Goodbye Summer School

Posted on September 8, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

Our class, pretending for 5 seconds that they’re well behaved

Happy last day of summer school!! Nico and I were excited for school today because we had games planned in every class. In English, we had a spelling bee and played hangman. In Math, we split the class in two and did a math problem competition where each team sent one person up to the board and they had to race to solve a multiplication problem. The elective was the same as yesterday, the balloon game, because the kids liked it so much.

There must have been something bad in the air today because our class was behaving horribly. We had 9 kids, and some of them had never been to summer school before. That was most of the problem because those kids were misbehaving, and as soon as one kid starts, it’s so hard to control the rest. In hindsight, there was one kid who I should have just sent home, but I was so determined to have a good last day that I couldn’t do it.

One of the kids solving a problem from the review of yesterday’s test

I was also really struggling with patience today, so instead of being able to work through disciplining the kids, I just shut down once I started getting annoyed. I know that’s not good, but it’s the end of the week and I’m thinking that this weekend will be a good time to reset and recover. In normal life, a teacher gets to go home and have some time away from their students. In our case, we come home and we STILL have to deal with the kids. They play outside our house and come on the porch even though they KNOW they aren’t supposed to. So you go to school and have to reprimand the kids who are breaking the rules, and then you get home and have to reprimand more kids who are breaking the rules. There’s no time to reset your patience.

Our afternoon activity consisted of making chalk outlines of the volunteers on our porch. This is what happens when the power goes out and it’s too hot to be inside without fans. It started because, as you can see, Amber is napping outside to avoid the heat and looked pretty unresponsive, so we decided to have some fun with it.

Sometimes you just want to do something without having kids around, but they’re EVERYWHERE. I go for a run and they run with me. I stretch and they stretch with me. I sit on the porch, trying to relax, and they can’t just leave me alone. We go to watch the soccer games and they’re always trying to sit on your lap or braid your hair or ask you questions. This is probably similar to what it’s like to have children, except when that happens, it’s your choice and you’re theoretically somewhat prepared for it. In this case, I don’t have my own children, and I certainly don’t want them right now, so I think that means I should be able to get some peace and quiet every once in a while.

Nico retrieving Amber’s boot from the poop

Okay, so after re-reading what I just wrote, I think I need a vacation. I definitely need some kid-free time to mentally recover because I’m not in the best place right now to be able to help the kids. Mostly I’m in a good place for being annoyed at them.
In other news, I had the chance to get some of my frustration out this afternoon because Nico, Amber, and I went to the farm to get started on the poop pit/fertilizer hole (and Fernanda and Avy came along just for fun).

There’s nothing like a little manual labor to take your mind off things. We decided to put the hole in the same place where they’re currently putting the pig poop, but that meant that we needed to dig through a layer of poop before getting to dirt. Amber was digging for about 5 seconds before her boots sank completely into the poop. Gross. By the time we left, all of the poop was out of the hole, but we still have a long way to go. At least the dirt doesn’t smell so bad.

The walk home ended up being my favorite part of the day. We were listening to music while digging the hole, so we just left it playing for the walk home and ended up basically dancing our way back. We have to go past a bunch of houses, and when we were almost home, a woman came outside (she was probably about 70 years old) and started dancing with us. The whole thing was so spontaneous and we were all acting like total goons. It was awesome. That energy extended into Fernanda’s goodbye bonfire, and we had a good end to what started out as a poopy day.

Test Day

Posted on September 7, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

We had another day of fertilizing at the farm, this time using Nico’s plan (which we kind of did yesterday, but today it was with permission). Amber got an emergency call from the clinic when we were on our way out the door, so she had to go deliver a baby while we fertilized eggplants. Comparable mornings, I think. I’m pretty sure that she’s delivered like 5 babies since we’ve been here, and she’s now the designated baby deliverer at the clinic because she’s been doing such a good job.

