San Francisco - Part 2

We are now safely back in Ghana after our most recent adventures. I'll likely take the next few blog posts to share all the fun we had for the almost two weeks we were away.

Dan arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday and we went out for drinks with Colin (aka Whiteman) and his girlfriend, Karin. It was good to catch up with them since they were not going to be at the wedding the next weekend. Dan hit the hay pretty early on since he was on his first day and the jet lag was in full force.

On Thursday, we both went to our respective offices and worked the better part of the day. It was really great seeing everyone. Dan and I had a chuckle about all the double-take's you get in the office after being away for so long. The familiarity of walking to the office and hearing all the city sounds was a refreshing reminder. That evening we met up with Pete, Sean and Patrick for dinner and some drinks. Casey and Fiona had arrived and everyone was meeting at the bar where Casey and Fi had their first date. We had a good time and met some of Fi's family and friends from Taiwan.

Friday morning, we got up and went to Golden Boy to buy a sheet of some of the best pizza ever. We planned to bring it up to Guerneville for "late night eats" after wedding festivities. We drove up but we knew we couldn't check in to the hotel until 4pm so we made some stops to kill some time. We went to Ridge Winery and did a wine tasting and got some Mexican food in downtown Healdsburg with Shy and Jenna. The drive out to Guerneville required us to get off the freeway at the same exit as Vintners Inn, where Dan and I got married a little over two years ago. So Dan threw me a bone and stopped at the venue where we asked one of the groundskeepers to take a photo of us under the same pavilion where we exchanged our vows.

The wedding took place behind a brewery on a large grassy area on a river. There was a quick rehearsal for the wedding at the brewery on Friday afternoon and then a big party at a house that Casey's family had rented. They made a bunch of pasta and salad and had pizzas delivered and invited all the guests who were already in the area to come over for dinner. It was a really great night of being reunited with our friends and catching up with everyone. Certainly was convenient to have everyone all in one place.

Saturday morning, Jenna and I were requested to assist with setting up the event and decorating. So we tableclothed, and centerpieced, and decorated to the best of our ability given the limited instruction we were provided. Fiona seemed pleased with how it turned out which is really all that matters. Some stressful moments and rushing around filled out the afternoon before getting ready for the ceremony. The wedding itself was short and sweet and the party that followed was long and enjoyable. They had some tasty barbecue catered and hired a bartender to make drinks. A musician sang good tunes with a guitar off to the side and it was just a really nice time.

After the reception, there was an after party back at the house that Casey's family rented. Dan brought the remaining keg up to the house and people slowly meandered over. Stas set up all his DJ stuff in the corner and a dance party commenced.

The after after party was back at the brewery and once it closed the after after after party was at a house that some of the guests were staying in. I can't tell you anything about that as I was long asleep by then.

Sunday we got up a little rough and went to Shy and Jenna's house to watch some football. Around 5pm we drove back to the city to drop off our rental car and go to the airport for our long flight to Munich and Oktoberfest...

Back in the City by the Bay

My apologies for missing the blog post on Sunday. Between travel and week 1 of the NFL season, there was just too much excitement. Expressing my thoughts via my mediocre writing abilities fell by the wayside. I arrived in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon after approximately 24 hours of travel (including check-in in Ghana, layover and delay in Frankfurt and clearing immigration/customs upon arrival in the good ol' US of A).

Admittedly, my travel experience started off pretty darn well when I was informed that another person had my same seat on the flight from Accra to Frankfurt. I flagged down the flight attendant, who walked off with both boarding passes, returned and told me that my new seat was 1G. You mean you just gave me a lay flat seat for an overnight flight? For really no reason? I might love you. Suffice to say, my flight to Frankfurt was quite enjoyable... with the exception of the minor heart attack I had when they came on the intercom to ask if there were any doctors on board as they had a medical emergency. My first thought was "I sure hope that person is ok", followed closely with "please don't land anywhere but Frankfurt".

Waiting at the gate in Frankfurt, they inform us that we will be at least a half hour delayed because of catering. A few of us joked that we really didn't need the sandwich/spaghetti and we'd rather just get the show on the road. Once we finally did board, an hour late, the pilot apologized all over himself and told us that they had a mechanical issue with the first plane. They switched out the aircraft but the previous plane had already been fully catered for the flight. So they had to drive, pick up all the food, and move it to the new plane. Normally I wouldn't have any sympathy for this; however, it was an A380 (the full double decker plane) which carries approximately 500 passengers, over 11 hours... it was a lot of food and beverage to relocate.

I arrived safely in San Francisco and met my mom in the International terminal (she flew in from Tampa and scooted over to wait for me to clear immigration). We had a nice few days of shopping and football watching and eating at all our favorite places. She left on Tuesday morning and I had one night on my own before Dan arrived on Wednesday afternoon. At the time of drafting this post, I suspect he's somewhere over Northern Canada as the flight from Frankfurt takes a polar route. We will have to see how he does with the jet lag and whether or not he chooses to nap. I can safely say regardless of the jet lag severity, I'd be willing to bet Mexican food is consumed at some point today :)

We have a few more days in the city and then we are going up to Guerneville for a wedding on Saturday. Sunday we will be flying to Munich for Oktoberfest, an early birthday hurrah for Dan. We will do our best to keep up with posts but we may be on hiatus until we return to Ghana on the 24th.

Guest Post - The types of expats you meet abroad

Now that we've been here for about a year, I've started to notice a trend in the type of expats you come across while abroad.  While not exhaustive, and some might fit into more than one category, I think these are the basic stereotypes.

Debbie Downers

This sucks, here sucks, the food sucks, the sunglasses sold on the side of the road suck, and I'm going to look at you like you're crazy if you find any enjoyment, whatsoever, in this hell hole.

