First off, sorry it has taken me so long to update! Time flies when it is so hot you have no perception of time… I just wanted to write a short recap of the past couple of months. I will write more detailed posts soon, i promise. So first, I got two puppies…Smart decision, right? No, they are really cute and make my days very entertaining. I got them from my friends site who knew a family that was selling. I originally wanted to only get one and had him for a couple of days or so. I named him Cricket and he is just a black, white and tan little bundle of joy. Then i heard that he had a sister and i thought that he might need a buddy since i might be gone for long periods of time and such. So i got her and so named her Bamboo. Don't ask me why these names…I just like them, k? The ghanaians always look at me funny when they ask me what their names are. For cricket they say something along the lines of "but that is not a name, it is a small insect, oh why?". Why? because its from one of my favorite shows, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and his full name is Rickety Cricket. But i cant explain that now can I? So they have been keeping me mucho occupied.
Also this month we had our annual All Volunteer conference. Everyone came to the Volta region (convenient for me) and we had a four day long party…I mean…invigorating learning experience :) No it was great, i got to see everyone again some that i hadnt seen since swearing in and we had some great meetings involving HIV/AIDS outreach and awareness and what we can do to help spread the word in our communities. We stayed at a nice hotel and there was even hot showers, A/C and a swimming pool. Kinda wish it wasn't just once a year but after four days people were ready to get back to site and i was anxious to get back to my pups.
The new training group will be coming in less than a month and im excited to meet them. We have been chatting with them through a facebook group and giving them tips and advice on what to bring, what to expect, etc. Its nice to see how excited they are and remember how i felt a year ago getting ready to embark on this life-changing journey. They are like freshman. Us now being like sophomores and the group that will be COSing (close of service) are our seniors. Its strange to think of it that way buts thats really how we feel. Even if people in the group a year ahead of me are younger than me, they still feel older. And the new group is coming at a really exciting time, Peace Corps is celebrating its 50th year (Ghana being the first country to ever has PCV's! cool, huh?) and there will be lots of events and fun things going on when they swear-in come this August.
Okey dokey, i will update with a long post soon. In the meantime i will be getting ready and excited for my trip to South Africa in 2 months! Lions and cheetahs and wine country here i come!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
I can see clearly now!
Rain has come!
We are finally out of the dry season and the sweet rain clouds have now replaced the mega dust cloud that plagued me for a good 2 and a half months. The Harmattan season(dry), in my mind, has no good qualities what-so-ever. It was dry and dusty and hot hot hot. Not even the very short 2 weeks where it was actually pleasantly chilly at night and i did not need a fan can redeem it. It was stupid.
Well I feel better. Its good to vent, huh? Anywho, I am on a break from school right now. Im not sure why but the students have break the entire month of February and i don't have to teach the older students like i thought i did. So yay, mini-vacay! The first week was great, I started this new fitness video program i got from a friend called P90X and was happy to have the free time to begin a steady regime. it felt pretty great exercising and biking with no other commitments needed of me. And then (but of course!) disaster strikes. MALARIA. EEK! Well… it was never a confirmed diagnosis by the Peace Corps medical officer because i did a shoddy job of sending in my blood work. It did make for an interesting afternoon of trying to stab myself with a needle and make some messy blood slides, the other PCV's who were around got a kick out of it (all out of love, of course). But It was pretty much the crappiest i have ever felt over a 5 day period. It started with fever and the chills and then the aches and pains and constant headaches. At first i thought it might be just a bad case of the flu, which i thought was weird because i have gotten 2 flu shots within the past 8 months. By the 4th day when my fever shot up to around 104F i thought it would be a good idea to call the med officer and take my anti-malarial's. We are given malaria prophylaxis to take while here but i am on the daily dosage and, to be honest, i was not very good at taking mine everyday. I know, I know. It was pretty stupid. but I am better now and have switched to the weekly prophylaxis just to be safe. The bad thing about the weekly ones though is that it gives you these crazy lucid dreams. Which are scary but eh, better than having malaria again, right? The anti-malarial's are what we take if we think we might have contracted malaria and within 2 days of taking it i was already feeling a whole lot better. Its sad to think of, but most of the ghanaians here just live with malaria until it goes out of their system. It is not the easiest to get or afford anti-malarial medication. When someone contracts malaria, and it is not treated, they have these "flare-ups" where every other day or couple of days the fever shoots up and you suffer from headaches and achy muscles and joints. I cant imagine going on months with an illness like that. It totally drains all of the energy out of you.But the illness is gone and I think I am back to 100% :)
