Back home ... sorta

The flight was mostly uneventful. There were several pockets of turbulence, but nothing that made me uncomfortable. There were a LOT of babies on board and it clearly made THEM uncomfortable.

I mostly watched documentaries on the flight. I also watched a terrific HBO Billy Crystal show called 700 Sundays. I think I slept for about 30 minutes total -- which is fairly good for me. Both my backup battery and the USB connection worked in my seat so I was able to keep my phone on the whole time, too, so reading was easy. The landing was surprisingly soft considering the bad weather. They announced that it was snowing and about 14 degrees. I asked the flight attendant if I could keep my blanket from the trip if I promised to mail it back. She said that they normally throw it away so I was welcome to it. (Wow! They throw it away? I always imagined some industrial laundry somewhere. They throw it away!)

There was a young Ghanaian woman with a little baby across the aisle from me. Her baby was so cute and chubby. As she was getting off the plane she was trying to strap the baby to her back and carry all of her things, but the baby wasn't comfortable and was fussing. I grabbed her carry-on bag so at least she would have one less thing to deal with. She thanked me and I marched off of the plane. I stopped after I got off of the jetway because I wanted to make sure that I had my phone and that's when I realized that the young mama wasn't behind me anymore. The fellow that had been behind her saw the look on my face and told me that she went back to get her jacket.

I waited for a short while before she reappeared looking relieved. We walked together on the looooong walk to customs and immigration occasionally chatting together while the baby slept comfortably on her back. When we got to immigration we had to separate into Citizens and non-Citizens so I gave her her bag back.

I got to use my Global Entry pass for the first time. It's amazingly simple. Instead of waiting in line for an agent I walked up to a kiosk and answered a bunch of questions. It took my picture and my fingerprints and printed a "receipt" for me.

I proceeded to the baggage claim wondering if my bag would be included. The luggage was coming out very slowly because of the bad weather. I kept my eyes out for the young mama so that I could offer her more help. Eventually my bag did come down the chute and all seemed to be fine. I stayed around looking for the young mama as long as I could and then decided that I had better just get going. Getting through customs was even easier with the Global Entry. There was no line, I just handed the fellow my receipt and my passport and I was done. Well worth the investment in getting the Global Entry.

Ok, I made it to the US, NOW what do I do? I had no coat! I had left it in the car for David to bring to the airport when I got back! So here I was Saturday 105 degrees (40 C) with no electricity (no fan, no AC) to now Sunday 14 degrees (-10C) with no coat (no hat, no gloves, no boots.)


I was caught loitering again as I was trying to connect to my company's travel agent's website to look for flights to Baltimore. So I moved on and found a seat next to a very cold window. I pulled out the two sweaters that I had packed and put my haute couture Delta blanket over them. I literally couldn't find a single direct flight from JFK to Baltimore. The website suggested lots of train routes so that gave me an idea. I could take a train home to Boston or I could take a train to Baltimore. Google maps confirmed that the trip to the train station shouldn't be too difficult. After speaking with David I realized that getting to Boston would have been only half the battle. GETTING me from the train station would have been really difficult for him. There was already over 10 NEW inches of snow on top of what we already had. Besides, I need to come to Baltimore at the end of the week anyway to help my mom with her cataract surgery so I might as well just head that direction especially since Boston is expecting yet another snow storm in a few days.

So I took the Airtrain to Jamaica Queens, misinterpreted the instructions for the next step and took the E train to 34th street and then found Penn Station. The only time I was really suffering from the cold was when I was walking around the Jamaica station trying to figure out which line I was supposed to take. Once I was on the subway, I didn't really have any more serious issues with the cold.

One of the first sights in Penn Station was this beautiful shop.

But as I was just about to walk over the threshold I heard the announcement that the 9:05 Northeastern Regional heading to Baltimore was now boarding. Oooohhh. I tore myself away and went to ticketing. I realized that the line was probably too long to make it to my train so I went to a kiosk and easily bought my ticket and raced down to the train.

I was able to find a good seat that was far from the doors. A nice young man put my suitcase up above and said, "Cheers!" An Asian woman sat next to me and immediately started sneezing and coughing while talking to (I assume) her husband and son in the seats behind us. After I realized that we hadn't left yet and the departure time had passed, I started to think I should switch seats -- with so little sleep and increased risk from not wearing enough I felt particularly vulnerable to getting sick.

