I'm terrified of planes again. Maybe that's an overstatement but I had an awful turbalnce filled flight from Ghana to Atlanta. The flight was so rediculously bumpy I wasn't too sure we'd make it over the atlantic. I watched 3 movies, 2 television shows and about an hour and a half of the little graphic of the plane making it's way through the map. I slept about 15 minutes in all on the 12 hour flight. When I set foot on American soil it's all worth it. Texted a bunch of friends and family and made me way through customs again. Barely enough time I thought to make my flight, but ended up with about a half hour to spare. Ran into Lorrianne for like the 3rd time on my trip, Kate's friend she met on her solo trip to the Green Turtle lodge. She had the exact same trip as me and is a master's student at American University. Very down to earth and we would have likely been friends in Ghana but not for the fact I met her on my last night. We laughed about the fact that the sheer amount of white people in one place was overwhelming. Went to the bathroom and I'm amazed by the cleanliness of the Urnials. Connecting flight to DC is much more smooth but at this point my head is pounding from sleep deprivation. Terri jumps on my back in DCA and I'm startled but pleasantly surprised to say the least. We catch our metro which is way too fast for comfort after ten weeks of rumbling bumbling stumbling over bush roads. First meal in the States is a Panerea sandwich that I create. “Uh can you just give me the tomato mozzarella salad”... 'Sure sir” … “but put it on a baguette!” – Yeah this is America, I can ask for something ridiculous like that and it won't delay the order by 45 minutes. We drive to the hotel and I take the first hot shower i've had in 2 and a half months. It's really nice to towel off and not see all of the dirt you've left behind. Terri loves the dress I brought her from Ghana and it fits perfectly. Great job Rashida. She made it just based on her rough measurements and a picture.
That night we have some really good mexican food. My average cheese consumption for the summer doubles.
Sunday morning I wake up at 545...absolutley starving. I fret about not having American money for a while to use the vending machine , but then I remember that American hotels typically have restaurants that you can use your credit card. “Hours: 6:30am – 11pm”. No matter, I distract myself with Sportscenter. Tiger's still messing up. Damn, Tiger. 6:30 rolls around pretty quick and I dart down the 8 floors in my socks. “Breakfast Buffet: $9.95” ...how many cedi is that? oh well I can splurge. “excuse me sir, you can't eat hear without shoes” WTF? Take the elevator back upstairs, grab my shoes and i'm back as quickly as I left. I get pretty much every breakfast item i've been missing this summer all at once. Melon, orange, juice, mint tea, french toast, home fries, scrambled eggs with cheese, yougurt, cereal milk ...just a whole bunch of stuff. I fully intend on gyming an hour later, but my headaches return.
Terri picks me up after church and takes me out for sushi. I see about 14 white people sitting in the far corner of the restaurant and I think “look at these obrunis” with disdain. I actually forget i'm not in Ghana for that second. Sweet Potato Tempura sushi is the best Japanese inspired creation i've ever had. I don't care if doreen would call it blasphemy to Japanese cuisine, it's freaking delicious.
That afternoon my fever and headache are out of control. All of the times Andrea yelled at me for missing my malaria pills were running through my mind. I hadn't really missed it that much had I? … Jackye got malaria and she was probably a lot more diligent than I was about taking them. I took a nap in Terri's guest room and woke up in a cold sweat but a scorching body. Paged the Georgetown doctor on call and prepared myself for days of blood tests. A half an hour, by the time the doctor called me back, we both decided that I didn't have to check into the emergency room, but I promised to do so if my fever hit 103. Terri's mother, a nurse, put some eculyptus spray on my neck...not a western remedy but an old Filipino trick for headaches.
I woke up the next day, oddly healthy. Hugged Terri's family goodbye...that is everyone except for Terri's dad who I embarrassingly accidentally gave a Ghanaian snap handshake too (look it up) and caught a bus home. Just as I suspected the 4 hour bus ride to NY seemed to be the fastest of my life, after my Ghana commutes. Helped my mom and dad make my favorite dinner (eggplant parm) and passed out at 7pm. At some point I had another sleep paryasis episode. The last one I had was in my room in DC. I laid there in the bed but the room was in fire. Robbie was trying to get me to wake up to leave the room, but I still couldn't move. I called out to robbie to help me but nothing was coming out. Then I had an overwhelming feeling as if something was trying to possess me and finally I was able to move.
