HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

First thing: Dad, I was not able to get a card in the mail in time but I wanted to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY (July 20th) on my blog. I will be talking to you on Sunday. I Love you!!

I also know I just posted two days ago but I had this much done and decided shorter blogs might make things easier on the readers, so I'm not boring anyone. But make sure you check the post before this...there's some good stuff there. :-)

Thursday July 17, 2008: School is over and I had a very successful/busy day. I am quite tired. For one thing I didn’t get much sleep last night since the kids did not finish their movie until 9:30 and I still had to shower and do various things in my nighttime routine. Then I woke up early to the sound of my baby sister screaming-she did not want to have a bath-so I got up and worked out. This morning we were greeted by 4 “obrunis” who were spending their Thursday and Friday at the school. The 4 were high school students from Belgium on a 15 days trip in Ghana. There wasn’t too much they could do since most of the classes are simply reviewing for the exams next week, but they helped out where they could. I started school with my sex education review with the vocational class. I was pleased to see 5 students attending today and they were very active in taking notes and asking questions. Monday I will be administering their test. After break I headed to class 5. Mr. Bochie and I wrote out the test questions on the board and I laid the prizes out on the table for all to see. The questions were not easy but they were accurate for their upcoming English exam next week so I did not feel bad. After an hour of telling the class to keep their eyes on their own paper and to stop talking, I collected the tests and graded them. All got over 50%, so I was happy about that though not one received a perfect 100%. Still, the top 9 were rewarded their prizes and it was very exciting. I know a few of the kids were upset but I feel like I have been working with them long enough, so I can reward those that did well. There was a delicious fruit salad (pineapples, bananas and watermelon) for lunch, sometimes Naomi surprises us and gives something other than rice. After lunch I grabbed class 4 and we headed for the football field. This was one of my last P.E. classes with grade 4 and even though I still had to raise my voice quite a bit, I am really going to miss this. Tomorrow is my math test with class 4 and my last complete week at school will be over. How depressing. I am now off to find dusters (blackboard erasers) with Naomi.
Friday July 18th: The kids are in church and I am spending the time to type out the sex health test for the vocational school students on Monday. I plan on getting the test printed and then making copies for the 6 students (assuming all 6 attend school on Monday). Today went well, though my voice has grown hoarse due to my yelling yesterday and today. Though I feel like the kids respect me and listen better than they did months ago, I still have to raise my voice daily to make sure the students are quiet and not copying off of one another. I had planned to give my math test to class 4 first thing in the morning and then I hoped I could go to the hospital HIV clinic one last time. When I arrived to school however one of the high school volunteers from the day before was already there. I was not late, as school usually begins at 9:15 but the volunteers had arrived early. Osei (the teacher) said he needed to step out of the school for a few hours so he needed to teach a lesson on government and education first. I sat back and watched the volunteer from Belgium (I cannot pronounce his name) attempted to write notes on the Ghana government. He wrote in cursive however and the kids were not able to read the notes. I know it is wrong of me but I admit to feeling territorial over my class and could not help myself from correcting his writing on the board. I felt another surge of pride when he could not get the class to quiet down and I could. Class 4 is a naughty bunch, but I feel as though they are my naughty bunch. During break the kids were begging me to begin the math test already. Over an hour later I had all 30 tests and began to grade. Overall I am very proud of them. Only a small handful did very poor but many received at least 65 %. This is a good thing for class 4. Ten students received prizes and though the beaded necklaces were not received as warmly as those in class 5, I think the kids enjoyed my project. I plan to relax today, watching a movie or something and hang around the complex. Tomorrow Naomi and I have a full plate of things to accomplish so I must get my rest. Just three more weekends and I am headed home! And just 5 more days and my friend Rachel arrives! Have a great weekend everyone.
-Erin