Ashley Shira’s Blog

Day Thirteen Part Two, Day Fourteen, Day Fifteen

Day Thirteen Part Two

After work on Wednesday Kim and I took a taxi back to Coco Beach to spend a little time by the pool since clinic finished early. The taxi only cost us 2 cedis and we paid 5 cedis to use the pool….not bad for an afternoon of relaxation.  We both took a little nap by the pool then decided to go for a walk on the beach.  After only a few minutes on the beach we were bombarded by young Ghanaian men wanting to meet the “white girls”. Three of them introduced themselves and walked down the beach with us to the fishing village of Teshie.  We wanted to get a closer look at the many huge canoes we had seen many times out fishing in the ocean. There was one guy named Eric (his American name I’m sure) and he had lots of questions for us.  After we walked to the boats and back to the hotel we were ready for dinner.  We said goodbye and promised Eric we would come back and visit his shop when the other students arrive.  We had another great dinner at the hotel then took a taxi back to the mission house. Kim tried to get in the shower, but there was no water. We suddenly realized that we never asked Emily to show us how to pump the water.  Once again we put our heads together and figured it out! We each had a shower and then collapsed into our beds.  David was supposed to pick us up the next morning at 9 to go to the National Museum….but we’ve already learned that David’s time and our time aren’t always the same.

Day Fourteen

We got up and got ready to head into Accra.  When David hadn’t arrived by 9:30am we decided to call him.  He told us to go to the hospital and speak to Selassie and Tina then he would come get us.  We weren’t sure what that was about, but we headed off to the hospital.  When we got there they told us that the car was for the hospital and only available for students for pick-up and drop-off at the airport and emergencies. We were surprised because we had been told that David was our assigned driver and that they didn’t like for us to use taxis.  We apologized for the misunderstanding and went to the front of the hospital to get a taxi to the museum.  We arrived to the museum around 10:30am.  It was very interesting and I enjoyed learning about Ghana’s history! We spent about an hour in the museum (it is fairly small) then ventured outside to the craft shop.  After looking around there and purchasing a few small art prints we decided to eat lunch at the outdoor restaurant on the museum grounds.  It was really good! We had a chicken stirfry that tasted very similar to chinese food. After lunch we decided to just walk around Accra and take in the scenery.  Not far down the road we stopped at a gas station that had an ATM because we were both running low on cash.  I got some money out without any problem, but when Kim attempted to take some out the ATM “detained” her card!! She called the bank that was listed on the ATM and long-story short, the man said someone would come around 3pm to get the card out and she could go to the bank and show identification and get it back.  While she was on the phone, I went to change my SIM card on my phone and found that my U.S. SIM card had slipped out of  the case and was missing….not a good day for cards! I called Mom and she called AT&T and had the SIM card shut off and they are sending a new one to the house.  At least no one will be able to use the old one if they find it!! With our problems handled as well as we possibly could from another continent, we set off for the Accra Mall.  The taxi driver got lost and we got stuck in traffic, but we finally made it.  The mall was very, very nice! It has been open for less than a year! We shopped a little (we were excited they had a bookstore….we are both on our last book and still have 2 weeks left), ate dinner, and had some awesome pistachio ice cream from Frankie’s for dessert.  Kim’s dad called to let her know that due to a bank error when they were putting a note in the computer about her travel to Africa, her card had actually been turned off before we ever left the states.  So we decided not to go to the bank to pick up a card that wasn’t going to work. After dinner we went upstairs to the cinema.  We went to see Australia and it was a fabulous movie!! When the movie was over we went out front and got a taxi back to Manna.  We went to bed as soon as we had showered and written in our journals….we were exhausted!!

Day Fifteen

Today we did clinic at the hospital.  It was actually quite slow! We were all also very tired (even Dr. Akosua).  Tonight we are just going to chill at the mission house and read!  We are working tomorrow so we need to get some rest.  We are planning to go back to the mall after work tomorrow.  We might see another movie and there is a large grocery store too and we need to get some things.  The internet isn’t working great today so I will have to fill in the gaps in this blog and put up some more pictures on Monday! I love and miss everyone!