This week has truly been... Adventurous, crazy, peaceful, stressful, rough, illuminating, emotional, giddy and just overall out of this world.
So Monday we were supposed to wake up early and leave for Accra; but instead my old homestay mom from Pro World had arranged for Hailey and I to visit her husband in Winneba at a hotel RIGHT ON THE BEACH! It was beautiful and we were so lucky. So Sunday night we stayed at the hotel, woke up, waited for breakfast, and walked around the site. We took some great pictures and even got to assist in pulling in a HUGE fishing net. I can only imagine how long it takes them to pull in the whole net with how deep into the ocean it reached. We have had the most amazing weekend. Well after the tour we left for Accra then took a tro tro to Ho Hoe. It's nice to finally learn how to get around.
Tuesday I went to school then we went to Ho Hoe to get Hailey a modem for her computer. Then Wednesday we went to Ho Hoe and found that the Internet cafe was complete crap but I was able to finish a project so all was ok and I made the best of it. Thursday after a rough Wednesday night without power and some bad news, we were determined to have a good day so we set off in search for the monkey sanctuary in Tafi Atome. It was a very beautiful lush forest jungle type area completely drenched from the non-stop rain that we had encountered throughout our trip; and then we saw them...these beautiful moto monkeys. So a little back story on why we were so determined to see these monkeys is because Hailey is afraid of monkeys. Well I of course wasn't having that so I made her feed a banana to a monkey then one proceeded to jump on her back. She was def afraid but she conquered it like a champ. After we went to the Kente cloth village which was really cool and fascinating. They were inspired from a spider who was able to spin the most beautiful webs, and they of course do the spider justice with the kinds of cloths they make. I met a new friend named Elvis and he is another Ghanaian man that could bring me to heartbreak hotel haha. He was really nice and helped me survive riding a motorcycle in Ghana for the first time. Since I was so terrified he drove really slow for me and Haileys driver drove slow as well. I was practically attached like a monkey gripping into his back every time we went over any kind of bump. If it wasn't such a far walk in pouring rain to the Kente village then back to the junction I would've made us walk; that's for sure.
Friday I went to my junior high school but since everything was sort of crazy ith the weather we didn't end up teaching; instead I arraqnged for Hailey to eat fufu for the first time, which was exciting! Always delicious, but bank and it's peppe is always better. But Friday was also supposed to be hailey and mines "date night" haha. She has a tiny crush on a coordinator of ours who coerces us with alcohol whenever he can it seems and I of course still drool over that student intern at my primary school. Well turns out their idea of hanging out Friday at 5 was us watching them play a football match. I really love watching football ;) hahahahahaha, well after we went to eat back at home and had some home made banku which was delicious. After we sat around and relaxed a bit, well it was getting late but the town had never been louder. There was another funeral going on and they were playing crazy Lou's music and trombones with drums so I asked Hailey if she wanted to go take a walk. So we went with our next door neighbor Victoria since Doris and Vida were asleep on my bed and just walked around our village. Funny thing, we're getting closer to the loud music and funeral drums and there is our coordinator, dancing and singing with the funeral, who promised to hang out with us Friday night. Well he comes over, invites us to sit down around the party and brings us a couple beers. We hang out, not drinking haha, and watch the drumming and dancing and just have a great time. Then, my favorite part, my intern friend called and said he was coming to hang out after all and would let me know when he was by the funeral. We met up and walked back to where our site is and just hung around and talked. I tried to act cool, but I failed so I of course probably looked like a twitter pated fool but whatever, win some ya lose some haha. It really is the ones that don't go crazy for you her that are the ones worth just getting to know and can't help but get twitter pated over.
Saturday we woke up early to go climb the Afadjato mountain but it was so complicated to get there and ridiculously expensive; instead we decided to go to Wli Falls. It was a great decision because the falls were breathtaking. Nature is truly the most beautiful thing God gave us. I had the best time ever climbing to the falls and can't wait until the upper falls open up to go climb to them as well. The pictures again don't even do the beauty of Ghana justice. The mountains were exquisite and filled with the most beautiful trees and deep forest greens surrounded by long luscious plants. I kept saying over and over and over again how beautiful it was I think hailey got tired of it haha. I actually went into the water and tried to get a couple good shots but with the weather, the water pressure and wind together going super close to the falls wasn't the most advisable. After I saw Elvis again!!! He even ran after me like out of a movie or something. I seriously wish I had the gall to give him my number, but I mean if he wanted it he'd ask right?! Haha. Such a little girl. Well one of the facilities other tour guides, Wisdom, sat and talked with us for a bit. He was hysterical and if you ever have the chance to go to Wli Falls make sure you get him as a guide; we wish he would've been ours!!
Hailey leaves Monday and its making me incredibly homesick. I'm here for another 7 weeks but it seems like forever. I have officially been here for two months/8 weeks today. On Monday there's a holiday too so I'll be doing a whole lot of nothing. I know I'm going to miss Hailey, not just the company. The kids give me great company, but Hailey and I are just a good balanced friendship. Haha. Idk we're weird. I miss everyone at home, my friends, my family. I feel so out of touch with everyone lately since I've been so busy. Plus I just found out school ends here July 26th aka I'll be here for 3 weeks doing a whole lot of nothing sadly. I'm trying to move back to Cape Coast during that time but I have to figure out how to change things with my internship. I still have to extend my visa and get my paper work all set up. Blah.
This whole handling everything for the Peace Corps while I'm in Ghana is crazy. I can't wait until I get my invitation in the mail. I'm sort of going crazy and just can't wait until I receive that beautiful blue envelope filled with Peace Corps goodies :) I still can't believe I've been here for 8 weeks now!!!! Seriously, time has flew by. Like I said I miss everyone from home!! I look forward to every message and email sent so please keep them coming. Love you all.
Happy reading and have an amazing independence day aka my favorite Holliday in the USA <3
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Crazy week!
I was sick over the weekend and missed school on Monday. I was a big mess. It stunk because I stayed in bed the whole time! And then Tuesday I went to school and taught two lessons and had lots of fun with my students!! We did another sex organ game I created and then I talked a little about puberty. Then Hailey and I went to Ho Hoe and had our best trip ever. Since we both needed to withdraw money we hurried over to Barclays and had a quick bite at one of the local places; going down the street we saw visible damage from the riots and fires that had happened the week before. it was sort of crazy to experience solely to the fact that it all seemed so controlled at that point since there were police and soldiers everywhere. The business of places were def affected and we saw many closed down. The curfew had moved from 4 pm to 6 pm, but as we were getting ready to head home the soldiers were already beginning to direct traffic. I was super happy because Hailey and I were able to take a tro tro! Hailey had yet to be on a tro tro so I was excited to be able to show it to her! We bought a couple choco in a bag drinks and were on our way home from another successful trip to Ho Hoe.
Wednesday was a great day for me because I went and saw the worship to the primary school I teach at. It was one of the funnest things I've ever been apart of, and after they taught a little about HIV/AIDS which I thought was awesome!! After I went on with a lesson, then went to my junior school and did a pregnancy activity and went over many of the points I had went over during pregnancy and started sex education. They had great questions and I was happy to answer them! I was supper happy because I ate fufu for the first time!! Its actually really yummy and makes for an excellent meal!! The spices are amazing :) Then Hailey and I went to Jasikan for some yummy treats and fruit juice. I saw Boyo on the way back, which was nice because...well he's just nice to look at and talk to too haha. Then we went home and had some good sausage and indomine for the first time, it's hard to describe how it tasted but think right in the middle of the saltiness of polish sausage and the size and texture of a hot dog. It was good though with our noodle treat.
Then since Thursday was a holiday we just sat at home and hung out with the kids. It was actually a lot of fun because we got to pound fufu for the first time. Then I went into mommy mode and took care of one of the. It's who had a fever of 103!!! I was going a little crazy and neurotic haha. But the father came by and said God bless me, which was really nice of him. Then Hailey and I got all packed for Cape Coast this weekend and left at midnight on a bus to Accra. The bus to Accra was super bumpy but I fell asleep and then when we got to Accra we hopped a tro tro to Cape Coast and arrived just around 9 AM. My old home stay mother from Pro World welcomed us with open arms and a good breakfast too. So Hailey ate well, showered, then I took her to the Cape Coast Castle and perused around a bit. After that we went home and just relaxed with the girls then passed out super early. We woke up well rested and ready for a great day! We went to a local vegetarian place and we actually saw a ProWorld Coordinator Sarah there. It was nice to see her, and even Jamal another ProWorld volunteer happened to stop by while we were eating and told us about a wheelchair basketball down by he HoopsCare international spot so we went over after breakfast and checked it out. I'll admit, I did miss Cape Coast a bit and having Hailey there was really awesome! I finally felt like I was giving her a good trip and a good experience here in Ghana :) after we did some souvenir shopping and got some really great treats!! I'm excited because I'll have some great skirts to wear to FIJI!!
Oh by the way, in case I didn't mention before... I'm in the process of becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer and was just invited to FIJI leaving September 4th!! I'm crazy excited and can't wait to go! I really hope it all works out :) Tomorrow we're heading over to Elmina beach then we'll come home and in the middle of the night take a bus back to Accra then back to Ho Hoe!! We're trying to see a monkey sanctuary so we're crossing our fingers that everything works out!! it's weird because I actually miss all my boys back home! Owusu, Richson and Nelson...it's weird not seeing them everyday and having them with me. I bought them a ball while we were out. What can I say? I'm a sucker haha.
Happy reading <3
Wednesday was a great day for me because I went and saw the worship to the primary school I teach at. It was one of the funnest things I've ever been apart of, and after they taught a little about HIV/AIDS which I thought was awesome!! After I went on with a lesson, then went to my junior school and did a pregnancy activity and went over many of the points I had went over during pregnancy and started sex education. They had great questions and I was happy to answer them! I was supper happy because I ate fufu for the first time!! Its actually really yummy and makes for an excellent meal!! The spices are amazing :) Then Hailey and I went to Jasikan for some yummy treats and fruit juice. I saw Boyo on the way back, which was nice because...well he's just nice to look at and talk to too haha. Then we went home and had some good sausage and indomine for the first time, it's hard to describe how it tasted but think right in the middle of the saltiness of polish sausage and the size and texture of a hot dog. It was good though with our noodle treat.
Then since Thursday was a holiday we just sat at home and hung out with the kids. It was actually a lot of fun because we got to pound fufu for the first time. Then I went into mommy mode and took care of one of the. It's who had a fever of 103!!! I was going a little crazy and neurotic haha. But the father came by and said God bless me, which was really nice of him. Then Hailey and I got all packed for Cape Coast this weekend and left at midnight on a bus to Accra. The bus to Accra was super bumpy but I fell asleep and then when we got to Accra we hopped a tro tro to Cape Coast and arrived just around 9 AM. My old home stay mother from Pro World welcomed us with open arms and a good breakfast too. So Hailey ate well, showered, then I took her to the Cape Coast Castle and perused around a bit. After that we went home and just relaxed with the girls then passed out super early. We woke up well rested and ready for a great day! We went to a local vegetarian place and we actually saw a ProWorld Coordinator Sarah there. It was nice to see her, and even Jamal another ProWorld volunteer happened to stop by while we were eating and told us about a wheelchair basketball down by he HoopsCare international spot so we went over after breakfast and checked it out. I'll admit, I did miss Cape Coast a bit and having Hailey there was really awesome! I finally felt like I was giving her a good trip and a good experience here in Ghana :) after we did some souvenir shopping and got some really great treats!! I'm excited because I'll have some great skirts to wear to FIJI!!
Oh by the way, in case I didn't mention before... I'm in the process of becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer and was just invited to FIJI leaving September 4th!! I'm crazy excited and can't wait to go! I really hope it all works out :) Tomorrow we're heading over to Elmina beach then we'll come home and in the middle of the night take a bus back to Accra then back to Ho Hoe!! We're trying to see a monkey sanctuary so we're crossing our fingers that everything works out!! it's weird because I actually miss all my boys back home! Owusu, Richson and Nelson...it's weird not seeing them everyday and having them with me. I bought them a ball while we were out. What can I say? I'm a sucker haha.
