Holidays and Summer Nights

Yesterday was the final day of the first week of work, as today is Africa Unity day which is a national holiday. After taking 3 hours to get to work, Jessica and I finished our preliminary readings and notes on the Gender Centre, its programmes, and the architectures of violence. This means that next week we will be starting a new work load, and we are very excited!
At lunch we decided to venture out to get some real Ghanaian food (with the help of some of the office ladies). We were told to go to this little alleyway where they sold various kinds of food - cramped and quirky! We got chicken and rice, deciding to play it relatively safe. The food was delicious, but SO spicy!! This was the hottest food I have had so far, but the nice thing about the spiciness of Ghanaian food is that it has quite a kick to it, but the heat of the spice does not over-whelm its actual flavour. As someone who has a very boring palette and so little tolerance for spicy food, eating is an adventure in itself! But I love branching out and trying the food, as everything so far has been great.
After work we met Leah and her Australian friend Nikki from her work at the mall. We were just going to take a tro-tro to get there, but when Joanna (a co-worker and our project leader for the week) saw us walking to the stop she told us to hop in her car! Apparently she was going that way anyway, and it was so unbelievably nice of her to give us a ride. On the drive over we laughed about the differences between Canadian and Ghanaian weather, birds, and bats and had a blast. 
After meeting the girls in the mall, Leah got a call from her boss that we should come to this spot called "+233" before a concert that we were planning on going to at the national theatre. We headed over there by taxi, asking people who looked "hip" where this place was, as the taxi driver did not know. 
+233 ended up being this amazing little outdoor bar and grill, with an indoor room where these fabulous musicians were playing. We got there before dark (which happens at 6:30, without fail as it is winter in Ghana) and ordered drinks and food. The group grew quite significantly as more of Leah's co-workers showed up, and we all ended up having a blast. I sampled Star (Ghana's favourite beer since 1937 according to the billboards!) and it was quite good! Very refreshing after having a long day. 
Being in this spot, surrounded by new friends and good food (the pizza was to die for) made me a bit nostalgic for Halifax summers outside on patios, but also made me feel so lucky. Here I was, listening to great music with great people, food, and drink, spontaneoulsy at the end of a long, hot work day. Just sitting at a bar in Africa. Not a bad way to spend a summer! I wake up everyday feeling so lucky to be here. I miss home of course, but I am so glad to have had this opportunity and even when it is difficult, I have great friends to laugh with at the end of the day; what more could you ask for?