First Week of School

September 17, 2013

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school.

Teaching is hard.

Tell your kids to hug their teachers today.

September 23, 2013

Well, we survived the first week of school! I have 39 second graders and I’m all by myself until Sister Comfort can join us in a few weeks. She’s off in Takoradi taking exams. It is extremely overwhelming and chaotic most of the time, but each day was a little easier than the last. We were rewarded with a 3-day weekend already; woohoo! We are remembering Ghana’s first president’s birthday and it’s a national holiday. I spent the weekend writing lesson plans, creating a new seating arrangement and seating chart for my students, grading papers, and hanging out with our American friend Sierra who came to visit. I am well rested and prepared to start our next week of school! Prayers for patience will be greatly appreciated (:

Jingle Bells

September 15, 2013

Today we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. It is an important feast day in the Congregation of the Holy Cross, as Our Lady of Sorrows is their patroness. My favorite part of the day was the Apostle’s Creed in the middle of Mass. The keyboard started playing “Jingle Bells” as an introduction, and I almost laughed out loud. When the congregation sang the entire Apostle’s Creed to that tune, I definitely laughed out loud. It was the coolest thing ever.

We had a big celebration afterwards, a joint feast-day celebration/ going away party for Sister Helene, who has worked in Africa for 15 years. I thought 1 year was long! We feasted on jeloff rice, goat soup, grilled sweet plantains, popcorn, and cake! It was great to hang out with the Brothers again; they are a lot of fun. 

Neighborhood Get Together!

September 5, 2013

Today was an amazing day!!

This afternoon Isaac and Robert (our goat keepers) were hanging around our house and so I chased them because they kept running away. Jamie (the cook's daughter) caught up and the 4 of us ran to the playground and hung out. I found out so much about them! Isaac’s favorite music is church hymns and then he sang one for me! He has the voice of an angel, so high and perfect and beautiful. It was absolutely amazing.

Monica and Julie met up with us and the 6 of us went for a walk around the neighborhood. First we went to Vanessa’s house (Grade 6) & her family was nice- they brought us chairs to sit on us outside. Then we went to Prince’s house, who lives across the road from Mary. We met both of them and Jonathan and about 15 other kids, ranging from age 1 to 13. It was such a blessing! We talked and talked and raced down the bumpy, pot-holed dirt road, and laughed and laughed. We finally made our way back to the school and on the way Prince was trying to convince me he could read palms. Apparently I am 100 years old and very short. My father is 2 billion and my mother is 1. I really enjoyed our walk, even though Prince told me that when he gets angry he eats human flesh, but judging on his palm reading skills I just assumed he was not 100% truthful. I am so happy to be here, and so blessed to have this experience and meet these children! The smile on their face alone makes everything else seem small in comparison. It will brighten the darkest day.  

A List of Reasons Why I Think I am at Hogwarts Instead of Our Lady of Holy Cross School

1) The school is divided into houses

2) The houses compete in a soccer tournament (although its probably codename for Quidditch)

3) They call the hall monitor a "prefect" 

4) Sister Esther is referred to as the "headmistress" instead of "principal"

5) Instead of the Department of Education, it is the "Ministry of Education"

6) They may have an African accent, but they have a very British vocabulary. For example, “Madam Liz, are your eyes paining you? Do you have contact lenses or do you only wear spectacles?”

To be continued…. 

ACCRA ACCRA ACCRA ACCRA

September 7, 2013

Today Justice (aka Kwame) took the American Girls to the capitol, Accra. We experienced our first tro-tro ride, which is like a large 15 passenger van.. but the bigger ones seat 22-25 people. They stop at little stations and the door man leans out the door screaming their destination. In our case,  Accra, they would say it so fast and blended together it sounded like a crow: “Cra-cra-cra-cra-cra”. It’s a very convenient way of traveling, as it cost 1 GCD 80 pesawas (approximately 90 US cents) for the 1.5 hour drive, depending on traffic. In Accra, Justice took us to the market, showed us where they make drums and some guys gave us an impromptu drum lesson. Then we continued to important buildings in the capitol. I also tasted sugar cane for the first time- they peel it and cut it into chunks where you take a bite, chew it like gum until the sugary juice is gone, spit it out, and repeat. It was SO delicious! Definitely one of my new favorite snacks, along with pineapple and plantain chips.

