The Best of the B.A.D: The coffee shop ambience arrives in Accra

Last week (29th September) was International Coffee Day. Days like that are important to me since I am a completely unrepentant coffee addict. I like my coffee daily, strong and freshly-brewed. One thing I have always appreciated about living in that ominous place called 'The West', was access to a plethora of coffee shops. In New York City, there is literally a Starbucks at every street corner. As a grad student in London, my heart would skip a beat every time I handed over precious pounds at one of the many coffee shop chains that were there solely to feed my addiction.

Coffee shop chains represent a dubious brew of globalization and capitalism with a hint of a country's growing affluence. My appreciation of these places has not only been for real coffee brewed to perfection but for their warm ambience. Coffee shops are likely to have comfortable chairs, sometimes couches, places to plug in a laptop and if one is lucky, free WiFi. For me they represent the perfect environment to catch up with friends or work for hours fuelled by caffeine. 

Although 'coffee shops' in the Netherlands mean something different and if you ask to be taken to a Dutch coffee shop and expect coffee and cake, you will be sorely disappointed. Instead you will be taken to a seedy, poorly lit place with few windows and people smoking marijuana legally. In the Netherlands, the right word is 'café' and they usually offer strong black coffee and a heavenly slice of warm Dutch apple tart. So much better than any Dutch coffee shop.

Alas, I digress, this was about Ghana not the Netherlands. When I

moved to Ghana back in the early 00s, there were very few coffee shops or cafés and few offered that charming ambience that I craved so much.  Things have changed and the inevitable force that is globalization has finally led to at least two new coffee shop chains offering brewed coffee and comfy seats.  I managed to go to 2 branches of my particular coffee shop 5 times within 3 weeks.  I did wince at the heavy amounts I parted with to get my fix but for me it was also about that charming coffee shop ambience that had finally arrived in town.

The coffee, the music and the cool people

PS: In the past 2 years, I have come to realize that the strongest and most delicious coffee can be found in East Africa. Places like Java House in Nairobi (that allows you choose the strength of your coffee) or Mokka City Café and Lounge in Dar es Salaam serve the most unforgettable cups of coffee on this planet.  One of the most delightful cups of coffee I have ever had was on a coffee plantation in Mbeya, Southern Tanzania. Their coffee foam patterns were amazing too.

Delicious coffee at Mokka City Café and Lounge
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Coffee at Utengule Coffee Lodge, Mbeya, Tanzania

After 123 years, the Land of Orange gets a King

Twas days before the coronation and all through the land, the people made ready with their orange robes at hand. 

Queen Wilhelmina Source: wikipedia

In a few days time, the Netherlands will erupt into a sea of bright orange as part of the annual celebration of Queen's Day (Koninginnedag). This year, things are going to be a little different. Although many people outside of the Netherlands know that there is a constitutional monarch and royal family with a penchant for biking, not as many people are aware that for the past 123 years, the Netherlands has actually had three queens in quick succession.

Since the ascension to the throne of Queen Wilhelmina in 1890, the famed House of Orange-Nassau has been headed by a matriarch. Reigning through two world wars and a dismantling empire, Queen Wilhelmina was  eventually succeeded by her daughter Queen Juliana who ruled from 1948 until 1980 when she abdicated in favour of her eldest daughter Beatrix.

Queen Juliana Source: Royal Correspondent Blog

Queen Beatrix and her late husband German-born Prince Claus of the Netherlands at her coronation in 1980.                Source. dutchnews.nl

In a surprise announcement in January this year, Queen Beatrix herself announced she would be abdicating in favour of her son, 46 year old Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange.

Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Maxima. 

Source: UK Times

So aside from the usual merry-making and excessive drinking that comes with the annual Queen's Day celebration, the people of Orange will be bidding farewell to their beloved Queen Beatrix as she retires. They will also be welcoming Prince Willem-Alexander as their king and his popular Argentinean-born wife Maxima as their new queen consort. Does it not appear that Argentinean are doing pretty well for themselves this year when it comes to ascending various throne? Did someone say Messi? Pope Francis?

Novel excitement aside, it is somewhat sad that as a new king is crowned in the Land of Orange, his ascension marks the end of 123 years of women firmly at the helm of affairs at the House of Orange-Nassau.

Dutchliving: Of Push-up Bras and Male models

Dutch department store Hema has a rather interesting new push-up bra advertising campaign that has not only stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy but is likely to generate interest in a brassiere that may have actually passed unnoticed. The lastest Hema adverts use an androgynous Bosnian-born Australian male model Andrej Pejic to advertise the push-up bra. Aside from the somewhat disturbing fact that the male model looks alot better than many females in female clothing, Hema has opted for this route possibly to get everyone talking. Indeed it appears that Hema has succeded. The launch of the campaign a few weeks ago had Hema trending on Twitter worldwide and it was not long before the story was picked up by international media outlets.