Part of me wonders what the clinic is going to do after Amber leaves. She usually comes home exhausted from running around all day. It’s cool though that they appreciate her and that she’s gotten to experience a lot of different things while working there. It sounds like she’s gotten to be involved with every part of the process, from consultations and paperwork to lab work and treatments.

Pancake with groundnut butter, sugar, and Milo

At breakfast, I had a pancake breakthrough! We have pancakes every other day for breakfast, but they’re a little different from the ones at home… I don’t think they put anything in them to make them rise, so while the ones at home are kind of bready, the ones here are more flat and sticky. Anyway, people usually put stuff on them. Everyone is different – some people put jam, some put groundnut butter (like peanut butter except from groundnuts instead and without the added sugar), some put sugar. I am in the groundnut butter group, and it’s always tasted fine, but my mom suggested adding sugar on top (thanks Mom!) and it changed EVERYTHING. I also added some Milo (chocolate powder that you can also use to make hot chocolate… which I’ve obviously done even though it’s constantly hot here). I used to like pancake day, but now I LOVE it. I’m also probably going to gain back all of that weight I lost during the first two weeks.

I went to school in a great mood because of my pancake, and the day kept getting better! We decided to make it test day since it was the second to last day of school, and we tested them on all of the things we’ve been teaching over the last three weeks. In English, I wrote a paragraph and they had to pull out some nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, articles, pronouns, and prepositions. They didn’t do so well individually, but when I guided them through it and we went over it as a class, it was pretty good. We’ll count it as a success.
Nico made the math test, and I decided to have some fun and take it with the kids. We also had some visitors, Maggie and Evans, two people who work with VCO (the volunteer organization). We tested the kids on comparing fractions, shapes, subtraction, multiplication, and writing numbers in word form. They all did well on the test (Maggie and Evans included), so that was encouraging! Just an fyi to everyone though, 40 is spelled forty, not fourty. Common mistake.

Nico and I found a bag of balloons at the volunteer house and decided to use them for the elective. We played a game where we split the class in half, drew a line on the ground in the classroom, and for 45 seconds, the teams had to try to put all of the balloons on the other team’s side of the line. At the end of the time, everyone had to freeze and we counted to see which team had less balloons on their side to decide the winner. It went so much better than I expected. The kids loved it, and we decided to save the balloons to use again tomorrow.

I passed out after lunch, apparently slept through my alarm, and Avy woke me up for dinner. Hm. I guess I’m still not getting enough sleep. Anyway, we went out and bought some snacks for school tomorrow to celebrate the last day of summer school. I can’t believe it’s almost over! Real school starts next week and it’s going to be so weird.

Reunion in P3/P4!

Posted on September 6, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

We had a new task at the farm today! It’s always exciting when we get to do something different, and this time it was putting fertilizer around the eggplants. John showed us how they usually do it, by digging a hole about a finger length from the plant and putting some fertilizer in. Nico immediately disapproved. He said that there are two problems with doing it that way. First, if none of the roots are under the hole you dig, all of the fertilizer is just wasted. Second, if some of the roots ARE under the hole, the fertilizer might be too much for them and they’ll burn. So either way, it’s really not the best thing for the plant. Nico told us to dig more of a U-shaped trench around the stem and put the fertilizer in there. He still wasn’t completely happy with that solution, and we decided that we needed to have a farm meeting later to talk about what to do in the future.

School was also exciting because Nico and I were reunited! Isabel and Sosane took over P2 for me, and I got to move back up to P3/P4! I was happy to be back, but at the same time, I was in the groove of teaching P2. It’s hard to adjust between teaching the different levels because you have to re-learn where the kids are skill-wise and adjust your thinking.
I read the kids a story in English class, and we asked them questions about it to work on reading comprehension. The story was taken from one of their textbooks, but honestly, the writing in the books is so bad that I don’t know how the kids are supposed to learn how to write properly. I read it out loud and modified it as I went so that it would make sense. Besides the numerous grammatical issues, some parts were so unclear that I didn’t understand what they were even trying to say. I wish I could just go through the book with a red pen and correct everything.