This time I was more “asleep” but close to the same story. I dreamt I was in a bar and Ghana and I was going to to pay the bill but I tripped and fell. A peer around the bar revealed there was one around and I Couldn't move. Then I “woke up” from that dream and I was lying on a couch in my parents apt, but I still couldn't move. After what seemed like a few minutes, but probably more likely a few seconds I struggled to call out for help until I got the same body possessing feeling and gained control of my movements again. I hope this doesn't become a reoccurring thing. Robbie's good friend Alex has this happen to him quite often but it's only the 3rd or 4th time I can remember it happening to me.
Tuesday I see my best friend from Tufts, Andrew. He moved to brooklyn with his brother, his cousin and two of his brother's friends from Weslyan. He lives in an awesome neighborhood – tons of bodegas but just a couple blocks from some really good restaurants. I gave him some legal advice on this place just before I left so I'm happy it all worked out. His uncle helped the 5 of them “build some rooms” so they turned some pretty open space into 5 bedrooms and a recording studio. They also have a terrace where they are growing herbs and veggies .
I bring Andrew back to Hoboken and we meet up with Rachel, Paras, and Jake for Pizza and Beer. It was great to see friends from so many different parts of my life (High School, Undergrad and Law School) in my home town. Growing up in Hoboken really has its perks.
So far its been really great to be back. I remember when I returned from France I missed it immediately but not necessarily so with Ghana. I have been listening to the music and sharing stories but I've yet to feel a yearning to be back in Accra. I have noticed that people are ALOT less friendly in the US than Ghana, though...guess it's partly my fault. I heard a very popular Ghanian Hi-life song on the radio on Thursday in my house and forgot how out of place it really was.
Currently on a bus from NY to DC so this blog has come to an end. It's been real, thanks for reading. Tune into my old/new blog “ying yang cafe” where I plan on making vegetarian versions of old comfort food favorites from around the globe. I started the concept Senior year at Tufts but never had the discipline to write even a single post, hopefully i'll do better this time... Oh and check back for the link to the several Google Picassa web alubms I'll post with pictures from Ghana.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Last Week in Ghana August 1-August 6th
Closed another chapter of my life this week. Or at least attached a “to be continued” to the end of it. My experience in Ghana is for the most part indescribable, save for the notes I jot down haphazardly on this blog. I felt almost as I had left by Monday. Which is a strange but I suppose familiar feeling when you're looking forward to moving on. My boss, understandably so, took full advantage of the Judicial Vacation, unfortunately leaving me with little more to do than wait for Client correspondence and continue my apt search in DC (rob and I got a place btw!) Shara's parents are in town so they joined us for a dinner of Banku and stew. They actually freakin' loved it but they didn't have to eat the cassava/corn dough mound (or any other Ghanian Starch) accompanied by oily soup most days of the week for ten straight weeks. The Venezia-Walersteins are the typical friendly family that loves to tell stories embarrassing stories about their children. Shara's “sheepy” story (where she gave a child hood security blanket a birthday and handed out invitations to her other toys) rivals my dad's Oreo story which he will tell you within 5 minutes of meeting you.
Tuesday my boss came in looking much more refreshed than time logically allowed. A fresh haircut and bright orange polo replaced his salt and pepper curls and conservative suits. He was still all businesss (by Ghanian standards)....or business enough to start me on a HUGE file that took me my two remaining days to read and give my first impressions(including a 10 hour shift on Wednesday). He offered me the opportunity to continue to contribute to three of the major files I worked on this summer into the mid-fall. I'll prob take him up on it to build my resume aside from the fact that I've taken an interest in my clients.
Tuesday evening Andrea and I are awkwardly invited to Doreen's date with this Japanese guy named Koto, someone we met the weekend before vacationing in Ada Foah. We corralled Sebastian and Pedro to complete the party and Koto didn't seem to mind at all. He's been splitting his time between Ghana, Japan, and Sweden, and actually bought the bar he invited us to for dinner. Veggie Thai Curry and really good (looking) kabobs were on the menu and the 5 guests provided some wine. Seems like an awesome guy, some one especially good for Doreen to meet at this stage in her life in Ghana – all of her foreign friends are going back to their respective countries and bam she meets someone who shares her first language.
