Adventures in a Foreign Land - Ice Skating

Yes, this one too!
How could I be in such a cold climate and not try it at least once?
Besides, at the time, I was watching the Winter Olympics and it was so fascinating watching people glide, twist, twirl, look so graceful on blades and ice. Ice that made me fall when I walked on it.

I loved where I worked. My work colleagues were amazingly amazing and my boss was just the ish! She throws a staff party for us in her home during the Christmas season and then she takes us all ice skating. Yes, finally, I also get to glide, twist, twirl and look so graceful... (or so I thought) until I saw what I would be gliding on.

How does anyone even stand on these, much more glide and twirl in them?

But me, no, no giving up. I was going to look graceful.
A few times, I managed to stand, by myself. But, just stand. No walking, and definitely no gliding. Nope, no skating.

I'm sure I fell right after taking this picture. 

But most of the time, this happened, and happened, and happened again.

And then I stood up, dusted myself up and improvised.

Like this, boy did I skate. Loved it! (thanks Allen for the support and for the idea *wink*)

Bottom line, I had fun! We all had mad fun!

Miss you guys!

Moral: you fall, you rise, you improvise, adapt and move on...
Moral: we all need each other.
See how I was assisted by Allen in his wheelchair? Who'd have thought that'd be the way it'd be? It usually is supposed to be the other way round.

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Hitch Hiking

I can imagine the look on my face if I wasn't me and I was reading this. The expression that readily comes to mind is, "this one too?"
But I am me so yes, this one too. I just had to try everything (blame it on too much television, curiosity or something like that). But really, it was very necessary (I would like to think).

It's Sunday. I plan going to church. It's a 20 minute walk from where I live to the bus stop (I was 100% sure of that calculation) except that I hadn't factored in snow. That calculation I was 100% sure of was done in the summer and it worked quite well in the fall. It'd just started snowing and I didn't think (I wonder why) I'd need to revise that calculation.

It took me twice as long to get to the bus stop.
It's Sunday morning, the roads had been ploughed but the sidewalks hadn't. Obviously, I missed the bus. Rather than walk back home (forwards ever) I decided to start walking to the bus terminal where I'd still have to catch another bus to church (2 buses I needed to take to get to church). It was quite a long walk, but I'd done it before (in the summer). It still hadn't clicked that walking in summer is totally different from walking in winter. Did I already say it was 15° below 0°C? Guess not. It was 15° below O°C.

I'd been walking less than 5 minutes (after I'd missed the bus) and I was already tired. But there were so many cars bypassing me, if only one would stop and give me a ride just to the bus terminal. And then I remembered I'd seen in movies people walking and lifting a thumb up to vehicles passing by indicating they needed a ride, so I did same (at least I started to until I realised the futility of what I was doing). Needless to say not a single car stopped for me. Occupants of some vehicles looked at me like I wasn't quite okay (more like, like I was crazy), some didn't bother looking at me and others slowed down (mostly ones with nice granny-looking-like occupants) and then they just continued on their way.

After a full minute and a half of trying to hitch hike, I just forgot about that and concentrated on walking. With just about 2 blocks to go to get to the bus terminal, I saw a bus headed there and boy did I stop it and enjoy the warmth of a 2 block ride.

Moral: just because you've seen something being done elsewhere (television) doesn't mean it'll work for you. You don't exactly have to try it.
Yeah, forwards ever, but really it doesn't hurt to turn backwards every now and then (it totally wouldn't kill you neither would it cause the world to end).
Yep, racism exists (of course that thought occurred to me), but really most of the people that sped past me had same skin colour as me. Those that slowed down were so much lighter than me (at least they slowed). Besides, had I been back home, driving, trust me, I wouldn't have stopped to give no stranger a ride just because they look like they need it, even if they were from my hometown (and could prove it).

That said, I reevaluated my calculation and all was right with the world again (meaning, I never had to and I never ever tried to hitch hike again).

