My first week of school

Well.... I just wrote this really long post, and the internet went down! We been losing internet and power all week, but I guess it is just something I have to get used to. We didn't have power in the village last night until about 7 pm, and there has been no internet for about 2 days now. It's nice I can get on a school though!

My first week of school has been interesting, to say the least. I have about 4 - 5 hours of prep time each day!!! Insane right?! Also, I have not schedule yet, so I'm not even sure what I'm teaching. I will probably teach about 3 hours a day, if my host teacher lets me take over all of her classes (which I don't think she will). I am worried I will not get in all of my hours of teaching. Also, we have midterms in 3 weeks, which means NO teaching will take place! Also, I believe they placed me in the wrong placement. My teacher was so exctied about speech. Well, I found out that speech here is for English Langauge Learners, which means all of my students for that class, just started learning English in August! My host teacher said to me, "I'm so excited to teach the Oral lesson today so that you can see how we do it here. Next week, you can show us how you teach English in America!" Again, I remind you all, I have NO experience with this. I do believe my time with the Deaf students and studying communication disorders may help me, but I honestly have no clue. I have talked to my professor about it, but there has been no changes yet.

On a more positive note, an English teacher here asked me to come to her class to help teach about speech writing (she gets the whole speech thing!) I ended up totally taking over the class and taught the full 80 minutes! She was extremely impressed because she asked me about 5 minutes before class started to help. She gave me some really great feedback as well. I finally felt good about teaching here. Also, the students asked her if I could come back to their classroom and teach because they like me and my style of teaching. Again, it made me feel really good because all of my time thus far has been spent sitting around, not teaching.

I love living in the village too! Coming home after a day at the College is wonderful! The kids literally sit outside our compund and wait for us. The only bummer about being at the college is that we get our of school about 2 - 3 hours later than everyone else. Therefore, a lot of the kids are already at the pool or playing, but we just join in.

Two days ago, Emil, an 8th grader at the village, asked me to come to his "art" class at night. I agreed, so I went. Turns out this class is really just a time for the students to get extra help. Emil happens to always draw during this time. He made me a beautiful picture of 2 huts. I will try to take a picture of it and post it, but it's hard without internet in the village!

After the tutoring session, August, another 8th grader, and I walked back to our houses because we finished at the same time. We were just chatting about swimming because he is on the swim team and he wants to race me sometime. Then, I realized we had past his house! I said to him, "August, didn't we just pass your house?"
He replied, "Yes, but I will escort you home."
I kindly thanked him and told him I thought I could make it on my own. It was really cute and sweet.

I love living here and being with the kids. I cannot wait to start going out into the city and exploring it. Tonight, some of us are going to go to Community 1 (like a county) and go to a market! This weekend, we are going to Wli Falls, a huge waterfall and a monkey sancutary. We will also be climbing one of the tallest mountains in Ghana. The food has also been very good here! At school, we get to eat authentic Ghanaian food! It is very spicy, and there is a lot of fish, rice, and beans. I love trying new things though! Also, we get to each fried plantains (bananas). It makes me think of San Chez in Grand Rapids, but these plantains are SOOOOO much better tasting!!!

I hope to be able to post more pictures, but without internet at home, it gets to be pretty difficult. I hope all is well with all of you and I look forward to hearing how everything is going.

Also, I hope you enjoy the weather! My dad told me it's snowing :) It's about 89 here... on a cold day! ;)

God bless, Peace, and Love!