Colds, the Heat, the Schedule and everything that gets in the way of "the schedule"

The Harmattan has left us too soon. Harmattan brings winds down from the Sahara, making for hot dry and dusty days, and blissfully cool nights. It meant that at night I could curl up comfortably under a sheet. It meant I actually wanted a light long sleeved shirt in the evenings or early mornings. On the down side, it also meant that the cold water shower was physically painful.

But almost as soon as it was here, this year it was gone. Only about two weeks. I am glad that once again I can shower without cringing or inventing intricate poses to only expose one small part of my body to the icy water at a time.

But now that the Harmattan has gone, we are in a nasty hot spell. I am already sweating even as I am still toweling myself off from the shower. I steadily melt in my suit until the suit alone stands there walking down the road and I am only a puddle on the ground. I don't know how hot the temperature is, but it is brutal and humid. Even Ghanaians are shaking their heads and complaining, "It's toooo hot."

And so, somewhat ironically, all this heat has given me a cold. I have been sneezing and blowing my darn nose since the Harmattan left me. This is bad because this is also my busiest period of work, these last five weeks. I have at least three interviews scheduled for every day. This is well beyond break-neck speed for Ghana. In my busiest day I did six interviews in one day. It was amazing.

Other days I haul myself around, sniffling and sneezing and generally viewing the world through a fog (is that my stuffy head? a heat induced haze? both?). On monday I did three interviews before noon, and then hustled home to get out of my suit and into something more light-weight. I chowed down some soup for lunch (spicy soup believed to help clear the sinuses) and ran off down the street to catch a tro-tro to the University. I wound up having to walk about half a mile before I got the tro-tro. I sat packed like a sardine for the 45 minute ride. I wanted to apologize to my seatmate for sweating all over him, but he was also sweating all over me, so I suppose we were even.

I got out at the University stop, and walked another half mile or more to the office of the Dean I was supposed to meet. I arrived a bit breathless (I had to hustle to be on time) only to find a note, apologizing that he couldn't be there to meet me. He was called to an emergency steering meeting. This happens when you try to work with folks who have big appointments and many people calling on their time. Nevertheless, all stuffy and tired, I was a bit disappointed for all the time it took to get out there, not to mention all the hiking. So I tried to buy a book at the bookstore (nope, they don't carry it). Dejected, I marched back to the bus stop, caught a tro-tro home.

This sninanigans took the whole afternoon, so I found myself at 37 (a transport hub) around 4:30. Determined to give myself a little succor to nurse my wounds, I went shopping at MaxMart, one of the big fancy international grocery stores. Garron, our recently departed cheese-loving friend, would have been envious. I picked up some delicious herbed chevre and crackers. Adding to the luxury, I decided that I somehow deserved a 1 kg sack of "small lobsters." I eyed some lobsters that were larger than anything I had ever seen, we are talking lobsters the size of the Governator's biceps. But I figured even with my current suffering, I couldnt justify the $28 price tag. Of course, that is what a skimpy lobster would cost in the US. I picked up some chocolates. In a turn to the reasonable, I got some flat bread, green peppers, and a nice cut of beef so Terry and I could make fajitas. Finally I picked up some of the awesome hand-made daily baklava. One of the small pleasures of living in a place where all the best grocery stores are Lebanese-owned.

So yeah. The food was tasty. But my nose is still runny. You can't shop your way out of a cold. I'm powering down the oranges and hoping I can keep this thing at bay, because I can't be thrown off schedule in the home stretch.

Can't wait to see everybody at home soon!