Wednesday was technically my last day at the office. As much as Ghanians love to talk, that fact somehow hadn't made its way through my small firm until 5 separate people asked me when my last day was to which I half excitedly replied “today”. A low key departure wasn't acceptable to my boss though, (who only arrived a couple hours before I was ready to pack it in for the summer) so I was invited for a departure lunch on Friday. For some reason , and it wasn't the prospect of another greasy lunch, I welcomed the invitation with more open arms than I could imagine at the start of the week. Everyone at the firm was incredibly nice to me (from the drivers to the senior most partner) imparting any wisdom they could share yet not to humble to accept advice from my highly modest legal career.
Wednesday evening Shara's took us out to Momma Mia, a pizza/pasta restaurant me, Drey and Shara walked out of for being “too expensive” and “too obruni” (the only locals there this time around was our friend Kwame that we invited and the wait staff). In reality it isn't too expensive my american standards , but as My friend Tai told me at the beginning of the summer you really do a switch in your brain, especially if you're tying to be authentic. Perhaps it was the beckoning of home creeping its way into my appetite because I sure wasn't complaining when we were invited. Most cheese I had all summer, combined, haha. We obliged Shara's request to go to the wednesday night Regae party at labadi beach (which was just a chill beach the night before) despite the fact that Andrea and I hate it for its sketchiness. I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier this summer but one waiter tried to blatantly charge us 4 times our bill (from 16 to 65) obviously because we were forigners. But it was her last night so whatever. Ended up leaving early and while we did an old man threatened us with a wooden stick. On the look out the entire night for sketch balls I wasn't phased at all but Shara and Sebastian's poor night vision lead them to believe it was a machate and they bolted for a cab back to Shara's parent's hotel (Even though sebastian intended and eventually end up taking the same cab to our place!). All that is a round a bout way of saying that if you go to Accra, just avoid Labadi Beach Hotel Reggae Nights...they're just not fun, the bands suck and you'll be harassed by either waiters trying to rip you off or hawkers trying to sell you useless stuff.
Thursday I saw Shara off in her cab, the first of grandma's house to leave Ghana for good. That was the beginning of the end of summer as we all knew it for the past 10 weeks. Pretty soon we'd be preparing for interviews, school work and other superficial pressures of being an American law student. But it's clear that we do so with a new perspective on what's important in live, and a new found appreciation of the comforts taken for granted in the US.
Went for my last run,( but for the first time with the full force of the African Sun since my first failed attempt...made it 95% of the way before walking the last two minutes) showered and bought some sovuiners at the art center. fThe Art Center, or the National Center for Culture as the sign reads, consists of a bunch of booths lined together in a disorganized mess, with different families selling wood carvings, jewelery, paintings and whatever else can be handmade. There are some really beautiful things but it's a hassle to go there because everyone tries to “obruni price” you. One guy tried to charge me 4 times the price for one item, but when I told him “come on Brutha i've been here for 10 weeks already” he said “ok, I won't waste your time” and gave me close to the price wanted before I was able to get him to shave a couple of more cedi off of the obvious exaggeration.
Met Andrea and Pedro at Duncan's bar for the last time...and my last experience with the popular but Nothing-I'd-drink-if-I-had-better-alternatives libation known as “Gin-Lime” which is two shots of something called gin but nothing like what we have in the US and one shot of lime cordial. To be sure it was my last experience I had about one too many on an empty stomach and my body was soon rejecting it while Pedro waited for our fried rice at “Annie's fast food”. While I puked in the bushes, Doreen just arrived and she walked me back over to meet Kate (who got me a bottle of water) Chris, and Christiana. Not my best performance in Ghana. I ate my rice, laid my head on the table and about an hour later I awoke like nothing ever happened at all.
Friday came and I still couldn't believe I was leaving. Got up early to say “see ya soon” to Andrea, which would be the first of 3 times because neither of us seemed to realize that we'd both be at the house until about 10 pm. Brought Sebastian to get some fabric to make an African wear shirt (which I kind of regretted not doing) and set off to Osu to pay one last visit to my barber. Nathaniel was sad to see me go and gave me his phone number to contact from the States. Was 15 minutes late for lunch, in typical Ghana fashion, but no one held it against me. Emma, Nii, Osofu, Chris, Didi and my boss took me out to Regal Chinese Restaurant. It looked surprisingly like peach farm, my favorite place to go with Tufts friends in Boston Chinatown for big group meals. My colleagues were way to generous and got me a ton of gifts including 3 pairs of cuff links,, a really nice tie, an African print messenger bag and a fugoo, which is a really huge poncho knit thing with African colors. Not sure when I'll get the chance to wear it but I will!
