Good morning world!
Today, I woke up early, again. Yesterday was such a big day. We were all a bit confused as to what time we were doing what and when we were to be picked up but everything worked out in the end, as always. We had our first official meeting at CUA House. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is the Credit Union Association of Ghana facilities in the heart of the capital city of Accra, Ghana. The organization is very proud of their building and they should be. CUA has wonderful staff there and our meeting was in the board room very close to the top of the building. The room was air conditioned and they even left the air conditioning on throughout the entire meeting for our comfort. The meeting began very formally. There were introductions all around. CUA has new staff since last year and our group has two new members since last year too. We talked about where we were going, how we were going to get there and the size and age of some of the credit unions we were going to visit. There is a lot of planning involved with moving us throughout the country for two weeks and coordinating all the credit union visits we hoped to make.
Like last year, after the meeting, CUA invited our entire team to lunch. It was wonderful and I was soon reminded that I'm not quite used to the spices. I do know from last year that if I order fish, it comes complete with a smiling fish face and tail. The fish is wonderful and I don't mind staring down my food one bit!
Once we finished lunch, there was other business to attend to. We went to the foreign exchange department of Barclay's Bank to get some Ghanaian currency. The Cedis come in 10,000 and 20,000 denominations and the exchange rate for one US Dollar is 9,170. I walked out of there a millionaire!
By this time it was close to 5:00 pm. We all wanted to take a look at the "Art Market." It was close to closing time so we didn't spend too long.
Oh, good news. The bags that didn't make it on our arrival, arrived Friday night! Which is good because Gene and Barry were not looking forward to the pink razors we were offering them!
Today, we are to be given a great honor. We have been invited to the general manager of CUA's home for lunch. Mr. Emmanuel Darko is hosting our entire team. I am very glad that I thought to bring a "pretty" dress for the occasion.
I will tell you more about our luncheon next time..........................
Marcia