Ghana 2015

Just like that it is 2015. I was in Ghana to see the end of the glorious year that was 2014 and the ushering in of 2015. I meant to blog earlier about my experiences since it had been two years since I had been to my beloved homeland.  However, I just could not blog. Anything I had to say would sound like a diatribe of what my ex-brother-in-law used to call "complaining music". Let us not even get started on the reliable internet connection issues I had. Also, I am still reeling from the shock at how much things had changed and often not in a good way. On the one hand, Ghana does the appearance of a vibrant, rich, capitalist country that is full of opportunities so well. At the same time, it is also doing an impersonation of a failed state recovering from a long civil war pretty accurately.

Here is my list of some of the goods and the bads.

The Goods:

1. The Police: They are young, sleek and visible. Over a two year period, our police force on the streets of Accra turned young, goodlooking, athletic and professional. Not only were they visible but seemed to have access to equally sleek looking vehicles. At first I thought this visible improvement was just by chance but apparently it is a new policy. Police are directing traffic, doing roundblocks at night and for the first time in my experience of Ghana, actually doing their jobs.

2. Road developments in Accra: Ignoring the abysmal mess that is Kwame Nkrumah circle, there are a number of impressive road developments. Suddenly, the Spintex Road bottle-neck has been eased. The parts of the Madina-Legon road that I saw were also looking good.

3. Malls, malls, malls: A number of new malls and shopping centres have opened since I've been away. There is the Marina Mall, Osu shoprite mall, Palace shopping centre, Nungua shoprite shopping centre....just to name a few. 

4. Complex housing complexes: Not sure this is a good but there are dozens of new housing complexes that are being completed. Sign of rapid development or perhaps indications of an economic powerhouse bubble?

Villagio at Airport Residential Area, Accra

The Bads:

1. The energy crisis: Probably the most frustrating aspect of my return was the energy situation. The lack of power in Ghana is at dire levels. We have had stringent loadshedding in the middle of the 00s but the present situation is like a cruel punishment the populace is being subjected to. The energy crisis just goes to show what happens when incompetence and mis-management go unchecked. The least said the better.

2. The water crisis: For the past 20 years, we have had a house in a neighborhood with constant, reliable water that was available daily. That has changed. It seems the way in which the Ghana Water Company optimized water supply to other areas was NOT to come up with ingenious ways of getting additional water supplies but by simply robbing Peter to pay Paul. So my neighborhood has suddenly turned into a dry area with an unknown water schedule. It does however seem to come on around 3am on inconsistent days.

3. Falling cedi and killer prices: Although I am away from Ghana now, I am still reeling from the effect of the falling cedi on prices across the board. Taxi rides that cost GHC 5.00 two years are now going for GHC 10 minimum. Someone has gone through all the restaurant menus at my favorite places and multiplied all prices by 2.5. To make things worse, salaries did not go up in the same way.

There are so many bads to list but really do not want to turn this into a huge bitter rant. In all, Ghana is still Ghana. The public's expectations of leaders are still low. Every public school building is still being used as a church venue. Kotoka International Airport's arrival terminal still has not changed (in my eyes) since 1985. There are still 100s of youth selling mobile phones without boxes at Circle. Some banks are still a hotbed of inefficiency and privileged people are still worshiped.  

In essence, home is still home. 

New York Movie Prices in Accra?

We were all set to see the film Avatar tonight. It had great reviews and seemed like a lovely diversion from the gloomy Christmas spirit of 2009. Where else in Accra can one see fresh releases such as Avatar on a wide-screen with crystal-clear surround sound but at the Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall? 

Any  Silverbird regular knows that they charge GHC10.00 ($7) for a movie which many people consider quite steep. I was among those "many people" but had come to accept that the price wasn't coming down anytime soon. My first trip over to Silverbird to see Quantum of Solace was so enjoyable I blogged about it.

Anyway, I had trouble finding movie times for Avatar online so en route to Tema this morning, I stopped by the Accra Mall. I found the perfect movie time (6:05pm) but just when I was leaving, my eyes fell on a small notice at the empty ticket desk. It read something like: 

"Due to circumstances beyond our control -blah-blah-blah- management would like to announce effective 18th December 2009 the following increases in ticket prices...."

Indeed. Adult tickets are now going for GHC 15.00 ($10.71) while there are discounts for students, senior citizens and children. What?!! Suddenly, Avatar at GHC15.00 without drinks and popcorn did not seem worth it! I called up Daixy whom I was supposed to see the film with and told her about the price hike. She was at the mall later and called me back to confirm that I was not hallucinating when I read the notice, there was actually a 50% price hike.

