After A Week And A Half In Ghana

After my first week at school, and a week and a half in the country, I am loving it!! Everything has intrigued me, from the people to the weather. The people here all seem to be very caring and the community is as important than as an individual. I do not know if it is because I am a guest but everyone is very helpful and extremely friendly. Everyone is interested to see how I'm enjoying myself, or if there is something they can do to help make my stay better. Even the children at the schools say good morning/afternoon to me. A teacher and I were discussing the difference between American children and Ghanaian children. A major difference is their respect for elders and people of authority. A child in the states can walk past a teacher without even looking at them and not be confronted about it. But here a child almost always says "hello, good afternoon" and if they don't the teacher will confront them about it. That's how strong the sense of community is, it is expected and natural to say "good afternoon" to everyone deserving it. It is a nice change. Everyone loves to laugh and smile, I think everyone has a permanent smile on their face. A lot of the time it is because of something I have done, whether it is butchering a pronunciation of something or just how many questions I ask. The smile is not malicious and putting me down, it is more of an appreciation smile that I am interested in their lives. They respect that Andrea and I trying new things and broadening our horizons. They are more than willing to listen to anything i have to ask or show me how to do something.

The food is a lot different than the states, they have their own cuisine. I was trying to think of something specifically from the states that if a person from Ghana came to visit I could prepare for them. All I could think of is a PB&J , grilled cheese, and a hamburger. There is not very many things, we are just a culmination of many different types of cuisine. Here there is a strong sense of pride in their culture and they love to share it with anyone who is interested. The food is spicy, luckily I like spicy things! They take spice to a whole new level though, everything is spicy, even their juice. I had some pineapple and ginger juice, not my favorite but it was OK. Overall the food has been good! Using my hands was different at first but now is not strange and sometimes easier.

The schools are very different than what I have experienced in the U.S. I am not used to the private Catholic schools because I have been in a public my whole life except college. So the mass once a week and the everyday before school song is foreign to me. The teachers seem to be very relaxed and confident in their teaching abilities, it is a very supportive atmosphere for me because of this. No teacher is ever to busy to help if i need it. I haven't done much teaching yet, but I enjoy the class. I am in a Ghanaian history class, which is not something I have done extensive research on, a lot of my time has been spent reading and researching their history so I can be well versed in it. The classrooms are very airy and open, but both sides of the class are windows and that allows for a lot of distraction. Also it allows the noise from outside to flow right in. I have to really listen to hear the students and even harder to understand their answers because of their thick accents. I am working at it and getting better.

I feel this was the right choice for me, because the people are amazing and opening me up to be the confident relaxed teacher I hope to be in the future.