Happy reading <3
Thursday, June 14, 2012
I guess it's just the teacher in me...
This week has been exhausting for some reason. Usually I'm crazy with energy but with all these headaches I keep getting I'm barely myself. Unfortunately the obruni effect never wears off, especially with the children. So I have to keep up face as much as I can for them so I'm not disappointing them and reflecting poor on the United States. The children here are adorable, but in Cape Coast for some reason I felt very awkward with the "obruni" call, here in Okagyakrom I'm happy to answer to it. Especially after I read an article where another obruni commented about how he hates it and then many Ghanians responded negatively to his article: calling him ignorant, rude, fickle American etc. I was really taken back with it. Random note: the origin of obruni actually stems from when the slave trade was here and white men beat the slaves so "obruni" references to "one who beats" but since it has been around for so long it has just turned into a term for anyone that's foreign. Most don't mean any harm by it, and if anything it's so foreigners are acknowledged at all. Hailey said something to me the other day that made me think just how weird it really is to see a white person around here. She was teaching at a catholic school in the area and saw a little white boy in her class and even though she has only been here a couple weeks she acted in the natural Ghanian fashion; she wanted to know who he was, why he was here, how'd he get here and if his parents were from the US, same questions native Ghanians often ask. It just proves that though obruni may seem awkward at times, people here really are that nice in Ghana that they just want to know who you are, talk to you etc. Us foreigners just find it strange because no other place is quite as hospitable or welcoming as the people of Ghana; it's truly unmatched. The irony is that when Hailey and I have passed other foreigners they are the same as back home; aloof and uncaring for a fellow American. It's funny because Hailey and I have gotten so used to the on-going hello's and waving that when we see them we're so quick to say hello but then realize how stand-offish the foreigners are, so we just continue on as well. Just goes to show you, regardless of their motives, Ghanians are always respectful enough to say hello and hi!! I'm such an introvert that it's been awkward for me to handle all this attention and still it's been difficult to always say hello and hi when I'm alone, but having Hailey there helps me feel more comfortable about it. But I'll admit, when Ghanians laugh at Hailey and my ignorance in their language, it's not always easy to just shake it off. Idk. Maybe I'm just self conscious. Who woulda thunk it lol.
It's funny just how much I have fallen in love with this village, and even some of the closer to home kids. I've talked about them plenty already but Doris and Owusu are sort of my adopted kids/siblings now. Owusu and I talk every night about school and we often go over biology terms he hasn't learned in school; though he's come a little too accustomed to listening to my iPod lately. Doris, well Doris is hysterical. She's just like every other little 13 year old sister; she mimics me, tickles me, hugs me, goes out of her way to bug me but all in all she is wonderful. Sometimes she feels very unwanted here because there isn't room in her house to sleep, and their father has passed. Plus though Owusu is technically in the custody of their grandma since their grandfather has died, Doris doesn't share the same mother so she isn't allowed to stay with them. Plus there is no room with her guardian, which is actually her nephews mother. It's all confusing but she doesn't actually live on site, so I have let her sleep over in my room a couple times now to let her know she is wanted; it's crazy how much you can tell she just wants to feel wanted and I am happy to be the one to let her know how much I love having her around :) it's funny though because I did not mean to become the cool new hangout for all the young ones but all the sudden tonight there was 6 of my students just hanging out, looking for homework help and listening to the radio on my phone in my room. I'm almost afraid for the long term of this cool new place to hang out aka my room, but I'm happier knowing they're here safe rather than doing something they shouldn't at their ages. 13-18 is not exactly the most innocent of ages, especially when there isn't as much entertainment for them. But one of the boys that bring Hailey & I food, has gotten jealous I suppose of all the attention I have given Owusu and Doris, so he had a huge fit and told some of the elders that they were being inappropriate so now they're not allowed in my room anymore. Weird how emotional children get over attention.
My primary school classes are becoming difficult to teach and I find myself completely veering off from my lesson plans sometimes to keep their attention. Of course when I ask for help, everyone responds with DO MORE ACTIVITIES! DO MORE ACTIVITIES!! And of course they are correct, but still I can't ALWAYS do an activity; my creativity and innovation with limited resources is difficult. Always a woulda coulda shoulda away I suppose. I have done a couple of really good activities with some of the older classes, those are usually the ones I can handle better too. But there's really only so much information I am "qualified" to teach in the first place, especially to 6-9 year olds. I cant usually do word games unless I give them the definition first, and it's not as if they have the definitions at their fingertips without me. If theres one thing I miss from FGCU and being apart of Student Government it is the free printing; definitely acknowledging the "you don't know what you had until its gone" phenomenon more than ever in regards to wanting to print for my students. We really have no idea how lucky we are that we have pens, pencils and paper just a swipe of a credit card away. But there are plenty of perks working at the primary school: 1. The kids are adorable, and if you know anything about me: you know how much my heart melts for little little ones 2. The teachers are great, and honestly hysterical; I love working with them, they make my experience more rewarding with their praise, and 3. Haha well this is more personal than anything but, there's this student-teacher intern from the local training college, Kofi Boyo, who is... Well nice to look at for sure haha but he's amazingly passionate about teaching and seriously phenomenal at it to boot. I love people who are passionate about their future career, can't explain it, but a passion in career to me equals happiness in life. But he's been a great help to me over these past couple weeks, his looks and personality really are just the cherry on top. I will be sad when all the interns leave at the end of June, it won't be as fun for sure. So to save myself from the possible boredom, I actually hung out with a couple of the regular teachers today.
After I came home from school, I found hailey just hanging around. Now I'm not sure I've actually described Haileys personality yet but she is not the type to just hang around, doing nothing if she can help it. Come to find out she wasn't feeling well and she stayed home from school, not a very Hailey thing to do but I'm glad she started to feel better :) well we were served lunch with those bags of chips I mentioned in a previous post but with nothing else and I was so hungry!! So I asked if she wanted to go find some fruit with me. Well everything that is never planned always seems to turn into an adventure; well we're walking and I see some of the teachers in my schools: Prosper and Justice. Sadly I didn't know their names previously but I'm glad I do now. Well they said they would how us where the fruit is in the bank square. Haha then a couple guys from the senior school walk by Hailey and start talking to her; ironically I had just said 5 minutes before that it was surprising that they are the only guys that haven't tried to tell us that we should bring them back to the US with us. But as they were talking I couldn't stop laughing, it was a bit inappropriate but I just couldn't stop, so I attempted to stop by texting Boyo so I could focus. Well haileys conversation started off with the guy telling us he wanted us to go to Europe; she replied me too!! Haha, then proceeded to tell her she had a nice body, though kept pointing at the skin on her arm so we gave him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't checking her out completely lol. But then Hailey told him we were married; and of course he asks if we got married in Ghana and I tried to tell him yes because a fake lesbian relationship sounded much more fun&I would've loved to observe his reaction, but she had already slipped in that our husbands resided in the US. Oh how funny that would've been, but we continued on until we saw our friend Nana Ritchie on his motorcycle; we stopped to talk and he told me he could solve my fruit problem and promised to bring some to me, since he would get into town faster. So I said all right but we didn't have much to do so we continued on to meet up with Prosper and Justice. Well we went to the bank square and Prosper bought me two pineapple!! Seriously, Ghanians are so hospitable; they showed us their usual afternoon hang out where they bought us an Alvaroo too. Haha how we find ourselves in these places we don't really know but with I feel pretty comfortable most of the time now so I just go with the flow.
We actually had wanted to go to Ho Hoe on Monday for some plantain chips but there were crazy riots from Muslim teens who were upset that a person was denied at a clinic because he didn't have his card; and he ended up dying after. They were so upset they set fire to the clinic, then after placing him in proper burial grounds, the chief supposedly dug him up and had him placed in the streets. That wasn't the right message apparently because the youth began setting ablaze the entire town. http://news1.ghananation.com/vivvo_general/260093-police-military-reinforcement-arrive-at-hohoe.html there's one of the news reports!! Well no worries Hailey and I are snuggly and safe in our village, but please pray for the people in Ho Hoe and that peace is found.
This week, as stated previously, has been pretty relaxing and though my headaches have increased, my love for teaching has increased tenfold. I did a big pregnancy topic with my junior high this week so that boys and girls understand the difficulties of pregnancy and why it's important to not have sex at their age. My form 2 classes are always quiet, but I think it's because some of the stuff they know, and then they feel awkward when the teachers are present. My form 1 classes are GREAT THOUGH!! They always ask great questions and even if they're a little rambunctious I'd rather the talking than dead silence. It was really humbling when the vice headmaster said he loved being there when I teach because he felt he was learning so much too. Then I had a couple teachers comment that my teaching methods were really effective for the children; one overheard a couple girls saying they'd avoid sex as long as possible because they didn't want to have a baby. Big kudos to Hailey though, the head of education in the area commented on her innovative efforts and said she did a great job at the primary school; I guess he happened to stop at the school for a meeting and observed her classes!! I'm so proud of her! She probably hasn't idea the significance she is making, but maybe one day she will. After all, if we can keep just a few more girls in school, less pregnancies and less STI's in the area; I'd think we're doing a great job. I'm working on creating an evaluation for my two schools so I can see if I'm actually getting through to them. My headmistress suggested maybe a few questions to test them, to see if they understood the lesson. Next few tasks: fun pregnancy activity, mini-exam and a way to evaluate my teaching methods. The teachers are so supportive!! Seriously!! After they sit in on my classes they always comment on how great of a teacher I am; on the inside I want to scoff because I'm always doubting myself but deep down it brings me the most amazing joy! I just want to make some sort of impact; like I said before...less pregnancies, more girls in secondary technical schools and less STI's...seriously I'll be happy and will feel accomplished. Small wins ya know?
This week we've had a few new items to eat from our usual noodle indomine/rice diet. Christiana has made FRIED PLANTAINS with our usual chicken!! Delicious and amazing! Then my amazing Headmistress Georgina and the Vice Headmaster Philipe, bought Hailey and I soft maize...Which is by FAR one of the best things I have ever eaten here!! Next to the plantain chips of course lol. Then after many discussions with locals, hailey and I decided to use our logic and just look for that spicy sauce we love so much and guess what?!? We found it in that same town store we've been going to almost every other day to get my favorite boxes of fruit juice. Haha we just stopped to look through the shelves since I needed to buy toilet paper; which by the way MAJOR MAJOR GRATITUDE to my father for his wisdom in bringing wet toilet wipes, they are probably my most helpful/productive product here, next to the bug spay haha. But the hot sauce is called Shito, named for the hot Shito peppers it uses, with plenty of other crazy things in it...like crustaceans and baby fish lol. Hailey and I may or may not have an obsession with it. It's perfect!! Very spicy and amazingly delicious!! More great food for Ciara and Hailey. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone who thought I'd lose weight and be tanner haha, that is probably not happening in the rainy season and with all this great food :) well there's my update for you! Sorry took so long, blogger wouldn't let me update!
Have a wonderful week :) and happy flag day! Yay army creation day!
SPECIAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!! 42 and looking awesome as ever :) Love you!
P.S. good fortune and much love to all my amazing FGCU alum who have been going through the Teach For America processes! I am seriously so proud of you :) Kelsey, Shane, Renato, Caroline, and Kathryn!! Keep molding those young minds with your brilliance and innovation!!
It's funny just how much I have fallen in love with this village, and even some of the closer to home kids. I've talked about them plenty already but Doris and Owusu are sort of my adopted kids/siblings now. Owusu and I talk every night about school and we often go over biology terms he hasn't learned in school; though he's come a little too accustomed to listening to my iPod lately. Doris, well Doris is hysterical. She's just like every other little 13 year old sister; she mimics me, tickles me, hugs me, goes out of her way to bug me but all in all she is wonderful. Sometimes she feels very unwanted here because there isn't room in her house to sleep, and their father has passed. Plus though Owusu is technically in the custody of their grandma since their grandfather has died, Doris doesn't share the same mother so she isn't allowed to stay with them. Plus there is no room with her guardian, which is actually her nephews mother. It's all confusing but she doesn't actually live on site, so I have let her sleep over in my room a couple times now to let her know she is wanted; it's crazy how much you can tell she just wants to feel wanted and I am happy to be the one to let her know how much I love having her around :) it's funny though because I did not mean to become the cool new hangout for all the young ones but all the sudden tonight there was 6 of my students just hanging out, looking for homework help and listening to the radio on my phone in my room. I'm almost afraid for the long term of this cool new place to hang out aka my room, but I'm happier knowing they're here safe rather than doing something they shouldn't at their ages. 13-18 is not exactly the most innocent of ages, especially when there isn't as much entertainment for them. But one of the boys that bring Hailey & I food, has gotten jealous I suppose of all the attention I have given Owusu and Doris, so he had a huge fit and told some of the elders that they were being inappropriate so now they're not allowed in my room anymore. Weird how emotional children get over attention.