During the break I was also able to venture down south for valentines weekend and stay at a small resort like place along the volta river. It was a nice little retreat where we could relax, swim and enjoy the quiet. The hustle and bustle of traveling and sometimes even walking around your own village can be taxing when you are treated like some Zoo attraction. When i first got to site, I used to jog around campus and do workouts on the college field down the road from my house but that quickly halted when kids would just stare at me or scream "OBRUNI!" at me as loud as they could until i would get fed up and head back home. Older ghanaians are great to interact with and share things with but the kids here are just shameless. They will just sit there and shout at you as long as they can or come up to you and say something along the lines of " give me money" or " obruni, buy me this". I know that they are not totally to blame. I have to blame the stupid foreigners who come over for short periods of time and just throw money around to villages and communities and think they are "making a difference". Good intentions do not always correlate with good executions. Its just frustrating at times when you are trying to integrate with your village but realize sooner rather than later that you have been pinned "the rich white lady" who can solve all their problems. But that is why i have come, right? Im going to squash those stereotypes and build strong lasting relationships here, Damnit!
We are finally out of the dry season and the sweet rain clouds have now replaced the mega dust cloud that plagued me for a good 2 and a half months. The Harmattan season(dry), in my mind, has no good qualities what-so-ever. It was dry and dusty and hot hot hot. Not even the very short 2 weeks where it was actually pleasantly chilly at night and i did not need a fan can redeem it. It was stupid.
Well I feel better. Its good to vent, huh? Anywho, I am on a break from school right now. Im not sure why but the students have break the entire month of February and i don't have to teach the older students like i thought i did. So yay, mini-vacay! The first week was great, I started this new fitness video program i got from a friend called P90X and was happy to have the free time to begin a steady regime. it felt pretty great exercising and biking with no other commitments needed of me. And then (but of course!) disaster strikes. MALARIA. EEK! Well… it was never a confirmed diagnosis by the Peace Corps medical officer because i did a shoddy job of sending in my blood work. It did make for an interesting afternoon of trying to stab myself with a needle and make some messy blood slides, the other PCV's who were around got a kick out of it (all out of love, of course). But It was pretty much the crappiest i have ever felt over a 5 day period. It started with fever and the chills and then the aches and pains and constant headaches. At first i thought it might be just a bad case of the flu, which i thought was weird because i have gotten 2 flu shots within the past 8 months. By the 4th day when my fever shot up to around 104F i thought it would be a good idea to call the med officer and take my anti-malarial's. We are given malaria prophylaxis to take while here but i am on the daily dosage and, to be honest, i was not very good at taking mine everyday. I know, I know. It was pretty stupid. but I am better now and have switched to the weekly prophylaxis just to be safe. The bad thing about the weekly ones though is that it gives you these crazy lucid dreams. Which are scary but eh, better than having malaria again, right? The anti-malarial's are what we take if we think we might have contracted malaria and within 2 days of taking it i was already feeling a whole lot better. Its sad to think of, but most of the ghanaians here just live with malaria until it goes out of their system. It is not the easiest to get or afford anti-malarial medication. When someone contracts malaria, and it is not treated, they have these "flare-ups" where every other day or couple of days the fever shoots up and you suffer from headaches and achy muscles and joints. I cant imagine going on months with an illness like that. It totally drains all of the energy out of you.But the illness is gone and I think I am back to 100% :)
During the break I was also able to venture down south for valentines weekend and stay at a small resort like place along the volta river. It was a nice little retreat where we could relax, swim and enjoy the quiet. The hustle and bustle of traveling and sometimes even walking around your own village can be taxing when you are treated like some Zoo attraction. When i first got to site, I used to jog around campus and do workouts on the college field down the road from my house but that quickly halted when kids would just stare at me or scream "OBRUNI!" at me as loud as they could until i would get fed up and head back home. Older ghanaians are great to interact with and share things with but the kids here are just shameless. They will just sit there and shout at you as long as they can or come up to you and say something along the lines of " give me money" or " obruni, buy me this". I know that they are not totally to blame. I have to blame the stupid foreigners who come over for short periods of time and just throw money around to villages and communities and think they are "making a difference". Good intentions do not always correlate with good executions. Its just frustrating at times when you are trying to integrate with your village but realize sooner rather than later that you have been pinned "the rich white lady" who can solve all their problems. But that is why i have come, right? Im going to squash those stereotypes and build strong lasting relationships here, Damnit!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
It's Ghana be a Merry Christmas and Dusty New Year
Merry Christmas All!
