Ghanaian Wedding Numero Dos - Gabby and Rosemary

Last Saturday, we went to our second wedding in as many weeks. This one, while taking place in Accra, was much more multicultural. Rosemary, the bride, is Ghanaian from the village of Ho (see Dan's post from Sunday about the Ho festivities... it's not what it sounds like, I promise). Gabby, the groom, is Kenyan on secondment in Ghana from PwC Nairobi... though he's been here three years now. Pierre, the best man, is Cameroonian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but now is on rotation in London. Jonia, the maid of honor, is Tanzanian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but is now on rotation in Dubai. And then there's me, Dan, Janni (Danish), and White Joe (English) rounding out the cast of pale folk. Yes, we have multiple friends named Joe so we do actually call him White Joe to his face.

The wedding was set to start at 10am "prompt". We left the house at 9:35 expecting to arrive around 10:15. We got lost... very lost. In Dan's defense, he knew where he was going, but there was a service road on the right of the highway. He didn't know he needed to be on the service road so when our turn came up, we couldn't make it through the cement barrier. We finally arrived at the church at 11:05 and were sat in the front row by the usher. Rosemary had walked down the aisle but, considering the priest was giving the "please silence your cell phone" spiel, we realized we actually were right on Ghana time.

The ceremony was a Catholic one with lots of standing and sitting but the service was very nice. The priest did well to try to merge the West African/East African cultures and made everyone feel welcome regardless of their personal beliefs.

During the ceremony, we noticed that some people had programs. Dan looked across the aisle to check a woman's program to see where we were in the service. He then whispered to me, "My name is in the program for the reception but I'm not sure why". We asked the usher for a program and she said they had run out. The nice woman across the aisle heard this and gave us one of theirs. Verdict: Dan is a "Popper of Champagne"... along with a few of Rosemary's friends, Gideon, Pierre, Gabby's brother, Dan and Albert. All I can picture in this moment is the scene from Dumb and Dumber when they pop Champagne and kill the endangered species owl. We had a good laugh over this. Thankfully, when that time came at the reception, no humans or owls were hurt in the completion of this task.

After the ceremony, there were multiple photographs taken. A list of the order of photographs was provided in the program just like it was the weekend before. We stayed for the "PwC" photo and the "friends of the groom" photo. Afterwards, we hitched a ride with George to the reception where we were seated and awaited the arrival of the newlyweds.

The reception was very nice and similar to Laura's with the western-ness. They cut the cake, there was a bar, toasts, first dance, etc. There was a buffet of food from both sides of Africa... Ghanaians love spicy food, whereas East African food has no pepper so they accommodated family/friends from both ends. The funniest thing is that our table was selected last to go to the buffet but they had run out of plates. We're not sure how that happened. You have x number of chairs, wouldn't you need at least as many plates and then some for people who come back for seconds or take two? Apparently not. So we had to wait for them to wash some plates. A lot of the food had run out by this point so we took what was still available and went back to the table. After the food was finished, and the drinks were flowing surprisingly heavily, the dance floor opened up. It was everything you'd expect an African wedding's dance floor to be. Best people watching experience I've had in a long time.

 Albert post-Champagne-popping/Dorothy, me and Ayesha

 Dan the Man/Photo with the newly married couple which escalated to...

 

this...

and then this...

As the reception was winding down, Pierre asked Dan and me if the after party could be at our house. Obviously, we said yes. The remaining booze was put into Albert's trunk and he and Dorothy drove us home. We got home around 6pm, took some showers and a quick nap. People started turning up around 8/8:30. At max capacity, there were about 15 of us.

By 1am, Rosemary was asleep on Gabby's lap and I casually started to pick up empty bottles/glasses. You know, the universal sign for "hey it's been fun but please get out of my house so I can go to bed". Everyone was very grateful that we had them over and the troops headed out. Suffice to say we slept very well after a long day in the sun and playing host/hostess.

Another wedding in Ghana complete.

The Sea Freight is here! The Sea Freight is here!

Praise the customs officials! The Sea Freight is here!

If you recall, we packed and shipped our items on 20Aug2014. We were quoted 2-4 weeks for air freight and 7-11 weeks for sea freight. The air freight took 4 to arrive, clear customs and be delivered. The sea freight took 15! Maybe they should adjust their estimates haha. The challenge is that customs required Dan's passport again to clear the sea freight. Not a huge issue except that we have travel plans that require his passport. I have to admit I think it made our customs clearance go a lot smoother given that we had a tight deadline.

