This first pic was just before we left. Whenever we leave any of the schools, the kids always wave at us until we are out of sight. I got sick of waving, so I started winking at them to see how many would wink back at me. This is what I got.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Kids
We went to this school when the MPAs were still here. They would usually try to teach them games like Simon Says but the kids never really understood how to play. They would just do what we did no matter what...so naturally I tried to do stuff they couldn't. I did a handstand and some kids came running in from the back and totally showed me up. Karma, probably.
This first pic was just before we left. Whenever we leave any of the schools, the kids always wave at us until we are out of sight. I got sick of waving, so I started winking at them to see how many would wink back at me. This is what I got.
This first pic was just before we left. Whenever we leave any of the schools, the kids always wave at us until we are out of sight. I got sick of waving, so I started winking at them to see how many would wink back at me. This is what I got.
Salaam Namaste!
We've been hanging out with Josephine a lot lately. The other night, we watched a movie with her called "Salaam Namaste." It's an Indian Bollywood movie that she loves. The song won't leave my head. And I got my hair done on Saturday. So now I look like Josephine. She took me to the salon and stayed with me the entire 5 1/2 hours we were there. The first hour and a half were spent waiting for the stylist to finish the person before me. The last 4 hours, I sat in a chair and listened to last year's BET music awards ("Vote Obama!" like, 20 times) while the stylist watched TV and braided my hair. Josephine is so great--she sat there for 4 hours handing them fake hair for me. Ya, I'm pretty sure it was barbie hair. Oh well, it will be pretty easy to deal with for the next little while. We'll see how long it lasts.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
My Friends
Taylor--my companion? She is quite possibly one of the coolest girls I've ever met. She's from California, just found out she got into Oxford for grad school, and she's brilliant. She loves talking about the gospel and any world issue. She is the other intern here with me and is in charge of school selection. Basically, she evaluates prospective schools and helps decide who gets the new MGRs. We get along really well. I'm soooooo grateful that she is so amazing.
Arabna--the 2 year old we live with. She speaks English, gibberish, and Twi. Although her gibberish could be Twi...I guess I wouldn't know. She is famous for saying the following:
-JenJen
-Tay
-I beat you (pronounced "Ibeachyou" with a smile) I think one of the workers taught her that.
-Come
And then she will basically repeat anything you say and in the same tone of voice.
Narteh--the "probationary country director". He's not in trouble for anything, it's just the title for the first 3 months or so until it becomes official. He is the one on the MGR with me and the kids. He is with us just about always. He usually drives (although I have started to be brave enough). He takes us to where we need to go. He speaks English and Ga. He has 4 sons: Victor, Alex, Charles, and Henry, and a daughter: Floxy. His wife (Anna) made us dinner a few Sundays ago. We ate Fufu (mushed up cassava and plantain with the consistency of bread dough) with groundnut soup over it. The soup had chicken, beef, snail, crab, fish, and any other meat you can imagine in it. I just had the broth. It was good.
Josephine--She's a beautiful Ghanaian girl who met Sarah in a previous visit. She comes with us on most days to the schools. She just got hired as a ticketing agent? for Lufthansa. She speaks English and Twi. She has inspired me to get my hair braided. Maybe this Saturday? She says it will only cost 2 or 3 Cedis. That's like, $1.50! I'll let you know how it goes.
That's all for now.
Living Conditions
So, I'll just do a brief overview of this. I live at Kweku Anno's engineering shop with a small family who has lived here for quite a while. The wife is related to Kweku, her name is Florence, but she goes by Anowa. Her husband's name is Alex and their daughter's name is Arabna. They are great people with amazing faith.
We have a back bedroom, bathroom, and storage room with A/C. The electricity likes to rest on Sundays. Funny, 'cause that's the day we spend the most time here. We sleep under mosquito nets. There's no support for Apple computers here (Taylor's computer charger broke). There's internet at the house (when the power is on).
Anowa lets us use her kitchen (pots, plates, etc) and we mostly cook ramen noodles (it's actually IndoMie), pasta, and boil water for oatmeal. I drink chocolate soy milk, fresh fruit juices, and lots of water. We buy bread, steamed corn, and crackers from the street vendors who carry everything on their heads. The other day, we made rice and stir fry with fresh vegetables from the fruit stand down the road. It's a good life, even if there are lots of bugs. I went to hang my laundry out to dry last night and there was a huge toad sitting next to the house. Lizards and chameleons are everywhere here. We love it.
