Feok

Right before Christmas, I attended the Feok festival (Buli for time of plenty) in our district capital Sandema. It is the annual thanksgiving celebration of the harvest for the Builsa people. In addition to giving thanks for the abundance, it also commemorates the defeat of Babatu and other slave raiders in the 18th century with a war dance. The men wear traditional smocks, helmets with horns, and carry weapons including bows while dancing to the drumming. The women run alongside the men fanning them and making the ulily noise- a high pitched squeal I can't even begin to describe. Of course I took a ton of photos (a bunch are on facebook)and videos so wanted to start sharing one now and more later with additional details about the festival.

Burinya

Merry Christmas (Burinya in Buli) from Madam Carey and some of her students!

Girls Just Wanna have Fun!

This past week my students have been writing (taking) their exams including mine for ICT. Usually class tests are written on the blackboard but end of term exams are printed on paper but we found out too late this term that the district (think county office back home) wouldn’t be setting (creating) the questions. So we had to write our questions on the blackboard. My exams had three parts: practical, theory (open-ended questions), and objective (multiple choice). The practical for ICT includes a picture that the students are supposed to label. For example Form 1 named the various parts of the computer, form 2 the graphical user interface (desktop, icons, etc.), and form 3 a browser window. I then of course had almost 200 papers to mark (grade). At times marking papers is encouraging such as when one of my form 1 students made a perfect 100. Then sometimes it’s humorous especially because of spelling mistakes such as ouputer perhaps formed as a combination output and computer, handle divice instead of handheld device, and bragging instead of dragging the mouse. But then it can also be quite disheartening and downright depressing because of excessive spelling and grammar errors, dismally low scores, and zeros on the objective portion. As my fellow Volunteer Adam texted a group of us this week ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when a student gets below what statistical guessing should score.’ Although our school won’t vacate until sometime this week I already feel as though I’m finished and can celebrate making it through my first term as a teacher here.

I keep forgetting to post about my student roommate maybe perhaps somewhat consciously because I wanted to see how the housing situation was going before writing about it. When I came to visit my site way back in July the headmaster mentioned I could decide to have a student come stay with me if I like since I have an extra bedroom and so I’d have company. I dismissed the thought but once I moved here one of the form 3 students Felicity asked me if she could come stay so she could use the lights to study at night since her house is far from the school. At the time everything was very overwhelming so after getting advice from fellow Volunteers and my supervisor I told her I would think about it again in November once I was more settled in. Long story short, after much thought I decided to have her come stay. It’s a win-win situation since it helps her be able to study more and hopefully do well on the big exam in April to proceed to senior high school. She’s 15, is quiet in class and with me but not with her friends of course, and wants to be a teacher in the future. For me it’s nice to have the company, help around the house, and maybe helps me fit in a bit more since people don’t really live alone. Two of Felicity’s friends and fellow form 3 students also spend a lot of time at my house. Gifty likes cooking, going to church, and is the health prefect at the school. Last week she showed me how to make cosi which is a local fried treat made with bean dough and served with pepe (red pepper). Diana has dimples like her sisters Joyce and Rachel who I’ve posted about previously, has a father who speaks impressively good English even though he never attended school , and wants me to become ‘obolo’ (large) before I go back home. I think I’ve gained 2 kgs since the girls started cooking for me so I am on the way. This week she wore a wig that belongs to her mother to the house and all the girls took turns trying it on. Including me…so, for your entertainment, a photo.

Last week on the way back from the Fumbisi market there was another white lady who boarded the same lorry I was on and I was so shocked that I called her ‘felika’ (white person in Buli). Even though this term isn’t meant offensively, sometimes I take offense to it especially if I think the person knows my name. So you can imagine how embarrassed I was for letting that slip out. We ended sitting next to each other and had a nice chat about life in the Builsa district. She’s from Europe and is in Sandema for 2 months working at a children’s home. When I returned home I told the girls that I saw another ‘felika’ and so there were ‘felisa’ (plural version of felika) on the lorry and they thought that was pretty funny. She and a friend went to the market and were returning with watermelons, which are in season right now. Speaking of watermelon, Friday night I was sitting on my front porch eating some and spitting out the seeds and it dawned on me how bizarre this activity is for December back home. I really cannot believe it’s a week away from Christmas! But my paper countdown chain and the calendar do not lie…

Stories to Tell

My friend Chris has been working on molding bricks with the help of some of the students recently since he’s planning to build his own small house instead of so he doesn’t have to stay in the teacher’s quarters any more. Last week we walked out to the well near where they’re doing the work to find out if there was water in it he could use. When we walked up there was a very old woman there who was very appreciative and talkative when we greeted her. She told him (and then he translated for me) that she was the only person to survive an automobile accident that killed nine other people back in the day. To which I exclaimed ‘She’s a miracle!’ It was clear she had more stories to tell and I hope we will go back to her house one day to hear more. I was feeling rather sorry for her since she seemed kind of lonely and was fetching her own water despite her advanced age. I wanted to know why someone wasn’t taking care of her and commented so to Chris as we were walking away. He told me that she lives alone and does have family who come by to bring her food stuff and check in- and mused that perhaps that fact had lengthened her life. After all, she only has herself to take care instead of being bothered by other people. It was an interesting perspective and made me think once again (happens often here) about the influence on culture on the lens in which we see the world. While we were walking away, she had her arms raised praising God for having seen us. I was delighted to see and be able to greet the woman from the well again when I went to church Sunday. For a host of rather uninteresting reasons, It was my first time going since I’ve been living in village this past Sunday and I attended the Catholic one which is led by woman from the nearby village Wiega. Thankfully parts of it were in English and it only lasted two hours.

Training was so busy and my internet was less than regular so I have stored up some stories to tell. When I first arrived in Ghana and someone would give me their number they’d ask me to ‘flash’ them! My gut reaction was always to respond ‘No, you creeper’ but I quickly learned this meant for me to call them without them answering. Besides used in exchanging phone numbers, this is a common practice here if you’re running low on credit since you only pay for outgoing not incoming calls. I told this story to some of the teachers at my school and they thought it was pretty fun and it sparked a whole explanation about cell phone plans and service providers in the States.

