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!

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!

New Photos!

Check out my new photo blog site at:

laurabethpelner.com

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.

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.

Me teaching…who'd a thunk it?

It is week two in teaching and i can honestly say that things are going O.K. My first day doing actual teaching was a little nerve-racking and i talked very fast and went through the lesson pretty fast as well. After a couple of more sit-in's and familiarizing myself with the course material, i think things are going smoothly now. So my typical day starts at about 6:30 or 7:30 a.m. when i have my first class. Each period is an hour and i usually get a one-two hour break in between classes. My counterparts and I are doing team teaching, where we all attend all the classes and take turns going over the material. Usual one person begins the lesson and the others can chime in here and there to make the point more clear or just add something. I actually really like this method. It's nice to not be just put out there by myself, with no teaching experience, and expect to teach something like 230 students. but i must say, for my students, they are great! Well great compared to what i have heard from teachers at the junior and senior high school levels. I suppose its typical though. Even though families pay for their children to attend the primary through secondary education schools, it is the kids that do better in school that can move on to the college and university level. Colleges of education and Universities also cost a lot more money, so it is not likely that students will slack off when they have been given the opportunity to further their education. For the most part they pay attention and participate..usually on a very small scale. I can sometimes get 1-3 hands raised when i ask a question, other times…nada. I don't blame them though, ICT is A LOT of information for them to learn and for most they are just trying to copy notes down and memorize so they can pass their exam. See, ICT is required for all second year students to take, whether they want to or not. There in-lies the first problem. A computer, to some to maybe even most students, is really just a concept. Most have seen one but have barely interacted with it and here I am talking about the internal components of the system unit and how the processor and memory works. It's a little extreme. But this year we are trying to get the first year students to start taking some lessons in ICT so that when they need to pass their class for their exams in their second year they are not coming into the course blindly.

I have been finding that i do a lot of board writing and talking AT the class instead of interacting with them. It's hard to engage them because usually i don't have enough time and also i do not have many resources at my disposal. I have made an announcement to one of my lecture classes( yes i teach about 125-150 students at a time, woohoo!) that i will be holding a review session over the weekend, and every weekend henceforth, for their benefit. Now, i have no idea what im going to do at these review sessions but step one is to actually get people to come. I hold my first one this sunday so we shall see how it pans out.

Oh..right, so back to my day. I usually teach 3 classes a day and go back to my house for meals and such. They serve breakfast and lunch in the staff lounge but i usually try to steer clear of that. Although it is great getting free food, don't get me wrong, but they always have porridge in the morning and by always i mean every.single.day….so there's only so much of that i can take. And for lunch they have a mixture of banku or fufu with stew or rice and beans. Usually these dishes are safe but with the rice and beans there is always some kind of mystery beef in there( im still whole-heartedly trying to be a vegetarian) and with the banku and fufu they always serve me and i get tremendous portions that i feel bad not finishing, so i do then i get a stomach ache and hello uncomfortable rest of the afternoon. So i stick to my own veggie concoctions and that keeps me quite congenial.

Sapere Aude - Dare to be Wise

My college's slogan, Sapere Aude, always puts me in a good mood when i see it; Mainly because t is next to a mural cartoon drawing of two guys up in a tree one is sitting on a branch sawing it down and the other has a notepad asking, " How do you define intelligence?". What a knee-slapper.

So it has been awhile since i blogged, as we say here in Ghana, Sorry-o! I thought today i'd write because today was my first official day teaching! hooray, finally! Although i did enjoy my extended vacation time but i could tell boredom would strike soon enough. And looking at my schedule for the academic year, looks like i do not get much time off until next summer, so boo. I haven't actually spoken in the classroom yet mainly just observing today. i should make actual words come out of my mouth tomorrow as i have time in the evening to study the syllabus and textbook and come up with a riveting lesson plan. My weekly schedule is not too bad, i teach 12 one-two hour period blocks per week. Tues and Thurs might be tough as my classes begin at 6:30 a.m. but ill be done by 10am, so there is always an upside!

So, the past couple of weeks i have mostly been bumming around the Volta region. I did buy a bike though, and a pretty sweet bike i might add. Apparently, every couple of months, the bike shops in Hohoe get a shipment of what the locals call "jungle bikes" which are usually bikes from more westernized countries like the UK and the States. So i got a brand-spanking new Trek mountain bike, yippee! It was pricey but one of my PCV friends, who has already been here for a year, said it was a great deal. I've done a couple of nice rides so far including one where i got lost trying to find my friend's town but turned out to be a great little 20 mile exploratory journey. It's weird, 20 miles at home would seem like a piece of cake but out here with the varying terrain and weather conditions, 20 miles is quite a bit of a workout. I want to start making more frequent trips to Hohoe so that i can save some money. I went the other day and when i came back to Jasikan people were coming up to me saying " Oh. I saw you biking to Hohoe the other day. Sister Laura it is very far!" I just laughed and said it was great exercise. I told them that in American people like to ride their bikes recreationally and of course they thought that was crazy. Mainly the people who have bicycles here are the farmers or lower-class citizens. If you have the money it is expected that you take transport or have your own. Well, thats what im here for to stir things up and add some outside perspective!

Speaking of weather changes, even though for exercising it goes from muggy to hot to muggier, it is hitting me now that there are no season changes. The other day i stopped and took note of the date ( because i have no concept of time here) and was so shocked it was October. Back in Jersey the leaves would be turning all shades of yellow and orange and red and in Syracuse it would probably be snowing…It is definitely hotter now than when i came and it's still the rainy season. I heard that in the dry season some places get up to 120 degrees. yikes. but i don't miss the cold yet! Maybe closer to the holiday season...