Our Belated Thanksgiving!

As I'm sure you are aware, Thanksgiving is an American holiday (it's also Canadian, but celebrated in a different month). We both worked on Thursday and Friday as Dan's office was open and I worked to support the UK office in case they needed support with the US offices closed. We decided a few weeks ago that we would attempt a Thanksgiving meal and invite some friends over the Saturday after the holiday. Needed a little taste of home... literally.

Challenge 1: Find a turkey. I found some frozen ones at a grocery store here but they were only 4 kilos (8.8 lbs). I thought maybe I'd just get two and then I realized they were 250 cedis each! Seems a little steep for such a puny bird! Luckily, a woman posted in one of the expat forums on Facebook that her husband had turkeys for sale. I called him, ordered one and scheduled it for delivery (yes, he delivered it to my door). We paid 350 cedis for an 11 kilo turkey (23.2 lbs). Expensive? Yes. But on a per kilo basis, he was definitely the way to go. Worth it.

Challenge 2: Obtain "the fixin's". Potatoes, veggie, salad... those are all easy to find here. Stuffing, gravy, pumpkin... not so much. Thankfully, we have awesome families who put together care packages with the goodies we needed to put together the meal.

Challenge 3: Receive the care packages containing the goods. One box arrived USPS and Dan was told he needed to go pick it up. Four post offices and a sweaty Dan later, we had one box. The other package was sent UPS (in the exact method that three other boxes had successfully shipped). Did this one arrive as smoothly as its predecessors? Nope. Of course not. So Dan had to go to customs again and pay them off to give us our other box. Are we taking nominations for Sainthood? I think Dan deserves one.... or several.

Challenge 4: The surprise when you realize that a "dressed turkey" is not an organ-less one. I asked if Dan would clean out the turkey on Friday evening for me. It was quite heavy and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to maneuver it wet (and frankly thought I would find it gross). Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who didn't mind. He quickly got more than he bargained for when he had to de-organ our turkey. Not organs in a sanitary little baggie placed in the cavity by Butterball. This was legit. Points for husband of the year.

Now we've made it to the big day. Dan played in a golf tournament sponsored by the Ghana Oil Club on Saturday morning so I was on my own to get this massive bird stuffed and in the oven. (Side note: Dan won the golf tournament. I asked him to do a post about this but he's too humble. So, I'll gloat on his behalf. Man can de-organ a turkey and drive a golf ball with the best of 'em.)

Stuffing the turkey went fine and I only had one cursing meltdown trying to get the bird into the oven. Our oven is European... meaning that it is quite small and doesn't have the normal settings (Bake, Roast, Broil, Clean, etc). Instead I have a dial with little pictures on it. No words telling you what these symbols are. So I guessed and figured I could change it later (and I did haha). The roasting pan was a tight fit and even so the turkey's legs were grazing the top of the oven. He cooked quicker than expected as we have a convection oven, so he got to sit out for a bit while the remainder of the sides were assembled. I made the gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and salad. Hannah brought the squash, since my turkey was in the oven and I couldn't roast anything else at the same time. Amanda brought some desserts to accompany my family's traditional pumpkin roll. I attempted pecan pie but it did not turn out well as for whatever reason my oven refused to fully cook it.

All in all, we had 9 people for dinner, including Dan and me. Food turned out pretty well for my first attempt at Thanksgiving and the challenges listed above. I'd love to share some photos but we were all pretty hungry when the food was carved and side dishes ready, so I don't have any. After dinner, we watched football and people slowly fell into the turkey comas on the couch.

It sounded like everyone had a nice time and enjoyed the meal, both the people who are accustomed to Thanksgiving as well as those who had never had it before. It was a nice way to cap off our last weekend in Accra for awhile. Yes, you read that right. We're off to the good ol' USofA on Friday... snowfall  at JFK airport permitting :)

Guest Post from Dan: How to obtain USD

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!! It's not a holiday here so we're both working today but here's a semi-lengthy story for you while you watch football, cook, drink, etc. 

Objective: Obtain $10,000 USD in Sub-Saharan Africa (fun fact: that's the same place as West Africa, but Sub-Saharan doesn't make people run screaming).  

Steps:

1) Contact Mabel

2) Withdraw cash from Ghanaian bank account

3) Transport cash to the Holiday Inn

4) Negotiate exchange rate with Mabel at her "office" and exchange money

FX Basics:

Ever seen this in the airport?

