No more boring ... Do something different this Valentine.

Are you tired of doing the same old things every Valentine's day? Do you fancy something different for a change? Newaccra Lifestyle Magazine has done all the hardwork for you. We called our friends at Pleasure Sights, a rising tourism company, and asked them to give us a roundup of five cool places that will simply blow you out of this world. They showed us these sweet spots! 

So  go on, call your special someone and check out these spots on Val's day!


Love overlooking the lake
VRA Maritime Club – Akosombo

Picture you two huddled up on a wonderful lakefront well-hidden from the troubles of the city. No noise, no loud music, just you and your boo.

You get watersports and a good meal. If you fancy a cruise, ‘Ohemaa LXI' is available. Its takes 20 people, so you can call up 9 other couples for an all-couple-cruise! 


True love is natural

BeyinBeach Resort – Western Region

Celebrate your love on maybe one of the cleanest beachfronts in Africa! Your bed will be in a traditional hut for a village experience and you will enjoy the sweet breeze as you take a romantic walk on the night beach hand in hand.

What's more, you can visit the village on silt (Nzulezu) or take a sea trip to sight whales. And oh, you might sight turtles on your night beach walk! 


The theme of love

Villa Monticello – Airport – Accra

If you are looking for a touch of class to impress that important person, you should check out this plush hotel that has themed rooms.  Start by choosing a theme that touches his / her heart. Then spoil them with a meal in the good looking dining area. 

The rest of the night is up to you... 





Love in a Japanese pot

Santoku Restaurant and Bar – Villagio – Accra 

This surprise will blow the candles out for a new love who appreciates something different, like Japanese cuisine!

A high class Suchi Bar that has  a well-defined package for two persons. The décor is so different and cool, your friends will keep asking where you took those pictures. This is a cute start to a romantic weekend !  


The heights of love

AbraErica Hospitalities and Lodge – Amedzofe, Volta Region

Imagine passionate nights, breathtaking views and extremely cool weather from a mountaintop. 

Then add sightseeing or photographing Mount Gemi, Ote Falls or the Biakpa mountain paradise, monkeys at the Tafi Atome Monkey sanctuary and live Borborbor music in the evening. 

He / she will remember this for a long time!

 
So go ahead, make this valentine truly unforgettable.Remember no one is in charge of your happiness, but you!

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 Are you having a movie night instead? See our movie playlist !!

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About the author

Pleasure Sights is a tourism company that is becoming known for organizing  tours and trips for local and foreign nationals to beautiful but less known locations spread across the country .The company seeks to take Ghana out of its comfort zone onto the international tourism map and is currently building a one-stop location where all tourists entering the country can have information, both online and offline about tourism in Ghana. Follow them on twitter@pleasuresights or Facebook

photo; respective owners

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Customer service in Ghana ? Tweaa !

I entered a bank today and meeen!  customer service was top notch!
‘small boys and girls’ engaged me in "serious conversation sessions "as they simultaneously served me. However, this kind of customer service was not what surprised me because in the last couple of weeks I have seen and enjoyed the kind of  exceptional customer service I haven’t received in a very long time.What actually surprised me was finding out that none of the four front line staff who served me had a degree. The highest any of them had was second year undergraduate level. Really? "And you are doing banking?" I asked in my head.

As I got out of the banking hall I couldn’t stop asking myself – 'why don’t we have this kind of customer service and banking environment in Ghana?

In my opinion,  Banking and banking halls in Ghana come across as too rigid and intimidating to say the least- you are not allowed to make and receive calls in the halls, you can hardly talk freely and naturally to a staff member, you have to communicate by whispering, I could go on. It is just so unnatural and unfriendly! What is the difference between our bankers in Ghana and these ‘small boys and girls’ who do what they do so well? I think CONFIDENCE is the difference. That is why they amaze you with beautiful service. Sadly most of us are unable to exhibit such high levels of confidence because right from the home, through school to the work places, instead of increasing, our confidence levels rather depreciate along the line and this is why.

 

At home

A lot of us who grew up in a ‘the elder  is always right’ background are likely to end up with lower self confidence.

When I was growing up, my elder brother and I disagreed, fought and got punished by our strict dad many times. After every punishment, he will invite both of us indoors and will tell me (as if I didn’t know) that my brother was the eldest so I should obey him. Then he will tell both of us ‘Listen, obey and do what anybody older than you tells you to do. That is respect!’ It was as if he was telling us never to think for ourselves...

Many would relate to this and I believe this kind of family values could be a reason why one could lose their confidence to anybody they consider a “grown up”.

