Sushi, Live Music and New Friends

A few weeks ago, I received a message from a girl on Internations. She is from San Francisco, had recently arrived in Accra and was trying to meet people. I can easily recall that experience, and how few people bothered to respond to my outreach, so I replied and asked if she wanted to go to dinner with us one night. We spent much of last weeked together and we get along well. She is here for three months as part of a project with a foundation that works with improving the education provided in local/public schools.

Thursday afternoon she and I met up and worked from a cafe nearby. It's always nice to spend a day or two each week away from the apartment even if it's just an hour of errands or something more organized. Friday morning, I went to a cafe near Dan's office and worked and had a coffee. Dan came over and we had lunch together and then went to the supermarket downstairs to get some stuff for the weekend. It's an exciting life we live... haha.

Friday evening was intended to be a laid back evening. We went out for sushi at Monsoon and then went to Bread and Wine for a glass of wine. There was a band called Calabash that we had heard was good so we figured we would check out a bit of live music on our Friday night. The restaurant has a pool so they set up a bunch of tables and an outdoor bar with stools so there were people everywhere. What we didn't expect was the number of expats. Bread and Wine is probably one of the most expensive restaurants in Accra (if not the most expensive) so I suppose it makes sense. But one of the main reasons is that the Calabash band consists of three Americans who work for USAID, so much of the crowd was their friends and colleagues. Based on my use of "intended" at the beginning of this paragraph, you can probably assume we were not successful with our quiet laid back evening.

We chatted with a South African guy who was in town just for the day. He works on safety on oil rigs so is familiar with many of the clients that Dan does tax consulting for. The best part was that the guy had been to the Chevron campus in San Ramon so he and Dan had a good time commenting on the safety procedures there and just the campus in general (how not "oil conglomerate" it looks). There were two girls at the bar and I heard one of them had an American accent so we started chatting. Her name is Celia and it turns out she works for USAID and her husband is a diplomat at the US embassy. They are our age and just got here a couple of months ago after 2+ years in Dubai. They live close by and obviously work close by as well given our proximity to the embassy so we exchanged information and plan to get lunch later next week. She told her husband about us when she got home and he was thrilled to have some people to watch NFL games with and is excited to meet us.

The other girl she was with is Ylenia from Italy. Her husband also works as a diplomat (for Italy) so she and Celia had met at some diplomat event and hit it off. Both girls were really nice and, being new to Accra, seemed open to new friends. Dan chatted with them a bit which was really funny because there was a group of guys that kept trying to hit on the girls and try to cut Dan off. Stuff that like always strikes me as amusing. The first question anyone asks here is "what are you doing in Accra?" and their answer, much like mine, is "I'm here with my husband's work". Read as: not single. Next thing we knew it was after midnight so we decided to head home. Funny how a little wine and live music can be the perfect environment for new friend discoveries.

Saturday afternoon we went to a Sports Bar to watch soccer with Joe, then came home for a nap and finished it off with some preseason football, dinner and a movie. Next week is a busy one with fantasy drafts and Hannah's birthday party so I suspect Sunday will be a rest day gearing up for the beginning of September! Unleash the scarecrows and fall decor!

Friend-iversary

This week has been pretty uneventful. Sunday afternoon and evening was lazy around the house. After being out and about with friends on Thursday and Friday and having a housefull on Saturday, I think Sunday was much needed. We watched some soccer and some preseason NFL games and lounged around.

Seems like things have picked up a bit at Dan's office. He worked a little later than usual on Monday and Tuesday so hopefully there's some exciting projects that he's getting to work on. Monday we just ordered take out and watched a TV show. Tuesday evening we went out for dinner with Hannah and Robin to celebrate the one year anniversary of our first meeting. Last year we went to El Paso Mexican restaurant which no longer exists, so this year we opted for burgers and beers.

We had a nice evening with our friends and it was nice to come full circle on one year in this country. Wednesday night was another quiet night at home with a homecooked meal and a movie. A little fantasy football research in preparation for two drafts next week. Standard family protocol for this time of year.

Not much else to report. It's kind of nice to not have some crazy story to tell and just have a normal life routine for the next few weeks before we head to the US in September.

