It's Ghana Be Quite The Summer! - Part 6

Much less to report this week as not a whole lot went on!

I worked Monday-Wednesday of last week and on Wednesday night the Canadian Embassy had a HUGE celebration with free food (Hamburgers with all the fixings) and free drinks (alcohol included!) which was their way of saying HAPPY CANADA DAY! They did it on Wednesday because July 1st also happens to be a Ghanaian Holiday so they wouldn't have had the staff to run such a wonderful evening if they had held it on the right day! It was a lot of fun was and was great to meet a whole bunch of other Canadians. I actually spoke to this one girl whose mother lives in the house right next to the path to the reservoir in Wolfville! Small world hey?

I took both Thursday and Friday off as a start to my own personal long weekend! Thursday was pretty uneventful and I was able just to relax in my home as the rain fell outside. Friday on the other hand was a big day! I woke up and headed to the hair salon, looking for a drastic change! I'm happy to report that 3 wigs, 1 headache and 5 hours of sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair later, I walked away with my head fully braided! It is itchy and incredibly uncomfortable... I give props to all women who do this on a regular basis, they put beauty above pain and discomfort and well... they are certainly stronger women than I. I'm doubting if I can last much longer with them in as they are just beyond uncomfortable but at least they look alright!

Friday night was the big game Ghana vs. Uruguay. Anyone that saw the match cannot deny that it was a vicious game filled with unjust calls and poor sportsmanship. Not only that but every opportunity Ghana had to score, they screwed up royally! So, after a full game, 30 minutes of over time and 1 round of penalty shots, Ghana lost to Uruguay 2-1. A tsunami of depression has hit Ghana full force.. up until recently some of our colleagues couldn't even eat or sleep!!! No more happy cheers, no more flags being worn as clothing and (much to the delight of my ears) no more vuvuzelas!!! It is a sad time for Africa but at least Uruguay was beat last night by the Netherlands and a few "woot woot"s could be heard in the streets. Revenge is sweet.

Saturday and Sunday were both spent on Labadi Beach, minutes from our house. Myself and a few of the other volunteers soaked up the sun and even got a little bit of a tan! I was very lucky in that I was able to spend a week in Mexico before coming to Ghana but it also means I must admit that instead of coming to Africa and continuing to bronze my skin, I have in fact LOST most of my Mexican glow. Needless to say it was great to get back under the sun as we have seen so much rain lately we'd almost forgotten what the sun looked like!

Monday marked the one-month mark until I'm back on Canadian soil. August 5th I touch down in Toronto - 30 days from today...not that I'm counting. It's true I have enjoyed my time here in Ghana, I've learned a lot and have had a lot of fun but I will definitely be ready to come home in a month. Ghana is a very difficult country to live in and probably stands as the one country I haven't really felt fully comfortable in.

Monday also marks the day I caved to the Twilight phenomenon. I went and saw the 3rd movie without seeing the other 2 OR reading the books. Probably not the best way to get involved with the madness but it happened. I would just like to say that apart from the attractive qualities of this "Jacob" character, the entire movie was crap! I understand how the story may be interesting but let's get serious here, what a ridiculously terrible movie! The best part was a toss up between the hunky Jacob just standing there smiling (not speaking of course) and the 2 -5 minute Dakota Fanning cameo. So awful was this movie that my roommate drank an entire bottle of wine without even noticing, out of sheer boredom. In conclusion: I am a Non-Fan of Twilight and will never understand the fascination people have with the battle between the cold, vicious undead and the rabid, angry wolf-people.

The rest of this week will be spent at work and this weekend myself and a few other volunteers will (finally) be heading to the peninsula I spoke of last week, Ada Foa for a much needed beach weekend! We're just hoping the rain leaves once again and makes way for a little bit of sunshine!

With 4 weeks left in Ghana, I find myself thinking about what I'm going to miss about this place and one main thing will definitely be the food. Ghanaian food is awesome! Every morning I start my day with some frozen yogurt in bag and a nice warm bag of tea, I enjoy my lunch of beans and red-red (a sauce) in a bag with a side order of bagged plantain washed down with a bag of water and usually finish off my day with either egg and bread in a bag or bagged rice and noodles with red sauce (a different kind of sauce from the aforementioned). Bags are the thing here in case you haven't noticed. I mean, in Canada we've got the concept of "bag lunch" but really let's be serious. The only bag to be found is the one containing the food. Everything else is boxed, foiled, wrapped, canned, bottled or simply sitting naked inside the all-encompassing large sac. The Ghanaian's bag usage is impressive. You just rip the corner of the bag with your teeth whenever you want to get at the food or beverage! Very convenient but incredibly environmentally-unfriendly.

My favourite meal in Ghana is most definitely Egg-Stew with Boiled Plantain. It may not sound very good but I promise, it's incredible! Mixing tomato paste with onion, tomatoes, salt, egg, water, hot peppers and spice this "stew" as they call it is unbeatable. Then all you do is boil up some plantain and dig in - no utensils required or accepted - and enjoy! It's a great mixture of spicy and sweet that just can't be beat!

Not sure why I decided to ramble on in this post about Twilight, food and football (soccer), but hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Take care and enjoy the heat-wave I hear is sweeping through Canada!

Byeee!