Another story is from home stay. After washing my clothes I’m sure with the help of a host sister or maybe even nephew, my clothes would often be on the line but invariably the rain would come since it was rainy season. So my family would move my clothes inside the living room to finish drying. One day when my dry clothes were returned to me I discovered a pair of pants was missing. In British English trousers are what we Americans call pants and pants are what we call underwear. After missing my pants, I proceeded to tell my host brother I was missing a pair of pants (read: he heard panties) to which he asked what they looked like. ‘Black with brown stripes’ was my reply. Had I know what was being discussed and then searched for at the time I might have been mortified. When the search for the missing pants was fruitless, one of my sister’s Cynthia offered to buy me a new pair. I was moved by her generosity but assured her that eventually they’d turn up. The next day she gave me a new pair black of black and white panties- at which point it finally dawned on me I’d been saying pants when I meant trousers. I explained the same to them and my black trousers with brown stripes were promptly found. At least I got a new pair of undies and a story to tell out of my silly and slightly embarrassing mistake.

Six Months

Today marks the six month anniversary of my arrival in Ghana. I cannot believe it. Also I have now lived in my village for as long as I stayed with my home stay family in the Eastern region. It's bittersweet though because right around Christmas I will reach the mark of the longest I've ever been away from home. When I did study abroad in Thailand, I was gone for six and a half months. I'm sure a rather intense bout of homesickness is in my near future.

As promised, check out the photo of the Religious & Moral Education teacher Madam Diana, her son Nathan, and me sporting our red ribbons. I taught my last lesson for the term today and it was a health lesson on HIV/AIDS with my form 2 students. They could answer many of my questions because it's not an unheard of topic for them but they had so many questions too that it reminds that their is plenty of education still to be done. I will revisit it with them next term when we discuss the internet and computer viruses. The exam schedule for next week has been set and the students will 'write' my ICT exam on Tuesday afternoon. I'm happy about this fact since this means I have plenty of time to mark the papers and then I will be free (as is said here quite often) sooner.

Hazards of Harmattan

Flexibility. It’s a trait I hope and probably will possess more of by the end of my service here. On Thursday morning I found out that teams from a nearby village would be coming to play football and volleyball matches with our students at the same time that the nurses had planned to come to the school to talk about CSM and HIV/AIDS. I’d also planned to teach a lesson on HIV/AIDS to my form 2 students. I wasn’t a very happy camper but at least most of the other teachers were also out of the loop. Sometimes I just feel out of the loop since I am still learning the language and often times the teachers communicate with each other in Buli. Of course once I calmed down, rescheduled with the nurses, and got over the change of plans, I enjoyed watching the matches and snapping photos of the students playing plus of the cutest AIDS awareness advocate in Gbedema (photo coming soon). I distinctly remember writing in my application essay about one of the biggest challenges I expected to deal with was in being flexible. Core Expectation #3 for Peace Corps Volunteer reads ‘Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.’ It is not easy but I did anticipate it would be an enormous hurdle for me personally. Yesterday I became frustrated at school again because I didn’t end up teaching at all. I couldn’t help my form 1 students revise for their upcoming exam (this week is ‘Revision Week’) since they were sent to a community member’s farm to doing work. Then another teacher entered the form 3 class during my assigned period so I didn’t get to teach them either. This week is ‘Revision Week’ and I want to help my students prepare for their upcoming exam but it seems that they are expected to study on their own mostly.

As previously mentioned, Friday was a school holiday for Farmer’s Day which I ‘celebrated’ by going for a bike ride, eating pumpkin pancakes, and doing a craft. I made a Christmas countdown paper chain with the help of some of the kids and students. It’s my sole Christmas decoration- I think I’ll have the least commercialized Christmas ever here. About that bike ride…. First let me explain harmattan. I forgot to mention last week that around Tuesday I started feeling a cold coming on, probably in part because of traveling from the humid south of Ghana because to the dry north. Right now the season is changing from rainy to dry and it is also harmattan which means that winds blow from the Sahara so it’s dusty and hazy. The best part is that at night the temperature drops at night and can be quite chilly (for example I recorded a low of 70 degrees last week on the thermometer on my clock) in the mornings. But just like back home people tend to get coughs and colds. Here they call it ‘carrtah’ which I think is the Twi word for a cold. It took me a while to figure out what people were talking about when they said they had ‘carrtah small.’ Now I understand because I was fighting it last week. Back to the bike ride, I set off with a fellow teacher not quite as early as we’d planned and the ride to the nearby village that was our destination only took 35 minutes or so and was quite enjoyable. Then we headed back- against the wind. I didn’t even dawn on me until we were struggling against the wind uphill how easy we’d had it on the way. Especially because of my cold I got out of breath pretty easily. At one point my muscles were hurting so much that I got off and walked while pushing the bike. It was a rough ride and took about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get back- so twice as long! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the holiday relaxing by reading, watching Megamind, and falling asleep early despite the last loud (speakers were used) revival service that was held in my ‘backyard’ (aka the park) three nights last week.

Here’s another funny story for the week. On Saturday I went outside to dispose of my orange peels like I always do into the ‘bush’ next to the neem tree in front of my house. Well this time when I threw them I heard something rustling in the brush and discovered it was a snake! My first snake encounter and I was surprisingly calm. In fact I didn’t even scream or really run away. I saw that it was black skinny guy as it was slithering away and though I don’t know if it was venomous or not my rule of thumb here it to assume all snakes are poisonous and avoid them. It was a good reminder to be on the lookout for such critters. My nephew Will likes to ask about the animals I see here so I was happy to report the exciting news to him that I saw a snake since to date my other reports were just about the farm animals: donkeys, chickens, goats, pigs and guinea fowl. A couple of days ago I was out on my evening walk to the dam and there was a whole crowd of people. Usually there are a few around often times bathing or washing dishes in the water. They were catching fish (look like catfish to me) and so of course tried to sell me some. I was wary plus didn’t have any money on me but one of the kids decided to bring a fish to me and try to hand it to me. To which I squealed…. yes I am more afraid of a fish than a snake apparently!

World AIDS Day

Here’s some info I pulled from a website on World AIDS Day if you’re wondering what it is: Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there is still work to be done. The theme for World AIDS Day 2011 is 'Getting to Zero.’ After 30 years of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, this year the global community has committed to focusing on achieving 3 targets: "Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.”

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 34 million people living with HIV. During 2010 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus, including an estimated 390,000 children. Despite a significant decline in the estimated number of AIDS-related deaths over the last five years, there were still an estimated 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths in 2010. People living with HIV were still subject to restrictions on their travel and/or stay in 47 countries, territories and areas.

And what you can do:
WEAR RED OR A RED RIBBON AND RAISE AWARENESS
The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round and particularly around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment. The red ribbon started as a grass roots effort; as a result there is no one official AIDS ribbon manufacturer, and many people make their own. It's easily done - just use some ordinary red ribbon and a safety pin. Or pick something red you already have from your closet to wear and show your support.

