Blog 18

The next day I spent walking around the Tema, the port that we were immediately in; as opposed to Accra, the place where the shuttle takes us. Tema, however, had very little to offer, I found. Everything seemed to be the same. It was nice that most everyone in Ghana spoke English as their first language. There were plenty of people out and about. Many were manning their personal stores outside the residencies; and there were other vendors and shop keepers, selling fruit and bread. I had seen a good deal of Tema and spoke with many people of the city, but I decided to return to the ship. I had a skype session with my Mom and took care of some odds and ends for school and business back at home via the internet. I had an early dinner on the ship, around 5:30PM and got ready to go out for the night, once again determined to get up early and seize the day in Accra for the last day.

I left that evening headed out for the SAS party and ended up somewhere that I never guessed I would have. After taking the bus into the Accra and getting off at the gas station and convenient store. I bought a beer with some friends and sat outside to drink it before we went into the club and paid out the ass for drinks. As we sat and sipped our beers, it wasn't long before a crew of street kids joined our circle and started engaging in conversation. The first one to approach our group was a local Ghanaian named Henry, he told me about who he was and his life. He was 19, he lived down the street, he said he was hungry, and he said that he liked hip-hop. I brought him back into the convenient store and bought him a drink and some food. We spent the next hour talking about American hip-hop and I learned his favorites, little Wayne and Snoop Dogg. He asked me questions about America and I answered them as thoroughly as I could. He was shocked to hear how tall American hip-hop and movie stars are in real life. Henry pointed out his shirt, which was a Fox shirt and he told me that his American friend gave it to him. He told us to meet him at the same spot tomorrow and he would show us around town. That night, we had a very fun time at the SAS party, but were still able to get up to meet our new friend. At 10AM, my buddy, Pierce and I, met up with Henry at the convenient store as planned. I brought him a Fossil and Famous Stars and Straps shirt. Henry took us to his house, which was a two room cement bungalow near by, where he lived with his family. It was crowded amongst many others like it, it smelled of sewage, and there were dogs and chickens scattered about. There was a shower outside that looked very dirty and was open for all to see. Now, I could see why Henry smelled so bad. We kept moving, on to the market, where I told Henry that I was looking for a soccer jersey. I really wanted to get a Chelsea jersey, so I ended up getting a Ghana Jersey, along with the Chelsea Jersey with Henry's approval. We were walking down the street towards a more diverse market when we passed a man who was selling posters of American rappers. Henry insisted that he buy one for me. I told him it was unnecessary, but he kept pressing it, and I didn't want to insult him. So now, I am the proud owner of a humongous poster that looked like a sloppily photo-shopped collage with every rapper from Eminem to Ludacris to Snoop Dogg to Rick Ross.

Henry led us deep within the market where we were grabbed and hollered at for our attention, and our comfort zones were most definitely violated (nothing new). Pierce found a hilarious bright yellow tank top that said "ITS ALWAYS SUNNY IN LA". We weaved in and out of small booths and covered passageways with vendors. It all seemed that they were mostly selling the same things. I was still on the hunt for some good portable speakers, but never found what I was looking for. The day ticked on and we returned to the spot where the buses would pick us up to return to the ship. The buses must have been on Ghana time as well because the bus didn't arrive until 45 minutes later than expected. Unfortunately, Semester at Sea and our ship was NOT on Ghana time. While we waited for the bus to arrive, we found a small restaurant which looked pretty westernized and got some chips (fries) and then ice cream. When the bus finally did come, the bus stop had accumulated quite a group of antsy SAS kids, all expecting a ride. This group also attracted the attention of every beggar and street merchant in within a mile radius. This whole time, Henry was still just kind of hanging around with Pierce and I; it was like he had nowhere else to go. One of his friends made me a key chain which he wove that said Ghana and had Red, Yellow, and Green. We said goodbye to our new friend Henry and he told me he would come visit me in America. We exchanged emails and phone numbers and went our separate ways. The trip back to the ship was nice and air conditioned and before I knew it, I was back on the ship before 6 and we were on our way to Brazil!