Unbelievable

5:30 on a sunday morning and lady click-click is pacing in stilettos. Something shall be done about this. I can't take it any more!

posted from Bloggeroid

it never rains

it really pours.

I have TWO job offers I'm fully torn between
The tiles on the floor of the study have started to detach and... tent?  the upstairs neighbor, who works in construction and had to do this to his own floor (see earlier post - guess it wasn't Lady Click-Click's fault after all) says we need three or four full days, one for each step of the procedure.  And we're supposed to be hosting a guest (apart from my parents) in this room in a week and a half.  Of course the longer we wait the worse it gets...
my phone fell in the toilet today
The driver of the rental car we've arranged for wants to do some car-switching at the border to Togo.  Put him and the four passengers inside a bigger car with Togolese plates and driver to "avoid headaches" from the police.  I don't know if that's really necessary for a single night's stay.

I'm supposed to head to a BBQ with some local volunteers and young cool folks but I just feel so overwhelmed that I want to go to sleep.  When I tried to call the guy who helped us arrange the car, to see if this car-switching was normal, his phone's turned off.
The guards say it's totally normal but I don't know.  I'm going to a car rental place tomorrow (and call a few others) to see what they would recommend - and how much they'd charge.  I didn't commit to this driver, after all.

And then our internet is down every 5 minutes or so, for about half a minute.  Which is just annoying when I'm trying to, well, do ANYTHING.

I'm headed to this BBQ, because none of the other problems will get sorted tonight.

At least today I: went for a run, picked up my German certificate (273.5 of 300 ain't shabby!), bought fruit, picked up bagels for my parents' visit, paid the housekeeper, went cleaning-product shopping, talked over my job options with choir buddy and 15-year resident T, and got estimates/summaries for the driver and the floor.

very overwhelmed.

bing < /3 SSA, and FNM < /3 GH

Here's why I haven't been receiving my Food Network Magazine lately:

They don't ship to Ghana.

Or Nigeria- the rep mentioned that, too.

I guess that's in case I decide I'm fed up of the small fry and want to move on to the big 419 scams?

I loved getting that magazine.  I even got published in it, with a letter to the editor praising the Jewish-themed recipes.  Now I'm being unwillingly cut off.

Who's willing to take a shipment of magazines, and deliver them when and wherever next we meet?  This is a serious bummer!  FNM brought so much joy and I was so looking forward to it.  I think I'll write back to Kim and let her know that even though policy's policy, I am quite let down.

Bing has no love for SSA...

So, I just noticed Facebook's throwdown.  "Facebook Places" are using Bing maps instead of Google.  I found it in the States, in Ireland, in New Zealand.

I checked out what Bing Maps has for Accra.

Three (and a half?) motorways and a railroad track.

I appreciate that some of the neighborhoods are labeled.  But that's it, really?

I looked at Lagos.  Much the same.

Nothing doing in Nairobi, either.

Rabat, Johannesburg, Casablanca and Cape Town, I am happy to say, had roads marked and usually labeled.

What gives, Bing?  You've got the top and bottom of the continent covered but the rest is inconsequential?  Are you working on it, at least?

In the satellite view, I'm surprised to learn that my house lies in the Bight of Benin.  Not even kidding.

The kicker?  When I searched Bing for "maps," Google Maps was the first result... Bing's own service pulled in at a paltry seventh place.  

I sent some feedback to Bing - meanwhile noting that their feedback box is kinda crummy.  I don't know the word for it, but when words are too long for one line, Bing splits the word rather than moving the entire word onto the next line.

It's not only family bias that keeps me sticking to Google.  That's all I'm sayin'.

Let's Go, Man!

Two Saturdays ago marked the celebration of the Chale Wote festival of alternative art, brought to life by Accra [dot] alt. There have been some disagreeing voices from local bloggers about the outcome; while Graham at Critical Point proclaimed it a success with some potential to grow into, Holli's Ramblings shot it down as, essentially, whites imposing 'culture' onto the inner city where it was neither appreciated nor welcome.

the cliffs of Jamestown... garbage, oil drums, and the sea

My take on it? As soon as I got to the first “plaza” of events and saw the scale and scope I was in for, I threw any expectations out the window, and had fun.

