Life Outside of Sports

I just finished three blog posts about the most interesting things that I did during the past week. As noted earlier, I barely updated the blog this week because I had a ton of work to do (my colleagues and I had to write the survey for our research project), and the internet was barely functional.

Because all of the posts below are about sports, I figured I would write a note about salient aspects of my life outside of sports.

With the exception of my athletic sojourns, I spent the vast majority of this week in a hotel room with my colleagues writing this survey. Because I’m not allowed to disclose many of the details and I don’t think most people would find them very interesting, I’ll leave it at this: it was tiring, highly educational, lots of fun, and challenging. Oddly enough, it heightened my interest in a Ph.D. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed high-level debate. Bottom line: glad to have it behind me but happy I did it.

With the survey draft behind me, my schedule should be far more sane. Today, I am lounging at the Novatel, a business hotel with a pool that non-residents can pay to use and far superior internet access to the hotel where we’re staying. During the next few days, we’ll be moving into the house the research team is renting, and we’ll be preparing to implement the survey. Overall, though, the pace of life should be far slower.

I hope to take advantage of the free time to explore the city more, continue to play sports, and catch-up on rest and e-mail (if I can find good internet access).

Baseball in Ghana

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, I took a 25 minute taxi ride to Tema, an industrial city outside of Accra. The purpose of my visit was to meet a Ghanaian man who is trying to establish Little League in Ghana.

Somewhat strangely, the catalyst for this entire trip to Ghana is indirectly linked to this man. Back in December, I was at a friend’s holiday party in Cambridge, and I was talking to a high school friend about my interest in sport and development. Coincidentally, this friend (who also is a minor league baseball player) has an organization that ships baseball equipment to Ghana.

My high school friend connected me with the director of this baseball NGO who I met with yesterday. Then, I found a job in Ghana as a research assistant independently, but I’ll save that story for another time.

I met the local baseball enthusiast at a Chinese restaurant (nothing like Chinese food and baseball in Africa to see the manifestations of globalization) and chatted for awhile. Then, he took me to the equipment shed and the field.

It was pretty striking to see the field (I’ll post pictures later). Unsurprisingly, it pales in comparison to the parks in which I played as a kid. A cinder block is first base, a soccer goal post is second base, and, the backstop is full of holes. Still, I was impressed to see any interest in baseball in Africa.

Later this week, I’ll return to Tema to do some actual coaching and talk more to this man about the organization’s needs and how I might be able to help. There’s going to be some local television coverage of the coaching session, so, in the mean time, I better work on my swing!

Basketball at the Embassy

In addition to the soccer game described in the previous post, another highlight to an otherwise work-filled week was a basketball game in which I participated at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday evening.

I learned about the game via a US-AID employee in Ghana who went to grad. school with one of my supervisors. I met him outside the embassy (which, by the way, is palatial) around 6:15 p.m., and he escorted me thru security.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the game. On the one hand, I figured how many high caliber basketball players can there be in Ghana who know about this game? On the other hand, it only takes ten people to tango in basketball.

Turns out I was the shortest guy on the floor, and these guys knew what to do with their height. Much of the game happened above the rim, and, though I played solid defense, I was more of a facilitator on offense than a potent scoring threat.

What was most challenging about the game was that, even at 6:15 in the evening, it is extremely hot and humid in Ghana. Definitely not ideal for outdoor, full-court ball. Even less ideal when the best player on your team calls for a run and gun offense and warns you that he will scream at you if you don’t run.

Despite the conditions and the fact that I was the only guy south of 6 feet, I had a great time. I’m fairly certain that this was my first time inside a U.S. Embassy, and it is great to know of a high-quality weekly basketball game.

Off the Beaten Path

Last Sunday morning, the professor directing this project and I decided to run to the beach. By the end of the day, in large part thanks to this run, I had a) seen a true shantytown, b) played soccer on a beach where my colleagues I were the only white people amidst hundreds (if not thousands) of locals, and c) mostly broken out of the tourist bubble.

The adventure started in part on a dare. The professor and I had been discussing the possibility of attempting a run to the beach for several days, but it was only when one of our colleagues doubted our ability to do so that we actually decided to attempt this feat.

Turns out the run itself was not a big deal, and the excitement started upon arriving by the water. After running a few miles from the hotel to the waterfront, we were told that we had to walk down a path that went through a shanty-town to reach the beach itself.

After about ten minutes of walking and witnessing some of the most severe poverty I’ve seen in my life, we reached the beach, where we were greeted by a shirtless Ghanaian man named Awuchey, who is both a boxer and a carpenter/woodcarver. He took us to his shop, which had some impressive drums and masks. We didn’t have any money but promised to return later in the day with our colleagues. So, we ran back to the hotel, had breakfast, and invited everyone to return to Awuchey’s shop and the surrounding market.

