Reality Check
I met a former Ghanaian co-worker Friday night. Earlier in the day, he'd called to ask if his younger sister could come along. In the African style, it turned out to be his cousin. (Strangers can be 'auntie,' but real aunties are called often called mother.) After a few drinks (cringing the whole while from the singer-accompanying-himself-on-synthesizer), the bill came. He didn't make a move, so I paid--for the whole thing. I hate that, but it wasn't unexpected. I suppose, technically, I invited him. Plus, he's now a student and I have income. At least he'd asked permission to bring someone along. (I once witnessed a guy yelling at a girl in a parking lot about how she's always bringing her friends and spending his money. He was so mad it looked like he was going to hit her and some other strangers got involved and "took her fight.")
Later that night, a friend referred to me as the girl with long hair. I looked around and noticed that the 3 other women I was with all had hair shorter than mine. A momentary identity crisis, since all my life I've been the one with short hair. Strange that the people I meet now have never known or seen that Jill.
There was a city-wide street cleaning on Saturday morning. Stores had to remain closed and people scooped out the open gutters in front of their homes and shops. That left big piles of wet icky goop and trash on the side of the street and I was sure that those same piles would be there two days later. However, if I remember correctly, I didn't see 'em this morning, which means somehow they actually got collected. I anticipated that it would sit there on the road until rain washed it right back into the gutter. Ghana 1-Jill 0. Bravo!
In the evening, I accompanied an American friend to her Ghanaian friend's bday bash as her 'wingman.' It was a high society party--not only rich people, but powerful ones (eg the man dubbed most likely to be the next president has strategy meetings at this guy's house). It was a DJ-ed, catered sit-down dinner in a backyard garden with pool. Spent most of the night talking with a successful young Nigerian who has traveled the world playing rugby, went to BU, speaks with a British accent, and only talked about himself (and he couldn't even redeem himself on the dance floor). Meanwhile, A. impressed me with her ability to talk intelligibly about IT issues, cars, and football (soccer). I was taking notes.
Sunday was a lazy day, spent holed up at W.'s house, watching movies and football, doing laundry, and ordering food in. Same as last weekend. Bliss.
Later that night, a friend referred to me as the girl with long hair. I looked around and noticed that the 3 other women I was with all had hair shorter than mine. A momentary identity crisis, since all my life I've been the one with short hair. Strange that the people I meet now have never known or seen that Jill.
There was a city-wide street cleaning on Saturday morning. Stores had to remain closed and people scooped out the open gutters in front of their homes and shops. That left big piles of wet icky goop and trash on the side of the street and I was sure that those same piles would be there two days later. However, if I remember correctly, I didn't see 'em this morning, which means somehow they actually got collected. I anticipated that it would sit there on the road until rain washed it right back into the gutter. Ghana 1-Jill 0. Bravo!
In the evening, I accompanied an American friend to her Ghanaian friend's bday bash as her 'wingman.' It was a high society party--not only rich people, but powerful ones (eg the man dubbed most likely to be the next president has strategy meetings at this guy's house). It was a DJ-ed, catered sit-down dinner in a backyard garden with pool. Spent most of the night talking with a successful young Nigerian who has traveled the world playing rugby, went to BU, speaks with a British accent, and only talked about himself (and he couldn't even redeem himself on the dance floor). Meanwhile, A. impressed me with her ability to talk intelligibly about IT issues, cars, and football (soccer). I was taking notes.
Sunday was a lazy day, spent holed up at W.'s house, watching movies and football, doing laundry, and ordering food in. Same as last weekend. Bliss.
posted by Jill at 11:17 AM
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