The maps could have been a lot nicer – a six-piece Venn diagram describing sites that are all along the same street in a line was really confusing!

Roller Boys preparing for a jump - on a busy side street still in use!

Other than that, it was fun to wander around, I didn't feel unwelcome, and I loved seeing all the kids get involved, be it in dancing or face/body painting! We heard that kids were the focus during the day while the evening was the block party for adults.  

friends watching the brass band  (yellow shirts)

Yes, the scope was pretty small - let's say ten vendors, two artists in the "gallery," a gaggle of kids dancing in the plaza.  Yes, I felt that some kids saw it as an opportunity to beg some extra goodies from the rich obronis.  In particular there was one adorable girl who attached herself to my knee as soon as I'd bought my jollof rice, and disappeared as soon as it was finished.  

But there were just as many kids who were happy to get attention, interact with the friendly visitors and play with paint on their arms and on the sidewalks.  Adults wandered past, bemused, or stopped to watch, intrigued, and were all smiles.

"Beware of Mosquito"

My take-away?  I'd do it again!  There's gotta be a first year for everything.  There were glitches, there were sidelong glances, there were doubts.  But now that they've pulled it off once, I think more people will be interested next year.  This thing can grow.  And I'm looking forward to it!

More photos available on my Picasa album.

food blog is up!

hey y'all, hop over to and then I cooked... for foodie goodies!  first post is already up!

dangerous linktrails

I don't know how it is for visitors to my blog, but when I'm signed in, I get this Blogger top bar on the top of my page.  On this bar is a link to "Next Blog," any other randomly chosen Blogger blog.

Well, from the (probably) 50-100 other blogs I've browsed in the past two days, here are my conclusions:

95% of them are families
80% of those families are religious Christians (when I say that, I mean they mention praying, Our One True Father, church - as having an influence in most of their entries)
3% are teens
2% are Other.  A vegan and a Tea Partier (who also fit into the Christian category)

And probably 40% of every one of those blogs had as the latest entry "It's been such a looong time, and I PROMISE I'll be better at posting from now on!"  Most of the time, those entries were a year old.

Fingers crossed that I can keep up my own commitment!


When we moved into our third-floor apartment, we thought the distance between us and the ground would separate us from the noise.  We wanted a quieter house, removed from street sounds.
This is not so!
It turns out that sound waves travel upwards really well.  So we hear the squatter neighbors' chicks as if they were chirping on our own balcony.  Funerals from three blocks away sound like they're just down the street.  And I have yet to describe a Ghanaian funeral!

It lasts a full weekend.  On Friday they stay up all night singing and playing highlife music: the "wake-keeping."  Saturday starts early and goes a full day of music, food, drinking and socializing.  Sunday starts around 7:30 with a worship service, then continues until the afternoon with more music and socializing.

Streets are shut down as celebrants erect big tents and rent hundreds of plastic chairs to house the participants.  The music speakers are huge.  Announcements are put up all over the streets announcing: "Home Call," "Obituary," "At Rest" and so on.  People dress in black/brown combined with red, if the person died young, or white, if the person lived a full life.  These parties can totally disrupt your life if they happen on your street, and get in the way of traffic as the tents stop cars from going through.  The more people you can afford to host, the better.  It's quite the production.


The weather lately has been cooler (around 25-28C, 75-80F) and nicely breezy so I've relied on the A/C much less often and instead keep the big doors and windows open.  Earlier in the month it was overcast without raining for days at a time, but now we are getting sun, a bit of rain (like this morning) and cooler weather.  I like it!

cooking updates :)

Here's a pic of the Oaxaca bar, which took longer than it should have to bake 'cause I can't get used to this gas oven!  I love the caramel flavor of the top layer, but I thought a) the chocolate filling needed more of the signature flavors and b) it could have done without the coffee.  A kickin' chocolate-cinnamon-chipotle bar would have bowled me over.

