Day 45 - Newsletter Writers for a day and Late Night at the office

The MBA program has a newsletter that goes out periodically. During the school year, it the goal is for it to go out weekly (although it usually doesn't always follow that schedule). This summer, the newsletter committee decided that they would send out one edition during the summer. Nearly a month ago, they send out a request for individuals to submit articles for the newsletter. Amongst other types of articles, they were asking for individuals to submit articles about a "very unusual / super cool internship experience." I didn't initially give it much thought, but after a few days decided that it would be cool to write about our experience here in Ghana. As do most people, Andrew put off starting to write this until 2 days before it was due. We mulled around some ideas for a while, but couldn't get too decisive on what we wanted to write about. We were given a limit of 400 words (which we went over ) so it was hard to boil everything down.

We went through several iterations back and forth Wednesday and Thursday. Finally around 11:00 Thursday evening (the day that it was due), I hit the send button and emailed it off to the press. Sounds like the newsletter will be sent out within a week or two, so when it is, I will try and upload it to this blog. Who knows, maybe this is the start of my journalism career.

I have been working some pretty long hours to get these financials completed. I was up until 3:00AM (Friday morning) trying to get them finished. I did get them sent off and will review them tomorrow to find out what changes I need to make. Its been a fun experience to build the financial projections for Burro, however I definitely don't want to do 100% finance for the rest of my career. I would like to get out of the office occasionally.

Andrew came in and snapped some photos while I was working late tonight

Day 44 - Worldcup Mayhem, Fufu, and "Let the music flow"

So world cup mayhem continues here in Ghana. This afternoon Andrew and I went to the Capitol View hotel to watch the US vs. Algeria came. As previously mentioned, I have never been much of a soccer fan, but have really gotten into to it down here. As crazy as it sounds, it can be fun to watch people run around for 90 minutes and try to kick a ball into a net. For those of you who saw the US game today, thank goodness for stoppage time at the end of the game. The US had so many chances to score, but just couldn't seem to find the back of the net. When Donovan and Dempsey made the last run down the field and found the back of the net, it was awesome!!! As we drove home, we came across a sign that I think explains the last drive and goal by the US.

Ghana also had a soccer match this evening against Germany. We were invited over to one of our coworkers house, Nat, to watch the game. When we got over there, they were just making fufu. Andrew and I both had thought it would be interesting to pound out the cassava plant, so we took a turn at it. 

The cassava is boiled and then it it put in this wooden bowl and beaten/smashed for about 30 minutes until it becomes a glob. It is then added to soup and eaten. 

We had a great time at Nat's house watching the game. Even though Ghana last to Germany, they were still excited because they made it on to the second round. Interestingly enough, their next game will be against the US on saturday!!!!

As with any party with Nat, the night wouldn't be complete without some dancing. A while back when we had a party at Whits house, Nat coined the phrase "Let the music flow!!!" It has been a running joke between he and I since that time. Above is Nat "letting the music flow"

Day 43 - Unwanted House Guests

There are many reasons why one may choose not to do business in Africa. It may due to the lack of infrastructure. Perhaps it is because you would be too far away from family. Language may be an issue for some. You may love American food too much. For me, however, one reason could possibly be the unwanted house guests (I have had such a great experience here that I could probably get over this one).

I was chilling out in the battery room this evening when Andrew came in and said to me, "you're gonna want to see this. Grab your camera." Thoughts went racing through my mind. What could be so spectacular that he came rushing in to the room. "Is it a bat?" I speculated. "You'll have to come and see," was his reply.

I ran into the conference room to grab my camera. While in the conference room grabbing my camera, I happened to glance at the ceiling and saw one of the biggest spiders that I have seen. Coming to Africa, I expected to see a lot of spiders and bugs. I have definitely seen my fair share of bugs since I have been here, but haven't seen many spiders. Although I loved the movie Aracnaphobia, I am actually quite terrified of spiders. If you don't believe me, just ask my wife about the story of "Wolfy."

