Pest or Cholera - what to choose?

I'm feeling poorly, as my friend E would say. Yesterday, I went ahead with a very hectic work day, from 9am to 11pm (!), despite already feeling that I was catching some kind of flu. I took a couple of Cold & Flu capsules just before getting into bed at midnight and hoped I'd be much better after a good night's sleep.

After eight hours' sleep, all the symptoms are still there except the fever, so I lightly told Virgo "If I hadn't left Ghana two weeks ago, I'd have thought I had malaria". To which he responded that I'd better check the incubation period for malaria, it might just be that. So naturally, with my good friend Google, I started investigating. My symptoms yesterday were: fever, chills, muscle aches, headaches and nausea throughout the day (Imagine spending half of the day on the London Underground with that?!). According to a malaria website the symptoms for malaria are:
"Early or Uncomplicated Symptoms of Malaria
In the first stages of the disease, most people have early malaria symptoms that can include:


Fever
Sweats
Shaking chills
Headaches
Tiredness
Muscles aches
Nausea and vomiting
Diarrhea. "

The website states that the normal incubation period is 10 days to 4 weeks. Hm, it's not looking good. Would it be too optimistic of me to think that because I did not have any sweats or diarrhoea I can eliminate any malaria worries?

Whilst I lie here in bed, pleading "Please don't be malaria, please be the flu" I hope you have a lovely Tuesday!

Open Air...

There's a place I've been meaning to go to, an event I've been wanting to attend. Every time it's on, I'm either out of the country, booked somewhere else (with all the weddings and funerals we have on Saturdays, it's hard to find time for other things) or simply forget! Now it looks like I won't make it for a few months, as I'll be very busy elsewhere, but I feel the need to highlight this project/organisation that is in line with what I believe in.

The Open Air Stock Exchange is basically an eco-friendly marketplace that supports and provides a platform for Fair trade, Made in Ghana and ecological products to be sold in an open market about once a month (in Nyaniba Estates). Read more about it here on its Facebook page.

Some of the vendors that parttake are names that I've already come across, like MAKSI clothing and Kayobi, but there are other vendors whose products seem so alluring I can't wait to try them out. How about homemade pasta, organic bread, handmade cocoa butter beauty products (doesn't coconut milk and lavender body wash sound lush?) and more! Zedi Cross caught my eye, whilst I'm busy checking out their webpage, I look forward to making it to the market and hope you'll give me feedback if you make it there before me!

Floating

This year has been crazy. Absolutely crazy. I thought last year was bad, but somehow this year has just ran by, it feels like I'm chasing a train and just as I manage to get hold of it and I'm about to jump on, I lose my grip and have to start chasing again. The past three weeks just added to the madness. My mother (read babysitter who'd pick Em from school when neither Virgo nor I could make it back to Tema in time) left for Sweden. The week after that the househelp ended her year-long contract, as agreed.

A few days later I had my wisdom tooth removed surgically (surgically meaning, since it hadn't surfaced, they had to cut through the flesh, drill through the bone, split the tooth in half before yanking it out). Needless to say, once the anesthesia wore off I cried all the way home on the motorway from the pain. A few days later, Virgo was off to London on business. Of course we had no idea when we planned this, that I'd be in excruciating pain when we said our goodbyes. The next day, Em got some kind of stomach infection which meant potty training was put aside and a whole lot of diapers were used. Of course this coincided with our water being cut off for 36 hours (I'm sure I've mentioned that we NEVER have water problems in Community 10).

And how could I forget to mention that the washing machine decided that this would be the best time not to work! Still, that didn't matter much as once the water was back, we had 12 hours without electricity, three times in a period of nine days.

Now I know you think I'm lying or exagerrating, but this happened during the most stressful and challenging work-weeks this year, so on top of everything else, I'd be sitting in a meeting, not hearing what was being said because I'd be wondering how on earth I would ever make it back to Tema to pick Em from school before closing time at 17:30.