An advert I ran into showing Hema's new push-bra modelled by Andrej Pejic

After hearing about the push-bra controversy via Twitter, I was excited to see a Hema billboard advertising the bra outside my local supermarket.

I love the way the Hema ads have “Andrej Pejic voor Hema (Andrej Pejic  for Hema)” at the bottom right-hand corner just in case one was blissfully unawares that the model was a male. Whether Hema is aiming to challenge social norms and sell bras or just primarily to sell bras still remains to be seen. However, it does appear they are succeeding on both fronts.

Four girls and a mouse in a Dutch Apartment with Pre-fab Walls

I have relocated yet again. I'm back in the Netherlands but this time I'm no longer staying in the centre of town but in a large complex on the border of two municipalities. Being on the border means that you get to be close to open fields and what resembles farmland on one side of a road and biotechnology companies on the other. A little strange.

Until this morning I was one of the stars of a popular hit series Four girls and a mouse in a Dutch Apartment. This was the long-anticipated sequel to last autumn's unforgettable hit series Three Guys and a Girl in a Dutch House with Steep Stairs

Well, the series lost one of the main characters this morning. The intrepid and fear-inducing mouse was finally caught. For the past 2 months, our rodent resident has ensured screams and cringing throughout the apartment. The various traps littered around did not seem to have made a difference. But in the end, our friend found himself stuck in a trail of glue.

So back to the  housing complex. Its a massive place housing countless numbers of students that one never sees.  I heard from someone that it is all pre-fabricated buildings that were situated in Northern Holland and transported to South Holland en masse. The veracity of that story is yet to be confirmed. So this is where I will be over the coming months. I'll be observing Ghana from afar and adjusting to that thing I call 'Dutch living'.

Art at Work: Works of Art

I'm not an artist. In fact, my artistic creativity is in negative numbers. I do appreciate art though. Well, I should add that 30 minutes in any museum is bound to drive me crazy!One thing I find fascinating is how the Parasitology Department where I'm currently working in is adorned with art work. Not just any art work but images of parasites and vectors captured on film. This is quite in contrast to the blank and bare walls that stare back at me in my own department in Ghana. This has really gotten me thinking, doesn't a little art work in the work-place add colour and warmth?  

Aside from the parasitic art, if you wander throughout the hospital where the department is, you find wonderful permanent thought-provoking art pieces on display on every single wall. These are great for a hospital since hospitals are always associated with sterility, sadness and death. 

Aside from the permanent pieces of art on display, there is also an art gallery on the hospital's ground floor that houses temporary exhibitions all year round. This month's exhibition stopped me in my tracks in awe a couple of weeks ago. Among the art pieces on display, are 4 vivid beautiful pictures of black children. Funnily enough, I first saw the images just days after watching the Kings of Leon video for Radioactive where the band appear to be out picnicking with black children in uniforms in rural Tennessee (??). I seriously began to wonder if I missed the memo  saying "Attention World, it is time to celebrate Black children in weird and wonderful ways!"

Later I found that the art pieces in the hospital are the works of  Dutch artist Ruud van Empel. His official website has many more images. I am completely at a loss  about what to think of his art work. Are these Black children being objectified? Why does this art leave me a little uncomfortable? Regardless, I still think Ghanaian workplaces could all benefit from colour and art. 

Ruud van Empel's more than eerie pieces on display at the hospital ground floor

Three Guys and a Girl in a Dutch House with Steep Stairs

Just a couple of months ago, I was in Ghana making last-minute plans to come to the Netherlands for a brief sojourn. Things were so last-minute that I only found accommodation one week before I flew out. I was so grateful to have a place that I did not even know (or care) whom I would be living with. So when the landlady ushered me into my new digs and I met Tenant #1 (a guy) , Tenant #2 (a guy) and heard Tenant #3 was also a guy, I was calm on the outside but in my head I was bouncing off the walls in surprise. Don't get me wrong; I've had plenty of room-mates,  housemates and flatmates in the past but they have never been exclusively male. So this was going to be interesting! The second shock was the stairs - the steepest I had ever seen before in my life! I still have visions of me tumbling down the stairs one of these days. Anyway, its been 2 months and I have settled into my Dutch digs. 

 

I love my room; it has large bay windows and a wonderful street view. The street below is very narrow and the large windows across the way remind me of the film Rear Window. Luckily, curtains and frosted windows are a deterrent against  scary voyeuristic tendencies! In fact, Dutch houses tend to have large windows at street level so its quite common to peer in on a family dinner as you walk down the street.