Well, I live in Ghana.  Therefore, I can BUY US Dollars from a Foreign Exchange Bureau with Ghana Cedis.  Alternatively, I can SELL US Dollars to a Foreign Exchange Bureau for Ghana Cedis.  These are referred to as the Buy and Sell rates.  Why are they not the same? That spread is where these bureaus make their money.  Banks have their own rates that they charge each other and the spread is minimal.  The average of the interbank buy/sell spread for a particular day is generally the "spot" rate.  The spot rate is what shows up if you google "USD to GHS".    

If you're enough of a sucker to use Travelex (the popular bureau at most major airports), you'll have the satisfaction of being "bent over a barrel" while they take advantage of huge Buy/Sell spreads and outrageous service fees. 

That's why I use Mabel

Who is Mabel?

I met Mabel during my first foreign exchange experience in which I was trying to buy Euros.  

There's a small FX bureau in the shopping mall next to my office.  They post their rates daily and their Sell rates are consistent with the spot rate each day.  Knowing this, I intended to buy a couple thousand Euro for a trip.

Shopping Mall:

(Yes, that's a KFC.  Yes, it tastes the same. Yes, it's very popular. No, it's not the subject of this story)  

(Also, yes. that's a bright green airplane parked by the shopping mall.  No, planes aren't green here.  Again, forget the plane - not the subject of the story). 

Unfortunately, the women behind the desk was not in her ideal profession.  Calculators are only useful if the person using them knows what he or she is trying to accomplish.  While I was trying to help her understand what inputs she needed to type in, a short bossy women cut in front of me and started yelling at the women behind the desk and doing her own transactions.  I was quite confused because I learned cutting in line was bad back in Pre-School (I also learned I didn't like girls in pre-school because their pony tails would get in my face if I stood in line behind them).  I was also a bit stunned at how rude she was to the women who was futilely trying to help me. 

It wasn't until I saw that the short bossy women had rather large bricks of cash in various currencies that I realized she was the boss. That solved the cutting in line issue, but she still seemed like a b*tch.  This was Mabel.  

When Mabel realized I wasn't playing around and was getting a decent sum of money, she was actually quite polite and friendly.  She gave me her number and told me to call her when I wanted to change money again.

Now I "have a guy" who I do my foreign exchange with.

How much should I withdraw from my bank account?

The spot rate at the time of this transaction was 3.3 GHS to 1 USD.  Knowing I needed some extra cash (you know, since they don't have credit cards here) I decided to pull out 40,000 GHS.  

Here's a picture of what $10,000 US Dollars looks like.

Not horribly impressive.

The largest bill in Ghana is fifty.  The largest bill the bank was willing to give me - ten.  That means I was going to get 4,000 ten Cedi notes.  To put that into perspective, here's a stack of 33 ten Cedi notes - the equivalent to $100 USD.  

As a result, I was given cellophane wrapped bricks of 5,000GHS in ten cedi notes.  Luckily I had a large shopping bag that could handle the weight (roughly 5 pounds) and volume.

Transport to Holiday Inn

If this doesn't tell you anything about the safety of Ghana (or maybe my lack of intelligence?) I walked out of the bank with a shopping bag full of cellophane wrapped cash to take to Mabel.  If only I had a brief case then I could've been like a drug dealer.

Why Holiday Inn? That's where Mabel's "office" with the big safe is.  I say "office" because it's a little room about the size of a toilet stall.  The room has a board with foreign exchange rates listed, a money counter, a calculator, and a giant safe.  

Holiday Inn is about a 5 minute walk from the bank.  

Holiday Inn:

Bank:

In between Holiday Inn and Bank:

It may seem like I was trying to build up to something dramatic, but it was uneventful.  Bag didn't break.  No one tried to rob me.  The worst thing that happened was that I broke a sweat.

Negotiate with Mabel and 

Although there's a board with posted rates, people changing large sums of money can get more beneficial rates.  As I mentioned earlier, the spot rate at the time was 3.3 GHS to 1  USD.  

To keep you from having to do the math, a 0.01 decrease in the rate will save me about $35. 

I went to Mabel's office and was invited in.  Despite the size of the office, we conduct our business in the office rather than outside due to the sum of money.  

I proposed 3.25, Mabel countered with 3.29 and we settled at 3.27.    

I start to unload my bricks of cash and she starts to unwrap them and send it through the money counter.  A few punches later on the calculator, we shake hands and I walk out with a significantly lighter shopping bag.