As for the yogurt biscuits, I messed up the recipe.  I didn't check the size on my matryoshka measuring cup and dumped in 3/4 cup of yogurt where 1/2 cup should have gone!  Disaster corrected with extra flour by the heap, but I didn't realize what had happened until too late and didn't compensate for the other two ingredients.  I love the tang the yogurt brings, though, so I'm keen on making these again.  

Both of the local grocery stores stock several brands of locally made, Lebanese-style yogurt, which I used for this recipe.  It's a challenge, though, using the yogurt before it ferments.  I don't know what it is, but this stuff just doesn't stick around more than a day or two - and sometimes it's already bubbly by the time I first open the container.  I wish it were more consistent, as I'd like to eat yogurt here more often and don't like having to stick to the imported, sweetened, UHT stuff.

I have three eggplants (aubergines, whatever) to use and I have found three recipes to do so!  They'll have to wait for tomorrow, though, as tonight we're going out for tilapia and banku to celebrate a friend's birthday.  Blue Gate is pretty well-known, it's just four zigzags from my house, and they do a nice plate of fish 'n fermented-corn/cassava 'n veggies 'n avocado.  It's one of my favorite Ghanaian dishes lately.  It's much lighter than anything else - it's just grilled fish, starch and optional veggies - unlike another favorite, red red.  That's beans (stewed in oil, I think) with some mild spices, served with spoonfuls of palm oil and garri (cassava "flour," I guess, seed-sized, which acts as a thickener).  Almost always served with plantains.  Fried in oil.

Here's the banku and tilapia from Blue Gate.  They were out of avocado this time.  The tilapia's rubbed in ginger, I think, before it's grilled.  So if I were comfortable eating fish skin, it'd be lovely... The red stuff's a killer pepper sauce and yes, it's covered in warmed salad.  Delish.

And here's my red red lunch from not too long ago:

Yesterday the shelves in our wardrobe gave out, probably because we put too much clothing on 'em.  Still - they are designed to hold clothing.  The carpenter, who I called this morning, just showed up and put bigger nails in the supports.  And then I asked him if he could fix up our IKEA bed slats, which have been sitting broken since the day our shipment came in, when Jens put them into our locally-made bed frame and they snapped because they had no support in the middle of the frame.  

I was thinking of going for a run, but sat here thinking about it for too long and missed my window of opportunity.  If I go out now, there won't be enough time before it gets dark to have a full run.  

Perhaps tomorrow morning!

food post!

Until I figure out a good name for the food blog, here's a food post on the main blog!

There was a mango in our fridge just begging to get out, so I whipped up this Thai mango chili sauce and ladled it over some grouper.  Making the grouper, I broke the grill pan in, too.  Since it was my first time cooking white fish (or, come to think of it, grilling fish at all!) I was petrified I'd undercook it.  But I think it turned out all right!

I can see a face here... the mango sauce is the nose and there's a left eye there as well, then the fish makes the mouth.  Right?

That only used a bit of the mango, though - the rest was saved for mango-mascarpone ice cream.  This is the first really successful one to have come out of our ice cream maker.  I chilled the mixture before putting it in the mixer bowl, and then kept the bowl itself in the old ice bath from chilling the mixture!

It was great to have success in the machine, but this one was way too conspicuously creamy (mascarpone and whipping cream?) while the mango flavor didn't stand out.  Makes me want to atone with a 6am run tomorrow!  Kudos for making me confident in my ice-cream-making skills, though.

If you zoom way in, you can see lime-zest and mango flecks in there.

Last week I was inspired by Waffleizer to try a few things out.  They came out differently from Dan's results as our waffle maker's a flat heart-shaped one instead of the big Belgian-style.  No matter.  I am happy to present you:

Fal-waffles!  Yes, of course that's homemade hummus, with a new trick.  I removed the chickpea skins to make it creamier, just as Dan suggested.  Hmm, this one turned into a face, too...

next...