However, the spider took back seat to the bat, at least temporarily. Andrew took my camera into the room and got some footage of the bat flying around. Andrew had been sitting at his computer in the other room when all of a sudden he heard a noise above him. Looking up, he saw that there was a bat flying around. The building that we stay in is fairly old. When Burro first moved in here, there were a lot of holes in the ceiling and there were some problems with bats in the attic. There are still a few very small holes in some of the rooms and best we can tell, the bat came down from the attic through one of those holes. Andrew opened the door again to look for the bat, but couldn't see it at first. He happened to look up, and the bat was hanging above his head. Not knowing how to take care of the bat, we decided to deal with the spider first.

Heading back into the conference room, we tried to develop a game plan on how to take care of the spider. The ceilings in this building are fairly tall, probably about 14 feet or so. It was no easy task to reach up to the spider. We tried to find something to use to kill the spider, but had a hard time finding something tall enough to reach. We finally found a mop and removed the mop part, just leaving a flat piece of plastic. Up Andrew went onto the table, while I stayed away filing the footage. He took a jab at the spider, but missed. The spider started running all over the ceiling and I started screaming!!!! Andrew repositioned himself and was able to half squash the spider, although the spider fell to the ground and was still partially alive, but not moving. I grabbed the can of raid and finished the job!!!

Back to the bat. Before going back to the room that the bat was in, we decided to shut all of the doors to the rest of the house just in case the bat came flying out. As we went to shut the door to Jan's room, it appeared that there was a bat hanging from the ceiling in her room. Upon closer inspection, we noticed that there was just a hole in the ceiling and it appeared that some of the insulation had started to fall through from the ceiling. (We later found some insulation on the table in the room that the bat was in and believe that the bat must have come in from the ceiling in Jan's room). As we went to leave Jan's room, Andrew happened to glance over at the other door in Jan's room. Above the door, there is a small pane of glass. There was another spider just hanging out on the pane of glass. We started to wonder if a nest of spiders had hatched or something like that. The saga continued as Andrew attempted and succeeded in killing this spider as well. Things didn't go as smoothly with this one, however. He wasn't able to kill the spider while it was on the wall. The spider fell to the ground, and Andrew chased it around the room. He finally got the spider cornered and want after it. The spider literally started running at Andrew. Even after Andrew whacked off a couple of the legs, it still kept moving. Finally he stopped the stop completely... whew!!!!!!

Finally back to the bat. Andrew decided that he was going to go in the room armed with a towel, a laundry bag, and an umbrella and take care of the bat once and for all. I think he was a little disappointed after he entered the room and wasn't able to find the bat at all. There is an adjoining room and he searched that one as well, but we never did find the bat. Perhaps the bat was able to get back up into the attic through one of the very very small holes in the ceiling....

The morale of this blog post is to think about what is important to you if you decide to do business in another country. For me, I am not a big fan of unwanted house guests. But as long as I have an umbrella, a mop stick, and a can of raid, I can probably handle anything that comes my way (unless I have someone else there to take care of it for me!!!! Thanks Andrew!!!!)

Day 42 - You're welcome.... You're invited

One observation that I have noticed here in Ghana is just how polite everyone is. Everyone from the shopkeepers to people that you meet on the street. Sure you run into a few people every once in a while, but by and far the people here are very friendly and hospitable.

There are two phrases in particular that the people always use with us: 1) You're welcome, and 2) You're invited

You're Welcome - Whenever we have gone anywhere new (gone into and new stores, arrived at our hotel, spoken to people on the street, etc...) frequently the first words out of their mouth are "You're welcome!!!" At first I thought this was a little strange. After all, I thought, that is a phrase that is only supposed to used after someone tells you thank you. The more that I have reflected on it, however, there more I have come to revere and appreciate the way that it is used here. The interesting thing is how sincere Ghanaians are when they say those words. You can tell that they truly are glad that you are there and they want you to feel welcome and at home. They will go out of their way to make sure that you have a memorable experience.

You're Invited - Another phrase that is fairly common to hear around meal time is the phrase "You're invited." It is used at other times as well, but mealtime is a fairly common time to hear this phrase. It is customary in Ghana to offer to share you meal with anyone that is in the room when you are eating. For instance, if I make some food and take it to the conference room to eat, if there are other people in the room, it would be customary for me to say to them "You're invited." Basically it is an invitation for them to share my food with me, if they so wish. It is very refreshing to be around people who are so caring and selfless. They are always willing to put others first.

I think that us Americans can take a few lessons from the Ghanaians.