Made a pit stop on the way home to have one last drink with Pedro. Convinced him to make the trip back with me to Grandma's house so we ended up turning into one last dinner. Me, Pedro, Kate, Sebastian and Andrea sat around the table for the last time together as Grandma's grandchildren. It seemed just as natural as our first dinner together, though we had gained Sebastian and Kate and lost Shara and Daan since that day. Grandma made an appearance and we snapped some pictures together. She also gave me an African Print shirt so my regrets about not having one made quickly dissipated. I said my final see ya soons to Sebastian and Andrea just as my friends Evans and Rashida came to take me to the airport. Unfortunately in the rush I forgot to say goodbye to Kate :( .
Airport wasn't that bad, but in typical Ghana fashion it took forever to get through customs. The customs dude confiscated my homemade rum (sorry Rob and Charlene :( ) but whatever, I had to time to worry about that, I was so happy to be going home. I boarded the plane just as I made it past my final security check.
Tuesday my boss came in looking much more refreshed than time logically allowed. A fresh haircut and bright orange polo replaced his salt and pepper curls and conservative suits. He was still all businesss (by Ghanian standards)....or business enough to start me on a HUGE file that took me my two remaining days to read and give my first impressions(including a 10 hour shift on Wednesday). He offered me the opportunity to continue to contribute to three of the major files I worked on this summer into the mid-fall. I'll prob take him up on it to build my resume aside from the fact that I've taken an interest in my clients.
Tuesday evening Andrea and I are awkwardly invited to Doreen's date with this Japanese guy named Koto, someone we met the weekend before vacationing in Ada Foah. We corralled Sebastian and Pedro to complete the party and Koto didn't seem to mind at all. He's been splitting his time between Ghana, Japan, and Sweden, and actually bought the bar he invited us to for dinner. Veggie Thai Curry and really good (looking) kabobs were on the menu and the 5 guests provided some wine. Seems like an awesome guy, some one especially good for Doreen to meet at this stage in her life in Ghana – all of her foreign friends are going back to their respective countries and bam she meets someone who shares her first language.
Wednesday was technically my last day at the office. As much as Ghanians love to talk, that fact somehow hadn't made its way through my small firm until 5 separate people asked me when my last day was to which I half excitedly replied “today”. A low key departure wasn't acceptable to my boss though, (who only arrived a couple hours before I was ready to pack it in for the summer) so I was invited for a departure lunch on Friday. For some reason , and it wasn't the prospect of another greasy lunch, I welcomed the invitation with more open arms than I could imagine at the start of the week. Everyone at the firm was incredibly nice to me (from the drivers to the senior most partner) imparting any wisdom they could share yet not to humble to accept advice from my highly modest legal career.
Wednesday evening Shara's took us out to Momma Mia, a pizza/pasta restaurant me, Drey and Shara walked out of for being “too expensive” and “too obruni” (the only locals there this time around was our friend Kwame that we invited and the wait staff). In reality it isn't too expensive my american standards , but as My friend Tai told me at the beginning of the summer you really do a switch in your brain, especially if you're tying to be authentic. Perhaps it was the beckoning of home creeping its way into my appetite because I sure wasn't complaining when we were invited. Most cheese I had all summer, combined, haha. We obliged Shara's request to go to the wednesday night Regae party at labadi beach (which was just a chill beach the night before) despite the fact that Andrea and I hate it for its sketchiness. I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier this summer but one waiter tried to blatantly charge us 4 times our bill (from 16 to 65) obviously because we were forigners. But it was her last night so whatever. Ended up leaving early and while we did an old man threatened us with a wooden stick. On the look out the entire night for sketch balls I wasn't phased at all but Shara and Sebastian's poor night vision lead them to believe it was a machate and they bolted for a cab back to Shara's parent's hotel (Even though sebastian intended and eventually end up taking the same cab to our place!). All that is a round a bout way of saying that if you go to Accra, just avoid Labadi Beach Hotel Reggae Nights...they're just not fun, the bands suck and you'll be harassed by either waiters trying to rip you off or hawkers trying to sell you useless stuff.
Thursday I saw Shara off in her cab, the first of grandma's house to leave Ghana for good. That was the beginning of the end of summer as we all knew it for the past 10 weeks. Pretty soon we'd be preparing for interviews, school work and other superficial pressures of being an American law student. But it's clear that we do so with a new perspective on what's important in live, and a new found appreciation of the comforts taken for granted in the US.