Year One in the Books

Hard to believe that on this day one year ago, Dan and I boarded a plane to Accra, leaving our US life behind for awhile. We tried to check our expectations with our bags and be as openminded about this two year experience as possible. In honor of our halfway point on this adventure, I thought I'd do MY recap of the year.

I would say the first 60 to 90 days was a bumpy landing for me. Getting used to day to day life here and adjusting to the idea that this is home for the next two years definitely took some time. Learning where you are going without street names or knowledgeable drivers was a challenge, along with food expectations/grocery shopping, unforeseen circumstances with Dan's office, etc. We found an apartment that we liked and picked out some items to furnish it which made it start to feel like home here.

Then came the waiting game for our air and sea freight to arrive. It's true that when you live without your stuff for 1-3 months, you realize how little of it you actually "need". That said, you do feel more complete when you get it back because it's the stuff that feels like home. Football season and trash talk with friends back in the US made the transition a bit easier, although I admit it was difficult to adjust to working from home full time and not having as much interaction with people as I used to. I thought I had done a pretty good job of adjusting, but apparently hadn't portrayed those feelings outwardly enough. Dan actually thought I wanted to ditch him and this experience and go home... a thought that never once crossed my mind. I suppose it just took me a bit longer to get comfortable here when I didn't really have a routine that required I change out of yoga pants more than once every two days. I've actually grown a fondness for needing to physically go pay for internet and power credit as it gives me a reason to get out and about a bit...even if I do still go in yoga pants. Hey, there are some perks to working from home! Lululemon, all day; every day.

Then we came back from Christmas to have three months in Mozambique. I still maintain that the experience there was worth having. The food was good, the wine was better, and the infrastructure was solid. But living in a hotel certainly took it's toll and we didn't really have any friends. The multiple hotel issues took its toll but we honed the ability to laugh things off. It says something for our marriage that we literally spent every moment that Dan wasn't at the office together. We didn't run out of dinner conversation or want to punch each other in the face (well I shouldn't speak for Dan haha), so I consider that a victory. Hotel-living was not my favorite and I don't think I'll be quick to sign up for it again for that length of time.

Then we were back in Accra and these last 5 months have FLOWN by. Lots of travel, visiting with our parents and just getting back into the swing of everyday life here... it's been really nice. Neither of us can believe it's already been a year which I suppose is a good problem. Football is on the horizon again and, with that, comes the holidays with family and friends. I'm certain the remainder of the year will continue to be a blur and, before we know it, it will be 2016.

I think we would both agree that this experience has been more rewarding than we could have imagined. Seeing other parts of the world and making friends with people who are going through the same challenges has certainly made it an enjoyable year. We wrapped up our first year with friends, going out on Thursday and Friday nights and having people over for dinner last night. All in all, we are grateful for everything that has gone into this, and how we have grown both individually and together over the last year.

Thank you for putting up with my blog posts for a year now and coming along for this roller coaster of life abroad. On to Year 2!

Mummies, King Tut and Camels - Cairo Part 2

After our papyrus museum and pyramids visit, we probably could have just tapped out and slept the rest of the day but what fun would that have been?! So off we went to the Cairo Museum aka the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. There are no cameras allowed in the museum so I apologize that the photos included in this post are not my own but they do accurately describe the greatness of this museum. As we were walking through the many many aisles of sarcophagi and mummy rooms, Dan proclaimed the place was "an embarrassment of riches" and he was so right. They have so much history that there are just wooden crates stacked in the corner because John Doe wasn't important enough to have his tomb on display for the world to see.

I patiently walked throughout the museum but I knew what I was there for: the mummy room and King Tut. There are two royal mummies rooms and they are as creepy and fascinating as you'd expect. I won't post any photos as they are legitimately eerie but search Museum of Cairo mummy room if you are interested. Ramses II was in there which was pretty cool to see even if he was a bit raisin-like. We walked through room after room of incredible statues and tombs and stone carvings that are just massive. Here's a picture of the main hall so you can get an idea of what I mean:

 (photo credit: here)

Tucked away in the back of the museum's second floor is the jackpot: a part of the burial chamber of Tut's tomb and a whole room dedicated to stuff that belonged to him, including two of his sarcophagi and the imfamous gold headdress/mask. It was breathtaking to stand in a room with these artifacts that graced the pages of our history books throughout school.

