Birthday, Cape Coast, Hospital escapades (1 of 3)

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast
March 12th 2008

Published: March 12th 2008

I know I know it’s been such a long time since I’ve updated. Things have been crazy busy here for various reasons… as you will see, if you keep reading. (Bear with me as this entry will probably be long because it’s been over two weeks since my last update. I apologize if it is not always interesting but I am also using this blog for my own use to remember all the things I do here.) This entry is quite long and I've had it written for a few days now, but the internet won't stay stable long enough to upload it, so I'm splitting it into 3 entries hoping it will work.

Mon. February 25th: My 20th bday!!!

Started off with Shane waking me up with a big Happy Birthday banner that he put on the wall over my bed. Then was our group Twi lesson from 7:30am-9am… and then since it was my birthday and as it is a rule one may do whatever one wants on their birthday… I took a nap lol. ☺ Shane got me up around 11am or so, and took me to the nearby city, Osu, to Frankie’s (American) restaurant for some good old fashioned American food, where I was able to get a triple decker turkey club and a chocolate milkshake. American style food here, honestly isn’t all that great by any means, many have gone even as far to say that it is “bad,” but it’s more the principle of the thing and the happiness it brings to eat something recognizable (even if it is typically recognizable by sight only lol). It was really a very very nice treat.

Outside of the restaurant there was a line of market shops selling various things, and I spotted a really cool bag that I immediately fell in love with (I’ve been on a quest to get a sort of “everyday use” bag for sometime now). It’s a hard sided leather bag, the size of a rectangular briefcase, with really neat African imprints on the side in various shapes. I told the guy selling it that it was my birthday, hoping to get a lower price, but he wasn’t having it, instead he invited me to come back at night to play his drum for me, which in all actuality, would have been really cool.

After Shane got back to campus, we met up with some other friends from our group (Samantha, Kathleen, and Eleanore) to go to our next surprise location (apparently Shane invited our entire group to come but many people had class during the afternoon and were unable to come.) We got a taxi and drove only a short ways off campus to The Livingroom. The Living Room is this place where you can go with your friends (up to 8 people) and sit in an (air conditioned) room that looks basically exactly like a living room you might have in your house. Couches, arm chairs, coffee table, fake plants, the works, then there’s a projection screen hanging on the wall that the couches face, where they play any movie of your choice. And I do mean “any” movie. They have roughly 8-10 binders full of movie titles that you can watch, from old movies to new DVD releases. Then you can order drinks or food, and they will bring it to you while you watch your movie. Soo much fun. All the comforts of home. Shane surprised me and picked the movie “Juno” to watch, which I had wanted to see before we left the states, but hadn’t got the chance to. He bought it for me before we left the states, and brought it here to give to me on my birthday. ☺

We got back from the movie just in time because Mercy was already in the parking lot right outside of the ISH waiting to take us all to dinner for our weekly meeting. She took us to a beautiful hotel called the Golden Tulip, where we had an amazing buffet dinner. Everyone was pretty excited because there was pasta AND desert, neither of which Ghanaians are big on… like.. really excited. As it was an all you can eat buffet, an eating competition ensued... what can I say? we’re a classy bunch, giving Americans a good rep everywhere we go. lol Mercy just sat there and rolled her eyes. She’s such a good sport, I don’t know how she puts up with us.

When we got back to the hostel, Shane and I played cards for a little while, as we have come accustomed to doing, and then while I took a shower he took off to someplace, refusing to tell me where he was going. After my shower he came up to get me saying that everyone was playing cards down stairs. So he took me downstairs to the kitchen on the first floor, where he had decorated all over with streamers and balloons and even a table cloth (which turned out to be his spare bed sheet lol) Now, to those back in the States, streamers and balloons may not sound like a huge deal, but here, nothing is anywhere near as accessible as it is back home. So having something like balloons is always followed with a “where on earth did you find those??” More than just balloons though, he had a cake (made complete with pink flowers and “Happy Birthday Lauren” frosting,” ice cream, cows milk, paper plates, cups, forks and spoons, and even a Cinderella Happy Birthday crown. It really was an incredibly impressive display considering where we are, and haven’t seen or had any of those things since we were back in the States. People came in a little after Shane and I, and everyone was as impressed as I was for all the trouble Shane must have gone through to find all those things. It was really really nice to have everyone from our group, plus new friends we have made here, all in one place. All I think there were the thirteen of us from our SUNY group plus at least four others. I really can’t describe how wonderful it was to have all these people, who I had only known for 19 days, stop whatever they were doing that night to come together to sing happy birthday and spend the evening celebrating my birthday. It was so so sweet, and I felt genuinely humbled that everyone would do that for me. The rest of the night was spent eating the cake and ice cream, and passing around the milk, which turned out to smell and taste slightly like cheese, so only a few people actually drank it lol. It was such a wonderful birthday, not necessarily an African birthday per say, but it had all the comforts of home, which is more than I ever could have hoped for. I was so surprised by everything Shane (and Kathleen, who helped Shane quite a lot) had put together, and feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful birthday!!

Birthday, Cape Coast, Hospital escapades (1 of 3)

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