VOLUNTEER
If you want to take your awareness raising a step further into action then try finding a local event volunteer for. Around the world there are hundreds of activities taking place to mark World AIDS Day, including candlelight vigils, art shows, concerts, rallies and religious services.

Turkey Day Recap

I started feeling pretty restless my last week or so before leaving to travel to Accra for Thanksgiving. I got ahead ahead with my lesson planning and pretty much finished for the rest of the term. So because of that I found myself with a lot of free time and was ancy to hit the road. My friend Rakia who lives in Fumbisi came last Saturday for a computer lesson so I help her setup a gmail account and then a facebook account. Last Monday after teaching my form 3 students, giving a class test to the form 1 students and then marking & returning the test last Monday I was ready to go! Travel is always long and tiring here and I usually prepare myself by expecting to be miserable. It can only get better from there!

I feel like my entire time away from Gbedema revolved around food. I had pizza, lots of fruit (watermelon, pineapple, banana, papaya or pawpaw as it’s called here), spaghetti, ice cream! (Breyers vanilla and chocolate swirl), and cereal. Staying at a host was the best idea ever. I enjoyed hearing stories about my host’s time as a PCV in Tanzania and how she is adjusting to her new life now as an ex-pat living in Ghana working for USAID. I also slept in a super comfy bed with blankets on me in the air con. Plus took a hot shower, shaved my legs (made it 2/3 of the way through No-Shave November), and painted my toes and fingernails. Besides all the wonderful food, I enjoyed seeing my friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Thanksgiving was amazing. I actually wore my hair down for once and wore my cute purple J Crew skirt to the ambassador’s house. The dinner was from 12-5 on Thursday. We enjoyed drinks and mingling before the feast was served at 2. It was great to see everyone I trained with that I hadn’t seen since swearing in and also meet other Volunteers and Americans living in Ghana (study abroad students, workers, airline employees). Part of the reason the Ambassador puts on this nice meal is because it’s his favorite holiday. You could tell who the PCVs were because as soon as they set up the buffet table we started lining up. At least we were classier than when we rushed the servers at swearing in. I missed my traditional Carey family appetizer of olives and salad of the purple variety but other than that they had it all. The spread included turkey, stuffing (or dressing if you’re Southern like me), cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots, salad, cornbread, curried cauliflower, ham, and green beans with dijonaise sauce. I ate one very full plate but could not go back for seconds. I had a really hard time deciding whether I should eat more meat or veggies. I don’t get much of either at site so I just ate a lot of both. The mashed potatoes and ham were the highlights, which is strange for me because usually I prefer turkey. We had some time to chat and let the food settle before the pies came out. Pumpkin pie is my normal favorite and it was delicious but the pecan pie was to die for. And the coffee was wonderful too. We stayed until the end and then we went to different places to continue hanging out. My host had a thanksgiving dinner to attend at 5:30 so I stayed out to hang out with people for a while in Osu, the nicest part of Accra. I even did some black Friday shopping at a fair trade store called Global Mamas on Friday.

Besides stuffing myself silly, it was nice to get some distance for my community and gain perspective on my life here. I was genuinely excited to come back ‘home’ to site and I feel a sense of accomplishment in having already spent three months in my village. It was great talking to other PCVs about their experience and get ideas to use in my community. I felt re-energized coming back and set some new goals for myself for December. On Saturday in Tamale we heard the sad news that a Metro Mass bus crashed with a Benz lorry and killed 30 people on the way from Bolga. Travel here is one of the biggest safety risks and it was definitely reminder of that and of just how fragile life is. On the way to Bolga Sunday we saw the remnants of the bus on the side of the road which was quite sobering.

Monday was a great day. I was glad to be back and when I went for my evening walk to the dam I happily discovered I didn’t forget all the Buli I know in one week and was able to adequately greet people. Plus there were several darn cute kids who jumped up and down when the saw me, followed me, and came to the path to greet me  how can you not be joyful after a reception like that? I also did a successful (I think) lesson on computer viruses and then HIV/AIDS with my form 3 students since December 1 is World AIDS Day (see newer post for more info). I repeated the lesson for the form 1 kids Tuesday and will repeat it for the form 2 kids tomorrow. I brought back some beaded ribbon pins a fellow Volunteer made for the teachers to wear to raise awareness about AIDS. Tomorrow the nurses from the clinic are supposed to come in the morning to talk about Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and HIV/AIDS with the students. Then Friday is the Farmer’s Day holiday so we’ll be after school. December 2 is also a very important because (shout out starting now) it is the day my lovely and sweet niece Carey was born 17 years ago. Happy (early) Birthday Care! I love you more than I can say and am crazy-proud of you.

Videos!

I call this one Ghanaian Football Cheerleaders. It's of the girl students at my school doing traditional dances at a football match we went to last month in Fumbisi.



The next one is Donkey Riders. These two boys came by my house one day on the way to or from the farm riding their donkeys and one proceeded to do riding tricks for me. I was so impressed (ooing and ahing) that I went to get my camera.



Post on Thanksgiving coming soon!

Obama-rama

Regardless of political views, everyone can agree that Obama's victory was historic and also caused quite a stir worldwide, especially in Africa. Ghana is no exception. Especially since in 2009 he and the first lady came to Accra and Cape Coast castle on a whirlwind visit making it 'the first-ever visit of the first-ever African President of the United States to a nation in Sub-Saharan African.' Now two years later you can still find a wide variety of Obama paraphernalia including shirts, notebooks, pencils, belts, biscuits (crackers- yes you can buy Obama biscuits), and key rings. And it doesn't just stop with things; people and places are also included in this mania. I've met a kid named Obama, heard of the Hotel Obama, and seen an Obama Tea Shop.

I've been wanting to write a post about this craze for a while since I find it quite interesting but I was waiting for an opportunity to snap a photo of someone wearing an Obama shirt. Luckily last week a kid from my village was playing in front of my house- wearing an Obama t. Today I went to a church service where I was, much to my chagrin, asked to get up in front of the congregation and introduce myself. I started strong by first saying my name in Twi (since the pastor is from the South) and then in Buli. Then I stated that I'm from America which prompted the question 'How is Obama?' I replied that he is doing well and that I spoke to him yesterday. Laughter ensued so I'm hoping in this case my sense of humor crossed cultural barriers. And this incident reminded me to share Ghana's Obama-rama with you.

