Christmas in Ghana

Afenhyia paa! (Merry Christmas!)

Christmas in Accra was a fun time, marked by gatherings with friends and family. Most people go to church, in what is a more religous-centered holiday than the family-oriented celebrations we mostly have in the "Western world".
Granted, the atmosphere is not as festive as it normally is in Brazil or the US. On the usual commute to work, Christmas lights and other decorative accessories were not as common as they are back home.
However, prices do go up in stores, markets and shopping centers get crowded, and traffic hits new record levels. Ah, the holiday season!

The first celebration I took part of was a dinner with all the team members from our AFRICA LEAD project. On Tuesday night, we got together at a Chinese restaurant to enjoy what proved to be a great meal. (The several options laid out in the round tables were definitely a welcome change, when compared to the usual croissants or ham and cheese wraps, all my volunteer budget allows me to buy for lunch every day.)

On Friday, the 24th, us students got together for a sinful late-lunch. For once, we ate without checking prices, ordering entrees, dessert, and indulging ourselves in Italian food.
Over pasta, strawberry-banana milk shakes and brownies, our (incomplete) group talked about our first four months in Ghana, what we looked forward to in the upcoming village life, and just enjoyed a relaxed afternoon in Osu, the oburoni neighborhood.

In Ghana, gift-exchanging is not as common as in the Western-version of Christmas. However, I was told food is the most common option for Holiday giving. With that being said, I placed an order for two hampers: one for my family (below), and one for the family that owns a small shop across the street.
I am happy to say both were received with much surprise and excitement. From Efua's reaction, my family was definitely not expecting a gift. By the next day, most of the items were nowhere to be seen (although I did see empty chocolate and biscuit boxes lying around the living room...).

To my (even greater) surprise,  I was then presented with a beautiful towel with my Ghanaian name on it: a perfect memento of a year-to-be fully spent in Ghana.
I'll save this one for when I get back home, or else it just might be confounded with someone else's towel (as 1/7 of Ghanaian men are theoretically called Kwame, all men born on Saturdays).

Just about ten days left in the stay in Accra. With the new year, soon will come the next adventure: living and teaching in the village.

Afenhyia paa!

Kwame