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Snow, Frostbite, Ice & Slush

I see these adorable slippers in a shop but can't buy them because I don't have enough money. I go back to the shop a week later to get those very slippers, and I'm just about to pay for them, but the guy at the counter wants to and does question why I choose to buy slippers in Fall. Ah! I so didn't get that. So why is the shop selling slippers in Fall and why has the price been slashed by more than 50%? Is it not to entice me to buy it (that's what I wanted to ask him)? I just smile, say nothing while he goes on about how I'm probably going on a vacation in the Caribbean (I wish), and then some of the other shoppers start pointing outside with excited looks on their faces. Finally, the guy shuts up and turns round to look outside. Oh my! it had started snowing. My very first time seeing snow. Now, I'm in a hurry to get out of the shop. The guy turns round to face me and goes like, "now, you definitely can't wear those here. Better speed up on those vacation plans". Ah! This boy paa! Which one is his own? I'm buying my slippers to take back to Gh and there he is going on about vacation.

Finally! I step out of the shop and the snow flakes awwwwwww... I honestly don't know how to describe the feeling. I walked and walked and walked (when I could have been on a bus) just so the snow flakes would fall in my face (breathtaking). First snow that winter so the ground was still brown. I just couldn't wait to see the ground all covered in snow like I'd seen in movies and read about in books.
My fascination with snow was extremely short lived. Let's see, first the temperatures were always somewhere between 20 to 30 degrees below 0, when there was enough snow on the ground, I managed to twist my foot in it and fall (fortunately there was more than enough snow on the ground to cushion my fall), oh, and then I got caught (or got myself caught) in a blizzard (with that one, I got blown to the ground no less than 10 times), and then the frostbite. Ok, ok, ok, slight exaggeration. I guess it could be characterised as frostnip, but that really was my fault. I disliked the idea of wearing a tuque (knit cap or ski cap). I didn't look good in it. Beats me how I was ok falling because it was not my country plus no one really knew me, but I was bothered about how I looked in a tuque. I've given up trying to understand that. My ears were always exposed to the cold, which could be for long periods especially when I'd stand at the bus stop. Turns out me using just my hair to cover my ears was not enough. With time, one of my ears became real huge and extremely darkened (looked almost burnt). Then the darkened part peeled away (more like I forcibly removed the dark part) leaving me with one regular coloured ear and one ear that looked bleached. With time, I ended up with this:

Looks like this is permanent since the ear has been like this for a couple of years. My response to curious observers depending on my mood is; it was caused by hair relaxer or I got burnt by a hair straightener (it's possible I caused a couple of women to go natural)

And then when it wasn't too cold, some of the snow would start to melt, then it would get cold, so the melted snow would freeze. There were thus quite a number of icy patches here and there when this happened, and yours truly would slip, slide and fall. Unfortunately, no cushion for me this time. I would fall bum first and would feel the full impact of the fall.
Some cities use sand, others use salt on the roads and sidewalks in Winter. I lived in a city that used sand. Hmmmmmm... so when it was nearing Spring and the snow started melting, there was a lot of not so nice looking slush around and then there were some icy patches too, which I'd slip on, and when I'd fall, not only did my bum hurt, but my clothes would look not so nice (dirty).

Moral: not all that glitters... and, when in Rome...

It really wasn't all that bad all of the time. There were quite a number of fun times in the snow, like the snow fight and when we were putting decorations outside for Christmas and when we didn't have to bother putting our drinks in the fridge for a party (we just buried them in the snow out front), oh and when we kept our Thanksgiving dressed turkey in the garage (I thought that was funny).

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Daylight Saving Time

First time I heard of Daylight Saving Time (DST), I didn't quite get it, but I was excited. It was Fall (almost November) and I was told on November 1st, I was to set my watch an hour backwards. I did think it was interesting that everyone had to know and do this, and at the same time I thought it was pretty cool. For me, all that mattered was I'd get to sleep an hour more (of course I wasn't thinking of sleeping an hour less when the process was reversed in Spring).

I woke up bright and early one lovely Sunday morning and went through the motions of getting ready for church. When I was done, I set off and did the 20 minute walk to the bus stop. I got there with 5 minutes to spare before the bus was scheduled to arrive. Unfortunately this bus stop was not sheltered so I took a seat and waited in the cold. 10 minutes after the bus was scheduled to arrive, no bus in sight. 15 minutes, then I got worried. The buses aren't usually late, well at least not that late. At 20 minutes after the bus was to arrive at this stop, I was convinced I was feeling whatever a block of ice feels. At least I know I looked it because a taxi stopped right in front of me.

