Sushi With Larry

I will start with who Larry is... because I know you all are wondering. Larry if I am correct is either a friend of Grandma Sandy or the son of one of Grandma Sandy's friends in Florida. He grew up in Schenectady and went to the JCC with Stephen Jacobson I think (don't quote me on that.) He is a retired Banker and has worked most of his life in banks in Africa. He has three grown kids and lives in San Francisco.

The point of all this is that when I decided on coming to Ghana, my grandma- and the rest of my family- started the search for people they knew or sort of knew that had been to Ghana, lived in Ghana or are currently in Ghana. My family wanted me to have people to talk to, to prepare me for my trip ahead, and to have contacts while I am here. VERY SWEET I THINK. One of the people that came up on this list, other than Carol Brown, Uncle Ed's friend, Kaylee from Dance West, and plenty of others was this man named Larry.

Larry as I learned comes to Ghana for a week every three months for a meeting with the bank and doesn't mind taking poor college students out for a nice meal. In our email correspondence before his arrival, which my mother initiated(thanks mom,) he asked me if there was anything that he could bring me from the States or from Heathrow Airport. I responded that the only two things I really missed and wanted from the States were sushi and my mom and that I knew that both were not possibilities.

To my great surprise Sushi is a possibility in Ghana at one place, Monsoon. Not knowing what to expect in conversation or food I invited my friend Kierstin along, to which she said, "you owe me" and then later said, "nevermind" in regards to her previous remark. Larry picked us up outside the Canadian Embassy (near my work) in an air conditioned car with a driver. I felt truly conflicted... inside this car we were transplanted back to America where you wear seat belts, but we were still in Ghana where I haven't worn a seat belt yet and I am pretty sure that they don't exist in most cars, so the dilemma was do we wear seat belts OR NOT! Going to Monsoon was like going to a restaurant in the states and the sushi was to die for. We had a rainbow roll, spicey tuna, and tempura (Thank you Larry!) We had academic meaning full conversations about Human Rights, Uganda, presidencies in Africa and corruption... and other things we as people don't like to admit exist. On the way home Kiersten and I impressed Larry by directing the driver to our houses in Twi: fa bankum (take left) fa nifa (take right) ko anim (go strait) ha (here) ho (there) gyia (stop.)

overall A+ evening, despite the fact that I missed Kenkey Monday.