Our corn is growing! You can see the rows of little corn plants

The afternoon was spent doing laundry. I think that #1 on my list of things I miss from home is a washing machine. The list really isn’t that long, but laundry definitely makes the cut (also, seat belts, clean fingernails, flush toilets, and recycling). It probably took me 2-3 hours, and I can’t confidently say that any of my clothes are any cleaner than they were when I started. Hooray!
We had our farm meeting after dinner, and Nico presented his case against the single hole fertilizer technique. Joe (the guy in charge of the farm and logistics at the volunteer house) and John agreed to let us use Nico’s U technique instead. Nico also wanted to talk about a new way to use the pig poop (he’s an agricultural engineer, so unlike me he knows something about plants). They’re currently gathering it and using it somewhat, but he wants to dig a new hole for it (aka a new poop pit) and said that theyneed to mix in dry and wet leaves to make it a really good natural fertilizer for the farm. Apparently the soil is already good here, so he thinks that between that and the pig poop mixture, they won’t need to buy fertilizer anymore. They agreed to give it a try which is exciting but also means that we now have to dig a 3m x 3m x 1.5m hole. Things to look forward to! We’ll start Thursday afternoon probably.

Tonight we’re going to a birthday bonfire for one of the guys on the soccer team. It seems like every celebration here involves a bonfire… That’s great and all, but I wish that every bonfire also came with s’mores because seriously, how much better would that be? I should start bringing supplies with me so that when everyone else is drinking their beers, I can be chowing down on toasted marshmallows. Yummm.

Last Week of Summer School!

Posted on September 5, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

What’s the best way to spend a Monday morning? Shucking, that’s how! I’m actually getting to the point where I don’t hate it as much as I used to. Definitely still not my favorite task, but I think I would choose it over hoeing now. I’m immune to the grossness of the worms and worm eggs and just steer clear of anything that looks like it might contain an ant farm. Someone else can deal with that.

School went so well! Sosane and Isabel were just observing classes today, and they’re going to take P2 over from me tomorrow. It’s always interesting when an outsider comes in and you get the chance to see things through their eyes. Sosane said something about how I did a good job of managing the classroom, and my reaction was, “huh?” But then I started thinking, and while I wouldn’t say I’m GOOD at managing the kids, I’m definitely way better than I used to be. That was a cool realization, and I’m encouraged by it. I can do this, and one day, I might even feel like I know what I’m doing!

In English, I read a story, and we talked about the animals in it. We’ve been talking about animals for the entire last week since I started with P2, and the kids have actually learned something! It’s so cool when I ask them a question that I know they didn’t used to know the answer to, and now they do because we talked about it. Like I taught them about flamingos last week, and now they know what they look like, that they’re birds, and that birds have wings and feathers. I taught them something!

We had a sort of English/Math overlap after story time because we did a dictation (aka spelling test), and it was all numbers. On Friday, we worked on writing numbers in word form and vice versa, but I realized that they didn’t even know how to spell all of the numbers. The plan for today was to work on the spelling first and then do the exact same thing as Friday because they definitely need to keep practicing.

I really want the kids to at least know the things that are important for life in general, even if they don’t stay in school for much longer or go to college. In math, I think that two of those things are times tables and DEFINITELY knowing how to say numbers. For example, Avy went out to the market recently to check the price on something, and when she asked, the shopkeeper said that it was “two hundred fifty”. She was taken aback because that’s WAY more expensive than the thing should have been. She asked at another shop, and the person said “two hundred” and then showed her a 20. Soo… not two hundred. Twenty. Big difference. When she went back to the first shop and asked to see the bills, the woman showed her a 20 and a 5. Twenty five.

Based on that story, I didn’t feel bad spending another whole class on how to say numbers. It seemed like they were getting the hang of things by the end, so hopefully if any of them ever work in a shop, they can tell the difference between 20 and 200.

Two of my kids with the body part lesson. Yes, I’m an artistic genius.

