Poor crispy us!

Over the weekend, BF and I made a quick getaway to nearby Kokrobite (koh-kroh-bee-tay) Beach. It's about 20 miles from Accra, a very doable drive apart from a mile-long stretch through a little town called Aplaku, which hasn't seen a surfaced road in who-knows-how-many years. It's funniest because the road's in good condition both before and after the bumps and holes.

Also making the drive less doable: insane traffic out of Accra which kept us barely moving for a full two hours! On a Saturday, we were not prepared for this.

Arrival at the Kokrobite Garden hotel/lodge/inn was a breath of fresh air. This little place really lives up to its garden name! Bougainvillea and fiery flowers whose name I don't know, palms and umbrella trees, and even a stand or two of bamboo ensure the premises are always green.

There are rooms for about ten people, plus a mostly-Italian restaurant which brings in other tourists looking to escape the reggae vibe and ages of waiting at nearby Big Milly's Place.

The cabin we were in was supplied with a fan, a double mattress (thin, but new and manageable), and an ensuite bathroom with a switch-on pump when you wanted to use the water. It's an adorable sloped-roof construction with a charming slanted floor. For 25 cedis, we were very satisfied! It was far enough away from Big Milly's that the din of reggae night didn't keep us up, and the vibrant plants led to a relaxed and friendly ambiance.

We spent the night in the Garden, then on Sunday morning were woken up by church music from behind our cabin and The Three Tenors from the restaurant in front of us.

Ants found their way overnight into my bag, where I had stored some plantain chips for snacking. I got my first ant bites ever while cleaning them out of my bag! Those little things sting. J was incredulous I'd never been bitten by ants before.

After breakfast (French toast and fried pancakes with fresh fruit), we retreated to the beach for a few hours. And this is where the real woes start. We both managed to attain some serious sunburns, though we'd been very careful to load up on sunscreen before we left the room. The destruction was horrible. Poor J looks like a lobster up his entire front. I'm marginally better!

It was lovely to get out of the city, just for a night. Definitely hit the Kokrobite Garden if you need a quiet night with a friendly host and tasty food!

posted from Bloggeroid

on magic words and banking

The magic words to unlock any door.

If someone knows they and only they can be the key to helping you out, suddenly rules can be bent, exceptions made, opening times shifted just the slightest bit.

I had a check I needed to cash from a bank.  And banks here as a pretty common rule are not open past 4 (sometimes 4:30).  I dashed from work to the bank right at 4, and arrived about a quarter past.  There were still people inside doing business but the manager was standing in front of the glass door and very purposefully not making eye contact.  After half a minute of standing in front of the door with my best whitegirl puppy-dog eyes and making the local hand gesture for "please," he pointed to the hours posted on the door.

But then, a few seconds later, the security guard comes to unlock the door and stick his face out.  I say, "You're closed, right?"  He agrees that they close at four.  I say, "I only finish work at four and I came as fast as I could... I don't know what I can do."

He relents and the door opens.

Then when they discovered I wanted to cash a check rather than something "simple" like wire money, I hit even more complications.  You see, the check was issued from another branch of the bank and the link between the two branches has been closed for the day.  I don't get how this makes a difference if they can just put it into the system and have it update first thing in the morning - but apparently it does make a difference.

I talked to another manager-looking lady, who asked me some questions such as whether I had an ID on me, and whether I could come in to do it another day as opening hours of the bank were 8:30 to 4.  She didn't get it until the third time I told her that I work from SEVEN-thirty to four so couldn't come in any other day, either.
"Could you get a friend to do it?"
"No, they all have jobs too.  So, you see, I just don't know what I can do."

I started to say I might be able to come in Friday, but before I could finish my sentence she relented!

Seven or eight minutes after walking into the bank, I had my cash in hand.  Whew!


Monday was a holiday for the Canadians (and thus for me), so I spent the afternoon investigating rates and fees and rules at three local banks with good reputations, so I could choose one to open an account with.  At the end of the day I chose my bank and set up a savings account right then and there.  It was painless.  I was pleasantly surprised.
I asked them, "When will this account be ready so I can start depositing my paychecks?"
Their response?  "Oh, no, madame, you cannot deposit checks into a savings account."

What?

How am I supposed to save money, then?

Only by bringing in cash.  That sounds like a GREAT idea, no?

I need to set up a current account in order to deposit checks, and that needs extra documentation - a letter of reference from someone with a Ghanaian bank account to vouch for my "suitability for the purposes of maintaining a current account" - and I just lifted that text directly from the reference form that J filled out for me.  Someone once came to his office and set up an account for him but he wants to close it as they charge fees for monthly maintenance, internet banking, and a hundred other ridiculous things.  So he'll use his account to vouch for mine, then close that account and open a new one at another bank using my own account details.  I love/hate the circular logic of life.

pains and therapy

Guys, I have sciatica!

Some kind of hip pain indeed I do have.  It's caused by a tight muscle in my sacrum squelching one of the nerves that runs through my left hip.  It's also caused some misalignment up my spine.  I'm in physical therapy now, and the therapist is going to cure some of my excess flexibility while we're at it.  It turns out that my being special is actually not gonna be healthy for my hips later on.  While she was pushing and prodding the muscles along my spine she poked at my right rotator muscle and declared it felt "like bubble wrap."  Owwwww!  Goodbye, duck feet; goodbye, creepy flexible-foot-based party trick.

I've also got a nasty cold - my first one since arriving here.  Three days into the new job and I'd lost my voice; this weekend I'm so congested I can't taste anything.  It's really weird!  It feels like my tongue is numb... but it's not.  I can still taste salt, mustard and Nutella.

I'm trying to take it pretty easy today and hope I'll be in working order by tomorrow.

Autumn tree

As just mentioned earlier!

posted from Bloggeroid

Fall

As October prepares to roll in, one kind of tree has been turning and shedding its leaves. It's nice to have a reminder of autumn, even if the temperatures are only going to get warmer.

There have been some power problems in Accra lately. A few times in the past few weeks we've had the power issue in our neighborhood that I mentioned earlier, where power is out for almost every house in a 3-block radius apart from ours and a few others. This has to do with phases... as I understand it, power is provided in 3 phases, which are like different wavelengths. And houses are connected to one or two of these phases. If you are connected to one that goes short, you have no power; if you are on a phase that is still working, you are lucky and have power.

All this to say, I'll still be happy when we get our generator. It'll either be "late this month" (which is quickly running out) or more likely next month some time. it's still nice to have a much more tangible date than ever!

posted from Bloggeroid

Cool bug sighting!

a praying mantis on the balcony! The coolest part was when I made some noise by opening the window to get a better shot, and it swiveled its head over to look. Before that it could have just been an uncanny leaf or even a dead bug.

I think it's the first time I've been fascinated in a totally non-grossed-out way by any kind of insect, arachnid, or whatever.

It was so cool!

plus, there was still a big window between me and this bug. That probably helped.

posted from Bloggeroid

on the sunny side of the street

When I came home from German class, the neighborhood looked pretty dark.  But coming up to the house, I saw we still had power.  Could it be we got the generator our landlady was promising for the end of this month?

Nah.  The power's cut across the street - but not on our side.

In fact, even in some of the houses around us the power seems to be cut.

I'm just thankful we still have it!