An interesting end to the year

Through a little bit of networking, I had the opportunity to meet a former Peace Corps Volunteer who now works for an NGO in Accra. This woman was a PCV from 2004-2004 and has since worked at an NGO focused on safely placing war torn refugees in new homes.

A nice perk involved in this meeting is that we decided to meet while hanging out at the beach for New Years. What a nice business meeting right?

While many in the states are bundled up and hiding from the snow, I was body surfing in the Gulf of Guinea. With consistent waves of between 5 and 10 feet and NOBODY else in the water, I managed to get a lot of water time under my belt.

After playing in the water for a few hours, I joined a 4 vs 4 beach soccer game. I was the only american playing beach soccer and I'll admit that I held my own. I had to bow out gracefully after I developed and then opened a huge blister on my right foot. Of course I could have stopped playing when I felt the blister developing but how often can I play soccer on the beach in Ghana? I'd make the same decision again despite having to hobble around for the rest of the day.

At around 6, over a few beers, I took part in a long discussion about the upcoming Ghanaian election. This was the second conversation of this type and between the two talks, participants represented Liberia, Ghana, Canada, Sweden, The Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and America. Volunteer success stories and frustrations were also added to the mix. I found myself taking part when appropriate but also sitting back enjoying the fact that I was a part of the group.

A small group of PCV's went to dinner from here and had a nice class of wine with pizza/pasta dishes. At 8 (already past my bed time) I was exhausted and feeling a bit of Ghana Tummy coming on. I enjoyed a nap for an hour before going to see the live band. Still not feeling well, I went for another nap and decided to just sleep until 11:15 or so. I wasn't feeling very well but really wanted to ring in the New Year instead of sleeping through it.

I hobbled out to the main bar area at around 11:30, I walked down to the beach to check out the massive bonfire but still didn't feel very well. Some of my new friends were pulling me onto the dance floor to celebrate but I used my blister as an excuse (not well received by the drunken crowd) to sit down. I sat at the bar trying to lay low for the last 20 minutes of the year but decided that with the noise and cigarette smoke, the environment was too much. I stood up to go back to bed but felt a bit dizzy and went back to sit down. I sat for a minute, offered an explanatory "I'm not feeling well," face to my friend across the bar and...

I wake up sitting on the ground with a Canadian volunteer asking me if I was alright. Slightly confused, I said that I was OK but quickly realized that in the process of fainting, I had hit my face on the tiled bar, fallen to the ground and aggressively shat my pants. HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I know it sounds scary but since it's in the past, we might as well laugh about it. Stubborn as I am, I decided to sit in my crap filled board shorts (that's right, no underwear to keep it contained.) for the final five minutes of the year. What's funny is that I didn't feel the need to go to the bathroom before the incident yet I shat A LOT and the diarrhea running down my leg combined with the blood below my right eye made for quite a sight.

Smelly and embarrassed, I showered and retired for the night. For all of you out there, combining 3 hours of body surfing, an hour of soccer (all in the African sun, on the equator) with drinking a few beers after 9 months of sobriety is not a good idea. When you add the fact that I'm skin and bones and have low blood pressure to start with, I can completely understand why I fainted. Lesson learned.

How's that for a glorious induction into the "I shat my pants in Ghana," club?

Love you all!! I'm OK though embarrassed!!