Fi Jiam (Thank You)

This past weekend and the weekend before that the younger sisters of one my form 3 students Diana have come to hang out at my house for a few hours. Joyce is in primary grade 6 so will be coming to the JHS next year and Rachel is just learning to walk. Watching Joyce mother her baby sister is quite touching and endearing. One day Rachel took a nap on my floor and then later Joyce feel asleep. Rachel was trying to wake her big sister up so I swooped in and picked her up. And she let me! I walked around the house while holding her to keep her occupied. When she’s happy and smiles, she has these super cute dimples. I have a basket in my living room full of fun stuff for the kids to play with. It contains reading books, coloring books, crayons, toys, and games. One day I had- no joke- 10 kids on my front porch ‘painting’ (as they call it) and looking at the books. I should run a day care out of my house and start charging! In other kiddo news, a few weeks ago I passed this house on my evening walk and literally 3 kids jumped up and down yelling out ‘felika.’ The finally ran out to meet us and then got all shy but did manage to give their names. A few nights ago I went for a walk alone and the same three kids sang a chorus of ‘Hello’ and ‘Bye’ for a several minutes. It was pretty funny and definitely made me laugh aloud.

I’ve been giving my students a lot of homework this term because I know they have a hard time understanding my English despite my best efforts to speak clearly, slowly, and simply (which is rather difficult given the technical nature of computer terms). Well today I realized I had a complete fail yesterday. Earlier in the week I taught a lesson on the procedure to turn on and off the computer to my form 1 students. One of the homework questions asked why it was important to turn the computer on and off correctly. Many students answered ‘If you do not follow certain steps you can damage your computer vocabulary.’ Huh? You might be saying. In my notes I had them copy from the blackboard I wrote:
It’s important to follow certain steps when…damage your computer.
Vocabulary:
Booting etc.
I have no idea what possessed me to write vocabulary before giving them the new terms for the day ( I usually don’t) but I did. And I tried to explain what vocabulary is but obviously I did not do a good job! You live and learn right? Even as the teacher…

Next week I’ll be leaving class tests for my students to write (take) and notes for them to copy while I travel to Accra. The US Ambassador to Ghana has invited us to his residence (where we swore in) for Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve heard it’s not to be missed and know they ordered turkeys so I’m pretty excited especially since Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Plus it will be great to see friends again! Also I’m itching to travel and take a small break from teaching. I found out yesterday that I get to stay with a host for the 2 nights in Accra! Another volunteer and I will be staying with a woman who works for USAID. In the spirit of thanksgiving here’s my list of what I am currently thankful for: cool mornings & evenings, laughter (especially caused by the Engrish language as I like to call it and TV shows that make me laugh out loud), the internet, sleeping through the night without waking on a firm mattress, the beauty of the place I live (especially the sunsets, stars, and land around the dam), the students & teachers at Gbedema JHS, clean water, letters & packages, friends to share life with, malaria prophylaxis, fans, babies (both those who let me hold them and the ones that I make cry), hot tea, love, ice cream, family in the US and Ghana, holidays, health, peace & quiet, good conversations, electricity, the food available at market, books you can’t put down, smiles, community, TP, albums I can listen to over and over, my house, feeling safe & secure, shady trees, changing seasons, having help (students fetching water, sweeping, washing dishes/clothes for me), a newly filled gas cylinder, learning about balance & simplicity, travel plans, and you. Yes you! Thanks for reading this little blog. I so am thankful to have people to share this journey with. I am a blessed gal indeed. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Part II: Community Love

On Saturday I attended a community meeting with the headmaster. I’d received a letter inviting me earlier in the week from one of the assembly men so I knew I had to attend. When we arrived, I sat on a bench next to a woman but then a teacher from a different school who officiated the meeting told me there was a chair for me. I thought he meant on the front row but he actually intended for me to sit in front of everyone with the assembly men. For some reason I keep trying to blend in here which is next to impossible. I know I should just embrace the attention while it lasts but I definitely don’t want to do anything to gain extra notice! Besides an opening prayer and reading of the beginning of a report in English, the meeting was in Buli. So it turned out to be a huge help that I was sitting next to a chairperson who had the report for me to glance over at. Development issues including construction, roads, education, women and children, health, and more were discussed. During the open forum, I could sometimes catch a keyword that helped me figure out what the opinion being voiced was about. Electricity, dams, boreholes, market, and a lorry stations were some of the topics discussed. Also I would look over at the notes my neighbor was taking too. I liked how the men made sure the women were expressing opinions and also let them go ahead of them in line. After I was introduced at the end of the meeting, I was recruited to give the closing prayer which occurred after I was introduced since some people didn’t know me. One lady ulily noise (think high-pitched squeal but I will have to post audio sometime for you to really understand) when they gave my Buli name after my English name.

Monday was a school holiday here so Alex rode his bicycle to come visit Gbedema. It was his first time besides just dropping by way back in July. He was impressed with my kitchen setup and since he brought eggs and another guy came buy with fresh milk in the morning I made crepes and an apple caramel sauce. We walked to the dam and I showed him the cotton field just beyond. The weather was surprisingly nice with a wonderful breeze coming across the water. It was nice to see my community through someone else’s eyes and gain a new appreciation- it really is a pretty place. I am starting to love it where before I just liked it. I try not to take it for granted and almost every evening I appreciate its beauty while walking or running. On the way back we ran into the headmaster so he took us to a lady’s house which doubles as a spot for Cokes (by which I mean Sprite and Coke). We each had two but still had another social call to make. I’d promised the chief’s wife Asibi the previous day I’d bring the other felika to meet her so we went there next. We were served a water and Pear Alvaro- a super sweet, yummy carbonated fruit beverage. I thought I was going to pop but managed to finish all.

I cannot believe how fast November is passing by, how quickly Thanksgiving is approaching, and how soon the three month at site mark is coming. At the bottom of my blog, you can see the awesome (by which I mean cheesy) countdown I added for Christmas. But it’s really more of a countdown for when my first visitor will come to Ghana a couple of days after the holiday. 47 days and counting!

Part I: Clucky the Chicken

Last week I divided my form 3 class into 8 groups of 6 students to have them come to my house during break time to show them stuff we’ve been learning on my computer. I walk them through a demo of sorts (given my last job this is right up my alley) showing the features of the Windows user interface, uses of the internet, and components of a web browser. Then I ended with fun stuff like a mash up of Thriller and Heads will roll since Michael Jackson is super popular here, a brief intro to the Beatles with All You Need is Love (including showing them my t-shirt with the band and the title of the song), showing them the video of my host nephew Raymond dancing to I Love My Life, and their favorite games. I found out I have a game similar to Memory and then one where you bake a cake and I let them play those to practice their mouse skills.