Playing with the Boys: Dumpling-making and Mooncake-eating as part of Chinese Mid-Autumn festival

Have I learned anything from living with guys?  *Yes* guys are a-okay as housemates! At first the toilet seat remaining up used to drive me crazy but last week something occurred to me. If you live in a house where the vast majority of the tenants prefer toilet seats up then am I not the weirdo for wanting the seat down?

The narrow street of cobbled stone below as seen from my window. I sometimes wonder how people manage to park on this street.

"There are Homosexuals in Ghana's Parliament - Derrick Adjei" - Observing Ghanaian news from afar and SMH**

Being away from Ghana for a few months, one of my favorite activities is checking up on the news either through Joy FM online, Twitter, Citifmonline or occasionally Ghanaweb. Last week, I concluded that there was clearly nothing newsworthy happening in the whole of Ghana. How could I possibly reach such a conclusion? Well, a headline from earlier this past week led me to that very conclusion:

There are Homosexuals in Ghana's Parliament - Derrick Adjei

According to the article, the aforementioned Mr Adjei has a list of purported homosexuals and they all happen to be members of the opposition.

At first I thought April Fool's Day had come early (or late?) and that this article was a prank. I was a little surprised to hear it was actually a serious article. I was even more surprised that some of my Twitter buddies in Ghana actually took  it seriously!   Fellow blogger Osabutey Anny has a colourful and interesting take on this debacle in his piece Rubbish Politics.

Out of morbid curiosity, I listened to the interview where Mr. Adjei first mentioned his list. His revelations only came at the end of  an ironic diatribe on lies in Ghanaian politics. It appears the young man was reacting to being called a homosexual by members of the opposition at some point in time. He said nothing would deter him from publishing his list on Wednesday 15 September. Well, it appears that the Wednesday outing for the mass outings came and went without any such publication. Of course from what I  have observed from afar,  it did cause entertainment and distraction. 

Perhaps Mr. Adjei was saved by the publication of excerpts from the autobiography of former British diplomat Craig Murray. In his book, Mr. Murray makes curious and potentially damaging claims about Ghana Election 2000. However, many have since come out to say that Mr. Murray's claims are not entirely accurate. So aside from the hot pink list and the Murray revelations, other tantalizing tit-bits from Ghana news include:

• Boakye Djan's intelligence is 'fufu-based' -Kofi Adam

• Dan Botwe upset by Boakye Gyan's "kindergarten" analysis

Clearly it's time for me to give up on the belief that there is a modicum of seriousness still  left in Ghanaian politics. So instead of observing from afar and being rendered speechless by utter ridiculousness, I have decided to devote a little blogging to the world around me. Watch this space for chronicles on #Dutch Living! 

Dutch Living exemplified: The Bikes of Leiden 

**SMH = 'Shaking My Head'. For some of us over the hill, all this LOL (laugh out loud) language is sometimes hard to keep up with!

The Temporarily Relocating Procrastinator

One thing I will always regret is that that I took up blogging AFTER my trip to Gabon in 2008. After all, Gabon's beautiful green rolling hills, warm tropical environment and colourful people provide ample fodder for anyone's blog. As did the surreal research commune I was living in where at some point, I was convinced we were participants in some twisted reality television show being broadcast on German television. Moreover, the Gabonese culinary approach i.e. anything-that-moves-in-the-forest was *erm* fascinating. I admit  that  indeed, I did enjoy the little python I had.

That's me at the official Equator line in Gabon. Standing between the hemispheres

Anyway, I digress, for the next couple of months, I will be leaving the fair shores of Ghana for the Netherlands. Another regret I have is that I was unable to complete a piece on foot-soldiers before I left. Ghanaian political foot-soldiers  that is NOT Dutch ones. Speaking of Dutch soldiers did you hear they have pulled out of Afghanistan? Alas, I digress again. The foot-soldier post has proved challenging because  this group is probably the most dynamic and fluid aggregation on the Ghanaian political landscape today and thus very hard to pin-down and characterise. I can still complete that piece from the Netherlands but it does seem a little disingenuous blogging about Ghana from elsewhere. After all, I need to be surrounded by inspiration from the tropical sun, traffic, flavours and the wonderful glow of Ghana living. 

So what could one possibly blog about from Holland?

• Is it true that it is mainly Western foreign tourists that smoke marijuana in The Netherlands while the Dutch are largely uninterested?
• Is it 'Holland' or 'The Netherlands' anyway?
• Leave your bicycle unlocked and it WILL be stolen
• Why are Dutch people so tall?
• How long does it take a tulip to grow?
• Do people still wear clogs in the Netherlands?
• Dutch Politician Geert Wilders is popular among some and it is not only for his *shocking* blond hair

Okay, I'm being facetious. I'm sure I will find interesting things to blog about! In the meantime, I'm dreaming of Dutch pancakes already. *Hmmmm*

Delicious Holland Style Pancakes