A short time later, the conductor came over the loudspeakers saying that there was a problem with one of the cars and we were going to be a bit delayed but that the club car was not in service yet. A short time later they announced that the car would be coming out of service. I really didn't mind because I was warm and relaxed now. After about 15 more minutes they explained that it would be a little bit longer and if the folks traveling to Trenton or Philly wanted to switch trains they could go to track 5 instead. So the train emptied out quite a bit and my sick seatmate moved to the aisle seat across from her husband. (Whew!)

A woman a few rows ahead had apparently called the Amtrak number and was complaining loudly about how ridiculous this was and what kind of compensation were we going to get? It seems she was told that she could buy a ticket for the Accela (high speed rail) but that she wouldn't be able to just pay the difference in price. She would have to buy the Accela ticket and apply for a refund for her Northeast Regional ticket. She was NOT happy with that answer. After we were 45 minutes delayed she complained that we had been there for well over an hour. The announcements that repeated the same message only seemed to make her more angry. "They just said that! Why are they repeating themselves?!"

Finally 90 minutes late we were off. I wanted to nap and I also wanted to contact everyone I knew and let them know that I was back. I settled on working on my blog. I had forgotten how pleasant train travel has gotten. The seats are wide and comfortable, there are working electric outlets by every seat now, there's plenty of leg room and free wifi. I should travel this way more often.

I made my way to the cafe and realized the reason I was so hungry is because I hadn't eaten since 4AM on the plane. The food on the train was ridiculously expensive, but surprisingly good. I got a ham and cheddar sandwich on a pretzel bun. The trip was faster than I remembered. I never did manage to nap, but was very glad to hear when they announced that we were pulling into Baltimore Penn Station.

My brother David was already waiting for me with a coat in hand at the station. I noticed that they hadn't received much snow at all in the storm -- I would guess an inch or so. The house and the hugs were warm and I felt very relieved. The only things I needed now were COFFEE and rest. I allowed myself to have coffee, but I knew that if I was going to be able to manage with the jet lag I had to push myself to stay up until at least dark. I did manage to do that.

So that was the end of my latest African adventure. Check back for the next installment -- whenever that will be.

Return flight

Met a nice couple, Katie & Jim, at breakfast. They were in Ghana to help to pick up their adopted granddaughter. I learned quite a lot about them and their family in the short time we got to meet. It turns out they live in The Villages not far from David's parents!

My new friends Jim and Katie.

I walked back to my room and found that the exercisers on the beach had changed.

No one seemed surprised when these hogs (at least I think they're hogs)
took over the beach when most of the people had left.

I went back to my room and finished the book that Patti had recommended, What Alice Forgot, I really enjoyed it.Samuel picked me up along with two friends.

Jeanne is much less scared of me. She even let me hold her a long time and smiled.

Jeanne and Jeanne

Samilia made real homemade Fufu. It was so good! I couldn't finish it at the time but my mouth is watering at the thought of it. 

Samilia is literally hand pounding the cassava

Stew and homemade Fufu

There was no electricity available at Samuel's house. So we didn't have the luxury of fans to cool us off. Samuel, Samilia and Jeanne are all used to it. I tried not to sweat too much on their lovely couches. We sat and talked and every once in a while I went online to see if my flights were still on schedule. Eventually 5:30 came around and it was time to go.

Samilia and Jeanne joined us in car to airport. Samuel put the air conditioner on high which I think Jeanne enjoyed because she fell asleep almost right away. I will really miss them. Samuel is such a wonderful friend and he is so clearly a fantastic husband and father.

Trying to explain to Jeanne that she's tired.

When I was in Ghana last time, I met a driver named Nelson who took me for a touring day of Accra. We have stayed in touch and Nelson begged to at least see me off at the airport. Just before I gave Samuel back his SIM card for the phone that I have I gave Nelson a call saying that I had arrived at the airport. He said he would be there soon.

I waited for a long time outside and then decided that I really needed to at least check in. Maybe Nelson would be able to look for me indoors. The check-in process had several stages to it where they looked at my passport, my Visa, asked me several times why I was in Ghana and where I had been. They had me open my suitcase and they used a special "sniffing" detector inside the suitcase before I even got to the ticket agent. This whole process took quite a long time and I was worried that I had missed Nelson. The board still said that the flight was on-time so I was encouraged that I might make it home after all.

Finally I had a ticket in my hand and my bag was checked so I went back out to look for Nelson. It was dark now so I stood near the door where he would be able to see me.

