Where. In the World are. Dan & Jen Cavazos

I'm hoping you read that in the same tune as "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego". Because I used to be completely obsessed with that computer game as a kid.

Also, because we are on another adventure. We flew from Accra to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday. We are currently safely in our hotel having a very late dinner. Tomorrow, we plan to do an Ethiopian food tour around the town, which should be really fun. Coffee is a big thing here so we are eager to explore that in the morning.

On Monday, we are flying to Zanzibar where we will be spending the rest of the week on the beach. From what I understand the wifi is not exactly commonplace at our hotel in Zanzibar so please forgive me if I miss my usual Thursday posting. I promise to make up for it in swoon-worthy beach photos as soon as I can. Friday, we will hop across to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and have all day Saturday there before making the trek back home to Accra.

Apologies for the bit of a shot post today but hey, I'm supposed to be on vacation :)

In the meantime, here's a picture of Ethiopian beer with labels in Amharic (the Ethiopian alphabet).

Will send updates when I can!!

International Surfing Day

Last Saturday was International Surfing Day. There was an event going on that included a surf contest, BBQ, and beach clean up. We decided it was something fun to experience and get out of the house on the weekend, so we went to check it out. We got a taxi and asked him to take us to Kokrobite (pronounced: Co-cro-beet-ae) beach for the event.

While Kokrobite is only 35 km outside Accra, you forget how long it takes just to get out of Accra itself. It took us a solid hour and fifteen minutes to get to the event. While driving, we witnessed our first Ghanaian funeral procession. We've been told that funerals here are massive parties (think similar to New Orleans where everyone marches down the street singing to celebrate the life of the deceased). So here comes a parade of folks being led by an ornately decorated casket. The groups behind were singing/chanting while they walked. It was quite a sight.

We finally arrived to find the event was pretty well set up, behind an inn called Big Milly's. Behind Big Milly's is an open area with restaurants, grills, and stalls with people selling local goods which is logically called "Big Milly's Backyard". We sat down and got some lunch while we watched some people surfing out in the water. I had some chicken and rice while Dan had some grilled barracuda which was really nice.

After lunch, we got some frozen margaritas (not bad!) and went out to the beach to watch the semi-finals of the day's competition. We weren't sure what to expect talent-wise from the boys paddling out. They had a slow start but then picked it up later in their heat. I was pretty impressed with the talent considering surfing is not something I would have expected young Ghanaian men to work hard to perfect. Also on the beach were some additional vendors with items for sale and a group of kids playing soccer.

Here's a photo of the beach and a fishing boat that I really liked and asked Dan to take a photo of because I left my phone at home:

I stopped at the new surf shop on the way out to get a shirt. It's not quite open yet but it's the second location for Mr. Bright's Surf Shop and Surf School. Mr. Bright is a young British guy who we briefly met. He seems to be the one who has trained many of these kids to surf.

Our taxi driver was kind enough to wait for us so around 4:45 we walked back to the car to begin the ride home. Thank goodness we left when we did as the sky opened up and dumped rain maybe 15 minutes into our ride back. Much of the road to the beach is dirt and floods easily so we were fortunate to make it through before things got ugly. Traffic was bad on the way home as vehicles were broken down left and right. Even parts of George Walker Bush Highway were flooded. Yes, you read that right. We have a highway named after Dubya. Apparently, we funded it back when he was in office and, yes, it's arguably the best road in Accra.

We got home safely, had some wine and Dan grilled some chicken wings for dinner. Topped off with a movie and called it a good weekend day.

Guest Post - Mentoring

“Boys Mentoring Day - PwC men of all grades are encouraged to be part of this rewarding experience”

That’s what the email read.  I agreed it would probably be a rewarding experience.  But, you know, there’s an obvious difference that may limit my ability to “mentor.” 

“Dan, how come I haven’t gotten your confirmation?” said the Partner.

“Are you sure?  I don’t really know how much I have to offer in terms of experience to the teenagers.  Do they really care what some white guy says?”

“Sure, it’ll be fine”

Turns out that whether or not the kids actually cared what I said, they couldn’t understand me anyway. 

The itinerary was as follows:

·       Approximately 150 “high school” students.

·       3-5PM

·       45 minutes – 60 minutes of a couple of PwC people sharing their experiences with Q&A.

·       60 minutes break-out session in small groups led by a PwC person.  Expect them to ask lots of questions.