 "Well", she said "We can always go dressed as Seniors!". I laughed but hmmm maybe it is not such a bad idea!

Out of curiosity, I went online to see how much Avatar would cost at  AMC Empire 25 in the middle of Times Square New York. You get the full movie experience plus the hustle, bustle and bright lights of the city that never (ever) sleeps!

Watching Avatar tonight at the AMC Empire 25 would set you back $12.50. If you were to take the subway into the borough of Brooklyn, you could watch it there for $9 at the Bay Ridge Alpine Cinema. Does the Silverbird price hike sounds like a case of New York movie prices in Ghana?!

In defense of Silverbird, I do understand that they are MAJOR costs associated with bringing a brand-new release such as Avatar to Ghana. The company has to seriously recoup on their costs. However, I'm still wondering... doesn't raising the price of tickets by 50% scare away a number of potential customers who would be helping with the cost recovery? Has the Silverbird management carefully considered that raising the price to this level will not affect their core market? Perhaps that is the case. Clearly, I am not part of their target market. I would rather be watching a film at New York prices in New York than watching a film at New York prices in Ghana at a Ghanaian salary! 

So how are people entertaining themselves in Accra these days? Am I the only one suffering from persistent acute boredom? Hmm... is it too late to make it to the Samini Experience Tour tonight?

Taking Time Out to chill in Accra

My friend El has now been in Ghana for exactly one week and for some reason thinks Accra is a cosmopolitan and vibrant city. He was even impressed that we had a branch of the world-famous Patchi chocolates. In fact, I had no idea we did but a visit to the Accra Mall confirmed that we do have a Patchi store as we found it tucked away to the left at the mall's Game entrance. Their chocolates are deliciously amazing by the way. I'm still hard-pressed to believe that Accra is so hip and happening but just being at the Accra mall on a Sunday afternoon amidst swarms of good-looking and vibrant people, has inclined me towards agreeing with my friend.

Finding a copy of Time Out Accra in a hotel store has further fermented my appreciation of the fact that Accra is definitely a place on the move. Back in my New York City days, Time Out New York was the definitive guide to all the happenings in the Big Apple; the concerts, the events as well as the best places to eat etc. It did great reviews and included how much a meal at a hot-spot like "The Russian Tea Room" was likely to set you back. So it was with much excitement that I bought my first copy of Time Out Accra full of glossy and colourful pages that really bring the city alive. Well, it was actually El that bought it for me but lets not get weighed down with technicalities! The magazine is filled with features, sightseeing options, what/where to eat , where to stay and where to be entertained.There's even an amusing section entitled "Pigdin Buster" that gives a few words in pidgin translated into English. So if you hear someone describing something as Awam or Azaa, you would know exactly what they mean! Time Out Accra is not only a must-have for visitors but also for natives of this fair city. Check it out!

Harmattan Rain: A Unique Phenomenon

Some weeks ago there was some media buzz in Ghana surrounding the launch of a debut novel from a young Ghanaian writer named Ayesha Harruna Attah. The book was entitled Harmattan Rain which is an interesting oxymoron since rain during the Harmattan season is a unique occurrence. From what I heard on one of the radio stations, it chronicles the lives of 3 generations of Ghanaian women from before independence. I made a mental note to look for the book at some point in the future. However, the buzz around it continued and fellow Ghanablogger Kajsa highlighted it in a recent posting. Indeed, I became more curious. Finally, a tweet from my undergraduate college about Harmattan Rain virtually put me in my car bound straight for the Silverbird Bookshop in search of my copy. As it turns out, the author happened to attend my undergraduate alma mater Mount Holyoke College. Our times at MHC never overlapped since she was a member of class of 2005 and I course graduated erm...closer to the turn of the decade (*yikes*).

Although I just started reading Harmattan Rain a few days ago, I'm already hooked. It is beautifully crafted, vivid and entertaining and I can't help but be amazed that this is the first novel from this young writer. Oh and I'm not plugging this book because it is written by a young Ghanaian woman or because she attended the same undergraduate college as me but rather because it is refreshingly brilliant.

