Monday July 20, 2009: THe WeEkEnD hIgH

This past weekend in Accra was probably one of the best that I have had yet. I mean, I did not climb a mountain or save a young child from the woes of city life, but it was one of much joy and fulfillment.

12 noon hit friday and the sun was shining in Accra. I was in a hurry to leave the embassy, one to enjoy the nice day and two to get home and take my sowing to the tailor. I planned to get my kente cloth sown into my blazer this weekend. To fulfill my number one wish, to enjoy the nice day with no rain, I practically ran from my office and jumped into the pool. I have really enjoyed swimming as a great way to exercise and cool off in the hot Ghana days. I jumped in the pool and swam several laps. I did this for about 30min, by then I was good and tired and ready to eat. Good thing before I left I grabbed a dinner from the kitchen to take home for the evening. I knew I did not want to cook.

After leaving the embassy I met up with Sola-mae who took me over to the Tailor so that he could tighten up my blazer and then also make some alterations to some of my other things. I really like fitted suits. They make the suit look so much better when the jacket fits nicely around your chest. I took the Tailor three suit jackets, a vest and then the jacket for the kente peice. I asked him how much and thank God I only paid GH 50 cidis for the everything. That is a steal. I have paid 30 USD to have one done nicely in the states. Here I got soo much for so little a cost. For the tailor he thought he was making good money and for me I was sure I was paying a great price. We both win. Told me to come back on Tuesday to get the stuff. Such a great turn around.

I left with a big smile on my face and itchy hands to buy something else. I bought a nice traditional shirt and some black soap. I have been itching to use the black soap. I went home, showered and began reading my materials for the finance class that I am taking. I am taking a free basic intro class to finance. I am learning about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, indexing, retirement planning and all the works. I figure why not, its free, its beneficial and it will def. be helpful. I read through some of that material, took a nap and woke up just in time to prepare things for the small shindig I was having at the house. Some of the guys at the embassy asked me what it meant to have a "guys night out" cuz they heard about it. I told them they could come over and we would have one. They all came over with plenty of beer, I had some gin and we played cards and talked 'ish all night. Some were french and the others Ghanaian. We talked about everything from women to dating to food to cultural stuff. We got a little toasted yes, but we kept it all in house. I have not had a better time. It was refreshing to unwind and just be chill for a while.

The next day they invited me to come swimming with them. So I went, we had a great time. I found out then that one of the guys was married with kids. Eiii! He was one of the main ones talking about women and this and that. LOL. Hey a man's gotta be a man I guess. But it was funny to see how he behaved in front of his wife and kids since they joined us at the pool. What an interesting guy. After that, I went home and met up with some friends at the mall to go to this really ritzy club called Rhapsody's. It is a nice restaurant that turns into a club at night. I actually got called out at the door for being under dressed! I had on some nice leather sandels but they do not let people without dress shoes in. I put on my American charm and got us all in. The food was decent and the after hours was nice. The drinks were very soft but the music was cool. A nice mix of all kinds of things. Naturally, I had to show some people some group line dances that we do in the states. They got a real kick out of that. But the women were gorgeous. They all go there on the weekends. I mean, they were model type women. Beautiful. fefefee!

The night ended well. But I knew I was going to church the next day so I got home in enough time to get some rest before going to church. I promised Marcia, a girl that I met here, that I would go with her to church. No worries, people we are just hanging out. no need to jump to any conclusions America! I know how yall are. Anyway she came and picked me up and we went to church. She took me to a mega church. It was fantastic. God is moving all over Ghana, I tell you. This church was packed and everyone was praising God. I know this sounds crazy that I am talking about drinking and God in the same blog, but I am telling the truth. I did not get drunk off the wine but certainly I got drunk off the word for that day. He spoke about praying and how people should be praying more a day than they do. Interesting because this was something that had been on my mind all along.

After church Marcia and I went and ate lunch before Joel and I went to the futbol game. BOY OH BOY!!! going to a soccer game in Ghana is WILD! Detroit basketball fans aint got nothing on Ghanaian soccer fans. The people went wild over the game. We got there to see hundreds of people crowded in the streets trying to get tickets. Joel and I paid an extra 5 sidi to go to the VIP section which was just a closed off section of the stadium. In order to get the tickets you literally had to fight your way to the front to get them. There was no line no order at all. Joel handed me his phone and book bag and off he went to fight to get us tickets. It took him about 15 min to do the whole thing. There was no way I could get in that crowd. My butt would have been tossed. LOL. He got the tickets and we went in. The crowd was roaring and the sea of people with their team colors alomst blinded me. I have never seen Ghanaians with so much pride. Wow! They ran around the arena all throughout the game and really made the event enjoyable. What an experience. I loved it! Every second of it. I actually gave me some spirit. By the end of the game I was jumping up and doing what everyone else did. When in Ghana you do what the Ghanaians do right? Oh yeah.

After that I went home packed for my trip and took the rest of the evening to make some phone calls and rest. What a weekend of events. I needed to fun and chaos.

Now I am in the western region at a place called Takoradi. I will be traveling over the next week doing a complete tour around Ghana. I mean complete. By the end of this 9 day tour I will have seen all of Ghana, every region every major city. I may have limited access I am not sure so I will try and blog when I can. I hope to go to Mole national park ot see the elephants. Trunks up.

Pray for my safe travels. I am currently in an internet cafe in town. My excitment has been tapped again. The journey continues.

Excuse the grammer I am in a hurry and dont have much time to type. Oh yeah and the kente blazer is hot. I got it done early.

up and out.....