Unfortunately I discovered that standing near the door was a security violation. One fellow with the word security on his shirt told me that I couldn't wait there. I explained that I was hoping to see a friend before I got on the plane. No, I couldn't call him, I don't have a phone anymore. No I didn't have his phone number because it was in the phone that I had been using. He essentially told me that he wasn't going to bother me any more but that I was going to get questioned a lot and he went to shoo away some other people. A short time later there was a BIG commotion at the entrance. I'm not sure what exactly the problem was, but apparently a security fellow had shoved a young man and now the man was yelling and the woman he was with was yelling and he was saying, "Do you know who I AM?!" Eventually things calmed down, but I thought it was about to get very serious.

Sure enough as soon as that calmed down a fellow in a police type uniform who had come to settle that dispute came over to me and was more emphatic than the first. No, I don't have my phone. No, I don't have his number. But this time the officer said I couldn't stay. Then I remembered that I might actually have his number in my iPhone still from a Facebook Messenger chat that I may still be able to see even though I was offline. The officer allowed me to call Nelson and Nelson answered with an echo because he was also walking up behind me at that exact same time! We had a very nice, but fast reunion before he gave me some gifts for the family and then I headed toward the gate.

There are so many check points along the way to the gate! Took me at least 60 minutes to get from lobby to gate. First they took a thermal picture of me. Then a series of interview questions. Then another passport check (where the attendant yelled at me because I hadn't noticed that he was available [frankly because I wasn't sure he was actually working] quickly enough.)

Then there was the immigration form check. I got to the desk and discovered "Oooh! You wanted me to fill out this embarkation form BEFORE I got here. Oooh! I have to start over in this section?" Go back to Start, do not collect $200. Fill out the form, back in line, no I don't have money (trust me -- you can ask the hotels) and I didn't bring any valuables.

Now I'm finally ready for the typical security scan of carry-on. Friendly officers here. Shoes off, laptop out of the bag, through the scanner and get a good pat down just for fun.

Almost at the gate now. More interview questions -- were you in Ghana for business or pleasure. Who packed your bag? Did anyone give you anything?

On to the next stage, open every zipper in your carry on, run the sniffer test on the carry-on, one more pat down just for good measure. NOW, turn in your boarding pass and you can sit at the gate. 

Of course there was no internet available at this point so I started reading a different book that I had saved on my iPhone. Only about five minutes passed before I heard, "May I have your attention please. "Will Mrs. Jeanée Goodman, please come to the customer service desk."

The gorgeous agent behind the desk looks at me sympathetically and says that the Boston flight has been cancelled so that have already moved my flight to tomorrow... seriously? You tell me this now? Immediately start thinking about how much I just went through to get to this point. 

In a second it flashes through my head that I'd have to find a car to go back to the Ramada (assuming they have any rooms.) Samuel would feel obligated to see me and would probably miss out on something he wanted to do. I really wanted internet access, and really wanted to talk to David. I decided that it would be easier to find alternatives once I was on the ground in the US. So I asked to stay on my flight. They had already given my seat to someone else but they reissued my ticket and I prayed that they hadn't already taken my luggage out of the queue so that it would get left behind.

Finally we get called onto the shuttle bus by row number, and brought to the plane. I don't think the fellow sitting next to me spoke any English because he only really said "Thank you" and the rest were mostly just hand gestures.

The flight information on the seat monitor just before take off.

The wait to take off was really long. They had some kind of issue with the passenger list that they had to wait for, but I didn't really mind. By being in the plane I was already on my way home.

Return to Accra

I woke up early hoping to walk around the hotel grounds for a bit. It was pitch black when I woke up so I decided against that and snoozed in 15 minute increments but by the time it was light enough to exercise, it was the time I would have wanted to get up without exercising. So it wasn't meant to be.

Note for next trip -- bring some kind of exercise CD that I can do in my hotel room using my computer.

For breakfast they gave me fried eggs even though I wanted boiled because it had looked as though I had checked the fried box (to them.) I didn't want to waste the eggs, so I had the fried eggs.

I went to the hotel office to check out and that's when I discovered that they didn't take credit cards -- cash only. As I stared past the "We accept Visa/Mastercard" sticker on the door I pondered what we were going to do about this. I told them they were going to have to call the office.

