I have never felt more comfortable or at home in all of my stay in Ghana as I do living in the pottery village in Vume.
Yesterday morning after the 90 something-ish breakfast of bread, egg and milo; Ali and I caught a tro-tro on its way headed to Accra. But of course, no farewell from Klikor would be complete without a send off of parting words from Philip The Translator from Hell whom I ditched the last two days in Klikor as I deemed them 'mental health/re charge my batteries and remind myself that I am a capable human being days.' About 5 minutes before the tro-tro left, Philip showed up to say good bye; so good bye, Philip.
Highlight of the tro-tro ride was during one of the security check points, one of the guards told Ali and I that he loved us and would wait for us to return to marry him. Ali is the ballsiest gal I know to return a marriage proposal from a guy holding a gun. Points for that. When he looked at me, I popped my Ipod earbuds out and said, "Are you a Christian? I am deeply offended by all of this; I am a nun." I put my headphones back in and the guard went on his way. I guess saying your a nun can ward off some unwanted attention, which is awesome and I pretty much feel like I can be whoever I want wearing my 60s Harry Potter glasses, so thanks to Pink Eye I was able to take on a nun persona...or something....
I got to Vume and was met by the mom who heads my household, Comfort. Vida is Comfort's daughter and then there is Promise who is the daughter of Emma, the Master Potter I am studying from. Vida and Promise are hilarious and I felt right at home and we were already off to joking, meeting everyone and not even taking a stab at who is related to whom or whose children are running around the compound. We exchanged photo albums and had a good laugh over those, too.
Promise is lending me her room to stay in while I am here- but the best part about where I am staying is the 'shower.' The shower is a barren, cement structure that does not cover up any part of my body above my knees and is located right off of the roadside, so pretty much every one gets a free show. It's similar to the 'shower' Jake Brougham got to bucket off at in Fransie, the Asante Village he stayed in. It's so silly.
VIDA AND PROMISE COOK THE BEST FOOD I'VE HAD IN GHANA.
No sarcasm. This is serious. They should open up a restaurant and I would eat there everyday.
This morning I got to work making the lid and top portion of a pot, hand built on the ground just like I did when we did during our stop here on the educational tour about 2 weeks ago. Emma was impressed with my abilities which surprised me because she is the most meticulous, humble, master potter I have ever had the privilege of studying under. I do not think there is a potter on earth that works as hard as she does at keeping to traditional means of pottery in every aspect of this from making the clay to firing in a heap of palm stalks to painting.
This is without a doubt the most incredible opportunity I have ahead of me for the next ten days, and I already know that leaving the views of Lake Volta and the master potters and the hilarity of Vida and Promise will be difficult.
All for now, I came here with Jemima, Promise's 17 year old daughter and we are off on the 'town' in Sogakope until I have to come back to finish the base of my pot this afternoon. Life couldn't be better.
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