...and then we dined across the border

So when I last updated, I ended off with my finding the "Ghana House Boutique" right in center city Strasbourg, alongside all the other big stores. Well good for me about this find, because it led to an interesting adventure…

So I got off the tram, entered the shop and started chatting with this lady, the owner of the shop who is very Ghanaian and a boga by all standards. And what an interesting conversation we had, her sentences a medley of twi, english and French. Classically, she asked me as I was leaving the shop, "sweetie, give me the numero of your portable eh, quelquefois m3 fr3 wo!" Can you beat that!

Anyway, I found out from her where the Ghanaian church in Stras is, and apparently there are 5! In this city of about 400,000 people there are about 1,000 Ghanaians this lady says, and 5 churches. And Ghana is not even french-speaking?!

So Sunday after I met this lady I got ready for church and unknowingly, also for a very interesting adventure. At the tram stop in center city, as I was trying to figure out my way, you know, craning my neck up at the map and making frantic calls to the lady from the shop, checking my watch, a grey-haired African man walked up to me. A black knight to this damsel in distress, I suppose is how he saw himself. Anyway I needed help so I told him where I was going and he was like "Ohhhh, I'm going to the same place!! Why don't you come with me?" Jollily I said yes, and we got on the tram together.

On the tram we sat together and brother starts to chat: He's in his mid-forties, a German citizen, has divorced a German wife, has a kid with an African American woman who was a soldier in Germany, his kid is 8 and he barely knows her. I got all of this history on the less than 40 min ride it took us to get the church. We got there an hour late, but since this is a Ghanaian church it was only about starting. During the service we sat side by side and a couple of times brother leaned over to ask, you know like what hymn we were singing and stuff like that. Apparently all this had not gone unnoticed because after the service, they invited all newcomers (looking pointedly at brother and I) to come up and introduce themselves. They said: " Monsieur et Madame la bas, SVP, venez." So we did. And after brother introduces himself, they were like, "Oh why don't you hand the mic to your WIFE!!!!!" The horrors!!! Here I was being married off to a grey-haired, mid-forties, stranger while there were several eligible young French-Ghanaian gentlemen in the audience looking on. What the heck!!. I had to save face somehow so I burst out, sputtering in broken French that "Ooooooo Nooooo, biensurr nonnnnnnn. NON, I am NOT his wife." And guess what… the congregation burst out laughing, like rib cracking laughs!!! And hubby brother, he just stood there and grinned endlessly like a goofy expectant groom of a reluctant mail order bride!!! I mean looking back know I kinda see the humor, but geez, way to wound my ego on my first day. And to make it worse, I think brother kinda liked the idea because he has been calling me ever since, to wish me good night, good afternoon and gros bisous (*shudder*).

Anyway, after church, we walked back to the tram station amidst endless jokes from brother about this delightful confusion that had just passed. He suggested introducing me to his niece who is a young college student, French-African who grew up in Paris and was also new in the area. We went over to her dorm room, and what a great girls, Malivina and her best friend Vanessa. Like true Africans, without much introduction we chatted for like an hour, went over to visit another African guy in the building, chatted for like three hours and then finally realized around 7.30 pm that we had missed lunch and were very hungry. So we drove like 15 minutes into Germany for dinner (because stores in Strasbourg close at 7pm and most of them don't open on Sundays). And had junkf fast food (which I have really missed) and of course, the brothers picked up the bill. Afterwards, we took a walk on this beautiful beautiful bridge that connects Germany and France and we had such a good time. What a day!!

This weekend I have been in Paris and ohhhh soo many stories. Update on that will be coming soon.