Cockroach, ew.

I feel like every trip needs that hilarious moment involving a scary insect. And boy oh boy, did mine sure happen.

I walk into my room where Maddi and 4 of my students (also Dadzie grandchildren) were hanging out beading. I put my hand in my hair and literally a giant cockroach flies out (turns out, they can fly. Learn something new everyday!) and hits Diana's neck. We both scream and flail about for a bit cause we have no idea what to do. Meanwhile, the cockroach scurries under my bed.

We all approach the beds extremely cautiously to see if we can spot it. A few minutes go by. And then it scurries out- right at us! Little 3 year old Whitney had chips in her hand which she immidiatly threw into the air with fright, screams, and runs towards the door. Of course, that gets everyone screaming and sprinting to the corner of the room. We made Baduwin, a Class 6 student and the only boy in the room, trap it in the chip container. So much for gettting braver this trip!! :D

After a bit more confusion, we got the darn cockroach outside.
Enjoy your bug-free rooms!

Love,
Sarah

Real Life

Real life is realizing mango season is over and wishing you had eaten more.
Real life is meeting up with friends at Spikes Bar on a Friday night.
Real life is marking creative art exams with a constant smirk on my face as some of their answers are hilarious.
Real life is countless hours flipping through a guidebook knowing you're in a country where nothing goes as planned.
Real life is being incredibly proud of yourself for bargaining down the price of leggings to 12 cidis, knowing that you're probably still being ripped off.
Real life is panicking as the last 5 minutes of time at the internet cafe ticks down.
Real life is sending a text to my roomate "You home yet?".
Real life is seeing the young kids run to greet me with their never-ending enthusiasm.
Real life is seeing a student in town and being greeted as Madam Sarah.
Real life is sleepovers at Timoskay, laughing at the stupidest things.
Real life is getting back to my pink house and being grateful for my host-sister's delicious cooking.
Real life is a taxi ride through town, with the music blaring.
Real life is a walk though market circle, which seemed so overwhelming at first, but is now normal.
Real life is picking out colourful fabrics and getting a dress sewn for you.
Real life is the laughter of a Ghanaian at my limited Fante, but always in good humour as they appreciate the effort.
Real life is occasionally going to bed at 7:30 just because the powers out and there's nothing to do.
Real life is sitting on a stone wall by the beach with a friend on either side, toes dipping into the ocean.
Real life is enjoying a FanChoco on a hot afternoon.
Real life is full of small challenges, all getting dealt with one by one.
Real life is the smile of a stranger, the wave and hello of a little kid.
Even though I'm in Africa, it's still real life.

Volta Region with the Girlies

Girls weekend away? Hell yeah! But this wasn’t a typical girls weekend. It was more of a hike-up-a-mountain/ feed-some-monkeys/ ride-a-motorcycle type weekend. It was very gap year ;)

The prevalent theme of our mini-vacation was transportation. All day Thursday was spent waiting in Takoradi for a bus (3 hrs), on a bus to Accra (5 hrs), trying to find the right tro-tro (1 hr) and on the tro-tro to Ho, Volta Region (4 hrs).

We arrived late into Ho and the 4 of us (Felicity, Sam, Maddi and I) walked into town in search of food. Nothing was open, except there were quite a few street food vendors so we had one of the coolest meals of my trip yet. Where else can you get eggs fried on the side of the road for you for 60 cents?? That was followed by a noodle dish for 3 cidis, and it was absolutely delicious. And then of course, a FanChoco (frozen chocolate milk=heaven) The atmosphere of being outside at midnight sitting on plastic chairs chatting with friends and the women cooking our food, while watching the world go by is pretty hard to beat!

Friday was hiking day, and we had no idea what we were in for. We took a tro-tro to Adaklu Mountain and got off in a middle-of-nowhere village. Quite unsure of ourselves we glanced around looking lost until a man came up to us and asked if we wanted to go hiking. I suppose either no tourists come here for any other reason, or he took one look at our running shoes and deemed us not dressed for a Good Friday church service! He brought us to a hut that had the words Hiking Centre and a little painting of the mountain on it. We were welcomed into the hut, which was empty save a guestbook and some plastic chairs which were brought in for us while we waited for our guides. Sure enough, 2 young guys showed up (14 and 15 years old), machete in hand ready to lead us up the mountain!

