Beautiful evening sky...

Is this an African paradise?

Posted from my Android

Such a nice day in Accra

Enjoying the sea breeze while catching up on my blogging.

Posted from my Android

Serengeti and Ruaha National Parks

I spent a few days at each park and saw a lot of great stuff; nature is wild!

Coriolis effect and the equator

I made my way across the equator yesterday when I went from Nairobi to Mount Kenya. While I did see some cool tricks performed with a tub of water, I was a little skeptical... Later I learned that while the coriolis effect is real, it is insignificant for bathtubs and toilets. The trip to Mount Kenya was short; I only had time for a safari park and then back in the car to go to Nairobi. On the way back, we stopped to go through a market and saw the usual foods: bananas, carrots, watermelon, etc.

Heading back to Nairobi, the car got a flat tire. The driver put the spare on, which about 5 minutes later also became flat. As it was getting dark (and being on the side of the highway with an expensive car at night is not safe), we drove on the flat spare tire until we found a shop that could repair the real tire. Eventually we got back on the road, but heading into the city, we got lost on the highway because the highway was under construction and there were several diversions to different side roads. Somehow our driver must have missed an exit because we ended up ON THE CONSTRUCTION SITE, dodging traffic (apparently, we weren't the only ones who got lost!), cinder blocks, potholes, and construction equipment.* Woo, what a night!

At the equator

Chimpanzees at the safari park

Yum!

Weird vegetable

*Still, while Nairobi has quite some crazy driving, it does not compare AT ALL with India. In India, we would be on the construction site, dodging twice as many cars, ONCOMING traffic, cinder blocks, potholes, construction equipment, bulls, pedestrians, motorcycles...

G|Kenya 2.0 in Nairobi

After being pumped up from Kampala, I went to Nairobi to do the same thing. For whatever reason, I found that G|Kenya 2.0 was less stressful (I think more people were involved), so I had more energy at night to go out each night to do something different. One night was dancing, another hookah bar, and another Carnivore, a sad attempt at churrascaria (and quite a tourist trap!)

So, funny story: I ate some ox balls at Carnivore... I think I was inebriated when I ordered them because I definitely did not think through the consequences of eating testicles. At first, they tasted okay (they were kind of soft, which is fine), but then the realization, the horror, that I had put ox testicles in my mouth hit me. My throat refused to swallow them, as if it was saying, "Screw you mouth! I'm not following through with your stupid decision!" Without being able to swallow quickly, I continued to taste the ox balls, and a feeling of nausea started to creep up. But, before I had to run to the bathroom to spit them out (or worse, throw up at the table), I swished my neighbor's alcohol and forced them down. In conclusion, I would not wish such a punishment on my greatest enemies.

G|Kenya 2.0 entrance 

Delicious cupcakes! 

Fellow coworkers 

See, ox balls... why, oh why...

G|Uganda 2.0 in Kampala

I spent about one week working in Kampala for G|Uganda 2.0. The event was a two-day worskhop focusing on teaching developer and business professionals about Google web and mobile products as well as about how to build and grow their businesses. I had been to G|Uganda last year, and I must say G|Uganda 2.0 was significantly better (and I'm not saying that because I helped :)) While I didn't present at the workshop, I spent my two days hanging out with fellow coworkers, GTUG guys, and participants.

Unfortunately, like last time, I was so busy with G|Uganda that I did not get a chance to explore much of Kampala. Luckily, I made two friends (Daniel and Richard) who, I hope, can show me around (on boda-bodas!) the next time I'm there. :)

Daniel and I deep in conversation

Richard and me

Keynote at G|Uganda 2.0

Teshie Homowo Festival

I went to the Homowo Festival today, which is a festival about a large famine in Ghana and its end by "scaring" the famine away with loud music, singing, and shouting. It was in Teshie, a poorer town east of Accra, and thinking it would be more authentic than something in Accra, I decide to get out of my Saturday lethargy and go.

Jens, Francesca, and I grabbed a tro-tro (fixed fare mini-vans), and boy, did they fit a lot of people in the van!* When we arrived, the street was PACKED, and we were definitely the only obrunis (foreigners) there. People were dancing, playing loud music, and running around. Some people were dressed in costumes; men dressed as women; kids doing tricks on rollers blades or bikes; it was quite unique and unlike anything I had ever seen. Kind of reminded me of the crazy festivals in San Francisco. We walked around the street for a bit, people watched, and eventually sat down and had a beer and some really bad meat kebabs. I think they were made from cat. Super gross.

*Now that I come to think of it, I took a tro-tro when I was in Joburg in 2005. I had to go to a party for work, and my coworkers told me to take this van to get to the party. At the time, I remember cramming into this car with 11 other people and wondering why my coworkers  would be so cheap and not hire an extra car for transportation. I didn't realize it was public transportation...

Yes, you are reading this correctly. This is how the festival was abbreviated...

Tro-tro driver

Dance-off

Nasty cat kebabs

Men dressed in traditional women African wear 

More cross-dressing

Kids running through the streets shouting

Ashesi University College Inauguration

Today I went to the Ashesi University College Inauguration, a top class private university outside of Accra.  I went with two fellow coworkers Nana and Jeminatu.

The inauguration was for the new Ashesi campus located in Berekuso, about an hour north of Accra. The drive to Ashesi was absolutely horrible; the roads were filled with potholes and was incredibly narrow. We drove past  one village after another, and the entire time I was thinking to myself, "Where in the hell is this place?!"

After a really, really long drive we arrived at the college. The campus was gorgeous and the facilities top-notch; I think Berkeley's facilities could use an upgrade after this visit! We found our seats for the ceremony, and then we waited, and waited, and waited. After almost two hours, the vice president of Ghana finally arrived so the ceremony could begin. The chiefs from Berekuso made their way across the garden, dancing and playing drums the whole way.

The whole ceremony only lasted an hour and a half. There were a bunch of speeches from important people: a famous reverend, the top chief (he did his speech in Twi), the US ambassador (who made a very amusing speech about Americans and Ghanaians being like the ingredients of fufu), and of course, the VP of Ghana. The whole experience was great, and it was really inspiring to see the people's enthusiasm for the inauguration of a university. The turnout was crazy!

Entrance to campus

Inner courtyard

Nana

Jeminatu and me

Our seats

Some chiefs; are those staffs really gold?

More chiefs

Queen Mothers

The musical group

I don't even...

Fancy shoes!

Final part of the procession

Tail end of the procession; look at that robe!!

My camera photo of the vice president after my camera battery died

Founder of the university (in the yellow-red robes) after Berekuso leader bestowed on him chiefdom