When I went back to get my luggage, Philip kindly offered to provide me with the cash to make the difference between what I had and what I needed to pay the bill. It's lucky he was there. Another note for next trip -- carry at least enough cash to pay hotel bills.

We stopped at an ATM machine to get cash to pay Philip back. I owed him 1100 GH₵ (about $340) but the machine would only allow a maximum of 400 GH₵ at a time so I had to make three separate withdrawals. That's a distressing situation because each time the process took longer and longer until I was sure that the machine had eaten my card. Eventually I got it all and we drove on to the office.

The Abt AIRS office in Ghana using panorama view.

Eddie also had to stop at the ATM machine, but it turned out it was because he had been robbed of over $1000! I felt terrible for him. Then I thought I lost my phone.  I had a few moments of total panic before I remembered that I had put it in an unusual place just before going to the hotel office. So I was okay.

Unfortunately, the power was off and although the generator was working, it wasn't charging the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) for the router so we  had internet access for about 30 seconds before it would go out again. It was incredibly frustrating. Samuel ended up letting me use his phone as a hot spot, thankfully. I was getting a bit worried because the weather reports were saying that a blizzard was going to hit Boston on Saturday.

I was on the internet long enough to see that Talia had committed sacrilege to her red hair.

We left the office at noon. The ride was quiet and uneventful. We got to the airport, checked in, sat and talked as a group for a while until we were called to go through security and sat at the gate. When the power went out no one even flinched. The generators kicked in after about five minutes.

We walked from the terminal to plane and I could swear the temperature had gone up about 10 degrees. Philip was sitting in the seat directly behind me and we were joking and teasing with each other. I really like him. I hope we get to work together again.

I forgot that they wouldn't allow phones on flight even in airplane mode but the flight attendant politely whispered, "You have to turn that off I'm afraid."

The flight went well but it was a hard landing. Samuel said he was surprised that Philip and I seemed so calm. He never gets used to it. I stood in the aisle waiting to get off, but it was an oddly long wait before we were allowed to get off and get onto the shuttle. No explanation -- just standing. On the shuttle van I sat with Samuel.

The luggage came out in this motorized luggage conveyer belt that was going really quickly so you had to move FAST to pick up your bag. 

Peter had arranged for a company driver to pick him up at the airport. He allowed us to go with him. Four of us (Peter, Samuel, Eddie and I) crammed into the back seat. I met Albert who apparently works in the Bethesda office, but I had not met him before. We dropped Eddie off at the hotel near the airport because he was flying back to Liverpool Friday evening and just wanted a place to relax for a few hours.

Samuel and I went to the USAID office and spoke with this fellow, Jeff, about getting Samuel to the US. He gave us good ideas and we're going to try again when I get back to the office.Afterwards Samuel and I walked to an outdoor lunch place where we had joloff rice. Samuel had dreamt of this exact scene. It was very peaceful and lovely.

Joloff Rice and chicken

Samuel drove me back to the Ramada Hotel at Coco Beach. The fellow at the Front desk remembered me by name. I had planned on asking for a smaller more modest room but he was so pleased that he was able to reserve the same room for me that I couldn't refuse. It is a lovely room. 

I handed the fellow at the desk my credit card and he looked awkwardly at Samuel. Samuel said to me, "Remember when I told you they had difficulty in processing your credit card when you were here before?" No, I don't remember my middle name at this point!

They wanted to be paid in cash! Here we go again! I had just over half of the cost of the room and we promised to go to an ATM to get the other half the next day.

Lo and behold. They had changed the bathroom!

Two towels, AND a bathmat and even a hand towel!

I hope it's not because Samuel said something after reading my blog. I would hate for them to change things just because of a silly comment I made about cultural differences.

We made plans to get together later that evening to go out to hear live music. I told Samuel that in Boston we would easily pay over $40/seat to see real Ghanaian performers so he was thrilled to be able to get me the opportunity for much, much less, plus it would be a great time.

Unfortunately, I began to realize that I was fading really fast and sent Samuel a text asking how disappointed would he be if I cancelled and went to bed early. Of course he didn't mind, but next time I come I plan to bring David and there's no way we would miss it then!

Final Training Day

The internet at the hotel was still not working in the morning. Since I had given up on getting news from the TV, and now couldn't listen to NPR, I reverted to my saved podcasts of "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me". It's always nice to start the day off chuckling.

Wildlife in the courtyard of the Gariba Lodge

We gathered for one last day to eat -- I mean -- to learn about the DDMS. This was a day of all things I had learned before so it was just good review.

