Love

Blog6

Today when I was writing the date on the board, I thought “Woah, it’s already September 18^th?” This was the first experience I’ve had in Africa where I felt like time had moved at anything but a snail’s pace… Even though this means I have only been out of the country for 2 weeks, it’s getting to be the end of the month and that is a milestone! I find myself wishing away time here, even though I am by no means discontent in the place where I am at.

I have gotten the news that next week I will be able to start my special ed job! The teacher that originally had the job is able to come back and Autumn had no reservations in rehiring her, so I am very very VERY grateful! This class has been a big challenge for me and I am definitely learning that I prefer small groups or one-on-one instruction versus whole class instruction… Mostly because I feel that I am better at it. This class is just so naughty and distant and hard to engage that it’s frustrating to feel like I finished a lesson that was supposed to be fun and they were just disinterested or copying what the people around them are saying/writing. Boo. But only 2 more days of second grade and then I get to start with a clean slate! By the time I actually get to post this, I will be finished! Hurrah!

This weekend, Holly and I got a chance to walk off campus and explore the town around us. We first went to this little bar across the street (which means first walking twenty minutes from campus to the nearest street and crossing it) and split a beer for 3 cedis, or about $1.50, meaning that we each paid 75 cents. Score. While we were there, Holly went to use the “bathroom” and instead found the CUTEST tiny little kittens roaming around outside! They fit in the palm of your hand and were so precious. I’ve seen wild dogs here, plus a lot of goats and cows, but this was the first time I had seen cats and I was so excited.

After we left, we walked to the town of Doryumu (pronounced door-ee-oom, somehow the last u is silent). Technically this is where we live, but we really live in the middle of nowhere. But walking down the streets of the market, children are calling to us and trying to hold our hands and everyone’s heads turn our way… It is amazing how much one can feel like an outsider, or perhaps even a spectacle. We were looking for a fabric store, but had no luck, so we just wandered the streets a little before heading home. It was so fun to get a chance to explore the area where we live and to get a little taste of what life is really like around here. The lifestyle here is something I feel like I haven’t even began to take in… The idea of having a shop in the market and spending your whole life there, never leaving Ghana and likely not pursuing further dreams… It’s something I can’t even fathom.

I am still really struggling with the language barrier between me and pretty much all the people around me. We were in a meeting this afternoon and almost all the staff were talking to each other simultaneously but I could not understand a word being said… I have to be a very active listener to understand what is being said with their accent and there were too many voices at once for me to be able to discern what was actually being said. In class, I feel HORRIBLE when I can’t understand what a student is trying to say to me… Yet there is nothing that can be done about it except continue talking and listening, hoping that it will get easier.

Please pray for patience and motivation and I look to start stepping into a new role in this school next week… I am so excited and thankful that it is finally happening, I just really hope that things go as well as I want them to.