My primary school classes are becoming difficult to teach and I find myself completely veering off from my lesson plans sometimes to keep their attention. Of course when I ask for help, everyone responds with DO MORE ACTIVITIES! DO MORE ACTIVITIES!! And of course they are correct, but still I can't ALWAYS do an activity; my creativity and innovation with limited resources is difficult. Always a woulda coulda shoulda away I suppose. I have done a couple of really good activities with some of the older classes, those are usually the ones I can handle better too. But there's really only so much information I am "qualified" to teach in the first place, especially to 6-9 year olds. I cant usually do word games unless I give them the definition first, and it's not as if they have the definitions at their fingertips without me. If theres one thing I miss from FGCU and being apart of Student Government it is the free printing; definitely acknowledging the "you don't know what you had until its gone" phenomenon more than ever in regards to wanting to print for my students. We really have no idea how lucky we are that we have pens, pencils and paper just a swipe of a credit card away. But there are plenty of perks working at the primary school: 1. The kids are adorable, and if you know anything about me: you know how much my heart melts for little little ones 2. The teachers are great, and honestly hysterical; I love working with them, they make my experience more rewarding with their praise, and 3. Haha well this is more personal than anything but, there's this student-teacher intern from the local training college, Kofi Boyo, who is... Well nice to look at for sure haha but he's amazingly passionate about teaching and seriously phenomenal at it to boot. I love people who are passionate about their future career, can't explain it, but a passion in career to me equals happiness in life. But he's been a great help to me over these past couple weeks, his looks and personality really are just the cherry on top. I will be sad when all the interns leave at the end of June, it won't be as fun for sure. So to save myself from the possible boredom, I actually hung out with a couple of the regular teachers today.
After I came home from school, I found hailey just hanging around. Now I'm not sure I've actually described Haileys personality yet but she is not the type to just hang around, doing nothing if she can help it. Come to find out she wasn't feeling well and she stayed home from school, not a very Hailey thing to do but I'm glad she started to feel better :) well we were served lunch with those bags of chips I mentioned in a previous post but with nothing else and I was so hungry!! So I asked if she wanted to go find some fruit with me. Well everything that is never planned always seems to turn into an adventure; well we're walking and I see some of the teachers in my schools: Prosper and Justice. Sadly I didn't know their names previously but I'm glad I do now. Well they said they would how us where the fruit is in the bank square. Haha then a couple guys from the senior school walk by Hailey and start talking to her; ironically I had just said 5 minutes before that it was surprising that they are the only guys that haven't tried to tell us that we should bring them back to the US with us. But as they were talking I couldn't stop laughing, it was a bit inappropriate but I just couldn't stop, so I attempted to stop by texting Boyo so I could focus. Well haileys conversation started off with the guy telling us he wanted us to go to Europe; she replied me too!! Haha, then proceeded to tell her she had a nice body, though kept pointing at the skin on her arm so we gave him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't checking her out completely lol. But then Hailey told him we were married; and of course he asks if we got married in Ghana and I tried to tell him yes because a fake lesbian relationship sounded much more fun&I would've loved to observe his reaction, but she had already slipped in that our husbands resided in the US. Oh how funny that would've been, but we continued on until we saw our friend Nana Ritchie on his motorcycle; we stopped to talk and he told me he could solve my fruit problem and promised to bring some to me, since he would get into town faster. So I said all right but we didn't have much to do so we continued on to meet up with Prosper and Justice. Well we went to the bank square and Prosper bought me two pineapple!! Seriously, Ghanians are so hospitable; they showed us their usual afternoon hang out where they bought us an Alvaroo too. Haha how we find ourselves in these places we don't really know but with I feel pretty comfortable most of the time now so I just go with the flow.
We actually had wanted to go to Ho Hoe on Monday for some plantain chips but there were crazy riots from Muslim teens who were upset that a person was denied at a clinic because he didn't have his card; and he ended up dying after. They were so upset they set fire to the clinic, then after placing him in proper burial grounds, the chief supposedly dug him up and had him placed in the streets. That wasn't the right message apparently because the youth began setting ablaze the entire town. http://news1.ghananation.com/vivvo_general/260093-police-military-reinforcement-arrive-at-hohoe.html there's one of the news reports!! Well no worries Hailey and I are snuggly and safe in our village, but please pray for the people in Ho Hoe and that peace is found.
This week, as stated previously, has been pretty relaxing and though my headaches have increased, my love for teaching has increased tenfold. I did a big pregnancy topic with my junior high this week so that boys and girls understand the difficulties of pregnancy and why it's important to not have sex at their age. My form 2 classes are always quiet, but I think it's because some of the stuff they know, and then they feel awkward when the teachers are present. My form 1 classes are GREAT THOUGH!! They always ask great questions and even if they're a little rambunctious I'd rather the talking than dead silence. It was really humbling when the vice headmaster said he loved being there when I teach because he felt he was learning so much too. Then I had a couple teachers comment that my teaching methods were really effective for the children; one overheard a couple girls saying they'd avoid sex as long as possible because they didn't want to have a baby. Big kudos to Hailey though, the head of education in the area commented on her innovative efforts and said she did a great job at the primary school; I guess he happened to stop at the school for a meeting and observed her classes!! I'm so proud of her! She probably hasn't idea the significance she is making, but maybe one day she will. After all, if we can keep just a few more girls in school, less pregnancies and less STI's in the area; I'd think we're doing a great job. I'm working on creating an evaluation for my two schools so I can see if I'm actually getting through to them. My headmistress suggested maybe a few questions to test them, to see if they understood the lesson. Next few tasks: fun pregnancy activity, mini-exam and a way to evaluate my teaching methods. The teachers are so supportive!! Seriously!! After they sit in on my classes they always comment on how great of a teacher I am; on the inside I want to scoff because I'm always doubting myself but deep down it brings me the most amazing joy! I just want to make some sort of impact; like I said before...less pregnancies, more girls in secondary technical schools and less STI's...seriously I'll be happy and will feel accomplished. Small wins ya know?
This week we've had a few new items to eat from our usual noodle indomine/rice diet. Christiana has made FRIED PLANTAINS with our usual chicken!! Delicious and amazing! Then my amazing Headmistress Georgina and the Vice Headmaster Philipe, bought Hailey and I soft maize...Which is by FAR one of the best things I have ever eaten here!! Next to the plantain chips of course lol. Then after many discussions with locals, hailey and I decided to use our logic and just look for that spicy sauce we love so much and guess what?!? We found it in that same town store we've been going to almost every other day to get my favorite boxes of fruit juice. Haha we just stopped to look through the shelves since I needed to buy toilet paper; which by the way MAJOR MAJOR GRATITUDE to my father for his wisdom in bringing wet toilet wipes, they are probably my most helpful/productive product here, next to the bug spay haha. But the hot sauce is called Shito, named for the hot Shito peppers it uses, with plenty of other crazy things in it...like crustaceans and baby fish lol. Hailey and I may or may not have an obsession with it. It's perfect!! Very spicy and amazingly delicious!! More great food for Ciara and Hailey. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone who thought I'd lose weight and be tanner haha, that is probably not happening in the rainy season and with all this great food :) well there's my update for you! Sorry took so long, blogger wouldn't let me update!
Have a wonderful week :) and happy flag day! Yay army creation day!
SPECIAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!! 42 and looking awesome as ever :) Love you!
P.S. good fortune and much love to all my amazing FGCU alum who have been going through the Teach For America processes! I am seriously so proud of you :) Kelsey, Shane, Renato, Caroline, and Kathryn!! Keep molding those young minds with your brilliance and innovation!!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Just an everyday obruni
So I'm fat, I'm wealthy, I'm funny and very very good at teaching. Haha those are what many of the local villagers think of me. Interesting enough they're not completely off. When ever they say the word fat, they don't necessarily mean it as a negative word. Just a description, as in I have brown hair, or I am short. They expect most volunteers to be skinny and associate wealth with weight. It's an interesting perception and I'm happy to talk with my co-workers about how in some cases it's the opposite in the US but that it doesn't matter in the big scheme of things because you eat, what you eat... Excuses aside. But even eating here, well it's always a good treat. Hailey and I found out that our favorite noodle treat is actually called indomine and I'm pretty sure I will have a hard time eating it once I get home. We had fresh pineapple, mangoes, avocados and a crispy almost tortilla chip type dish on the side this week. Well we're sort of in love with it.
Though I'll admit teaching the HIV seminar with Hailey was difficult to execute, we had so much fun teaching together. We started off making a human diagram to explain how Hailey and I are partners, and trying to get across the idea that even if you are only with one partner at one time, any person you've had sex with previously your partner is now exposed to those same germs and possible infections. Then we went over some good notes on what they already knew about HIV and what were ways to come in contact with it. My biggest thing with the kids is trying to make the examples more accessible to them so they understand under their conditions, such as using a machete or rain water. It's really interesting how they take to that considering our language barrier.
Though I have so much love for these children, I am getting a little tired of them taking advantage of Haileys and mine generosity with our electronic items. Hailey is so much better at being seriously stern compared to me, I try to but always end up making it a joke which tends to make them think I'm not serious. Again, without Hailey here I would be lost. But they used up a few of our credits on our phones, have started coming in without knocking, picking up her iphone and my ipad and telling us often what they think we should leave behind for them. As much as I love them, and will leave behind plenty... I find it frustrating to hear expectations already. I can only imagine what previous interns have left behind, though it doesn't look like much besides clothes.
I was really excited because Bernard finally brought my bags from Accra and now I feel a little more complete about everything. My clothes are here, my shoes are here, and most importantly my books are here, therefore my life here is complete. I do have a lot of laundry though and feel guilty of the size but Hailey and I give Christiana 5 cedis each every week just for soap and I know the soap is only 5-6 cedis so I hope she sees how much we appreciate her doing our laundry for us! Especially considering she does it all in one day, wash-dry everything. She is a serious God send. Weirdly enough, my comforter came with my stuff and though you would think it would prove as a nuisance in this heat, it has made me feel even more comfortable here. It's my piece of home and moves around my body instead of providing road blocks as some of the pillows here do.
Though the Internet connection can be great, I was a little more than frustrated yesterday when I tried to take an exam and it wasted 35 minutes of my exam time just trying to refresh, restart, re-enter into the website only to find out that it was still continuing even when it exited :( Needless to say I was not the happiest camper, and other frustrations tend to loom over ones head when that happens but all in all it's been a good weekend. Hailey and I were able to go to Ho Hoe to pull out more money to give to our director since he still has yet to collect the fee in full yet and we were told a good secret on when to get plantain chips. We walked around and stopped at a local pub?? where she was able to try Alvaroo for the first time, which is this delicious malt carbonated beverage in flavors like Pear, Pineapple and Passion Fruit. I was just glad to be able to share some of my poor excuse of Ghanian knowledge with her. We even met a new friend, the pub owners brother, and since I figured I could use all the help with finding things to do once Hailey leaves at the beginning of July, we switched credentials. we actually had our first haggling experience which I had a lot more fun with than I though. Of course the obruni price is much more expensive than the Ghanian price, we still try to make sure it's fair. Hailey has been trying to find good souvenirs for here family back home and we stopped by one shop to get fabric so she could cut and make into headbands; there wasn't much haggling there, it was really an ok price for even an obruni but I can only assume it was because a child was the seller instead of an adult. But then we went for a cute wallet and the seller said 8 cedis, well I know they're not 8 cedis so I questioned it and he said 7, Hailey said okay after that so I went along, but I still wonder if we could've gotten it cheaper. But the fun was when Hailey saw necklaces so we stopped by another shop. They were long beads and at first she thought they were one Cedi for all the beads that were wrapped together, unfortunately it was one Cedi for one strand of red beads. I shook my head and so did she. I mentioned something about going home and finding something better and they ask where we lived and we mentioned Jasikan. We tend to avoid saying the actual village we're in ONE because it's hard to pronounce and TWO because we don't want people knowing where we live because it wouldn't be hard to find us by the time they arrived in our village. Well after they found out we were more locals, he said what price would I want it at and I said 50 pesewas per strand. He made a face as to say no so we walked away. Well his friend who was talking in Spanish to hailey and I, called us back and said okokok. It just goes to show you, apart of haggling is truly walking away even if you really do want that pretty strand of beads haha.