The internet was completely out for most of the training so it's a really good thing that we had set up our own internal network or we wouldn't have been able to function at all.

My sons, Samuel to my left, and Ernest on the far right
with Dr. Peter Mumba

We worked until a little after lunch (kabob and plantains since you asked,) and then we got in cars and went to the office. It's a pretty long drive across the city. It's a new building from where we used to be. Much larger and very nice. The building had air conditioning and most importantly, it has high speed internet! In between the final lessons, I was able to catch up on my blogs and have a few quick words with the family.

In the office with a big air conditioner and internet access!

Soon I got called into another room where they were holding a farewell party for Dr. Peter who is moving back to his home in Zambia. It was a very emotional goodbye as the staff expressed such sincere appreciation for all that he has done for the project and for them personally.

A fond farewell to Dr. Mumba

By the time we got back to the hotel I was so tired that I went to bed without eating (more.) Of course they had food at the party so it's not like I was going hungry.

The beautiful Tamale office front at night.

Training Day 3

The third day of training was mostly uneventful (except for losing power three times during the day) so I will primarily discuss observations that I have had.

I've noticed that, even after losing all of this weight, if you put food in front of me, I can manage to eat. Until I left the US, I had been really good about logging all of my food. It got more complicated when the food choices weren't readily available to watch their nutritional value. It also got more complicated as I was more reluctant to admit to myself what I had eaten.

For lunch today I chose to have red red. "Red Red" is a popular Ghanaian bean and meat stew served with fried ripe plantain. It earns its name from the palm oil that tints the bean stew and makes the bright orange color of the fried ripe plantain. My portion was about half of what you see in this picture, but I still managed to exceed my daily goal by far.

Red red. (Not my photo)

In addition to the included breakfast, two "tea" breaks (with sandwiches), was this lunch and on top of that I went out to dinner. During dinner I was found commenting on my ability to eat so much and was told that they have a diagnosis for this disorder. They call it the Workshop disease or Workshopitis. The main symptom of this disorder is a pot-belly. I'm glad we're nearly finished with this training.

So this is my opportunity to talk about my general observations. I notice that the Gariba Lodge has access cards instead of room keys. Unfortunately, they tape the room number right to the card so they lose the security advantage of the key card.

A little unclear on the key card concept

I saw a sign that I hadn't seen before restaurant called Wooden. The sign for men's and women's rooms showed the typical symbol except the couple are clearly in distress and in need of the room. It gave me a chuckle.

On our way to dinner I reminded Ernest of a great story that our driver told us when I was here last time. Ernest told me that I was remembering the story incorrectly. Here's the story.

One day a sheep, a goat and a dog took a taxi. The taxi driver insisted on being paid up front. The sheep paid his fare. The dog paid his fare but needed some change in return. The goat refused to pay and insisted that he would pay when they arrived at their destination. Just before they reached their destination, the goat jumped out and took off. The driver got angry and refused to give the dog his change. This explains how these animals behave when they see a car. A goat always runs away from the car so that he won't asked to be paid. The dog chases the car trying to get his change. The sheep doesn't move because he's all paid up and has reached his destination.

We went out to dinner at the Marian Hotel -- this is where I stayed the last time I was here. Ernest, Phillip, Eddie and Peter all came. Ernest's wife, Jeanette, arranged for Peter to take Ernest out to thank him for all of his hard work.

I decided to top off my day of diet havoc with a big bowl of groundnut soup with chicken in it and rice balls.I managed to eat nearly half so I probably only had about 800 calories.

Peanut soup with chicken and rice ball. (Also not my picture)

When I got back to my hotel, I found that the internet was not restored from the last power outage so I couldn't blog -- a welcome reprieve for one evening.

Training Day 2

There appear to be 8 channels on the TV. There is a Chinese channel, a French channel, two sports channels (one with no audio), one American movie channel, a couple of African drama channels and a channel that is sort of like news. This morning as I got up I turned on the TV to the news channel. They were holding up newspapers and reading the headlines and then the presenters would discuss the stories with each other for a while.

For breakfast I checked off the Scrambled Eggs category and listened to my luggage birds while relaxing.

I enjoy this painting with actual thatch and bird feathers.