We have a back bedroom, bathroom, and storage room with A/C. The electricity likes to rest on Sundays. Funny, 'cause that's the day we spend the most time here. We sleep under mosquito nets. There's no support for Apple computers here (Taylor's computer charger broke). There's internet at the house (when the power is on).
Anowa lets us use her kitchen (pots, plates, etc) and we mostly cook ramen noodles (it's actually IndoMie), pasta, and boil water for oatmeal. I drink chocolate soy milk, fresh fruit juices, and lots of water. We buy bread, steamed corn, and crackers from the street vendors who carry everything on their heads. The other day, we made rice and stir fry with fresh vegetables from the fruit stand down the road. It's a good life, even if there are lots of bugs. I went to hang my laundry out to dry last night and there was a huge toad sitting next to the house. Lizards and chameleons are everywhere here. We love it.
Science Labs
Today we went to 2 new schools. Both of them were great. At the first one, the kids were all on break at the same time. I brought Wooly Willy (the picture of a face with iron shavings in a plastic case and a magnet to move them around) and the kids loved it. When the crowd started forming, I got out the big guns. A few of them knew what a battery was. None of them knew what a magnet was. We hooked up a light to the battery, the hand generator, and the capacitor. I explained to them what was happening and their eyes lit up. I could tell they recognized what was happening. A few minutes later, when I was helping the kids behind me, I turned around and saw some kids charging the capacitor and using it to light up the bulb! It was really cool to see them doing it on their own.
At the second school, I was told that 5th grade was learning science when we arrived but when I went to the classroom, they weren't so I wandered to the next classroom (6th grade) where the kids were just sitting there. I asked them where their teacher was and they said that she didn't come today so I stayed and taught them about magnetism and motors while Taylor was interviewing the headmaster. It was so cool to see them begin to understand. These kids all knew what everything was when I pulled it out of the bag. They knew the theory pretty well, but had never seen it in real life. They were pretty excited to see how it all worked. They didn't know what a magnet was (even after I showed them) so I explained polarity and then passed around 2 magnets together so they could feel the attraction and repulsion. Then I taught them a new word: field trip. We took a field trip out to the dirt so I could set up the motor (the supports need to be stuck into something, so dirt works perfectly). I got it going, then took it apart, then gave each piece to a different kid and told them to do it. They all worked together to make a motor. It took them a few tries, but they got it going and they were so proud of themselves!
This is such a cool job! The kids love it and I know that most of them probably will not have the chance to do a hands-on lab with anything besides cooking, farming, and bundling firewood.
Sorry, no pics from today. My batteries died...funny considering the work I'm doing here. I'll get some from Taylor from previous days. Today was definitely the best though.
At the second school, I was told that 5th grade was learning science when we arrived but when I went to the classroom, they weren't so I wandered to the next classroom (6th grade) where the kids were just sitting there. I asked them where their teacher was and they said that she didn't come today so I stayed and taught them about magnetism and motors while Taylor was interviewing the headmaster. It was so cool to see them begin to understand. These kids all knew what everything was when I pulled it out of the bag. They knew the theory pretty well, but had never seen it in real life. They were pretty excited to see how it all worked. They didn't know what a magnet was (even after I showed them) so I explained polarity and then passed around 2 magnets together so they could feel the attraction and repulsion. Then I taught them a new word: field trip. We took a field trip out to the dirt so I could set up the motor (the supports need to be stuck into something, so dirt works perfectly). I got it going, then took it apart, then gave each piece to a different kid and told them to do it. They all worked together to make a motor. It took them a few tries, but they got it going and they were so proud of themselves!
This is such a cool job! The kids love it and I know that most of them probably will not have the chance to do a hands-on lab with anything besides cooking, farming, and bundling firewood.
Sorry, no pics from today. My batteries died...funny considering the work I'm doing here. I'll get some from Taylor from previous days. Today was definitely the best though.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Vote for your favorite
Okay, I've been a little bit (insert your own word here) about writing on here. It's been pretty busy and so I'm giving you a choice of what you want to hear about...and if nobody votes, we'll move on.
