One of the boyyys.

This morning, in good Ghanaian fashion, was a holiday after the holiday. Auntie Joe and the Presby Church has an annual picnic on Easter Monday and of course, we were invited.

Auntie Joe told us to be ready to BE at the picnic at 8am. We thought that was a little extreme for a picnic but hey, African’s tend to do things earlier, so we were up and ready on time. Smart had visited us last night before and told us that people played football (soccer) and card games and board games. He said that only guys play football usually because the girls don’t want to play with the men because they are too fast. I asked if I could play, and he told me to bring my shoes in case the girls played. I hate board games, but I LOVE to play soccer.

All ready for the picnic :P

At 10am, Auntie Joe was finally ready to go. We had put water in the freezer and brought coke and packed lunches. Belinda made us Panini sandwiches to take along and we bought some bofroot too. She put hotdogs and margarine in between bread, and put it in a Panini grill. A little strange, but they didn’t taste that bad. Petra HATES margarine which I had forgotten, so it was a painful lunch for her because the margarine was just LOADED on that sandwich. We came outside and Auntie Joe was all decked out in her Presby fabric and a Presby hat. I was JUST about to make fun of the hat when she pulled out two more, one for each of us to wear. And get this, they were VISORS! Whoot.

I just laughed and took a few pictures in them to humour them, and brought it with me without wearing it.

We love our hats......

We loaded into the Presby van and went to a town about 20 minutes down the road from Asamankese. I thought we were late, but it hadn’t started yet, so I have nooo idea how she figured it would start at 8. I think they give themselves times that are about 3 hours too early so that they actually get places on time. I am convinced.

The little boy played his drums at church!

Anyways, I expected the games to start right away, but apparently we had to have church again first. I didn’t realize, although I should have expected as much.

lovely children..

 -the man in front of me had an open wound on his foot and flies were eating at it. It almost made me hurl

-the pastor, in the middle of prayer, turned around and asked me why white people have small and pointy noses while black people have wide, flat noses...random?

-the cute little boy brought his drum with him so that he could play during praises

-Felix ALWAYS dances with the women, it’s hilarious. He is a fantastic dancer, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dance with the men...

 So at around 2 we started the games.

A beautiful girl at the picnic

Some people played cards. Some people played board games. Some played ampe. The men played football. I was kind of glad to get out of the football game because I am not that good and as soon as an obruni is playing something, everyone watches. Since the women weren’t playing, I figured I wouldn’t get to play.

Smart told me I was still allowed to play, so I grabbed my running shoes. As soon as everyone saw that I had them with me, they insisted that I play. I was a little hesitant because it was all black men, from the age of 20-30 and they are HUGE and fast and athletic and especially good at football but I am not one to turn down a challenge. There were no women playing at all. Petra hid her shoes so that she didn’t have to play. (she took pictures). I really wanted to play, but it was pretty intimidating at first.

Me and all the boyyys

Finally, I decided to join and it was a lot of fun. I SUCK at soccer I’ve found out, although the guys insisted that I played hard. I certainly did, I was SWEATING! Oh my it was gross. But I really miss playing soccer, so it was fun, and even though everyone was watching, it got less intimidating once I was into the game and figured out who was all on my team. (all the guys look the same when you don’t know them).

I played :)

Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie and the Minister of Education were all pretty impressed that I joined, and it earned us a ride home in his car in air conditioning. RIGHT ON!