Most people are in this phase at some point when they are abroad and away from home, but most people come out of it.  The Debbie Downers see only doom and gloom and find most enjoyment about complaining about their situation.  I suppose misery does love company. I generally agree that a lot of items purchased on the roadside are not those that would score highly in Consumer Reports, but if I find myself in conversations with a Debbie Downer my strategy is to finish my drink ASAP and excuse myself to get a refill.

Do-you-know-what-the-problem-is'ers

You know what the problem is? XYZ country needs to implement ABC.

They have the answer for all of the country's problems.  In all likelihood, he or she read an article online and couldn't wait to regurgitate facts about fiscal stability and the politics involved.  These folk are openly sharing their knowledge of all things wrong with a country and the solution to fix it.  Their favorite platform is anyone who has spent less time in the country than them.

Holier-than-thou 'ers

Maybe they've been in the country longer, or maybe they've lived in more countries, regardless, you're going to get a faceful of culture as they constantly one-up your stories with their own adventures.  The sense of pride and arrogance will be immediately apparent.  The best way to turn off Holier-than-thou 'ers, who might actually be pretty nice people otherwise, is to get a better traveled expat involved in the conversation, or include a local.  

Look, ma! I'm a local!

A glance will give you a suspicion, a single question will give you the answer.  This person might be spending a week in Ghana, but you can bet that they'll tell everyone back home they lived in Africa.  Said person will be wearing only clothing and jewelry made in Ghana.  Goofy pants and a smelly shirt.  Guess what - the locals are trying to dress like Americans/Europeans.  Even they don't wear the crap you have on.

How do you know for sure that you're dealing with someone like this versus someone who actually spent about 3 years in the bush (because they can look similar)  "How long have you been in Ghana?"  

And that ends this edition of "Name that expat"...

Fancy Dinner Party

Friday was a long but very fun day. We were awoken before 4am by the incessant buzzing of trash talk text messages. The league was ready to get this draft show on the road, so we dragged ourselves out of bed and put a big pot of coffee on. The draft itself took about 2 hours and was uneventful. A bit of a disappointment after having a live draft and a big board the last few years. We missed spending the time with our friends, and based on the numerous comments, they missed Dan's annual homemade taco bar.

The work day was productive so we powered through that into the evening. Hannah and Robin had a dinner party at their house. Hannah's birthday is the 12th but quite a few of us are out of town that day so she decided to do it early. Since her mom is Ghana and leaves on the 11th, it made sense to do it while she was still here. She requested on the invite that we dress up, but we weren't really sure how formal that was. Dan asked if he needed to bust out his tuxedo, and I said I don't think that's necessary. He replied with "tuxedo t-shirt?" Um, can we go somewhere in the middle? I told him what he wore to work was probably sufficient.

We walked over to their place and slowly everyone started arriving. All in all there were about 20 people. They had dinner catered and had a bunch of tables arranged in a U shape with place settings in the living room. They also moved their fridge to the living room with all the drinks and cups. It was quite an impressive spread. Certainly more furniture than their house usually holds (especially considering it took them 6 months or so to actually get a sofa haha).

Dinner was tasty and the company was good. Hannah put out place cards and kind of split up couples so you got to meet some new people which was nice. The night went on and I completely lost track of time. Not surprisingly, we found ourselves with Sam and Alex as the last men standing and we were all getting tired. We piled in the truck and Asare drove us home. Imagine my surprise when I got into the house and finally saw a clock. What? It's 2:50am?! Holy cow. Dan and I had been awake almost 24 hours. Suffice to say we slept quite well.

Saturday was a lazy recuperating day catching up on sleep and enjoying some college football. Sunday we are going to church. Yes, after a year in Ghana, we finally agreed to go. Dan's coworkers ask him to go almost every week so it was about time we acquiesced. I'm hoping for a lot of standing, dancing, singing, Hallelujah's, etc. Almost wish I could wear a wire just so I could record the happenings, because I'm imaging it's quite a scene. But you'll have to wait till Thursday to hear about it :)

Gearing Up for the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Alas, the time has come for numerous fantasy football drafts at completely asinine hours of the night. If drafting a team at 4am on a workday is not dedication, I truly do not know what is. Yes, we are drafting at 4am on Friday morning. I suspect 3:15am will consist of a workout, coffee, eggs, and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" on repeat. If I'm still foggy, I may need a few laps around the pool in the compound.

Aside from all our drafts, and the obligatory preparation, this week has been fairly tame. Sunday was lazy around the house with some coffee on the patio, some preseason football and a movie. Monday was equally as quiet. Tuesday night we went out for Indian food with the girl who messaged me on Internations (named Kavita, by the way, since I don't think I've actually said that). There's also a new expat in Dan's office from Denmark. Her name is Janni, pronounced Yanni, and she's here for seven months on an exchange program. Dan's old deskmate, Christy, is now in Copenhagen as the other half of the exchange.

Janni got here a few weeks ago with a friend from Denmark and they explored around Ghana a bit before she started work. Her friend is still here until this coming Sunday when she has to head back to Copenhagen. The pair of them joined us for dinner at the Indian restaurant. They are very nice and we had a good time comparing "new in Ghana" stories. They were staying in a hotel near the office until Janni moved into an apartment, which actually had just occurred the day we went out for dinner. She is now living in Maxwell Court, which is where Dan and I were for our first 3 weeks or so before picking out an apartment. I'm not certain but I think since she's only here a short time, she may just stay there throughout her assignment.

It's been a busy couple of weeks of meeting new friends. We are blessed to have come across some good people who are interested in getting together. The rest of the week is draft-filled, ending in a birthday party for Hannah on Friday evening.