Maybe choose your top 2 or 3?:
-Orphanages
-Living conditions/food
-Taylor (my roommate/companion)
-Arabna, aka Ababa (the little girl we live with)
-Bead factory/market
-Waterfall/trip to Hohoe
-School selection visits
-Solar cooking
-Missionary Work
-Ghanaian classroom conditions
-Driving (street conditions/sites)
-Church
-Children's songs
I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but I thought I'd give you some choices instead of going into all of it.
Maybe choose your top 2 or 3?:
-Orphanages
-Living conditions/food
-Taylor (my roommate/companion)
-Arabna, aka Ababa (the little girl we live with)
-Bead factory/market
-Waterfall/trip to Hohoe
-School selection visits
-Solar cooking
-Missionary Work
-Ghanaian classroom conditions
-Driving (street conditions/sites)
-Church
-Children's songs
I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but I thought I'd give you some choices instead of going into all of it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A typical schoolroom in Ghana. Those are rubber tires in the back. Those don't come standard in every classroom, just this one.Some cute kids at Obani.
A sideways tree on Coconut Island. (It wasn't sideways in real life...just in case you were wondering.)
More cute kids from Obani. Actually, they're probably the same kids.
The glassy water with coconut palms in the back.
So far...
SUMMARY:
We've been having so much fun!!! Saturday we went to the market to buy some souvenirs (I know, already??) so that Sarah could get some before she goes home next week. We went to church on Sunday, an orphanage on Monday, and the island schools on Tuesday. The kids are adorable and I decided I'll probably end up adopting a few of them.
DETAILS:
Saturday--Sarah found a dead lizard in one of the pots in the kitchen…gross. It looked like it was fried to the pan. The market was hot and pretty awesome. The people here are so happy and just want to make friends with everyone. It was a pretty chill day and we played games at night under our mosquito nets. (Don't worry mom, I've only gotten 2 bites so far.)
Sunday--The power went out in the middle of the night so we were all pretty hot and didn't sleep very well. It stayed off for most of the day (turns out you have to pay the bill in order for it to work. Who knew??). We took a taxi with all 6 of us plus the driver in a regular-sized sedan to church. It was a pretty great fast and testimony meeting. Ghanaians are so grateful for the things they receive from God. I want to be more like them. During church, they kept switching between English and Twi so it was hard to keep track of what was going on. Now I know how the senior couples felt on the mission. Good thing we had a self-appointed translator who made herself our best friend!
Monday--We met the MPAs to go to Lucky Hill orphanage. We met them at Hut De Eric, a pretty nice place that served bagels, omlets, pizza, hamburgers, and Ghanaian food. Of course I couldn't pass up the pizza. It was a bunch of vegetables sauteed and thrown on top of some flatbread. It was actually really good and tasted like pizza rolls.
We went to Lucky Hill and we were greeted by this little boy, about 3 or 4 years old running out to give us the most tenacious high fives I’ve ever seen. He ended up being the most cuddly out of them all. He would just walk up to someone and get them to pick him up, then just lay his head on their shoulder for as long as they would let him. SO adorable! Someone brought frisbees and hacky sacs for them all and we played with them for a while. I think one kid is going to end up playing professional baseball. He had a great arm!
After Lucky Hill, we went to Hilda’s house to make dinner. She is a recent convert and college student whose mom lives in the UK. She raised her 2 brothers on her own and one of them is now in high school, which is a pretty huge accomplishment here. We learned how to make Jollof Rice. It’s rice cooked in a kind of tomato soup. Pretty good. We plan to make it for all our friends when we get back. We stayed and had FHE with them and played games. They taught us a Ghanaian game that is pretty much like “Sorry” but with some twists and then Sarah and Taylor taught them chess since they had a set but didn’t know how to play.
Tuesday--We went to the island schools to check them out and see if it’s possible to put a MGR there. On the way, we stopped at the Obani school to check up on its MGR. Everything seemed to be in working order but we couldn’t get in because it was locked. The kids saw us and ran over to play with us. I brought out the science lab stuff and they thronged me. We did a few demos but had to leave pretty quick in order to get to all the schools in time. The island schools' circuit director, John, met us to show us around 5 of the island schools. We met another guy and the boat driver at the shore and headed out on a freshwater lake for the islands.
The third school was one of my favorites. They called it “Coconut Island” and gave us coconuts before we left to drink and eat. The guy spent the whole time we were there collecting them from the trees and then cut them open for us as we were leaving. He even sent some home with us. He cut the outsides off and then poked holes through them so he could string them onto a strip from a palm leaf. His kids were so cute. He asked me to take his youngest one home with me. If only.