Upon returning to the market, we went to Awuchey’s shop and, after some haggling, bought a couple of masks. Then, the real fun started for me. I had seen soccer games occurring on the beach earlier in the day, and Awuchey escorted me and several of my colleagues to the beach and one of these games.

I can say without hyperbole that my colleagues and I were the only white people on the beach among hundreds — if not a couple thousand — Ghanaians. Awuchey, without prompting from us, repeatedly told us not to worry about our security because everyone knows he is a boxer (although he did caution me that the soccer players would try to break my legs).

Turns out, the second time I touched the ball, I was slide-tackled. Ironically, I appreciated this because it signalled that the other players weren’t handling me with kid gloves. They even passed me the ball a few times, and I managed to hold my own.

Overall, I was very impressed by the quality of play: lots of quick and precise passes, some pretty dribbling, and physical defense. Really, the only bizarre thing that happened is that someone decided to ride a motorcycle thru the game and clipped my wrist. My wrist just got bruised, and the motorcyclist apologized.

On the whole, I enjoyed last Sunday thoroughly. It was a great opportunity to get off the beaten path, even though Awuchey was so gracious largely because he wanted our business. For the first time while abroad in my life, I did not feel completely like a tourist.

Work, Sports, Sleep — Repeat

For the past week, my life has consisted primarily of working, playing sports, sleeping, and repeating that cycle.

The work was particularly intense this week (I had several 15+ hour days with no full days off) because our research team had to complete a draft of our survey by this Friday. It was an exceptionally challenging, interesting, and stimulating task, and, though I learned a lot from it, I am thankful it is done because it was exhausting.

Amidst all of the work, I managed to continue to play a lot of sports (soccer, basketball, and, later today, baseball). I’ve also had a few interesting adventures, each of which I’ll describe in blog posts over the course of the next couple of days.

Finally, let me apologize for not updating this blog more regularly. The combination of all of this work (along with the internet going down for days at a time in the hotel) left me with minimal blogging opportunities.

Internet Problems

I’m sorry for being out of touch for so long! I have not had internet access since my last post because the wireless network in the hotel has been down. Assuming the internet remains up today, I’ll write more later this afternoon/evening. I’ve had an awesome week. Highlights include a basketball game at the U.S. embassy, beach soccer where my colleagues and I were the only tourists for about a mile, and lots of good food!

Hard at Work

Sorry for not posting an update during the last day or so, but I’ve been hard at work. Normally, I will not be working on the weekend, but the research team has a big deadline to meet toward the end of this week. This has resulted in long hours and less blogging.

Nevertheless, we’re finding time to enjoy ourselves. Check back tomorrow for a detailed update on the nighlife in Accra, the beach, and the first meeting with the baseball NGO!

A Little Adventure

Just wrapping up day three here in Ghana, and I had three interesting experiences today.

The first involved another run. After spending the bulk of the day working on designing the survey, I ventured out for a run around 5:30 p.m. Whereas our first hotel was located near the airport, our current hotel is in Asylum Down, a fairly residential neighborhood. As a result, during the course of my run, I got to see a little bit more of how Ghanaians live, at least those who are in reasonably wealth areas. Nothing too shocking here, but it felt good to venture out a bit. Surprisingly, the heat wasn’t too bad, and I ran well.

Adventure number two involved a visit to Osu, a street with a lot of restaurants and shops, for drinks after dinner tonight. We met up with a USAID worker who one of the people on the research team knows at a place called Monsoon. I had a good gin and tonic, and I learned about weekly pick-up basketball and soccer games. More importantly, I’m hoping the USAID worker will have insights about how to ship baseball equipment to this NGO in Ghana.

Experience three was my first encounter with authentic Ghanaian cuisine. For lunch today, I had red red, a dish that combines fried plantains and what can be best described as beef stew. With a little spice mixed in, it was tasty.

A final note is that it appears that we’re going to be spending more time than I thought in Accra. I’m going to try to take advantage of this time to meet people involved with sport and development here, and, if all goes according to plan, I’m going to get a chance to start coaching baseball as early as next week.

Overall, I’m enjoying myself quite a bit. Though the work is just getting going, I’m beginning to develop a better sense of the country and becoming more comfortable.

Tomorrow, the gameplan is to work on finding a house to rent in Accra for the team and continuing to refine the survey. After that, we’ve identifed a few fun restaurants and clubs for Friday night.

Onwards!

Some Photos

We’re at a new hotel with slightly faster internet access, so I’m now able to post some pictures. Check it out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/david.tannenwald/GhanaOne#

Switching Places

Halfway through day two in Ghana, I’m once again sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Shangri La. This, however, will be my last post from this 70’s style, airport hotel.

Today, we are moving to a hotel a little closer to the center of Accra where the bulk of our business will occur. I’m hoping that hotel will also have better internet that will afford me the opportunity to post pictures.

I also have gotten in touch with the baseball NGO for which I’ll be doing some coaching and (hopefully) shipping some equipment via the States this summer.

Onwards!