Went for my last run,( but for the first time with the full force of the African Sun since my first failed attempt...made it 95% of the way before walking the last two minutes) showered and bought some sovuiners at the art center. fThe Art Center, or the National Center for Culture as the sign reads, consists of a bunch of booths lined together in a disorganized mess, with different families selling wood carvings, jewelery, paintings and whatever else can be handmade. There are some really beautiful things but it's a hassle to go there because everyone tries to “obruni price” you. One guy tried to charge me 4 times the price for one item, but when I told him “come on Brutha i've been here for 10 weeks already” he said “ok, I won't waste your time” and gave me close to the price wanted before I was able to get him to shave a couple of more cedi off of the obvious exaggeration.
Met Andrea and Pedro at Duncan's bar for the last time...and my last experience with the popular but Nothing-I'd-drink-if-I-had-better-alternatives libation known as “Gin-Lime” which is two shots of something called gin but nothing like what we have in the US and one shot of lime cordial. To be sure it was my last experience I had about one too many on an empty stomach and my body was soon rejecting it while Pedro waited for our fried rice at “Annie's fast food”. While I puked in the bushes, Doreen just arrived and she walked me back over to meet Kate (who got me a bottle of water) Chris, and Christiana. Not my best performance in Ghana. I ate my rice, laid my head on the table and about an hour later I awoke like nothing ever happened at all.
Friday came and I still couldn't believe I was leaving. Got up early to say “see ya soon” to Andrea, which would be the first of 3 times because neither of us seemed to realize that we'd both be at the house until about 10 pm. Brought Sebastian to get some fabric to make an African wear shirt (which I kind of regretted not doing) and set off to Osu to pay one last visit to my barber. Nathaniel was sad to see me go and gave me his phone number to contact from the States. Was 15 minutes late for lunch, in typical Ghana fashion, but no one held it against me. Emma, Nii, Osofu, Chris, Didi and my boss took me out to Regal Chinese Restaurant. It looked surprisingly like peach farm, my favorite place to go with Tufts friends in Boston Chinatown for big group meals. My colleagues were way to generous and got me a ton of gifts including 3 pairs of cuff links,, a really nice tie, an African print messenger bag and a fugoo, which is a really huge poncho knit thing with African colors. Not sure when I'll get the chance to wear it but I will!
Made a pit stop on the way home to have one last drink with Pedro. Convinced him to make the trip back with me to Grandma's house so we ended up turning into one last dinner. Me, Pedro, Kate, Sebastian and Andrea sat around the table for the last time together as Grandma's grandchildren. It seemed just as natural as our first dinner together, though we had gained Sebastian and Kate and lost Shara and Daan since that day. Grandma made an appearance and we snapped some pictures together. She also gave me an African Print shirt so my regrets about not having one made quickly dissipated. I said my final see ya soons to Sebastian and Andrea just as my friends Evans and Rashida came to take me to the airport. Unfortunately in the rush I forgot to say goodbye to Kate :( .
Airport wasn't that bad, but in typical Ghana fashion it took forever to get through customs. The customs dude confiscated my homemade rum (sorry Rob and Charlene :( ) but whatever, I had to time to worry about that, I was so happy to be going home. I boarded the plane just as I made it past my final security check.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Monday July 26th - Sunday Aug 1st
Africa is catching up to me. All of the 4-5 hour nights of sleep, groggy morning jogs, bone ratteling tro-tros and wicked oily food finally made me sick last week. I was well enough Tuesday night to hang out with the usual gang, plus Sebastian my new roommate and Doreen*, who hangs out with us occasionally. Wednesday morning when I just felt awful. At first I thought I just drank to many Gin-Limes, but as the day wore on I felt that my lymph-nodes were swollen. Left work about an hour early, paid someone at my house 5 Cedi to do my laundry (it was an option I had all summer but it felt kinda like taking the easy way out when I wasn’t sick) and went to bed at like 7pm.
