Ghanaians love to celebrate. Weddings, christenings, birthdays, funerals—doesn’t matter. It’s a celebration. And yes, you read that correctly. It includes funerals, which are usually the loudest, longest and liveliest of them all.

You’ve heard the term “wedding crasher” before—popularized by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the film of the same name, it is the idea of strangers dropping in on open-food, open-bar wedding receptions because there are so many guests coming together anyway that nobody will notice an extra few faces. In Ghana, that term applies just as much, if not more so, to funerals. This is especially popular among students, who will always keep their eyes open for free food and drinks.

For most people in the world, death is something to be feared and funerals have an eerie somberness about them. Ghanaians take a different approach, however. Rather than mourning the loss of someone, they try to festively celebrate his or her life. Rich or poor, families invest a huge sum of money into sending their departed loved ones off appropriately. Just about everyone is invited to the weekend- or week-long extravaganza, sometimes not even mattering if the guest knew the deceased or not, and coffins can often times resemble themed chambers (think soccer star getting buried in a huge soccer ball casket).

Forget weddings, for Ghanaians, the funeral is likely the biggest single expenditure they will ever have, and how grand and successful a funeral is can influence a family’s social status. As such, guests are typically expected to make a donation to help cover the extravagant costs, though many do not.

If you’re lucky enough to get invited to a funeral here, don’t try to think of any excuses to get out of it. Go, and you may find it was the most fun you had in Ghana!

Ever since ABBA dancing queened us through the 1970s, Sweden has become a surprisingly prominent exporter of music around the world. With a thriving pop rock scene, many Swedish artists have enjoyed huge success in the realms of American and British popular music. We have compiled a list of some of the best and most popular Swedish singles on a global stage…let’s see how many you didn’t know were from there! And if you have any other suggestions that we’ve omitted, please leave a comment!

• Blue Swede: Hooked on a Feeling (1974)
• ABBA: Waterloo (1974)
• ABBA: “S.O.S” (1975)
• ABBA: “Fernando” (1976)
• ABBA: Dancing Queen (1977)
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad: I Know There’s Something Going On (1982)
• Chess Musical: “One Night in Bangkok” (1985)
• Europe: “The Final Countdown” (1986)
• Europe: “Superstitious” (1987)
• Roxette: “The Look” (1989)
• Roxette: “Listen To Your Heart” (1989)
• Roxette: “It Must Have Been Love” (1990)
• Roxette: “Joyride” (1991)
• Roxette: “Dangerous” (1990)
• Neneh Cherry: “Buffalo Stance” (1988)
• Ace of Base: “All That She Wants” (1993)
• Ace of Base: “The Sign” (1994)
• Ace of Base: “Cruel Summer” (1998)
• Rednex: “Cotton Eye Joe” (1994)
• The Cardigans: “Lovefoot” (1996)
• Robyn: “Show Me Love” (1997)
• Eagle-Eye Cherry: “Save Tonight” (1998)
• Andreas Johnson: “Glorious” (2000)
• Alcazar: “Crying at the Discoteque” (2000)
• Play: “Us Against the World” (2004)
• Eric Prydz: “Call On Me” (2004)
• Robyn: “With Every Heartbeat” (2007)
• Basshunter: “Now You’re Gone” (2007)
• Lykke Li: “Get Some” (2008)
• Lykke Li: “I Follow Rivers” (2008)
• Avicii: “Levels” (2011)

It is also worth nothing that Swedish/Moroccan songwriter and producer RedOne is the man behind Lady Gaga, among others, and has won two Grammy Awards.

You’re all excited for your big night out in Sydney. You put on your favorite t-shirt, check your hair in the mirror, and cab it down to King’s Cross for an epic Saturday night. You beat the queue, march up to the bar and order your drink, only to be handed…a plastic cup? What kind of place is this?

You see, it has just passed midnight, and the Australian government has made it compulsory for pubs to serve alcohol in plastic cups after that hour. Why? With something in the neighborhood of 1,000 “glassings” (an attack using glass as a weapon) each year, drunken, John Wayne Western-style violence has become a black cloud over the country’s social scene. 