For the elective, we talked about body parts. That’s another thing we’ve been working on where I’ve been able to see that they’re actually learning. It’s seriously so cool teaching them something new one day and hearing them repeat it back to you the next.

After school, I spent the rest of the day playing outside. James (one of the new volunteers) and I did a workout together and then he and Nico tried to teach me how to play rugby (it did not go well). Really, I want to get better at soccer while I’m here because currently I’m horrible. Maybe I’ll add acquiring some soccer and rugby skills to my list of goals (other goals: learn Ewe and how to carry things on my head).

James is responsible for making both of the sports goals happen, so good luck to him… I’ll keep you updated. So far, the Ewe is going okay, I haven’t carried anything on my head, and I’m not optimistic about rugby or soccer. Plenty of room for improvement!

Ada Foah aka Paradise

Posted on September 4, 2016November 10, 2020 by Lark

Fernanda leaves us at the end of the week, so she got to pick the location for our weekend travels. Her demands were simple; she wanted to go someplace pretty and relaxing. And so, that’s how we ended up going to Ada Foah. It’s a town in southeast Ghana, next to where the Volta River flows into the Gulf of Guinea/Atlantic Ocean (that’s the same river as the one near where we live in Frankadua). It used to be a big town for trade. At first, it was product trade, but when the African slave trade started, the fort originally meant to defend the trading post was turned into a slave fort. This is where captured people were packed together in dehumanizing conditions meant to either kill them or break their spirits before they were sent to the Americas. After the slave trade was abolished, it became a trading post for goods again.

Now, it’s mostly a weekend getaway for people from Accra. After the Akosombo Dam was built on the Volta River, it became too shallow for large ships and basically crushed any of the trade industry that remained. There are also big issues with the strong tides eroding the coastline to the point where many of the buildings in the town have washed away.

The trek to Ada Foah from our village, like the trek to basically anywhere from our village, is a bit of an adventure, and ours ended up being even more interesting than anticipated. At best, a trip to there from Frankadua would involve two tro tros and one boat ride, but we had to make an extra stop in Accra for Nico to extend his visa. We planned to hang out at the Accra Mall while he took care of that and then go from there.

Our journey… From Frankadua (blue) to Accra (green) to Tema (yellow) to Ada Foah (red). As you can see, we took the direct route (haha)

The place where we stayed is in the red circle… literally right at the point where the river meets the gulf

While we were standing by the road waiting for a tro from Frankadua to the mall/immigration office, the mayor drove by and offered to take us in his car! He said that he was headed to Accra anyway, but I’m not sure that was true. I think he might have gone just because of us which was really nice. We all squished in (four of us in the backseat), and off we went! Two uncomfortable hours (and a few traffic stops where he had to “encourage” the cops to let us go even though there were too many people in the car) later, we made it to the mall, and Avy, Fernanda, and I went snack shopping (my favorite thing) until Nico and Amber finished at immigration and met us for lunch.

The next part of our journey didn’t go quite as planned either… We thought that we would be able to get a tro from the mall to a big transfer point, Tema Roundabout, but everyone we asked said no such thing existed. Hm… so what now? We had no backup plan and were wandering despondently through the parking lot when someone yelled Nico’s name. We’re used to random people calling out to us, but they usually don’t know our names! It turned out to be a guy that Nico and Amber met a couple of weeks ago in Frankadua, Rudolph, and when they explained our situation, he said he was headed in that direction anyway (was he, though?) and could give us a ride. So, the five of us squeezed into Rudolph’s car, and we were off again! The ride was cramped but seriously luxurious because he had air conditioning!!! I don’t think I’ve experienced functional AC since I’ve been here. It was amazing.

At the transfer point, Rudolph walked with us to find the right tro to take to Ada. Finally, from Ada, we took a boat to Ada Foah. You’re probably thinking that this MUST be the end of the story… but alas, it is not. We got probably 95% of the way there, anddd the boat stalled. The captain, Fred, started using some questionable methods to try to start it up again, and we were so close to land that someone from the hotel started walking through the water to us with the intention of pulling the boat in. He was probably 20 meters away (sorry… I’m starting to think in metric now. 65 feet or so) when the boat finally started up again, and we cruised into shore.