All in all, we've survived just fine without our stuff but it sure is good to have it back. The major highlights for me are having our mattress back as well as our artwork/wall hangings. To me, those are what makes a place home, besides Dan of course. But, he was already here (old news haha)

The movers arrived and said they would unload the truck then unpack the boxes once everything got upstairs. The boxes just kept coming. There were four guys and they just kept bringing stuff in. Where did all of this come from?! How did it fit in our teeny tiny 827 sq foot apartment in San Francisco?! This apartment is almost twice the size and I don't have a clue where all of this is going to go! So after my initial freak out, I was ready to attempt the task of giving these items a "home" for the next couple years.

Slowly but surely the boxes came upstairs, the guys put our bed back together and moved the small amount of furniture we did bring to the appropriate rooms. It was a very busy day between getting my work done, the movers coming, unpacking, and dealing with an air conditioner that decided the day should start off with a lovely puddle on the living room floor (ha!)

Alas, most of the stuff is put away... aside from the electronics which I refuse to touch and I think Dan prefers it that way. With the unpacking almost finished, it surely must mean that it's time to repack. Seems to be the way of life, just a series of packing and unpacking. We're off to the US for four weeks of work, family time, holidays, visiting friends, wine tastings and New Years in San Francisco. The blog will be on hiatus during that time as we won't have any riveting Ghana stories to share with you.

Upon our return, hopefully we will have artwork up and everything in it's place and we can share some pictures of our Africa home. Best wishes, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! We'll talk to you in 2015!

Love,
Jen and Dan

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 :)

So... What's in the BOX?!

Excuse the terrible Seven reference... But I bet you're wondering, after Dan's guest post on Thursday, what the heck was in that box? You know, the one that was a bit more spherical than rectangular by the time he actually got to leave with it? Actually, here's photographic evidence and no, we did not open it.

So what was so important that we had to have it shipped from the US? What are the things that make us think of "home"? What are the household essentials that couldn't be located here in Accra?

• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Goldfish - Dan is obsessed with cheese flavored crackers, which is odd because he doesn't really like cheese
• Cheez-Its
• Shakeology
• A Dishwand with sponges (the one where the soap goes in the handle)
• Chlorox wipes
• Swiffer Dusters
• A Swiffer handle for the wet Swiffers that I brought (not pictured. If you're thinking "why in the world does she have the wet pads but not the handle, the answer is the handle is in the luggage that was supposed to come with us initially but got lumped in with the sea freight. So in a couple months I'll have two!!! Is there such a thing as too many Swiffer products? I think not.)
• Damp Rid - safety precaution with the humidity here so we don't ruin all our clothes
• Clinique makeup - yes, I had my makeup shipped from the States. Unnecessary? maybe. Sorry I'm not sorry.
• Popcorn kernals for the air popper
• Harvest Yankee Candle
• Worchestershire Sauce - because... burgers on the grill.
• Low Sodium soy sauce

And those, my friends, were the contents of the first care package. Stay tuned as there is another en route from the other set of parents with more American goodies!!

My Customs Experience - Guest Posting from my husband, Dan

This is the story of Dan's attempts to retrieve our first care package sent from our family in the States. 
Theme: What should take 10 minutes will take 45-60.

On Friday, I had our driver Jeeves (aka Richard) take me to the customs department at Kotoka airport.  There's a man standing at the entrance who charges 3 cedis to lift open a gate.  Surprisingly, he has change for a 5.  We drive around amongst a bunch of customs "offices" which are converted storage containers.  The area is pretty deserted and I think (foolishly) "wow, I must be one of the first people here, I'll get through this pretty quickly."  I did get out of there pretty quickly, because they don't work on Fridays.

Safe bet they aren't working Saturday or Sunday - so not even going to attempt.  At this point the reader may wonder why our protagonist didn't try calling?

I'll stop here to note that phone technology here is equivalent to the 1950s.  There's no call waiting, no voicemail/message machine and no automated systems. You call, it rings, someone picks up.  Or, you call, it rings forever, you lose patience and give up.

Monday. Round 2.  Gameplan: go in the afternoon.  Taxi drivers love tie-wearing Obroni's like me, so I had no trouble finding a taxi to make me the 200 yards from my office to the customs offices. 

Why not walk?

1) No sidewalks

2) It's hot, like Africa hot.

We drive up to the gate (where Mr. 3 Cedi still stands) and encounter a handful of people running to the cab asking if I'm getting a package.  I pay Mr. 3 Cedi to lift the gate again and as we drive around the make-shift "offices," one particularly enterprising man chased the taxi. This time the place was swarmed with people.  "Now this is more like Africa."  It turns out the enthusiastic gentleman is named Francis and he is donning a name badge that looks official enough. He might actually be there to help me and not steal my packaged cereals and/or passport and/or money.  

"Do you have a copy of your ID card?"