Australia is attempting to make it harder for John Wayne impersonators after midnight

As the majority of these attacks have occurred between midnight and 3am, the government is hoping to play its part in eliminating these attacks. Much like the gun-law debate in America, however, there is much contention over whether taking away one weapon will eliminate the violence, or if another approach should be considered.

For now, though, you fine wine connoisseurs may want to enjoy that expensive bottle before midnight, because it all may taste the same in red plastic cup!

The last thing I intend to do with this post is to mock Nelson Mandela’s autobiography of the same title, but forgive me, I just couldn’t come up with any words that capture the moment better.  This is a little story of a night out in Amsterdam.

Now, let me preface by admitting that I’m as guilty as the next man when it comes to skirting by for free every now and then.  Nothing major, but little things, like hopping the train, for instance.  I mean, does anybody pay for the Metro in Rome, or the trams in Melbourne?  Maybe things have changed since my last visit, but as a struggling 22-year-old, my 150 cents was going to some kind of bread or a bottle of water instead.

That said, the Netherlands is not the kind of place where I was going to test the honor system—intentionally anyway.  For whatever reason, maybe through my dealings with the Dutch in the workplace, I just had a feeling that this is a very serious society whose consequences I’d want no part of.  As I walked out of my hotel in Den Haag and caught Tram 9 down to Hollands Spoor station for the 45-minute trip into Amsterdam, the thought of trying to cheat Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Rail, or “NS”) out of their 8-some Euros never even crossed my mind.

Fast forward about 6 hours.  After my couple of hours meandering away from Centraal Station, after my dinner at De Peper, and probably most significantly to this story, after my visit to Hunter’s Coffeeshop.  Now, I’m sure you’ve been to a coffee shop before that allows smoking.  And I’m sure you’ve been to one that doesn’t allow tobacco.  But…both?

Go figure.

So, naturally in the mood for dessert after a scrumptious meal, I elected the chocolate brownie, so creatively called a “space cake”.  Feeling satisfied that my hand-sized brownie was 4 Euros well spent, I ever-so-coherently continued my exploration of Amsterdam’s back alleys, until I decided to pack it in and retreat to Centraal three hours later, around midnight.  Disappointed that I still didn’t feel any of that Amsterdam “charm”, I concluded that I was either: a) immune to the effects of marijuana, not being much of a smoker to begin with; b) a master of maintaining composure even under adverse chemical effects; or c) a sucker for buying a really, really weak brownie, thinking I should have realized that four Euros doesn’t go very far…and proceeded to buy my ticket back to Den Haag.

Or so I thought.

About halfway through the 45-minute journey home, somewhere amidst the distant, rolling lights peering out of the dark night, I was awoken by an NS conductor, asking to see my ticket.  Startled, I wiped the grog out of my eyes and began searching every pocket on me…only to find my wallet (which I craftily avoided revealing) and some lint.  After watching me struggle for a good 45 seconds, and me signaling to him that I ‘surely’ have it…he continued down the car inspecting tickets and said he’d return shortly.  At the exact moment I realized that I didn’t have the ticket I had sworn I purchased anywhere on me, I was able to decipher two solid facts out of the otherwise blurry world Hunter had introduced me to: 1) the stoic conductor was making his way back towards my section of the car, and 2) we were just reaching a complete stop at Den Haag HS (station).  Somehow thinking quickly, I lowered my knit cap over my head, looked straight at the ground, stood up, and took the most direct route possible to the exit—of course the opposite exit from which he was coming.  Straining with everything in me to walk fast and straight, I stepped onto the platform, snuck down the first bank of stairs, hung a right and continued my brisk walk straight out of the station’s main gate and onto the awaiting Tram 9 (which I ironically enough didn’t pay for this time).

I still don’t know if that conductor even noticed me sneak out or tried to stop me, and I don’t care.  I just remember time slowing down as I made my way out of HS Station, hearing crowds coming from the clouds cheering me on like it was a slow motion replay of the 15^th round of Rocky vs. Apollo Creed.  I walked briskly and purposefully into the first tram waiting, and when I saw that it was No. 9, I probably would have thrown my arms up in jubilation as the doors closed with me inside had it not been for discerning glare of a bald elderly man and the jolt of the tram’s movement shoving me down into a seat, as if to tell me to get a grip and stop looking like an idiot….