Today I woke up with a huge migraine and haven't been in the best moods. I feel bad for the kids because every 45 minutes they're knocking on my door and my eyes are so puffy that they already know what I'm about to say. I hate to see their disappointed faces but I know it's the right thing to do. I've taken a couple differ pills so since I woke up around 8 am the pain has subsided to a shorter tempered headache after all of my sleep; but I have been lazy and plan to study and create a better lesson plan for the kiddies tomorrow. I'm teaching 10ish year olds, and still trying to figure out the best way to go out their health education. The young young ones and this age group have proved to be the most difficult for me to plan because I never really know what's a good avenue. Some don't understand any English, others don't get my hand gestures, then to some my accent combined with my poor penmanship is so bad that they just sit there, looking more entranced than ever with the fact that a fat obruni is here to talk about health. I'm amazed with how much I enjoy teaching and have found that while in talks with creating the after school club for female empowerment has been well received, by most but not always the parents. My biggest concern with starting it is sustainability, what will happen once I leave? Trying to find someone who will keep it up, plus keep it interesting, plus keep the girls interested is proving difficult for me to create.
We have yet to start our actual research yet due to some problems with paper work and having it become 100% legitimate, but now that we have board authorization we have come to find out that we can only have the stamp of approval interview documents, which will prove to be expensive for the Ladybug Project considering that some places it's more than 1cedis just for an hour of time, and it's 30-50 pesewas to print. There are copier places but since we need roughly 200-400 copies we're worried how many places we'll have to use. Haha all in a days thoughts I suppose. But all in all I'm enjoy the downtime, and enjoy the ability to read my many books. I think I've read about 11 since I've arrived 5 weeks ago!! Crazy huh?? Well hope you're finding Ghana as entertaining as me :) hope you had a great weekend!!
Happy reading :)
Though I'll admit teaching the HIV seminar with Hailey was difficult to execute, we had so much fun teaching together. We started off making a human diagram to explain how Hailey and I are partners, and trying to get across the idea that even if you are only with one partner at one time, any person you've had sex with previously your partner is now exposed to those same germs and possible infections. Then we went over some good notes on what they already knew about HIV and what were ways to come in contact with it. My biggest thing with the kids is trying to make the examples more accessible to them so they understand under their conditions, such as using a machete or rain water. It's really interesting how they take to that considering our language barrier.
Though I have so much love for these children, I am getting a little tired of them taking advantage of Haileys and mine generosity with our electronic items. Hailey is so much better at being seriously stern compared to me, I try to but always end up making it a joke which tends to make them think I'm not serious. Again, without Hailey here I would be lost. But they used up a few of our credits on our phones, have started coming in without knocking, picking up her iphone and my ipad and telling us often what they think we should leave behind for them. As much as I love them, and will leave behind plenty... I find it frustrating to hear expectations already. I can only imagine what previous interns have left behind, though it doesn't look like much besides clothes.
I was really excited because Bernard finally brought my bags from Accra and now I feel a little more complete about everything. My clothes are here, my shoes are here, and most importantly my books are here, therefore my life here is complete. I do have a lot of laundry though and feel guilty of the size but Hailey and I give Christiana 5 cedis each every week just for soap and I know the soap is only 5-6 cedis so I hope she sees how much we appreciate her doing our laundry for us! Especially considering she does it all in one day, wash-dry everything. She is a serious God send. Weirdly enough, my comforter came with my stuff and though you would think it would prove as a nuisance in this heat, it has made me feel even more comfortable here. It's my piece of home and moves around my body instead of providing road blocks as some of the pillows here do.
Though the Internet connection can be great, I was a little more than frustrated yesterday when I tried to take an exam and it wasted 35 minutes of my exam time just trying to refresh, restart, re-enter into the website only to find out that it was still continuing even when it exited :( Needless to say I was not the happiest camper, and other frustrations tend to loom over ones head when that happens but all in all it's been a good weekend. Hailey and I were able to go to Ho Hoe to pull out more money to give to our director since he still has yet to collect the fee in full yet and we were told a good secret on when to get plantain chips. We walked around and stopped at a local pub?? where she was able to try Alvaroo for the first time, which is this delicious malt carbonated beverage in flavors like Pear, Pineapple and Passion Fruit. I was just glad to be able to share some of my poor excuse of Ghanian knowledge with her. We even met a new friend, the pub owners brother, and since I figured I could use all the help with finding things to do once Hailey leaves at the beginning of July, we switched credentials. we actually had our first haggling experience which I had a lot more fun with than I though. Of course the obruni price is much more expensive than the Ghanian price, we still try to make sure it's fair. Hailey has been trying to find good souvenirs for here family back home and we stopped by one shop to get fabric so she could cut and make into headbands; there wasn't much haggling there, it was really an ok price for even an obruni but I can only assume it was because a child was the seller instead of an adult. But then we went for a cute wallet and the seller said 8 cedis, well I know they're not 8 cedis so I questioned it and he said 7, Hailey said okay after that so I went along, but I still wonder if we could've gotten it cheaper. But the fun was when Hailey saw necklaces so we stopped by another shop. They were long beads and at first she thought they were one Cedi for all the beads that were wrapped together, unfortunately it was one Cedi for one strand of red beads. I shook my head and so did she. I mentioned something about going home and finding something better and they ask where we lived and we mentioned Jasikan. We tend to avoid saying the actual village we're in ONE because it's hard to pronounce and TWO because we don't want people knowing where we live because it wouldn't be hard to find us by the time they arrived in our village. Well after they found out we were more locals, he said what price would I want it at and I said 50 pesewas per strand. He made a face as to say no so we walked away. Well his friend who was talking in Spanish to hailey and I, called us back and said okokok. It just goes to show you, apart of haggling is truly walking away even if you really do want that pretty strand of beads haha.
Today I woke up with a huge migraine and haven't been in the best moods. I feel bad for the kids because every 45 minutes they're knocking on my door and my eyes are so puffy that they already know what I'm about to say. I hate to see their disappointed faces but I know it's the right thing to do. I've taken a couple differ pills so since I woke up around 8 am the pain has subsided to a shorter tempered headache after all of my sleep; but I have been lazy and plan to study and create a better lesson plan for the kiddies tomorrow. I'm teaching 10ish year olds, and still trying to figure out the best way to go out their health education. The young young ones and this age group have proved to be the most difficult for me to plan because I never really know what's a good avenue. Some don't understand any English, others don't get my hand gestures, then to some my accent combined with my poor penmanship is so bad that they just sit there, looking more entranced than ever with the fact that a fat obruni is here to talk about health. I'm amazed with how much I enjoy teaching and have found that while in talks with creating the after school club for female empowerment has been well received, by most but not always the parents. My biggest concern with starting it is sustainability, what will happen once I leave? Trying to find someone who will keep it up, plus keep it interesting, plus keep the girls interested is proving difficult for me to create.
We have yet to start our actual research yet due to some problems with paper work and having it become 100% legitimate, but now that we have board authorization we have come to find out that we can only have the stamp of approval interview documents, which will prove to be expensive for the Ladybug Project considering that some places it's more than 1cedis just for an hour of time, and it's 30-50 pesewas to print. There are copier places but since we need roughly 200-400 copies we're worried how many places we'll have to use. Haha all in a days thoughts I suppose. But all in all I'm enjoy the downtime, and enjoy the ability to read my many books. I think I've read about 11 since I've arrived 5 weeks ago!! Crazy huh?? Well hope you're finding Ghana as entertaining as me :) hope you had a great weekend!!
Happy reading :)
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Technical Difficulties
Something funny I realized about my internship compared to Pro World is my internship is really self focused or maybe a better word is... "doer" focused. You have to always be the initiator to everything: trips, organization structure, initiatives etc, where as with Pro World they had a lot of things set up for us. Here in Okagyakrom, hailey and I are pretty much on our own, and since I was stubborn and decided to teach at the few schools but for the entire summer it's interesting to realize that I have to have weekly lesson plans that teach many different ages for the next couple of months. Since I don't think it may be the most appropriate thing to teach to younger students about sex, I try to teach basic hygiene, sanitation, germs, nutrition etc. but with the older children 10-19 I start with body development, going through puberty, being comfortable with their bodies, sexual reproduction, staying in school, pregnancy, then working my way into contraceptives, dating, relationships, safe sex, and STIS/HIV/AIDS. The most difficult thing is the language barrier. With the younger grades I'm constantly trying to figure out the most effective way to teach them without speaking their language.
It's really difficult. Especially considering some of the activities I research online to present to the kids require printed materials or paint or construction paper... Aka nothing I have access to here and even improvisation has proved to be difficult as I am constantly trying to think of ways to really make this simple for them without breaking my bank. It was funny because today, I did the same lesson I did for another class but instead of knowing all the answers they had lots of questions and even brought up some facts that other classes didn't such as: masturbation, wet dreams and pubic development. It was interesting to see the difference in classes.
I live right next to two of the students I teach every week and every night now I hang out with them to help with homework or talk about how to improve my lessons. Today they told me I should do more exercises to reinforce what I'm teaching and the only problem with that is again... Money. Gah. Because some of the worksheets that I could make, cost money to print, which gets expensive when you don't have any money left in your bank account and there are several classes to teach. That is one difficulty I can imagine people in the peace corps feel, especially considering they're sort of on their own. I'm glad I have this one student named Owsu and his sister Doris. They're really helpful and he's so smart and above the rest of the students that sometimes its difficult to try and figure out a way to actual teach him something. He's one of those students that writes everything I put on the board, actually his class was the only ones that did. I told the students they could if they wanted to, but most didn't except his form. Out of the 10 classes I've taught so far only a few of them have really responded to the lessons. I'm thinking I might start to make it like a real class with quizzes and stuff, maybe they will try to understand it more.
Some of them bring up the lessons when I see them at later times and others just look at me like I'm crazy when I bring it up again. I try to make them effective and reiterate everything I talk about but I think they're so shy that they don't tell me when they don't understand something. Now I definitely feel the frustrations teachers in the USA feel when they ask the class if they have any questions, and then when they don't, but then they don't do well on quizzes... It's annoying. Especially since one of the schools I teach at speaks mostly English to the students, but since I have a weird accent it makes everything more difficult for them to understand me.
I really love presenting the material and I can tell the ones that do make an effort to understand do... Especially considering sex. Every class I'll ask if they know someone who is or has had sex and they always say YES! Maybe I'm just naive, but I think to myself when do they even have time to have sex? No seriously, these kids help clean in the morning, go to school, then help sell products on the streets in the evenings, then go help with their mothers at night. But as I questioned Doris and Owsu, they told me that the kids go run off late at night, so that no one will know. I find it even more interesting because they explained that some even are teased ehen they have had sex. Now how does that make sense?? They even told me a story that there is a girl in town who is pregnant now, but she's had sex with this one group of boys that she doesn't know who the father is. It's so weird to think that those same problems happen here. I'm definitely started to realize the importance of planning an actual lesson with bullet points and main objectives to reach, it helps me stay on tract with my ADHD mind and keeps the students focused as well.
One school I teach at (the junior school) even has an AIDS EDUCATION flag but the problem is that they don't really teach them because they don't have a teacher for it. That's what I'm here for so I'm excited that there's an actual purpose to my teaching, and that I'm actually apart of their usual curriculum. I'm even written into the schedule on Wed/Thur and this Friday I'm supposed to do an entire HIV/AIDS exercise with the whole school. Gahh I'm do nervous for that but I'm glad that we're really now getting more into what I am here for originally. Everyone always wants to touch my iPad which makes me want to stop bringing it out especially since zi found out it won't play videos!!! How lame is that right...