We went to Mama Mia’s for dinner to order pizza. There were only foreigners there; pizza is not high up on the list of traditional Ghanaian food. We made it to the mall, and I felt like I traveled across the ocean to America, it was big and spacious and air conditioned. The tro-tro ride back home was eventful… I was in the very back with Monica, Kwame, and our friend Sierra when another tro-tro pulled out right in front of us. There was a collective “gasp” as we all realized we were going to hit it. Nothing major happened, and we both kept driving, until our engine caught fire in the front, so the driver pulled over and we all had to get out. Nothing major happened and everyone was fine, but we were pretty shaken. The driver even tried convincing us to get back in the same tro-tro five minutes later, but we opted to wait for a different one to take us the rest of the way home. What an experience!!

Applause and Major Celebration with Sung Melodies of Congratulations

August 31, 2013

Today is the big day for Sister Kate and Sister Martina! They professed their final vows to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. They have been in this Congregation for 10 years, and now they are fully married to Jesus. The ceremony was held in Cape Coast at the Brothers of the Holy Cross compound because it is a larger area and more central for people who are traveling. It was held outside and they set up large canopy tents and 500 chairs. It was just like a huge wedding celebration! The ceremony lasted 3 hours and then the dinner and dancing was for 2 hours afterwards. Later that evening the remaining guests struck up another band and danced for a few more hours. It was the most joyous occasion!! The choir had 2 very large xylophones made of gourds and bamboo-type wood for the keys. They also had a few different drums, which was awesome. I wish I knew the words because I just wanted to sing along with every song! After the sisters made their vows and were presented with a silver heart (the symbol of the Congregation of Holy Cross) they had what the program described as “Applause and Major Celebration with Sung Melodies of Congratulations” and it was nothing less than that. The choir went to town with the drums and singing, while everyone gathered into a huge reception line to congratulate the two sisters, which immediately turned it into a dancing Congo line and continued even after greeting the sisters. Once everyone was done, we went back to our seats and continued with the rest of Mass. It was so full of life and energy and celebration! I was blessed to be a part of it. 

TO CHECK OUT FATHER BOB'S PICTURES CLICK HERE! Where's Waldo? Can you spot the white girls amongst the crowd? Be sure to watch the videos at the end!!!! 



Other Happenings from the Weekend

The night before the Profession of Final Vows they had a vigil where Sister Kate and Sister Martina gave reflections of how they came to be here. They were both very touching stories. Immediately after that the Brothers of the Holy Cross had a little dance party right then and there in the chapel with their drums and singing and “ayiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiy-ing.” I could not stop smiling and laughing. The people are so happy!!!! We moved the gathering into a big room where we were offered “pastries” which are just like empanadas from Argentina! Meat stuffed in a small pastry dough and cooked in the oven. I was so excited!

Between the reception and dinner on the Big Day, our friend Alice took us to pick out fabric from the local market. She is a fashion designer/ seamstress and what people do is they buy the brightly patterned fabric from a seller in the market, and then go to a seamstress and tell them what kind of outfit they would like. Alice was super helpful and we are all anxious to see how our new outfits will look!! Later that evening we went in search of a TV that would show the Notre Dame football game in the brother’s house, and Father Bob helped us. Alas, they dropped that channel just this year, so instead we had an hour-long chat with Father Bob about the poverty in Ghana, the cultural influence America has over Ghanaians through the media, as well as good places to visit during our stay here. Father Bob is a priest from Cape Cod, Massachusetts and has lived in Ghana since 1975. It was a very interesting and thought provoking conversation. When Monica, Julie and I reflected on it later we realized how much we have grown and learned in just the last week, and how much more we will learn and grow over this year!