Today was probably the most important day for me to participate as a student. It was much more focused on Entomology rather than generically on the software. Of course I got interrupted more today than any other day as well. I still got a lot out of the class as I feel much more comfortable with the concepts of Abundance and now I know about Corrected Mortality (that's bug mortality, not human mortality.)

Today I was able to use my own computer as we got a couple of extra computers from the office for people to use who were not able to use their own. I might have been better off if I didn't have my computer.

The chair that I got had an unfortunate issue where the slightest movement caused an irritating squeak like a cricket. So there I was in my cricket chair driving everyone around me batty.

I got an idea on Monday that might make it easier to do the class. Instead of connecting to a server in Liverpool with internet going in and out, we created our own local network and used Eddie's computer as a server. It worked really well and we will make this the standard operating procedure for all classes in the future.

You would think Entomologists would be more careful about closing the door. Kept letting in the mosquitoes. Then we're swatting at them for the next couple of hours until it's time to open the door again and let in a whole new batch. Mosquitoes here seem faster than back home. I can't seem to manage to catch them at all.

For lunch I had banku and chicken. I find banku to be very filling so I didn't manage to eat a whole lot more than you see here.

Banku (the ball on the left) is cooked fermented corn dough
as compared with Fufu which is pounded cassava and plantain

At the end of the day I interviewed a candidate for a database manager position. It is much nicer to do so in person without the difficulty of phone connections and  background noise on top of the African Accent. The interview actually went really well. I realized that applicants are getting younger and younger, but the young man that I spoke to was really knowledgeable about access and seemed like the kind of personality that works well with us.

After all of that, I was too tired to go out for dinner. I stayed in, blogged and read for a bit. Then I went to the hotel dining room where I had a terrific dinner of kabob and yam chips

Training Day 1

I slept pretty well, even after the power went out for the second time in the evening.

When I woke the next day, the birds sounded like luggage with a bad wheel . Hear the luggage bird

I made my way to the inclusive breakfast where the waiter handed me a sheet of paper where I was to enter my room number (who remembers), my name, one item from the first column and two items from the second. I requested a vegetable omelet and a fruit cup. No surprise, there wasn't any decaf coffee.

I arrived way to early for class, of course. So I sat and waited for everyone to arrive. While I did, I checked the temperature for the day online. Big mistake.

104 degrees? Seriously?

The first day of class went really well. Unfortunately the fellow from PMI (our client), Phillip, couldn't run FireFox on his computer and it's required so I let him use my computer for the day. We started to install the DDMS on each computer, but not only did it start to take a long time but the anti-virus software blocked it from working.

We managed to connect to the server in Liverpool (albeit very slowly) and the internet came and went throughout the day. Samuel had the great idea of bringing a router with a 3G connection on it so we were all able to use that router to speed things up.

Eddie teaching DDMS

I was able to spend most of the day walking around the room helping people in the class and getting more familiar with the content myself. I thought that, in spite of the problems, it went really well.

I forgot that during these meetings they really try to feed you. The morning "tea" was a meat pastry; the lunch  couldn't be finished before a dessert; afternoon tea was a fish salad sandwich. But I still manage to eat something when food is presented. I'll make up the laps next week.

At the end of the day, the hotel manager came into the meeting room and said, "You are aware that we need to move you to a different room today?" [Of course you do, because I was dumb enough to unpack.] I was pretty sure I was going to be downgraded and, indeed  I was. The new room is about half the size of the old. the bed is still enormous, but the furniture has seen more days. The arrangement isn't as nice and the armoire is tiny. I really don't mind, I felt a little weird in that luxurious room by myself and now I'm pretty sure I'm NOT going to be moved so I can unpack.

My downgraded room

After the class Ernest and Dr. Peter continue to work feverishly in the training room because everything is ramping up for them and everything is due at once.  Meanwhile, when I chat back home I find out that school and work were closed because they got another foot and a half of snow. By the time it's over, they've had 73" of snow for the month. There is no place to put it all! There were already buried cars and narrow streets. The MBTA shut down and eventually the governor declared a state of emergency. I feel terrible for everyone dealing with it while I'm sitting here with my shorts and t-shirt on as I'm writing this.

I remembered that it's Ben's half birthday today. Happy half, my "little" boy!

Tamale

I set my alarm for 6:30. I woke up startled and confused and out of sorts. I probably could have slept another 6 hours, but I pulled myself out of bed to see the nice calm beach of early morning. Far from it! The beach was full of people exercising, playing and having a great time!