I love where I live and I'm glad I'm actually getting to know these kids. That's what makes this whole trip worth it, the personal relationships that I've been able to create because of it. Everyone of these children are amazing and have so much to offer. Some are seriously brilliant, like Owsu, some are hysterical and would be great actors or comedians, like Edward, some are hardworking and will one day leave this village and make a difference somewhere like a student Maud. I love when students see me now and they'll call me Ciara, not obruni. I seriously can't even explain to you how more comfortable I feel.
But as I stated earlier, this internship is very "self focused" so anything you want to do you have to figure out everything in your own; which is nice and yet a bit frustrating at the same time because it's not as if I can search the Internet on what roads to take to get from here to the waterfalls or how much it would be to take a tro tro to Kumasi to see the Lake of Ghana. I love that we do get to choose, but I do just wish I would've thought to have more money with me here. There are so many things to do, but it's just 45 min-4 hours away. I'm hoping to take Hailey to Cape Coast one of her final weekends but it's sort of expensive so we shall see. This weekend the cousin of the Director said he would take Hailey and I out... Haha that will be interesting.
It really is amazing how much someone can type on one subject!!
Happy reading!
It's really difficult. Especially considering some of the activities I research online to present to the kids require printed materials or paint or construction paper... Aka nothing I have access to here and even improvisation has proved to be difficult as I am constantly trying to think of ways to really make this simple for them without breaking my bank. It was funny because today, I did the same lesson I did for another class but instead of knowing all the answers they had lots of questions and even brought up some facts that other classes didn't such as: masturbation, wet dreams and pubic development. It was interesting to see the difference in classes.
I live right next to two of the students I teach every week and every night now I hang out with them to help with homework or talk about how to improve my lessons. Today they told me I should do more exercises to reinforce what I'm teaching and the only problem with that is again... Money. Gah. Because some of the worksheets that I could make, cost money to print, which gets expensive when you don't have any money left in your bank account and there are several classes to teach. That is one difficulty I can imagine people in the peace corps feel, especially considering they're sort of on their own. I'm glad I have this one student named Owsu and his sister Doris. They're really helpful and he's so smart and above the rest of the students that sometimes its difficult to try and figure out a way to actual teach him something. He's one of those students that writes everything I put on the board, actually his class was the only ones that did. I told the students they could if they wanted to, but most didn't except his form. Out of the 10 classes I've taught so far only a few of them have really responded to the lessons. I'm thinking I might start to make it like a real class with quizzes and stuff, maybe they will try to understand it more.
Some of them bring up the lessons when I see them at later times and others just look at me like I'm crazy when I bring it up again. I try to make them effective and reiterate everything I talk about but I think they're so shy that they don't tell me when they don't understand something. Now I definitely feel the frustrations teachers in the USA feel when they ask the class if they have any questions, and then when they don't, but then they don't do well on quizzes... It's annoying. Especially since one of the schools I teach at speaks mostly English to the students, but since I have a weird accent it makes everything more difficult for them to understand me.
I really love presenting the material and I can tell the ones that do make an effort to understand do... Especially considering sex. Every class I'll ask if they know someone who is or has had sex and they always say YES! Maybe I'm just naive, but I think to myself when do they even have time to have sex? No seriously, these kids help clean in the morning, go to school, then help sell products on the streets in the evenings, then go help with their mothers at night. But as I questioned Doris and Owsu, they told me that the kids go run off late at night, so that no one will know. I find it even more interesting because they explained that some even are teased ehen they have had sex. Now how does that make sense?? They even told me a story that there is a girl in town who is pregnant now, but she's had sex with this one group of boys that she doesn't know who the father is. It's so weird to think that those same problems happen here. I'm definitely started to realize the importance of planning an actual lesson with bullet points and main objectives to reach, it helps me stay on tract with my ADHD mind and keeps the students focused as well.
One school I teach at (the junior school) even has an AIDS EDUCATION flag but the problem is that they don't really teach them because they don't have a teacher for it. That's what I'm here for so I'm excited that there's an actual purpose to my teaching, and that I'm actually apart of their usual curriculum. I'm even written into the schedule on Wed/Thur and this Friday I'm supposed to do an entire HIV/AIDS exercise with the whole school. Gahh I'm do nervous for that but I'm glad that we're really now getting more into what I am here for originally. Everyone always wants to touch my iPad which makes me want to stop bringing it out especially since zi found out it won't play videos!!! How lame is that right...
I love where I live and I'm glad I'm actually getting to know these kids. That's what makes this whole trip worth it, the personal relationships that I've been able to create because of it. Everyone of these children are amazing and have so much to offer. Some are seriously brilliant, like Owsu, some are hysterical and would be great actors or comedians, like Edward, some are hardworking and will one day leave this village and make a difference somewhere like a student Maud. I love when students see me now and they'll call me Ciara, not obruni. I seriously can't even explain to you how more comfortable I feel.
But as I stated earlier, this internship is very "self focused" so anything you want to do you have to figure out everything in your own; which is nice and yet a bit frustrating at the same time because it's not as if I can search the Internet on what roads to take to get from here to the waterfalls or how much it would be to take a tro tro to Kumasi to see the Lake of Ghana. I love that we do get to choose, but I do just wish I would've thought to have more money with me here. There are so many things to do, but it's just 45 min-4 hours away. I'm hoping to take Hailey to Cape Coast one of her final weekends but it's sort of expensive so we shall see. This weekend the cousin of the Director said he would take Hailey and I out... Haha that will be interesting.
It really is amazing how much someone can type on one subject!!
Happy reading!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
A day in the life...
Monday....
I started teaching at my second school and it was so much fun!! The kids were great and even though I taught them really basic hygiene stuff, they went along with it. Some the kids get a little rowdy but I try to make them shh shh before they get caned by the teachers. That's right, teachers cane here and it hurts me every time I have to witness it. They cane them for wearing sandals instead of closed toed shoes, for being late and for doing anything a teacher feels is out of order and it always breaks my heart. In my second class, I actually taught one of the boys whose mother cooks for Hailey and I. He's sweet but he acted all cool since he knew the obruni "foreigner" aka me and when I said if they'd like me to call them a nickname instead of their actual name such as princess he laughed at me, so I said I will call him princess and everyone laughed. But Hartford is very smart and always takes a good joke so he went with it along all class. I teach two classes a day at that school and they're all younger, around 5-13. Great kids, but boy do they like to rough house.
After my lesson, all of the girl students went to a seminar with a representative from the Ministry of Education discussing the importance of staying in school and how to avoid being raped. Many girls drop out after 6th grade because their parents want them to work or because they get pregnant. It was really interesting to hear, and the girls had such great questions, such as "what if our parents don't support us going to school" or "what if a man raped them, what would they do". It was interesting to listen to some of the lessons they talked about, I'm just glad they talk about them though. School ended immediately after that, and I laughed and walked with some of my students after that. We walked back to the site and just hung out until the Queen Mother ceremony began.
A woman who usually lives in Accra became the Queen Mother of Okagyakrom (the village I live in). Somewhat forced but once you're in the royal family, it's hard to ignore your birth rite. That was actually why there were riots Sunday; the son and fellow village members were upset about what had happened and felt she shouldn't have been chosen the way she was. They literally just grabbed her and declared she would be chosen. Her Queen name is Nana Obaahemma Bekoen Agyabea the 3rd Queen Mother of Okagyakrom and she is the chief’s female counterpart of status and they all must be apart of the royal family. The entire day was celebrated in her honor. It was so beautiful to see the traditional clothes, they are truly stunning. Most of the time it doesnt matter what type of cloth they wear, but since the last Queen Mother didn't have a proper burial ceremony, many of the women wore red and black to celebrate her past life. The music and dancing was so lively and an experience in itself. One of the Directors cousins in our neighborhood sat by us and explained what was happening. There are 6 clans in Okagyakrom and each one had a man dance in their own section of the ceremony, and had members of their family cheer them on and throw leaves as a way to support their dance (if they were wealthier families it would've been money). One family, who is actually very popular, even did a specific dance move that was to disrespect the current chief because he has not been meeting the villages expectations, Nana (the Directors cousin) explained.
A goat was also sacrificed, and I was not happy. I was very squeamish and was mad at Nana because he said they weren't going to and by the time I realized what was happening they had the knife against its throat and cut it. But honestly I’m so thankful I could be a part of such a cultural experience. It was a little overwhelming for me because I was probably a bigger part that I intended. Hailey and I of course stand out here and people came by to take our pictures quite frequently. We even got our own special welcome at the beginning of the ceremony. I have never felt so close to understanding what it's like to be a famous person. People are constantly going out of their ways to see us, touch us, talk to us, and especially take photos with us. I feel so awkward when they do that. I completely reaffirm that I will make sure I will never be a hollywood star.
Everywhere I go, somewhere is fetching a chair for me or worrying about the sun or offering to carry my bag. I feel rude refusing so often because their efforts are so unnecessary; it’s hard not to feel like a nuisance when people are stumbling all over themselves to make sure I’m comfortable. Nana explained that because Okagyakrom gets so few foreign visitors, they want to make sure visitors are happy and feel welcome so that they speak kindly of the village when they leave. They have so few opportunities that they over-compensate with us basically. Everyone was so excited we wanted to be a part of the ceremony, but I was completely humbled. I have never felt so... I can't even explain it. It felt like were a good omen or something. Crazy. That night I was so exhausted by the time everything was over I took a shower, read a few pages in my book and went to bed.
Tuesday was a different story. The power has been sort of sketchy lately so it often goes off when we're sleeping. I woke up ready for a sunny day, but it ended up actually being really cloudy outside and almost cold. I didn't dress smart and wore a dress. Well... An hour into my lesson at my school, E.P Primary School, it started pouring and the rain is so loud on the steel roofs that you can't even hear yourself, let alone trying to teach everyone facts about hygiene. Bummer, but it was nice to just hang out with the kids though they kept getting into fights and I was not having it. The intern that happened to help me today said he would've caned the kids had I not asked him too. I even told the headmaster that I just can't do it. And I won't let anyone else in the classrooms that I'm teaching in cane while I'm teaching. It's honestly devastating just to watch for me which seems silly but I can't handle it.
Well after I played with the rowdy kids for two hours, the rain kept going and the other teacher began his lesson and when I went to ask where I was going next to the headmaster he just told me I could go home. Well after I walked home I went with Hailey to get some fabric in Jasikan, so Christiana could make me a dress. I'm excited about it because it's a dress that will have sleeves and I won't feel so self conscious about my strapless dresses. Then when we came back we went to hang out with the boys on the soccer field. Haha I am terrible, but it was fun. I was a little intimidated about how good how they were. Kids half my size (and remember I'm 5'2) were killing it. The only thing I could do that they couldn't was an old cheerleader move where I stick my leg straight up against my body. Haha. Ridiculous. I just wanted to show them I wasn't completely inept compared to them. I ended up trying to chase one of the boys and fell down. My knee is a little banged up but I had so much fun!! Seriously these kids are the only reason I ever have energy; whenever I'm with adults I feel so exhausted and just want to sleep. I'm so glad Hailey is here because not only does she make me feel safer to go out but she gets me to go do things where I usually am content just being in my room and reading a book. Even though she thinks I'm the "fun" one, I don't think she has any idea how much I need her there or else I wouldn't do any of it all. Especially people stopping to take pictures with me with their phones, it gets a little awkward. Or when they tell me they love me and propose to me. I think that's my fourth? Gah. So embarrassing. I'm glad I can just walk away and they won't follow because its the both of us.
Right now I'm typing up this post and I'm outside since its super cool... Of course there are 10 kids surrounding me, it has gotten easier to be around all of them though I only came outside to help my favorite student with his science homework involving disease vectors. Haha some of the stuff they learn is crazy at their age, but he wants to be a doctor so any type of information that I can help him with I try to. His name is sort of long so I told him if he was to have a nickname what would he want it to be... And he said doctor lol. He really wants to be a doctor when he grows up. I love it. It's really inspiring to see how students here work extra hard when they have big dreams. Sometimes I wish I could just steal them to the USA so I could bring their motivation to learn to a school with an even more in depth specification in biology.
