I woke up early this morning to meet Mackenzie and watch the pilot boat. I never found Mackenzie, but I did find Dr. Aimee and Becky. We also never saw the pilot boat, but we saw something WAY better. We saw WHALES!!! There were two of them and they were jumping out of the water and splashing. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen! I really had no idea that whales did that in the wild. The whale excitement happened mid-breakfast with Becky. We went back and headed back to breakfast after the excitement and finished eating.
Afterward, we got ready and went to Tymetz Square to wait for the ship to be cleared. While there, I ran into Dr. Aimee, so we waited together. The ship was finally cleared and we were allowed to disembark. I headed out with Dr. Aimee for her Global Mamas FDP. Our tour guide Sam was hilarious. We asked him about the people balancing things on their heads. He just looked at us like we were stupid and said it was easy. He then grabbed one of our boxed lunches and put it on his head. Even with the bus moving around he made it look easy. I really need to practice this when I get home. We saw people walking down the streets with suitcases on their heads. I can see it now – walking up the Hill balancing my backpack on my head. That would be pretty sweet. Anyway, then we asked what this woman was selling out of this bin she was carrying on her head. From afar, it looked like bread. The people walk up and down the streets – through the streets for that matter – selling things. So Sam gets her attention and buys some – it wasn’t bread. It was fried octopus. Yep, fried octopus and it was actually pretty good. It tasted a lot like calamari.
We made it to Global Mamas and met the founder. She founded it 6½ years ago using her own money. Global Mamas is a micro-financer, but rather then loan out money they loan out supplies. They give out the amount of supplies to complete the order. Once the order is complete the women are paid. They are technically a non-profit, but they run like they are a for-profit company. They actually pay the women a living wage and about 40% goes back to the women, which is really good. Usually in other non-profits, only about 15%-20% goes back.  We had a little time to shop, but we were quickly whisked away for a tour of the main market with a local named Selena. She showed us the different kinds of cloth. They reserve the colors black and red for funerals, which I thought was interesting. She also showed us the type of plant that they chew on to “brush” their teeth. The weirdest thing about the market was that there are fish everywhere! They are salted and fried and raw and they smell was horrible. One lady even had crabs crawling around. Selena also took us to a music vendor. He played us some traditional music and we all danced right there in the market. After we left the market, we went on a bit of a walking tour of Accra. The city is really dirty, but the people are really nice. We found ourselves at the beach. In Ghana, they don’t value beach front property like they do in the US. If you live on the coast they think you are really poor because most people that live there are fishermen who are uneducated. There was a small restaurant there we grabbed some cokes and I got a “meat” kabob. It was either goat or beef. I am not really sure. There were some rocks that lead down to the beach and we climbed down and took pictures.
We walked back to Global Mamas and were there for another .2 seconds and were whisked away again to the WEB DuBois Center for a drumming and dance workshop. We learned a couple of dances and then got up and did them. The group that was doing the city tour were there and joined us for a bit. It was so fun! After the dancing part was over, we were each given our own drum and we learned some beats. It was cool, but we were running late on time so we didn’t really get to finish, but it was still awesome!
We went back to Global Mamas and were finally able to finish our shopping. I spent so much money there! Well really it was only about $70 and I got all of my souvenir shopping done. If you want to learn more about Global Mamas visit their website at www.globalmamas.org but don’t buy anything because I have already gotten it for you! 
Mackenzie, Kristin, and I finally had to leave Global Mamas and went to the shuttle stop, which is at a gas station on the busiest street in Accra (yeah, it was a little sketch) so we could catch the bus to the Welcome Reception. The welcome reception took place on the Asheshi school campus, which is a local university. While we were there, their dance troupe did a performance for us and we were welcomed. I got to sit next to the Deputy Minister of Education in Ghana and we chatted about Semester At Sea. He seemed pretty interested in it. Apparently, he is a pretty big deal. After the welcome, we had appetizers and were able to mingle with some of the students. I met three of the nicest students named Rasheed, Edwin, and Lady. They were all really interested about life in the US and it was neat hearing their views of the US and Ghana. They all got my information and said they would find me on facebook so I hope that happens.
We all piled back on the bus and headed back to the ship afterward. Everyone converged on the upper deck and we had ice cream, which was the perfect way to spend a fabulous first day in Ghana!