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!!
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