They had long grass laid out to dry so they could make mats out of it but they said they make a lot of things out of it. Taylor gave them a Book of Mormon and a pass-along card with a pic of the temple on it. We left just as it started to rain pretty hard. The entire boat ride to the next island was spent with our heads down trying to not get rain in our eyes.
The fourth school was really cool ‘cause it was colorful and had a huge Balboa tree and clingy kids. They ran up to us and fought over who got to hold our hands. They were all pretty young except for the 17-year-old boy who came over to ask where my boyfriend lived. Ha. I was wearing my “don’t worry be happy” shirt with the giraffes on it and they kept pointing to it and calling it whatever the word for giraffe is in Twi. They saw us off to the boat again and waved goodbye. They’re kind of catching on with blowing kisses.
On our way back, the water was like glass. So serene. We passed a bunch of fishermen standing out in the middle of the lake up to their waists pulling in their net. It was a pretty cool sight. My camera ran out of batteries so I couldn't get a pic, but I'll post a few others.
Feel free to write me if you want. News from home is always welcome!
We've been having so much fun!!! Saturday we went to the market to buy some souvenirs (I know, already??) so that Sarah could get some before she goes home next week. We went to church on Sunday, an orphanage on Monday, and the island schools on Tuesday. The kids are adorable and I decided I'll probably end up adopting a few of them.
DETAILS:
Saturday--Sarah found a dead lizard in one of the pots in the kitchen…gross. It looked like it was fried to the pan. The market was hot and pretty awesome. The people here are so happy and just want to make friends with everyone. It was a pretty chill day and we played games at night under our mosquito nets. (Don't worry mom, I've only gotten 2 bites so far.)
Sunday--The power went out in the middle of the night so we were all pretty hot and didn't sleep very well. It stayed off for most of the day (turns out you have to pay the bill in order for it to work. Who knew??). We took a taxi with all 6 of us plus the driver in a regular-sized sedan to church. It was a pretty great fast and testimony meeting. Ghanaians are so grateful for the things they receive from God. I want to be more like them. During church, they kept switching between English and Twi so it was hard to keep track of what was going on. Now I know how the senior couples felt on the mission. Good thing we had a self-appointed translator who made herself our best friend!
Monday--We met the MPAs to go to Lucky Hill orphanage. We met them at Hut De Eric, a pretty nice place that served bagels, omlets, pizza, hamburgers, and Ghanaian food. Of course I couldn't pass up the pizza. It was a bunch of vegetables sauteed and thrown on top of some flatbread. It was actually really good and tasted like pizza rolls.
We went to Lucky Hill and we were greeted by this little boy, about 3 or 4 years old running out to give us the most tenacious high fives I’ve ever seen. He ended up being the most cuddly out of them all. He would just walk up to someone and get them to pick him up, then just lay his head on their shoulder for as long as they would let him. SO adorable! Someone brought frisbees and hacky sacs for them all and we played with them for a while. I think one kid is going to end up playing professional baseball. He had a great arm!
After Lucky Hill, we went to Hilda’s house to make dinner. She is a recent convert and college student whose mom lives in the UK. She raised her 2 brothers on her own and one of them is now in high school, which is a pretty huge accomplishment here. We learned how to make Jollof Rice. It’s rice cooked in a kind of tomato soup. Pretty good. We plan to make it for all our friends when we get back. We stayed and had FHE with them and played games. They taught us a Ghanaian game that is pretty much like “Sorry” but with some twists and then Sarah and Taylor taught them chess since they had a set but didn’t know how to play.
Tuesday--We went to the island schools to check them out and see if it’s possible to put a MGR there. On the way, we stopped at the Obani school to check up on its MGR. Everything seemed to be in working order but we couldn’t get in because it was locked. The kids saw us and ran over to play with us. I brought out the science lab stuff and they thronged me. We did a few demos but had to leave pretty quick in order to get to all the schools in time. The island schools' circuit director, John, met us to show us around 5 of the island schools. We met another guy and the boat driver at the shore and headed out on a freshwater lake for the islands.
The third school was one of my favorites. They called it “Coconut Island” and gave us coconuts before we left to drink and eat. The guy spent the whole time we were there collecting them from the trees and then cut them open for us as we were leaving. He even sent some home with us. He cut the outsides off and then poked holes through them so he could string them onto a strip from a palm leaf. His kids were so cute. He asked me to take his youngest one home with me. If only.