I should have just paid the fare…

Nighttime reflections off the window of the train…

I finally made it home…

In this IDtelevision documentary, Steven Klimek spends an evening inside a West London pub as neighboring Chelsea Football Club attempts to win the Champions League for the first time in its history.

It has the notoriety of The Louvre, the diversity of The Met, the style of MoMA, and the history of The British Museum. Yet this gallery is free to all—you can even touch the art if you so desire! Don’t worry, there aren’t any security guards telling you to put your camera away, so no need to sneak that must have photo with your camera phone. And if you really feel compelled, you can even become part of the exhibit. Because this is no museum; it’s an entire city. Welcome to Berlin!

Berlin’s East Side Gallery

Since the Berlin Wall was breached in 1989, street artists have been coming to Berlin around the world to help place their creative stamp on this city of 3.4 million with an identity almost entirely formed in the last 25 years. From Banksy to Blu, just about anyone who’s anyone in the graffiti game has left their mark here—if only Basquiat had been alive in the 90’s. Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg are among the city’s artistically-dense spots, but make sure to check out the East Side Gallery as well—a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been kept intact and turned into a living, breathing art gallery.

Whether you like paint, stickers, stencils, posters or even the occasional sculpture or space transformation, Berlin is a place you won’t want to miss. And if you want to add to the scene, even better—pack your paint and let’s go!

Stay tuned to this space for some gems that will be posted from Berlin periodically.

Every country and every culture has its heroes—those individuals, whether politicians, athletes or entertainers that we elevate onto a pedestal, making them bigger than they actually are. America has Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan and Lady Gaga, while England swoons over Prince William and Kate. Brazil elevates its football stars from Pele to Kaka to Neymar, while Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron and Oscar Pistorius sit high atop the South African psyche. But nowhere on earth is anyone more unanimously embraced and revered than the Philippines’ very own national hero: Manny Pacquiao.

Supporting himself from the age of 14 by winning chump change in street fights, Pacquiao fought his way out of poverty and became one of the most successful boxers in the world. While his professional career has hit some bumps in the past year, which tends to happen with age, he was the world’s “Fighter of the Decade” in the 2000s, earning hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. His success in the ring has led to a cult following outside the ring, as he was elected to the Philippines House of Representatives in 2010, and has also enjoyed success as an actor and a recording artist.

While all national heroes and icons obviously enjoy popularity, you would be hard-pressed to find any figure in the past 50 years who has reached the cult status that Manny has reveled in. If you know anyone who is even of Filipino descent, then you know what I mean. When Manny fights, it’s like Christmas—entire families, friends, cousins, friends of friends, cousins of cousins and friends of friends of those cousins gather to watch. And cheer. Loudly.

It just so happens that Filipinos are also among the more religious people in the world—it seems that everyone is Catholic, proudly attending mass every Sunday, from Manila to California. But I’ve always joked that if Manny Pacquiao—himself a devout Catholic—decided to break from the church and start a religion of his own, the pews of those Catholic Churches would be empty within a week. Instead, everyone would flock to the new Church of Manny to get their fill of the spirit.

Before you get all bent out of shape, relax. I’m just joking. Well, unless Manny actually decides to do it!

Chalk up another one for The Champ

Make ’em swoon, Manny

After the excitement of the Holidays, a festive New Year’s celebration, and all of the time off from work that much of the world enjoys over the last 5 or so weeks of the year, a New Year lull often follows for many of us. In America, we lament the fact that many of us won’t have another holiday until late May. That lull doesn’t exist in Ghana, however, because January means that it’s time for another Africa Cup of Nations.

Africa’s pre-eminent football (soccer for some of you) tournament is held every other January. Ghana’s Blackstars had a disappointing fourth-place finish in 2012, but they will have a chance to avenge that just one year later rather than the typical two, as the Confederation of African Football moved the tournament to odd numbered years, starting this year, to avoid taking place in the same year as the World Cup, as happened in 2010 (which ironically represented Ghana’s best ever finish in the global tournament).