Us with our new best friend, Fred the boat driver. Not sure why Fernanda and Amber are making those faces…

Yay!! We finally made it! By the time we landed, it was past dinnertime and no one was hungry anyway, so we just dropped our stuff in our rooms and hung out/played cards until it was time for bed.

We were welcomed into shore by this hideous sunset

The next day was glorious. Sometimes you don’t realize how in need of a break you are until you get one and are reminded of what it feels like to be relaxed. That’s exactly where I was, and I had the most perfect, relaxing day.

We took our time getting up in the morning (YAY for sleeping in!), ate a leisurely breakfast, and got changed into our bathing suits to go to the beach – 10 feet from our huts.

Oh yeah, I have to tell you about our “hotel”. It’s just a collection of little huts, so we had a three-person hut with a sand floor (aka no floor… just a hut on the sand) and a two-person hut with a floor (luxurious concrete). I think they’re hilarious. Also, sorry, nerd alert but I MUST comment on the electrical situation… There are lights in both huts, but only one has a switch. In the other, we’re supposed to screw the light bulb in and out to turn it on and off. The “fixture” is literally just a bulb hanging from the ceiling by its wires. Where two wires connect, the ends are just twisted together and left exposed. Between huts, the wires are buried under maybe 6” of sand (maybe), and they’re not in tubing or anything to protect them from damage. I could keep ranting about the lights in pretty much the whole country, but I’ll spare you. Maybe another time.

Admire those wires running straight into the sand

Exterior light fixture (this is the weatherproof-edition)

ANYWAY, we decided to go for a walk to explore, starting on the river side of the peninsula and walking around to the gulf side. I understand why people call it a paradise town because man, it really is beautiful. The only downside is that there’s a lot of garbage that washes up on the beaches, particularly plastic garbage. Not surprising considering the general garbage/litter issues around the country… but I digress. Like I was saying, beautiful! At the end of the peninsula, we could see the place where the river water runs into the gulf which was pretty cool.

Another river view, looking back in the direction of our huts

I bet these rocks were placed here to help with the erosion problem

The rest of the day was equally uneventful. We played some volleyball, swam in the river and played monkey in the middle, and lay on the beach. I made a sand sculpture and took a nap in a hammock and lost to Nico in chess. We watched the sunset and ate dinner, and after everyone else went to bed, Fernanda and I hung out on the beach and looked at the stars. On a clear night, there’s nothing better. Since there are barely any lights around, the sky is super dark and the stars are incredible.

I’m really bummed that Fernanda is leaving next week… I think I’m still in denial a little bit. We get along so well and have a lot in common. But Mexico City isn’t TOO far from Philly, and she’s promised me a piñata if I come to visit, so it looks like it’s time for me to start planning a trip to Mexico!

The river side was really nice for swimming because the tide wasn’t very strong. This is where we played our monkey in the middle

The next morning, we ate breakfast and started the long trip home to Frankadua. I didn’t even mind, though. I felt so refreshed after our day of relaxation that I actually really enjoyed the (very long) ride.

Step 1: Another boat ride with our friend Fred! This one went without a hitch, and he promised to come visit us in Frankadua. This happens pretty much everywhere we go… it’s kind of funny. Thank goodness for Ghana SIM cards because then it’s not a big deal to give out our phone numbers. When we leave the country, they’ll disappear.

Fernanda soaking up some last-minute sun on the boat ride

I was sad to leave this luxurious concrete floor and princess-style mosquito net behind

Step 2: Tro ride. We walked from the dock to the station in town, and when we found it (after asking a bunch of people for directions), there was no one there. Great. Time to ask more people for help! We walked out to the street and started asking around until someone finally directed us down the road because apparently tros don’t run all the way to the station on Sundays. Of course. Because why would they? *internet sarcasm*

We found a tro, and I got a prime seat – back row by the window. That meant that I didn’t have to move for anyone to get on or off, and I got a great breeze. I’m telling you, it gets HOT in those vans, and it was very sunny which doesn’t help. Everyone else slept, but I was happy to look out the window and enjoy the ride.