Kar-waffel-puffer!  (That's potato pancakes, German style.  Potato wafflecakes.)

Tonight I'm on a cooking bent, so I'm also making "Oaxaca fudge bars" (chipotle-coffee-chocolate squares with a cashew topping) which I saw on Food Network this afternoon.  Plus, if time permits, yoghurt biscuits.  Actually, I'll make the dough tonight and keep it in the fridge, so I can have fresh-baked biscuits tomorrow morning (and maybe all through this week!)

Speaking of chipotles, those spicy smoky chilis are irresistible.  Just yesterday, I whipped up some bean-cheese-and-chipotle soft tacos.  Photo's boring, but here it is anyway!

I'm still not willing to stake my name on "Ghana Gourmet" or even "Frankie Feasts" so I need MORE IDEAS!  And quickly, please - this food isn't gonna wait!

How about "What I had for Dinner"... or maybe "And Then I Cooked..."  I like the sound of that, actually.  Or "And Then I Made..."?  "And Then I Ate" is, sadly, already taken.

Where there's Smoke, there's Garbage

Not so many years ago, 80 or 90 percent of the rubbish created in Ghana was organic.  That is to say, most of people's trash was food, or wood, or stuff that comes straight out of the ground.  And the best way to ensure no one and nothing else could get to it was to burn it.

Now, unknown masses of garbage are made up of plastic, metal, glass... but the tradition of burning still stands.

back there, in the corner!

Our neighbors in front and behind burn weekly, if not more often.

You can tell immediately because there's a thick white smoke in the air which smells sickly sweet.  You just know chemicals are leaching out into the air.  In front of our house a few weeks ago, they tried to burn leftover PVC pipes... with little success.  It may be the most space-efficient way to dispose of your waste, but nowadays, it's pretty scary what people are doing with heat and plastic.

Even street food is always dumped into two or three layers of plastic bags.  We know that heat + plastic = bad combination, right?  But what can you do, short of bringing your own Tupperware everywhere you go?

high heels, flip-flops, pineapples

Since I've gotten here, I definitely interact more with people on the street.  Etiquette calls for it.  I smile at people and say "good morning/afternoon/evening" if I make eye contact.  Yesterday, a wild-guesser of my Ghanaian name guessed it right, so I responded to him.

Another thing I've found I like doing is naming people whose names I don't know.  Our upstairs neighbors have someone in the house who likes to wander around in high-heeled shoes.  She's been dubbed Lady Click-Click.  And the woman who I pass on my way to Oxford Street, who sells fruit of all kinds and always greets me as "my friend," is Madame Pineapple, for the first fruit she sold me.

Speaking of the heel-happy wanderer upstairs, since Monday I've heard lots of hammering on their floor/our ceiling.  The guards tell me they're replacing the floor tiles, which had started to crack.  I do wonder if there's a correlation between the tile cracks showing up and Lady Click-Click suddenly (knock on wood!) toning it way down on the indoor heel-wearing a couple weeks ago.

I'm thinking of starting up an occasional food blog separate of this one, where I post pictures of the stuff I cook.  I'd call it Ghana Gourmet or something gimmicky like that.  Then again, with my photo album Cooking Exploits already on facebook, I don't know if there's a need.  Also, in the tradition of other food bloggers I think I'd be obligated to type up every recipe I cooked - and that's tedious, yo!

Public, would you be interested?  And what's a better name than Ghana Gourmet?

Saturday there's a festival on called Chale Wote, which translates to "Buddy, let's go" and also is the slang name for flip-flops here.  It's a street art and performance festival (as far as I can tell) happening in Jamestown, the historical center of the city which has lately become quite run-down.  It's been organized by accra.alt, which I know a couple local expat bloggers are involved in and I'm excited to learn more about.

a productive day.

Today I felt quite productive.  It's funny what qualifies as "productive," seeing as how a good bit of the time I wasn't even successful.  I was trying to make reservations at hotels in Togo for my parents' visit, and find some information on medication here.  None of the calls to Togo went through, and each one cost me 82p per minute just for the ringing line.  That doesn't seem normal.  I don't think I'm dialing wrong, either... country code + seven digits is what the Internet assured me I should do.  I used about 4 cedis of credit today and hardly talked to anyone.