Thus began a seriously hardcore workout. Luckily a childhood of climbing Moss Rocks prepared me for the 2 hour trek up the mountain. I’ve never been so sweaty and thirsty (If you’re planning on doing it bring WAY more than a litre of water…) in my life. But oh boy, the view and feeling of accomplishment at the top is well worth it. Looking out at the lush jungle was very much a “Wow, this is Africa” moment.

It took another 2 hours to get down, and our guides were wonderful. They would get oranges from the trees and cut them open with their machete for us J When we got to the bottom we drank an insane quantity of water, and then it was time to tro-tro to Hohoe!

We decided to take it easy on Saturday so we slept in and took a taxi to Wli falls. Even the drive was spectacular going through lush jungle, alongside mountains and especially driving through the little villages. People spent so much time outside here and I love seeing little glimpses into their lives. The Volta Region is quite different from everywhere else in Ghana that I’ve been so far, and I love it. We don’t get called Obruni 24/7, people aren’t constantly trying to get our attention, guys aren’t declaring their love for us, and the locals don’t try to rip us off. Very refreshing! This weekend was the first time I really got the feeling that I was traveling. The whole trip has been about settling in, teaching at school, seeing people, and experiencing new things. But I think it doesn’t take much more than a long drive in a foreign place to get that “travel” sensation!

Wli falls was the first attraction all trip that was exactly what I expected. I mean really, theres not that much variation or surprising elements to a waterfall. It was a nice 45 min hike there crossing over 9 bridges along the way, and there were tons of people at the falls. The waterfall is the biggest in Ghana, and the neatest thing about it was that there were a ton of bats clinging to the rocks around it. We took pics and then walked back, looked at the little shops, ate some FanChoco’s, and then taxi’d back to the hotel. I said transportation was a prevalent theme of our weekend, and this taxi ride was the craziest one of my life. Not only was it a bumpy road in a rickety old taxi, but there were 9 people in the car. There was literally someone in the trunk… Only in Ghana!!

Day 3 we woke up at 5am, grabbed our stuff, and took at tro-tro to Tafi Atome, the monkey sanctuary. We had to catch a taxi for the last 5 km into the village, and this time there were 8 people… at least none of us had to go in the trunk! We arrived, met our guide, bought some bananas, and went in search of the monkeys. We walked along forest trails for about 20 min when our guide made kissing/hissing type noises. Above our heads and we saw the monkeys swinging from the branches to approach us from the treetops. We held out bananas at arms length and all the monkeys would jump on us and eat out of our hands! A little startling to have a monkey jump on you, but it was pretty incredible.

To get out of the village there were no taxi’s. Our only option was motorcycles. So, my first time riding a motorcycle was in Ghana, which I think is pretty badass. Felicity and I were on the back of one with our driver, and it was pretty darn cool driving along the dirt road. With the lush jungle on either side and little kids in the small villages waving at us as we rode along it was definitely a gap year experience I won’t forget!!

The rest of the day was spent traveling home. Another million years on tro-tros to get all the way back to Takoradi. So, despite having no chocolate (actually, unless you count all the FanChoco’s…) it was an excellent Easter weekend. J

I’m now off to figure out what happens at school this week and next… Maybe exams? Maybe teaching? Maybe holidays? Your guess is as good as mine!

Until next time,

Sarah xoxox

Kid Profiles

Welcome to Western Royal Montessori! 

Helping one of my Class 6 students, Shem, with French homework

I realize I always mention that my kids are amazing, so I wanted to share some glimpses into the lives of a few of my students. One of the very cool things about having my dad and sister visit was that it really made me notice things I would have maybe missed, like Francis ringing the bell between classes with so much enthusiasm. So here's some brief profiles on some of my Class 4, 5, and 6 students!

DIANA- Age 9, Class 4.

Unofficially runs the whole school. Frequently rummaging through the back cupboard, perpetually handing out exercise books, and updating the timetable. She could easily be running the country one day.

MAXSWELLA- Age 9, Class 4.

Diana’s sidekick. Always found doing something useful. Prime example being the whole class is in chaos playing Math Quiz Competition and she is calmly standing at the front of the room keeping score. She always has to lend me her math notebook so that I know what the previous teacher has already covered… when I think back to my organizational skills when I was in grade 4, I’m even more impressed with her!

KELVIN- Age 9, Class 4.