Light it up: Getting smoked out in Accra

Some of my best friends are smokers and I have no problem with an individual exercising their right to smoke but PLEASE; not all over me. Here is a nightmare scenario for me: I'm sitting outside at a cafe enjoying the lovely fresh air and having a coffee + croissant. Some strangers approach and even if there are 20 empty tables, they choose the one right by me. They settle down, whip out their cigarettes, light up and blow wafts of smoke all over me without a care in the world. That is exactly what happened to me yesterday when three men speaking rapid Italian parked themselves directly in front of me at the Accra Mall. I was livid. Maybe I'm annoyed with myself because I did not rant and spew vitriol all over them. Mmm...blogging is like a powerful outlet for passive aggressive people everywhere!

Smoking in Ghana is an interesting phenomenon.You hardly see people smoking in public but when you go out at night, swarms of smokers come out of hiding. Well, maybe these folks are mostly social smokers. There is something socially unacceptable about smoking in Ghana. Seeing a woman smoke is almost considered an abomination and there is an unflappable stereotype that a woman smoking by herself in a club/pub is a commercial sex worker! Warning to all you ladies who may find yourself flying solo out at night ciggie in hand.

I have always been fascinated with smoking. I remember visiting Geneva in my mid-teens and being shocked that everyone seemed to be smoking! It was like being in a 1950s film....you know the type of movie where a doctor offers you a cigarette in his office or where smoking is glamorized by Audrey Hepburn. Alas, it is now a well established fact that smoking is a major risk factor for lung cancer and a myriad of other cancers. Passive smoking is no better and many industrialized countries have welcomed public smoking bans in the past few years.

What I find interesting about Ghana is the lack of real legislature governing smoking in public in Ghana. Last year there was talk (there is always talk!) about a smoking ban coming into effect in November last year. What became of that? Will Ghanaians be able to enforce such a ban?

Finding the Unexpected in Tema: Tema Central Mall

I'm seriously beginning to wonder why some things are not better advertised in Ghana. This past Saturday, I happened to stumble across the Tema Central Mall completely by chance. Tema, in case you did not know, is a port city east of Accra. How we ended up in Tema on Saturday morning is a convoluted tale that involves masses of traffic around the Accra Mall at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange. Would you believe the traffic was a result of the graduation ceremony at the University of Ghana? So there we were in Tema. I decided to swing by the MaxMart supermarket situated at somewhere called the "Tema Central Mall" . I completely expected this 'Tema Mall' place to be a dinky little building but was pleasantly surprised. It is a cute and quaint mall very similar to the one at East Legon. Aside from MaxMart supermarket, the Tema Mall is complete with a beauty parlour, coffee shop/restaurant (Café de Lyon), a Woodin textile stop, Identity clothing store, and a restaurant that appears to serve mouth-watering entrées. Apparently there is a gym there too. There were other shops but too little time to explore. I think the Tema Central Mall is suffering from a serious case of being under-hyped when it is actually quite impressive. Why can't the businesses there come together and have a web-page or an ad in the newspaper?

Independence Day: A View out of Ghana

Today is independence day in the fair country of Ghana; 52 years of freedom and justice (with questionnable lapses here and there along the way). Independence day is also the theme for the communal blog topic amongst Ghana bloggers. For some reason I am completely uninspired by Independence Day 2009. There are a number of reasons for this:

• A bad work meeting over the phone with collaborative partners in Europe that ended 30 minutes ago
• The fact that it does not feel like independence day and in fact most people have gone to the mall or the beach
  
• 52 is an odd number...it is not like 50 or 55 or 60...these seem to offer something more to celebrate

Before coming to work, my family and I spent our independence day lounging around after a delicious brunch followed almost immediately by my current favorite meal apem and palaver sauce (boiled plantain and spinach stew ). Like millions of Ghanaians, we watched the official independence celebrations on TV and listened to our new President's speech. He was poised and eloquent but we were a tad creeped out when the camera man captured a shot of the president's speech script and we could see that the font size was Arial 60. After the celebrations, television quickly turned into the usual documentaries about life in the 1950s and the path towards independence.

Around lunch time, TV3 started showing a Ghanaian film classic from 1970 I told you So starring the late greats Araba Stamp and Bob Cole. We gasped at how little Accra (especially around High Street) had changed from when the film was made to now...Not a good sign.

Regardless, this day should be a time for all Ghanaians to reflect on how far we have come as a people since 6 March 1957. The struggles we have faced, the adversities we have overcome and how these have only made us stronger and wiser.
Just as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had so much hope for the future when he declared that Ghana was free for ever, so too should we look towards a brighter future filled with bigger and better things.