Anyhow, though, after all these phone calls, I was able to shift the rooms reserved in Elmina and find a lovely-looking hotel in Lome who (thankfully) responded to an email although they didn't pick up the phones.  Hoorah, we'll be staying in the Hotel Bellevue.  Hope it's nearly as nice as the photos seem!

I also drove way over past the mall, spending 45 minutes in traffic for a 20-something-minute drive, to put down a deposit on our TV stand with the carpentress who custom-made our lovely DVD rack.  The TV stand will hold our TV and be flanked by shelves, specifically designed by us.  It'll have a bit of Ghanaian-style hammered-metal embellishment, and be a dark brown color.  It may take a while to make but I think it'll be worth it.  Anyone in the market for well-made and classy wood products from shelves to mirrors, picture frames to lamps, may I please recommend Marihap Handicrafts, across the street from Wild Gecko.

I finished off the evening with German class.  We have an exam next week.  This is a big one - the Zertifikat Deutsch, which is actually nationally recognized.  For example, it's the minimum language requirement for citizenship.  I aced the last Goethe end-of-level exam but since then we've gotten into grittier grammar and the tests themselves are tougher tasks.  One of the speaking tests has us sharing and comparing info from graphs with our partners.  Somehow I seem to start every sentence with "I find it surprising/funny/interesting that..."

Off to CEPEHRG tomorrow.  Plans are coming together for my parents' visit - including them filling up a rather long shopping list!  The Amazon orders should all get there with plenty of time to spare... I'm ordering a dozen books and loads of camera accessories, since lately I have been getting more serious about my photography (or at least about my photos looking their best).

Right, bedtime!

the job hunt

I'll be honest.  I cruised for the first three and a half months.  Really.  It was only two weeks ago that I seriously told myself I'd had enough of sitting around at home or running errands and started looking for job postings - and now three people have approached me with other opportunities as well.  All it takes is a switch of attitude... that, and finally realizing what kind of a title I can talk to people about.  Following in my dear mom's footsteps, I'm going to try my hand at communications - or what passes for it around here.

I've also finally transitioned into the mindset (long overdue) of applying for everything, whether or not I'd like every facet of the job or believe myself to be over- or underqualified.  Just getting my name out there is a big start.

So this week I'm applying to Ashesi, a university with a liberal-arts background towards more technical and business-related disciplines - although they've relocated 14 miles away and I don't know how I'd commute.
I'm emailing embassies, who may need English-speaking visa application officers.
I've sent in a CV to West Africa Trade Hub, of whom the head of the communications office mentioned they need writers.
I'm applying to be a Tour Professional, whatever that means.
I'm also applying to a Community Management Assistant program run through Johns Hopkins using such essential keywords as "capacity building" and "implementing activities."
Finally, I'll be sending in a CV to a PR company looking to start a branch in Ghana, which may or may not need an agent on the ground.

It's a good start, and I hope just as many opportunities arise for me next week.

Photo Post: My 'hood

a spot of beauty on our A/C unit

You can see the Presidential Palace, locally known as Jubilee House, from our balcony.  Well, depending on weather.  It's that far-away one in the middle of the frame shaped like a traditional Ghanaian chief's stool.

neighbors.

a couple of the squatters who are occupying the unfinished house across the street.

two doors down

water bottle football game... our house is across the street to the left

around the corner, these electricity men were replacing power lines. Some time in the evening, a cord was cut and the power was out for upwards of 12 hours.

cluck!

doing the electricity work in his tailored batik shirt

nearby Ako Adjei Park, where football practice happens twice a day, backed by a Methodist church

AMA is the Accra Municipal Authority, who sweep different neighborhoods every day looking for businesses operating without registration - and anoint them as seen above. One person said AMA is just looking for a bribe.  This blogger has no comment.

portrait of a guinea fowl

Houses keep water tanks on the roof to store up extra water while the pipes are running, for the times when they are not

this is the kid of the snack seller under the mango tree (to the unseen right of the frame). behind him is the most local "spot" (food & drink establishment). This shipping container was kept pristinely painted and strategically opened two days after AMA came through with the red paint!