Friday was a big day. First I bought a hen for 4 cedis (about $2.67) at the market in the morning. She chilled in my house for the day before going to live on a farm where I am hoping she will produce a plethora of eggs for me to eat. I kept forgetting she was there and would freak out every time I walked by. Thus her name is Clucky the chicken. In the afternoon, we had our first health club meeting of the year. I explained the rules of Heads Up, Seven Up to my collaborating teacher Joseph beforehand so we opened the meeting by teaching the students how to play and it was a smashing success. Please let me know what other American games you can think of so I can file them away for future meetings! Next we talked about some current health events including a malaria vaccine that’s being tested and partially funded by the Gates Foundation and a HIV pill that is under development. Prior to the meeting I recruited 3 girls to help mime 3 scenarios regarding hand-washing. Then I used that as a launching point to discuss important facts regarding hand washing. Next I had the students brainstorm other topics they want to learn about since it’s their club. Finally we closed by introducing a question envelope where the students can write down any health question they have anonymously and we’ll answer it in the next meeting. After the meeting, Chris and I set out on bikes to go to Fumbisi since it was market day. I’d been thinking about trying out bicycling there instead of taking the lorries since sometimes I have trouble with claustrophobia. I almost let myself be talked out trying it since a couple of teachers at the quarters expressed concerns because of the heat. But as soon as we left the sun went behind a cloud and with the wind it was a nice ride except for the dust blown up by passing vehicles. I was definitely glistening when we got there since it took about an hour but I really enjoyed the ride. We ran a few errands in town before heading back with several other Gbedema people. It was a nice to get a strong sense of doing as the locals do- I even biked in my Teva sandals though many of the guys were just wearing flip flops. Maybe I will next time! Tomorrow I'll post Part II.

Choose Your Own Gizzard

After mid-week, my schedule is much lighter which is pretty nice. On Friday I spent some time in our school book room organizing the boxes of story books (many of which I’m pretty sure are library rejects) and moving some onto a shelf in the office so students can start checking out books. A few gems I found included James and the Giant Peach, A Wrinkle in Time, a Tommy DePaulo, and a couple of Choose Your Own Adventure books. But otherwise the selection available to the students is quite limited. If I end up working to help setup a computer lab in the community, I’d like for it to be more of a literacy center to promote both book and computer literary. Because I think reading will go much further in helping the students with their futures than using a computer. Also even with a computer lab not all the students would be able to use the computer a time. I am starting to dream about using a projector to teach my lessons. My job would be so much easier if I can actually show the students what I’m talking about. This week I resorted to drawing a computer window on the board to demonstrate the functions of the minimize, maximize, and restore buttons to my form 3 students. While showing a few students Wikipedia for Schools on my laptop one day after school, I found out it has Atlanta, Georgia on it. I proceeded to show them photos of the skyline I love, local homes, my favorite skyscraper, the World of Coke, the Varsity, the Connector, the Capitol, and MARTA. And then I got homesick. Our topic this week in form 1 was mouse skills so I had them work with me individually to practice clicking, double clicking, dragging, scrolling, etc. using my mouse. Most my students had never seen a computer mouse until I showed them one and for majority of them it was their time touching one. Although there was some hesitation and lots of giggles, I hope using a mouse, albeit a disconnected one, helps them understand the different functions.

Now onto some new experiences for the week…Saturday morning I accompanied Chris to the Gbedema market which coincides with the Fumbisi market that happens every 6 days. Sandema and Bolga markets occur every 3 days. Our market mostly consists of men selling animals including goats, chickens, and guinea fowls. He bought 2 chickens, 1 to keep for the eggs and another for meat. I may also buy a chicken soon for eggs so I don’t have to continue transporting them from market weekly. We tied up the meat chicken inside my house to hang out for the day until we were ready for well you know. I had to hold the chicken at one point which I knew was bad news for me considering in the evening’s upcoming activity. A good rule of thumb: do not bond with what will later become your food. Later in the day, I stayed inside while the killing happened but I did witness some of the dying and the defeathering. It was quite the process but we were rewarded with the delicious Ghanaian tomato based dish light soup. I thoroughly enjoyed it though I must confess eating the gizzard was not all that tasty to me. I found it to be too chewy. Also my gumbo this week was actually chicken gumbo instead of just veggie gumbo. All this coming from a girl who doesn’t like touching raw meat back home.

Catching the lorry to Fumbisi to go market proved eventful this week since the Metro Mass (government run) bus coming from Sandema was running behind schedule so failed to stop where I was sitting and waiting with two teachers. All of us waiting had to book it down the road to the ‘station.’ During the running action, I discovered a few things. First of all, I am still afraid of dogs and scream when they chase after me, nipping at my heels. Secondly I am out of shape and need to resume my ‘training.’ Lastly people should listen to me sometimes because I can give good advice. I told one of the other teachers to run but he didn’t listen. Thankfully for me I made it to the bus just in time. Literally the door was closed right after I entered. Unfortunately for him he got left behind in the dust and I later found out that the next transportation option didn’t come for another 3 hours.

I celebrated Halloween by engaging in one of my favorite hobbies: eating. I consumed popcorn with peanut M&Ms, Haribo gummy bears, and Starburst candy. I didn’t have to decorate for the holiday (not that I would’ve back home either) since spiders are frequent guests of mine and bats fly around outside my house nightly. I’m grateful my roof has been bat-proofed since bats are a common housing problem for many Volunteers. I realized just how strange the holiday is when I tried explaining it to my students. Costumes, trick or treating, pumpkin carving, and bonfires are all very foreign to them. I’ll try to do a better job with my explanation of Thanksgiving. As I mentioned in my post last week, there are only two seasons here. So I decided to introduce the concept of our 4 seasons to my form 2 class this week. We talked about leaves changing, bundling up from head to toe for winter weather, snow, and the return of green in the spring. I give impromptu mini-lessons on American culture every so often when we have extra time at the end of class or after they take a test. One skill I haven't yet mastered in my teaching or posting on this blog is finishing strong. I usually just end awkwardly.

Fall, Flour, and Football!

Thursday was the first PTA meeting of the school year which was held during the day. Since I was sick earlier the week I did not find out about it until the day of. Of course it was all in Buli so one of my colleagues translated for me during the first half only because then we both got tired since it lasted 3 hours. Right before the meeting began, the district circuit supervisor (similar to a county office school official in the States) and my headmaster approached me to ask if I was willing to talk about HIV/AIDS with the parents since I’m the health madam. Since it was such late notice I just discussed basic facts about transmission, prevention, and testing while one of the PTA members translated. One common misconception is that HIV can be transmitted via mosquitoes so we fielded a question around that. In the future I’ll want to prepare to go more in-depth with them regarding HIV/AIDS education. Our school health club now has an executive committee and is over 30 members strong so hopefully we will hold the first meeting soon. I want it to be as fun, interactive and student-led as possible so am brainstorming how best to go about it.