Woke up the next morning feeling decently refreshed and my roommate had a problem. The volunteer organization that arranged his house was trying to screw him over. Basically he paid a certain amount and he was told all along that we would be staying in our place. When he arrives the jerk who arranged for his stay tries to all of a sudden bring him to a new, equally fine place but not as convienient for Sebastian because he knows Shara from college . He sucked it up for a few days but since there was open space in my room he asked if he can change rooms. So for the last 9 days of our trip the guy was going to charge $280. Point of reference, when Pedro was a hold over tenant for an extra week, Grandma charged him $7 a night. Basically the organizer was trying to charge him 4 times that much, despite the fact the he misled him about the place he already paid for. Well, sick or not, I certainly wasn’t standing for that BS. I already had beef with him because I suspected he ripped Andrea off for something else. That and he tells this ridiculous story to new volunteers about how I broke an iron in Grandmas house , in an effort to get a “security deposit” from them. I took Sebastian to grandma’s and explained that her nephew was trying to charge Sebastian $280 dollars for 9 days, and asked her if that was a fair price. Her head nearly dropped to the ground. She said she wouldn’t even charge half of that for a 2 week stay. Funny because the guy said it was Grandma who “wouldn’t budge” on the price given the circumstances. So this fraudster sends when of his “employees” (kid’s name is Evans, actually a cool dude, his boss is just a dick), to pick up Sebastian and bring him to the ATM. But we told him that Sebastian wasn’t going anywhere until the money situation was sorted out. So he asked Sebastian to meet him at a restaurant instead to sort it out and I tagged along to make sure he didn’t try to make up “this is Africa” stories to some how get the money. 2 hours of yelling-exposing his dishonesty-laughing about cultural differences-informing him the contract he made Sebastian sign was unenforceable due to fraud-later we agreed that Sebastian would just pay grandma directly the price that she wanted (which ended up being about $100). During the argument, I also called him on ripping Andrea off and he’s now paying her back and he’s not allowed to have anymore volunteers placed at Andrea’s organization. If anyone you know is trying to come to Ghana, don’t do VoluntermatchGhana. This story will be posted on multiple review sites so anyone even thinking about that organization will want to look else where. He may have started out with good intentions, but clearly he’s getting greedy and trying to shave some extra money to line his own pockets.
After that mess was settled had lunch with Sebastian at this chop bar on my Ave. I haven’t been home for lunch time since like my first weekend so it was cool to check it out. Rice balls in peanut soup and a Fanta orange soda. $1 …combined for the both of us . Ridiculous, and it was pretty good.
Friday, though not feeling 100 percent, I went into work. My boss sent me a get well email the day before and he hoped that I could come to the annual “Judicial Vacation Lunch”. The courts (like all of them) go on vacation from August 1st till the first week of October. It’s actually kind of ridiculous because the most clever legal strategy was delaying trial until as late into July as possible until the Judge gives you an adjourn date for October. It actually worked out well on a big case I was working on because (based on my advice ) my boss had to amend the complaint to put us in better position to win the case. Any way I was told I’d be the “guest of honor” which is pretty humbling since I’m just some American kid who barely finished a year of law school. I think they just wanted to hear my speak (“so they can see if I’m the next Obama” my crazy boss says). We went to this west African buffet which meant salad, rice and plantains for the vegetarian, haha. It was kinda sad saying thank you and preparing to leave my firm, even though I have 3 days to go.
Weekend, me Andrea and Doreen went to Ada. Drey and I had a hard time getting out of Accra because apparently tro tros to Ada double as full on service trucks. We had to wait for several cars before we can force our way onto one because customers were replaced by giant bags of rice, bottles of juice, packages of cookies and who the hell knows what else. Just another ridiculous peccadillo of traveling in Ghana. Ada (or Ada Foah) is pretty nice for the most part. It’s the location where the volta river meets the Atlantic ocean. The river side was beautiful. Giant palm trees, clean sand, neat huts with world flags painted on the doors, hammocks; definitely a nice place to relax after the crazy journey of the week before. However the ocean side still feel victim to the trash of Accra. Ada is two hours away from accra but there were still plastic shopping bags that got caught around Drea’s foot when she tried to go swimming…womp womp. Anyway Doreen joined us on Saturday to spend the night and some other volunteers we know (including our roommate Kate) joined us for the day. The most adventurous thing we did is rent a motor boat to one of the near by islands to visit a rum factory…more like a single still, but none the less it was pretty cool, and the rum was decent. Drey and I bought a 1.5 L bottle for the 3 of us to share (it was Doreen’s b-day). Still not in the mood to drink after last week so I’ll be bringing a half liter home (get excited Rob and Brittany). Kinda fatigued from the sun, playing soccer and my self diagnosed sinus infection (I’ll go to the Doctors when I get back to the States) I just called it an early night. Sounds like a pretty boring weekend but after 9 weeks in Ghana it was intensely relaxing.