However, since yesterday, we're all together; Virgo, Em and I, and there's even grandparents around! I've given myself a much need 48 hour rest from work (well, not a complete rest, but I'm just reviewing one agreement before noon tomorrow) and I can finally take a few deep breaths.

No more chasing racing trains, just floating and gasping for air.

Missing you

Hello lovelies!

It's been a while, my internet connection is still unstable but I realised that's not the issue. Isabelle Halling (Swedish) put her finger on it; when you're not blogging, you have so much more spare time! Do you know how time-consuming blogging is???

Still, despite being ridiculously busy for the next three weeks (seriously, sleep is a luxury), I realised I miss blogging more than the spare time it gives me.

Speaking of missing, it is nice to be missed! The day after we got back from London about ten days ago, I had to dash to Airport Residential for an errand. Feeling completely battered, sleep deprived and with all kinds of aches from dragging suitcases, prams and an unruly toddler around Heathrow, I really felt down and beat. Then, as I handed over my 50 pesewas to the attendant at the motorway toll booth, the attendant said: "Madam, I've missed you oh! I haven't see you for a month or so, did you travel?".

To which I explained, that yes, I'd just gotten back from London. "Oh, then you are welcome" he said and I thanked him and drove off. Little did he know that he had made my day, nay, week!

After feeling so down, it was uplifting to hear that somebody (who I'd never spoken to before), who sees several thousands of drivers pass through the toll booth each day, had actually noticed little, old me and even realised I'd been gone.

Needless to say, I headed home with a big smile on my face, and for a while, my aches and fatigue were gone.

How to gain 4kg in 4 days

No it's not a mistake, I'm going to show you how it is possible to put on four kilos in as many days.

1. Go on a low carb regime (it's not a diet, a lifestyle change!) for a bit over a month and lose 6 kg.

2. Fly to your home town (in my case, Gothenburg) with all the foods you've been missing for the past 18 months or so.

Here's the full confession of what I did/ate:

On the evening of arrival, eat barbecue (sugar!) chicken and potato salad at 21:30

Start the next day with Lingongrova bread and Herrgardsost (I have a lovely brother, Mr. T who knows exactly what I like and stocked his fridge with those things.

Meet friends for a "fika" at a cafe and eat a brown bread roll with ham and cheese AND a blueberry pie with custard.

For dinner, eat a scrumptious Cappricciosa pizza (well, 3/4 of it, Mr. T's son L and my Em took their share of it).

Start the next day with Lingongrova (brown bread) and Herrgardsost (cheese) again. Then meet a friend and have a semla. I have to confess that I didn't even enjoy it, the sugar high had reached an uncontrollable level by then.
Semla:


Meet another friend, just an hour later, for Ballerina biscuits at her flat. Then, two hours later, head to another friend's flat for more delicious pastries, seriously rich stuff, then a potato and pot roast dinner, then ice cream!

Ballerina:


Finally get back into low carb mode and have a boiled egg breakfast before heading out on Saturday. Spend most of the day, not eating, then get home and have a late lunch of...another pizza! Then spend the evening with a childhood friend at home, sharing a bottle of red wine and a pack of Ballerina Kladdkaka biscuits (basically Swedish Oreos).

Sunday, both Em and I wake up with colds and spend most of the day eating oranges and drinking nyponsoppa (rosehip soup), but also manage to squeeze down some jollof, pork chops and a delicious salad.

On the flight to London, Monday morning, I can feel that my trousers are a bit tight around the waist, but you know what? It was well worth it. For those four days of unrestricted pleasure, I do it again and again!

And the best thing? The house we're staying in here in London is so cold, it seems I've lost all those gained kilos just from trying to stay warm and not having enough energy to go to the kitchen and eat!

Hi...

Dear friends,

I tried posting three times from my phone, clearly my Cookie and I have some kind of disconnect. Since I can barely get my mobile broadband to work, Zain's (sorry Airtel's) network doesn't reach my house, nor does Mobile 2i and in those desperate moments when I attempted using dial-up, even that didn't work, please consider me off the radar until March or April.

