Do you remember the *Nsync song and the corresponding video. Close to the end JT says “man I’m tired of singing” and the group moves into a dance routine. On the way home I was trying to re-enact the dance routine, trying while driving, talk about multi-tasking. Obviously there were some moves I couldn’t do as that would probably cause an accident, but it was a nice way of making it through the traffic, I enjoyed myself so much I did not insult one idiot taxi driver or the woman whose car was obviously too big for her that she could not drive at more 10kmph. A glorious ending to a fabulous day.

Who am I kidding, this is my life, of course there was some drama involved.

I dragged my sorry arse out of bed at 7 this morning. It was supposed to be at 5 but had to go to the pharmacy this morning to get more drugs for this cold /cough that I’ve been banging on about for the past week. The kids are back at school which means if you want to avoid the traffic you have to leave before 6 or after 9. This morning I opted for the latter. I get in at around 10, say hello to everyone and sit quietly in my corner with my earphones in. My aim to talk as little as possible and sort out which emails would be filed away and which ones I would actually read. My mailbox was over its limit. I know this because there were about 10 emails telling me this. So I move everything onto the pst. More emails come flooding in, and more notifications come through telling me I’m over the limit.

All this and my colleagues are asking me to sort out their data problems. You see as part of my job as an addition. I have to manage the data for the whole region, creation of new products in the system and alike. I am the only person who can do this as the other person is on maternity leave, there is one last person who can actually do this job but she claims to have forgotten. I have been asking for one other person to be trained in case I am not around. It fell on death ears, then I was asked to go on leave, and so 2 weeks worth of issues are waiting for me, in addition to what I actually signed up to do, and the numerous reports that were asked for today. I kept calm. I didn’t shout, I didn’t complain. I politely asked my colleagues to wait 24 hours so that I could catch up on my own work first. They begrudgingly accepted in theory but in reality decided to burden my already bulging inbox.

I still kept quiet. I couldn’t talk too much anyway as my throat was hurting and anytime I did open my mouth I had a coughing fit.

I went to greet my category colleagues, wish them a happy new year and all that. It took all of 2 minutes before the requests for information came in. Two weeks ago not a soul in the office and now we hit the ground running, its the same every year.

I went back to my desk to go through more of the emails and start my report when I realized it was lunch time. I wasn’t really feeling the canteen food and wanted to check out whether the dstv offer at 300ghs for installation and equipment I think its about time. I invited my Nigerian friend along as I know myself and find some reason to not buy it. On the way to the mall he tells me that our acting team leader said that he saw me on Sunday and I seemed fine so why is it that 24 hours later I became sick, plus I did not inform anyone. Now I did see him on Sunday and he was the same person who commented that I was late and I told him why. So obviously what I was saying was chinese or I was “slanging too much” that he didn’t understand.

Now I don’t know if it is the PMS, this irritating cough or the fact that I just don’t like this particular guy or a combination of the three, but I had enough. I went into one. My poor friend, bet he wished he hadn’t told me now. I will not go through the whole conversation as I get breathless just thinking about it, but yeah, it was kind of frosty in the office that afternoon and it didn’t have anything to do with the A-C.

It appears though that the boy child manager did not pass on the message to the rest of the team that I was sick. He got the message though as he sent me a text message to ask if I was feeling better last night. I have a big mouth, rather troublesome and I don’t hold back on my feelings but I would not lie and say I’m sick when I’m not especially when I have spent the day with colleagues the day before, and I have no problems communicating either. But this is not something new, working with Ghanaians is tough as it is but a political one is dangerous. This guy is a well known politician, and while usually I try to handle with care, it was like a volcano eruption when I heard this comment and had to speak out.

After my outburst I went back to being quiet. Finished my report, answered a few emails and then shipped out. The rest can wait until tomorrow. But before I left, I went on the jobsinghana website. After two years in the job something has been nagging at me to move on. It has now been 2 years and 3 months and that feeling has not gone away. Maybe today was a sign to get out before I hurt somebody.

But it could be worse. I have been speaking to my colleagues in Nigeria. The whole country has gone on strike over the fuel subsidy issue. I will not talk too much about the politics of it all. I just pray they sort it out soon. Not everyone can afford to be at home.

I have finally got my Azonto CD, thanks to my little cousin. I have two favourites the first being sweetio by Raquel and Sarkodieh, not exactly Azonto but a good song. I first heard this song some months back when I went to Kumasi with my cousins. The one driving played it practically over and over again on the 6 hour journey. It was annoying at first and then quite catchy. Raquel is the one who apparently showed her lady bits at some awards ceremony in December. But the song is good.

The second one is Yenko Nkoa, I don’t know exactly who its by (sorry, but I have *nsync on my ipod, that should say it all), I love it, unfortunately the CD jumps half way through the song, gutted about that.

Well off to bed now. Tomorrow’s another day and I have to take my car for service in the morning. Well I say me, but I will send my male cousin to take it. I find mechanics the world over give women the special “don’t have a clue about cars so I’ll jack up the price” rate. The great thing about being in Ghana is that I can actually send someone to do this for me and avoid the hassle. In any event I said he should meet me at my office. I just hope he doesn’t get drunk tonight and not be able to wake up to meet me at 7 (yes all my family enjoy their liquor).

Tomorrow, I hope will be less dramatic. Although with pre-menstral susie threatening to unleash, who knows…