KLepo was (t)here!

So I had my first complete weekend in Ghana and I can tell that it already scores pretty high in my evaluations of random weekends

It was a rather long and interesting weekend so get ready for a little reading, ok? In addition I didnt take my camera (why camera at a simple dinner?) so there are also no pictures to accompany the text

So what actually happened?

On Thursday I realized that the weekend is nearly here and I dont know what am I going to do, there was a serious risk I will just sit at home and watch a movie. So I went to aiesec.net, searched for all internships that were reported to still go on (the interns be still in town) and sent out an email asking about their plans.

I got an answer from few and among them Fernanda from Italy, ex MC there, whom it looks like I have met on IC in Poland and also in Turkey She and one more intern Ben were the ones who made me decide to join (what I thought was only) a pizza dinner. So I took a deep breath and for the first time alone got on one of those minibus/vans that replace public transport. They have no markings and system, You just need to search for the one that goes Your direction and signal it to stop. Luckily I got the right place. It turned out that its a dinner of 12 people of mixed origin - both when it comes to nationality and reasons to be in Accra.

The dinner turned out quite fun, mostly thanks to a new chap of mine, Vinnie from India, who had an obvious interest in any female in the place (or at least the nice ones). It felt refreshing because nice girls are the most common topic of discussions in Pakistan (at least between boys, girls talk about boys of course… unless a boy asks them about a girl ). With the dinner finishing at around 11pm there was a discussion about where to go next and stuff and I got an offer from Vinnie that “lets crash the MC house”, so I say OK and agree that we will sleep there over tonight (asking “why”?, what a boring question… rather stop thinking that way else this whole weekend was rather about doing exactly those things that have no logical explanation).

But than came an another suggestion - lets go to a pub and have a beer! Of course I agreed and made Vinnie go to (he had a big event to run the day after but he cant say no to fun). Apart from the two of us Fernanda and a married AIESEC alumni from Italy went for it. Oh, I should also say that I didnt eat anything on that place, too expensive, so I took the cheapest thing on the menu - a beer (sadly I havent eaten since lunch)

The Pub called Champs. Fun place full of football shirts, table football, pool tables and sport decoration and… a stage for Karaoke. We got there and the alumni saw a table of people whom to one he was boss and the others were friends of friends (a very common status in Accra) - germany / usa / canada. So we joined tables (there was no other place free anyways) and started to do the cheers! Soon karaoke started and not later after first participants from our table were on the stage… Me and vinnie doing the background moves Looking at the bill each of us had by average 4,5 beers in the next 3 hours During the coarse of this - seeing as Vinnie gets more and more happy and shiny I made a request for somebody to save me and take care of me.. and I got an assurance from one of the newly gained associates that I will be taken care of and kept safe. Add also some table football games and lots of laughing and in so the dizzy feeling of a Fine Night came the suggestion (at around 2 am) to go for a disco bar. All of us had pretty much been high so of course all of us went.

A disco that the name I dont remember (and didnt really are about)… You know I actually dont like discos, but whatever. Why did I to than? Well ok: Its only Friday, I just got my first wage (I am getting paid WEEKLY!) and have the feel to do something stupid and fun. So while indulging into a random dance to mix of US and African music the beers had time to climb up to the heads and meet the content of a bottle of wine, that randomly popped up from somewhere, on the way. At like 4 am some of us were already pretty trashed, at 5 am when one of the guys was constantly falling on his ass while dancing and one other hitting on a married girl it was time to look for a ways to get the places we would call home-for-that-night. And who would thing that the person who promised to take care of me would actually remember the promise?

So I finished up crashing a really nice house some 3 blocks from the beach. The morning for the four of us (participants of the party) who slept there was kinds painful and tiring and came at anywhere between 11 am and 2 pm when we were waking up and going for next round of naps (its Saturday so why care?). At around 5 pm I was taken to the beach and saw for the first time the sea of Ghana… Amazing place, different like any other beach I have seen (every beach I have seen was other than the ones before), with people eating, selling random stuff, playing in water and clouds on the sky that played with all possible colors of sky.

But what to do during the evening of such random day? Well, what about some Sushi? But thats expensive… but well a lucky idiot like me… I got an offer that my food will be paid for (thank You dear Christine!). So I had some (for me) crazy expensive and pretty good first-time-ever-I-eat-this Sushi made by a Japanese guy. I was glad to know how to use chopsticks, else it would be a pretty awkward evening Just to add - the four of us have spent like 230 USD (holy-f-sh*t!), looks like my last sushi for a very very long time.

Hmm, what to do now? Well nobody really felt like a party scene (hmm, guess why) so we just went for an Irish pub for beer, some more table football, pool and darts. A pretty calm evening. But what to do now? Well the “anybody has a TV at home - what about some beer and watching movies?” question came and one of the girls says “yep I do… and also there is a pool for those who live in the house” - who could say no to such an offer? So the four of us finished “watching” the movie Departed. Actually I was the only one who saw the ending as rest fell asleep. So this night I have crashed an another house

I forgot to tell that the house was… as one of the girls said “by american standards it was comfortable”. For me it was scarily huge - 3 toilets, that tells I guess a lot… I felt there lost and realized that I dont want to have such a huge house, looks like Slovaks are not at all used to such huge housing places (it actually made me think if I really want to have a job that earns so much money that I could afford such a place). But despite all it was a nicely arranged place with breeze and flowers and nice furniture - its just that it felt too big to me.

And finally after waking up and a breakfast of cereals (Kellogs babe) it was time to head home So I took a loan for the tro-tro van and with little bit of searching for the correct shakers (vans) got home for a nice sleep before the working Monday… that will be followed byt a free Tuesday Why? Well like 1/4 of the 24mio of Ghanians are Moslem so government has decided to make Eid (the final day of Ramadan) a national holiday.

Just to finish it all up - I am going with one other intern and some of his friends for a swim in pool and sea, will post You on that and this time take pictures

Bye from Accra!