I will miss this little page, hope to be back soon!

Working and Christmassing at the mall

I'm alive! Sorry, I don't even want to bore you with my excuses...but here goes! The internet broke down, then my mobile broadband stopped working, then my laptop crashed and when I tried my hand at blogging from my mobile, I'd spend ages trying to send a message and then accidentally erase it with the slip of a finger (damn sensitive touchscreens!). So here I am, at the Vodafone cafe at Accra mall. In between work emails I thought I'd send a quick message out.

From now on I'll definitely try harder at the phone blogging, but that means no links, no photos and much, much shorter texts. Hopefully that will mean I'll blog more frequently? Let's see.

By the way, so far I think the mall is the best place to come in Accra for a bit of Christmas spirit. Being here has almost cured my I-can't-believe-I'm-spending-Christmas-in-the-tropics-again depression.

Funeral Politics

It's been a weary two weeks. The shocking news of a friend's death left me out of sorts. I spent the week looking forward to the weekend for some moments of peace and time to deal with the sad news. It seemed I'd forgotten where I'd be for most of the weekend: at a funeral! Yes, three weeks ago that was the shocking news that hit, my uncle died suddenly at the age of 67.

So Friday evening was spent planning for our trip at dawn to the Eastern Region. Now, you only need to spend a few months in Ghana to realise that funerals are the greatest social event. This is where businessmen network, politicians work up their political capital and... single men and women look out for a future partner! Of course, with so much focus on the event, there are rules that go with it too.

1. We sent Em to her (paternal) grandparents for the weekend as children and pregnant women are not meant to go to funerals (the dead person's spirit can enter the child's or foetus' soul).

2. I searched through my funeral clothes for something black - since he was under 70 years old, black is the colour to wear, unless the family selects other colours, e.g. black and red, or brown. If he were above 70, black and white is accepted and if over 80, white is worn to celebrate the long life lived.

This picture refuses to turn upright, sorry!

3. I then made sure I didn't select a sparkly or one of the shinier outfits as that would not be appropriate considering my close relationship to the deceased (my dad's brother). In addition, I picked out a pair of dark pearl earrings, again, solemn enough for the event. Although, once we got out into the sun, my mum complained that they were too bright, but once I had my dad's approval, I kept them on.

4. During the week we also had to make sure my new little family was presented, so Virgo came along, and from my mother's family, my uncle and cousin, to ensure we fully represented the other side of my dad's family.

There are so many other rules that make up the funeral politics of Ghana, how to shake hands, what to eat and drink and who gets buried on which side of the cemetry, but I'll save that for another day. Interestingly, we somehow managed to get into some real politics as my second cousin, an MP in the area, was holding his mother's funeral the same day.

So the sad day ended on a pleasant note after Virgo met his political chums, we all said goodbye to relatives and enjoyed the beautiful green scenery on our way home. Well, that was until we hit Winneba junction. More on that later...

Marie Antoinette lives in all of us.

I think it happens to most of us, well those of us who live a 'privileged life'. At least once in a lifetime there's a moment in which, if you're humble enough, you'll realise the everyday assumptions you make and be grateful for what you've got.
I'll give two examples:

A family friend went to complain at ECG after tehy had turned off the electricity one too many times. Very upset, he explained to them "all my meat, fish and chicken are spoiling due to the lights off!".
To which the ECG man responded " Ey, whilst some of us are struggling to find food to eat, you are complaining about a freezer overflowing with meat!".
Needless to say, he walked away feeling a bit ashamed about his 'frivolous' complaint.

The 2nd example is my own (and I'm still embarrassed by it). Two years ago when we went to Takoradi, just around Cape Coast we first saw a funeral by the roadside, then for several hundred meters afterwards we saw many people in funeral clothes walking towards the funeral. After a while, completely confused, I asked Virgo, "Why did they park so far away from the funeral???".
Virgo, turned to me quite horrified (probably picturing Marie Antoinette in front of him in all her pompidouesqueness) before he answered, "they don't have cars, they're walking from their homes!".