As previously mentioned, I am bummed to be missing fall back home since it’s my favorite season. But the seasons are changing here as well from the rainy to the dry season. Those are the two seasons and from what I’ve understood so far each lasts six months. There has been quite a bit of wind here recently and one day last week as I walked to my house a big gust of wind came bringing with it falling yellow leaves from the tree out front. Harmattan, winds from the Sahara, is coming soon which will bring cooler mornings and evening. I am really excited about it and hope I’ll be able to pull out my jeans, sweater, and light fleece I brought but haven’t worn since landing in Ghana. I have also been eating lots of boiled groundnuts since they’re being harvested in abundance plus they remind me of the North Georgia mountains. I hope I don’t get sick of groundnuts between having them raw, roasted, fried, boiled, as paste, ground in soup, and as soup.


Since my flour spoiled (grew mold), I asked my friend who was coming to visit me to pick up some flour for me. It was a bit difficult because we were speaking on the phone and he couldn’t quite get what I was saying so I texted him instead. He brought the flour when he came to visit me and cleared up that in Ghanaian English it’s pronounced differently which probably explains why it’s been hard for me to find when I’ve looked for it at market. So with my new ‘fl-ire’ (that’s the closest spelling I can come up with!) I made breakfast for dinner twice last week. Due to a belated birthday package from the Martz family, I happily consumed Nutella crepes and it was most definitely the best meal I’ve cooked here thus far. It’s one of my favorite foods to cook in America too so that probably helps. Then thanks to one of my lovely sisters, I cooked blueberry pancakes while one of my students watched. She didn’t like the blueberries and started picking them out for me to eat instead so I made her one with the blueberry-less batter left at the end.

Friday was a special day since our school girls and boys football teams had matches against Fumbisi JHS. Unfortunately the lorry that came to transport much of the staff and students couldn’t hold everyone who wanted to go. But at least twice as many people as capacity loaded in the inside of the lorry and many of the boys sat on top which is pretty common here except for the volume of people. Thankfully I got a seat of honor at the front. The evening got off to a great start when we were sitting around before the game started and a baby stranger wanted me to hold him once we arrived in Fumbisi. That almost never happens here! Usually I make babies cry. For example, yesterday I caused double trouble with two babies crying at once. Steph: 2 Babies: 0 or Steph: 0 Babies 2? I’m not sure which… anyways back to football… I was very impressed with my students’ football playing abilities and also had fun watching some of the girl spectators do traditional dances to cheer the players on. Both teams did well with final scores of 0-0. We loaded back in the lorry and set off toward home but then proceeded to break down just a little outside of town. I had to climb out of the lorry since I was sitting up front where they needed to get to in order to fix the lorry. While we were waiting, a truck approached and so I begged for a ride. They stopped and allowed me to get in the backseat with a man and woman while some of the guys piled in the truck bed. I then realized that the woman in the backseat was pregnant. And then I came to find out she was in labor and the vehicle was on the way to the Sandema hospital. I still cannot believe they stopped to give us a ride! I was pretty quiet the rest of the ride home. While I was bathing off all the dirt my body collected during the travel, I heard the lorry roll into Gbedema with all the kids singing merrily. O what a night!

Southern Roots

I gave my first class test in all three classes this week. Form 1’s results were pretty dismal which indicates they’re having a difficult time understand my American English. I am hoping by end of the first term in December it will be easier for them to ‘get’ me. I am also going to issue textbooks (which isn’t always done) to the students for them to take home and read and do homework out of. My pace of covering material has been slow already so I don’t think I can go much slower but probably need to be more creative in my explanation of computers. Especially since most of my students haven’t ever seen one, which is one of the main challenges I’m facing as I’ve previously mentioned. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that two of my students in my Form 1 class have computers at their houses. The textbooks came with an educational CD which these two students helped me remove and the boy asked if we should just leave them so people can use them if they have computers. My response was we could just give them to the students who needed him- so then he and the girl each took one. Besides the challenges of the language barrier and teaching ICT without computers, the large class sizes are also difficult to manage because of marking (grading) papers, controlling their behavior, and learning names. My form 2 and 3 students did much better on their tests so that made me happy and less worried that they aren’t understanding me.

Some of my form 3 students really want computer lessons so I’ve agreed to let them come by on the weekends. Unfortunately with my travels the past two weekends we have yet to begin. I did give my friend and fellow teacher Chris a short lesson one day on the internet and email during which we found out that if you yahoo (doesn’t quite have the same ring as google- but that’s what I use with my browser here) Gbedema Upper East Region my blog is listed 5th. This week Chris helped me distribute and post some Operation Smile posters since they’re coming to Ghana in December and Peace Corps is helping support them in their efforts.

Earlier in the week I made fried green tomatoes which I don’t think I’ve ever cooked in the States. The other teacher’s quarters has a garden behind it growing green bell peppers, tons of tomatoes, and some local vegetables. I was inspired to make fried green tomatoes since I’m Southern and all. They turned out pretty well and I ate them with a vegetable plate of Dijonnaise (whatever that means) green beans and stewed okra and tomatoes. There were definitely tasty but I did get sick the next day, ironically when there was a representative from the district health services office came to the school to meet with the students. Well done job Health Madam- way to take care of yourself! Anyways I’m all better now but the fried green tomatoes were probably won’t be happening again for a while. Back to the veggies, there’s a ton of okra here so I’ve made gumbo a few times and okra and tomatoes cooked in the skillet. Speaking of okra, it’s one of the staple vegetables here but a lot of Volunteers can’t get over the mucous-y texture. I’m glad I’m Southern and grew up eating okra. My sister reminded me of one summer where we had an abundance of okra in our garden until we were sick of okra. I hope that doesn’t happen to me here since it’s one of the few familiar green veggies I can get consistently. So if you come across any fabulous okra recipes please send them my way!

I cannot believe it’s already over halfway through October but I am definitely feeling more settled in. I’m not feel so exhausted all the time and don’t feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster as much. As I’ve mentioned before, the highs are really high and the lows very low during cross-cultural adjustment and perhaps living in its entirety. If you’re wondering how you can pray for me, the challenges I mentioned in the classroom is a good place to start. Also I’ve been experiencing some anxiety and panicky feelings when I am in very crowded cars with a low ‘ceiling’ (much more so than the photo but you can get an idea of what types of cars are available). It’s a very specific case and thankfully I really only have to worry about it on the weekends but it’s still a struggle I am facing here. I was always slightly claustrophobic in America (elevators aren’t my favorite) but never had it pushed to the limit like it has been here. Thanks for keeping up with my blog and enjoy the lovely autumn weather and festivities!