Rocky Dawuni's classic In Ghana very grainy video but the message still rings clear for me.

The Scramble for Ghana: Christmas in the midst of Politicking

Christmas in Ghana came and went. Feliz Navidad seemed to be played in heavy rotation on a lot of radio stations this year and the Accra mall is definitely redefining the Ghanaian Christmas experience with mass consumerism and heavy traffic. On Christmas eve, I arrived at the mall early in the morning to avoid traffic and to do some last-minute shopping. Sadly, half of Accra had the same idea and the traffic was not a pleasant sight! The Harmattan has also arrived adding an eerie, gothic smog to the Accra landscape and covering everything with dust.

My Christmas day was well-spent. I arrived for mass on time at 10am but I soon realised that I had mixed up the time and was *sigh* one hour late. In the end, I had to find a suitable standing spot in the Church car-park along with other late-comers/time mixer-uppers. Christmas lunch with family was deep-fried and delicious. Ice-cream and cupcake rendered me catatonic and I settled into Christmas television only to be hit by the reality that we are indeed reaching the crescendo of the political high season and that the run-off election slated for December 28th is still very much "too close to call".

Source: www.ghanaweb.com
As I attempted to find some merry feel-good Christmas movie on the television, the two political parties in contention for the run-off ran alternating television ads that made my head hurt. At first it was entertaining and interesting to watch but lately political ads have lost their sparkle. Outside, Ice-cream vans in the neighbourhood have been replaced by vehicles patrolling the area playing campaign songs for the two parties.

Suddenly, for some reason, the fact that the race is too close has got me worried. Will the losers accept the results? Will the winners rub it in their opponents face? Will Ghana still remain calm and peaceful? Anticipation has now become nail-biting.

It has meant that for two nights in a row I have been up all night watching news from Al-Jazzera, Deutsche Welle (English), BBC and CNN.
It is amazing how different news source report the same news and how you can critically assess these differences at 3am. I was sad to hear about the passings of Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter. Ironically, I was just reading about Eartha Kitt still going strong at 81 in the December edition of Ebony magazine. I did not follow much of her musical career but loved her in Boomerang..as Lady Eloise ("Maarrr-cusss!")
Harold Pinter I will never forget for his unforgettable turn as Sir Thomas Bertram in the 1999 version of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.
Many years ago when I was 10 years old, I borrowed Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker at the Manzini Library in Swaziland . This book was clearly not supposed to be in the children's section and left me a little confused but was enjoyable though.
Anyway, I'm off to pack a light travel bag for our journey into the interior to cast my vote. Unfortunately, all the movies I have watched about Saigon, Phnom Penh, Kigali, Beirut etc. etc. are filling me with apprehension at the moment. I am clinging to the belief that Ghanaians are way too mature for political unrest. Clinging.

Of Nollywood Premieres, Lounges and Chantilly Cream

I had a rare fun-filled weekend. On my previous post I rambled on about the spending time with Southern African Ghanaian (SAG) friends and indeed it came to pass. My friend S. is quite the Nigerian film (i.e. Nollywood) fan and convinced me to go to the much advertised premiere of the film State of the Heart starring the veteran Nollywood actors Richard Mofe-Damijo and Stella Damasus. The premiere was set to start at 7pm on Friday night and S. was worried that we were extremely late when we left my house at 6:40pm. Alas, she had forgotten this premiere was in Ghana and not Switzerland! We got to the National Theatre just after 7pm and were bemused to find a half-empty auditorium and a hollywood (as opposed to Nollywoood) film showing up on the screen. For the next hour and half we were subjected to a violent R-rated film without a single explanation from the event organisers. Eventually, the R-rated film went off and we were treated to Heroes Season 2, episode 1. Were these people for real?
At exactly 8:45pm, a popular radio DJ/ TV host Wolf took the stage. I actually felt really bad for the Wolf-man. The audience were understandably irate and baying for blood so gave him a hard time . He introduced some young hip-life artistes who lip-synched so beautifully to one of their tracks. Suddenly, the crowd erupted with cheers as Richard Mofe-Damijo, Stella Damasus and Segun Arinze made their extremely late grand entrance. Some photo-ops ensued and the angry crowd were at last appeased as we settled into the film. State of the Heart was a tad insipid, a tad predictable but I must say the acting was pretty good . After the film there were more photo-ops and apparently an after-party at Boomerang night-club. S. and I hurried away to look for a relaxing lounge to have a drink. Alas, I had left the directions to Twist at home so we made our way to Monsoon in Osu. The vibe was cool but the music was a little too loud for conversation. After we left Monsoon we contemplated a little dancing at Tantra before admitting the truth: it was 2am and we were darn tired! The next day S. and I met up with N. and her brother Y; my SAG childhood friends from Botswana. I had not seen Y. since 1996 and that was in Cape Town South Africa. We had some drinks at Frankie's Salad Lounge in Osu. This was my first time at "The Lounge" but had read about it from a posting by a fellow Ghana blogger Yngvild. The atmosphere was divinely mellow and we had a refreshingly intellectual conversation. It was probably one of the deepest conversations I have had in months! Fresh perspectives always make you realise how much you have become absorbed into any system.
Alas* S. departed for the US on Sunday morning leaving me a little sad. A pick-me-up came by the evening time which was well-spent knocking back glasses of wine with the big sis, big bruv, the sis-in-law and the newbie nephew Junior. Well, Junior abstained from the wine-drinking. The venue was the African Regent hotel with its "afropolitan" appeal and great atmosphere. Their apple pie and chantilly cream (fancy way of saying apple pie and vanilla ice-cream) is sinfully delicious.

