Where the Smile Lingers

Last week was our in-service training (IST) with our counterparts in Kumasi at the Wadoma Royale Hotel, which turned out to be owned by my headmaster’s relative from Gbedema funny enough. The slogan of the hotel is where the smile lingers. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it but do have other funny English-isms to share. My notebook I was given to take notes in during the training has photos of people playing football (soccer) and some inspirational wordage include ‘If our bodies are not strong, our spirit to do things will certainly be quite dull. And at the same time, we are lack of energy (ies) to study. Diseases will only attack the weak, but not the strong (really?!?).’ Also I did take a photo of a cigarette stand named Corruption which cracks me up and a food stall named STOMACH Has No Holiday (so true!). I want to do a blog post soon on Ghanaian English- I'm coming.

Back to the training…we had four days of sessions on topics including grant writing, secondary projects (especially concerning food security and HIV/AIDS), West African Examination Council (WAEC) exams given at the end of JHS and SHS, and some new Peace Corps initiatives. One of the best parts for me was just to sit down with other JHS to ‘share our experiences.’ It was helpful to realize that many people are facing similar challenges and it was great listening to solutions that worked to overcome these problems and also to brainstorm ideas too. Plus it was fun to see everyone again and be together as our Education training group once again and for the last time really. We’ll see each other in the future but not as a separate group.

School opened (began) last week when we were in training but teaching is slowly beginning this week. So now it’s time to get back in the rhythm of teaching before tackling all the ideas I have for the new year here! At times here redefining success is pretty essential. Like today I held 3 happy, smiling babies and I’d say that’s an accomplishment. First if people are trust you to hold their baby then that’s a good sign and secondly if the baby doesn’t cry from fright then hurrah. I hope everyone’s 2012 is getting off to a great start!