Well... Its amazing what happens in a couple days eh? Haha. Hope you're enjoying the blog!!
I started teaching at my second school and it was so much fun!! The kids were great and even though I taught them really basic hygiene stuff, they went along with it. Some the kids get a little rowdy but I try to make them shh shh before they get caned by the teachers. That's right, teachers cane here and it hurts me every time I have to witness it. They cane them for wearing sandals instead of closed toed shoes, for being late and for doing anything a teacher feels is out of order and it always breaks my heart. In my second class, I actually taught one of the boys whose mother cooks for Hailey and I. He's sweet but he acted all cool since he knew the obruni "foreigner" aka me and when I said if they'd like me to call them a nickname instead of their actual name such as princess he laughed at me, so I said I will call him princess and everyone laughed. But Hartford is very smart and always takes a good joke so he went with it along all class. I teach two classes a day at that school and they're all younger, around 5-13. Great kids, but boy do they like to rough house.
After my lesson, all of the girl students went to a seminar with a representative from the Ministry of Education discussing the importance of staying in school and how to avoid being raped. Many girls drop out after 6th grade because their parents want them to work or because they get pregnant. It was really interesting to hear, and the girls had such great questions, such as "what if our parents don't support us going to school" or "what if a man raped them, what would they do". It was interesting to listen to some of the lessons they talked about, I'm just glad they talk about them though. School ended immediately after that, and I laughed and walked with some of my students after that. We walked back to the site and just hung out until the Queen Mother ceremony began.
A woman who usually lives in Accra became the Queen Mother of Okagyakrom (the village I live in). Somewhat forced but once you're in the royal family, it's hard to ignore your birth rite. That was actually why there were riots Sunday; the son and fellow village members were upset about what had happened and felt she shouldn't have been chosen the way she was. They literally just grabbed her and declared she would be chosen. Her Queen name is Nana Obaahemma Bekoen Agyabea the 3rd Queen Mother of Okagyakrom and she is the chief’s female counterpart of status and they all must be apart of the royal family. The entire day was celebrated in her honor. It was so beautiful to see the traditional clothes, they are truly stunning. Most of the time it doesnt matter what type of cloth they wear, but since the last Queen Mother didn't have a proper burial ceremony, many of the women wore red and black to celebrate her past life. The music and dancing was so lively and an experience in itself. One of the Directors cousins in our neighborhood sat by us and explained what was happening. There are 6 clans in Okagyakrom and each one had a man dance in their own section of the ceremony, and had members of their family cheer them on and throw leaves as a way to support their dance (if they were wealthier families it would've been money). One family, who is actually very popular, even did a specific dance move that was to disrespect the current chief because he has not been meeting the villages expectations, Nana (the Directors cousin) explained.
A goat was also sacrificed, and I was not happy. I was very squeamish and was mad at Nana because he said they weren't going to and by the time I realized what was happening they had the knife against its throat and cut it. But honestly I’m so thankful I could be a part of such a cultural experience. It was a little overwhelming for me because I was probably a bigger part that I intended. Hailey and I of course stand out here and people came by to take our pictures quite frequently. We even got our own special welcome at the beginning of the ceremony. I have never felt so close to understanding what it's like to be a famous person. People are constantly going out of their ways to see us, touch us, talk to us, and especially take photos with us. I feel so awkward when they do that. I completely reaffirm that I will make sure I will never be a hollywood star.
Everywhere I go, somewhere is fetching a chair for me or worrying about the sun or offering to carry my bag. I feel rude refusing so often because their efforts are so unnecessary; it’s hard not to feel like a nuisance when people are stumbling all over themselves to make sure I’m comfortable. Nana explained that because Okagyakrom gets so few foreign visitors, they want to make sure visitors are happy and feel welcome so that they speak kindly of the village when they leave. They have so few opportunities that they over-compensate with us basically. Everyone was so excited we wanted to be a part of the ceremony, but I was completely humbled. I have never felt so... I can't even explain it. It felt like were a good omen or something. Crazy. That night I was so exhausted by the time everything was over I took a shower, read a few pages in my book and went to bed.
Tuesday was a different story. The power has been sort of sketchy lately so it often goes off when we're sleeping. I woke up ready for a sunny day, but it ended up actually being really cloudy outside and almost cold. I didn't dress smart and wore a dress. Well... An hour into my lesson at my school, E.P Primary School, it started pouring and the rain is so loud on the steel roofs that you can't even hear yourself, let alone trying to teach everyone facts about hygiene. Bummer, but it was nice to just hang out with the kids though they kept getting into fights and I was not having it. The intern that happened to help me today said he would've caned the kids had I not asked him too. I even told the headmaster that I just can't do it. And I won't let anyone else in the classrooms that I'm teaching in cane while I'm teaching. It's honestly devastating just to watch for me which seems silly but I can't handle it.
Well after I played with the rowdy kids for two hours, the rain kept going and the other teacher began his lesson and when I went to ask where I was going next to the headmaster he just told me I could go home. Well after I walked home I went with Hailey to get some fabric in Jasikan, so Christiana could make me a dress. I'm excited about it because it's a dress that will have sleeves and I won't feel so self conscious about my strapless dresses. Then when we came back we went to hang out with the boys on the soccer field. Haha I am terrible, but it was fun. I was a little intimidated about how good how they were. Kids half my size (and remember I'm 5'2) were killing it. The only thing I could do that they couldn't was an old cheerleader move where I stick my leg straight up against my body. Haha. Ridiculous. I just wanted to show them I wasn't completely inept compared to them. I ended up trying to chase one of the boys and fell down. My knee is a little banged up but I had so much fun!! Seriously these kids are the only reason I ever have energy; whenever I'm with adults I feel so exhausted and just want to sleep. I'm so glad Hailey is here because not only does she make me feel safer to go out but she gets me to go do things where I usually am content just being in my room and reading a book. Even though she thinks I'm the "fun" one, I don't think she has any idea how much I need her there or else I wouldn't do any of it all. Especially people stopping to take pictures with me with their phones, it gets a little awkward. Or when they tell me they love me and propose to me. I think that's my fourth? Gah. So embarrassing. I'm glad I can just walk away and they won't follow because its the both of us.
Right now I'm typing up this post and I'm outside since its super cool... Of course there are 10 kids surrounding me, it has gotten easier to be around all of them though I only came outside to help my favorite student with his science homework involving disease vectors. Haha some of the stuff they learn is crazy at their age, but he wants to be a doctor so any type of information that I can help him with I try to. His name is sort of long so I told him if he was to have a nickname what would he want it to be... And he said doctor lol. He really wants to be a doctor when he grows up. I love it. It's really inspiring to see how students here work extra hard when they have big dreams. Sometimes I wish I could just steal them to the USA so I could bring their motivation to learn to a school with an even more in depth specification in biology.
Well... Its amazing what happens in a couple days eh? Haha. Hope you're enjoying the blog!!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Ghanian food for the win!
I realized I haven't spoken much about what I'm eating so I figured I'd give you a little explanation:
1. I love the noodles they have here. They are the kind of noodles that the Ramen Noodle packages are in with a very similar chicken powder (though I'm not sure it's a powder or just a spice they have). I'm obsessed, honestly I think I inhale the bowl when ever Christiana makes it for me, tastes like home.
2. Fruit here is fresh and amazing. Juicy mangoes right off the trees, bananas so good and ripe and oranges delicious and perfect. They sell pineapples and watermelons often in some villages, but in our little piece of heaven it's a rare treat.
3. There are different types of hot sauces: one that works similar to the ones at home and this red liquid paste type stuff that is actually really good but has a weird burnt after taste. Others, but I haven't had the chance to try them all.
4. Some villagers know what curry is, others not so much. Sad ours doesn't because the curry in Ghana is amazing. Especially when I had it in Accra. Curry rice & fried chicken= yummy
5. Rice is the food, the only food, the staple food. Everything usually has a side of rice. White rice usually.
6. Sometime they serve oats and pooridge or oatmeal for breakfast, however you swing the name the stuff is definitely not my favorite dish even here.
7. Even though i dont like American pancakes. The pancakes here are like crepes and they are gooooooooooooooooooooloddddddd, especially with cinnamon. Christiana usually makes me an omelette with onions for breakfast though.
8. They make me "hot tea" (milo/cocoa) every morning and it is the best part of waking up; folgers coffee has nothing on milo. Milo (a brand of cocoa) mixes with hot water, sugar, and powdered milk to make the best hot chocolate ever :)
9. Bread here is so heavy, but some places in larger towns have lighter brown bread. But our town has thick white pieces. Yummy, just.... A lot lol.
10. Banku... Ahh I wish I could show you what it is exactly. But think of a white ball of mushy yummyness boiled in a bag in water so it sticks together, a delicious type salsa that has fresh jalapeños, onions and tomatoes, then a side of chicken or fish (depending on preference). It's amazing. And by far my favorite Ghanian dish!!
11. Fish... Fish is everywhere here. But to be honest it's not my cup of tea. They grill it, fry it, do all sorts of things to it but 9/10 it still has the tail and eyes attached... And that just does not suit well with me lol
12. Ghanians love their pizza. Its just like back home but it's really good... Though it's always the most expensive thing on the menu by double and it's usually only in major cities.
13. Yams here are not the type of yams we have in the states: they're like the white potato type things. And they're not yummy unless they're fried like potatoes and slathered in hot sauce (for me) though a lot of people eat them with ketchup.
14. Street vendors sell this dish called "stew" which has angel hair noodles, white rice and this red sauce type mixture. It's yummy and always a good go to if you're hungry and on the go, but it's probably not smart to eat it after only a couple days of being here. Also...tip#1 I learned from Brooke is make sure the stew pots are steaming, means its not too old and hasn't been sitting around.
15. They also make really great doughnut and cake type dishes. They're not like the cake back home, more pie shaped doughnuts. Not fried dough, maybe baked? Haven't figured out how yet but it's very sweet and very good.
16. There's also this vegetable type thing called "cassava" I'm not sure how to describe it other than it has a brown outside, white inside and shaped sort of like a squash. It's usually yummy when mixed with other foods.
17. Cabbage is usually and often cooked food here, but I'm not too much of a fan. Here or in the states.
18. Most chicken here is cooked in tiny little pieces. Very fresh but plain, like I said before... I wish I had some curry in the village haha, it could solve every food dilemma of mine.
19. Red red, it's a type of bean dish with red sauce and usually served with fried plantains. Not my favorite but the fried plantains (when served hot) are AMAZING!!!!
20. But the bestest thing I've had here is BY FAR the plantain chips. They are the perfectly snack and ridiculously yummy :)
1. I love the noodles they have here. They are the kind of noodles that the Ramen Noodle packages are in with a very similar chicken powder (though I'm not sure it's a powder or just a spice they have). I'm obsessed, honestly I think I inhale the bowl when ever Christiana makes it for me, tastes like home.
2. Fruit here is fresh and amazing. Juicy mangoes right off the trees, bananas so good and ripe and oranges delicious and perfect. They sell pineapples and watermelons often in some villages, but in our little piece of heaven it's a rare treat.
3. There are different types of hot sauces: one that works similar to the ones at home and this red liquid paste type stuff that is actually really good but has a weird burnt after taste. Others, but I haven't had the chance to try them all.
4. Some villagers know what curry is, others not so much. Sad ours doesn't because the curry in Ghana is amazing. Especially when I had it in Accra. Curry rice & fried chicken= yummy
5. Rice is the food, the only food, the staple food. Everything usually has a side of rice. White rice usually.
6. Sometime they serve oats and pooridge or oatmeal for breakfast, however you swing the name the stuff is definitely not my favorite dish even here.
7. Even though i dont like American pancakes. The pancakes here are like crepes and they are gooooooooooooooooooooloddddddd, especially with cinnamon. Christiana usually makes me an omelette with onions for breakfast though.
