Monday, June 5, 2010

Today Tanya and her husband came to the office with us. It was fun to show them where we work. When I first got to the office I finished my journals from last week and sent them to Tanya. Then I went to try and extend my visa.

The woman at immigration was so rude. She seriously made me want to cry. I think I would have been fine if someone else went with me, but because I was all by myself it was really intimidating. First she yelled at me for the way I filled out the form. In an email I got from Renee before I arrived in Ghana she gave us instructions for how to fill out the immigration forms when we were on the plane. I filled out my second immigration from following the same instructions, but apparently the immigration officer did not like that. She yelled at me for using an Accra address, and again for putting tourism as my purpose for visiting. It was also difficult because I had a hard time understanding her English. Every once and a while someone else would come in the office and they would talk about me in Fanti. I could tell because they would both stare at me for a minute and then start laughing. Finally she started processing my paper work. They had to keep my passport, which is nerve wrecking in itself, and then told me I had to come back on the 19^th to collect my passport. I leave on the 19^th from Accra, and told her I wouldn’t be in Cape Coast. Reluctantly she ended up changing the date to the 15^th. She gave me a receipt and told me that if I lost it I wouldn’t be able to get my passport back. It just seems crazy to me because there is a quicker turn around on visas when you’re in the states and you have to mail your passport.

When I got back to the office I worked on drawing flats in illustrator of the softies we’re having sampled. I also helped take pictures of some of the new samples that came in so we can send them to Renee and Kristen to get them approved.

For lunch, we took Tanya and her husband to the place where we get those really good egg sandwiches.

We left work a couple hours early and went to the Cape Coast Castle with Tanya and her husband. It was really cool to go there and experience history, but it was really depressing because that is where they used to ship out slaves from. It was almost awkward because you were there with a bunch of Ghanaians, and it was almost like they made me feel like I was personally responsible for everything that had happened.

For dinner we went to Oasis with Tanya and her husband, I got a vegetable pizza. It was pretty much amazing. Its crazy that in two weeks I will be able to eat real pizza again. At Oasis, they had drumming and dancing.

After dinner we came home and went to Sea Top for a drink. We ended up calling it an early night. I came home, read for a while and went to bed.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

HAPPY INDEPENCE DAY!

This morning everyone went to the pool, so Ellen and I made streamers out of Red, White and Blue scraps and hung them on the porch. We also made a sign out of scraps of interfacing that said happy forth of July. It was weird being here, cause obviously no one here celebrates the holiday. We didn’t listen to, I’m proud to be an American or watch fireworks.

Tanya and her husband arrived around 6pm and we all went to lunch at Elis.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Today Ellen and I went to Stumble Inn to hang on the beach. It was pretty much a perfect day. We laid out all afternoon, were fed AMAZING food for lunch and dinner. Hung out with everyone after dinner and bummed a ride back to the house at night.

I think I'm obsessed with the ocean, I don’t really know what it is but I love when the waves push me over, it’s so liberating to me. The down side to spending the day at Stumble is the sand mites. I came home with a million bites again and I know I will be completely miserable tomorrow.

Friday, July 2, 2010

We're Ghana Make History Today!

Today Ghana plays Uruguay in football, if the win they will be the first African team in history to make it to the semi-finals. This is a huge deal, and I’m so excited to be here for this.

This morning, almost the entire design team came to the office. We organized the patterns we have to send them out to seamstresses. Its exciting, because it seems like we have so many done and they have a pretty quick turn around with samples, so we should have them all back by Monday.

For lunch I was introduced to this place that has AMAZING egg sandwiches. I also realized in order to get my visa extended I needed to get more passport photos taken, and there happened to be a place next door that printed them instantly. I stopped by there and sat down in the chair to have my photo taken. I smiled and the woman was like, “ohhh noooo.” So I was like, “Oh, I shouldn’t smile?” and she said, “no, you can smile just don’t show me your teeth.” She was honestly so disgusted. So, needless to say my picture turned out pretty hideous.

I tried to get my visa extended today, but it was a failed attempt. They told me I need to come back on Monday with a copy of my flight details, and a certificate from the department of social wellness in Ghana.

After trying to get my passport taken care of, and failing miserably, I went back to the house to pattern the sleeve to the dress I was working on the other day.