The Africa Cup of Nations is indeed big news in this football-crazed nation, as there are few things that most Ghanaians consider more important than watching the Blackstars–including wives, girlfriends, business meetings, etc. Funnily enough, this is even evident in a majority of the nation’s political speeches. When late President John Atta Mills appointed ministers upon taking office in 2009, excluding some widely expected appointees, he was able to smooth his decisions over with the National Democratic Congress by using–you guessed it–football analogies. The official statement that came from the President’s office stated that Mills, as the coach of team Ghana, decides “which player plays at what time. And since this is the first half, they should give the President leeway to bring the set of players he wants to play this first half.” Later in the statement, it was noted that it was possible that the potential appointees who were excluded initially would still earn their expected posts later in his term, as “the game has just begun.”

The men the nation obsesses over…

When you’re in China, especially if it is for business, you are likely to find yourself in a Chinese drinking session. These six tips below should help you understand what you got yourself into, and how to get yourself out of it. If you just happen to be drinking with a few Chinese people, the below won’t apply–this is for the hardcore Chinese Chinese drinking sessions that often accompany business outings, and some other social types of gatherings. Study up!

1.  Learn the Lingo:  Toasts are common in China. No matter what you’re drinking (which is likely to be a kind of Chinese rice liquor called baijiu), you’ll have toasts–known as ganbei–and you’d better comply for fear of being distrusted (or laughed at). In case you’re wondering, the word ganbei translates to “drying the cup.”
2. Take the Lead:  If you really want to score some points with your Chinese counterparts, don’t just accept their toasts–toast them back as well. This applies especially well to those who may be above you on the totem pole. This art of “respectfully suggesting a drink” is known as jing jiu.
3. Use Two Hands:  If you ever played baseball, your coach surely hounded you to catch the ball with two hands. That rule is surprisingly versatile, as in China it is considered respectful and polite to take your drink with two hands (one on the bottom propping the cup), and then slightly tipping the cup towards your colleague upon finish to show that you’ve emptied your glass.
4. Say Cheers!:  As in most places, it is common in China to knock glasses together while offering your cheers. When you do this, you should make sure your glass is lower than theirs, particularly if they outrank you. If you are about equal, you may find it funny when both of your glasses lower basically to the height of the table. If the group is large, it is common to tap your glass on the tabletop.
5. Hold Your Own:  There is nothing wrong with getting drunk, even during business dinners. It’s actually expected, as by being completely sober upon your departure, your hosts may feel as though they failed in showing you a good time. If you’re an obvious foreigner, they will probably think you can drink more. Given that the Chinese are big on handling their liquor, as a badge of honor of sorts, you’ll probably be stuck having to down whatever you’re handed. There is a funny term in China–jiudan–that translates roughly to drink courage. Make sure you train up on yours, and hopefully your ability to hold your liquor will carry you through. You may need an exceptionally strong brand of jiudan if you aren’t used to the Chinese liquors, which can be very strong and bitter. 
6. Know How to Say When:  There are a few tips if you aren’t really on top of your game to help you save face. First, when it comes to saying cheers, you may not have to toast everyone individually. It is common to toast two or three people at a time, which will save you a few shots of liquor. Also, if you actually clink glasses with someone, it is understood that you will down your drink immediately, like a “bottoms up” decree. If you’d rather drink more slowly, you can try your skill at touching the other person’s glass with the back of your finger (as long as they are not a senior to you), which is a signal that you would like to slow down a bit. It may not work, but worth a shot. Next, drinking and driving is to be avoided. If you’re driving, you may be able to use that as an excuse to slow down your consumption. If you’re female, that may be a good enough excuse as well–woman are not subject to the same drinking pressure that men typically are, particularly in a business setting. I have seen instances of people just declaring that they don’t drink, which may be looked at suspiciously but ultimately accepted. If you’re going to do this, though, make sure you aren’t caught with a beer! But as drinkers around the world know, the safest way to maintain your control is to fill your belly–with food! Food in China, especially at banquets, is abundant and fatty. Use that to your advantage–the more you eat, the more jiudan you’ll miraculously discover.

One of the more thoughtful hip hop songs in recent years, Seattle rapper Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love” was written in support of Washington State Referendum 74, which ended up being approved to uphold the legalization of gay marriages in the state. Enjoy the video below.