8. They make me "hot tea" (milo/cocoa) every morning and it is the best part of waking up; folgers coffee has nothing on milo. Milo (a brand of cocoa) mixes with hot water, sugar, and powdered milk to make the best hot chocolate ever :)
9. Bread here is so heavy, but some places in larger towns have lighter brown bread. But our town has thick white pieces. Yummy, just.... A lot lol.
10. Banku... Ahh I wish I could show you what it is exactly. But think of a white ball of mushy yummyness boiled in a bag in water so it sticks together, a delicious type salsa that has fresh jalapeños, onions and tomatoes, then a side of chicken or fish (depending on preference). It's amazing. And by far my favorite Ghanian dish!!
11. Fish... Fish is everywhere here. But to be honest it's not my cup of tea. They grill it, fry it, do all sorts of things to it but 9/10 it still has the tail and eyes attached... And that just does not suit well with me lol
12. Ghanians love their pizza. Its just like back home but it's really good... Though it's always the most expensive thing on the menu by double and it's usually only in major cities.
13. Yams here are not the type of yams we have in the states: they're like the white potato type things. And they're not yummy unless they're fried like potatoes and slathered in hot sauce (for me) though a lot of people eat them with ketchup.
14. Street vendors sell this dish called "stew" which has angel hair noodles, white rice and this red sauce type mixture. It's yummy and always a good go to if you're hungry and on the go, but it's probably not smart to eat it after only a couple days of being here. Also...tip#1 I learned from Brooke is make sure the stew pots are steaming, means its not too old and hasn't been sitting around.
15. They also make really great doughnut and cake type dishes. They're not like the cake back home, more pie shaped doughnuts. Not fried dough, maybe baked? Haven't figured out how yet but it's very sweet and very good.
16. There's also this vegetable type thing called "cassava" I'm not sure how to describe it other than it has a brown outside, white inside and shaped sort of like a squash. It's usually yummy when mixed with other foods.
17. Cabbage is usually and often cooked food here, but I'm not too much of a fan. Here or in the states.
18. Most chicken here is cooked in tiny little pieces. Very fresh but plain, like I said before... I wish I had some curry in the village haha, it could solve every food dilemma of mine.
19. Red red, it's a type of bean dish with red sauce and usually served with fried plantains. Not my favorite but the fried plantains (when served hot) are AMAZING!!!!
20. But the bestest thing I've had here is BY FAR the plantain chips. They are the perfectly snack and ridiculously yummy :)
The night the lights went out in G...Ghana
What would a developing country be like if they didn't have power outages? Who knows lol, but I survived my first all-nighter. Through last night and today, the power outage lasted 16 hours. And let me tell you, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be considering the other power outages I've been in here have been... Well less than favorable. Maybe it was because when I was awake I had the windows open, and when it was not outside I tried to sleep but it's a lot easier to manage when you don't think about it. Thank the creator of books on the iPad!!
Power outages, mother natures gift to women and riots outside my door... All in a Sunday in this village lol. It's fortunate that we have a great caretaker Chritiana, because without her I'd probably be lost. I was a mess due to mother naturs gift so I wasn't much fun. But with the power outage a lot of people just decided to stay outside and talk most of the day; conversations range from town marriages or the fact that one of the local women is becoming an important figure next to the Chief, "Queen Mother of the village", it was sort of confusing but I'll try to get the scoop tomorrow at the ceremony. The riot was actually connected, because with the power outages over the last couple of weeks, the lady hadn't been able to get inducted and with that a lot of villagers were upset. The people here are very passionate about their leaders, it's really refreshing. Even though the riot outside my door scared me... A lot. Once I understood what was going on it didn't seem as crazy. But there was banging, screaming, chants and just lots of noise. A lot of was in lelemay so I didn't understand but maybe after I see the ceremony tomorrow I will understand a little more about the transitioning of village leadership here. Something that is sort of weird though, is that most of the village leadership, doesn't actually live in the village though they have by far the nicest houses out of everyone. The village chief lives in a city called Kumasi, and the lady that is becoming a leader of the village usually lives in Accra I think. I still need to figure out if it's because of something specific, no one really had an answer on why they don't live here.
There had also been a funeral this weekend and Ghanian funerals are the celebration of all celebrations. They start by decorating half the village in black and red, then have many ceremonies around the village filled with testimonials, history and music to celebrate the person's life. It's actually a beautiful ceremony and people from all over come for these funerals, wearing traditional garb in different assortments of black. When we were in Ho Hoe, Hailey and I saw men and women marching in the streets, doing specific dances and carrying tribal instruments to commemorate a member of the Royal Family of Ho Hoe that just died. Some women marched wearing only white with their faces painted white, then in a separate march men chanted and danced across the streets with all the bells and whistles on. I think it's really amazing how Ghanians commemorate the dead, they celebrate age and they value wealth in children and wisdom, every single person is important to these celebrations. The music, the dancing, everything you learn is unforgettable. It reminds you that every person has a story, and every friend/family member/acquaintance had a purpose in that persons life. Every obituary is placed somewhere around town and they show every relative, every close friend, and a brief biography.
The things you learn on a Sunday.
Happy reading!!
OH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY COUSIN JAKEY :) you're getting so big!!
Power outages, mother natures gift to women and riots outside my door... All in a Sunday in this village lol. It's fortunate that we have a great caretaker Chritiana, because without her I'd probably be lost. I was a mess due to mother naturs gift so I wasn't much fun. But with the power outage a lot of people just decided to stay outside and talk most of the day; conversations range from town marriages or the fact that one of the local women is becoming an important figure next to the Chief, "Queen Mother of the village", it was sort of confusing but I'll try to get the scoop tomorrow at the ceremony. The riot was actually connected, because with the power outages over the last couple of weeks, the lady hadn't been able to get inducted and with that a lot of villagers were upset. The people here are very passionate about their leaders, it's really refreshing. Even though the riot outside my door scared me... A lot. Once I understood what was going on it didn't seem as crazy. But there was banging, screaming, chants and just lots of noise. A lot of was in lelemay so I didn't understand but maybe after I see the ceremony tomorrow I will understand a little more about the transitioning of village leadership here. Something that is sort of weird though, is that most of the village leadership, doesn't actually live in the village though they have by far the nicest houses out of everyone. The village chief lives in a city called Kumasi, and the lady that is becoming a leader of the village usually lives in Accra I think. I still need to figure out if it's because of something specific, no one really had an answer on why they don't live here.
There had also been a funeral this weekend and Ghanian funerals are the celebration of all celebrations. They start by decorating half the village in black and red, then have many ceremonies around the village filled with testimonials, history and music to celebrate the person's life. It's actually a beautiful ceremony and people from all over come for these funerals, wearing traditional garb in different assortments of black. When we were in Ho Hoe, Hailey and I saw men and women marching in the streets, doing specific dances and carrying tribal instruments to commemorate a member of the Royal Family of Ho Hoe that just died. Some women marched wearing only white with their faces painted white, then in a separate march men chanted and danced across the streets with all the bells and whistles on. I think it's really amazing how Ghanians commemorate the dead, they celebrate age and they value wealth in children and wisdom, every single person is important to these celebrations. The music, the dancing, everything you learn is unforgettable. It reminds you that every person has a story, and every friend/family member/acquaintance had a purpose in that persons life. Every obituary is placed somewhere around town and they show every relative, every close friend, and a brief biography.
The things you learn on a Sunday.
Happy reading!!
OH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY COUSIN JAKEY :) you're getting so big!!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Happiness...
This entire past week has been amazing and I am seriously excited for the next two and a half months here. Wow wait. Let's get things straight... I've been here for a whole month? That's weird to think about. But okay, yea I've been in Ghana and this past week has been a true blessing.
It all started with this amazing woman Christiana. She cooks for the interns, and her children take over the food from her hours to the site. She is a true gem, and she is so funny and cooks the best food. Well Saturday she invited me to hang out with her family. It was fun! We just hung out in this cinder block building that had a dirt courtyard in the middle that connects all the rooms and we laughed about football and watched a "concert" show that had comedians and I had a couple marriage proposals, even by Christiana's own husband. It was all just funny and really helped me open up with everyone at the site. She just played along, ready to get rid of him and made me some of the most amazing noodles that night. If it wasn't for Christiana I'm not sure I could survive haha, her cooking is supreme and I couldn't cook a thing here.
Sunday, the headmistress to one of the schools I teach at stopped by. She is intelligent, observant and perceptive about people. She nailed me instantly and said it would be a genuine pleasure having a hard worker like me at her school. She made me feel really good about myself. She was really communicative with me about what she wanted and what she thought I could do for her school. It made me really happy and I know that I could probably do good things for these kids. I just... I don't know, I felt good. I feel good. About this whole place. This village. Everything, seems a good fit.
The site itself is hard to explain, but there's five rooms to one side of each building. All the rooms are small with a bed and a chair. Then we all open up to an outside courtyard. I'll have to try and post pictures because I'm probably not giving this place justice, but it's a great place. I'm glad I chose to stay here next to the locals instead of the guest house they expected us to stay at. Being around everyone makes the whole experience that much more fun.
Well Wednesday was my very first real day teaching... I wasn't really sure of what I would teach because I figured I could bring up a few things but since I was going early I just sort of winged it and talked it over with a few of the teachers that sit at this table outside the school. The first school I teach at is a Junior School meaning its the middle of the road. So talking about their bodies developing, sex, safe sex, pregnancy, STI's, sanitation, and nutrition are probably the last things that they want to be lectured about... But we actually have a few girls who have already given birth at the school. It was interesting, I guess I expected it but still... Interesting all the same. But my students range from 13-19 but they're wonderful. Some speak English so well and others not so much. They love the fact that I'm progressive and that I don't make them sit at their desks and that I ask them questions that don't require definite answers. They make me happy too. I'm interested to see how all of this works out. Like I said I agreed to become their physical education teacher as well and we're hoping to create an after school program for the girls on self empowerment through education. I'm excited. So many things to do, and for the first time in my life I have plenty of time to get it all done. These kids seriously complete me. I truly hope I get into the Peace Corps... Something about this international education stuff really just fits me well. I'm happy here, but I can't wait to do things for these people. I mean the whole researching aspect is cool I guess, but these kids are really what make this internship tick for me. I went back Thursday to teach the other forms and this class was completely different but still just wanted to learn. A boy who lives in a room two doors from me (with his grandma) is in the class, and I love him. He's seriously one of the hardest workers I've ever met. Haha and he knows he's my favorite but whatever.
Hailey the other intern came Wednesday too!! She's awesome :) we get along really well and she's a boat load of good information!! I'm glad she decided to live in the room next to mine instead of staying at the guest house too. It's nice also because she's a good conversationalist so we talk about everything. And every day since we've had some odd conversation or adventure together, haha. My favorite thing about her is even though she's a straight edge, she still goes with the flow. She's adjusted pretty well though, and I give her so much credit. She says I've helped, but I think she's just being modest.