(photo credit: here)

(photo credit: here)

When we left the museum we were sitting outside and Dan commented that he doesn't think he'll ever be able to go to an Egypt exhibit again because there's zero chance it can compare to this museum. We joked that we will not be chaperoning if/when our children have the obligatory Egypt study unit that involved a museum field trip.

We got back to the pyramids/our home base for the day and had some lunch at a nearby restaurant. We then rested a bit before our sunset camel ride. The compound which contains the pyramids closes at 4pm, which we suspect is an effort to limit vandalism or any fishy happenings in the dark. As a result, we couldn't enter the compound on our camels so we went around back out to the Sahara Desert and took some panoramic photos with the pyramids from a distance. Dan drove his camel and my camel followed along behind with our guide riding alongside on a horse. Dan joked with the guy asking if Morocco was to the left. The guide said yeah, about 3 years to the left. Everyone loves a little desert camel humor.

When we arrived, our guide had us try every pose under the sun while he snapped photo after photo. Clearly not his first rodeo. 

 After our camel photo shoot, we headed back to the Inn for the final time. We went up on the roof to watch the evening's Sound and Light show. They light up the pyramids with colored flood lights and tell a story over loudspeakers as though the Sphinx is recounting Egyptian history and the creation of the pyramids. It was cool to see but a little underwhelming. When they called it a light show we were expecting some Vegas New Years Extravaganza, not colored flood lights. But hey, if this is our only complaint, I'd say we did pretty darn well.

After the show, we got a 2 hour nap in and then headed back to the airport for a bite to eat, a beer, and boarded our flights back to Accra. That Monday was a long day but it was totally worth being a little behind on sleep for a few days to have seen one of the Original 7 Wonders of the World.

Walking like an Egyptian - Cairo Part 1

After a few days in the modern architecture of Dubai, it was time to head home. When we booked our  flights we intentionally gave ourselves a 20 hour layover in Cairo. This meant two very early morning flights and a definite lack of sleep but I think we would both say it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. I could probably write four blog posts on just the 17 hours or so that we spent in this historic hotbed (literally)... but we will see how well I can condense.

We arrived and purchased our visa on arrival. We booked a room at a hotel very near the pyramids for $60 and I exchanged emails with the owner before the trip letting him know what we wanted to do and coordinating the timing. A driver was waiting for us at the airport and told us it would be about an hour to the Pyramid View Inn.

Along the way, we marveled at how developed the city is, but also the history contained within it. It's an interesting juxtaposition both when compared to Dubai but also just contrasting some new areas of the city with the old mosques or buildings lining the Nile that have clearly been there for centuries. Many buildings are unfinished with rebar exposed on the top floor. We were told this is because the government does not collect property taxes until a building is finished so people intentionally don't finish them. There are families living in them but they purposely didn't build the final/top floor to avoid paying taxes. In addition to our Tour de Cairo by car, we discussed what we wanted to see and do while we were there. Our driver mentioned that there was one thing that he highly recommended that we hadn't included. He didn't elaborate and eventually pulled up outside this small shop and turned off the engine. Ok, I guess we're getting out here.

It was the Egyptian Papyrus Museum. We walked in and there was a very knowledgable gentleman who spoke very quickly and gave us the rundown on how papyrus paper is made. Here's the Cliffs Notes: papyrus is a plant with a long stem that grows along the Nile. They cut a stalk off of the stem and peel off the outer layer exposing the inside of the stem. They them cut this inside into strips and use a rolling pin to flatten them out into long skinny strips. Once soaked in water, the sugars in the plant are ready to adhere the pieces to each other. They are aligned parallel vertically and then another layer is done horizontally, so essentially the front has vertical stripes and the back horizontal. I was surprised to learn that it is not woven like a basket. It is then put into a press to squeeze out the excess water and stick everything together with the plant's natural sugars. He explained that there are many knockoffs around Cairo made from banana stems. He warned us that they are very cheap but do not last because while banana is a decent alternative texture-wise, there is too much sugar in the banana so over time the paper eats away at itself.

