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.

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!

Moving Out, Moving In

Here it is: the post with the photos, the befores and afters, the boxes and dust bunnies.  Compare!


St Michael's Terrace: Before and After.

 The bedroom.

much, much move-out recycling.

Packing up the kitchen!

Packing up the living room. 

Just about the only place in the house where we weren't in the movers' way was between the boxes and the front door.

There it is, all our stuff, ready for storage and then shipment!

a five-page list of our belongings

empty kitchen

 bare, bare bedroom.

Seeing it makes me a bit nostalgic.  It's sinking in: "Hey, wait a minute, I'm going to be waking up to palm trees out the window for the foreseeable future.  This is the HOME I'll come back to... not Dublin.  And it's bitter.  

Moving in!  Oshie Link, before and after!

Jens and Aimee at our locally-bought dining table.

Our container arrives and is opened!

Jens accompanies the movers to the correct floor... as they carry everything on their heads

The guest room/study-to-be

Kitchen chaos!

The finished product, ladies and gentlemen:

Dining area.

Living area with view to the balcony.

Doors to three bedrooms.

THAT'S what a kitchen should look like.

View from the balcony you saw above - the ocean, and the master bedroom's balcony.

Master bedroom.

The study - okay, so it's not totally finished yet.  We didn't bring any bookshelves from Dublin!

Photo Post: Senegal, Days 1-3

to Senegal!  Jens went to Nigeria on the second week of our visit, and Dakar the third week.  I'm not ready for Nigeria, but Senegal sounded lovely - and it was.  Day 1 was spent lounging at the pool; Day 2 saw me wandering around being guided by some man who I managed to communicate with in English and French. Day 3 was a ferry trip with Googlers; more on that below.

Sunrise from the 10th-floor hotel room

mask

wood carver

these buses go everywhere

guard at the Presidential Palace

on day 3, I went to the Ile Goree with two visiting Googlers and their families, while Jens was in conferences. We walked to the port to catch the ferry, buying oranges on the way...

and came across a dead fish...

presumably for sale.

Googler one: Thierry with girlfriend Shika

playing on the ferry

first view!

beach football

Here's a bright little fish, marinating in the salt of evaporated water on the pier.

There's me in front of a memorial to I don't know what!

art made from reused garbage

monument to freedom

In the evening, we clambered into buses like the one I showed above, took an hour-long ride to the beach, and got to another island on boats like this:

We ate grilled fish and were treated to local dancing with drums.  

Even the obronis got in on it!

After a long day, we went home.

Tomorrow I'll post day 4, but for now I have to scoot around in a taxi!  Pick up our stuff from Bridgette's, bring back the key to the office, then drop the stuff in the apartment before cleaning that up so they can show it to someone... Life, here I come!