Contraband

So, even though Italy was kind enough to do their best to help out the US Soccer team by defeating the Czech Republic today 2-0 (necessary to ensure the US advance into the round of 16), the US went down in humiliating defeat in their final World Cup 2006 game, bested and eliminated from the tournament by 30th-seed Ghana 2-1 (albeit on a dubiously-called penalty kick). And, to add insult to injury, the stupid ESPN cameras zoomed in so we could only see Brian McBride's face rather than his whole body during the shirt exchange at the end of the game. So, all the way around it was a bad day for US soccer.

Watching the game did bring back some memories for me personally, though, as I had the opportunity to spend a week in Ghana during my first trip to Africa in 1996. In fact, my flight was on Ghana Airways non-stop from New York City to Accra, Ghana, making that the first African country I ever visited. It was obvious from television coverage today, though, that few people know much about Ghana, even though it is a beautiful country with wonderful people.


At the conclusion of my week in Ghana (which was spent primarily in region between Lake Volta and the country of Togo, we drove to the border of Ghana and Togo to spend a week in the village of Kpalime, Togo. At the border, we had the first of several border-crossing experiences I would go through in Africa--always an interesting process.

On that trip, which was "back in the day" before iPods, I had a fairly good-sized case with me in which I kept my CDs and Discman to listen to on our trips through the bush (wasn't quite ready to go all African at that point, obviously). Well, as the border guard was looking through my bags, he pulled out the CD case and asked me what was in it. Cheerfully, I answered "CD's."

Immediately, the guard's eyes got big, and he called over his commanding officer and several others who stood around me warily. They opened the case, and of course saw the CDs just as I had said. However, they still did not seem to know exactly what they were, and they seemed awfully tense. Perhaps they didn't like my musical selections? Trying to be helpful, I demonstrated to the officer by removing one of the CDs, putting it in my discman, and allowing him to listen. He was fascinated by the device, and let me go after searching the case thoroughly.

As we drove away, I mentioned to my host that they had been very tense when I told them I was taking CD's with me. Immediately the host laughed heartily and reminded me that the currency of Ghana is "Cedis" (pronounced just like I was saying). So, the border patrols thought I was smuggling currency out of the country, a significant crime! Next to telling my 55-year-old French professor that I was in love with her when I was attempting to say I enjoyed ice cream, that was certainly my most amusing language confusion experience.