We ended up buying two pieces of artwork from the museum, the perfect souvenirs from our express visit to Egypt:

After the museum, we were taken to the Inn where we dropped off our stuff, changed clothes and had a quick bite to eat before heading out to the pyramids. The entrance fee for the pyramids compound is a whopping $11, but you get hounded by people trying to sell you water, horse-drawn carriage rides, camel rides, etc etc. We walked in and past the Sphinx, then turned right and went around the Pyramid of Khufu (aka The Great Pyramid of Giza), then continued past the backside of the Pyramid of Khafre and ended in front of the smallest, the Pyramid of Menkaure. It's about 12km between all three pyramids so not exactly a short walk when it's 110+ degrees outside. By this point, I was overheated and, according to Dan, sporting quite the attractive sunburnt nose. So we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest.

Here are some photos from our exploration up close and personal with the pyramids:

 Sphinx and Khafre/Up close with Sphinx's busted face (Thanks Napoleon)

Pyramid of Khafre/Dan with Pyramid of Khufu

 For sake of showing how big the rocks are

 Us in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka Khufu), and up close with the base of the same pyramid

I'll stop here and save the remainder for the next post! :)

The Metropolis of Dubai

When Dan mentioned he had a training in Dubai, I was instantly excited to tag along. All the photos and opinions set the expectation that Dubai is Vegas-like. In a sense, it is... with the impressive architecture and desert heat. However, it's not a strip of hotels with casinos and large quantities of alcohol. Dubai is massively spread out and incredibly well-planned. Every road has 4-6 lanes in each direction, showing that when the city was expanded in the 90s with oil money, there was a lot of forethought into the growth prospects. No one was wanting to need to widen a road or be chastised for not properly anticipate the influx of people. Alcohol is only served in hotels so, if a restaurant is outside a hotel, in a mall for example, it cannot serve alcohol. The city is religious but also recognizes that a large percentage of its population is expats so it's more loose in its interpretation of the religious expectations.

I have to admit I was completely blown away with the architecture and how much area the city encompasses. I arrived around 4pm on Thursday and did some work while Dan was finishing his training courses for the day. We were trying to come up with ideas for the night and Dan suggested going to the mall. I love a good mall and Dubai certainly has its share. I feel certain I saw at least 6 while we were there but the destination was the Dubai Mall, currently the largest mall in the world (in square footage). We roamed around and enjoyed the impressive array of stores and had a bite to eat. We chuckled at all the western restaurants and stores we encountered along the way, the most amusing being: Ponderosa steakhouse, Applebee's, Chuck E Cheese, Red Lobster and multiple Chili's locations (none of which can serve their signature margaritas because, alas, they are not in a hotel).

On our way out, we went to watch the fountain show which is modeled after the Bellagio in Vegas. It is choreographed to music and is located directly in front of Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world. We marveled at the sheer size and unique architecture of the structure. Truly impressive.

On Friday, Dan had classes until 2pm so I worked most of the day from the room and had lunch on my own in the hotel. We then went on an expedition to the gold souk to see what that was about. Many shops were closed since Friday is the religious day in that region (Friday and Saturday are weekend days). A month ago, we made a dinner reservation at one of the iconic hotels on the Gulf, which is modeled after a sailboat. We got dressed up and headed over to the beach to take a photo or two with the hotel, Burj Al Arab, in the background. 

We entered the hotel for our dinner at Al Mahara, a seafood restaurant, known for their aquarium. The restaurant was absolutely beautiful. Dan and I found it amusing that there was a cluster of fish that was huddled around a table where a couple was eating. We had some amusing conversation discussing what the fish must be thinking as the patrons consume their friends in front of them. We had some nice wine, salmon two ways and king crab/foie gras ravioli as our starters, then the sea bass and scallops for mains. 

After our fancy schmancy dinner, we decided on a more casual place for the rest of our night. We found an Irish pub that had a great live band and served Budweiser on tap. Sold! When you live abroad, you find yourself overly excited about the rarely found American brews. We met another couple who lives in Dubai and chatted with them over beers and tunes until the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday, we slept in and went to another area for lunch. This is when we learned how large Dubai really is. It took easily 30-40 minutes to get there from our hotel. We had a nice lunch with a pretty view of the Marina and then headed back to the hotel for a rest. We were supposed to have dinner in the Marina area that night but given the lengthy drive, we decided to stick closer to home and ate at the hotel instead. We had some Italian food and tried to get a few hours of sleep before going to the airport for our 5am flight.