In the end I did not see the cool "cousins". Apparently they found themselves at Rhapsody's on Friday night. Hopefully they dodged the cover! Alas, all good things must come to an end as family and friends leave the fair shores of Ghana until the next holiday season...*sigh* Happy Holidays everyone!

Invasion of the Cross-Cultural Ghanaians

Christmas is always a fascinating time of the year in Ghana. Mainly because a lot of the Ghanaian people resident outside of our fair nation tend to come down to spend time with friends and family.
There are the Londoners, New Yorkers, Canadians all of whom are Ghanaian. Occassionally there are the German burghers, Italian burghers, Amsterdam burghers...all illustrious countrymen and women living in that fabled place called "abroad". You can always tell the Ghanaians coming in from "abroad" at this time of the year. As the plane touches down at Kotoka International Airport, they emerge usually clad in a winter jacket and can be often heard lamenting about the shocking levels of heat being emitted by the Ghanaian motherland.
However, there is a small but undocumented breed of Ghanaians who are often overlooked; they are the Southern African Ghanaians (SAGs). SAGs are individuals who have spent most of their lives outside of Ghana living specifically in various countries in Southern Africa. You would be surprised at how many SAGs there are out there. Some grew up in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, some in Namibia, others were born in Lesotho or even Swaziland. This group remains widely unknown in Ghana because they tend to either live in Southern African or migrate to the US or Europe completely bypassing Ghana! These are my peoples! Well, this particular end of the year I'm excited because suddenly, it seems we' re invading Ghana en masse.

It all started with my big sis. announcing last week that she would be coming into Accra from South Africa for some high-brow work meetings. On her flight, she found she was travelling with Uncle B and two of his sons. Uncle B. was my late Dad's really good friend from the days when bell-bottoms and platform shoes were a la mode. My big sis, big bruv and I all grew up together in Southern Africa with Uncle B's kids who we dubbed "our cousins in Lesotho". Unfortunately, I had not seen them since afros were still in fashion back in 1988. Although Uncle B.'s sons are well into their 30s, this was actually their first visit to Ghana! So last night was the surreal reunion. Uncle B. and my mum shared embarrassing childhood tales about who used to cry the most. In the meantime, I admired my cousins' heavily tattooed bodies and their fascinating "Suuth Eferican" accents. One of the cousins had some Adinkra symbols (similar to the picture above) tattooed into his forearm. At some point the big sis declared that there was not much to do in the fair city of Accra. Of course, at that point I slipped into defender of my city mode and alas, the dreadful onus is now on me to prove just how hip Accra is....*Yikes*

I'm currently racking my brain and compiling a list of cool places to hang out at that may impress these Johannesburg-esque hip types...*Alas* the list is looking pretty sparse: Honeysuckle, Monsoon, Aphrodisiac, Bywells, Tribes, Rhapsody's, ...oh dear I could not possibly take'em to Accra Mall could I?!

The SAG invasion continues; my buddy S. is also in town from the US. She is Ghanaian but grew up in Sierra Leone and we lived very close to each other in Swaziland for some years. We often lament that our Southern African language skills should really not be this appalling..How come my big sis could win any argument in Zulu or Setswana when I can barely remember how to say hello....*sigh*. S. has the most Ghanaian credibility. After all, she went to school and university here.

