Zero to 80 in a day (degrees that is)

Was about 17 degrees outside our taxi to JFK. Tomorrow we will land in the Tropics.

Landed in Accra at about 7am which was about midnight our time. So imagine, we started the day at 8am in New York City, ran around all morning and afternoon in ten degree cold (zero with wind chill) doing last minute things, got on a Delta Airline flight, watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and an unbearable Sandra Bullock film (the free wine helped), tried to sleep through some 2 year old screaming for nine hours straight, got off the plane in Accra just after sunrise to about 80 degree weather and then had a whole day (well, we took a two hour nap).

Went to The Digital Livingroom (bar) at 4pm to watch the Ghana Black Stars play the Egyptian Pharaohs in the African Cup of Nations. This is the top football match (that's soccer to you Yanks) of the African continent (yes Sarah Palin, C-O-N-T-I-N-E-N-T!). Ghana was playing much better than the Pharaohs but the Egyptians managed to sneak the ball into the net in the last five minutes winning them the cup. The packed pub we were in was manic until then. A fun time though I think Ghana deserved the win.

Ghana Black Stars grab the silver in the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament

They Let me In!

There it is: that is what $50, two trips to midtown and patience with a grumpy Consulate woman gets you. One entry into the West African country of Ghana. One step closer. More shots tomorrow. I was up sweating with fever last night from the Yellow Fever. Nuts.

I've got Yellow Fever

Got my Typhoid and Meningococcal shots today but what is paining me is the Yellow Fever (pictured above). The nice doctors at The Interchurch Center on Riverside Drive & 120 Street who injected me with the live disease said I may "contract" the illness but being that it is so weak, my body will fight it, beat it and become immune to it for about 10 years. I have fever, a sore body and slight headache. All for the job.

Can I Pay You to Put a Live Virus in my Body with a Needle Please?

Ok, today's injection of a live virus hurt and cost so much more than yesterdays. But the nice women at the Interchurch Medical Center were very good to me. Feels like I took a good hit to my left arm, ouch.

Pain is Expensive

Was able to save about $80 by getting my tetanus shot from the city but Yellow Fever, Malaria pills, Polio & Typhoid could cost me over $300! And all of this so someone can stab me with needles. Having contracted Malaria and Hepatitis A in the past, I guess it is worth it. Don't want to experience that again.

On location: Ghana

Van and I spent the weekend getting ready for our January 30th departure for Ghana to shoot a couple of short documentaries for the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a non-profit arm of Meltwater Group out of San Francisco. A member of the Meltwater team overheard me talking on my cell phone to the former director of my graduate school about my dissertation presentation and interrupted my conversation while on the security line of San Francisco International Airport to ask if I was available to edit their video. I informed her I was also available to shoot it.

Didn't get the green light on my quote for the job until this last week, giving us less than three weeks to prepare for his five day shoot/two week edit. Lots to do.