Despite the fact that my hair is entering its Clooney years, I don’t think I’m that far removed from high schoolers.  But, now I have to battle the cultural difference as well with a group of 10-12 high schoolers.  I started to feel a little bad for the guys who would get stuck with me.

As per usual, Africa time applied and we didn’t actually start until 3:30PM, so as we were waiting, I was given a few “fun facts” about Ghanaian culture.  Most interesting is that children are generally raised to not look elders/those-who-deserve-your-respect in the eye.  So, if you find yourself speaking to them and they’re looking down, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ignoring you. Good to know.

The speeches went on and a few questions popped up, no big deal.  Time to split up into groups, but at this point we really only have 20 minutes with the kids before they need to leave at 5PM.  When it comes to getting the hell out of an after school program, Africa time doesn’t exist.

Thankfully I get paired with another PwC’er and we start chatting to our group.  I’m constantly reminded that I need to slow down my speaking because I’m hard to understand.  It’s later explained to me that outside of TV, there’s a good chance it was the first time they spoke face to face with an American. 

I didn’t really know what sort of questions to expect, but the few that we did have time to answer were all over the board.  From “How can I succeed in school if my parents cannot afford the books or supplies?” to “What do I need to do to become a journalist?” to “What’s the minimum grade I need to get into the University of Ghana?”  Other groups had questions about girls.  Good to know teenage girls are just as annoying frustrating troublesome awesome in Ghana as they are in the States.

Overall it was a good experience and I’m looking forward to the next time we get to interact with them. 

Attempted Dog Walking

Hannah and Robin have now departed for the US and Canada for their 3 week honeymoon. While Dan and I  cannot have a dog in our unit, I volunteered to go by their place a couple times per week to hang out with Shoebill. They have a bunch of staff that lives on their property who will feed him and walk him and stuff. But Hannah seemed convinced that he would really enjoy seeing me and it appeared to ease her anxiety a bit to know that I would stop by and lounge with him.

Considering I work from home, their home or my home doesn't really make any difference and frankly, I could probably use Shoe's company as much as he could use mine. I started thinking about whether we would go for walks and things which reminded me of a funny story from last week...

Annabel and Peter were back in the UK getting things prepared for their move back at the end of the month. They have two dogs here in Ghana. I know nothing about dog breeds so I'm not going to pretend like I know what kind of dogs they are. Safi is a short haired big, lean dog (ridgeback-looking), very well behaved but very strong on a leash. Chewy, named for Chewbacca, is a small, white, fluffy dog with a heck of a personality. It is a well-known fact that Chewy is racist. He only bites black people, making taking him for a walk both a challenge and possibly life-risking. You are probably thinking that's an over exaggeration but one day Hannah and Annabel took the dogs for a walk in the botanical gardens. Chewy bit a man and he pulled out a machete and said he would kill the dog. Soooooo as you can see, hanging out with Chewy is risky.

While Annabel and Peter were away, Hannah was trying to get the dogs out every few days to get some fresh air. She realized quickly that, along with Shoebill, this was not a one person job. Last Thursday, I hesitantly offered to go with her. To be fair my hesitance was based on Hannah's terrible sell of the idea. The gist of which was "Hey I would like to walk these dogs, but I need help. It's probably going to be hot and dirty and sweaty and really quite shit. Do you fancy coming along?" Not much of a saleswoman, that Hannah.

Alas, off the five of us went. We crossed one big road but, luckily, one side of it is under construction so there was really only one heavily traveled side to worry about. Once across, we walked to a golf course. Who knew there was a golf course within walking distance? Honestly, I have no idea where the car park or the clubhouse is for this golf course as we just kind of waltzed onto it. We went back to the driving range and let the three crazies run around a bit. It was actually a fairly nice day. It's been so rainy lately that it has cooled the temperature substantially.

We started the walk home and Chewy was done for. Just kept laying down in the shade panting. So now I have Shoe and Safi while Hannah is carrying Chewy. We cross back over the busy street and then all three of them have crashed. They all found a shady spot by the gutter and have parked it. Mind we are now spitting distance to Hannah's compound so we are trying to explain to them how close they are to air conditioned comfort. We finally got home and cooled off a bit, but I have to say, walking a dog in the heat of Ghana is not a relaxing experience. Walking three is pure insanity!

Whoops!

Don't freak out. We're perfectly fine. I just totally forgot to write a post for yesterday. So sorry.