"I've got my passport"

"Let's go make a photocopy"

We walk behind the "offices" into a small shaded opening where there are 3 guys sleeping next to a copy machines.  Francis yells at one of them, he gets up and makes a copy of my passport for me.  I give Francis says to give him "some coins".  I think "Gladly, these things are heavy and pretty much worthless from a value perspective."  I give him about 1 cedi, and again, shockingly, get change.  Good, more coins!

With my photocopy and other paperwork in tow, I follow Francis behind a barbed wire fence and past some well armed guards.  Because, nothing needs protecting more than my Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers - Cheddar Flavored.  

Inside is pretty much what you would expect a customs office in Africa to look like.  Boxes strewn about everywhere with half the people laying on top of them resting.  More uniformed people are inside.

Francis and I walk past some of the stacks of boxes and down a narrow gap in the cardboard jungle to the UPS office.  Well, Francis thus far has earned a tip and hasn't attempted to scam me.

Unfortunately, the only guy that works at the UPS office is on break.  So Francis and I stand around and more people come by looking for Mr. UPS.  I can't understand them, but based on context and volume, I like to think everyone was saying "Where the f*** is Mr. UPS? Tell him to get off his break and get his ass over here!"  

To kill the time I start talking with Francis asking about how this all works.  Turns out the pile of boxes were in some order, despite it looking like chaos.  Each shipping vendor has their own little designated area where their packages are stored waiting to be picked up.  He tells me that all the official looking people here actually open the boxes and compare it to the packing list.  No sooner than he mentions it, 4 people tear open a giant box and start unwrapping all of these computer parts from someone's box.  Francis also tells me where to go for shipments from FedEx, DHL and the post office.  Turns out Francis still hasn't tried to scam me and he's telling me useful information.  Bigger tip.

Mr. UPS shows up and everyone immediately storms into the UPS kiosk to try and get up front.  Luckily Francis isn't too big and he slips by into the front.  Way to go Francis!

Francis gives Mr. UPS (aka the Break Taker), my paperwork and he pulls out a binder filled with packing slips and starts to look for mine.  During his search I look about the room and wonder just how long it's going to take for someone to locate a brown cardboard box in a warehouse of brown cardboard boxes. 

Mental note: use colorful packing tape for ease of identification.

25 cedis later, Mr. UPS gives me a box that I can imagine once had corners and was probably "box" shaped.  It's now a little more spherical.  

Francis and Mr. UPS exchange some words and now we have to go talk to someone else.  I can tell she's important because she's wearing a very fancy uniform and has her own office.  We're waiting outside and Francis says "we have to talk to the boss."   Damn it Francis, what did you do?! Tip diminishing.

The "boss" has a glare that would make pit bulls wet themselves.  She says something to a subordinate who says something to Francis.  Unfortunately Francis didn't respond fast enough because the subordinate tears one of my documents from Francis's hands - ripping it in the process.  Well, as long as they let me bring the goldfish to jail, it might turn out okay.  

The subordinate and boss lady chat briefly and then Francis and I are instructed to wait by a desk.  Eventually subordinate comes over, orders someone to open the box (which I suppose is for the second time), and has Francis start shuffling through all the items.  

"What's wrong, don't you like Ghanaian food?"

"Well I haven't been able to find Goldfish here"

"What's this?" Holding up the dish wand

"You put soap in the handle and use it for washing dishes"

"Too good to use your hands?"

"...."

"Who sent all of this to you?"

"My mom" (oh shit, it was actually my mother-in-law, but I can't change the story now).

"Ah, so your a mommy's boy"

"Well, I'm an only child so she wants to send me stuff from the states"

She says something else and Francis tries to repack everything into what's left of my "box".  

Now we have to actually go talk to the boss lady.

"What's your name?"

"Daniel Cavazos"

"Where do you work?"

"PricewaterhouseCoopers"

"Oh so you're an accountant?"

"Yes ma'am"

"How long have you been in Ghana?"

"About 5 weeks"

"How long will you be in Ghana?"

"Two years"

"Two years! You must love it here"

"It's been great"

<subordinate interjects> "His mommy sent him food"

"Hahaha, you're a mommy's boy! How old are you"

"29" shit, not sure why that came out, I'm only 28 - hopefully they don't look at my passport and do the math

"Ah, you must still wear diapers with how nervous you look"

*nervous laugh*

Boss lady says something subordinate

Subordinate: "She's done with you, now say thank you"

"Thank you"

We show a receipt to about 4 other people before getting the box back to the taxi who waited for me.  I got my package and didn't end up in jail - so I give Francis a decent tip.  He gives me his number and tells me to let him know when I'm coming to get a package and he'll help me.  

We'll see.

About an hour later, I get back to the office with dried goods and the remnants of a box.