Uniform

It's good to feel like I'm in grade school again.

It's the nice time between after-church lunch and starting to make dinner on a Sunday when it feels like the whole of Ghana is sitting with full bellies and dirty dishes waiting to be washed. The power's out, but that happens a lot, It'll go out for a few hours and then just magically come back on. Sometimes one of the great storms or rain showers will cause it (rain showers isn't a strong enough word for the buckets of rain that pound the dirt and tin roofs here), or sometimes it'll just be off on the nicest day you could imagine. I thought maybe that it'd bother me more, but it only has a little if I'm trying to charge something. Like they say here "This is Africa!" It's just part of living here, having less, using less, and for the month that I've spent in Ghana... I'm getting the hang of it.
For example, the shower head works now in our shower room. I've only used it once or twice though. It's nice for the first few seconds but then I just feel like I'm using too much water and retreat to the bucket. Anyways with the bucket showers you can warm up your water. Which I've never appreciated more, warm, hot water eve, on command. Man, what a luxury. Not saying I don't love these things in the States, but I'll definitely have a new found appreciation for them. Reliable electricity and hot, running water I mean.
Today was the day I taught at the Sunday school. Last Sunday I was sitting in the service and was getting a little antsy, because really, I try but I don't understand a word. So I walked down to the Sunday school and after exploring the younger kids room I was introduced to the older class who asked me to come back next week. So this week Jonas and I presented a little bit about our countries to the class. I was really grateful I had gotten my scrapbook and things from home together so I could bring them today and show them all. I got so many questions on my letter (for a jacket) from LCHS and my tassel from graduation. I also brought my old copy of Where the Wild Things Are and I explained how my parents would read it to me alot when I was a kid, when I said "probably like you had favorite books your parents read to you when you were little" I got blank looks. I'm guessing this doesn't happen so much here. After we talked about our countries we answered a few questions about ourselves, my favorite: "Why are you so grown up and muscle-y if you're only eighteen?". I answered the with the good old "Black people age better than white people". Heading over to the younger classes I had no idea what we were going to do, one of the teachers suggested in barely recognizable English to sing. So I taught them "Isty Bitsy Spider" and "Row, Row, Row your Boat". Row your Boat turned into "Row, row, row boat ently did the stream, earily earily earily life is stream" and Itsy Bisty Spider was a hit with all the hand motions. While I was teaching, feeling great, and using some Desiree techniques I saw from when I assistant taught with her at the CAC, Jonas was being pestered by the teacher.
Now I think Jonas, I, and all the other AFS students here in Ghana are aware that our religious beliefs will be questioned quite a lot and we're prepared to let it roll of our shoulders. At school though, a couple of my new friends are really into debating it. School is going great, we've not had a class yet! I'm not saying I want it to stay that way, but it's good to get a chance to make some friends without a class going on at the same time. So far Jonas and I have been hanging out with some of the school prefects, at first just to look after us, but now I really enjoy their company. Abdul, Priscilla, Alfred, and David (who really enjoys pushing our buttons). But as much as just going to school is a nice, new experience what I really love is the library. When I first stepped into that library, all dusty and shut away for their summer break, I got this kick out of the idea of cleaning it up and making it nice. So that afternoon while I talked to the teacher who runs the library and one of the library prefects I started organizing. Jonas and I started sorting books into categories, they were terribly mixed up and being eaten by termites, and cleaning up the fiction section. The next day at school after our morning "class", which was just us sitting in empty classroom for three hours, and our conversation about us being unbelieving over breakfast we went back into the library with David and Alfred. The I really started going at it. Some girls were sweeping the floor so I took all the books off of the fiction section and swept the shelves and with the help of Alfred and Jonas we had all the fiction books organized by the authors last name and most of the geography section sorted through by the end of the day. The librarian talked to me, with encouragement from Abdul and asked me to be library prefect, pretty sweet huh?
Anyways, I wanted to make sure I posted something and told about these two neat things that are going on before the weekend was over, but I think the fufu is getting to me. I'm getting kind of nap-y.

New things I've learned:

-Taxi drivers are insane, they drive with this sixth-sense about cars coming around the corners because I don't see how else they make all these dangerous passes.

-If I talked about Africa-time before I had no idea what I was talking about. Maybe I thought an hour or two late was normal here, try four hours.

-Always, when coming back from a trip to another village or town, bring a present. Bread seems to work best.

-Fufu is made from kassava and plantian, boiled like ampesi then "pounded"

-Amepsi is my favorite Ghanian food besides fried plantians or these dough-y pie things people with fanice carts sell. (Ampesi is cooked yam or plantain, tastes like baked potatoes, that you have with a stew or soup)

-All teachers normally carry sticks to beat students with. Most children who have been through school are covered in scars. (more on this later)

-Men in the house are not required to do a thing except go to work and sleep.

-New Ghanian words: Ko- go, Braa- come, Wo ho te sen- how are you, Me ho ye- I'm fine, Wo ho ye- Are you fine?, Be di di- come for food, Da da- bed/sleep/rest, Atena- tomorrow, Me to- I'll buy

-Don't ask how much for a taxi, just give them the amount your host family's told you it would be.

-Alvaro is still the best drink around.

More soon! I've got school in the morning.