Tro #1. This was a pretty big one.. There isn’t always this much space

Step 3: Tro transfer at Tema Roundabout. Maybe? We assumed that we could get a tro direct to Frankadua from there, but everyone we asked said that there was no such thing and that we had to take a cab to some other station and get one from there. It’s so hard to tell when people are being helpful vs. trying to take advantage of our ignorance (since we’re so obviously not from here). Who knows what the truth was in this case, but we decided to assume “being helpful” and took a cab to the random station.

Step 4: Tro from random station to Frankadua (FINALLY!). I lucked out again on my seat and was in the front next to the driver which means 1. more legroom and 2. a window AND the windshield. A breeze and a view. What more could you want? Well, a seatbelt would be nice, but I’ll take what I can get! Sometimes you luck out on that, too, but more often not. I’ve been working on not having an anxiety attack every time I get in a vehicle without one.

On the ride home from my prime front-row seat

Two hours later (as in, two hours after the beginning of step 4), we were home! We survived! The Cape Coast crew got back maybe 20 minutes after us, and the rest of the night was spent exchanging stories and getting ready for school the next day. Last week of summer school… eek!

*Note: This blog has been updated since its original posting to combine three posts into one.

Akosombo Dam – tour the dam that shrank the Volta River and became Ghana’s main power source

Cape Coast Castle – learn more about the West African slave trade with a visit to one of the most well-known and well-maintained slave forts

Batumi – compare the sand beaches of Ghana to the pebble beaches of Batumi, Georgia. The perfect solution for the beach-loving sand-haters among us!

Kokrobite – enjoy another Ghanaian beach weekend

Lake Bosomtwe – canoe around this crater lake, the largest natural lake in Ghana

Mouse Funeral

Posted on September 1, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

I feel about a million times better today. Somehow, after I slept for like 8 hours during the day yesterday, I still managed to sleep through the night with no trouble at all. I guess that means I really needed it and I should probably be getting to bed earlier. I’m still wearing my glasses just in case I did scratch my cornea, but my eye already feels a lot better.

Amber had a bit of a traumatic morning. We have a mouse problem in the house, so they recently set a bunch of traps, including one glue trap. I’m personally not a big fan of glue traps because it takes so long for the mouse to die, and this morning, there was one stuck in it. Amber decided that she was going to save it, so she put on gloves, pulled it off the trap, and tried to clean the glue off. That failed miserably since they use ultra-sticky glue on those things, but she did her best and then put it in a tub to bring to the farm with us. About halfway there, she checked on the mouse, and it was dead. It definitely suffocated in the tub… so it wasn’t exactly the most successful rescue, but at least she tried? When I went to dump the body in the woods, it was completely stuck to the tub. That mouse didn’t stand a chance in the wild. I would say it’s the thought that counts, but in this case, I really don’t think that applies.

We hoed at the farm and had classes afterwards, but the mouse was probably the most eventful part of the day until around 3PM when new volunteers came! I was a little nervous because things have been going so well with our group for the last few weeks, but after meeting the new people, I’m feeling confident that the group dynamic is going to be totally fine. We have three new people: James (UK, 8 weeks), Sosane (UK, 3 weeks), and Isabel (Canada, 1 week). It’s kind of weird timing because we’re all leaving for the weekend tomorrow, with the newbies headed to Cape Coast and the rest of us going to Ada Foah.

Time to go pack! It should be a cool weekend.

Sick

Posted on August 31, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

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.

Rain Shower

Posted on August 30, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

It 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.

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.

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.

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.

Week 3 Already?!?

Posted on August 29, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

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.

Church and Soccer

Posted on August 28, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

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.

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