Ghana

Ghana: a country on the coast of West Africa, where i will be living for the next 27 months or so....

Saturday, October 1, 2011

4 months in Africa, and i still am not tan......

Welcome! I have now been at site for almost a month now and things have become much better; i am not nearly as bored as i once was.....Thank god! just to put it into perspective, i have read 8 books, in three weeks, oy! but i have learned many things about many people, like how china hates Tibet, and nelson Mandela was one amazing guy, and that one should never be friends with a zombi! There are some things that i struggling with in Ghana because of the way that i was raised in America. I have found that i do not like sharing my food, i am very selfish and want it all to myself, where in Ghana you must invite all of those that are around you to eat, when eating, it is only polite; i have not been very good about that. I need to learn not to be selfish with my food, which amazes me that i am since we in America have so much food and dont share very often, but here in Ghana, where many dont have enough money to live, will gladly give you any and all of the food they have, to help you out. Shame America, we need to learn from Ghana, and go back to our kindergartner roots, and learn to share better.
Speaking of kindergartner (KG), I am soon going to be teaching at my villages primary school in the kg class. I know, crazy right? but they need me something bad, cause right now there are 55 children in one class, ranging in ages 3-7 with only one teacher (i have no idea how this women does it), so they want to split the class, and give me the older kids to teach. Im sure you have now thought...."tess, do these kids even speak english?" and i will tell you, Nope, they dont! So, i am unsure as to how it is going to work since i only know small small Ewe (the local language that they speak) and they only know small small english, but i think with some time, we can learn to understand each other better. I am unsure as to how things will go, but i am positive that whatever happens, that i will get a lot out of it, as well as the kids getting a lot out of it.
Since i am now living on my own, i have been cooking for myself 3 times a day and boy, have i become very inventive with what i am now using, cause its all that i can get! the things i can now do with green peppers, carrots and cabbage is amazing!!!!
I am learning many things about myself while in Ghana. this is the first time that i have ever lived by myself, and it has taken some time to get used to it, since as many of u may know, i like to socialize and be around people! I am very fortunate to have people around me that speak english very well and know many things about America and Americans. there is one guy named Omar, and he is teaching me about Muslims and their faith, since i knew NOTHING about it at all.  It has been very enlightening to get his take on the world and we have many lively discussions about human nature.
Next week, i am going into Kumasi which is one of the largest towns in Ghana for a meeting with all of my fellow volunteers that live in the Eastern region. I am Super excited for three reason: 1. i get to travel  2. I am getting my bike 3. I am getting a kitten!!!!!!! 4. I get to eat yummy food ( i know i said three, but i forgot about awesome food....) I am so super excited about getting a kitten!!!! I already sound like a crazy person to many people, because i have named certain animals that i see everyday (like Chester, the no tail rooster, and penny, the doting chicken mother) these are the things that are occupying my time.
I am prepping for many things to do in the upcoming months in my community (other than naming the animals that i see around town) like a fire education class for the community, and an environmental club for the students. I am also going to try and set up a bee keeping group and to get my community to utilize the Shea trees that they have in their area.
Well, untill next time, that is most of what has been going on in my life and in my head!

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