In school

Some of us got caned, were called names and even were abused by  teachers for giving wrong answers to questions in class. This classical experience makes an individual feel less confident because it only  inhibits performance , induces fear, worry and stress and ultimately drives people to give up. Elsewhere, no answer is "stupid" or no other adjective is used to describe any answer in the classroom. Instead, a lecturer or professor would interrogate your own answer further by asking follow up questions until you realize your own answer was wrong. This makes you understand that it is O.K to fail, and urges you on to pick yourself up. This would obviously make you talk more in class and make you a part of the learning process and this would give your confidence level a great boost.

At work

In some work places, some of us are looked down upon and even relegated to the back seat, and treated differently from others not because we are not capable of working , but because we lack some degree or other higher education. Obviously, this cannot boost the confidence of anybody. For instance, I think it is gradually becoming illegal in Ghana to be gainfully employed if you don’t  have a degree -nobody cares how much experience you may have in the field.

From my experience with the ‘small boys and girls’ who do what they do so well in the bank, I think it is simply confidence!  Sadly confidence is not awarded with a degree certificate.

Finally, Tweaaa !

In the last couple of days, I have seen a video on social media comparing how two politicians react to heckling. People who discuss the video focus on the politicians, but I don’t! Because if you have an African leader (like that DCE) who I think is so power drunk,  thinks the world evolves just around him, and feels everything else is supposed to be about him, you cannot expect anything different from his reaction.

This is what I make of the video- While in the Obama video, the heckler came across to me as someone confident and brave enough to show his face, the heckler in the Tweaa DCE video on the other hand came to me as a coward who had no confidence at all. Thanks to him or her, we still don’t know who said ‘tweeeaaa’ . Meanwhile I heard the word Tweaa has now entered the Oxford dictionary, how?

Rather than ordering respect and trying to make people fear you because of some qualifications or position, we should  treat everybody with kindness and respect. And by respect I don’t mean the ‘fanfool yesayesa’ kind of respect. I think that is what they do elsewhere and it is very difficult to identify the boss if you entered any office.I end by saying, in as much as it is important to grow confidence in ourselves, we should be careful not to come across as arrogant or being deluded. We should give some attention to negative feedback and also be more self-critical.  

'There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance and it is called humility. Confidence smiles and arrogance smirks' – from a friend’s Facebook wall.

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About the author

Worlanyo is a husband sharing thoughts and lessons learned to inspire and challenge you to give more of yourself. Remember, Life is an eternal quest about knowing oneself, and to challenge yourself to rediscover your hidden traits, talents, and tendencies. See more of his thoughts at www.waadzimah.com

photo; 

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TWEAA enters Oxford Dictionary !

TWEAA     [tshwiaah]  -{noun, adjective or adverb}

A sarcastic exclamation made in response to a question, comment, action or statement, to show that the idea being expressed is silly, laughable, absurd or nonsensical. 

Synonyms:  Bullshit, crap, rubbish, 'yeah, right', 'ns3m hunu',
                  'ns3m  fon' 'SMH', nonsense.

Origin:   The word originates from the West African country of Ghana, a
             country popular in recent times for football and Azonto dance. It
             went viral after a politician verbally attacked and nearly killed
             an innocent spectator for chuckling during the politician’s speech.
             Ghana police are still searching for the person who said Tweaa.

USAGE:

noun

1. Tweaahahaha: [tshwiaah- ha-ha-ha]
   A unique type of laughter caused by sheer tweaaness.
2. Tweaadict [tshwiaah- dikt]
   Someone who is  simply cannot stop using the word Tweaa.
3. Tweaaphobia:[tshwiaah-fow-beau]
   An extreme fear of being tweaad when speaking or performing some other act in public.
4. Tweaagle: [tshwiaah- gul]
   An eagle that cannot soar.
   Eg. The Super Green Tweaagles of Nigeria. This was added after Ghana defeated sister- country Nigeria in a CHAN soccer game.
5. Tweaawama: [tshwiaah- wah-mah]
   Sharwama that is poorly done.
6. Tweakai  [tshwiaah-cah-he]
   An expression to show that something is outrageously tweaarific
   e.g. Tweaakai! Somebody said Justin Bieber sings better than Efya
7. Mantweaaster United:
   A derogatory term describing the state of Manchester United under David Moyes
8. Tweaalsea FC :
   The real name of Chelsea FC.

COMMON EXPRESSIONS: 

• The crowd tweaad the boring musician off the stage
• Tweaa, am I your co-equal?
• I couldn’t stand the tweaaness of the Ghana-Nigeria CHAN game, so I was forced to watch Marie Cruz.
• With an empty goal before him, Yahaya Mohammed shot the ball tweaarifically over the bar.
• Yesterday I tweaad, today I am twearing, tomorrow I shall tweaa

We think you'll like this too - Just for laughs

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About the author

Esteban is a marketing communications specialist, humorist, writer and award winning public speaker. He has been picked as a young person to watch out for in 2014.

photo; oxforddictionaries.com

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