All in all, Dubai was a great time and we are so grateful we got to spend some time there. It is truly impressive to see all of the manmade creations.

Home Alone: Left in Ghana

What?! You don't think Hollywood would pick up the bajillionth sequel in the Home Alone series with a catchy title like that? Sigh. You're probably right.

With Dan and Austin both departing last weekend, I've had a pretty quiet (read as: lame) week alone in the apartment. Monday was pretty uneventful with work and then I ordered some delivery for dinner since I didn't really see the point in grocery shopping. Tuesday was a bit better as we had a post-work "girls night" dinner. It was me, Hannah and Alex along with some wine and good food. We had a good time and it was nice to hang out with some women after having a house of men for most of July.

Wednesday was a busy one between work and trying to get some things wrapped up before my flight. Yes, I said flight. There's another Cavazos adventure afoot. Dan's work training is in Dubai. After many hours on Pinterest hunting down cool things to do/places to eat, shop, etc in Dubai, I decided it was too fun of a place for me to miss out on. Ok, that's a lie, the firm actually asked if I wanted to go.

We will pause here because I'm certain you need to clean up the coffee/water/wine you just spat out reading that sentence. Yes, the firm actually inquired about me as a human being who might want to tag along on this trip. Trust me, I was as pleasantly shocked as you.

Got that mess cleaned up? Good, we'll carry on now. So I fly out Wednesday evening, meaning that when you are reading this, I will likely be somewhere between Cairo and Dubai. We have Thursday night, all day Friday and all day Saturday in Dubai. A late night/early morning flight out of Dubai to Cairo where we have a 20 hour layover on Sunday. We always wanted a long layover in Cairo and this just happened to work out. 

So a few hours of museums, pyramids, camels, etc and then we will trot back to the airport for the long flight home to Accra. We're supposed to land Monday morning early so will probably drop Dan off at work on the way home from the airport. Suffice to say it should be an eventful few days with loads of picture-taking, eating and shopping.

As I will likely be picking desert sand out of ears and/or dodging camel spit on Sunday, there will be no blog post. You'll have to hold out until next Thursday to see some of the photos. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Austin's Last Stand

The last few days have been a whirlwind of get togethers with friends. Thursday night we went out for drinks with Dan's coworkers. One of the expats, Jonia, is leaving Ghana. She will go back to her home in Tanzania for a month or so and is then starting a new contract in Dubai. There were about 30-40 of us at a hotel restaurant that evening and it was a really fun time. So fun in fact, that I think most of us were not quite feeling 100% on Friday.

Friday was a normal work day and then Austin and I met up with Dan after work at Coco Lounge for dinner. It's a fairly new place but really close to Dan's office. The restaurant is decorated really well, the food is good and the service is top notch (something you rarely find in this country). Then we came home and watched a movie.

Yesterday was a somewhat lazy morning. Dan lounged by the pool for a bit and Austin and I went into Osu to pick up some last minute Ghana Gifts and hit the grocery store. The three of us watched a movie until Dan headed off to the airport. He is in Dubai for the week for a work training. The remaining two of us went out to dinner at our favorite place, Bistro 22, and marveled at how good the food always is. I had the standard beef mango salad (which even the server replied to my order with "as usual madame"... apparently I'm becoming predictable). Austin had rosemary chicken, which after he gave me a bite, made me wonder if I've been ordering incorrectly all this time. We split an apple crumble for dessert that was also pretty darn delicious.

After dinner, we met up with the British clan: Hannah, Robin and another couple Sam and Alex (Sam is the guy haha). We met them very briefly once before but this was the first time we had spent any length of time with them. They are really fun and nice and a good addition to our group. The six of us had some drinks at Republic. The inside of the bar is quite small but there are tables and chairs outside and the people just kind of flow out into the street. Apparently, it's pretty normal as no one seemed concerned and the cars expected only one lane, slowly navigating through the Saturday night crowd.

After drinks with our friends, we hitched a ride home with Hannah and Robin (courtesy of Asare), and then I promptly crashed. Today will likely be a day of packing and lounging. We will have an early dinner at home before I take Austin to the airport... and then I will be on my own for a few days. I suspect it will be a bit weird going back to being home alone all day after having Austin around the last few weeks. Suppose I'll just go back to talking to myself :)