Sorry it has been so long since i have posted, it has been a busy holiday season for me here. Which i suppose is good because it kept my mind off missing christmas time back home.
My regular students semester ended on December 17th and we had a great christmas celebration and matriculation ceremony where we welcomed the first years officially as new students. If you have facebook, i put an album up on my profile if you would like to see pictures. Putting up pictures here is very slow in comparison. It was lovely though, we had the choir sing christmas carols, hundreds of presents that were given out and even a faux christmas tree! It was a nice time and i think everyone was in the mood for some end of the first semester holiday cheer.
After the regular students vacated, a new group of students came in called UTDBE(Untrained Teachers degree in basic education). They are all teachers in various locations in Ghana teaching at the primary to SHS levels but who don't have a certificate in teaching yet. I think it is great that they want to further their education and have as much knowledge as they can about the subject they are teaching as well as other subjects. But unfortunately i didn't know that there would be 800 of them i would be teaching! Compared to my small number of regular students(about 250 split up into 6 different classes) my first day of teaching a class of 200-300 was a little overwhelming. Luckily my two counterparts in ICT were there to help me out and we shared the course-load by team teaching. These students were a lot harder to teach though. They have been coming in-between regular semesters for about 2-3 years now and we still had to go over basic computer information with them at the very start….which makes for a very long day when you are starting from square one. So basically we had 3 weeks to prepare them for their exam which would be administered by The University of Cape Coast down in southern Ghana. My days consisted of waking up by 6am, eating a small breakfast and being ready for class by 7-7:30 then i would teach until about 9, have a break until 10 the teach again until 1, have another hour break then continuing teaching until 5pm. Such a long day! It was exhausting and i could tell i was getting burned out. Fortunately christmas came around and i was planning to leave for a two day excursion to the beach in southern volta. A bunch of other PCV's and I went down to a small beach community where my counterpart was from and who so graciously offered us his house for the weekend. My ever thoughtful mother sent me, weeks in advance, a miniature christmas tree complete with ornaments and battery operated lights(Thanks Mommy!) and we set that up on christmas eve awaiting santa to put presents under it for christmas day. And he did!(well you know what i mean) We got out christmas care packages from friends and family and were able to do some actual present opening while listening to christmas music on christmas morning. It certainly made my day and made me not so sad that i wouldn't be home for x-mas, my favorite time of year. We had a great couple of days on the beach and then i headed back to site to continue teaching. It was a lot of the other PCV's vacations since their students were out on holiday as well, so some stayed at the beach longer and some travelled around to other places in Ghana site-seeing. Although i do not have the regular semester breaks off like i thought, i still have the whole summer off where i can do some traveling and site-seeing as well.
So now the untrained teachers are packed up and ready to go and i am awaiting the regular students back on monday. I am excited to have them back and fall into my regular schedule again. Hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and a great new year!