With less than a week to go I can only contain my excitement to go home. I’m convince that I’ll experience some “reverse” culture shock, so I’m going to continue my blog at least one week beyond Ghana. Andrea thinks we haven’t been in Ghana long enough to be shocked by our return to the US but even looking at an American dollar (I saw one the other day) looks down right strange to me. I’m sure the little things we’ve grown to take for granted (even just the plain courtesy of saying ‘good morning’ practiced by many more Ghanaians than Americans) will be sorely missed. Well 5 days to a hot shower, non-wicked oily food , and seeing terri for the first time in 2.5 months. 7 Days till saying mom, dad, the kids and my Hoboken friends. I really can’t wait.
Let me take this opportunity, if you've made it down this far, to thank everyone who has joined me on my journey in Ghana, both in real life and through my blog. Thanks Terri for putting up with my "I think I'll go to Africa this summer" spotenuity. Thanks to my parents for not worrying about me too too much. Thanks to all my friends who have commented about my journeys, including Alice Tin and Andrew Rusli who have also written travel blogs this summer with much better writing styles (and if they're nice they'll share their links in a comment)! Thanks to Andrea, Shara, Pedro, Daan, Kate and Sebastian for being the best "Obruni brotahs and sistahs" I could ask for. Those 10 weeks at Grandma's would have been a lot harder without y'all. Thanks to Terry, Cristin, Jackye, Doreen, Julie, Diego, Conrad, multiple Evans, Kwame and Olivia as well for for being great friends during my trip. I hope to stay in touch with you all.
*(Quick side story about Doreen. Born in Ghana and moved to Japan with her parent before her 2nd birthday. Live there for 10 or so years and moved to the US for highschool. Went to Michagan State, taught English in China for a few years but on her 25th birthday (literally) she was told her visa wasn’t getting renewed and she would have to return Ghana – a home that she’s never known. Despite missing Japan like crazy –her parents still live there- she’s holding up decently well.)
Woke up the next morning feeling decently refreshed and my roommate had a problem. The volunteer organization that arranged his house was trying to screw him over. Basically he paid a certain amount and he was told all along that we would be staying in our place. When he arrives the jerk who arranged for his stay tries to all of a sudden bring him to a new, equally fine place but not as convienient for Sebastian because he knows Shara from college . He sucked it up for a few days but since there was open space in my room he asked if he can change rooms. So for the last 9 days of our trip the guy was going to charge $280. Point of reference, when Pedro was a hold over tenant for an extra week, Grandma charged him $7 a night. Basically the organizer was trying to charge him 4 times that much, despite the fact the he misled him about the place he already paid for. Well, sick or not, I certainly wasn’t standing for that BS. I already had beef with him because I suspected he ripped Andrea off for something else. That and he tells this ridiculous story to new volunteers about how I broke an iron in Grandmas house , in an effort to get a “security deposit” from them. I took Sebastian to grandma’s and explained that her nephew was trying to charge Sebastian $280 dollars for 9 days, and asked her if that was a fair price. Her head nearly dropped to the ground. She said she wouldn’t even charge half of that for a 2 week stay. Funny because the guy said it was Grandma who “wouldn’t budge” on the price given the circumstances. So this fraudster sends when of his “employees” (kid’s name is Evans, actually a cool dude, his boss is just a dick), to pick up Sebastian and bring him to the ATM. But we told him that Sebastian wasn’t going anywhere until the money situation was sorted out. So he asked Sebastian to meet him at a restaurant instead to sort it out and I tagged along to make sure he didn’t try to make up “this is Africa” stories to some how get the money. 2 hours of yelling-exposing his dishonesty-laughing about cultural differences-informing him the contract he made Sebastian sign was unenforceable due to fraud-later we agreed that Sebastian would just pay grandma directly the price that she wanted (which ended up being about $100). During the argument, I also called him on ripping Andrea off and he’s now paying her back and he’s not allowed to have anymore volunteers placed at Andrea’s organization. If anyone you know is trying to come to Ghana, don’t do VoluntermatchGhana. This story will be posted on multiple review sites so anyone even thinking about that organization will want to look else where. He may have started out with good intentions, but clearly he’s getting greedy and trying to shave some extra money to line his own pockets.
After that mess was settled had lunch with Sebastian at this chop bar on my Ave. I haven’t been home for lunch time since like my first weekend so it was cool to check it out. Rice balls in peanut soup and a Fanta orange soda. $1 …combined for the both of us . Ridiculous, and it was pretty good.
