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.