Sunday, June 27, 2010

Divided Loyalties

It turns out my heart was firmly with the U.S. during its match with Ghana in the World Cup 2010 round of 16. I had thought perhaps it would be divided, but I really, really, really wanted the U.S. to win. Being surrounded by 22 million people who really, really, really wanted them to lose perhaps made it more intense.

It was not to be. But, then, I get ahead of myself.

The trash talking and banter had been hot and heavy at the office all week, with our two U.S. interns, Justin and Andrew, supporting the U.S. along with me, and our employees, of course, supporting Ghana. Similarly, our neighbors were predicting the outcome of the match anytime they would see one of us. Nearly all of these predictions left the U.S. with nil at the end.

On the day of the match, the Daily Guide published a full-page photo of President Obama's and President Mills' faces superimposed on the buff bodies of each team's star player. A side bar story, however, claimed many people were upset that Mills was making his second trip to South Africa in two weeks to watch the Black Stars. In the typical Ghanian way of writing an editorial and calling it news, however, I'm not sure how accurate that story was - several of the fans said at the end of the match, "We won because the president was there.". Bill Clinton did not seem to have the same effect for the U.S. although he and Mick Jagger (?) seemed to be cheering the same team, together, and enjoying it.

So we all went to the Capital View Hotel on Saturday evening to watch the match together. At Microsoft, it would have been called a "morale event", which in my opinion can make any such outing a bit jaded, but we just called it dinner and a football match with a friendly rivalry. I prepared table decorations - a stick with three balloons in red, white and blue along with an American flag, and a stick with three balloons in red, yellow, and green with a Ghanaian flag. As the game got going, we decided the opposition would be allowed to pop a balloon of the other team whenever their team scored.

I must admit, Ghanaians are much more passionate and vocal about their football and their support of the Black Stars (the national team). But when, for so many, daily life can be such hard work and you lack confidence that your leaders are acting in your best interest, having something to rally around provides a sense of pride that is perhaps a basic human need. In any case, it was no surprise that Nat was quick with his fork and very exuberant in his popping of the first American balloon after only 5 minutes of play.

We finally got to pop a Ghana balloon a little too close to the end of the second half than I would have liked. But we did end regulation time in a tie and the thought of 30 more minutes of play was both exciting and exhausting.


When Ghana scored shortly after the start of Extra Time, the next balloon gave way, this time to Nat's knife and I had a bad feeling. With seconds counting down in Extra Time and Ghana still leading 2-1, Rose sat poised with our last balloon in one hand and the Ghanaian flag in the other. The emotion could hardly have been riding higher in the restaurant and in our party of seven as Ghana advanced to the Quarter Finals.


I can't begrudge the team or the fans a well earned berth as they stand alone representing their entire continent in the final eight teams for the 2010 World Cup. It will be nice to be on the side of the 22 million for the next match. Go Ghana!
XO

P.S. Snort wants me to make it clear that he never felt any divided loyalties and is heartbroken over the U.S. loss. He watched every minute of the match, although he says that from his location beside my bread plate, he had a little trouble seeing over the wine bucket. In my own defense, he never said a word. Had he, you know, snorted or something, I would have moved him to a more advantageous location.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Corn on the Cob, anyone?

When I first arrived, I thought Precious was about 4 years old because she's just a sliver of a thing. But along when I returned the following June (about 9 months later), they told me she had a birthday in April, while I was gone, and had turned 6. So, that meant that when I was about to go home this last March she would have been rapidly approaching 7. And yet, she still had all of her baby teeth. It seemed odd to me and I wondered if perhaps her sister, who told me Precious' age, had mistaken the year.

Then, finally, she had a loose tooth! However, it still had not fallen out when I returned home in March. When I returned just now, though, her body seemed to have remembered it's job and she seems to have lost them all at once. Three front bottom teeth and the two top teeth are all out at the same time! Her english is getting better all the time, but the tooth situation puts her pronunciation to the test - what could be cuter?
XO

Thursday, June 10, 2010

FIFO and FIFA

I arrived back in Ghana to significant activity. A fabulous volunteer accounting consultant, Debi Nordstrom and her equally talented son, David, were on board for a month helping us sort out our financials and tidy up an accounting backlog - and the FIFA world cup was starting.
Ghana is nothing if not football crazy and we all joined in the frenzy, watching the USA and Ghana in each of their matches, when not trying to properly valuate inventory (First In First Out. Last In First Out or Average Cost? - the meaningful questions of the day), balance bank statements and reconcile the balance sheet.
XO

Monday, June 7, 2010

Ambulance with a stiff chaser

Don't panic when you read the title of this one, I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything. However, those hours I spent on the phone sorting out my MedEvac insurance before leaving home seemed much more prudent after my first day back in Ghana.

I kid you not, the very first morning I awoke in Ghana and stepped into the shower, there was a bit of shampoo or something on the floor of the shower and I slipped half way in and half way out and crashed to a very inelegant heap with both the shower curtain and rod tangled about my person. The shower room and the square frame around the shower stall/basin are all made of ceramic tile with lots of 90 degree angles and the room itself is only about 6' x 6', so it is some sort of miracle I didn't hit my head and fall unconscious only to be discovered in my full Lady Godiva wrapped in nothing but a Palm Tree and Beach Umbrella shower curtain..

As it was, I creased my shin to the bone - literally there was a right angle dent in the front of my shin - it was fascinating, and had two nerf football sized bruises where I landed. One I didn't know existed until I tried to sit in a desk chair later in the day. The crease in my shin didn't bruise at all, but over the next two days, my ankle began to swell and blood was pooling alarmingly in the bottom of my foot.

All of which made me try and think through the whole MedEvac thing. How exactly does that insurance work? I've never seen an ambulance actually taking someone TO the hospital. They are primarily used to transport dead bodies, when they are collected from home and taken to the mortuary or collected from the mortuary and taken to the cemetery, with a dramatic entourage as discussed in previous posts. The siren seems to be less for emergency expediency as for leading and announcing a funeral processional.

So, in the event of a truly life-threatening accident, I have little confidence that I would be stabilized sufficiently for anyone to successfully activate the MedEvac insurance policy. I can't imagine that by contacting them they actually have the ability to mobilize emergency medial personnel in Koforidua. I do suppose that if I had broken a leg or arm it would perhaps have come in handy, covering the cost of getting me to a reputable facility in Accra and setting the bone properly. I'm not sure I'd want that done here in Koforidua. A couple kids in the neighborhood have broken their arms lately (having a concrete courtyard as your playground can be treacherous) and they came home from the hospital with the equivalent of very thickly wound Ace bandages.
XO

Update - my mother reminds me that I should note that all is well now. All bruises gone.