I wanted to scream "help me!" when the taxi driver rolled down the passenger window, but aside my lips feeling too frozen to move, I knew I couldn't afford to take a taxi. Matter of fact, aside money for offertory at church, I had no money on me. All I needed was my bus pass, which I did have. I had earlier contemplated going back home, but besides being determined to go to church, another 20 minute walk in the cold wasn't exactly a thought I wanted to have.

So the taxi driver asks where I'm going and I manage to tell him thanks, but I couldn't afford the taxi ride. He then goes like "Oh no! You look like you need a little help. I'm not charging you".

Whew! I jumped into the cab, rolled up the window he'd rolled down and then I tell him where I'm going. Unfortunately he couldn't take me to church but offered to drop me at the nearest bus terminal, which fortunately, aside being sheltered was heated too. Off we went chit chatting to the bus terminal. Turned out he's Tunisian and stopped to talk to me because he saw a fellow African in need. Also turned out he has a sister-in-law from Ghana. Boy did we have a lot to talk about.

I got off at the bus terminal thanked the cab driver and went on to check the bus schedule put up on the notice board. Fortunately for me, a bus that would pass close to the church I was headed to, came by like two minutes after my arrival. I hopped on and was on my way to church. All this time, I hadn't figured out what was going on. I just figured the bus broke down or the bus driver fell sick or something. Have no idea where I got these ideas from because I had never experienced a bus being this late ever.

And then I got to church and the doors were locked.

I was stranded. Here I was standing at this non sheltered bus stop, which didn't have a seat, with no idea when the next bus was going to come by. I just knew church service lasted 2 hours and that 15 minutes after church service ended, a bus would come by that would drop me at another bus stop where I would wait 5 minutes to catch another bus that would drop me where I'd do my 20 minute walk home.

So I'm standing close to the church trying to decide if I should start hitchhiking, not sure if I should try something like that in a foreign land, knowing very well I would never do it in my homeland, when I see people and cars heading towards the church. At that time I must have stood at the bus stop contemplating my next move for about 20 minutes.

I make my way into the church still not sure what happened that day until I picked up the newsletter for that Sunday at the entrance of the church. The date on the newsletter read November 1st and I could almost have kicked myself for not setting my watch an hour backwards the night before. I missed out on more sleep and was stranded in the cold more than once.

Moral: even when you think you are sure, double check.

Adventures in a Foreign Land - S'mores

A colleague of mine at work moved in to a new place and she and her housemate decided to have a house warming party. Naturally, she invited most of the young people in the office (prolly she invited everyone but the older people just dint show up).


I loved the house! It wasn't too difficult to find and it's just so amazingly cute. I was one of the first (actually, I was the first) to arrive. That's mostly cos I wasn't sure just how difficult or otherwise it would be to find the place and I dint want to get there too late. Getting there early wasn't too bad though. I got to chat with the ladies and there was a lot of chips and dip and boy did I eat. Seriously, I thought there was gon be real food so I passed up on supper at home (how I regretted). It was very good I got there early cos I got to eat as much of the chips as I could without looking too weird cos there wasn't anyone around to look weird to.

As the other guests started to arrive, my work colleague announced that we were going to roast marshmallows outside and that she and her housemate had had a bonfire going on outside all evening. Turns out it had been real difficult to get the fire going. Why? Cos it was 2 days away from December and it had been snowing all day. Exactly why I had an incredulous look on my face when she announced we'd be going outside (she had no idea how grateful I was to be inside). We get outside and I asked the fire why it had just not stayed off (yes, i did). It was about 25°C below zero and here I was abandoning the warmth of the indoors to roast marshmallows. It was still snowing but the fire just wouldn't go out. The other thing too was, I'd never roasted marshmallows (just read about it) and I was hoping I wasn't gon look too silly. Well, I did over roast a couple but they understood (I hope).