Weekend Recap - Part 2

The Sunday after our Right to Dream visit, we spent the day at the Royal Senchi Hotel. The intent originally was to spend the night there Saturday night but there was a wedding there so it was fully booked. No problem. We stayed up the road at a small bed-and-breakfast-type place. Upon arriving at the Senchi we had some breakfast and plopped ourselves into some lounge chairs by the pool. Had some swims and just relaxed for awhile.

Senchi has boat rides, kayaks, canoes, paddleboats, etc for the guests to use but you can take them out even if you aren't staying there for a small fee. So the 5 of us went out for a kayak ride. Dan and I in one, Hannah and Jon in another, and Robin alone. We decided that as a British Olympic Rower, he was probably fully capable of kayaking around a loop all by himself. Turns out we were right as he was doing circles around the rest of us while we got our acts together.

The views were really nice, although it was very hot (not surprisingly). Going against the current proved difficult but once we made the turn and got going downstream we could pretty much stop paddling entirely. Got back to the hotel and had some lunch before heading back to Accra. Here are some photos:

Relaxing by the pool at the Royal Senchi

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Bonus story from this weekend!

Dan and I each have one ridiculous "dream purchase" to obtain while we are living in Africa. Mine is to find an African Santa for my already absurd collection of Christmas decorations. Dan's was to find a shirt for an American sporting event that says the wrong team won. People have always joked about where the losing team's shirts go... I've heard Southeast Asia and Africa, as well as other developing countries. On the way up to Akosombo on Saturday we were waiting in line to pay a toll. There were hawkers in the street... as there usually are... when we noticed a man holding a shirt that said "Super Bowl Champions". Dan and I noticed at the same time. Dan pulls out his phone.

Dan: What number?!
Jen: 46! I don't think the Pats won.
Dan: I don't think they did either.
(pause for slow internet in the middle of nowhere)
Dan: Nope! Giants! Roll down your window!
Hawker: 25 cedis
Jen: I'll give you 20.
Hawker: No. 25.
Jen: We're leaving... right now. I'll give you 20.
Hawker: ok 20.

I hand him a 20, take the shirt, and Dan and I were thrilled for the rest of the trip. Here she is in all her $6.25 glory, NFL hologram sticker and all. Super Bowl 46 Champions, the New England Patriots... except that they're not. Haha.

Weekend Recap - Part 1

This weekend was full of so many stories that I'm going to break it up into a couple of posts. Frankly, it would be quite a long read if I didn't. Two weekends ago, we went to brunch on Sunday at the Movenpick hotel for Jon's birthday. While there, he invited us to a BBQ the following weekend up in Akosombo at the school where he works. We talked about it and agreed that it would be a fun weekend getaway outside of Accra.

Saturday morning, Hannah and Robin (and their driver Asare) picked us up from our place and we were off on the two hour journey to Akosombo. The drive was actually pretty fun as I've not been outside of Accra since we got here three months ago. It's amazing how drastically the scenery changes when you leave the city. Akosombo is on the Volta River and the area is so quiet and peaceful. I kept mentioning to Dan that it looked like something out of the TV show "Lost", which he then kept following up with "well that just means something terrible or weird is about to happen". If you ever watched that series, you'll agree that it's a fair analogy...

To get to the school you have to cross the river, which normally would be done via a very nice looking bridge; however, it's currently closed for some reason. They have put in a temporary ferry system that you can actually drive on. So we drove onto the ferry on one side, parked, the boat takes you across, and you drive off on the other side. Seems so simple but I was fascinated by the idea. When we got to the school, we realized we missed the BBQ. What? It's 1:30pm and it's over?! Oh well, at least show us around since we came all the way up here.

The school is called Right to Dream and I was totally blown away by what they are doing. It's a sort of soccer academy with some pretty impressive sponsors: Tullow Oil, Nike (who provides all the soccer equipment), and they partner with Manchester City in the UK. (Side note: the guy who started this program used to recruit for Man City before moving to Ghana to try to start some sort of soccer school for less fortunate but extremely talented kids.) Basically, they hold recruiting events in different regions of Africa, where the kids come together and recruiters watch them play. Then they pick a few from each group to move on to the next round, and so on. Those kids are brought togehter for more games, and more kids weeded out, until it funnels down to a handful of kids. Those kids are invited to come stay at the school on a trial basis for two or three weeks and at the end the staff picks the kids who will be offered scholarships. Many of these kids are from really poor areas who would otherwise not get any sort of education, so it's really an amazing opportunity for both the children and their families. The school has 5 teams I believe: Under 11, Under 12, Under 15, Under 18 and a Girls Team. Two of the kids, one from Kumasi here in Ghana, and the other from Benin, took us around the campus and showed us the classrooms and dorms, etc.

