Patrick's input...

So Karolina has posted up some pictures of our weekend. I'll tell you a little about it. Traveling out of Accra is an experience in itself and as K alluded to in her post i was not a happy man in Kaneshie. If you can imagine big city African Heat coupled with approximately a zillion people... well there or there abouts. All of them.... yes ALL of them wanting a piece of you combined with incredibly loud speakers with the name of the destination being blaired out..... CAPE COAST CAPE COAST CAPE COAST CAPE COAST!!!!! I could have committed violent crimes many, many times over.

Well once that traumatic experience was behind us we were off. It was actually pretty easy to get around, with taxi's very cheap and easy to come by, in fact i'm not sure how they make money... but i digress. We arrived in our destination and enjoyed the "hotel" and food immensely. It cost about 15 euro a night ( i know... cheap eh?) for a fan room with shower and bathroom. Food takes a while but it was good, about 3-4 euro's a dish. Typical Africa, weird prices all round, main courses and coffee's (instant nescafe) were the same price!
We visited the beach and although there was some rubbish.... it was mostly pretty clean without too much man poo around... which is unfortunately another issue here. It was, all in all, a pleasant experience if you just want to get out of the city for a night and see something different.

The following week i was on retreat with some final year students and stayed on what looked to me like a telly tubby hilltop where we awoke on the second night to find a scorpion under our tent!!! Pictures to follow good people.... just give me till tomorrow!

Whilst away the cat will play and K certainly took advantage... out until the early hours. In fact in general i've been very quiet since i've been here... letting the side down i'm afraid lads. Missing my mates a lot i have to say. Although there's some very nice people in the school none are really at the same stage and those who are..... well let's just say that mid thirties californian women who air kiss each other upon meeting are not really my thing.

The weekend just gone was also another quiet one on my end but some other people *cough* Karolina *cough*..... had a very enjoyable friday night. But i'm delighted that she's found some good friends as it was something i was worried about before we came. Sat was spend at the school picnic which had its charms if you like bouncy castles... we went up and had some chinese in an english couples house and were entertained by their two kids Luca and Piers, who have a fascination with all things Hornby related ( they are the model train manufacturers... get your heads out of the gutters people!).

Right, that's it for now, i'm literally off to play football now and then jump in the pool.

Have a good one and stay in touch!!

Some pictures from our weekend away at Winneba beach

Our journey started at Kaneshie bus station where, according to the guidebook we could easily get on a bus to Winneba. It wasn't that easy. Kaneshie is a very hot and very noisy place, and all the buses were packed. Patrick was struggling and wanted to go home....



Hotter than hot. Our relationship was being tested... The next time we'll charter a taxi...

Eventually we found an airconditioned tro-tro (minibus) that took us to Lagoon Lodge in Winneba.

The lagoon...

The beach was a 10 min walk away


The beach!! And a goat...

I'm as white as the beach! Have to work on that suntan...

Winneba is a very quiet spot, it seemed like we were the only tourists there. The high season for tourism on the coast starts in November, when it gets really hot in Ghana...

People were pulling in the fishingnets all along the beach on Sunday morning

Finally getting settled!

So we're finally getting into the swing of things here. It all takes a little time and to be honest I was most concerned with the job and making sure I kept my head above water for the first week. I managed to do it albeit missing tuesday and wednesday with the dreaded "Ghana Gut". Severe stomach cramps and numerous runs to the bathroom. I won't go into the finer details but suffice to say I went on an enforced diet for a few days.

We had a fairly quiet weekend which suited me just fine, although we did go out with 2 female teachers to eat on the friday. We looked up some places in our "no worries" guide to Ghana. Unfortunately things are not quite up to date and our proposed venue was no longer there. Never fear, there's plenty to choose from and we traversed a main road (not an easy thing to do with the drivers over here) and ended up in a little tacky joint... named Hallo Restaurant where we had the usual choice of Chinese or Pizza! We ended up getting two of each and to be fair to them the pizza's were pretty good, about 12 Cedi's or 8 dollars for a large one. The chinese was not quite as successful but you live and learn as they say.

Next up we headed to "Ryans Irish Bar"... ( i lasted a month didn't I???). It was a lovely old colonial building, well laid out with great 80's tunes and a very decent pool table upstairs. I can see myself heading back! Beers and food was a lot pricer than other bars but that's to be expected i guess.

Finally we went to "Champs"... a sports bar with a university crowd. It was karaoke night so we were blessed with a fine selection of top chart music belted out by some of the clientelle. Met a few very pleasant Lebanese guys (there's quite a few here) and then called it a night. I had the grand total of 2 and a half beers! My stomach was still not 100% so I took it very easy.

Sat was spent watching a bit of Arsenal/Man U and sunday was a game of football and a swim in the school pool. All in all a very enjoyable weekend.

On a great side note, Karolina has been offered (and started today) a job here as a Teaching Assistant to grade 3. The primary principal is top notch and said she can stay as long as she wants and if at any stage she wants to stop there's no problem. It'll be great for her until she gets something closer to her actual profession.

Hope everyones well and please post some comments if there's things you want to know.

Later Gaters,

We've Arrived!

The School Pool... 25m of pure bliss...

Our school lizard (well it is Africa for god's sake....)

Me in School (note: This was a casual look, normally it's collars and long pants)

The Walk to work! Only 5 mintues but in Africa that equals a sweaty worker!

The Entrance to our lovely abode

Second Bedroom

Master Bedroom (ensuite) Notice the Mozzie net!!

Kitchen

Our Dining Area

Our ballroom/toilet/bath/sink

Our Veranda (if you don't mind...)

Our Living Room

The way in!

The Apartment (ours is on the 1st floor... and the beautiful Karolina of course!)

So there you have it....

Yes we've landed and settled in... in fact we've just completed our first week on the African Continent. Everythings going well. Most importantly here are a few snaps of our apt. and the school and area. Hope everyones well!

Our pending departure...

So this is it, the moment we've been eagerly awaiting since early spring! Our bags are packed and our consiences clear...(well mine's still a little hazy from saturday night but Karolina is similar to a well scrubbed window pane).

I can't for the life of me imagine what else we could have brought with us... from swimming googles to candle holders.... aussie rules jumpers (suns out guns out)... to all the various pills and ointments that will keep us free from infestation.

I hope everything will go to plan and come tomorrow night we'll be sitting in our new apt drinking an ice cold Star beer and contemplating what lies ahead. A run in with a wild African elephant perhaps? Or a enjoying all things colourful down at the city market...why yes an elongated witch doctors anti-spirit stick is exactly what i'm after!

We'll try our best to keep this blog regularly updated and hopefully give you an insight into the weird and wacky world of our African life.

See you guys on the other side!


Patrick+Karolina