I’ll start this post with the good news that I passed my Buli language interview that I took on Wednesday! I got an Intermediate-Mid which is what most people get so I definitely have room to improve which should happen in the next 2 years. I hope to get a language tutor to continue learning more in a classroom setting but I think just speaking Buli all the time will help so much.
We also had cultural presentations this week. My group chose the annual harvest festival in my district and besides talking about it showed photos and a video of traditional dancing. It’s held the second week of December so I’ll post more details about it once I get to experience it in person. Otherwise we were wrapping up training with a few sessions, practicing our dance for swearing in, and saying our goodbyes to our homestay family.
One session this week was on mental health and preparing us for the challenges of site. We had to do a creative group presentation on a problem we might face during our time here in Ghana and possible solutions. My group did a musical ski about Ghanaians asking us to help get visas to America. Prizes from America were at stake here so quickly came up with the following. Scene 1 consisted of informal situation where a passerby on the street asked to be taken to America to which I responded with my suitcase reply (‘You can come to America if you can fit in the suitcase I will take on the plane.’) Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane. Then in Scene 2, we had the American telling the Ghanaian how not everything in America is free (Song: America from West Side Story), life can be hard there (Song: It’s a Hard Knock Life from Annie which ended up being hilarious because of how high pitched we had to get while we were singing), and advising him to try to be satisfied with what he has (Song: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction to which all the trainees joined in singing with us by the end). We ended up getting first place and were rewarded with 2 Oreos each.
As ready as I am to finish training and be sworn in as a full-fledged volunteer Tuesday, it is bittersweet to leave my home stay family. I’m excited and nervous about going to site but know I will miss my family I have come to think of as just that. I will also miss my fellow trainees and almost volunteers since after swearing in we will be scattered in all 10 regions of Ghana. But I take comfort that I have a few people nearby and that we will all see each other again at Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow bright and early 69 trainees leave our training site to journey to Accra on our way to becoming volunteers! The next time I post I will be a volunteer…
No comments:
Post a Comment