Never before or after has it been so clear to me what a comfortable life I lead. I hope I never have such a moment again as it means I would have lost touch, then again I am grateful for it as it was a reality check and gave me a lot of giggles.

What's your worst Marie Antoinette* moment?

*Marie Antoinette's cry of, "Let them eat cake!" was the straw that broke the camel's back during the French Revolution. The story goes that Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was informed that her subjects were starving because they had no bread. She was so pampered and out of touch with the reality of life for the poor that she responded, "Let them eat cake," which is what she would have done if she were out of bread. Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason and executed in 1793, months after her husband, King Louis XVI, had suffered the same fate.
Marie Antoinette explanation borrowed from here

Ted Turner & Co unnoticed in Ghana

Did you know that Ted Turner, Gro Harlem Bruntland, Andrew Young and Kofi Annan were (possibly are) just in Ghana? I wouldn't blame you for not knowing, if you're not following to the news too alertly, you will only hear that 'Kofi Annan and some NGOs visit Old Tafo in Kumasi'.

I think Ghana journalism has hit another low point when our major television networks firstly waste a good ten minutes on a phone conversation with a party footsoldier discussing why he believes a certain political figure should run for president, only to then spend just 30-45 seconds on the report of NGOs and Kofi Annan in Kumasi with the camera filming, and missing to acknowledge or even better, interview these world known figures (who knows which other renowned persons may have been there but not in camera view?).

They were in Kumasi as part of the UN Foundation Board of Directors to raise awareness about the immunization against measles, a national programme that will take place between the 3 and 6th of November. I just hope that message about the measles vaccine was clear and got to the general public. After I realised their blunder, I kind of zoned out...and started blogging!

Immigrants shot in Malmö, Sweden

I read something to day which really depressed me. A young man of foreign descent has been shot in Malmö and it seems this is one of many shootings targeting foreigners in Malmö. This evening two women have been shot (Swedish) through a window to an apartment. This makes the police' advice that foreigners ought to avoid going out after dark completely useless, clearly even in their (our?) own homes they'll be targeted.

This is bringing forth memories of Lasermannen, the man who in the early Nineties targeted, shot and murdered immigrants around Sweden. It is also completely in line with the recent elections and the entry into Parliament by the nationalistic party, the Sweden Democrats. It is typical that the election result would boost some racist's confidence in that he/she can do anything to foreigners in Sweden.

I hate the idea of these innocent persons being targeted for nothing other than their features and ethnic background. Unfortunately, I have no reason to have faith in the Swedish police service, they've disappointed the country on far too many occasions. As foreigners are being cautioned to consider where they go and at what hours, I can't help but agree with Alexandra Pascalidou (Swedish), surely the Police' actions and advice would have been very different if the offenders had been a moslem 'terrorist' group targeting Swedes?

Here's hoping there's some positive news tomorrow. Goodnight.

Life is a soap opera!

This afternoon I've been tuning in and out of CNN to follow the rescue of the Chilean miners. As we are discussing the impressive planning and organisation that Chile has shown the word, suddenly a Facebook friend of mine reveals a side drama that is going on behind the scenes: Apparently the 21st miner, Yonni Barrios Rojas, has both a wife and a mistress who only learnt of each other's existence when both applied for compensation in his name.

Both wife and mistress were expected to be at the mine to meet him, but only one of them turned up. The news networks have been speculating whether it is the wife or the mistress who was there, I followed it through my Facebook friend who said:

"Conflicting news on the identity of the woman who greeted Barrios at the surface. Chilean TV say wife. CNN go with mistress. BBC reckon wife."

According to this website, the wife (of 28 years!) decided not to show up, so he will be met by his mistress.

Never again will I think that the storylines in telenovelas are exaggerated!

