Greetings from Ghana

For those who are not familiar with the part of the world that I live in, Lafayette, Louisiana is the largest city in a region of the state referred to as Acadiana. It got this name from the people who first people (non-native Americans) who populated the area. These people were of French decent and left Acadia. Canada in order to have religious freedom. French is still promulgated here, but it is less the kind spoken in France, but what is called "Cajun French," because the Acadian people are referred to as Cajuns.

Another prominent characteristic of Lafayette and the surrounding areas is the importance of the energy industry, specifically oil and gas production. It is the number one employer in the area, and the industry that I work in. Companies of all sizes from mom and pops to the largest of international service companies have a presence here.

The international companies, as part of their employee development programs encourage their employees to do rotations in different regions of the world. Due to this, Lafayette gets a fair amount of people and their families from all over the world to live in the area for brief periods. As our luck would have it, primarily due to our kid's school, we have had the good fortune of becoming friends with some families from the UK. This has been a great experience for Margaret and I as well as our kids. I know growing up in New Orleans, almost all the kids I went to school with were just like me and the experiences were pretty homogeneous. Our girls get to learn about customs in other countries and will be more well rounded.

One of the families we befriended is the Wise family who are originally from Scotland. Lafayette was the first international assignment for them and they wanted one that would be not drastically different from their home in Scotland. They stayed in America for almost 3 years and we became great friends. Elizabeth and Margaret hit it off and were instant friends. Having children at the same school helped with this. It took a little longer for Keith and I, but our commonalities made us have a great friendship. I am a big fan of British and as I would find out, Scottish humor. Our mutual love of football (soccer), beer and even the early 90's rap group Public Enemy made for an great friendship. I am pretty certain that among the last things I thought I would have in common with a guy from Aberdeen was an enjoyment of the music of Chuck D and Flavor Flav. As Margaret and Elizabeth would attest, we are incredibly similar, even down to our traits that our wives do not necessarily appreciate.

As all good things tend to do, Keith's temporary assignment to the US ended last September when he and his family moved to Ghana for another assignment. Quite a move for a second international assignment. Needless to say, we were very sad to see them leave. I have however been somewhat successful in keeping up with Keith while he has been in Africa. We typically exchange e-mails or texts every two weeks or so. We have even made some arrangements to meet up with the Wise's next April in Scotland for a half marathon in Edinburgh. However he and Margaret pulled off the surprise of a lifetime this past weekend which meant not having to wait that long.

This past Friday night after we had dinner, I noticed someone had pulled into our driveway. I was not expecting any visitors and walked out to my garage to see who it was. Much to my surprise it was Keith all the way from Africa. Needless to say, I was very surprised and tremendously happy to see him. He had been in America all week visiting clients in Texas and he and Margaret had worked about 3 weeks in order to pull this off. Looking back, she was very jumpy and nervous about me finding out, but still managed to put together a completely unexpected surprise.

Keith and I on Friday evening with my new Ghanian football jersey and the black star flag of Ghana. I know this is a beer blog, so in case anyone is wondering, the beer in the picture is the Coney Island Albino Python lager, which is quite nice, but not the main attraction of this post.

As would be expected, we had lots of beers and good times this weekend. It was like old times. We even skpyed with Elizabeth, Cameron and Francesca in Ghana.

One of the things I really like about the Wise's is how much they embraced being in America. They traveled all over the country on holidays and Keith even drove a Ford Mustang convertible while they lived here. You can't get more American than that. He also enjoyed the local beer, specifically Abita Amber, of which we had several this weekend.

Although this was a whirlwind weekend, it was fantastic. Kudos go to my wife and Keith for the coolest surprise and the effort it took to make it happen.

As they say in Scotland, cheers mate!