After work we went across the street and hung out for a while, and eventually made it to ladies night at the hotel. It was very interesting. There was a five cedi cover for boys, and we ordered small beers, which were 3 cedi a piece. That seemed so outrageous to me, it was pretty much as bad as U.S. prices.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Today is Republic Day. On July 1, 1960, Ghana became a republic of the British Commonwealth.

I celebrated today by going to the pool and watching a movie on my laptop.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Today on the way to work Nick and I were put in charge of carrying a computer monitor, but not just any computer monitor a super old school big and bulky computer monitor. It wasn’t really heavy just super awkward to carry. Originally we were going to charter a taxi to the office that will pick us up from the house and take us directly to the office. However, chartering a taxi is almost more then 5 times the price of taking a shared taxi, so I told Maria we could just take the monitor in a share taxi. It was quite the journey. First of all, its Wednesday and its already difficult to get taxis on Wednesdays due to the fact that Tuesdays are no fishing and so on Wednesdays the fishermen catch a lot of fish and drivers would rather take the fish then take us. Secondly, we had this bulky screen with us, which made people not want to take us even more.

When we finally got to the office we realized that everyone thought someone else was bringing the patterns to the office. My whole purpose in coming to the office today was to work with seamstresses sewing new patterns. I thought Jessica was bringing them, but turns out she only grab the patterns she made and said she thought Sarah was bringing the rest, but Sarah didn’t even come to the office today. This further proves previous point that we have bad communication.

Since I was already in Cape Coast, and now I had nothing to do, I ended up running some errands. I stopped by the store and got some more laughing cow cheese and noodles, I also stopped by a couple little shops on the way and did some souvenir shopping.

When we got back to the house the plan was to work on the patterns we started earlier in the week. When we got to the house everyone else used all the stiff working on other patterns, so there was nothing to make our patterns on. I ended up working on the scrap jewelry samples. We made one of the necklaces they said they liked its like a bigger necklace almost like a scarf. It turned out ok, but I can’t see the people they’re trying to target wanting it.

Today is our new friend Steve’s birthday, so after work we went to meet them at the bar across the street. It was fun all their friends from work were they’re and one of them made pineapple upside down cake. It was delicious.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Today I worked from the house. I’m not sure how I feel about working from home. On one hand its super nice because you don’t have to leave the house. On the other hand I wear my pajamas all day and I seem to eat more.

Some of the designers stayed home in the morning but ended up going to the office later in the day. I traced and put seam allowances on the sloper pattern we made last week so that someone could bring it to the office with them and we could get it sampled. I also wrote out instructions for the skirt we made and sent the romper as well.

For the rest of the day I started drafting a pattern for a shift dress with three quarter length sleeves. I think it will be really cute. It was actually the design I liked best when I submitted them last week. But, when we got feedback I thought they didn’t like it and was pretty bummed, but it turns out that they did like it and their comments were just mixed up. The bad news is that when their comments got mixed up we thought they were saying they liked the romper, but turns out they didn’t and we already made the pattern for it. It’s really cute but they said they don’t know how it will fit they’re target market. I’m not sure they know exactly who their target market consists of. Maria said we can sample it anyways so that nice at least it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

When everyone else came home the patterns I sent to the office came home as well. This is really frustrating. We have very bad communication between the design team. I’ve have definitely learned the importance of communication while being here. I have also realized how much I take email and wireless Internet for granted. It would be so much easier if we could all just shoot each other emails because it would ensure that everyone has received the same information and is on the same page.

For dinner we went to Eli’s. She made Salad and Spicy Rice. It was so good. I think I also take eating raw vegetables for granted when I’m home. Even though I don’t usually like vegetables much its one of the things I crave the most here. “The others” had a plan to take the leftovers home with them, but they never share and they’re rude so we ate as much as we could so there wouldn’t be leftovers. We clearly might not be that polite either. J

After dinner we went to C-Spot, the bar across the street, and hung out for a while. Our new friends from across the way came to C-Spot later to hang out. It was a good time. Its nice to have other people to talk to besides the same couple people all the time. I talked with the head honcho of their NGO for awhile about Global Mamas. It seems like he doesn’t really agree with or understand what they’re trying to do, but then again sometimes I don’t either.