Introduction to potty training.

I usually let Em run around without a nappy for a bit every day to air her little botty, it just feels a bit cruel that this little person should have to wear a nappy 24 hours a day. Also, I read somewhere that children who go diaperless are pottytrained faster. This evening, she was running around, no nappy in sight, being a little busybody, when my mum - who had been taking care of her all day whilst Virgo and I were in business meetings - said "She still hasn't pooed today". We continued doing what we were doing, watching TV, on the internet, eating dinner when suddenly I catch something happening. Almost seeing it in slowmotion, I watched in horror as a solid, soft, brown mass fell between Em's legs on to the marble tiles.

"Poo, poo, poo!", I heard mysef yelling as the next few minutes turned into what looked like a well choreographed farce. I threw myself over the newly bought toilet roll, ripping of the plastic as fast as I could, as my mum tried to identify any other defacated areas (there were four in total) and Virgo simultaneously picked Em up, took her to the bathroom and washed her down.

All this took place in a matter of about 90 seconds after which we all got back to normal as if nothing ever happened. Well, it's good to know what to expect in the next few months when potty training begins!

Spare me a drop, please!

Yesterday morning around 6 a.m. my mum luckily caught the radio news where it was reported that the whole of Tema (stretching all the way from Sakumono/Lashibi to Ningo/Prampram) would be without water for 48 hours due to a fault at Kpone. Immediately we gathered all bowls and buckets and fetched as much water as possible before the taps dried up. Somehow, that day we managed our loss of flowing water smoothly.

Today, however, I am fed up. Not only has the last week been so hot that one could use a good 3 power showers a day to survive, I'm sick and tired of having to think through every step of ordinary life. Need to brush my teeth? Ok, the sachet water is somewhere in the kitchen. Want to flush the toilet? Oops, no water left? Guess I'll have to use Em's old bath water to do that.

This evening, because we're all too exhausted (and sweaty) to think of how we'll cook and clean, we've decided against a proper dinner. My mum's got some snacks out, Virgo's munching on Digestives and apple juice and I'm about to have some crackerbread (knackebrod) and treat myself to a Nescafe cappuccino. After that I'll have to open up a good 15 sachets of water into a bucket to have my evening bath. I hate this!

If the water's not flowing by tomorrow, I will need to sue someone. Who's with me?

Sushi lunch in Accra

There's been a rumour going round town (well, my circle of friends) all year. With no real facts to support it, it was beginning to sound like an urban myth. Is there really a place in Osu that serves sushi at lunchtime? If so where? It got to a point where none of us could figure out who actually said it first, where we could find out more and whether there really was any truth to the rumour.

The reason for our desperation? Ever since Noble House stopped serving sushi, as far as I know, the only sushi restaurant in central Accra (not to be confused with Accra Central which incudes Makola and its surrounding areas) is Monsoon. Its sushi restaurant opens at 7pm leaving those of us who can't be in Osu at that time, with no where at all to find sushi.

Anyways, about two weeks ago, Dee told me that she had heard that the lunch sushi joint was above Tantra, and since I'd been sushi starved for months, it only took a few days before I was there, having sushi with La Baselette, before she left Ghana once again.

The restaurant is called 3121, or something similar, for some reason the name has escaped me. It is above Tantra (the eurotechno nightclub), down the side road between Penta Hotel and Barclays on Oxford street. There's a Chinese restaurant in the same yard...but its name also vanished from my memory.

The verdict?
The food was good, tasty, but the rice wasn't as well prepared as Monsoon's. Everything was about 1 or 2 cedis more expensive than Monsoon, but there seemed to be more options available.

The interior was neat although the decor seemed heavily inspired by Memoirs of a Geisha (including actual promotional pictures from the movie), which was a bit weird.

Now, I think I've told you all you need to know, go taste it for yourselves and bon appetit!

By the way, for you other foodians out there, there seems to be a new website coming out that will be of interest to us, Eat out Ghana.