On Thursday, Hannah and I went out to lunch and visited the craft store. Note that is singular, as it is the only craft store we are aware of. Lately, I've had the overwhelming urge to make something. This feeling is not uncommon and those who know me well can certainly verify that. Unfortunately, not being able to make a quick trip to Jo-Ann's, Michaels, or wherever is a limiting factor. This also makes my evening Pinterest browsing significantly less fruitful since I come up with endless things I want to make and no way of actually doing so.

Anyway, we roamed the craft store and I found a project, then we had lunch and headed back toward home. Thursday evening, five of Dan's coworkers came over for a quasi-happy hour at our place. Well four coworkers and a husband haha. It was pretty impromptu as evidenced by our lack of food and non-alcoholic beverages (we really only drink water and club soda. We aren't juice or soft drink people). The most hilarious part was that the generator stopped working about 10 minutes before they arrived. So we sat in darkness with a couple candles/flashlights and drank wine and ate popcorn.... and oddly had a great time. Eventually, the generator got fixed and we sent Albert, Dan and Gabby to go pick up some pizzas. Never again. These three are a very dangerous combination. It took them almost an hour to pick up four pizzas and they all walked in carrying 32oz beers. Mmmm Hmmm. :)

Friday was a normal work day then we met Joe and Miriam for sushi that evening. Always nice to hang out with them. It was an early night as we were all quite tired and they had gone through a tumultuous week where their car was badly damaged in an accident. Luckily, they weren't in the car but their driver got into a collision with a motorbike... and somehow the motorbike won based on the photos.

Saturday was a lot of crafting on my part. And a lot of video games on Dan's. That evening we went to Hannah and Robin's for dinner and some games. It was a nice low key night. They are leaving for their honeymoon/vacation to Montreal and a tour de US on Wednesday of this week so we enjoyed hanging out with them before they go. Maybe we will see them once more before they depart.

Sunday was very rainy and, by default, quite lazy. More painting, video games, movies etc. Dan made a delicious tuna teriyaki dinner with green beans and we just enjoyed a day of nowhere to be.

Should be a quiet week around here. My washing machine went kaput on Friday morning so here's to hoping that is quickly resolved. Otherwise, just another work week!

An Evening at the Theatre

Abeku had been mentioning to Dan that he wanted to take us to the theatre. Dan relayed this to me with an undertone that he wasn't sure if Abeku was kidding or not. Alas, on Thursday night when we were at Annabel and Peter's going away potluck, Abeku called arranging plans for Saturday's 4pm show. We truly had zero expectations but Abeku picked us up and off we went. We arrived at the theatre, got tickets, and went in. The tickets have no seating assignments but there were 7 of us in total. They said they only had singles left in the first level so we went up one tier and sat in the first row.

Entrance to the National Theatre

The show was called "Forbidden" and it had a decent plot with quite a bit of comic relief. We laughed pretty hard but we're very sure that we missed many of the jokes based on the audience's outburst and Dan and I's blank stares at each other. The songs included were good as well with a mix between church songs, local music, and songs we knew (Jar of Hearts, Can you feel the love tonight and an adaptation to the words of Evita - Don't cry for me Argentina to name a few).

The plot line revolved around a man who has a lot of vices, but meets a really straight edged woman at church and asks her to marry him. He has every intention of saddling her up at home while he continues his partying, womanizing lifestyle considering this a win-win for all involved. All of his family tries to talk her out of marrying him but she refuses to listen. On their wedding night, she reveals to him that she's as wild as he is due to a series of challenges that have shaped who she is. He realizes he really does love her now that he knows her, and we all live happily ever after.

I wish I had taken a photo of the stage but there were multiple signs requesting that you don't photograph the performance. That, of course, didn't stop many Ghanaians but with the security guard two people down from me, I figured not to chance it. The most interesting part to me was that the director chose to use human props, so the sofas, chairs, tables, flower pots, etc were all people. Whenever the scene changed, the actors would exit the stage, the music would change into some upbeat thing with fancy dance/strobe lights and the props would stand and dance. They would then exit and the backdrop would change. During the backdrop change, there were tv projecters on the walls that played advertisements or birthday announcements for people in the audience. Once the scene had been changed, more upbeat dance music a la Beat It, Pink Panther, Chariots of Fire, etc. while the human props re-entered the stage and got in position for the next scene.

Show Program

It was quite well put together with a choir and an orchestra, and the theatre was pretty nice. Apparently, the director puts on one play per quarter and Abeku often attends. We really enjoyed it so we might go to the next one in a few months.