The view from my room. Coco Beach at 6:30 AM

Breakfast of Spanish omelet minus meat. Normally I would call that a vegetable omelet. I also included "sausage" which I could swear were hot dogs, baked beans, and dry bread that was ever so slightly toasted. Not surprisingly, decaf coffee was not an option.

By the time I finished I meandered back to hotel room but by then the beach had much fewer people.

I had meant to go to the beach to relax but ended up falling asleep  instead.

Meandering back to my room I met this fellow on the path

Samuel picked me up around 10 and we went to visit Ernest's family. They were very enthusiastic about the toys and flashlights that I brought. They were such beautiful girls. Jeanette told us that she said to the girls, "I told you Grandma Jeanne was coming!" In fact, she had told them that Grandma Jeanne would come if they were good, but she wouldn't come if they were naughty. :)

The Fletcher family

Unfortunately, shortly before he came to pick me up, Samuel discovered that we were on different flights and my flight was at noon -- there goes my Talapia and Goat soup with fufu!

So we went on to the airport. My check-in went smoothly. When I asked where to wait I followed the direction that the agent motioned with her head as she mumbled something. After waiting a while and everyone else in the room had boarded another flight,  I was asked where I was going. I meekly replied, "Tamale?" The agent shook her head and said, "No, no, no. You can't wait here." "OK, where do I wait?" A wave of the hand. "Wait with the others in the tent."

I walked out of the room back out through security and spun around several times before I realized the entrance into another room was actually into an air conditioned tent and waiting room.

Dr Peter Mumba, the chief of party for the project, and Eddie the trainer from the Liverpool School were already waiting and looked a bit relieved to see me. We sat and chatted for several minutes before we got up without any announcement and walked to our gate to board the shuttle to plane.

As people boarded several people found they had duplicate seat assignments. The captain apologized and said the problem was that the airlines had no internet connection that morning so they were unable to see what seat had already been assigned. I was fine and, in fact, had a row to myself.

The pilot announced that in a small plane they have to do some calculations to help balance the aircraft. They said that some passengers may be asked to change seats to help with the balancing. I heard the flight attendant ask a fellow near me if he would be willing to switch seats. He insisted, "No, I am in the correct seat. 8A" The flight attendant explained that she understood that, but in order to balance the plane... he responded curtly "I'm not interested!" The flight attendant looked pleadingly at her partner attendant and followed her gaze. The man directly behind me was asked to move instead and he obliged. I started to wonder if that fellow would be interested if the balance shift would cause us to crash.

I fell asleep during taxi. It felt as though it was a long time. In fact, when the plane came to a stop, I thought we had landed and that I had slept through the whole flight. In fact, we hadn't yet taken off. On this short flight the attendants served water, juice and "biscuits" (aka shortbread crackers.)

In no time at all we really landed in Tamale. It was 37 degrees  C (98.6 F) when we landed. It was a short hot walk to the "terminal" where we picked up luggage. I was reminded of the sophisticated luggage delivery system.

Luggage collection. No electricity required.

After we collected our luggage, smiling drivers met us warmly -- well, they were mostly smiling at Dr. Peter -- the big boss -- but they did grab our luggage and welcomed us to the waiting cars. The big cars were much easier to get in and out of this trip.

We drove to Gariba Lodge. I found out that is the location of the training and my housing are both located here. Yay, for easy commutes! 

My luxury room at Gariba Lodge

I was given an enormous luxury room but was still limited to just two towels in the bathroom. I have a feeling I wasn't supposed to have this nice of a room. I decided to unpack my belongings into the armoire since I knew I was going to be here for the week.

I "watched" TV and read my book until dinner time. It's a terrific book that Patti recommended called What Alice Forgot. 

 My colleagues picked me up and took me out to some place where we could watch the big football match during dinner. We tried to go to Wooden but it was PACKED. My friends were so surprised. Apparently it's normally nice and quiet.

So we came back to my hotel's restaurant and watched the  football game on a small screen. The room was crowded, but everyone was seated. It was a really important match. It was the African Cup finals. You could say it was the equivalent of the Superbowl. All of the teams were eliminated except for Ghana and Ivory Coast. The game was so close. Through the whole game there was no score. After penalty shots the score was matched. So in sudden death the room kept going from screaming to dead silence. Finally, after 8 shots, on the 9th shot the Ghana kicker missed but the Ivory Coast guy succeeded. The game was over and and the disappointment was solid.