Some resolutions in 2011:
Run the half-marathon in Ghana
Build a Health clinic in nearby village that needs it
Visit Dogon country in Mali
Integrate with my community more!
Happy 2011! Love, peace and happiness in the new year!
Sorry it has been so long since i have posted, it has been a busy holiday season for me here. Which i suppose is good because it kept my mind off missing christmas time back home.
My regular students semester ended on December 17th and we had a great christmas celebration and matriculation ceremony where we welcomed the first years officially as new students. If you have facebook, i put an album up on my profile if you would like to see pictures. Putting up pictures here is very slow in comparison. It was lovely though, we had the choir sing christmas carols, hundreds of presents that were given out and even a faux christmas tree! It was a nice time and i think everyone was in the mood for some end of the first semester holiday cheer.
After the regular students vacated, a new group of students came in called UTDBE(Untrained Teachers degree in basic education). They are all teachers in various locations in Ghana teaching at the primary to SHS levels but who don't have a certificate in teaching yet. I think it is great that they want to further their education and have as much knowledge as they can about the subject they are teaching as well as other subjects. But unfortunately i didn't know that there would be 800 of them i would be teaching! Compared to my small number of regular students(about 250 split up into 6 different classes) my first day of teaching a class of 200-300 was a little overwhelming. Luckily my two counterparts in ICT were there to help me out and we shared the course-load by team teaching. These students were a lot harder to teach though. They have been coming in-between regular semesters for about 2-3 years now and we still had to go over basic computer information with them at the very start….which makes for a very long day when you are starting from square one. So basically we had 3 weeks to prepare them for their exam which would be administered by The University of Cape Coast down in southern Ghana. My days consisted of waking up by 6am, eating a small breakfast and being ready for class by 7-7:30 then i would teach until about 9, have a break until 10 the teach again until 1, have another hour break then continuing teaching until 5pm. Such a long day! It was exhausting and i could tell i was getting burned out. Fortunately christmas came around and i was planning to leave for a two day excursion to the beach in southern volta. A bunch of other PCV's and I went down to a small beach community where my counterpart was from and who so graciously offered us his house for the weekend. My ever thoughtful mother sent me, weeks in advance, a miniature christmas tree complete with ornaments and battery operated lights(Thanks Mommy!) and we set that up on christmas eve awaiting santa to put presents under it for christmas day. And he did!(well you know what i mean) We got out christmas care packages from friends and family and were able to do some actual present opening while listening to christmas music on christmas morning. It certainly made my day and made me not so sad that i wouldn't be home for x-mas, my favorite time of year. We had a great couple of days on the beach and then i headed back to site to continue teaching. It was a lot of the other PCV's vacations since their students were out on holiday as well, so some stayed at the beach longer and some travelled around to other places in Ghana site-seeing. Although i do not have the regular semester breaks off like i thought, i still have the whole summer off where i can do some traveling and site-seeing as well.
So now the untrained teachers are packed up and ready to go and i am awaiting the regular students back on monday. I am excited to have them back and fall into my regular schedule again. Hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and a great new year!
Some resolutions in 2011:
Run the half-marathon in Ghana
Build a Health clinic in nearby village that needs it
Visit Dogon country in Mali
Integrate with my community more!
Happy 2011! Love, peace and happiness in the new year!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Some Ghanaian English
I thought i would take a moment and teach you some Ghanaian english. English is actually the official language here in Ghana but the dialect, as you could well infer, is very different. In order to teach my students I had to pick up these differences in the language and use them. so naturally when i return home to the states people will probably look at me weird when i pronouce everything that ends in an -er with an -a ending and i hiss and start a lot of sentences with the word "Oh!"
Some words and sayings I use almost everyday:
Teacher = Teacha
Driver = Driva
Computer = Computa
Paper = Paypa
The power is out = "Light is off"
The power is back on! = "Light has come!"
I'll be right back = "I will go and come"
I'm leaving (and coming back) = "Im coming" (this is my fave)
Get someone's attention = hiss at them or make kissy face noise (i still have trouble doing these, it just feels wrong)
Do you understand? = "Are we OK?"
