Zebra and Champs

I had the best meal since I've come to Ghana last night: zebra! It was absolutely delicious. Brandon, Mary Beth, Andrew, Ben, Kristine and myself went to El Gaucho Steakhouse in Osu and chose from an assortment of South African game meat. Brandon got Kudu, which is an antelope-like animal with long, spiraling horns/antlers. Ben got the Ostrich. It was a bit chewy and I was surprised because I thought that ostrich would be "white" like chicken or turkey, but it was red meat. Kristine and I got the zebra. I got mine medium-rare and it was perfectly cooked. It's hard to describe the taste; it's similar to a beef steak, but it has a different aftertaste. Mary Beth had an order of frog legs and Andrew ate before we left, so he didn't have anything. It was pretty pricey; my zebra cost $30 plus the 15% national sales tax (which is only ever charged at nicer restaurants and stores). Brandon and I were a bit disappointed because our Ghana guidebook said that they served crocodile there, but it wasn't on the menu. I hope to go back there once more before I leave and have another type of meat. My apologies to any horse-lovers out there, but zebra tastes pretty damn good and I might need to try an Appaloosa or a Quarter Horse when I get back to the States.

After dinner, we went to Champs Sports Bar at the Paloma Hotel to watch some college football. They were showing the Alabama vs. Georgia game. It was really nice being able to see some American football for once. The game didn't start until midnight here, so we only saw the first hour and a half of the game before we got too tired and came back to campus. I really wish they were showing the Penn State - Illinois game! After reading up on the game this afternoon, I really miss being back home. I also missed the Bloomsburg Fair, which makes my stomach even sadder than it already was from eating Ghanaian food. Anyways, at the bar, they were having there own version of the "Price is Right." They had a product from Ghana and there were three contestants, each guessed it's price and the person with the closest bid without going over won the prize and got a turn to spin the "Wheel of Fortune." Well, when they were calling up the contestants for the first round, the M.C. mentioned the name Nick 'something' but the guy didn't stand up. So everybody at the table started to pretend like I was that guy. They were yelling "come on Nick," and lifting my arms up, so the M.C. was convinced that I was the Nick guy and I went up on stage. Our item to bid on was a box of tea bags from India. The two other contestants, a girl from NYU and a woman from London, guessed 4 cedi and 4.50 cedi/pesewas, respectively. I guessed 9 cedi and the actual price was 10.60, so I won! When I spun the wheel, which was actually an animation on the D.J.'s laptop, I had to read a tongue twister to win my prize, two six-packs of Hunter's Gold Cider. Everybody at the table went nuts when I was right the first time and they nearly died when I tried reading the tongue twister. It was so much fun! Thank God the real Nick didn't go up!

In one of the later rounds, another girl from the NYU group went up on stage. He asked them where they were from and the one girl said, "about an hour north of Harrisburg." I was shocked! When I try to explain to people where Danville is, that's how I describe it (that, and, the town next to Bucknell University). The M.C. asked the name of the town and the girl said Sunbury. After the round was over, I went over to their table to talk to her and as soon as I sat down I knew I recognized her from somewhere. I asked if she went to Shikellamy High School and she had and then it struck me...she competed in forensics. It was Elise Brumbach. I never really talked to her much back in high school because she was two years ahead of me but we have a lot of mutual friends. The whole thing just made me think how small our world really is! I mean, randomly running into a girl from red-neck Central PA in a sports bar halfway around the world in Ghana. We exchanged numbers and we'll probably meet up and get dinner sometime. Yesterday was just a great day all around (excluding my minor bout of "stomach issues" in the afternoon). Everything else is going well here in Ghana. It was a typical week and this weekend has been incredibly relaxing (it helped that I have the room to myself for the next week and a half because Simen is traveling in Mali until next weekend). It was the first weekend that I haven't traveled since being in Ghana. I got my hair cut by my friend Becca this afternoon and she did a really good job. Otherwise, I threw a frisbee around with Brandon for a little, watched two episodes of House, and got some work done for classes. In the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I've got to say about that."

Greg