't need too many alterations! The rest of Friday was spent at the pool for Amanda and Joyce and I stayed at home for a quiet afternoon. That night we made the trip out to Osu for some shopping and dinner at MONSOON - another favorite restaurant. I spent way too much money on some paintings for me and fun things for my little brothers but it's my last semester in Ghana - I'm justifying it. At Monsoon, Amanda and I were able to try some new sushi and it was AMAZING! Sorry Fashion Sandwich but you just won't cut it anymore. Unfortunately this new sushi, rainbow rolls, is far more expensive than what we usually get so we will probably never eat it again - but oh how great it was while we had it! Nice discovery, Amanda!
The gelato we had after dinner was the perfect after-dinner treat!
Saturday we were off to Labody Beach Hotel for a day at the pool and beach. It was an aaaaaaamazing place! The hotel was so beautiful, the pool was clean and even more astounding - the BEACH WAS CLEAN! The price was a little higher than we were anticipating because people are always raising their prices in Ghana but it was well worth it.
Don't judge my pastiness just because I wasn't born with Amanda's amazing olive complexion.
That night Amanda decided that her mom needed to experience some real, Ghanaian food and I was more than happy to join them at Chez Afrique. Gari foto, red-red, palava sauce with boiled yams... mmmmmmm! I can't say that Joyce enjoyed it as much as we did, though. Okay, so it's something to get used to, I guess...
We had quite the delicious spread!
Sunday was Easter, of course, and we spent the day relaxing around the house, which was a very welcome break for me. I felt like we had been going and going for the past few days and it was nice to just sit back and take a breather. For breakfast I made pancakes with a cinnamon, brown sugar, apple-y stuff to go on top and it was absolutely delicious! Then for lunch I made bar-b-q chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and heat up some green beans - Amanda's favorite! The worst part was when the power went out - 8 minutes after I had put the chicken in the oven to cook. Ummmmm, now what? Amanda had the good idea of taking the food upstairs to finish cooking because upstairs the girls have a gas oven and stove-top, which theoretically should work when the power is out. Well, let me tell you that it doesn't work when the power is out when the girls upstairs fail to have the gas tank replaced when the old one is empty - crap! Thankfully, 40 minutes later the power comes back on and we finish cooking the food and have one pretty good meal! And yes, we continued cooking the chicken after it sat for that long and I'm still alive to talk about it so I'm thinking it's okay :-) For dessert we busted in to the second package of Oreo's. That's right, the SECOND package!
THEN - as if all that food talk isn't enough - we went over to a Lebanese family's house for (a very late) dinner! Mmmmmm there was so much food and it was all DELICIOUS.
Sunday was an incredible eating day :-)
And that brings us to TODAY. Oh what a Ghanaian day we've had! Amanda asked around and found this hotel in Akosombo called Afrikiko. She looked it up online and it looked beautiful and it had gotten good reviews from friends here who have been there. I enthusiastically said "Yes!" when she asked if I thought it would be a nice place to stay when her mom came and everything made it seem like this was going to be a great getaway from the city life here in East Legon. So, Amanda booked a room for us and we got up and found our tro-tro to Akosombo this morning. When we got there, the place was beautiful. It's up north a bit and on the river and it was quiet and peaceful. However, the moment we stepped in to the reception area we knew this was going to be a totally Ghanaian place and experience. The room was nice enough even though I knew I'd be wearing my flip flops in to the shower and there were no towels to be seen and the TV was pretty small and only had 4 channels and they had yet to bring us the extra mattress for me to sleep on - I mean, there at least was an air conditioner. However, not more than 5 minutes after we were shown to our room and we were settling in, what happened? The power went out. Nice to see you, too, Akosombo! We were determined to make the best of it and changed in to our swimsuits and headed out to explore a bit and relax by the pool. Like I said, this place was really very pretty and had so much potential to be a great getaway. Where Afrikiko went wrong is in the details. Like not providing enough chairs around the pool, especially chairs with cushions and that weren't broken. Okay, we can deal with that. Let's put on our sunscreen and just take our towel and go lie on the concrete right next to the pool. Five minutes later the pool is swarmed with loud and obnoxious women. Joyce and I decide that it is in fact NOT rude for us to get up and move to the other side of the pool away from these women. Soon it becomes apparent that there is no getting away from these people because they're multiplying and the pool has become overrun with loud, screaming people. The three of us retreat back to the room and decide that it's just time to go. When we got back to the room they had brought the mattress for us and nonchalantly tossed it into the room with some sheets. Uh, thanks. Even after a two hour tro-tro ride there, it still sounded like a better option to get the heck out of there and take another two hour tro-tro ride home than be there any longer. We haven't regretted the decision since! The things I tried to describe above probably sound like no big deal to most of you reading this - guess you just have to live in Ghana and experience it to really understand.
Amanda and I running away from our room!
And here I sit now, in the relative comfort of my living room. Never have I been so thankful for East Legon and this house :-)
It's been a good start to spring break!
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