For me, things were a little more positive. The hotel actually offered free wi-fi and I was able to get the password. Finally I had internet! So I spent most of the game chatting with family during the game.

It was well after 10 before all was wrapped up. It was finally bed time. I couldn't wait!

Accra

Samuel met me at the airport. It was so great to finally get to meet him in person. He took me straight to the hotel. I looked forward to getting rid of my luggage more than anything else. I was tired, but knew it would be a mistake for me to take a nap and further upset my clock.

Samuel arranged for me to stay at Ramada Hotel at Coco Beach. It's a beautiful resort. There were little huts scattered around the property. I was in room 422.

The room was very nice. It was elegant with a king sized bed. Two plush robes, elegant pillows, a little table by the window. It was a room that was clearly made up for two people until one got to the bathroom were there was one lonely towel -- just a bath towel. I found it funny.

I pulled out the gifts and the pick-me-ups (since you're coming, could you pick me up some...) from my luggage (now nearly empty) and headed to Samuel's house near by where I got to meet Samila and baby Jeanne. This was such a treat for me. Jeanne will be 1 in March. She's crawling and standing and clearly understands what she hears. She was scared of me at first with these adorable big tears streaming down her face. After a little while she started to realize that I might not be so awful after all and eventually she even let me give her a bottle.

Samila and Baby Jeanne

We watch TV for a little bit while -- or rather the TV was on and my eyes glazed over. Samuel tried out some of the games that I had brought him. I found it very interesting that their over-the-air tv has a constant streaming banner of commercials.

Samila made a fantastic talapia fish and goat soup with rice on the side. It was spicy and very refreshing. I looked forward to having my leftovers for lunch on Sunday.

Not long after that I was really failing in my attempts to stay awake and I started to fall asleep on couch so we left and headed out for a few errands.

Samuel and I drove to Samuel's uncle's house. They live in a lovely, large home. We went into their huge living room. They closed blinds, put on the Air conditioning and we relaxed in the cool darkened room. Samuel's Aunt and Uncle were delightful and welcoming.

After that we stopped very briefly to give a friend some of the things that I had brought for him.

Then we drove to the mall. It turned out it was the same one I came to years ago and had thought had collapsed. It was still standing with it's Shop Rite, Payless Shoes and Apple Store. Even though we had called ahead, the Apple Store did not have the battery I would need after all. So I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to fix my phone after all. It's still very difficult to charge, but now I don't know whether it's the phone or the charger.

While we were there I looked for postcards for my brother David, but we had no luck. I don't know where to get postcards around here and don't know if we'll have much more time to look for them.

Our last stop was to visit Samuel's tailor who had made some special clothes just for him. We had to wait there very briefly but I kept falling asleep in the lobby. I knew I was a bit past my limit. We headed back to the hotel. But I don't remember falling asleep. I think I was asleep before I finished changing my clothes.

Ghana 2.0

I'm on the plane about to go to Ghana again. It will be interesting in a number of ways. Not only am I going out of the freezer and into the fire (it's about 95 degrees there) but I will get to see people who I have met before and some dear friends who I have only met online.

I'm only going for just over a week so it shouldn't be too stressful. My bag is nearly empty except for all of the gifts and favors that I'm bringing. My one huge disappointment is that I ordered a phone for my friend Ernest and it didn't arrive in time. 

I will make my connection at JFK in New York so I won't be going through Europe this time. 

---------------

It is Sunday now. About 15 minutes after take off from Boston I began to have problems with my battery. I used my backup battery but it refused to keep charging. I pulled out my backup backup battery charger, but that only worked for about 10 minutes. So no phone for the rest of the plane. 

We departed a bit late from Boston and then had a further delay before takeoff. When we got to Kennedy I had to wait for a shuttle to drive us from one terminal to another. With no phone that meant I had no watch too, so I didn't realize how anxious I should be. I arrived at the gate after the last boarding zone was called. So much for getting to browse duty-free or look for T-Shirts to give as gifts. 

The flight itself was uneventful. I appreciated the new experience of an international flight with 85 fewer pounds on me. It was much more comfortable. I watched several episodes of The Mandy Project, TED talks and The Best of Me (NOT the best.). I think I slept about 10 minutes. Apparently they don't think international travelers drink decaf coffee, they were surprised that I asked for it after dinner and didn't have any after breakfast (although I got the impression that the flight attendant couldn't be bothered.)