A Million Minutes in Africa

We buy our vegetables at a little vegetable stand in our neighborhood. It’s next to another little stand where plastic bowls, mops, and wastepaper baskets are sold. African shirts are on offer at yet another stand nearby.

Looks like it’s mango season — yum.

Many Accra shops are these types of roadside stands, although there are also some supermarkets and even a mall. Other vendors in our neighborhood sell handmade baskets, beaded necklaces, paintings, and grilled plantains. (A lady with a small baby on her back grills the plantains on a hibachi-type grill.)

We left DC back in September. Movers packed our household effects into giant crates on September 22. Our understanding was that the crates would then be shipped to Accra. It turns out that our stuff is in… Baltimore! Yes, over the past 55 days, the movers managed to transport those crates about 40 miles. It seems that we won’t be seeing that stuff any time soon.

The good news is that our vehicle (which left our DC street a few days before the household effects) has arrived. Hooray! That means we can now take weekend trips out of town and see more of Ghana. Exciting.

You may have been wondering what our house looks like. It’s not typical of all Accra houses, but it is typical of our neighborhood. Here’s a picture:

You can tell that it’s a duplex, attached to the house next door. Fortunately, that house is occupied by a friend.

No, we still haven't played any tennis in Accra. However, we did have a brush with tennis fame. Serena Williams came to visit Ghana last week. I took pictures at the meet-and-greet reception, but ... [Continue reading this entry]

Went mountain biking yesterday on some trails near the airport. A friend said motocross riders use these trails sometimes. For maximum sunburn, we left the house at noon. It was hot, and the dirt on the trail ... [Continue reading this entry]

We've been in Accra for just about a month. Weeks before moving, we sent out change of address notices to our banks and other companies with whom we do business. However, till yesterday, we had not received a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Shai Hills Wildlife Reserve lies between Akosombo and Accra.  It was neither the best time of day (mid-afternoon) nor the best time of year for a visit, but hey, we were passing by, so why not stop?

Our group of 7 ... [Continue reading this entry]

We had the opportunity to see a little bit more of Ghana over the weekend. We headed up to Akosombo, where a couple of Dan's colleagues organized a mini-triathlon. We were ... [Continue reading this entry]

Our UAB (unaccompanied air baggage) arrived last week. That's a shipment of stuff we thought we'd like to have before the bulk of our belongings arrive in the "household effects" shipment in a few months. My initial thought ... [Continue reading this entry]

Last week we went to see a local cloth dyeing operation, where they use the wax-resist process. (I was under the impression this process is known as batik, but someone told me that batik is different, so I'll just ... [Continue reading this entry]

Before we came to Accra, we were told that English is Ghana's official language. However, there are some differences between U.S. English and Ghanaian English. For example, a plastic bag that you might get when you buy something at ... [Continue reading this entry]