They have about 6 classrooms and teach English, French, they have a small computer lab, a science lab with microscopes and bunsen burners, and the Barack Obama Library (amusing for a couple of Americans to see living halfway around the world). Some of the children come form Francophone countries in Africa and don't speak a word of English when they arrive. It's amazing what they are able to accomplish in this environment.

The kids were so polite and friendly and just beamed when talking about their school. It was clear that they were aware of the gift they had been given. My favorite part about the school was they had a huge wall map with pictures of Right to Dream alumni and where they are currently playing. Some are at Universities in the US, some are playing on MLS teams in the US, and some are even playing for clubs in Europe. We asked the kids of all the players on the map, whose path would they most like to follow. The kid from Kumasi pointed and we asked "why that guy of all the ones up here?" and he smiled and said "because he plays for the Black Stars". The Black Stars are the national team here in Ghana, the team who played the US in the first match of the 2014 World Cup. Kid has some big goals for himself :)

It was an amazing experience. Seemed like everyone associated with Right to Dream was a big family from the expat teachers, to the locals helping to recruit, to the students. I'm truly glad we got to see it.

The Ferry going across the Volta River

The main school buildings at Right to Dream

Some of the students doing some homework in a common area

The wall map with the photos of players in different areas of the world

(and Hannah and the two boys talking about who they want to follow)

Here comes Jen, the Etsy Elf!

It's that time of year again. The time where I chain myself to my sewing machine and make teddy bears with almost every ounce of free time I have. Ok ok... I made that sound like a miserable task but truth be told, I absolutely love doing it.

For those of you who do not know, last October with much support from Dan, I bit the bullet and opened an Etsy store called HandmadeByTheMrs. I used to have a small variety of items but I had to limit my inventory when I moved abroad for a multitude of reasons...logistics, mostly. The one thing that I had a hard time giving up was my memory bears. Perfect strangers reach out to me to make these bears for them. They have a family member or friend who has passed and they may only have one shirt or article with which to remember them. They put their trust in me to send me this item, pray it doesn't get lost or damaged, and hope that the teddy they receive is not ugly, horribly, disfigured, have an extra arm, etc.

At first, this was something that I put out there in my store just to see how people would react. It was October and I didn't know if this sort of thing would be of interest for the holidays. Answer: heck yes. And boy was it worth it for the warm and fuzzy feelings that came along with the task. The most touching was a woman who asked me to make seven bears out of her grandfather's shirts. I did so happily and was so honored she had chosen me to do this for her family. On Christmas day I received a photo via email of her grandmother hugging a bear made from her late husband's shirt and I just sat there and cried. THAT is why I do this. So as I cut out piece after piece and sew bear after bear, I remind myself that I might just provide a happy moment to a family on Christmas morning... even if I have lost all feeling in my fingers from needle pricks.

I now have orders for between 10 and 15 bears and will likely need to start turning people away soon. Crazy as it's not even Thanksgiving yet. The buyers send their items to my parents house, and my dad's office secretary is kind enough to send them to me here in Ghana (I owe her big time!). I'm working on as many as humanly possible before I head back to the US on December 5. They will all come home with me unstuffed in my carry on. Upon arrival at my parents' house in Tampa, FL, they will be stuffed, finished up,  and shipped out with thank you notes to be delivered before Santa shimmies down the chimney.

They look a little odd unstuffed but here's what I've accomplished just in the last few days. You can go to the shop on Etsy to see some stuffed ones :)

Housewarming Party... finally!

Last Friday, we hosted a housewarming party. Dan mentioned it in passing a month or so ago at the office and then was regularly hounded by people asking when it would be. We finally selected a date and sent out an invite. We requested that people RSVP by the Wednesday before so that we could properly budget the amount of food and beverages we would need.

Dan sent out an invite to the tax team (approx 60 people) and then we forwarded it along to some of our friends as well.

Team, 

My wife and I would like to invite you to our humble abode for a party on Friday 7 November. 

Menu: 
Carnitas (Braised Pork Shoulder) 
Brisket (Barbecued Beef) 
Hamburgers (Beef) 
Grilled Chicken Breast 
Other Snacks (pasta salad, hummus, cheese/crackers)
Beverages include juice, soda, and those of the alcoholic nature 

What to bring: Nothing unless none of the items above appeal to you.   