Well Friday we had quite the adventure... It started when I woke up super early because I went to bed so early. Annoying considering I didn't have to work :( but it wasn't a big deal. Then hailey came back from work later than we thought but we left to Ho Hoe in good time. We were lucky the ladies were around because they told us how much the taxi fares would be to e towns and everything. Then as we were walking to Jasikan, some random guy stopped us and in his weird way asked us for money but we said oh no thank you and got lucky because a taxi just happened to finally pass us and we got in and said goodbye. We told the taxi driver to take us to the Jasikan taxi station then he asked if we were going to Ho Hoe and since we were he was going to take us, but pick up two more at the station. Yay good fortune! So as we're going to Ho Hoe we looked at all the amazing scenery and I declared that I am going to climb one of the mountains before I leave because it just looks so freaking cool. Probably an 8 hr hike at least but seriously this place is beautiful. I'm in love. Well we arrived to Ho Hoe and just sort of started walking and we just used our terrible senses of direction to figure things out. Haha well it didn't work out because we went the wrong way and of course met a "security" man who decided he was going where we were going but then we stopped by a Vodafone place, and told him we'd meet him later (We didnt meet him unfortunately). The lady at Vodafone was really nice and told us how to get to the Barclay bank we wanted to go take money out. So we decide to take a taxi because we weren't sure where exactly it was. I knew it was only supposed to be 50 pesewas to anywhere in Ho Hoe so when the driver arrived at Barclays and tried to charge me 2 cedis instead of 1 for Hailey and I, I almost argued but hailey just got out of the car and so did I then he drove off without fuss. Well then we get to Barclays and the ATM was broken. But that's the only place that doesn't have crazy intl fees so we wanted to wait. So we waited there for about two hours then we decided we should try the other ATM which wasn't that far away and just walked. Well of course that one wasnt working either lol, our luck apparently. So we walked back but stopped by a little shop and bought a pop, well of course we saw one of the girls we saw at Barclays, and she explained the ATM was working again. So we got all excited and briskly walked back. Well by the time we got there it was broken... Again. And since it was about to rain and we didn't have enough money we just decided to wait it out. We stayed out there for probably another hour and a half at least. It was a good Ghanian culture lesson for sure, everyone is so go with the flow. Oh no worries, it will work. Oh don't fret, it will happen eventually. Ghanians just go with the flow, time doesn't seem like it means much. Well when it started to work again this one guy skipped us and after him, it broke AGAIN. So we waited again. It was maybe half an hour later and it rebooted and it worked FINALLY!!! We were excited to say the least. We waited a total of about... Maybe four hours. After I was hoping to eat so we stopped at a food place that had some good stuff on the outside menu and when we got in, the only word the lady knew was no no no we don't have anything...She only had banku and I didn't think hailey was ready for that just yet. So we left and just went looking for the Vodafone modem place because I knew I'd be running out of data soon on my Tigo account. Well of course I had to go pee, but I wasn't about to go anywhere there so I waited it out and we went in to Vodafone. The sim card didn't fit at first and then the modem wasn't working and it was just being an overall pain in the butt to be honest, but hailey was so awesome and stuck by me through it all. But I paid for it so he could scratch off the numbers to plug into the Vodafone card. Well I was getting impatient after we pretty much waited for an hour because people kept coming in and the associates kept taking care of them by giving them their Vodafone phone credits. So I take it and ask for a receipt so that if it doesn't work I can come back and get them to make it work. After that we were both just tired and ready to go home, it was def an interesting day of Ghanian culture 101. So we stopped by a little shop and bought the ladies at our site chocolate and I bought a tin of Milo (can of coco powder kind of like nesquik). So we go and we walk to the taxi station, so a group of guys comes up to us and asks us where we're going: I say Jasikan and one driver says its 40 cedis. Mind you it's only 2 cedis 50 pesewas to get there, just another day in the neighborhood. What wouldme day of an obruni be like if taxi cab drivers didn't try to scam us. I told him he was crazy and that it only costs above sed price. So one of the other guys grabbed me and said sorry and that he would find us a taxi which he did. The ride home was quiet, but we saw some crazy storm clouds abrewing.
It was quite a day for sure, if anything we learned that no day is a bad day. We learned a lot about each other and had fun just talking outside Barclays. Even though Hailey and I have nothing in common we just click really well. It's good to have someone else here. I'll admit, maybe I just missed having someone to talk to. She def makes it easier to be here. Even today, we met up with the other intern from Sweden, went to town to get ingredients to make no bake cookies with her, talked politics, walked home and ran into random guys who wanted to get our phone numbers and meet us back at our place tonight... After we kindly denied their requests, we went home, ate, took showers then e power went out because of the rain. Of course Hailey and I just read outside and talked for hours. Having her here is truly awesome.
But the powers been out ever since so for about 5 hours now haha. Ghana is amazing, beautiful and wonderful. Even with all the weird bugs... Like the fact that there is probably 5 different species of ants, haha everything is fascinating here. I do miss the stars here though, it's started to rain so much at night I don't get to see them as much, but the rain makes it cool at night. Like right now, I don't have a fan but the room isn't that bad because it's really cool outside. Woo no power haha.
Hope you're enjoying the blog. Sorry about no pictures :( hopefully ill add some soon!!
It all started with this amazing woman Christiana. She cooks for the interns, and her children take over the food from her hours to the site. She is a true gem, and she is so funny and cooks the best food. Well Saturday she invited me to hang out with her family. It was fun! We just hung out in this cinder block building that had a dirt courtyard in the middle that connects all the rooms and we laughed about football and watched a "concert" show that had comedians and I had a couple marriage proposals, even by Christiana's own husband. It was all just funny and really helped me open up with everyone at the site. She just played along, ready to get rid of him and made me some of the most amazing noodles that night. If it wasn't for Christiana I'm not sure I could survive haha, her cooking is supreme and I couldn't cook a thing here.
Sunday, the headmistress to one of the schools I teach at stopped by. She is intelligent, observant and perceptive about people. She nailed me instantly and said it would be a genuine pleasure having a hard worker like me at her school. She made me feel really good about myself. She was really communicative with me about what she wanted and what she thought I could do for her school. It made me really happy and I know that I could probably do good things for these kids. I just... I don't know, I felt good. I feel good. About this whole place. This village. Everything, seems a good fit.
The site itself is hard to explain, but there's five rooms to one side of each building. All the rooms are small with a bed and a chair. Then we all open up to an outside courtyard. I'll have to try and post pictures because I'm probably not giving this place justice, but it's a great place. I'm glad I chose to stay here next to the locals instead of the guest house they expected us to stay at. Being around everyone makes the whole experience that much more fun.
Well Wednesday was my very first real day teaching... I wasn't really sure of what I would teach because I figured I could bring up a few things but since I was going early I just sort of winged it and talked it over with a few of the teachers that sit at this table outside the school. The first school I teach at is a Junior School meaning its the middle of the road. So talking about their bodies developing, sex, safe sex, pregnancy, STI's, sanitation, and nutrition are probably the last things that they want to be lectured about... But we actually have a few girls who have already given birth at the school. It was interesting, I guess I expected it but still... Interesting all the same. But my students range from 13-19 but they're wonderful. Some speak English so well and others not so much. They love the fact that I'm progressive and that I don't make them sit at their desks and that I ask them questions that don't require definite answers. They make me happy too. I'm interested to see how all of this works out. Like I said I agreed to become their physical education teacher as well and we're hoping to create an after school program for the girls on self empowerment through education. I'm excited. So many things to do, and for the first time in my life I have plenty of time to get it all done. These kids seriously complete me. I truly hope I get into the Peace Corps... Something about this international education stuff really just fits me well. I'm happy here, but I can't wait to do things for these people. I mean the whole researching aspect is cool I guess, but these kids are really what make this internship tick for me. I went back Thursday to teach the other forms and this class was completely different but still just wanted to learn. A boy who lives in a room two doors from me (with his grandma) is in the class, and I love him. He's seriously one of the hardest workers I've ever met. Haha and he knows he's my favorite but whatever.
Hailey the other intern came Wednesday too!! She's awesome :) we get along really well and she's a boat load of good information!! I'm glad she decided to live in the room next to mine instead of staying at the guest house too. It's nice also because she's a good conversationalist so we talk about everything. And every day since we've had some odd conversation or adventure together, haha. My favorite thing about her is even though she's a straight edge, she still goes with the flow. She's adjusted pretty well though, and I give her so much credit. She says I've helped, but I think she's just being modest.
Well Friday we had quite the adventure... It started when I woke up super early because I went to bed so early. Annoying considering I didn't have to work :( but it wasn't a big deal. Then hailey came back from work later than we thought but we left to Ho Hoe in good time. We were lucky the ladies were around because they told us how much the taxi fares would be to e towns and everything. Then as we were walking to Jasikan, some random guy stopped us and in his weird way asked us for money but we said oh no thank you and got lucky because a taxi just happened to finally pass us and we got in and said goodbye. We told the taxi driver to take us to the Jasikan taxi station then he asked if we were going to Ho Hoe and since we were he was going to take us, but pick up two more at the station. Yay good fortune! So as we're going to Ho Hoe we looked at all the amazing scenery and I declared that I am going to climb one of the mountains before I leave because it just looks so freaking cool. Probably an 8 hr hike at least but seriously this place is beautiful. I'm in love. Well we arrived to Ho Hoe and just sort of started walking and we just used our terrible senses of direction to figure things out. Haha well it didn't work out because we went the wrong way and of course met a "security" man who decided he was going where we were going but then we stopped by a Vodafone place, and told him we'd meet him later (We didnt meet him unfortunately). The lady at Vodafone was really nice and told us how to get to the Barclay bank we wanted to go take money out. So we decide to take a taxi because we weren't sure where exactly it was. I knew it was only supposed to be 50 pesewas to anywhere in Ho Hoe so when the driver arrived at Barclays and tried to charge me 2 cedis instead of 1 for Hailey and I, I almost argued but hailey just got out of the car and so did I then he drove off without fuss. Well then we get to Barclays and the ATM was broken. But that's the only place that doesn't have crazy intl fees so we wanted to wait. So we waited there for about two hours then we decided we should try the other ATM which wasn't that far away and just walked. Well of course that one wasnt working either lol, our luck apparently. So we walked back but stopped by a little shop and bought a pop, well of course we saw one of the girls we saw at Barclays, and she explained the ATM was working again. So we got all excited and briskly walked back. Well by the time we got there it was broken... Again. And since it was about to rain and we didn't have enough money we just decided to wait it out. We stayed out there for probably another hour and a half at least. It was a good Ghanian culture lesson for sure, everyone is so go with the flow. Oh no worries, it will work. Oh don't fret, it will happen eventually. Ghanians just go with the flow, time doesn't seem like it means much. Well when it started to work again this one guy skipped us and after him, it broke AGAIN. So we waited again. It was maybe half an hour later and it rebooted and it worked FINALLY!!! We were excited to say the least. We waited a total of about... Maybe four hours. After I was hoping to eat so we stopped at a food place that had some good stuff on the outside menu and when we got in, the only word the lady knew was no no no we don't have anything...She only had banku and I didn't think hailey was ready for that just yet. So we left and just went looking for the Vodafone modem place because I knew I'd be running out of data soon on my Tigo account. Well of course I had to go pee, but I wasn't about to go anywhere there so I waited it out and we went in to Vodafone. The sim card didn't fit at first and then the modem wasn't working and it was just being an overall pain in the butt to be honest, but hailey was so awesome and stuck by me through it all. But I paid for it so he could scratch off the numbers to plug into the Vodafone card. Well I was getting impatient after we pretty much waited for an hour because people kept coming in and the associates kept taking care of them by giving them their Vodafone phone credits. So I take it and ask for a receipt so that if it doesn't work I can come back and get them to make it work. After that we were both just tired and ready to go home, it was def an interesting day of Ghanian culture 101. So we stopped by a little shop and bought the ladies at our site chocolate and I bought a tin of Milo (can of coco powder kind of like nesquik). So we go and we walk to the taxi station, so a group of guys comes up to us and asks us where we're going: I say Jasikan and one driver says its 40 cedis. Mind you it's only 2 cedis 50 pesewas to get there, just another day in the neighborhood. What wouldme day of an obruni be like if taxi cab drivers didn't try to scam us. I told him he was crazy and that it only costs above sed price. So one of the other guys grabbed me and said sorry and that he would find us a taxi which he did. The ride home was quiet, but we saw some crazy storm clouds abrewing.
It was quite a day for sure, if anything we learned that no day is a bad day. We learned a lot about each other and had fun just talking outside Barclays. Even though Hailey and I have nothing in common we just click really well. It's good to have someone else here. I'll admit, maybe I just missed having someone to talk to. She def makes it easier to be here. Even today, we met up with the other intern from Sweden, went to town to get ingredients to make no bake cookies with her, talked politics, walked home and ran into random guys who wanted to get our phone numbers and meet us back at our place tonight... After we kindly denied their requests, we went home, ate, took showers then e power went out because of the rain. Of course Hailey and I just read outside and talked for hours. Having her here is truly awesome.
But the powers been out ever since so for about 5 hours now haha. Ghana is amazing, beautiful and wonderful. Even with all the weird bugs... Like the fact that there is probably 5 different species of ants, haha everything is fascinating here. I do miss the stars here though, it's started to rain so much at night I don't get to see them as much, but the rain makes it cool at night. Like right now, I don't have a fan but the room isn't that bad because it's really cool outside. Woo no power haha.
Hope you're enjoying the blog. Sorry about no pictures :( hopefully ill add some soon!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)