Part 3 of 3 (with no relation to part 1 or 2)

GMT.

Ghana is in the GMT time zone. Greenwich Mountain Time, right? Wrong. It's actually "Ghana Maybe Time."

From the moment we got here, we realized the concept of time was just a little different that what we're accustomed to in the United States. Classes don't start on time, and classes don't end on time. The buses don't have schedules, and if they did, they wouldn't stick to them. Restaurants open "in the morning," and close whenever, usually. On the other hand, many clubs and places of the sort don't really close. It can often be a little annoying, but I think sometimes I prefer it to the ever-important role that time holds in our society. Maybe it just works for Ghana. At the same time, patience is most definitely a virtue.

Anyways, the point of this post is to write about our first weekend excursion. The reason I opened this post with the bit on GMT was because we were supposed to leave at 7:40 in the morning. If we weren't there, "the bus would leave without us." That's what we were told… Funny thing is that at 9:00, we were still in the parking lot. Fortunately, this was expected. Or more so, we didn't expect to leave on time. Letting go of expectations is something that I've struggled with, but have also been getting used to. There are two on-campus residences, and were to be two buses to take us on our trip. Fortunately for us, the bus taking us showed up. The other group wasn't so lucky- theirs didn't show at all.

After we finally left, I felt a little better. We were on our way to a woodcarving village about an hour away. It was actually really cool, and I will (hopefully) post some pictures. I did end up buying a few different things, and will be excited to show everyone in a few short months. I also met a 16-year-old boy named Fred who had been carving for three years. It was really interesting, but unfortunately we only had about 45 minute to walk around. So, I will definitely be making another trip here at some point soon … so I can be on my time, not the program's time, and subsequently Ghana Maybe Time.

Following the time at the woodcarving village, we got back on the bus and headed to a cocoa farm- supposedly the oldest in the country (circa 1879). I'll also be posting a few pictures and maybe, (just maybe) a video, too. It was really interesting, and we even were able to taste a cocoa bean right from a tree, which actually tasted nothing like cocoa, or chocolate for that matter.

Finally, we headed to Aburi Gardens, for a highly anticipated lunch and tour to follow. The lunch was magnificent, and had it not been raining, the tour would have matched the buffet. It's difficult to describe, so I'll leave you to the pictures.

The most "exciting" part of the day did not happen at any of these three destinations, but rather on the bus ride home. We were approaching a toll, and apparently someone had their camera out taking pictures- uh oh… We were stopped by a police officer (who all carry around AK-47s for some reason), and one of our program leaders- Miss Abena- stepped out to take him on. He began yelling at her, and then proceeded to slap and push her against the bus. She quickly retaliated with a right hook, followed by a perfectly executed upper cut to the jaw. The police officer fell to the ground, and she was victorious.

If only that had really happened… but the encounter was still quite intense. Apparently you aren't supposed to take pictures of the law enforcement officers here. That certainly would have been nice to know, wouldn't it? Luckily this person was not actually taking pictures of the police, and thankfully we have one of the coolest program leaders out there.

We also passed Bob Marley's wife's house on the way... I wasn't aware she lived in Ghana, but you learn something new every day. She did have quite a cool looking house.

Things are going well so far, and it's hard to believe a fourth of my time here has already passed. I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity I can, and take in as much as I can. It's only/already been over four weeks since I've left, and I can't decide which of those words more accurately describes the time that has passed. Regardless, the semester will definitely be something I'll never forget.

Stay tuned for Kyle's first basket weaving lesson, a trip to Apam, my orphanage experience, and the Ghana vs. Sudan World Cup Qualifying Soccer Match!