Panic, Pandemonium, Pictures, Pride

Goal!

So this is my first attempt at uploading a video to my blog - just thought I would share with you the first goal from Ghana - Enjoy! Will write more about the game later and share more pics. Go Ghana!

What the Dickens?!

NB. Late post, written on Jan. 15, 2008. Did make it to the match; will post in subsequent posts.

Saw a sign post that reflected my mood today. It was an advertisement for a daycare/nursery. Had a good laugh as I thought it quite creative that someone would link Dickens to education in a sign in this way. Only in Ghana of course. A worthwhile cause though if you look at what they aim to do.

But I digress. Am in the middle of lack-of-football-CAN2008-tickets. SCREAM. It's official, I have football fever. Me. A non-soccer-watching-only-if-the players-are-cute-woman. Will watch the highlights, but no, never sat down to watch a game, even during the Reggae boys brief flirtation with fame. But here I am - hands clammy, heart-beat elevated, nervous shivers, the works, all because I can't get tickets for Sunday's opening match of the Black Starts against Guinea!

Got my hopes on on Wednesday as we had a memo from the Ministry saying that tickets would be available to the staff - we just had to indicate how many we needed before three that afternoon. Of course was one of the first in line, money in hand, orders ready. Waited in anxious anticipation - decided yes, was time to shop. Bought my flag, scoping out the t-shirts, deciding on a hat, even considering a drum! Then this morning got all of one , only one, of the fifteen tickets I ordered and my money back, no guarantee.

ARGH!

What the dickens is happening? Funnily enough this was the closest to a swear word or phrase I had ever heard my mother use when we were children. I have no idea where that evolved from or how that evolved, but yes, here was I repeating the same words - along with a few choice interjections.

On a brighter note had a good laugh at an article I read in one of the papers. Of course it's about the upcoming CAN 2008. Will share my fav section and give the URL for the rest of the article. A must read. Enjoy. Will continue to scout for tickets. Wish me luck!

The Gbagbladzas of Ghana
Also, can someone explain to me why all the African football teams are named after animals?
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroun.
The Desert Lions of Algeria. Or is that Morocco?
The Atlas Lions of Morocco. Or is that Algeria?
The Teranga Lions of Senegal.
The Simbas (Lions) of Tanzania.
The Elephants of Ivory Coast.
The Green Eagles of Nigeria.
The Cranes of Uganda.
The Black Mambas (Palancas Negras) of Angola.
The Zebras of Botswana.
The Crocodiles of Lesotho.
The Leopards of Zaire.
The Horses (Les etallons) of Burkina Faso
The Hawks of Togo.
There’s even the Squirrels of Benin!
If we had to switch the name of the senior football team to that of an animal, I wonder which would work for us: The Goats of Ghana? No, goats stink. The Sheep of Ghana? No, sheep are too meek. The Rats of Ghana? No, rats are destructive. The Mice of Ghana. Naaah, my daughter thinks mice are yacky.
The Nkotres of Ghana. Lizards are slippery and difficult to hit. A lizard’s tail will even live on its own for a while when separated from the body. It’s got that never say die spirit.
How about the Gbagbladzas of Ghana? That gets my vote. You see, cockroaches, I understand, will survive a nuclear meltdown. Now, that’s way up over and above never saying die. They simply don’t die. Period. I can imagine the BBC commentators at CAN 2008 trying to wrap their stiff upper lips round it: the Ge-ba-ge-blah-de-zars.

This was written by Kwaku-Addo Saki-Addo and can be viewed at: http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/columns_author_all.php?id=49 along with some of his other articles/columns.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone...

One interesting thing about living in Ghana is that one can see ‘flashes’ of Jamaica almost everywhere:

– It’s the road from Accra Central out to Kasoa that reminds me of driving down Spanish Town Road;
- It’s going to Makola and being transported back to the days of going with my Mother to Linstead market; granted the pigs’ feet in Linstead market aren’t dyed fluorescent pink!
- It’s the expression on a face or just the body language that conveys the undeniable physical and cultural linkages;
- It’s just driving a long the road and a curve here reminds you of a curve there.

Last night (or as most Ghanaians would say 'yesterday night' )was no different, however the flashback was one I would have preferred not to have – it was of hurricane Gilbert.

The day started off quite calm – nothing significantly different. Had a friend over for lunch and afterwards decided to do some of the usual weekend-is-finished-getting-ready-for-Monday stuff. Was about 7 p.m. and in the bedroom doing all this while watching TV in between when the lights flickered and went out. Damming the electricity company for yet another unscheduled power cut, just thought it was the usual routine when the wind started to howl and then the rains started. It was the first serious torrential rainstorm that I have experienced since moving that made me thought of hurricanes in Jamaica. For the next hour and a half to two hours Ashes and I blocked, mopped, dried, shifted, prayed, checked and waited for everything to finish.

The state of the roads this morning perhaps tell the tale better than I can write: almost five out of every ten billboards were toppled or ripped; roads have disappeared under a sludge of garbage, mud and muck. Some road side stalls were just not existent any more. One news commentator liked Accra to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Will read tomorrows papers to see what’s what.

The sky looks pregnant with rain this morning – its more overcast and gray than it had been in weeks. We are supposed to be approaching the start of the rainy season so one guesses there is more like last night to come. Just hope it’s heading to the dam as well, though a friend of mine told me it would take at least 2 months for any rainfall in the north to have any significant effects on the level of the dam. Hmmm, there is no reporting on the level of the dam this morning in the Daily Graphic.

NB Football fortunes: also heard on the news this morning that the team that won the football match last week 31-0 actually scored the first 30 goals in the first 30 minuets of the match! That must be a world record in it self. Both matches have now been referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association for review.

The games continue.

Football fortunes

So the Black Starts lost to Brazil.

As the match started at 6:30 p.m., people left the office earlier than usual. The flags that had decorated cars a few weeks before for the Ghana@50 celebrations came back out. Gripped in the excitement of football fever I too bought own my Ghana flag, prepared to root for the Black Stars. After all, a victory against Brazil was sure to turn Accra inside out and I couldn't be unprepared.

Alas, alas that was not to be. Was still a good game though and the score was still a respectable one. A 1-0 to Brazil was still good. Hmmm, did get reminded that Black Stars had beaten the Reggae Boys in friendly last year (4-1).

Local football was a bit more exciting it seems. Dubbed by one of the daily newspapers as 'Foot Ball Day of Shame' two local teams beat their rivals 31-0 and 29-0 respectively! One wonders what on earth the losing teams were doing on the field.