Mi Biisa

I love all the kiddos in my village who come hang out on my front porch and entertain me. Sometimes they're waiting for me when I arrive home from school to which I usually exclaim 'Mi biisa!' which means my children (I think) in Buli. I also blow bubbles, snap photos of them (which they get a huge kick out of), and play games. I uploaded a new album to facebook today most of which are the photos of the kids.

Two neighbor boys Kofi and Awombisi come around often and when we have nothing else to do Awombisi and I like to whistle together. He's my whistling buddy. Check it out:


As you've seen from the old post of my host nephew dancing, kids are amazingly good dancers here. I recorded a quick video of two sisters Edna and Ama dancing and singing. They pass my house on a daily basis on their way to the borehole and occasionally stop by to hang out for a while:

Goldilocks

In case you’re wondering, the temperature last week has been the hottest here thus far. One night I couldn’t go to sleep because of the heat and looked at my clock where I discovered it was 90 degrees. I guess that’s my limit. When people found out I didn’t have fans in my house yet, they would say ‘You are suffering-oh!’ As such I finally bought a stand fan when I was in Bolga over the weekend for a meeting with all the Upper East volunteers. Hope you enjoy the silly photo I had one of my students snapped of me with my brand new contraption. I can now be a walking advertisement for the brand Binatone when I go shopping in the market with my shiny reusable bag. I went to Bolga for a meeting with all Upper East volunteers (there are 7 of us total) and was great to see everyone and compare notes on our first month at site as well as to help each other out with ideas. Some of the natural resource management volunteers end up teaching and education volunteers often work on health projects so it’s nice to have resources.

I also spent the rest of my settling in allowance on a new mattress since I had means to transport it back to my house (Alex and I caught a ride back with his headmistress in a pickup truck). The Latex Foam one I was given was too soft. But now my new Ash Foam (who’s slogan by the way is partner for life- guess it’s gotta come back with me to the US) high density mattress is too hard. I am hoping it will break in overtime so that like Goldilocks it will be just right. Once I realized I am Goldilocks, I told the story to my friend Chris and then again today to my form 3 class at the end of the lesson. I was asking my students if the pace of my class was too fast. To which most answered no and a few said yes. Too slow? No. Just right? Yes! So again it reminded me of Goldilocks; some of the girls especially were giggling so I guess I did an ok job storytelling. Some of my girl students were reading Alice in Wonderland during PE time Friday (my kind of girls) so I told them it was a wonderful book and full of nonsense. I sat with them working while they were reading and one girl laughed aloud to the part where the rabbit says ‘I’m late for a very important date.’ I then launched into an explanation of Disney movies specifically Alice in Wonderland so I could sing ‘I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!’ for them. Again this elicited laughter so that made me pretty happy.

Continuing with the theme of girl’s names, I have many names here so it can get rather interesting. I am Akosua in the Eastern region which is Sunday born in Twi, Stephanie if people want my English name but the pronunciation is rather difficult, Madam Carey at school, Laadi to the kids (it’s Hauser for Sunday born), and my newest name is Awenle in Buli. It means God’s daughter but for the longest time I thought it meant God’s doctor because I misunderstood the Ghanaian English. I didn’t really understand why God needs a doctor or why I of all people would fit that role so this makes so much more sense to me now!

This Friday will be the first quiz (think quiz bowl or trivia) for our compounds or houses. Besides the quizzes, each house is assigned a section of the school compound that they are in charge of cleaning and wedding each morning before school starts. Houses will compete in the quizzes, cleaning, and other games including sports. Last Friday students were divided into their 4 groups. One of our discussion points in our staff meeting was around naming the houses. Since there are 4 houses I desperately wanted to suggest the names of the houses from Harry Potter like any good fan would but I knew it would take too long to explain what I was talking about. So instead they are local names: Agbera , Aparinchaang, Azantilow, and Nkrumah. I don’t think I mentioned before that Buli surnames all start with A, which means almost all my students last names start with A. Since formal education was established in Ghana by the British, their educational system has left its mark including the designation of school prefects. There are many prefects including ones for each form, ones for the entire school, and even a health prefect to assist in my health madam duties. So as my good friend said, ‘You are living Harry Potter without the magic!’ Which reminds me, people think I'm magical when I shuffle (or box) cards which is pretty hilarious. Back to Harry Potter, I plan to borrow the first few books from the Tamale sub-office when I go there this weekend for a vaccine. One of my students and some of the teachers want to read it. I hope to upload a few videos this weekend when I have access to high speed internet!

As promised, here’s a photo of the inside of my latrine. Whenever I travel it makes me appreciate the access I have to my latrine when I’m in my community which is most of the time. For example, on the way back from Bolga this weekend I really had to go to the bathroom when we stopped by the hospital for madam to visit a friend in the maternity ward. I was told the toilets at the hospital were only for patients so I ventured outside and wandered toward the back of the hospital. Thankfully a kid asked me where I was going and I said I was trying to find a toilet. She then took me to her house (the nurse’s quarters are right next to the hospital) which had a real toilet and toilet paper! Usually when I go to Sandema for market I end up urinating (as it is referred to) in people’s outdoor washrooms. It’s pretty common for people not to have a place dedicated to relieving yourself but isn’t something I think I’ll ever adjust to. Speaking of adjusting, I feel pretty settled in here and in the routine of school. That's all I've got for now folks...

Madam

As the ICT (Information and Communication Technology or Computers as I like to call it) ‘madam’ at my school, I feel compelled to use technology to show my students how it can make life easier. So to aid in my effort to learn the names of my students, I had them fill out an index card with information about themselves (name, age, favorite subject, what job they want in the future, etc.). Then I had them line up outside in groups of 5 or so and took their photo. In the photo you see 5 of my form 3 (equivalent to 8th grade) students who all want to be teachers when they grow up. I’ll be introducing you to more students from time to time. Some of the most common names of my students include Gifty, Daniel, Abigail, and Robert. I have around 60 form 1 students, 75 in form 2, and 50 in form 3. They are still adjusting to my American English and I continuously find myself at a loss for words because the word my brain is telling me to say would mean nothing to them. So when new vocabulary words arise I do a little mini-English lesson. For example, last week in the form 3 class I ran into a desk. To which all my students exclaimed ‘Sorry Madam!’ I laughed at myself which then gave them permission to laugh at me as well. I took the opportunity to explain what clumsy means.