Friday, though not feeling 100 percent, I went into work. My boss sent me a get well email the day before and he hoped that I could come to the annual “Judicial Vacation Lunch”. The courts (like all of them) go on vacation from August 1st till the first week of October. It’s actually kind of ridiculous because the most clever legal strategy was delaying trial until as late into July as possible until the Judge gives you an adjourn date for October. It actually worked out well on a big case I was working on because (based on my advice ) my boss had to amend the complaint to put us in better position to win the case. Any way I was told I’d be the “guest of honor” which is pretty humbling since I’m just some American kid who barely finished a year of law school. I think they just wanted to hear my speak (“so they can see if I’m the next Obama” my crazy boss says). We went to this west African buffet which meant salad, rice and plantains for the vegetarian, haha. It was kinda sad saying thank you and preparing to leave my firm, even though I have 3 days to go.
Weekend, me Andrea and Doreen went to Ada. Drey and I had a hard time getting out of Accra because apparently tro tros to Ada double as full on service trucks. We had to wait for several cars before we can force our way onto one because customers were replaced by giant bags of rice, bottles of juice, packages of cookies and who the hell knows what else. Just another ridiculous peccadillo of traveling in Ghana. Ada (or Ada Foah) is pretty nice for the most part. It’s the location where the volta river meets the Atlantic ocean. The river side was beautiful. Giant palm trees, clean sand, neat huts with world flags painted on the doors, hammocks; definitely a nice place to relax after the crazy journey of the week before. However the ocean side still feel victim to the trash of Accra. Ada is two hours away from accra but there were still plastic shopping bags that got caught around Drea’s foot when she tried to go swimming…womp womp. Anyway Doreen joined us on Saturday to spend the night and some other volunteers we know (including our roommate Kate) joined us for the day. The most adventurous thing we did is rent a motor boat to one of the near by islands to visit a rum factory…more like a single still, but none the less it was pretty cool, and the rum was decent. Drey and I bought a 1.5 L bottle for the 3 of us to share (it was Doreen’s b-day). Still not in the mood to drink after last week so I’ll be bringing a half liter home (get excited Rob and Brittany). Kinda fatigued from the sun, playing soccer and my self diagnosed sinus infection (I’ll go to the Doctors when I get back to the States) I just called it an early night. Sounds like a pretty boring weekend but after 9 weeks in Ghana it was intensely relaxing.
With less than a week to go I can only contain my excitement to go home. I’m convince that I’ll experience some “reverse” culture shock, so I’m going to continue my blog at least one week beyond Ghana. Andrea thinks we haven’t been in Ghana long enough to be shocked by our return to the US but even looking at an American dollar (I saw one the other day) looks down right strange to me. I’m sure the little things we’ve grown to take for granted (even just the plain courtesy of saying ‘good morning’ practiced by many more Ghanaians than Americans) will be sorely missed. Well 5 days to a hot shower, non-wicked oily food , and seeing terri for the first time in 2.5 months. 7 Days till saying mom, dad, the kids and my Hoboken friends. I really can’t wait.
Let me take this opportunity, if you've made it down this far, to thank everyone who has joined me on my journey in Ghana, both in real life and through my blog. Thanks Terri for putting up with my "I think I'll go to Africa this summer" spotenuity. Thanks to my parents for not worrying about me too too much. Thanks to all my friends who have commented about my journeys, including Alice Tin and Andrew Rusli who have also written travel blogs this summer with much better writing styles (and if they're nice they'll share their links in a comment)! Thanks to Andrea, Shara, Pedro, Daan, Kate and Sebastian for being the best "Obruni brotahs and sistahs" I could ask for. Those 10 weeks at Grandma's would have been a lot harder without y'all. Thanks to Terry, Cristin, Jackye, Doreen, Julie, Diego, Conrad, multiple Evans, Kwame and Olivia as well for for being great friends during my trip. I hope to stay in touch with you all.
*(Quick side story about Doreen. Born in Ghana and moved to Japan with her parent before her 2nd birthday. Live there for 10 or so years and moved to the US for highschool. Went to Michagan State, taught English in China for a few years but on her 25th birthday (literally) she was told her visa wasn’t getting renewed and she would have to return Ghana – a home that she’s never known. Despite missing Japan like crazy –her parents still live there- she’s holding up decently well.)
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