Yesterday only one activity on the schedule but as is often the case there was a bit of a bus ride involved. We had breakfast a little early so we could get on the road right away. It was about an hour and a half to two hours before we arrived at Ada Paradise Beach Resort. There we were to meet an Army Engineering Company to do a famil with them on their boats. The Engineers arrived late so we weren't able to start right away. Once they were set up we were briefed on the boats. They were a basic motor boat that they used for reconnaissance and transporting armed troops over water. We were told the parts and shown how we would paddle it if we needed to. After being issued PFDs, then we all practiced paddling. After our practice, were divided up into four groups. Three for the regular boats and a few in the safety boat. We all boarded the boats and we went off in a convoy down the river.
They took us to where the river met the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery was beautiful and the ride was quite relaxing. We spent a bit of time admiring the scenery while a local man gave us a bit of the history.
Following the boat ride back, we boarded the bus again and headed back to Accra. Once we got through the traffic, we were dropped off at the Accra Mall. It is a mall very much like you would find in North America or Europe. Almost seems out of place with what we've seen on this Exchange. Then it was supper and some much needed time off for the rest of the evening.
Sun morning started with a visit to the Military Cemetery. We learned that among all the fallen soldiers there were 8 Canadians buried there. We found all eight of them and they all died on the same day. That would lead me to believe that it was one aircraft crew that was shot down since they were all Royal Canadian Air Force.
Following the visit to the cemetery, we attended a church service at Royal House Chapel. From what I could gather it is a non-denominational, christian-based church. The service was quite long (over two hours) but the music made it seem more like a concert at times. A couple of cadets expressed discomfort with attending a church service and they were allowed to excuse themselves as we would never force cadets to attend church.
Following the church service we went on a tour of "British Accra". This was an area that was settled by British soldiers coming home from the war after WWII. We walked around for a bit with a local man and he told us a bit about the history. It is mostly a fishing village now. We saw one lady who showed us how they smoke fish among a few other places.
After supper we had a "Cultural Night" where each country represented here on IACE had to sing their national anthem and do something distinctive about their country. It was a lot of fun.
That's it for the weekend!
Sent from my wireless handheld device / Transmis de mon appareil portable
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