NAWA Bazaar

Last Saturday, Hannah and I ventured to the NAWA Bazaar. NAWA is the North American Women's Association, which is a club in Ghana. The Bazaar was held at the New Horizon Special School which is walking distance from our houses. I didn't think much of the term "Special School" since many of the International schools here have weird names that imply they are better than the local school. I was pleased to see when we got there that it's actually a school for mentally handicapped children. They were walking around with some of their teachers enjoying the day and the offerings that had been brought by local craftsmen.

There were easily two dozen booths with all different crafts from clothing to art to art prints, drums, stationery, and more. Many of them had business cards so we did one lap checking out what was available and then went back afterwards for the items we really wanted. I found a handwoven trivet that I liked that was only 10 cedis. We only have one and it's pretty small so on nights when we have two warm dishes or one big pan, the existing one was not big enough. I figured for $2.50, it was worth bringing home.

Pop Quiz: When we moved here back in August there were two things we told family and friends that we were looking to find/purchase while living in Africa. The first was an incorrect sports championship shirt which we found already. What was the second?

Answer: a black Santa Claus. I was determined to find one ever since we came to Accra on our look-see visit back in January 2014. The hotel we were staying in still had all their Christmas decorations up and I commented that all their Santas were white. I thought that was interesting considering it probably makes for a difficult explanation to children. I understand that Santa is a Western European tradition thus the color of his skin makes geographical sense. But, given that Father Christmas is a childhood tradition, I imagined that kids here would have a hard time understanding why Santa looked different than they do, then again maybe they don't care because he brings presents. Regardless, being as Christmas-obsessed as I am, I was determined to find one.

I did find one a few months back at the Arts Market in Accra but the gentleman was unwilling to quote me a fair price. He said his best price was 200 cedis, which was about $60 at the time. Negotiating was getting nowhere and I envisioned the look on my husband's face and thought no, better not. Good thing I did because the NAWA Bazaar came through for me! So I got this little guy (maybe a foot tall) for 30 cedis, or $7.50.

All in all it was a successful day of browsing crafts and supporting a great cause!

Safari Part 2 - Sabi Sands and Elephants

On the third day of our South African safari we were driven to a private reserve that borders Kruger called Sabi Sands. Within Sabi are 12-15 private lodges. We stayed at one called Inyati (which is a twist on Nyati, the local word for buffalo). We joined the afternoon game drive and quickly learned that this "private" thing does make quite a difference.

Our driver, George, was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 1999 and clearly knows a thing or two. He not only knew where to find particular animals, but he would drive off the road and get very close to the animals. At first, this was a little unnerving as I was worried they would get scared and charge the vehicle but they could not have cared less about us being there. He would drive around to get a different angle for better photo opportunities... this clearly was not his first rodeo. We saw many of the same animals we had seen in Kruger but much closer. Some walked so close to the car that I probably could have pet them if I wasn't concerned with losing a hand.

A rhino who walked over to wish my dad a Happy Birthday

The elephant also sent birthday wishes 

(that's my dad's hand/iPad on the right for perspective)

A leopard on our last morning drive

Momma and baby cheetah. Apparently the mom had lost a cub

a few days earlier in this area and came back to see if it was still alive.

After we left Sabi Sands, we spent one night at a place called Oliver's in White River, not far from the airport where we would depart the following day. Oliver's reminded Dan and I of a cottage in Napa. We had one last activity on the agenda, a sunset meeting with some elephants. We learned a lot: how much they eat, how they cool off, and the saddest fact, most elephants starve to death. They get 6 sets of teeth throughout life and when the last set breaks down and falls out they cannot eat enough to survive, and they die. This particular sanctuary had 6 elephants that we met, and rode for a quick stroll through the park.

Left: My parents on Zizi, Right: Dan and I with Tembo (the biggest one)

That night, the four of us had a really nice dinner in the wine cellar at Oliver's. It was the perfect cherry on top to our well-assembled itinerary (huge thanks to Siyabona Tour company for arranging our entire safari experience). 

We woke up the following morning and started our journeys back home. It was a wonderful trip that we highly recommend. We appreciated have two days in Kruger and then two up close and personal in the private reserve. Three to four days is probably the ideal amount of time. Towards the end of the four days we started to lose appreciation for the experience. You find yourself saying "oh, a rhino" with much less enthusiasm than you did on day 1. We took a ton of photos, had some great meals, and enjoyed some quality family time.

Now to finish catching up on the Tembo-sized mound of laundry we brought home with us. Until next vacation...