Just when I was realising that we could really start a small army of SAG invaders. My friend N. calls to say she is in town! She grew up in the US and Botswana and we both went to college very close to each other in Western Massachusetts. Her big brother Y. is another Christmas returnee based in South Africa. So forget Christmas Election blues, my peoples are here! Now, back to entertainment ideas....anyone got any? Even one? Half an idea would do!

Bonding with James in Accra

This weekend, the widely anticipated 'Haitian Sensation' concert in Accra passed me by but I did take the opportunity to check out the new Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall. I was excited by the prospect of having the whole wide screen cinema experience complete with digital surround sound right here in Ghana. The last time I went to the cinema in Accra was during a family vacation back in '94 or '95. The mum, the big bruv and I went to see a B-movie out of Hollywood (or someone's basement) with some unknown D-list actors at the Rex or Roxy Cinema. Sadly, with the rise of the home box office
entertainment industry, all these cinemas died an unnatural death and were converted into churches. So the chance to see a new Hollywood blockbuster release that was not bootleg, was thrilling. So Quantum of Solace it was. My family has had a long-standing relationship with Mr. Bond. My dad was a major Bond fan-atic and apparently the big bruv cried the whole family out a movie theatre before I was born. They had gone to see Live and Let Die or the Man with the Golden Gun. I grew up in love with 007 (especially Sean Connery) and loved Roger Moore's humor-filled take on Mr. Bond. So on Sunday afternoon I made my way to the Accra Mall opting for the low-traffic 4:15pm show. Low traffic it certainly was...I coughed up the GHC 10.00 ($8.50)...*yikes* and a bag of popcorn.
The lobby was like any Odeon, AMC, Loews in the Northern hemisphere...complete with the concession stand. There were several other rooms showing other movies but our theater was impressive. Wide screen, lovely surround sound and fabulous seats. The movie started and we were transported with Bond on his adventure.
The drawbacks of the cinematic experience were the things going on in the room. There was a kid who decided to run up and down the stairs towards the end of the movie out of boredom and
the ushers were getting rather chatty just outside.
I also wished they had shown that "please-turn-off-your-mobile phone-and-stop-talking" advert before the movie since cell phone ringing was a popular distraction along with incessant chatter. A man in the row behind me let his phone ring and let us all hear his 2 minute conversation. Clearly brotherman had never heard of movie etiquette.
Ah yes, what about Quantum of Solace itself, I have come round to appreciate Daniel Craig as James Bond but this film was a little thin on the ground when it came to the plot...too many untied loose ends and more questions than answers. This Bond seems more brute than suave and the baddies were not like they used to make 'em.
The overall verdict: Okay Movie, great wide screen and digital surround sound , over-priced tickets and a serious need for clientele movie etiquette education.

Entertainment in Accra ?!

Lately, I have been bored out of my brains in my fair city of Accra and have been soliciting views from friends and coworkers on what their top 10 ways to amuse themselves in Accra are. So far I have found I'm not the only one seriously bored in this city! Here is my Top 10 list of ways to spend time in Accra:

1. Hanging out at the Accra mall surrounded by all the 15 year olds in the land who are barely wearing clothing
2. Hanging with friends drinking beer and eating kebabs at a seedy spot on the side of the road, blocking traffic and getting your ear-drums shot by blaring music …this seems to quite a popular activity among my fellow Ghanaians…
3. Watching movies at Busy internet….mmm do they still show movies there?
4. Hanging out at La Beach; if you don’t mind being solicited every 2 minutes by beach hawkers and hanging out with 1000 people, this might be your thing
5. Hanging out at Accra mall…did I say that already? Eish! shows how much there is to do around here!
6. Walking the vibrant streets of Osu going from restaurant to restaurant, bar to bar, club to club all while avoiding "narrow streets of cobbled stone"…well, not quite cobbled but narrow for sure
7. Hanging out at a nightclub or lounge dancing and drinking...when you get to my age there is that slight problem of NOT being able to stay up past 10pm!
8. Hanging at a hotel with friends drinking and listening to live music…is drinking like the only thing to around here?
9. "Counting blue cars" while stuck in traffic..
10. Out of ideas…care to go to the Accra mall anyone?

Well, my friend in Boston says that she is pretty bored up there too...so maybe it is a general boredom spreading the globe. So my dear Random Internet Surfer, I'm collecting views on how you spend time in your fair town, city, village, hamlet where-ever you are!