Organizing a wedding is difficult.  Organizing a wedding in a foreign country where organization is not a strong point is even more difficult.
Two weeks ago we went to register for our wedding license.  They told us to come back on Feb 1 with 50 cedis to pay and confirm the date.  So yesterday I put 60 cedis in my pocket, and we walked to the register general - about one hour in the hot African sun. Upon arrival, we filled out forms and waited in line.  Finally, we were informed that the fee had changed “last week” to 100 cedis.  They only accept cash, and the told us to bring half the fee.  They assured us that we weren’t the only people who were troubled by the change.

We can’t just nip out to the closest ATM.  So we were obliged to go home to get more money, which took another couple hours.
My seamstress also promised me I could come in yesterday for a final fitting for the wedding dress.   When I called, the owner of the store said she was in the police station getting her national identity card.  She had been in line since 2:30am since the entire nation is trying to get these new cards, and they are only available for a few days.
In any case, the owner said the younger seamstress was at the workshop making my dress.  So I decided to walk to the workshop to see.  A girl that I don’t know was there, whose English was pitiable, and who assured me I could come back at 1pm.  I explained that I would rather wait another day than come back again if it wasn’t ready.  She said she was sure it would be ready at 1pm.
Why do I still believe?  I went back at 1pm with a friend and the girl was still there, alone.  No, the seamstress wasn’t back.  No, she hadn’t called her to tell her I was coming.  No, she didn’t see why this would bother me.  No, I couldn’t see the dress anyway.

Sigh.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Ghana life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.