Chapter 33...The first Ghanaian Birth...day/weekend/week!

Following on from last Sunday evening this week, for various reasons out of my control, somehow turned into a marathon few days of birthday celebrations, much to my content! On Wednesday Rachel turned up at the house around 11am with a live chicken that she had been given as a gift from a school! What with one pet in the house already (Laylo the boy cat, not Layla the girl as was first thought) we decided it would be a very grand idea to get the chicken killed and grilled up for a chicken casserole dinner that night! So at 5pm Rachel, Hannah, Abbie (my fellow ICT-er who's over for the week) and I headed to collect the chicken from Mussi our local BBQ man! When we got there though we were told that one of Lewis' friends had asked for a guinea fowl to be prepared for us as well and that we should stop for a drink (or four) until he got there to eat it with us! Rachel and Hannah decided to head home to prep the casserole so Abbie and I stayed to enjoy the guinea fowl as a starter then strolled home just in time for a lovely chicken casserole, some red wine and Sangria!

Thursday, which was my actual birthday, I woke up to find endless emails, texts and Facebook messages from all over the World wishing me a happy birthday! What a perfect way to start the day I thought, but no Vic coming into the living room (as I was eating my French Toast breakfast made by Rachel and Hannah) singing me happy birthday just about managed to top that! So in the evening, after a busy day of CASO meetings, we headed to a restaurant in town called Swap for a slap-up meal of Chicken Burger and Yam Chips as well as Kadai Chicken Curry with rice (Abbie and I shared two meals between us to be able to try as many things as possible)! Following the guinea fowl and chicken casserole the night before as well as the jollof rice and goat meat we had for lunch that day we were absolutely stuffed, but arrived home that evening to find a yummy chocolate brownie birthday cake waiting, which Vic had been slaving over all evening! Surprise surprise we all managed to find room somehow for a slice or two!

So Friday started with more CASO meetings and ended with a an evening of meat, meat and more meat, the infamous Star beer and some midnight drumming and dancing! I planned dinner and drinks to celebrate my birthday on Friday evening, by which point most of us were shattered from the week of celebrating we'd already had and were pretty full of good food too! Nevertheless at 6pm on Friday we dragged ourselves out kicking and screaming (I literally was as I had managed to somehow catch a cold) for another slap-up  meal at Comme Ci Comme Ca! 

Abbie and I!

Abbie and I both agreed that we would share one meal between us after already having red red - beans and rice, as well as jollof rice and chicken for lunch that day! Unfortunately that plan went out the window when we looked at the menu and both really fancied chicken sandwich and french fries and spaghetti bolognese...we decided the best compromise was to order the chicken sandwich and french fries as our meal to share and the spaghetti bolognese as our 'side order!' So after some delicious food and plenty of Star we found ourselves fashionably late for the 8pm drinks I had organised at Rocky Base, a spot in town! Upon arrival it was lovely to see so many vols who had travelled in for the weekend and also lots of our Ghanaian friends there too! Despite how full we all felt we managed to tuck into the four different kinds of meat (there is a prize in it for the person who can guess all four meats (not a volunteer here in Ghana before you try Vic and Rach)) that had been bought to celebrate my birthday and take plenty of Star too to wash it all down with! At the end of the evening some local friends of the boys played the drums and I won't lie I did have a little boogie and even at one point pulled out 'the moves' to the Ghanaians delight! As it neared 1am Abbie, Vic and I who were the last vols standing decided to call it a day so after an eventful evening we crawled into bed feeling full of meat and beer and looking forward to a lie-in Saturday morning...!

The house plus Ben who was too ill to move out of the photo!

Three of the five different meats we ate last week!

Following a day of craft market shopping and showing Abbie the delights of Bolga on Saturday a few of us 'ladies who lunch' spent Sunday moto'ing to Navrongo (35-40 minutes North of Bolga) for a day trip of clothes shopping and yet more food (we're back on the food again people, back on the food)! We spent a lovely morning roaming around the clothes market and rummaging for goodies then enjoyed a late lunch of rice balls with groundnut soup and fried rice with chicken (once again these meals were shared!) 

Finger food Ghanaian style!

So this Sunday evening I find myself tired and full (again) with a much lighter purse, but pleasantly content with how my first Ghanaian birthday turned out! Even though obviously I missed the fact that there are a lot of people I didn't get to share it with, I am more than happy that I got to share it with the people in my life who I am experiencing this crazy adventure with!