Week 1
(Sept 4 - 7): This is the week of manual labor at almost every school in
Ghana. Our trainers warned us about how
much the teachers just sit and do nothing, but I was thinking that maybe I
could get some real work accomplished.
HA! Only about half of the students show up, and the ones that do are
put to work sweeping and weeding the compound, and making it presentable and
ready for "effective teaching and learning." I've heard from other volunteers that this is
a good time to review previous tests and determine how much the students
remember/know, so I'll try that in the future.
Week 2
(Sept 10 - 14): This week I went to school bright and early at 7:20 so I could
prepare for my lessons and show the students that I was serious about teaching
and helping them learn. I was the only
teacher there until at least 7:50 every day; some days the other teachers
wouldn't come until 9. Morning assembly
(think lining up in your class like you do in elementary and middle schools) is
at 7:45, but some days it doesn't happen until almost 8. Classes are supposed to start by 8:00 every
day, so to the culturally insensitive observer arriving to your job at 9 when it
is supposed to start at 8 would seem absurd.
Good thing our trainers told us that tardiness was commonplace in Ghana,
even by teachers and other professional workers; it's just part of the way of
life. Sign-in times are adjusted
somewhat so it doesn't look so bad that a teacher missed the first hour or two
of school.
On Monday, the new Form 1s arrived from the primary school, and
that was a treat. Only half of the 10
students promoted could read! I'm not
really sure how the ones who can't read were promoted to JHS, but I guess it's
pretty common because there are still some Form 2 students who struggle
reading. On my first day of teaching I
met with each of the classes and introduced myself and had each of the students
introduce themselves to me and the rest of the class. By my second class we started serious
learning. I thought things were going
well and I had lots of energy and positivity.
Friday the 14th brought a serious message: three of the four
Ghanaian teachers at EP JHS were transferred to new schools! The letters were from the district office and
they were signed and dated September 6th, and they informed the teachers they
should report to their new schools by September 1st. I thought this was funny in a terrible sort
of way. I was sad to see the teachers go
because I had gotten to know them and had just finally memorized their names.
Week 3
& 4 (Sept 17 - 21 and 24 - 28): These two weeks merged together in my
mind because it was mostly the same thing for both of them. The three new teachers who were transferred
to Bodada EP JHS trickled in and said hello and logged that they visited the
school. Of course none of them did any
real teaching because they had just been transferred and were just trying to
figure out what will happen moving forward.
(In my mind this was honestly excusable, but I did feel pretty bad for
the students. I even gave each of the
classes some English assignments just so they would have something to do.) I was still full of energy at this point, and
each morning I hoped that the other teachers would start showing up for real.
Yeah, it sucked that they were transferred to a new school, but they all only
lived 5-10 min away in Jasikan...is it really that hard to commute?
It was damn near impossible for me to control all of those
students. There was one day when my
counterpart Godwin had to go to a meeting with the Form 3 students, so I was
left with the Form 2 and Form 1 students all to myself. That was too much for me. They don't fear me because I don't use the
cane to discipline them, and at that point they all thought my accent was
hilarious. (Note: I'm sure they still
think it's hilarious sometimes, but they don't make fun of it when I'm around as
much.)
I also had my biggest crisis to date during the 4th week. The night before my crisis I was reading one
of the A Song of Fire and Ice books
(which are awesome by the way) on my Kindle Reader program and when I finished
I closed my laptop and set it on the ground.
I didn't drop it, but I didn't particularly like the way it sounded when
I set it on the ground. Whatever, it had
definitely taken bigger hits than that in the past. Then next morning when I pressed the power
button, nothing. I was crushed. I tried to plug it in, and I pressed every
button that should have made some light come on, but all I got was more
nothing. I took as much of the case off
as I could comfortably do without freaking out more. I actually took quite a lot off because I'm a
jack-of-all-trades/handyman and I know more about computers than most
people. (My bicycle mechanic and car
mechanic skills are my most valued random skills.)
Nothing I did changed the fact that my computer showed no signs of
life at all. That was definitely the
lowest I've felt during my four and a half months here.
Week 5
(Oct 1 - 5): The new teachers all arrived and on Monday we hashed out the new
schedule. We had to change a few classes
around to accommodate the classes each teacher would teach. Apparently when the transfer people, they
don't pay any mind to the teachers' preferences and specialties. Last year Godwin was the only math/science
teacher, and they didn't have an ICT teacher, so they got me. After the transfer, we had four people
(myself included) who taught science, three who taught math, and two ICT
teachers. I was posted to Bodada EP JHS
because they needed help teaching math, science, and ICT, but now they would be
fine without me. Luckily for me, the
teachers were pretty cool about changing their subjects, and we ended up with a
teacher for every subject except French.
This week the teachers were all very good about attendance, and
one morning three teachers beat me to school.
I was really looking forward to working with the new group of teachers
because all of them were [Aside: should I use "are" here? Someone please
help me out. I've switched it at least 5 times now, and it still doesn't look
right. Also, I don't proofread this so sorry about the other mistakes.] under
40 and seemed to be looking forward to starting classes.
On Oct. 3 I decided to try turning on my computer again just for
the hell of it, and as if by magic, the thing started right up. Elation!
