Ghana-English

Lately, my exchange has been pretty up and down. I want to be really honest about my time in Ghana to make sure that people reading (and myself in the future) will really get the full picture of my experience here. Being in a new house, with a new family has it's difficulties no matter how great the family is. The down-time, alone time, and "I have no idea how to entertain myself right now" time can be a bit frustrating but that, along with the "Wow, I'll never forget this crazy eye-opening thing I just saw" moments even out along the way to ensure that being here, at this time is right for me.

I've had a lot of time to think, and some great talks with my wonderful, wonderful support system at home so I thought I'd put a bit of that into this post. Now down to the cool things I want to share that I realized I haven't written about though they've surrounded me for seven months.

Twi, Ghana-English, and the phrases that just crack me up:

When someone's asking you to come and get something, to take it, or hold it for a second the word is: collect. "Come and collect." I catch myself telling my students to 'collect' when I'm handing back papers.

One that's always seemed kind of rude to me but now is completely normal and I'm a little afraid I'll offend people when I come home if it slips out is: bring it. When you're asking someone to bring you something there isn't any "Please, could you hand that to me?" it's "Bring it."

If someone calls you fat in Ghana, especially a really traditional Ghanaian, it's a compliment. You might actually be slimmer than the last time they saw you but like back in the States, giving someone a compliment when you greet them is normal. So "You're growing fat." isn't an insult.

Whereas "You're growing thin." sometimes can be.

Instead of saying "Do you understand?" when you're teaching or instructing someone, Ghanaians say "Have you seen (it)?".

Word not to say: crazy. If you say someone is crazy then you are calling them mad, or mentally unstable. And they don't take it lightly. I almost lost me and some other AFSers a cab ride because I said the driver was crazy for asking such a high fare.

"Come" or "Bra" in Twi means just that, come over here. Or you can also say "Go and come" which means "I'm coming back" or "I'll be back later". "Me ba" in Twi is "I'm coming". People say this when they're leaving a room all the time and at first it confused the heck out of me.

"Why didn't you greet me!?" Greeting is super necessary if you don't want to seem rude. Just a "Hello" is all they want, maybe a handshake (accompanied by a Ghanaian finger-snap) too but if you just walk on by someone or wave they'll probably shout "Why didn't you greet me!?".

"You're invited" I think I've mentioned this before, but when you're eating you 'invite' people to come share your food.

"Small, small" can mean a lot of things. Basically it means, just a little bit. "Small, small Twi" can mean I only speak a little Twi or "Only small, small food." etc.

Kakrakakra (not sure on the spelling) but that's "small, small" in Twi.

"Finish all" really only applies to food. You've got to finish everything on your plate.

"Yo" means a million things, but translated it really means "I hear you." People will use "yo" instead of "You're welcome" or they'll say it after you say "Me ba". I've heard you.

"Mepa cho" Now I KNOW I'm spelling that wrong, but it's Twi for "I beg you" or "Please".

"Medase" is "Thank you" in Twi. "Medase pa" is "Thank you very much."

"Pa" is added to a lot of things, sometimes just at the end of an English sentence to add umph. "That girl misbehaves, paaaa".

"Ochena" is "Tomorrow" in Twi. I say it when I leave work, say goodnight, say goodbye.

"Dayie" is "Goodnight" in Twi.

If I ask a Ghanian how they are they sometimes answer "By His grace." Which means basically means yeah, they're good.

I was taught this one by another AFS student and it's in the chorus of a Ghanaian song too, "Obiskilinke". Again, not sure on the spelling, but it means your clothes aren't covering you well enough.

Flip-flops are "slippers". You have slippers for the house and sandals for outside. You don't wear your slippers outside your house or the compound. AT least, if you're being proper.

You don't "Use the restroom" or "Go to the bathroom" you say exactly, and really, exactly what you're doing. I still hesitate to tell my students to "urinate" before we start class, but that's how they say it here!

"Me pe" works for "I like", "I want", "I need", "Give me". "Me pe sika" or "I want money" is pretty commonly heard in busy areas of Accra.

When you're riding in a tro-tro and you want it to stop and let you down you call the 'mate' (the guy who takes the fees, lets people on and off, collects passengers from the side of the road, and signals where the tro-tro is going) to let you down. You can also call for it yourself, though it's heard better if the mate does it but the word is "bustop". Two words merged into one.

Sleep is calling my name, but's been too long since I've posted so I wanted to put something that might be interesting up. Also, ways of communicating are very different in different parts of Ghana and there are a lot of things I could be getting wrong and they especially don't apply to all Ghanaians. Just writing what I've observed, surely not an expert.

Going on vacation soon to the lovely Busua Beach and I'm super excited to see the AFSers in my chapter again and hopefully learn how to surf!

Goodnight.

A fishing boat covered in clothes that someone was selling in the sand by Kokrobite Beach. A wave came in and soaked all the clothes so they were being hung up to dry in the sun.

Not required

You can fly!

My Class 2 kids playing with their paper airplanes they made in class this morning. AHdorable.

Madame Reynolds

Happy Ghana Independence day!

I've been in my new host family for about a month now, and have been working at my new volunteer job for around three weeks.Every thing's going really great, and honestly I'm feeling good about these last four months (can you believe only four!).

