Lost Love(s)

Sometimes you just loose track of an old pastime, maybe you just forgot about it, or you were too busy with other things, ... But when you rediscover it, it brings you so much joy that it feels like being reunited with a long lost love.

Reading

The past months I have been having visits from friends and family from Belgium, all leaving behind some magazines for me to read. Of course most of them were a few weeks or months old, but I loved it! Even so much that I have been reading only magazines for the past two months.

Cover taken from RRC

Now that the stack is finished, I looked at that other stack on my nightstand: books. At first, those books looked so much thicker than the magazine issues I have been devouring since December, like it would take an infinte amount of time extra to finnish a book before a magazine. Thankfully, that feeling didn't even last for a second and I grabbed "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by the American abolitionist Stowe. Already during the first ten pages a content smile appeared on my face, diving into literature after a long abstinence, it indeed is like being reunited with a long lost love.

Sports

At the beginning of this month, for the first time since my ankle fracture (don't stick your foot under a tippertruck, kids!), I went to do some sports again. A bit careful in the beginning and it was clear that my legs had become quite stiff, but it felt great!
Running, pushing, stretching, pulling, ... Ah, I was sweating like a pig, thank humanity for good showers!

The next morning, I could enjoy that "tired but happy" feeling in most muscles.

Music

Although it hasn't been for years, I can't recount when was the last time that I grabbed a guitar. Everywhere I have lived up to now, I have left one behind, so that must be about five (e)stray guitars up to now. I hope that the new owners are happy with each one of them.

Last year, I shipped an electric guitar from Belgium to Ghana. As I have only been playing classic guitar up to now, this is my first electrical one ever! And in October I bought a second hand classic guitar here in Tamale, it has two ugly Jamaica-stickers on its body (ugh), but the sound is quite good.

During the weekend, the electric company of Ghana, the Volta River Authority or VRA, had to work on a big transformer in the district of Gurugu. Unfortunately, this meant that on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the whole city of Tamale would be without electricity from 7.00 until 17.00 . We had to take precautions for our restaurant and lodge as this is not a healthy environment for frozen food.

The power did indeed come back at 17.00, but apparently there were still some troubles because the lights went out several times during the evening and the night, leaving our lodge in the dark. Besides the business aspect (which we handled well), I have to say it also had something romantic. To keep our customers at the restaurant out of the dark, we took a fine collection of candles and put one on each table. It was a very inviting look from the roadside and I wished I was one of the guests at that moment.

After closing time, I was still too awake to go to bed and found myself sitting outside enjoying the silence around me. I took out my guitar and just started enjoying myself with it, playing softly in order not to wake anybody up. It was good to find my old friend again, in tune and all.

If I feel brave enough, I will organize a third "Open Mic night" at Sparkles restaurant soon!

update: Saturday, 16th of April 2011 Open Mic night at Sparkles!

Love

And of course, my all time favourite 'pastime': Meguchan. At this moment, she is still right at the spot where I left her (18°59' N 72°50' E). We haven't seen each other for almost a year, but now she has booked a plane ticket to visit me on the 18th of May 2011. It will be her first visit to Ghana and I am very excited to show her this country: ようこそ妻ちゃん!