Sitting at the centre of the world

So much to write about but I am oh so tired, so for now I will just mention my quick stop to the centre of the world. After a week that wasn't half bad, with enough time to relax, reflect, exercise and clean, this Saturday made a lovely weekend day. Lunch at the Poetress',scrumptious as always, consisting of jollof with squid, deliciously sauteed mushrooms and quickfried spinach with sundried tomatoes. From there Em and I met up with Virgo and roamed around town for a bit, then headed back to Tema with a necessary takeaway pack of wakye from Katawodieso (see how easily I can describe my whole life with food?!).

(Picture of Ave Maria borrowed from mokocharlie.com)
Then we spontaneously decided to head to Ave Maria (formerly Tema Beach Club, I think). Somehow it was so rejuvenating and energy boosting to look out at the sea and be able to tell Em, "look, we're at the centre of the world!".

After that short trip of about thirty minutes, we headed home and ate our wakye. After putting Em to bed, I sat down to work on an agreement that I ought to have worked on much earlier in the week and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for myself for working on a Saturday evening when I was so tired. And still, my little visit to Ave Maria reminded me that the world really is my oyster, anything is possible!

With that thought, I am going to read a chapter or two of Eat, Pray, Love, then sleep!

*Ave Maria is not technically the centre of the world, but Ghana and specifically Tema is the closest land to the centrepoint of the world, and since the Meridian grid is just a few metres from Ave Maria, that's our little reminder anytime we Temaites need to feel special.

Sweden votes 2010 (2)

I was really impressed that when I checked the results at 20:00, i.e. 22:00 Swedish time, approximatey 97-98% of the votes had been counted, just two hours after voting!

As I told Virgo, compared to Ghana, that's really impressive. In Ghana, if I remember correcty, after the last election, 90+% of the votes were in by 5:00 the next morning. Still, even Ghana's votecounting is impressive and must considered advanced compared to Afghanistan. Elections took place on Saturday and we can expect results...in a month's time?!?

Eeeeh.... doesn't that leave ample time for just about anyone to have a whole new set of voter cards printed, distributed and sent to replace the original ones in every corner of the country? I'm just saying...

Sweden votes 2010

The Swedish elections are over and counting almost done. From not showing much interest a few weeks and months ago, I suddenly found myself growing more and more interested this week and have spent most of my free time today getting updates.

I wasn't surprised the Socialdemocrats lost, but for them to achieve the lowest number of votes since 1914 is quite a shock. Interestingly however is that among first-time voters, the Socialdemocratic party was the most popular party. Perhaps, the future is bright?

The other news that left me feeling nauseous is that of the Sweden Democrats getting 5.8% of the vote, and therefore getting seats in Parliament. Still I agree with my friend HF who said (and here I am loosely translating):

SD in Parliament...*vomiting*... perhaps it is good that Sweden is forced to confront its inner racist. How many Iranian doctors don't we have who are forced to drive taxis because they are not taken seriously by the authorities. One can't place blame elsewhere this time - Sweden has a racism problem, and now we'll get the opportunity to deal with it.

It is true that there is a huge problem with racism that is often disregarded, ignored, or brushed off. Now it will be a very real and present issue in Sweden and it will be interesting to see if the number of people who start sentences by saying "I am not a racist, but..." will increase, or rather they'll say "I am a racist and therefore...".

I think I prefer the latter. At least then we know what we're dealing with.

For more on the Swedish elections see Kajsa's blog.

A bloggi-blog world

In the past few (mainly internet free) weeks, I have spent some minutes every night mentally writing blogposts which I know will never be published. Each day I feel a slight guilt for again not posting anything. Isn't it strange? To whom am I feeling guilty: you or me? A bit of both, but mainly to the fact that when I'm doing something I like to do it right, and to me 'doing it right' means writing a few times a week at least. I've considered shutting down the blog at least for a few months til things settle down, but I would miss it too much. I think I'd miss it as much as you'd miss an ex even if you initiated the breakup. And as I go through these thoughts, I am amused by how much emotional space blogging has in my life.

Another example is that one of my favourite Swedish bloggers, Alexandra Pascalidou, a well-known journalist, author and presenter has just stopped blogging. Not only did I feel saddened to read that, I felt genuinely upset on her behalf on the news that she had broken up from her child's father (who had the most adorable temporary blog, in Swedish). Just by reading her words and sharing the experiences of this person so far away, who I have never met, I have managed to in some way become a part of her life (whether she knows it or not).

Anyway, this is a bit of a rambling post, just a quick hello to my IRL and blogger friends to let you know I am still around. Life is a bit challenging at the moment, but the future is looking bright, so hopefully sometime towards the end of the year, we'll have settled and there'll be more time for blogging, blogging, blogging!

Back...for now

Hm I made one little comment in support of Tetekai's complaints about Vodafone and suddenly I was cut off for two weeks. Personal vendetta, anyone? Now I'm back, who knows for how long...

If you see short posts from me with no pictures or links, it means I'm attempting to blog from my phone as I don't think I can handle another blog abstinence. It's been frustrating having so much to say and nowhere to write it. Luckily I know better than to attempt going to an internet cafe with a daughter as headstrong, active and loud as my Em (learnt that the hard way at Vodafone in Cantonments), but hopefully the phone will save me when Vodafone tries to shut me down the next time.

For now I am going to enjoy my delicious light supper of German Rye bread (from Evergreen in Tema) with Mozzarella (Maxmart Tema), some slices of tomato, chopped garlic and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. With that, a 'cocktail' of Cranberry juice and tonic water. Mmmmm!

Happy Friday!