They had long grass laid out to dry so they could make mats out of it but they said they make a lot of things out of it. Taylor gave them a Book of Mormon and a pass-along card with a pic of the temple on it. We left just as it started to rain pretty hard. The entire boat ride to the next island was spent with our heads down trying to not get rain in our eyes.
The fourth school was really cool ‘cause it was colorful and had a huge Balboa tree and clingy kids. They ran up to us and fought over who got to hold our hands. They were all pretty young except for the 17-year-old boy who came over to ask where my boyfriend lived. Ha. I was wearing my “don’t worry be happy” shirt with the giraffes on it and they kept pointing to it and calling it whatever the word for giraffe is in Twi. They saw us off to the boat again and waved goodbye. They’re kind of catching on with blowing kisses.
On our way back, the water was like glass. So serene. We passed a bunch of fishermen standing out in the middle of the lake up to their waists pulling in their net. It was a pretty cool sight. My camera ran out of batteries so I couldn't get a pic, but I'll post a few others.
Feel free to write me if you want. News from home is always welcome!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Essam
Yesterday we got up and went to meet the MPAs at the church office building on the temple grounds. It’s pretty amazing how the church is the same all over the world. We met with them and scheduled the next couple weeks to do school evaluations and get together for some other activities. This is going to be a pretty amazing couple of months. After meeting with them, we went to lunch at Pizza Inn…the pizza was actually really good. I changed my money then we came home to drop off Taylor and Sarah so they could work on other stuff while I went shopping for food with Solomon. He plays a huge part in the success of this operation. He's really great at teaching and has an awesome personality. After shopping, we came back and worked on grouping and scheduling for when we go to schools with the MPAs.
Today, we went to Essam. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Accra and is more like the places I knew in Indonesia. Lots of palm trees, people on the streets selling things, and dust. We got to the village and the kids were peeking out from behind doors and houses trying to get a look at us. We finally got them to come out and they played with us on the MGR and we made some fruit batteries, played with the hand generator, and I tried to explain stuff to them but they had no clue what I was saying. Solomon had to get up and explain everything all over again. They finally got it (or pretended to) and started repeating after Solomon, “Energy transfer!”
We finished with that and walked around the village to see what it was like. There were a couple guys pounding cassava so I asked if I could help. They looked at me funny but finally let me do it for like, 3 hits. We left when they kicked us out and the kids followed us around the village. Naturally, we played follow the leader but they didn't know it. They just did whatever I did. I don’t think they’ve ever skipped before. They just kept following us further and further down the road. It would have been pretty suspicious back home, but here, they just don't care. Oh, they have a movie theater in their village! Well, it's more like a house with a bunch of benches in it. I didn't see a TV but I didn't ask where it was in case there wasn't one. But that's what they called it.
We came home after that and I played around more with the science lab stuff. Anyway, I've got mango juice all over my legs from the fruit batteries so the mosquitoes are eating me up and I'm gonna go clean up. Until next time…be cool, stay in school.
Today, we went to Essam. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Accra and is more like the places I knew in Indonesia. Lots of palm trees, people on the streets selling things, and dust. We got to the village and the kids were peeking out from behind doors and houses trying to get a look at us. We finally got them to come out and they played with us on the MGR and we made some fruit batteries, played with the hand generator, and I tried to explain stuff to them but they had no clue what I was saying. Solomon had to get up and explain everything all over again. They finally got it (or pretended to) and started repeating after Solomon, “Energy transfer!”
We finished with that and walked around the village to see what it was like. There were a couple guys pounding cassava so I asked if I could help. They looked at me funny but finally let me do it for like, 3 hits. We left when they kicked us out and the kids followed us around the village. Naturally, we played follow the leader but they didn't know it. They just did whatever I did. I don’t think they’ve ever skipped before. They just kept following us further and further down the road. It would have been pretty suspicious back home, but here, they just don't care. Oh, they have a movie theater in their village! Well, it's more like a house with a bunch of benches in it. I didn't see a TV but I didn't ask where it was in case there wasn't one. But that's what they called it.
We came home after that and I played around more with the science lab stuff. Anyway, I've got mango juice all over my legs from the fruit batteries so the mosquitoes are eating me up and I'm gonna go clean up. Until next time…be cool, stay in school.
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