That is very nice = "Oh fine"
Something bad has happened = "Oh Why?"
Asking why something bad has happend(non verbally) = Frown, turn out you bottom lip(sad face) clap once and then turn your hands outward at the person.
Imply that you would like to share your food(or something else) = "Oh, you are invited"
Beg/Ask someone for something or apologize = put one hand in the other (like you going up for communion in church) and say "Oh, I beg"
Change(money) = "coins"
scenario:
I Hand my money to the taxi driva.
He looks at me strangely, "Oh, you don't have coins?"
"No, I don't have coins"
Driva: "Oh, Why?!"
Me: "Oh WHY?! You don't have coins!
He laughs and goes to find some change.
Laura = 1 Driva = 0
Thats all I can think of, next maybe I'll show some local cuisine!
Some words and sayings I use almost everyday:
Teacher = Teacha
Driver = Driva
Computer = Computa
Paper = Paypa
The power is out = "Light is off"
The power is back on! = "Light has come!"
I'll be right back = "I will go and come"
I'm leaving (and coming back) = "Im coming" (this is my fave)
Get someone's attention = hiss at them or make kissy face noise (i still have trouble doing these, it just feels wrong)
Do you understand? = "Are we OK?"
That is very nice = "Oh fine"
Something bad has happened = "Oh Why?"
Asking why something bad has happend(non verbally) = Frown, turn out you bottom lip(sad face) clap once and then turn your hands outward at the person.
Imply that you would like to share your food(or something else) = "Oh, you are invited"
Beg/Ask someone for something or apologize = put one hand in the other (like you going up for communion in church) and say "Oh, I beg"
Change(money) = "coins"
scenario:
I Hand my money to the taxi driva.
He looks at me strangely, "Oh, you don't have coins?"
"No, I don't have coins"
Driva: "Oh, Why?!"
Me: "Oh WHY?! You don't have coins!
He laughs and goes to find some change.
Laura = 1 Driva = 0
Thats all I can think of, next maybe I'll show some local cuisine!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Am I in America?
I just got back from having Thanksgiving in Accra and I am feeling more than pleasantly satisfied. I had already been really excited to go before hand, especially after hearing that last year they had a pool party and so much yummy food you could explode, but they went above and beyond. Seriously, I was legit back in America for like 4 days.
So, we had to RSVP a month or so in advance to the the shin-dig and then we could receive housing from expats in the Accra area. YES! free housing. My host family were super sweet and so hospitable. They are workers at the US embassy and have a real house complete with AIR CONDITIONING, satellite TV, HOT SHOWER and a washer AND dryer! Talk about lap of luxury, I was needless to say in my little oasis. I think the first hot shower i took( i took at least 5 in like 2 days, ha!) i just smiled the entire time like some happy idiot. My host couple were fellow volunteers themselves and met in the Peace Corps(awaiting my future husband please) and have lived all over since going abroad for PC service. So they were really great to talk to.
On Thanksgiving day we went over to the Ambassadors house at around mid-day and swam in his pool and i of course played with his huge super cute, super friendly dogs. We had an open bar(favorite words ever) and then the Ambassador came out to greet us and give thanks and proceed to tell us that he had something like 12 turkeys awaiting. I was just excited for the stuffing and the cranberries. We did have something like 180 people there and only like 20 PCV's who didn't come(why wouldn't you come?!?!?) so I loaded up on veggies and then proceeded to lay in my food coma afterwards.
After dinner we all went out to some american style pubs and bars. The first pub we were at had satellite TV and they had some Thanksgiving day football game on. I wasn't really interested, it was actually a little too much for me. I kinda missed the leisureliness of local ghanaian spots. The next day(after waking up in my air conditioned room :) we spent the day shopping in a touristy district in Accra called Osu. I bought a few things and some holiday presents for peeps back home and then went to the Accra Mall, which is pretty much like any other medium sized mall in America, complete with movie theatre. so we all went to see the new Harry Potter! it was even worth the 12 cedi's i paid for it(my salary for 3 days). Then i went to Shop-Rite, yes they have a grocery store called Shop-rite, but i don't think it is connected to the ones in back in the good ol' Jerz ;). Then I enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal back at my host family and another air conditioned night before i headed back to site.