It came on and acted like nothing had ever happened, except the speakers
don't work, but I bet I can fix them with a little elbow grease. I was feeling awesome heading into week 6.
Week 6
(Oct 8-12): Test week in science and math!
I gave large review assignments on Tuesday, we reviewed during the
second class, and had tests on the final class of the week. In science the best score was 64% and the
worst was 8%; in math the best score was 83% and the worst was 12%. In both cases I graded extremely generously
and gave out tons of partial credit.
Also, I thought the science test was quite easy, but if you can't read
"See Spot run." how can you answer questions about science? Anyway, I gave the top half of both classes
stickers, and the people who did very well got more than one. I think they really liked the stickers.
This week was when I started to lose my energy and
positivity. At school my students were
failing, and at home I felt pretty isolated.
The other teachers don't live in Bodada except for Godwin who stays here
4 nights a week, so I don't get out of the house nearly as much as I
should. It sounds so simple to just take
a walk, but it's so much more than that here.
It is really quite draining to walk around. It's not that anyone is mean, if fact it's
the opposite, everyone wants to talk to me.
Even just walking a few houses down to the store to buy some bread can
take me 15-20 min. I'm not the most naturally
outgoing person ever, but I can put on a pretty good front. However, there's only so much positivity a
person can have when he has the same conversation with every person he sees
because he can only speak a few lines of the language.
I should mention that this is a common feeling among PCVs. The first 3 months at site are pretty rough
once the honeymoon wears off. Some days
I just don't have a lot to look forward to, especially when my students are
misbehaving (which happens a lot), and the teachers decide that they only need
to come to school three or four days per week.
That being said, I know that it will get better, and the most important
thing I can do is stay positive.
Thankfully, I have a great support group of family and friends who will
let me complain when I call or email them.
Week 7
(Oct 15 - 19): I was
feeling pretty low last week. All of
those things I just mentioned were still with me, I was catching a cold, and
just not feeling good in general. I
needed to talk with an American.
Unfortunately, I didn't until the weekend.
So what did I do during this week when I wasn't teaching? I tried to print off and send in my absentee
ballot (failed because the power was out and no one wanted to fire up their
generator to print off 4 sheets of paper).
I watched seasons 2 through 4 of "Parks and Recreation" which
is hilarious, and my favorite character is Ron Swanson. I've also read a lot during my time
here. I finished the five published A Song of Fire and Ice books; I read the
last 2 books of the Hunger Games
series (not as good as the first book); I even started reading The Bible. I'm really looking forward to my Kindle
Paperwhite arriving in the package my mom sent to me during this week. I'm hoping that it arrives in early November
even though I won't pick it up until Thanksgiving when I stay with an American
family living in Accra and have Thanksgiving dinner with the Ambassador and all
the other PCVs. It should be a good
Thanksgiving.
On Saturday night the pastor came back. He had been staying with his family in Ho
because he broke his arm when I first visited Bodada. He wanted to be close to a hospital until he
got the cast off, and on Friday the cast was finally removed. He's got a bunch of rehab to do because he
broke is humerus and his arm is more or less frozen in place right now. I'm glad he's back, and it will be nice to
have some other people around the house now.
Also, I've gone to church every Sunday except for one. Church officially starts at 9:30am, but in
reality starts closer to 10, but it lasts until at least noon. I now just head over at 10:30 because none of
it is in English, and that way I don't have to sit there for more than three
hours even if it's a really long service.
They usually have three donations (one time there were five), and
everyone gives something each time. There
is a lot of dancing and singing to accompany the long services, but the pews are
very uncomfortable and it can get quite hot in the church. But going to church is a great way for me to participate
in something, and everyone gets to see me at church. They love the fact that I'm there every Sunday.
Week 8
(Oct 22 - 26): Yesterday, Monday, I went
to Hohoe to print off and mail my absentee ballot. GO OBAMA! I also visited the market there and
loaded up on vegetables and peanut butter.
I searched for an Obama shirt, but apparently they are only available in
Accra. For those of you who haven't been
to Ghana and seen the Obama shirts, they are awesome! They are red, white, and blue; they have a
bunch of stars; they say "44th President of the United States: Barack
Obama;" and they have a great picture of Mr. President himself right on
the front. I was really hoping I could
get a sleeveless one just because they're so good.
Today, I woke up with a pretty sore throat after a night of fitful
sleep. I was feeling chilled and
feverish, and I genuinely thought I would be sick this morning. After drinking some water and eating an egg sandwich,
I made enough of a recovery to get psyched up for school. Classes actually went pretty well today, and I
laid down the law in my math class. Almost
half the class now has a nice sized portion of grass to weed because they were being
a little too talkative.
So phew! That's a brief synopsis of the last eight weeks. Thanks for reading, and it's great to hear that
people enjoy my blog. Please let me know
if there's anything in particular you want to hear about because I do take requests
:)
PS. I bought some chicken sausages yesterday in Hohoe and cooked two
of them last night. I ate them with ketchup
and onion on some bread. I'm pretty sure
it was the best hotdog I've ever had. I miss
American food. Especially meat and junk/fast
food.
