Being in France for two weeks

Time has come to have 2 weeks easter holidays in France !

Save the date : Marseille, Bordeaux, St Palais-sur-Mer and Paris !

By plane, train, taxi or buses , subway and feet 😮

Before leaving your host country for Holidays :

Holidays for expatriates are planned and checked by the company of your husband or boyfriend quite a long time before.

And it does not look like resting days !!

J -20

Making everything ready to take off the D day.

Now that you have your plane ticket and you have chosen where to land, you have to organise the meetings for the two parents family and friends.
I started with my boyfriend family in Marseille, then my family and friends near Bordeaux and at last but not least all my friends in Paris.
For my friends, I used Facebook by posting the dates of the week I ll be in Paris to organise each several days with them ( lunch, shopping session, diner..) and manage to see everybody.

J – 10

Now that you have you schedule complete, you want to bring small presents from Ghana to family and best friends and also for birthday or 2 new baby birth.
I decided to go to the Art Market ” in Accra to find some little products in wood of roses ( small animals like elephants 😉

I have also been to Marina Mall, for cosmetic made in Ghana with shea butter cream or essential oil or tea tree :

I bought some soaps and shea butter from the “all for nature ” shops

And the best presents I think are made by my friend Lova in Accra who buy her fabric in Ghana and then can sew by hand all what you want : I ordered her some typical things for birthday : pillow, bags, etc… She sells all products on a little market website : crea by lova

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Check all that you are missing in your host country which does not exist or is too expensive:
Part of the list : chocolate, french mustard, cheese, your favorite wine…

J -2

You pack everything (quite nothing except presents since you still have clothes for winter/summer at home) and take two suitcases to come back with products.

D DAY at last!!

I m ready to jump into the first plane for 6 hours flight to Amsterdam and the second plane to Marseille and few days after ……

And after a while… I finally arrived HOME ! !

My parents house near Royan, in St Palais sur Mer!!
I had not seen them for 4 months.

The day after my arrival to my parents place ……..

WHAT do you think I did ?!?!??

I have been on early morning to a supermarket !! Yes what you have just read is true : Super Market !!
I wanted to buy the products I do not eat in Accra because there are not or they are too expensive: such as chocolate, cheese, french bread, good wines, yogourt, mustard, ice cream , oisters….

At the payment desk, no plastic bag is given : now you need to have your own bag for food.
It is so good not to see all plastics on the ground everywhere you go… in Ghana, people do not care about it because I think that they are not aware of pollution and what is dangerous for the planet.

Then I could enjoy time here with friends and family :

A little of Ghana in Vaux sur Mer/ St Palais sur Mer :

What a surprise I had while going to “la maison blanche” , a wonderful and beautiful place (to eat and drink and even dance at night ) in front of the beach of Nauzan and the sea :the Ghanaian flag red/yellow and green alnd instead the black stars there was the logo of the ” white house” .

I thought i was not seeing well but yes when I ask the waiter it is was effectively the director who love ghana and Bob Marley as well.

My first Christmas under 35 ° !

When you live as an expat and espacially far from Francee, like in Ghana, you can not always choose your holidays at the good period, and as soon as your parents house is far, you can not go there for 2 days chritsmas feast…

So in 2014, we decided to spend ou first christmas in Ghana under the sun and the heat! It is strange to see christmas trees in street or in shops when it is 35 degrees!!

So, we decided to stay 4 days in Axim, which is 6 hours drive from Accra, located just before the Ivory Coast.

We had booked for a very wonderful and peaceful hotel with perfect nice bungalow.

We wanted to rest, breathes fresh and ocean air, and have good lunch and of course visit all around.

And it is what we did!

Axim, a very nice beach horizon…

We arrived in Axim after being stop several times by police who always stop you even if you did nothing and lies to you to get some money whereas you go to police station…So with few cedis less in our pockets, we finally arrived to our wonderful place to stay and rest.

Axim is a coastal town, about 60 km west of the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Western Region.

Our bungalow in Axim Beach Hotel looked like the ghanaian house in North of Ghana, and was in front of the beach, which was out of this world.

Inside, it was great too :

The views are amazing from the chalets; the bathrooms charming with wonderful shells incorporated into the design; the beds comfortable

During the night you can listen to the waves… so relaxing…and magic moment!

But to enjoy this time, make sure to take a lot of bug repellents for the night time mosquito attacks…if you do not have the moquito net!

Eva, a german woman is running the restaurant with meticulous efficiency and always happy to help with any food requests.

Do not forget to request the on duty personnel to get some of the freshest coconut with the sweetest water for you or some hard drink.

Some people might say that the food takes a long time to be served but that is the general timeline of restaurants all across Ghana. We found it very good and advise you to eat there.

One morning, we went on a canoe through the mangrove, 3 mn from the hotel.

Nzuelezo, the village above the water

Early in the morning, we went to discovert a typical village called Nzuelezo, which is not far from Axim.

We took a canoe and we were brought throught different landscapes until we discover….

the stilts village !

When we were on the pontoon of the village, we started to see people cutting piece of wood to make small boat to sell for tourists like us, and of course we bought several for us and family or friends!