What is there to write???

Everything becomes so normal after a while.

No longer is there something new going on all the time. No longer does it bother me to wait an hour for the simplest things. The food that was a constant source of surprises, is now merely good food.

The interactions with people are less surprising. The language, while still entirely incomprehenible, no longer sounds alien to my ears.

At time I have even been bored. And although part of this boredom is doubtlessly connected with living with the same 6 geeks for a month and a half, it is also an indication that i am gradually settling in.

While I still take as many showers as practically possible (generally 3 a day), I no longer worry about the heat, the sweating and the constant grime tht covers my body in this tropical heat and humidity. It is. No more and no less.

There are so many things that required conscious thought just 2 weeks ago, that are now a normal part of my life here.

I recognize the feeling from earlier travels. It tells me one thing above all others. It will be difficult to adjust to living in Denmark again.

The normality of life in Accra, is also the primary reason for the rarity in my posts.  I rarely come upon something so unique, special  or even annoying, that it forces itself into written form. i find myself sitting in front of the computer, wanting to write, but not really feeling there is anything interesting enough for me to put into words.

That doesn't mean that nothing is happening. On the contrary, I am up and about more hours a day than I would ever be at home.

Last weekend was at once void of content, and highly entertaining. I did nothing much, yet a lot happened.

Saturday was a day of rest from morning to noon, I read (Foucault's Pendulum), relaxed and ate. Around one, Jason's colleague Vincent from Ghana Classifieds picked us up (Jason, Jean and I) and took us to his house in downtown Accra, for a bit of basketball. Just a short hour of one-on-one and two-on-two behind his garage, but it was basketball. And I miss playing bball. For a while I thought it a complete non-sport in Ghana, but here he is, playing for a local league team. That was great. And hopefully i have proved my ability to handle a basketball enough that I will be invited to their practice*.  Now that would be fun.

Sunday was a different day. Full English breakfast at Pit-Stop, the auto body shope in Asylum Down that also happens to have a small restaurant. Almost impossible to find for the unititiated, this petrol-smelling hideout has some fabulous bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and coffee. Divine!

After breakfast, and my second shower, it was of to the Accra football (soccer for the ill-informed) stadium, and a world cup qualifier between Ghana and Nigeria. Kitted out in a full Ghana kit, joined by Tim, Joe the PBS photographer, and our friend Akpeteshie, we were ready for the battle between local rivals. The atmosphere was intense, the pre-game build-up was fabulous, and the undertones were interesting. The Ghana football association, in an attempt to save money and avoid a repeat of the last 3 embarassing defeats, had decided not to make use of Ghana's European-based professionals. Opting instead to play with a line-up consisting entirely of the local Accra team, Hearts of Oak. The Hearts of Oak, or Phobia as they are affectionately called by fans, are a hugely popular Accra team and recent winners of the African club tournament, making them effetively one of the absolute top clubs in Africa. The fans were loving it....

Yells of "Phobia!", "The boys are good" and "We never say die, until the bones are rotten" left no doubt in my mind that the fans would rather see a fighting, spirited team of locals, than a lacklustre, mediocre performance of hugely talented foreign-based players who would rather be back at their clubs earning their million-dollar wages, than defending the honour of their country.

And the Nigerian squad, of almost entirely European-based profesionals, provided a great background for illustrating the difference between the two attitues. Exactly as lacklustre and mediocre as we had seen the Ghanaian squad at earlier games, they were nevertheless so obviously superior in terms of physical strength and technical skills, that the game was never really open. The Hearts of Oak put in an incredibly spirited display, with lot's of class football, but were never seriously able to threaten the physically larger, stronger and in most cases faster Nigerians in front of goal. The Nigerians on the other hand were so obviously not interested, worried as they seemed about injuries that would keep them out of club ties in the European Champions League and other large tournaments, that they constantly pulled out of tough situations, kept their expenditure of energy to a minimum, and generally provided only a few offensive situations that truly showed them as one of the worlds best teams.

But "the boys are good", and although the game ended with a disapointing 0-0 score, the celebrations were intense amongst the local supporters. A trip to a local bar, a few shots of Ginger Akpeteshie and bites of grilled squid later, Joe, Tim and I were parading our football gear through the entire lengths of Osu. The sight of 3 obrunis in a great mood, and full football gear, provided the days entertainment for many a local. The number of times we managed to get huge white smiles out of people by raising a fist to the sky and saying, "Phobia - The Boys are Good", was worthy of a record somewhere.

Exhausted and after my 3rd shower of the day, we, the entire band of geeks, minus the francophones, headed out for the beach restaurant, Next Door (which incidentally is not next door to anything at all). The food was good, the bill, however, in what seems like a not entirely unusual scene, was way too big for what we got. Sunday night exhaustion, combined with the complexity of actually calculating the right price, led us to just pay the bill, wave goodbye and head on home. But not before I had a chance to reminisce on what had in fact been an incredibly enjoyable weekend.......

* Since I originally wrote this post, I went to his team practice last thursday and played some pick-up games. I am also going back tonight. It's great!