"Our boys crushed USA"

Lauren, Leslie, his friend Carl, and I went to Ada which is a coastal town 90 min east of Accra on Friday afternoon. Leslie knew someone with a nice little beach house there but we ended up staying at a little motel on the beach. We had our own
little hut with bed nets. It was very charming and we had constant service of food and drinks to our porch table. It cost about $25 for all four of us, and they said it was one of the more expensive places. We went to the Leslie's friend's house on the beach on Saturday and his house care taker took us out on a small motor boat. Leslie and Carl had never been on a boat of any kind before so it was an interesting experience. They really had no idea what to expect and every movement made them nervous. We rode around the Volta river and out to the estuary, where the river met the ocean. There were all sorts of villages along the waterfront complete with huts. We saw small fishing boats with large crews. We had a great time relaxing and getting away from the crowded city.

We drove back on Saturday in time for the Ghana vs. USA game. Lauren and Leslie invited their friends over, which ended up being a mixture of peace corps volunteers, other fulbright researchers, a french guy, and leslie's buddies. All, except for one guy from Chicago, were rooting for Ghana. I was a bit torn but as I sat on the couch eating plantain chips and drinking Ghanaian Star beer (which is pretty darn tasty) and listening to screaming ghanaian fans outside, I decided it wouldn't be right for me to root for USA. As we watched the game in Accra, my family and lo's mom were watching the game in Bellevue. After a fairly intense match that went into overtime, Ghana won 2-1. This continent exploded. Everyone here is obsessed and since Ghana is last team representing Africa, everyone African supports them.

After the game, we lathered on sun screen and abandoned all valubles and ran out into the streets. Another huge parade ensued. Thousands of Ghanaians, of all ages, were out partying, riding on top of cars with flags, and blowing into horns.
After guessing that we were Americans, many were shocked to see us celebrating in the streets with them but it was a sight that I wouldn't want to miss. The sounds of celebration never died that night.

I didn't even think that Ghana winning would cause everyone to come up to me the next day and basically rub it in my face that they beat my country even though I told them I was rooting for Ghana. I am sure I won't hear the end of that for the
duration of my stay.