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...