The classroom environment is very different than the environment that I have encountered in the United States, the classes are a lot more note based than what I am used to for a middle school. The students are expected to take notes of what the teacher is dictating with use of highlight words and topics on the board. The big difference between the not taking is that the student write full sentences, and ask the teacher to repeat what was said many times. Every class does this and everyone's notes are expected to be almost identical. This is very different compared to the States where I dictate and the student jot down phrases or single words rather than perfectly constructed sentences that take a lot of time to write. The benefit to the way it is done here is that the teacher knows exactly what the students know and can evaluate them on what should be in their notes. The notes are the exact same as the previous years also with little deviation. Things are going well though and it hard to believe we are starting our fourth week of classes!!

As for our "home" life it is very, very nice. I feel very welcome and can go and come as I please but still have concerned parents. It does not feel like we are in someone else's home but rather we are "living" there right now. It creates an environment that doesn't allow me to get very homesick because I feel comfortable in the home. The boys that live there have become little brothers and we even have started teasing each other like family. It is very fun and Michael keeps us busy playing cards or watching him just run around. Partey and Michael started school this last week and are having fun because they get to see their friends and escape house work during the day.

This weekend was a blast!! Andrea and I did some incredible things. We went on a canopy walk that was nearly 100 feet off the ground. It was an awe-inspiring sight to see acres and acres of rainforest spread out in front of us. It was incredible. Then for lunch we ate at a little spot that had live crocodiles walking around!! You could walk up and touch them, at your own risk of coarse, it was a great time. After a nice lunch we visited El Mina castle and the Cape Coast castle. As a history teacher this was a great opportunity to snap pictures to show to my future classes. We stayed in a hotel overnight, but because of cultural aspects of Ghana we each had to have our own room, even though there were two beds per room. The rooms were only 13 dollars a night though so it was not a huge inconvenience. On our bus ride home that was only supposed to take 2 hours it broke down and we had to sit and wait for another bus for 2 hours in the heat. Overall this weekend was a blast even the broken bus gave me a great story to tell!!