When: Given my proximity to the office - After close on Friday 7 November.  If you're able to attend, please RSVP by Wednesday 5 November 

Why: Because everyone has been so welcoming and friendly 

People started arriving around 6 or 6:30 that evening and by 7 there was a steady flow of people. Dan was man-ing the grill and it just didn't seem like we could put food out fast enough for the number of people. We ended up doing okay on the budgeting of the food but were way off with drinks. We didn't account for the number of people who wouldn't be drinking alcohol so we didn't have enough sodas and juices for everyone. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

After people finished eating there was some dancing and people cheered each other on. Dan and I busted out our best "white-man dance moves" which got some good laughs from the crowd. Towards the end of the night they called us up to present us with a housewarming gift. The first thing Dan pulled out of the bag was a small bowl, which he promptly set on his head, getting a roar of laughter from the crowd. After the presentation, we thanked everyone for coming and most people left. A few stragglers stayed for another drink or two and then headed out.

25 people RSVP'ed so that's the number we used to buy stuff. The next morning Dan and I estimated there were probably closer to 40 people that showed up. One of his coworkers joked with him that he hasn't been here long enough yet if he was actually relying on the RSVPs to be accurate. Haha.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

More people outside on the balcony and in the kitchen

Housewarming Gifts

"Africa Wear"

Ghanaians don't have "casual Friday", they have "Africa Wear Friday". No dress shirts and ties required, just fun, colorful prints in shirts and cotton dresses. We knew it would only be a matter of time before we'd have to venture out and get some Africa wear. The intention was to wait until we had a church function or wedding to attend, although we did go to one of the stores a couple weekends ago to browse. Nothing jumped off the racks at us so we decided to take more time to peruse the country's inventory.

Well, Dan's Africa wear was kindly provided for him earlier this week. One of his coworkers, Abeku, was incredibly kind and got Dan some Africa wear as a birthday present. I will admit that we were a bit nervous about how crazy the prints would be but they were actually quite tame. So now Dan has a long sleeve and short sleeve Africa print shirt. I'll need to get a dress at some point. They had some nice options at the shop but we actually also know a fashion designer here in Accra. She is the sister of our driver, Richard. She offered to make me something when I am ready.

In the meantime, here's some lovely selfies of Dan in his new garb:

Dan's Birthday Weekend

Sorry I missed you on Sunday. This post will be lengthy enough to make up for it! It was an eventful weekend... literally. Last Thursday was Dan's 29th birthday so the entire week was a whirlwind of get-togethers. Wednesday evening, we met some new friends for sushi at Monsoon. Amanda found me on Facebook as she is also originally from Florida. She and her fiance, Keith (a Canadian who appreciates my enjoyment of hockey), have been in Accra since 2011. We had a nice time chatting about things here that are "different" from back home.

On Thursday, Dan was sung to at work. Their iteration is the normal "happy birthday to you", then "how old are you now?", then "may God bless you now", then "when are we getting lunch?" Quite the long song, and apparently the birthday person is supposed to buy lunch for the group (which has apparently never actually happened). Luckily there were 4 birthdays in the office in the last 10 days or so, so those guys were kind enough to team up and get lunch for the team on Friday. Later Thursday evening, we had a birthday dinner at a French restaurant called La Chaumiere with Hannah and Robin. Complete with wine and steaks and even a local Ghanaian man playing the strangest catalog of tunes on a guitar. He belted some Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Happy Birthday... we even got La Bamba and Guantanamera. Friday was a standard, albeit groggy, work day with a quiet night in since we had been out a few times already that week.

Saturday morning, we headed out to La Palm Beach Resort for the night. We used to go to Vegas for Dan's birthday but given the geographic difficulties, we decided to just do a one night getaway. The hotel was really lovely. Very "island life" even though it was just 20 minutes away from our apartment. The pool was very nice, even had a swim up bar. The hotel has a casino but we have to admit we were disappointed by it. To be fair, we had seen that you could place sports book bets online and collect the winnings at the hotel casino. As a result, we thought the hotel casino had a sports book... even a small one would have been nice. Nope. Nothing. Just lots of slot machines and some table games that weren't open when we went through.

Saturday night, we got some tables down at an outdoor restaurant on the property and invited some friends to come have dinner and/or drinks. I think in total there were 9 of us: me, Dan, Hannah, Robin, Amanda, Keith, Jonia, Veronica and Pierre (the last three are coworkers of Dan's). We had a nice night and the breeze coming off the ocean was a nice ambiance for the evening. Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and headed back to the house. The afternoon/evening was topped off with naps, football watching and pizza delivery (so American!)

Here are a couple photos from the hotel pool and the beach behind the property: