​Remember how I kept saying that I haven’t been sleeping enough and eventually it’s going to catch up with me? Well, today it happened. When my alarm went off this morning, I felt like I was going to die. I managed to drag myself out of bed and make it to the farm, but when we got back, I knew there was no chance I was making it to school. Besides the fact that I definitely have a bit of a cold (probably a combination of the rain and lack of sleep), I’m also pretty sure that I got dirt or something in my eye yesterday and scratched my cornea. So I spent probably 10 hours in bed today, trying to sleep because being awake hurt too much.

MVP of the day goes to Nico who taught P1-P4 today because Avy was out sick again too.

Now, time to prep for classes tomorrow so I can go to sleep again.

I​t rained today! Until now, it hasn’t rained during the day since we’ve been in Frankadua. It sounded like it was pouring when we woke up, but by the time we got outside to walk to the farm, it had stopped. 

They’re so big!! This is one of the nests before we moved some plants out

The roof on our house (and also on the school) is metal, and it’s crazy how loud the wind or just a light drizzle can sound. So I think it was pouring in the morning, but who really knows?

At the farm, we moved some of the plants that we planted with Nico’s seeds. The instructions said to put 4 seeds in each nest, and after they start growing you’re supposed to leave only 1 or 2 in each and let the others die. We figured we might as well try to move the extra plants, so we carefully dug them up and put them in new holes. Fingers crossed that they live! This whole “keeping plants alive” thing is new to me (multiple aloe plants have died at my hands), but I’m hoping that I come home with some improved plant skills.

Nico doing plant surgery

School wasn’t great, but we survived. We read a book in English and learned about more animals. By the time we hit Math class, the kids were all over the place. We combined with Avy’s P1 class for the elective because I couldn’t handle it anymore. She’s so good with them… they sang a few songs, and then the wind picked up, leaves started falling on the roof, and we couldn’t hear anything anymore. How the heck do they have school when it’s raining? I’m not exaggerating. Avy and I were standing next to each other and had to yell to be heard.

A couple minutes after the wind, it started POURING. Zero to pouring in a matter of seconds. The kids were freaking out, and I was just trying to shut the doors and windows so that they wouldn’t blow around. Then, just as quickly, it completely stopped. It was crazy.

Yay rain showers!

Later in the afternoon, it started to pour again, and Fernanda and I took the opportunity to shower outside… WAY better than a bucket shower. It was such a good idea until we decided that it would be fun to play outside in the rain and started kicking a soccer ball around. Nico came out and joined, and in a matter of minutes I was basically covered in mud (also probably chicken and goat poop because that’s all over our yard, but I’m trying not to think about that). So much for that shower.

Football in the rain

Eventually, Fernanda had enough and went inside, but Nico and I kept playing around. I taught him how to throw an American football and we had a catch until the rain stopped. It was funny seeing him use the football knowledge he’s gained solely from TV/movies. The yard was really muddy, so we both ate it (me a couple of times…) while running and maneuvering to avoid imaginary defenders. Everyone walking by looked at us like we were totally insane.

Badminton on our regulation sized court…

We also played a little badminton afterwards and got equally weird looks for that. It was so much fun though! I obviously had to shower again when we were finished, so I would say that it was a terribly unsuccessful shower but a very successful day.

​How is this already week 3? Part of me is feeling like I can’t believe 2 weeks have gone by, and the other part is amazed that it’s only been 2 weeks because it seems like I’ve been here forever. Somehow though, waking up for the farm hasn’t gotten any easier. This morning was even worse because my legs are still incredibly sore from Saturday, I woke up with a crick in my neck, and I didn’t get to bed as early as I had hoped last night (typical).

Luckily, the farm wasn’t bad this morning. We sowed another corn field, so it wasn’t as labor intensive as hoeing or as icky as shucking. I actually think sowing is pretty fun. Sometimes though, the ground is so hard that it’s impossible to drive the machete in to make a hole. Then I basically put my entire body weight on it and try to wiggle the dirt loose. Anddd then I feel like a total loser because one of the guys is nearby in the same hard ground, and it doesn’t even slow him down. But all in all, it was a good morning at the farm!

Our corn is growing!! This is one of the plants from last Wednesday’s sowing

The thing I was really worried about today was school. Since Maria left on Friday, someone needed to take over her P2 class. Nico and I basically had an hour long stare down last night trying to decide who had to switch classes because both of us wanted to keep P3/P4 but neither of us wanted to kick the other out. In the end, it seemed like it was somewhat assumed that I would switch, so I sucked it up and said okay.

Besides the fact that the kids are younger in that class, there are also usually way more of them. There were days when Maria had almost 20 kids! I can’t deal with that… She’s one of those people who just has a way with kids, and I’m absolutely not. Anyway, I put together a lesson plan last night and was feeling kind of okay about it until this morning when Avy woke up feeling horrible and asked if I could take the P1 kids as well. AHH!

Nico taking his usual post-farm pre-class nap

I shifted my plans to focus more on just trying to keep the class under control rather than getting through all of the material I had prepared. I started them out with coloring while I attempted (and mostly failed) to learn their names. In English, I read them a story and we talked about the animals in the book. In Math, I had them solve some problems, and we went over them together. Yay! I survived. And it wasn’t really that bad. They behaved well, so that was definitely a big help.

The rest of the day was great! The power went out right after we got back from school, so Fernanda and I sat on the porch and just enjoyed the day. It was so nice outside, and the kids weren’t yelling their heads off so it was actually possible to relax. I think we sat out there for like 5 hours until dinner and then went back out afterwards to play cards.

I was planning to go to sleep early tonight, but of course that isn’t going to happen. It’s just a matter of time until I get sick.

​This was our first Sunday in Frankadua, so Amber, Nico, and I did what everyone else in town was doing and went to church (after managing to drag ourselves out of bed… my whole body is aching). Church here is quite different than it is at home. Well, at least as far as I could tell, but the whole thing was in Ewe so maybe it was more similar than I think..? But probably not.

The first difference was the length of the service. At home, it’s an hour to an hour and a half. Here, the one we went to today was 3 hours. 3 HOURS. Yes, you read that right. We got there around 9:15 (it started at 9), and people kept trickling in until at least 10:30. Things were still in full swing when we left at 11:30, and I’m pretty sure that it ends at 12. So I guess that’s one similarity and one difference –the service is longer, and just like at home, everyone is late.

Next, there was WAY more singing. It seemed like people were just randomly deciding who was going to start each song, but there must have been some sort of method to it. Sometimes it was the choir, sometimes the people in the front right area, sometimes a group of people from the audience went up. I definitely don’t understand.

The coolest part was when they took offering. They put a bowl at the front of the room, and everyone sang and danced their way up to put their money in the bowl. After everyone was done, the singing and dancing kept going, complete with people running up and down the center aisle, one with a baby strapped to her back (who amazingly slept through the whole thing). It was awesome.

Finally, around about 10AM, they did a couple of scripture readings in English, and a woman delivered what I assume was the message for the day. Every once in a while, she said a few words in English. Not sure if that was for our benefit or if that’s a normal occurrence, but we were definitely the only people there who couldn’t understand Ewe.

Anyway, the whole thing was quite an experience. We went to the church that is associated with the school where we have summer school, but there are a TON of churches in town to choose from. I think I’m going to try to go to a different one each time we’re in Frankadua on Sunday, and I’m interested to see how similar/different they are to each other.

I wish I had gotten a picture as soon as everyone stormed the field, but I was too caught off guard to react quickly. This is after most of the people cleared, but you can still see some running around

The other activity of the day was watching a soccer game (my favorite thing… not). The Frankadua team was playing against one of the best teams in Ghana. Apparently a bunch of the other team’s players are on the Ghanaian national team, so this was a big deal. Fernanda, Amber, Nico, and I got there just before halftime, and Frankadua was down 1-0.

With about 10 minutes left in the second half, Frankadua scored!! Everyone stormed the field like we had just won the game. It was insane. People were running around like chickens with their heads cut off for at least 5 minutes, and I’m sitting there thinking, “aren’t there still 10 minutes left?” I don’t know if goals are always celebrated that enthusiastically or if that was just because of the importance of the game, but it was pretty crazy.

The post game celebration… Just mentally overlay a crazy amount of noise, and you’ll have an accurate depiction of the scene

At the end, with a score of 1-1, the celebration resumed with singing and dancing and people playing drums and trumpets and one annoying vuvuzela. From the looks of the party, you would think we had won the game, and when we left about 15 minutes later, it was still going strong.

All in all, I think today was a pretty good day for my cultural education. Even though I only understood about five words at church and am not the biggest soccer fan, it was really fun doing normal things and feeling like part of the community.

Today. Was. Exhausting. We woke up at 4:45AM to get ready to leave for Wli Falls at 5:30AM. It is made up of an upper falls and lower falls and is the highest waterfall in Ghana and West Africa. To get to the lower falls, it’s a flat 40 minute walk through the forest. To get to the upper falls, it’s a 2-3 hour trek up and around a mountain. We planned to do the upper falls hike, so we wanted to get an early start.

Us in the tro tro on the way there. Amber and me in front, Nico and Alex (Gold) in the middle, and Jordan (Gold) and Emma (Gold) in the back

From our house, we had to take a tro tro to Hohoe (ho-hwey) for about 2.5 hours and then transfer there to a tro that would take us to Wli (vlee) for about another half hour. The rides were brutal. The roads as we got farther away from Frankadua got worse and worse, and the tro drivers were swerving all over the place, trying to avoid potholes. There were some areas where the paved road randomly turned to dirt road and then 1km later changed back to paved. Like what? I was planning to attempt to sleep, but we had 4 people on a bench seat meant for 3 the entire way there. Between that and the roads, it was hopeless, even for me.

We had to go north to get to the waterfalls. We started about 30 minutes north of Akosombo on the map.
The view walking towards the visitor center

We finally made it to Wli around 10AM. I ate a granola bar and was ready to get going, but some of the group wanted to eat. By the time we actually hit the trail, it was about 11AM. The first part of the hike was no big deal… just a relatively flat stroll through the forest. Then, our guide stopped, gave us all hiking sticks, and pointed up a hill that was probably a 60 degree incline. Oh.

The path before the crazy incline started

Getting into the hiking groove was rough, but once I got going, I felt pretty good. The first 45 minutes or so were really steep. There were parts where I put my hiking stick down and basically just rock climbed instead. It was tiring, but everything was going totally fine… until it started raining. When I say raining, I mean POURING. It went from zero to downpour in a matter of seconds. We could literally hear the rain coming through the forest towards us.

Me and Amber during a much needed break, pre-rain

We were probably ¾ of the way to the waterfall view when it started raining, and we decided to keep going. I took a minute to wrap my rain jacket around my backpack in a weak attempt to keep my stuff dry, and I gave my phone to Nico to put in his bag because he had an actual rain cover for it. My clothes were soaked through in a matter of minutes (and probably my backpack too). Eventually, we made it to the falls, took a minute or two to enjoy the view (as much as was possible in the ongoing downpour), and turned around to head back.

There’s only one way to describe the hike back… it was horrible. The trail was so steep and muddy, so what would have already been a slow hike got even slower. I just kept focusing on my next step and making sure that I had my walking stick and one foot firmly planted every time I moved the other foot. I only slipped once, and it wasn’t a big deal. I caught myself on the way down and was totally fine.

A sneak peak of the upper falls, before the downpour when I put my phone away

We had some real scares though with a few other people in the group. One of the guys from Gold slid probably 3 meters off the side of the trail and luckily only ended up with some muddy pants. Amber had an even more terrifying fall and was stopped by sheer luck (and a conveniently placed tree). She ended up with some bad scrapes and bruises, and we still had probably 2/3 of the hike back left. I don’t want to think about how terribly the hike could have ended, but thank goodness we were all mostly okay.

When we got back to the upper falls trailhead, we were all SOAKED. We went to check out the lower falls because it was only about a 5 minute walk on flat ground. After being there for a few minutes, I was ready to head out. I just wanted to be home and in dry clothes.

My neck pillow helmet… All it took was one solid head collision with the ceiling to make me not care about looking ridiculous

We trudged back to the parking lot, attempted to dry ourselves off (I luckily had a semi-dry towel and some semi-dry pants), and found a tro tro back to Hohoe. The ride home was miserable because it was super bumpy again, and we were all still damp. My feet were completely soaked, and about 5 minutes into the ride, I had to go to the bathroom because I drank so much water on the hike. So just imagine 3 hours of extreme discomfort, complete with a couple of head collisions with the roof of the tro.

I can barely move, my eyes are starting to close, and I can’t think straight anymore. That means it’s definitely time for bed… hopefully I won’t be immobile tomorrow!

​Guess what we did at the farm this morning?? My favorite thing… more shucking!! In case you didn’t catch the sarcasm, let me make it very clear. Shucking is the worst. At least today I sat on a brick rather than the ground, so it was a little harder for bugs to climb all over me. With each piece of corn, I felt like I was opening a present that might be great (a critter-free cob) or might be horrifying (BUGS). Just thinking about it is giving me the chills. So. Many. Ants. And little larvae worms. And eggs. And other mystery insects. But on the bright side, food for the orphanage! Obviously not including the ants or worms or eggs.

The morning was made even worse by the fact that I wasn’t feeling great. I think I might have overdone it a little on the s’mores last night… It’s okay though, I’m recovered now. No regrets! Especially when it comes to s’mores.

The laundry setup… Doesn’t the water look fully capable of making things clean? Just kiddinggg

We don’t have summer school on Fridays, so when we got back from the farm and finished breakfast, it was time for my first laundry experience. I put it off as long as possible, but it definitely needed to happen today. The process is what you would expect… you have a pile of dirty clothes, two buckets, and some detergent. One bucket is filled with soapy water and the other is filled with clean. You wash clothes in the soapy bucket and rinse in the clean water bucket until the water is gross, then the clean bucket becomes the soap bucket, and you get new clean water. If it seems like your clothes are definitely not getting clean, then you’re doing it right. I am also fairly certain that I didn’t get all of the soap out of anything. Yayyyy for “clean” clothes! I only have to do this about 5 more times, so I’ll survive (but my clothes may have to be burned after this trip).

Clean laundry hanging out to dry!

Once my laundry was finished and hanging up to dry, Nico, Maria, Fernanda, and I took a group trip to the clinic to visit Amber and check things out. It was cool getting to see what Amber does every day. They also had a scale there, so I weighed myself just to see if I’m eating enough. I’m really hoping that the scale is calibrated WAY differently from the one at home because according to it (after some kg to lb conversions), I’ve lost 10 pounds in the last two weeks. That makes me nervous. It’s okay though! I’ll just have to make some adjustments to my diet moving forward. Better to find out now.

Me, Maria, Nico, and Fernanda with the Frankadua sign on our walk home from the clinic

The moment we had all been ignoring came after lunch… Today was Maria’s last day with us, and she had to leave to head to Accra around 1:30. Saying goodbye to her was a real bummer. I know that this is just the first in a long line of goodbyes that I’ll have to deal with during my time here, and I don’t like thinking about that. I also know that with each new group of volunteers, the dynamic in the house is going to change. I don’t really like thinking about that either. What we have going right now is so close to perfect… I just need to make sure that I’m savoring every moment. And of course the new people could make things even better, but the uncertainty is a little nerve wracking.

Our farewell picture with Maria 🙁 (front row: Avy, Maria, Fernanda, back row: me, Nico, Amber)

It already felt different as we walked back to the house. Crazy how big of a difference one person can make. We haven’t had a chance to feel the full weight of Maria’s absence though because right before she left, three volunteers from the Gold program came to spend the weekend with us. With all of the extra people in the house, it’s easy to get distracted by the chaos.

The rest of the day has been mostly uneventful. Fernanda and I went on a quest for wifi, and while we found some, it was painfully slow, and I couldn’t upload any pictures. I think I’ve figured out the situation for uploading pictures on my phone though, so that’s good! It’s a slow process, but I used it for my last few posts and it seems like it’s working.

Anyway, we’re headed to Wli Waterfalls tomorrow and have to get up at 4:45AM (!!!), so I need to get packed and in bed ASAP.

​It’s starting to look like the days at school are just alternating between good and bad. Today was such a good day! But I’m getting ahead of myself…

This is from yesterday when we were shucking and de-kerneling, so today we just skipped the second step

We started out at the farm, as usual, and today’s activity was shucking corn. The good pieces will be sent to the orphanage, and the bad ones get fed to the chickens. It’s always nice when we have a less labor intensive day, but I have to say that I think shucking might be my least favorite thing we’ve done so far. Ehhh maybe not… I really don’t like hoeing. But it’s a close competition between the two.

With shucking, there’s probably a 50% chance that you’re going to find something unpleasant in your piece of corn. Usually it’s a worm or two and a bunch of icky worm eggs, but I had one where I discovered an entire ant farm inside and proceeded to scream and throw my corn. It was gross. The experience was basically an hour and a half of constantly feeling like there were things crawling on me and sometimes discovering that there actually were.

Singing Les Champs-Elysées

School was a breeze compared to yesterday. English was no big deal, Math we talked about times tables (again), and we played outside for the elective. Afterwards, all of the kids came back into the room and we played songs on my phone/Nico’s speaker. He’s been teaching them a French song which they all love to sing constantly, so we started with that and then moved on to the Hokey Pokey, “If you’re happy and you know it”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, and the Chicken Dance.

Hokey pokey!

By the end, ALL of the kids were in our classroom, and I was melting. It’s actually been hot here over the last couple of days, unlike last week. We’ve been spoiled. It’s fine when the sky is cloudy, but as soon as the sun comes out, it’s a totally different story. Today was sunny, and the classroom was HOT.

Our improvised supplies and my beautiful s’mores sticks

After school, the afternoon flew by. I set out on a quest to find good s’mores sticks and used Nico’s knife to get the ends ready. Then, we were all just sitting around talking when someone discovered a bag of embroidery floss with the teaching supplies. Next thing I knew, we were all making friendship bracelets, Nico included, until about 4 hours later when Maria realized it was time for us to run. Time flies when you’re crafting! I felt like we were a bunch of kids at summer camp.

The best part of the day, hands down, was the bonfire. Unlike last week, this one was mostly just the six of us, with a few other people coming in and out. It was partly sad because it’s Maria’s farewell bonfire, but it was partly super awesome because s’mores.

Perfection!

We made all of the kids go home at 9PM (they’re really supposed to leave by 8) and got out our makeshift s’more supplies. I was a little uncertain about how they would turn out, but they ended up being great! I love s’mores. I ate 4. At least. I think. Maybe 5. Ehhh not important.

Anyway, me + s’mores = best day ever. I’m going to bed happy (and stuffed) (and with a lingering sugar rush) tonight.

We did something different at the farm today! Fernanda and Avy came along as well, and we sowed corn in the field that we cleared on our very first day. We had to remove kernels from the corn cobs first, and then we used the machetes to make holes in the ground and dropped the kernels in. To make sure the corn was planted in straight lines, they had long strings with stakes on each end that were moved as each row was completed.

Removing the kernels from the cobs

Each time a string was moved, one of the volunteers and one of the locals would start at each end and work towards the middle, planting the seeds about one foot (human foot, not 12” foot) apart. I think I probably did about ¼ of each row, and the guy I was working with was so fast that he did the other ¾ in the same amount of time. I felt a little pathetic, but I have to keep reminding myself that they’ve done all of these things a million times and I’m just learning.

Planting the seeds

After the farm and breakfast, it was off to school again. Today was another brutal day. English was fine, but in Math we decided to teach the basics of measuring since it seemed like the kids needed a better review than we did yesterday. It was not great. I felt like I was talking to a bunch of cardboard cutouts. I explained what a “unit” is and why it’s important to say the units when you’re measuring. I explained what all of the lines on the ruler mean. I asked them a million example questions. They weren’t even trying today. I don’t know what’s gotten into them. I would ask a question, they wouldn’t answer, I would answer it and then immediately ask the same question again, and they would get it wrong. AHHH!! Is it even possible to have more than one day in a row where I feel like school is going well??

The rest of the day was nice and chill. Maria and I went for another run, and this time, we ran on some of the backroads around the town instead of just doing laps around the soccer field. It was way more interesting, but it was a tough workout because a lot of the roads are like running on loose sand on the beach.

Our big activity of the night was a lip sync battle. Yes, it was my idea, but when I suggested it last week, everyone was all about it! Today, there was some protesting, but in the end, it happened, everyone participated, and it was hilarious. People really went all out, and that’s the key. It doesn’t even matter whether or not you know all of the words. You just need to fully commit to the performance. Hehehe it was so good.

Anyway, below are some pictures of the house so you can get a better sense of what it’s like here on the day to day. I’m off to bed!

Our house!
The view of our yard/the street from our house
The common area where we eat, make lesson plans, and hang out (and someone did laundry today so it’s also our laundry drying room)
The hallway from the common area to our rooms. So welcoming, right?
Amber’s and my beds… And our VERY organized stuff
One of the luxurious shower rooms, bucket and all
The bathrooms

​Today was SO much better than yesterday, thank goodness. It’s Nico’s birthday (!!!), so we had a day of fun planned to celebrate.

Yay baby plants!!

It obviously started off with the usual early trip to the farm. Want to guess what the activity was today? You got it – more hoeing! That wasn’t very exciting, but do you know what is? OUR PLANTS ARE GROWING!!! Yay!! I am really not a plant person, so the fact that any plants I’ve come in contact with are actually surviving is thrilling.

We sang happy birthday to Nico at breakfast and presented him with a semi-squished cake that we bought at the mall on Sunday. After two tro tro rides and a couple of days in the fridge, I’m impressed that it survived (though only barely).

Nico with his smushed cake
School actually went well too! I was happy to be back in the P3/P4 classroom and to have another person teaching with me. Having a co-teacher makes the days way easier, and I didn’t realize just how much easier until yesterday when I had to control the kids and prep and explain everything by myself.

We talked about pronouns in English (very exciting, I know) and did more times table practice in Math. We also went over measuring distances with rulers, and the kids did NOT seem to get it. According to their textbooks, they supposedly learned it 2 years ago…? I did a quick review because I assumed that they already knew it, but everyone was staring back at me with blank expressions on their faces. I think we’re going to have to start from the beginning tomorrow.

Maria, Fernanda, Avy, Amber, me, and Nico by the river

After school was lunch, and after lunch we went to a hotel in a nearby town, Atimpoku. Supposedly they sometimes have functional wifi, but today was not one of those days. That’s okay. We all got drinks, sat by Volta River, and just hung out. We were only about 30 minutes away from the house, but it felt like we were in paradise. No kids, flush toilets, and fake Oreos (they’re decent fakes though) that Avy brought. Does it get any better than that?

We came home in time for dinner and afterwards headed to the soccer field by our house to stargaze. Today is the first day since we got here that the sky isn’t completely cloudy, and we wanted to take advantage. As you might guess, there aren’t a lot of lights here, so the sky is ideal for looking at stars. It was another one of those nights where I had that feeling of total contentment. It doesn’t get much better than laying in a field and staring at the night sky with a bunch of your friends.

It’s pretty late, so I should get to bed if I want to be able to wake up for the farm tomorrow. But yeah, today was a great day.

​Getting back into the groove today was rough. When my alarm went off at 5AM, I wanted to cry. I was hoping for another seed planting day at the farm, but no such luck. Amber and Nico planted the rest of the seeds, and Maria and I watered the seeds we planted Thursday and finished hoeing the weeds out of the eggplant field that we started working on last Wednesday. Definitely not my favorite activity. It’s pretty hard on your back, and the stupid chickens at the farm follow you around while you’re trying to work and do their best to get in the way. I’ve started to just continue working as I would if they weren’t there, and if a chicken loses its head, it’s not my problem (yes, I realize it kind of actually would be my problem, but I’m choosing to ignore that). I’m adding “catch a chicken with my bare hands” to my list of goals for my time here.

Maria, trying not to fall into the water hole while filling up a watering can (don’t worry, this isn’t where we get the water for our showers)

The day didn’t get much better from there. Fernanda is still feeling sick, so I took over her class for the day (P5 and P6, aka 5th and 6th grade). I was just getting comfortable with our kids, and having to adjust to a new group was a bit of a challenge. She helped me with the prep work which was good, but the kids were hard to control and it didn’t help that I don’t know most of their names. For the elective, I tried to put them into groups to construct paper towers and compete to build the tallest one, and it was a disaster. They kept switching groups and trying to get me to tell them how to build their towers. In the end, two out of the three groups had good attempts, and the third turned in a stack of papers.

The winning tower, complete with a door and a roof (because all of the kids wanted to build houses instead of towers, and I said fine as long as it’s a tall house)

By the time school ended, I was ready to have some time away from the kids. I’m still not feeling great, so I took a nap for a few hours and woke up just in time for dinner. I’ve been in a bit of a daze since then. I think I just need to get to bed early tonight and try to sleep off the rest of whatever I have.I should go prep for class tomorrow so I can get some sleep. Good night!