Somewhere along the line, someone suggested we make s'mores. What's that? (that's what the look on my face said). My colleague looks at me and then breaks it down to me. "A s'more (smore) is a traditional nighttime campfire treat in the United States and Canada consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker". Huh? (more like yuck!) Why would anyone want to make that combination? Well, since I was in a new place, I tried to open myself up to try new things (not everything though) and guess what? I loved it (not with the marshmallows I roasted. most of mine looked blackish. I'm sure they're supposed to look whitish). And guess what again? I loved the experience. The definition dint say whether the nighttime campfire should be in the middle of winter or summer and yes, I was terribly cold but I loved hanging out with my new friends (besides, the fire did give me some warmth). And guess what again again? We had a snowball fight when we were done with the s'mores :D This was definitely one of my most fun nights in a foreign land.

And guess what again again again? I ate more chips and dip, played twister and played some wii video games (of course all this happened indoors).

(as usual), the moral of this story: Never judge anything by its look or how it sounds or just never judge a book by its cover. I would have missed out on all that fun if I'd insisted on staying indoors (by myself) and though s'mores sounded kinda yucky, they actually tasted real good. And the other moral is: If you know you can't do something right, don be shy to ask for help. I so couldn't get the whole roasting marshmallows thing right but when I asked for help, other people did the roasting and I just put the crackers and chocolate together with the roasted marshmallows and we all enjoyed it.

yuck? nope. Yummy!

Adventures in a Foreign Land - The Blizzard!!!

As usual, I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, had breakfast, got my coat, mitts, muffler etc. and headed on out. I open the front door and oh my goodness! (I dint even get to fully take in what I was saying "oh my goodness!" to cos I had to attempt to shut the door with lightening speed). My goodness! the gust of wind that blew in when I opened the door eh, hm, if I hadn't been holding on to the door, I'd prolly have been blown onto the ground. I literally had to fight against the wind to shut the door (seriously).

Ei! I had never seen that much snow in one place before. Everywhere was just white and the snow in the driveway was like waist deep (I am not exaggerating. I should prolly add that I used my height to arrive at that estimation).

Obviously, it dint make much sense to go out in that weather besides, it was a 20 minute walk to the bus stop (I couldn't imagine doing that walk in that weather). But hey, I had to get to work and it was just about 20 minutes to the time the bus I needed to board to get downtown, would arrive at the bus stop. I did contemplate waiting for the lady I lived with to show up from work, which would be in a couple of minutes (she was on night shift). At least then, I'd get a ride to the bus stop. Decisions, decisions. And I had to make that decision chop chop (time was running out).

Eventually, my Gh friend (I lived with her too) advised that we brave the weather and head for the bus stop (made sense. afterall, in that weather, we had no idea when the lady would get home or if she'd be willing to go out again).

So, on we went, trudging through snow that was knee deep (knee deep for the both of us) and yep, I had my first fall right after the driveway :( Turns out it was gon be the first of many falls {the wind just kept blowing me onto the ground snow, (seriously). Don't know if I am that light or the wind was just that strong, or a combination of both :| }

Hmmmmm... the 20 minute walk turned out to be an hour and a half walk :o The wind was just too strong (I guess that's why it's called a blizzard), I kept falling onto the ground snow (I even gave up after a while and just sat down for a bit) plus it was very difficult to walk fast or walk at all in snow that was knee deep. The roads were being ploughed but the sidewalks weren't :(

Obviously, we missed the bus and all we could do was sit at the bus stop, which wasn't even sheltered and contemplate whether we should go back home or attempt to walk to another bus stop. We were out of breath and the thought of walking any further wasn't appealing at all. Worse yet, we were literally freezing at this bus stop. We had to make a decision and act on it fast (walking dint even keep us warm). It was just too cold and if we sat at that stop any longer, I'm sure all that would be left of us would be ice sculptures :o

And then, Halleluyah! We spotted the lady we lived with driving towards us. Apparently, she'd seen us on her way home, made a turn around and came to get us. The heat in her car was just such a relief (I have never been that happy to feel heat. Well, I could count a couple of other times I was but this one tops all those other times). She dropped us off at another bus stop, which was thankfully sheltered (at least we got some heat) and where we could easily get another bus headed downtown.

We got to work eventually though we were awfully late but hey, who was checking? We'd just survived our very first blizzard (my bum was real sore afterwards though. the snow cushioned a bit but not completely).

Moral? Your friends don't always have the best advice. Bad weather isn't really always just an excuse not to be at work. If it's a blizzard, abeg, stay at home (even if you have a car).

