How's the weather in Seattle?

Another week…another blog. Are my blogs sounding repetitive or are you still interested?
Since I like to start where I left off…last Saturday night I stayed with friends Alison and Tony (from the UK). They are the ones who live in the house I have nicknamed “The Palace.” For the night I was transported back home. We sat on the fluffy couches, ate top roman chicken flavored soup, had ice cream for dessert and drank Wine! We also watched cable television of course. Doing that made me appreciate my room at the orphanage however. I know one would like it would make me appreciate going home to the states but for the time being, I am happy to not be living in a house that so closely resembles my house at home. I like my cold showers and the bugs (well I tolerate the cockroaches but what else is new) and I have grown somewhat fond of the Pentecostal church waking me up in the middle of the night with repetitions of “Jesus! Jesus!” I think I can only say I have grown fond of it because I will be leaving in less than three months. Yes I have actually less than three months remaining. I recently found out that school is actually out for break starting July 31st After this I am free to travel or go home early. In truth, I have done quite a bit of traveling so far and plan on doing more before August so I am not sure I will have much left to do once third term is complete. I do not have an exact date for my return though so I will keep everyone posted.
To continue: after spending the night at “The Palace” and sleeping in my own air conditioned room, we woke up bright and early to get started on our drive. Heather, Leanne (my Canadian friends here doing research for their nursing degrees), Tony and myself piled into one of the trucks belonging to Tony’s construction company (and our wonderful driver Duko of course) and drove the 3.5 hours north to Kintampo. From there we spent the rest of our morning at the Kintampo waterfalls. There are three falls in all but the only the third is worth spending anytime. We changed into swim suits and stood under the waterfall. Pictures to come soon.
From there we ate a roadside lunch of fried rice and chicken then continued on our way to the Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary. The drive was unbelievably bumpy and I kept thanking god (or someone) that I was in a vehicle with working seatbelts. I am still baffled by the fact that the few tourist attractions located in Ghana are so very difficult to get to. The roads are unpaved and unsafe (with the speed people drive) and it is hard not to get discouraged and simply turn around. Since we had our fairly comfortable truck however, we made it to the sanctuary. In the few hours we spent there we came in close contact with quite a few monkeys. This was well worth the drive. From there we headed back to Kumasi. Just to paint a picture of the kind of road we are driving on: a combination of bumpy dirt road and terribly paved roads with potholes that look at those a crater fell from the sky, people are driving anywhere between 60 to 90 miles per hour and sometimes the road curves…oh and in the three hours up and three hours back home I think we saw at least three or four huge trucks completely turned over on its side or even on its roof. Thankfully we witnessed no actual crashes and no blood but passing these trucks on the road is quite nerve racking. For one thing, whatever type of cargo these trucks are carrying is usually piled on top of the truck as well as inside and therefore many of these semi’s become quite top heavy. Take that into consideration as well as the potholes, curves in the road, people constantly trying to overtake one another and lastly, the speed, it is a wonder I am still alive. However, I did arrive home in one piece, and just in time. Sunday night was another long and windy rain storm.
Monday came around and now it is Thursday (May 22). I can hardly believe it. I had a full week with class 4, attempting to teach them math. This week we are working on finding the perimeter of shapes and are still trying to master converting centimeters into meters and vice versa. It took four days but most of the kids were able to get at least 6 out of 8 on their math homework. When this happens, I feel like I am actually accomplishing something. Monday night I held the weekly movie night in my room. While I try to reserve Sunday night for this, I am not always back in time. On Monday the younger kids requested “Toys” meaning cartoons so we settled on “The Emperors New Groove.” My little buddy P.K. sat on my lap the whole time acting very cuddly. It will be so hard to leave him.
Tuesday was my first real sex ed class with the vocational school. I actually had 4 students too, what a break through. I decided not to count on more than 5 at any given time but then the ones who show up are the ones who will benefit right? The topic for this week is menstruation. My students consisted of 3 girls and one boy. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate (for Ghana) to have the boy participate in the class but the teacher thought be should learn about health (as he should) so he remained. Because each of the students were in their teens, they have already had their first periods (alright, the three girls) but when I asked if they knew why they menstruated once a month, they had no response. The boy mentioned something about getting rid of the dirty blood so I went from there. I drew (as best I could) a diagram of a woman’s pelvic region and explained what happens in the ovaries, the fallopian tubes and the uterus. After the discussion, I asked the girls to tell me why a woman gets her period. Though they weren’t completely accurate, they began to understand the workings of ovulation, menstruation and pregnancy. I am really looking forward to continuing this class each week. Of course I had to control the laughter in the class when discussing male and female genitalia but then again I remember it being hard to keep a straight face in my sex health class in high school.
Today I took class 4 to P.E. (as I promised them I would if they worked hard on their math homework) but again was disappointed to see only the boys playing football/soccer. I tried to get the girls to play but most have little interest or are too scared to play with the boys. I have given up trying to play any other organized game at P.E. (which really should just be called recess), and usually our games of football are not very organized either. I wish I could offer these kids a real field to play on with four square lines and basketball hoops but I fear that will always be a dream, never a reality. After lunch I noticed there was no teacher in the KG1 classroom. The nursery school teacher informed me that she went home early because she felt sick. After much prying I learned that she had menstrual cramps and was excused. This made me very angry. I realize that things are done differently here but I don’t think cramps is reason enough to leave your kindergarten class unattended. I am sympathetic to her pain as I too suffer from cramps but I personally would have to be on the verge of fainting for me to leave the children I am responsible for. I then attempted to teach the class but wow, was that difficult. For one thing, these children speak very little English so after covering the ABC’s, counting, colors and reading a children’s book about the weather I had noting left for them. I had them sing me some songs but that only went so far. Soon they were fighting and hitting each other, I am shocked at how many slaps and punches I see between even the young kids. However, when your teachers beat you when you misbehave, it is really only a matter of time before the kids start taking their aggression out on each other. Not only aggression but boredom. After lunch many of the younger classes are told to “sleep.” While I am all for naps, it is rare that the kids will sleep for a full two hours, yet it seems as though the teachers have surrendered for the day and the children are on their own.

The chalkboards are currently in a standstill but I am told construction should resume this Saturday, just three boards remain unfinished, and then all that is left is the painting. I am keeping my fingers crossed that come Monday there will be 10 fully finished blackboards. Well school is over and I need to wash some clothes. I’ll write again before I actually post.

Friday morning: I just got back from Tafo (a nearby town) to again search for black paint. From what I can tell, black paint is not all that common and often people use the liquid chemicals in batteries to mix black paint. When I heard this I became alarmed. Clearly Ghanaians are unaware of how harmful battery juice is if it is absorbed in the skin. There is no way I am using that to paint the chalkboards in the school. I am pretty sure I am going to have to settle on a shade of dark green. I am just looking forward to seeing the finished product. I will take many pictures once they are finished.
Last night I worked with three of the kids in class 5 (that live at the orphanage), we were working on forming sentences using words about household items. Again this is what makes me happy, when I am able to work with just a few kids and really see the progress. I also played with the younger kids, tickling them mostly. I’m not sure what it is but every child here is over the top ticklish and I just love to hear them laugh.
Alright I am off to take class 5 to P.E. Maybe the class 5 girls will actually participate. Then this weekend I will be in Kumasi for the mid session orientation camp for my organization (ICYE). I am not really sure what we will be doing but all the volunteers still in Ghana will be there.
More updates next week.
-Erin