I had a good night's sleep. In fact, I had a little too good night sleep and did not get up til 7:45 a.m. This is the record for "sleep-in-edness" since I've been here in Ghana. So I showered and dressed, then headed over the the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.
7:45 a.m. is late for everyone here, it seems. When I got to the restaurant the breakfast buffet - tea, fried eggs, bread, oatmeal and pineapple juice was gone. Lesson learned. Then again, I think that eating eggs that had been sitting out on a table since 6:00 a.m. wouldn't have been the best move anyway. No warming trays, no nothing.
In looking over the menu, I decided my best move would be corn flakes and milk.
It is ironic to me that with all the cows and goats that people raise around here, people don't milk them. Milk is strictly Carnation canned milk. Nestle is HUGE here, by the way. But it wasn't the low fat or nonfat milk It was brown milk in a can. So I had very Kelloggs-looking cornflakes with brown canned milk. It was not terrible.
The best part of the breakfast however was the South African soap opera, "Generations." Now in its 14th year, "Generations" is a lot like our own All My Children or One Life to Live. "Generations" is on a TV channel called "Africa Magic" which, as far as I can tell, is a lot like our cable channel, Lifetime, with programming geared mainly at women.
As I watched, I noticed that (1) people were dressed a lot better than any Ghanaians I've met and (2) the extremely orderly-looking highway traffic scenes that served as breaks in the program were definitely not shot in Ghana. I asked Vivienne my waitress if it was a Ghanaian program and she explained that it was South African.
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| Some of the cast of "Generations" |
"Generations" has dramatic story lines that are very familiar:
1. Woman accepts engagement ring from rich, older man but has second thoughts about the boyfriend she's leaving behind. There may have been multiple left-behind boyfriends - I was having a hard time following that one.
2. Teenage girl is leaving house dressed in a way her father does not approve of. He feels she's shaming the family.
3. The struggles of step-families in African culture.
4. More than one man having an affair and getting caught by his wife. And wives.
Vivienne explained that the program is also controversial, at least in Ghana, by introducing story lines that involve:
1. A relationship between a Muslim man and a Christian woman. Their families are neighbors and like each other socially, but both sides disapprove of the marriage.
2. A gay couple.
3. The social struggles of an albino man and the rewards that come to people who treat him like anyone else. In many parts of Africa, albinos are killed because of the belief that their body parts are useful for medicine or, in some parts of Africa, just because they look different than other black Africans.
No one tips in Ghana but I left Vivienne 50 pecawas (like our cents) for her time and patience in explaining "Generations: to me over my corn flakes. I was late and the restaurant had cleared out by the time I got there - so she had the time. But Vivienne displayed great patience in explaining the backstory of just about every scene.
She's a fan, by the way!
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