Teaching Class 4 Creative Arts

The Living Word Academy, the small private school where I volunteer at, is a twenty pesewa tro-tro ride away and slightly resembles a row of garages. The school is open to children in creche (pre-k/kindergarten)-JSS (middle school). I teach English, ICT (computer tech), and Creative Arts to Classes 2, 3, and 4. I work five days a week with two classes a day. I really, really enjoy teaching. I had no idea that I'd love it so much! The kids, for the most part, pay attention very well and are really eager to learn. It took a few tries for them to get warmed up to what I understand now as the 'Western' style of teaching which includes a lot of back and forth between student and teacher. Most of Ghana's schools are guilty of using a lecture method for every age. Living Word Academy was moving into more interactive teaching before I arrived and the kids seem to be really getting a lot out of it so I hope my time there can encourage the teachers to give it a try.

Interactive teaching :)

All three of my subjects are really fun to teach, my favorite is probably English. I didn't realize a lot of things about myself, my culture, and my country until I came to Ghana but how difficult the English language can be is one of the biggest. I've been working on nouns, adjectives, pronouns, past/present/future tenses, and now punctuation marks. Instead of moving up a ladder, teaching more simple subjects to the younger students and growing more complicated as they grow, the material is all pushed onto about three classes at once. So I'll be teaching my five or six year old students the same thing as my eleven year old students. Well, at least that's what I'm supposed to do, but I try my best to be considerate of the age factor.

Marching in my Class 2's

With my ICT classes I'm starting from the very bottom. My Class 2's are just on paint, working on their mouse skills. My Class 3's are doing about the same but we've moved on to a little bit of easy typing. I'm really eager for my Class 4's ICT classes to continue because after bouncing some ideas back and forth with my papa for a little while my class has got some American penpals. Eureka Elementary penpals no less! As an introduction I emailed some of the student's favorite things to Eureka along with each group's title they created and a Ghana flag they made on paint. I hope we'll hear from them soon. My Creative Arts classes have been pretty easy going. Which I think is exactly what they needed since their notebooks before were not only absent of any kind of art but were filled with copied down definitions of the words 'creative', 'imagination', and 'art'. I've talked to the headmaster and since he's interested in me doing some kind of big art project with the kids I think my art classes are soon going to start being filled with work on a school mural. We'll see how it goes. I think I'm starting to sound like I'm trying to turn this school on it's head, but I'm really not. Just while I'm here I want to give a lot of my energy into this school because the students, and their hard work is really proving to me they deserve that.

Some Class 4

Some Class 3

Class 2 discovering paper airplanes

The kids at home have been giving me a lot of joy too. While I'm kind of realizing the not so fun parts of having siblings, the pulling at the sleeve and constant fighting between all of them, it's no worse than a hard day babysitting. I can always retreat to my room, my host parents (if they're home), or a book if I need. I even got a fun break this weekend with our AFS mid-stay orientation which was such a great time. My host parents are especially sweet, though my host dad is a deal quieter than my old host dad, Richard. On a homesick day my host mom, Akosua even made me a little western dish, saying when she traveled really far from having some kenke always made her feel better. They're a great family. The house help, Beck and Frimpoma are also really great. They're closer to my age and always laugh when I speak Twi. The house is pretty empty during the week. The kids are at school, with traffic Akosua normally is only home a few hours before she has to pick them up again, my host dad is at work, and I'm in and out too. Only Becky and Frimpoma stay home with Butteryam (the gate man) during the day.

Mid-stay orientation trip to the beach

Nearly everything about my situation here in Ghana has changed, and I think it's obvious that I'm a lot more bubbly-happy with it. Richard and Emelia were a great couple, and the experiences I had with them as a host family were wonderful. I'm not discrediting that at all. I just feel I'm amazingly lucky to be put with not one, but two great host families.

With my time here swiftly becoming shorter I have a few more travel plans and things to check off my list, but it's a great feeling knowing that I'm on the home-stretch. I don't feel like I saw it often enough, in blogs, on foreign exchange info-sites, and brochures how difficult exchange can be. It might not be this way with everyone. I understand that every person, every country, and every exchange is going to be different, but for future students just remember this: The time that you spend on exchange will be challenging, even more so because all the familiar things you normally lean on won't be as available, but the accomplishment and pride you'll feel in throwing yourself out there with an open-mind and open-heart surpasses all homesick days and culture shock moments. Just some thoughts.

Lucianos, thank you for the care package with the shampoo, hand-sanitizer, etc. in it! It's been so helpful and really appreciated.

Anastasia Gore, Jessica Tullis, Tia Luciano, Rinnah Henderson, Caroline Cornell, Justin Shapiro and Nicole Short THANK YOU for the letters and love, I've kept them all and I look at them often.

Justin, thank you for all the new music. You know I love all the new artists and knowing the music I've caught up on from back home, because I've told you. But when other students ask "Man! Is this new?" I'm smiling and happy to say that my lovely, encouraging boyfriend sent it to me.

Rin! Stargirl, I found the neatest instrument. Ready for a jam session?

Papa! Thanks for being so eager to help me get my students set up. I'm so excited to see the looks on their faces when they get responses back from their new buddies. I'll be taking pictures.

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Ron, I got you the coolest decorative addition to your growing house.

Thanks for keeping in touch and checking up on me everyone, I'll keep writing!