The weekends have been busy since we returned. Two weekends ago, we met Hannah and Robin on Friday night for dinner at a new (to us) place called Le Must (photo at left - credit). The food was decent and the ambiance was nice. It was quiet and we were the only people for awhile since people tend to eat late here. It was a good environment to catch up since we hadn't seen each other since before the holidays. On Saturday, there was a party at the tax partner, George's, house. He lives pretty far away from us and the party was supposed to start at 3. We decided we would leave the house at 3:45 which got us there around 4:30/4:45. We were the second people there. LOL. Dan was giving directions to our taxi driver and he said "turn right here" and the driver said "are you sure?". Clearly, even he didn't believe we could be in the correct neighborhood, but alas, there was a big house and three Mercedeses in front. The house is beautiful but it's definitely the nicest place in the area (which is kind of the middle of nowhere). Come to find out it's basically the midway point between the village where George grew up and the office, which was the appeal of the location. There was a TON of food: soup, chicken, beef, three kinds of rice, grilled chicken, kebabs, and an entire roasted pig. By 7 or 8, most of the tax department was there and there was dancing and laughing and very loud music courtesy of the DJ who didn't seem to understand our many requests to dial it down. Various neighborhood folk kept trying to enter the party or get some food and George and his son had to keep escorting people back out the gate. It was good to see all of Dan's coworkers, especially my favorites, who I hadn't seen in almost two months.
I chatted with the other partner, Ayesha, for awhile and she paid Dan and me some really lovely compliments. She said how impressed she was with how much we try to go out and explore Ghana and see different places. She joked that we probably knew more of Accra than most Ghanaians who don't go out much and stick to the areas they know. Ayesha did a rotation in the UK and said she understands how easy it is to just stick to the customs/food/places/people you know but that she was genuinely pleased to see that we were outgoing people and open-minded to trying new things. (File under: qualities I never would have used to describe myself 5-10 years ago). It resonated with me because we really do try, but it's nice to know that other people see our efforts and appreciate them.
Saturday night and Sunday afternoon were quiet with football. I checked out a new grocery store and found tortilla chips. When I handed Dan the bag, you would have sworn it was the $1.5 billion Powerball ticket. He almost ate the whole bag in one sitting. That night, I went out to Bistro 22 with Alex and Leonora for dinner to catch up on their holiday happenings, which was very nice. Another work week flew by and Friday night, we went out to Urban Grill for dinner. We'd only been there once before, for Dan's birthday, but I really like the place (photo at right - credit). They have a really good salmon dish, which is not a common fish here, so I enjoy it even more. We had some wine and split a tuna/avocado appetizer. Dan got roasted chicken. It's a little pricey but consistently good and has a great reputation among the expats.Saturday afternoon, we went to a place called Wild Gecko with Robin and Hannah. A lot of expats shop there for Ghana souvenirs. Since our time here is quickly coming to a close, we wanted to see what they had to offer just to keep in mind. I was really looking for housewares that we could bring home, like a cool mirror or light fixture, rather than just a knick-knack. They had some things but nothing that wow-ed us and everything was really expensive. We shall keep looking. Afterwards, we got dropped off at home, everyone had a little rest (except Chef Dan) and they came back over for dinner that night.
We ate and watched the recording of the Golden Globe awards from the weekend before. After they went home, Dan and I watched some football until we fell asleep. On Sunday, we hung out by the pool for a couple hours and watched some movies. Enjoyed a good week for our fantasy football team and got some rest for the coming work week.
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