In other school news, we had our first staff meeting on Monday. One of the main topics was sharing of responsibilities and duties. Somehow I ended up being the secretary for the meeting and will be for subsequent meetings as well which should not be a big burden since staff meetings occur only occasionally. I am also the ‘Health Madam.’ I didn’t really know what this job entailed when I signed up for but I soon found out I (with the help of my assistant) am expected to run the health club and work on initiatives set forth by the district education office including having a pit for burning rubbish (trash), hand-washing station, students bring separate cups for drinking water, and latrines (currently the student use the public ones some distance from the school). All are worthy projects and I think it worked out well for me to take on this role since I hope to work on some health issues in the community including HIV/AIDS and malaria education. Also our timetable (schedule) was reset and now I am not teaching on Fridays. I will still go to school most Fridays but I am glad to have flexibility to do other things if I need it.

Over the weekend I went to Sandema on Saturday for market. My day was spent at market buying my food for the week and also eating way too much Ghanaian food (I had rice and beans for breakfast- does that count for being fully integrated?). I also visited the hospital with my friend Adam who works as a nurse there. It was a good reminder of why I am not working in the medical field- I can’t handle the smells and sights. The vomit, blood, wounds, etc. are not my cup of tea. But I did dispense smiles to patients as they were receiving medicine. I have so much admiration and respect for nurses and doctors everywhere. Side note: Many of my students aspire to be nurses and doctors and I’ve been thinking it would be good to have professionals come talk to them about their jobs… so if I can figure out a way to incorporate that into my lessons I want to try to make that happen. Back on track: After being productive shopping, eating, and visiting the hospital, it was entertainment time. I have replaced watching American football (not that I did it that much in the States) with watching football here. Adam is a Liverpool fan and is determined to convert me from my current team Manchester United. I like Man U because my host brother follows them and also I had their poster in my room at homestay so it just felt right. I will have to make my final decision soon because Liverpool will face Manchester United next weekend. Next I watched the nurses from the hospital play the teachers from one of the high schools. During the middle of the game a goat walked right through the middle of the field. I don’t think anyone noticed besides me.


I’ve had lots of questions about latrines recently so I thought I would describe mine to you. I have two and in each one there are two holes. Now at my homestay family you could actually sit (though I usually hovered you’ll understand why in a minute) and there was a toilet seat. To use my latrine, I must squat and though I have a piece of wood I have set aside to cover the holes I am usually lazy and don’t do it. Thankfully toilet paper can be bought here so I make sure that is on my shopping list. That luxury is well worth the 60-70 pesewas (~40-47 cents) I spend on a new roll each week. A few latrine stories… at homestay cockroaches loved the latrine so quite often I would yell when I discovered them which is my typical response really. One particular morning I went outside and unfortunately didn’t notice the odor of insecticide. So when I opened the lid at least 4 were crawling out of the latrine so of course I screamed and my host brother came the rescue. He would always tell me ‘Don’t be afraid’ but would then kill them for me. Last week here at my house I went outside to use the latrine before bedtime wearing my headlamp since I hadn’t bought a light bulb for that spot yet. A frog happened to be in there that I couldn’t see and proceeded to freak out and hop all over the place including bumping into my legs. Needless to say I bought a light bulb at market over the weekend since that ‘prince’ scared me! I plan to take a photo of the inside of the latrine for you to see but every time I think of it there are kids and students in my ‘back yard’ playing volleyball and football. And that would just be awkward… ‘why is that strange white lady snapping a photo of THAT?’ So please stay tuned for the exciting picture and also leave a comment if you have any burning questions about my life here in Ghana!

Amelia Bedelia of Africa

I want to regal you with some stories I told to my sister on the phone Saturday to which she dubbed me the Amelia Bedelia of Africa. It is kind of true. First I was sweeping in my living room which is a necessary chore daily since bugs are attracted to my lights at night but then die by morning. Usually one of the girl students helps me but since they don’t always come on the weekend I decided to do it myself (novel idea). Well, I picked up a basket on the floor to move it and much to my dismay a bunch of ants scattered. I proceeded to get my can of Read A Dream Insecticide to kill them but when I sprayed a whole colony of ants evacuated the hole under a window in which they had been residing. So I went to move the curtain in order to open the window and which point one of the ants climbing on my drapes bit me. In the midst of all this chaos (and me standing there helplessly), one of the students Felicity walked into to save the day. Or at least my hands from more bites… She was quite calm and collected despite my opposite demeanor.

Once we got the bug situation under control and swept the deceased ants out of the house, I walked to the store with the freezer and bought us old juice boxes as a treat after our hard work. Later the same day, a massive storm rolled in bringing dark skies, strong winds, and a sideways downpour. Felicity and I were contentedly relaxing and reading on my mat (currently I only own one chair). But once the rain started I realized the water was coming in through the gap at the bottom of my back door and a window in the second bedroom so we both jumped up to sweep it out. My floors aren’t fancy so it’s not a big deal that water entered my house but it was discouraging to find out my house is neither insect nor waterproof.

Sunday I was lazy getting out of bed so missed the early bus to Sandema to go do my shopping for the week at the market. I paid dearly for my laziness- by waiting for the next bus for 4 hours. Yes 4 hours. Thankfully I am learning to have greater patience plus always bring a book with me to pass the time. Plus I had the chance to spend time conversing, playing games, and taking phone photos with some of the kids and women. It was definitely worthwhile to be able to eat out, have ice cream, and discover some ‘finds’ in the market. Simple items like an apple, green onions, a cucumber, and lemons (taste more like limes though) are exciting and bring much needed variety into my diet.

I’m so thankful that the students and kids are eager to assist me. One of the ways they help is by fetching water which is another common chore here. I’ve had a lot of questions about my water source so thought I’d end my post this week with a couple of photos. My water comes from a hand pump borehole of which there are several in my community but the closest one can be seen from the front porch of my house. Water is collected in buckets or jerry cans and carried on one’s head with a scarf or piece of cloth providing padding.

I have a water filter that I use for my drinking water and then I use the unfiltered water for bathing, washing dishes, and cooking. There is usually a mad rush to the borehole just before the sun goes down and it’s also a social activity as well for those congregating. In the mornings I’ve started boiling extra water besides what I need to my breakfast tea so I can take a warm/hot bucket bath. It’s nice because it makes me feel cleans and the cold water makes me chilly in the mornings. It still amazes me that I am able to clean my hair and myself with just one bucket of water. Maybe I’ll continue bucket bathing in America…