My 21st Birthday!

I’ve never been one to have a birthday week, usually a day is enough for me, but this year I got one. My birthday festivities began on Wednesday night the 14^th. We went out to dinner to an Indian Restaurant to celebrate before my friend Emma left for Rome. We ended up having a rather large group go with and luckily, but maybe not so luckily, caught a trotro to Osu. It was lucky in a sense because that never happens, trotros going to Osu are almost always full, and there were almost ten of us. But it was unlucky in the sense that it may have been a better idea to take a taxi because we didn’t really know where we were going and spent at least 45 minutes walking around searching for the restaurant. But we saved a cedi or so per person by taking the trotro, so that’s a plus. Once we got to the restaurant, we waited forever, which wasn’t anything new but after searching so long to find the restaurant I was starving. Patience is a virtue that I am defiantly being taught by Ghana. The food was amazing though and was almost worth the wait. On the way home we took a taxi out of Osu. Osu is a rich tourist area of Accra and this is why the road leaving Osu is lined with prostitutes. A car in front of our taxi had stopped and was talking to a couple of the women. Our taxi driver honked his horn for them to get out of the way and the car kept driving. The women screamed and cursed at our taxi driver.

On Friday night we went to a theatre production on campus that my friend Patrick preformed in. It was really interesting to watch a Ghanaian play. The play was called “The Father” and was about a man that wasn’t certain if his child was actually his or not. It was filled with sexist comments. In addition the comments by the audience at numerous points throughout the play caught me by surprise. It was an experience in itself. Afterwards we went to Jerry’s a small bar located close to campus. There was no green beer, but I did get my birthday shot at midnight.

On Saturday morning we left for Kokrobite. We got there around noon and checked into our room at Big Milly’s. I had rented the house which sleeps 10/12 people. It was so charming. It had a loft that had bunk beds and a balcony going outside. The downstairs had more bunk beds and a master sweet. It had African murals painted on the walls, I just loved it. We had lunch at the restaurant which is right on the beach. While we were eating the sky got very dark and it looked like it was going to rain, but never did. Which I’m learning is fairly common in Ghana. It did stay fairly cloudy though. We spent a little while sitting on the beach and relaxing before dinner. We had dinner at this great Italian Restaurant. And you know the best part, I got chocolate cake! It was to die for too, very gooey with chocolate syrup and bananas. After dinner we had a few drinks on our balcony and went to Reggae night. Big Milly’s has a live band every Saturday night. It was fun and entertaining. I also spent some time standing in the ocean watching the tide come in; which was the best part of my birthday. I had one of the moments that I have from time to time here, where I can’t believe I’m in Africa.

The next day we got breakfast and then spent the rest of the day on the beach. I bought a few souvenirs at the shops along the shore. I got my tan on and spent some more time just standing in the ocean watching the tide come in. We headed back to campus later in the afternoon. We caught one of the most crowed trotros I’ve been ever been on during the ride home. There were at least thirty people on it. It was a lot bigger than the normal trotros you see in Accra, but we were still packed in like sardines. Only in Ghana.

All in all, I have to say, it was a good birthday. Part of me wishes I could have been in the states getting IDed and drinking green beer. But the other part of me is happy to say I spent my 21^st birthday on the beach in Africa.