Ghanaian Names

Naming conventions in Ghana never cease to make me grin.  Apart from the run of names you hear around most of the English-speaking world, there are three ways this can go, as I've seen it in Accra so far:


1. Names ranging from the old-fashioned to the biblical.  Dorcas, Mabel, Enoch, and a dozen Emmanuels to every one of everybody else.


2. Out-there names describing personality characteristics, or hopes.  Allswell, God's Willing, Wonder, and the slightly more everyday Patience, Constance, Mercy, Charity, or Wisdom.  


3. Traditional naming.  Every day of the week has one or two assigned names for each gender.  Because I was born on a Tuesday, my Ghanaian name is Abena (OBB-nah or, as the caretaker of our building often says it, Abrah).  People on the street who want to address you but don't know your name, if they choose not to yell out "Obroni!", will take a one-in-seven chance and call out one day name or other.  Most commonly I think I've heard Akosua and Adjoa.  If I'm in a mood to respond, I'll say hello and tell them to call me by the right name!


There's a Facebook application that figures out this process for you, or if you'd rather not link it to your profile, just find your day of birth (here's one such site) and match it to your name!  Taken from another blog, I present you with names and characteristics of each day.  I just discovered that both kids in my family were born on Tuesday, but I don't know exactly how well these qualities describe me or Z.  Jens is Kojo, meanwhile.  Our guards often use these names as they roll off the Ghanaian tongue - much easier than the neighbor girls' pronunciation of my name: "Hello Frantchka!"

Males
Monday: Kojo, Kwadwo, Jojo, Cudjoe
Tuesday: Kwabena, Ebo, Kobena, Kobina, Kobby
Wednesday: Kwaku, Kweku
Thursday: Yaw, Ekow, Yao, Yokow
Friday: Kofi, Fiifi, Yoofi
Saturday: Kwame, Ato, Atoapem, Kwamena, Kwami
Sunday: Kwasi, Akwasi, Kwesi

Females
Monday: Adwoa, Adzo, Ajoba, Ejo, Adjoa
Tuesday: Abena, Abla, Araba, Abina
Wednesday: Akua, Akuba
Thursday: Yaa, Aba, Yaaba, Yaayaa
Friday: Afua, Afi, Afia, Efie, Efua
Saturday: Ama, Amma, Awo
Sunday: Akosua, Esi, Kisi

Characteristics of Each Day

Monday’s child is the father or mother in the family; nurturing in nature, dependable and organized, and protective of his/her family.

Tuesday’s child is the problem solver and planner of the family. They are structured in nature, neutral in all matters and never takes sides.

Wednesday’s child is fully in control of every situation, does not want to be told what to do, knows it all, is spontaneous, vibrant and cordial. Be sure not to cross his or her path though…

Thursday’s child is quiet in nature and incredibly observant. They are generally listeners, not talkers, and analyzes situations very well.

Friday’s child is a leader, not a follower. He/she is very temperamental but has a big heart. Generally the instigator of everything.

Saturday’s child likes to take control of family situations. He/she runs the show and make the rules, but will go out of his/her way for others anytime.

Sunday’s child is the passive, sensitive and warm member of the family. He/she tends to be shy and likes to keep to his/her self, but is very aware of his/her surroundings and usually is the secret keeper of the family.

Otherwise, I'm coming down with my first West African cold, starting up with a four-day sore throat.  Taking it easy today in hopes that it fades pretty quickly.  Something has been going around for the past couple of weeks, though.  I'm planning for my parents' visit at the beginning of August, and getting ready for yet another exam at the Goethe Institut signifying that I've finished level B1 and ready to become an upper-intermediate.  That concept is very hard to believe; loads of my upper-intermediate students in Dublin were leagues ahead of where I see myself!