It is refreshing to blog about something other than food :D

Adventures in a Foreign Land - The Slurpee

My new friend told me I couldn't leave without trying a slurpee. This was somewhere at the end of Summer. Sounded like a good idea especially since I was all for trying anything I hadn't had before (I guess it's normal when you find yourself in a different place for the first time). Summer rolled to an end and then Fall and then it was Winter. I still hadn't had a slurpee (matter of fact, I dint even know what it was. it could have been an exotic dish for all I knew though the name dint exactly sound exotic). For everyone else that's as clueless as I was when I first heard it, a slurpee is a flavoured frozen drink kinda slushy (ice that's melting). There's another (it really is the same) called a slushie. There's this shop on the oxford street in Gh that sells it but it's quite recent (at least it wasn't there a couple of years ago) and I haven't tried it.

Winter's almost over, I'm about to leave, I'm packing my stuff, I still haven't tried a slurpee and my stuff won't fit into my suitcase (last thing I wanted to do was show up at the airport with excess luggage). One thing I learnt, which I obviously dint learn in Gh was to keep receipts of all purchases I made. Why? Cos depending on the item, I could return it to the shop and take my money back, within a certain period of time (now, how cool is that? :D ). So, my stuff wouldn't fit and fortunately, I'd bought quite a number of things the previous week that I dint mind returning (at least I'd get my money back).

I picked a number of stuff I bought from the same shop so I wouldn't be moving round from shop to shop (it was almost Spring but it was freezing out there) and headed on out. I get to the shop, return the stuff, take my money and head on out to catch a bus back home. I was a couple of minutes early (had like 15mins). Wasn't sure if I should head back into the shop cos it was pretty cold and it wasn't a heated bus stop. And then I had a light bulb moment (brilliant idea). I had spotted a 7-eleven shop not too far from the bus stop (about 4mins away) and since I'd still not had my slurpee, I decided to go try it out (I had the time besides, what did I have to lose?).

I get to the 7-eleven shop, pick a large slurpee cup and fill it up with a mixture of different flavours. I'm sure I spent too much time trying to decide on which flavours to go with cos when I got out, I spotted the bus I was supposed to be going home with driving off. Oh my goodness! It was a weekend and the next bus would come by in like an hour and a half. I couldn't wait that long. Besides, I had to repack and I dint have that many days left. I knew there was another bus stop about 10mins away so, I walked that way hoping a bus would come by that would be headed my way.

Slurpee in hand, I begun my 10 minute walk. Now, it was about 25 degrees below zero, it wasn't snowing but there was thick snow on the ground (for some reason they don't plough the snow from the sidewalks on weekends). So yeah, I kinda understood the stares I was getting from other paedestrians and occupants of vehicles that passed by me. The stares did get worse when I got on the bus. Yep, I caught a bus just when I got to the other bus stop. It wasn't exactly going in my direction, but it was headed to the bus terminal at the mall. There, I knew I'd definitely get another bus that would take me closer to home (at least the shelters at the terminal were heated).

I waited like 15mins at the bus terminal and I finally got a bus that was going towards my neighbourhood. That was good news in itself but there was a catch. The bus did drop me close to my house alright. But I had to do a twenty minute walk to get home. I lived in this neighbourhood where everybody (the grown ups) had a car. Buses did operate in my neighbourhood, but that would be early mornings and late afternoons where students were either going to or coming back from school. The buses dint operate on weekends (no school). To go out on a weekend, I'm either hitching a ride with someone or I'm doing a twenty minute walk to catch a bus.

By the time I got home, my slurpee was frozen solid (wasn't slushy anymore). I did have a bit of it on my way (walking, in the bus and at the bus stop), but I had to stop cos it'd got too solid for the straw to be of any use, plus I started concentrating on keeping my fingers warm. They were near frozen even through my mitts. I placed my slurpee in front of the heater in my room until it melted a bit, and then, in the warmth of my room, I was able to really enjoy my slurpee.

The moral of this long winding story: Never give up on what you believe in regardless of how crazy it may seem even to yourself (would have really helped if I'd had a car though. I still can't believe I put my fingers through that torture).

P.S. my estimation of the number of minutes it takes to walk from one point to another really is about how fast my legs can carry me.
May the souls of all the lives lost in the plane crashes in Gh & Nigeria over the weekend rest in peace.