Oh it was a dream, a sweet sweet dream.
Until next year.
So, we had to RSVP a month or so in advance to the the shin-dig and then we could receive housing from expats in the Accra area. YES! free housing. My host family were super sweet and so hospitable. They are workers at the US embassy and have a real house complete with AIR CONDITIONING, satellite TV, HOT SHOWER and a washer AND dryer! Talk about lap of luxury, I was needless to say in my little oasis. I think the first hot shower i took( i took at least 5 in like 2 days, ha!) i just smiled the entire time like some happy idiot. My host couple were fellow volunteers themselves and met in the Peace Corps(awaiting my future husband please) and have lived all over since going abroad for PC service. So they were really great to talk to.
On Thanksgiving day we went over to the Ambassadors house at around mid-day and swam in his pool and i of course played with his huge super cute, super friendly dogs. We had an open bar(favorite words ever) and then the Ambassador came out to greet us and give thanks and proceed to tell us that he had something like 12 turkeys awaiting. I was just excited for the stuffing and the cranberries. We did have something like 180 people there and only like 20 PCV's who didn't come(why wouldn't you come?!?!?) so I loaded up on veggies and then proceeded to lay in my food coma afterwards.
After dinner we all went out to some american style pubs and bars. The first pub we were at had satellite TV and they had some Thanksgiving day football game on. I wasn't really interested, it was actually a little too much for me. I kinda missed the leisureliness of local ghanaian spots. The next day(after waking up in my air conditioned room :) we spent the day shopping in a touristy district in Accra called Osu. I bought a few things and some holiday presents for peeps back home and then went to the Accra Mall, which is pretty much like any other medium sized mall in America, complete with movie theatre. so we all went to see the new Harry Potter! it was even worth the 12 cedi's i paid for it(my salary for 3 days). Then i went to Shop-Rite, yes they have a grocery store called Shop-rite, but i don't think it is connected to the ones in back in the good ol' Jerz ;). Then I enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal back at my host family and another air conditioned night before i headed back to site.
Oh it was a dream, a sweet sweet dream.
Until next year.
Ja-si-co
YAY, I have made it nearly 6 months here in Ghana! Its weird…sometimes it feels like i have been here forever but other times I cant believe the time has gone by so fast. I guess that's the way time goes here in Africa. When you are busy, you're BUSY. When things are slow, hours seem like days. But i am really enjoying myself and feel quite comfortable at my site and at my job. I surprisingly love teaching! Maybe it is because my students here at Jasico (combination of Jasikan and collge of education, clever aint it?) are older and I don't have to deal with kids and adolescents acting out and causing trouble. There is something about seeing someone take something you said into practice or execute something you have taught them. Its self-satisfying and I'm helping someone learn something new at same time The only thing I can think to compare it to is maybe when you're child takes their first steps or speaks for the first time. Im so proud of my 20-30 year olds!
So last week was sports week here on campus, which means that in the afternoon all of the students went to the playing fields for intramural sports and classes were cancelled. Now usually, being me, i looove when things are canceled and i have some free time but i really did not want that time taken away from my students. We barely have enough time during regular class hours for me to go through the lesson. But, as i have heard from all of my fellow education PCV's thats the way things go. Sometimes class time is not a priority especially for things like religion and apparently sports.
So last week was sports week here on campus, which means that in the afternoon all of the students went to the playing fields for intramural sports and classes were cancelled. Now usually, being me, i looove when things are canceled and i have some free time but i really did not want that time taken away from my students. We barely have enough time during regular class hours for me to go through the lesson. But, as i have heard from all of my fellow education PCV's thats the way things go. Sometimes class time is not a priority especially for things like religion and apparently sports.
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