Mr. Optimism. Guaranteed to be the first to have his hand in the air whenever I ask a question. Sure, he gets it wrong most of the time, but he never quits trying! Also is constantly the one asking me if we’re playing a game today in Creative Arts.

MUSICAL CHAIR BOYS- age 9, Class 4.

3 or 4 boys who sit in the back of the class who are constantly switching seats, but always quietly and subtely. You’ll rarely catch them if you’re teaching, but sure enough, it’s not often that all 3 will be in the same seats that they started class in.

FAUSTINA- Age 10, Class 5

If I hear a knock on my door and a voice saying “Madam, we have math class right now” there’s a good chance it’ll be Faustina. With strong leadership skills and a heart of gold, I have no problem lending her my personal art supplies, as I know they’ll always be returned on time and in perfect condition.

ISSACKA- Age 10, Class 5

Incredibly bright for his age and always the first to know the answer in math class. Reminds be of a lot of students in my math class from back home! He’s always willing to help other students, and very mature for being 10 years old. He’s also one of the drummers at Worship on Wednesday mornings, and is always found smiling.

SALLY- Age 10, Class 5.

The only student in any of my classes with a learning disability. Her disability prevents her from speaking, so it’s hard for me to tell if she understands what I’m teaching. One of the most inspirational things I’ve seen at my school is how much the other kids help her. They really do all look out for her, and do not need any encouragement to lend a helping hand. I’ve always said that my students take care of me more than I take care of them, and it’s the exact same with Sally. It’s the little things that prove that she’s like every other kid, whether that’s seeing her face light up when getting her picture taken, or telling me using body language and gestures to put the cap back on the board marker when I’m not using it!

FRANCIS- Age 11, Class 6

Francis is the school’s bell kid. His job is to ring the bell between classes and announce the period, snack time, lunch time, etc. You always know when class is going to change because he never muffles the bell as he walks down the hall. He manages to yell his announcement for the whole school to hear, and always looks pleased with himself to be the bell kid! 

Some Small Things I've been Noticing

GIRLS.

It seems like everywhere I go I find a group of young girls I want to become best friends with. I feel like kids grow up faster here, and the maturity the girls have is inspiring. A few examples are the Junior High School 1 (equivalent to grade 7) girls whose dedication to school is matched by their enthusiasm to sing and dance, and try to convince me to join in! A second example is a group of Timoskay students who walked with us to soccer practice one day. They answered all my questions I asked them, told me about their school, and then would imitate my walk. I would speed up, slow down, and pretend to run (Too hot to actually run…) and they thought it was hilarious. It really is the small moments that makeup the Ghanaian experience here. Another one is a group of young kids, mostly girls, selling water sachets and plantain chips in Cape Coast. My dad, sister and I bought stuff from them, and they were super enthusiastic, asking us where we’re from, and introducing themselves to us. I’m convinced there’s not a single shy kid is this country!!

FOOD.

I actually love the food. And I’m always hungry. I don’t know why, seeing as I hardly exercise, and at home I’m basically the pickiest eater ever. But my host sister is an excellent cook. The staple here is rice ‘n spice, which at our pink house is usually plain rice with a red tomato-based stew, and a boiled egg. There’s always variation in our dinners; plantains, yam fries, noodles, chicken, goat, fish, and of course rice and stew are the most common things we eat. And I was worried about big portions, but like I said, I just seem to be hungry all the time…

WATER.

Clean drinking water is sold in water sachets, which are 500 ml pastic bags which you bite the corner off to drink the water. It’s genius. I’ve never drank so much water in my life. You can lie down and drink water, and you can have full conversations while still drinking water. I honestly think that when I go back home I’m going to miss these water sachets so much, as I seem to have one permanently attached to my face…

RELIGION.

Religion is everywhere. One of my least favorite conversations is explaining that I’m not relgious (why I don’t lie, I have no idea) because seriously, every single person here is. Nothing is open on Sundays because of church. And it seems like so many little stores, hair salons, restaurants etc. have religious names. It’s amazing that there’s hardly any presence of religion back in Canada, and I never would have noticed it until I came here. It’s difficult to explain that religion just is not a big part of our culture back at home. Also- church is a dance party. On Sundays everyone is beautifully dressed in colourful, patterned African clothes, and you can always hear music and singing coming from the many churches in the area!

VOLUNTEER CULTURE.

I’m convinced that every single white person in Ghana is either a volunteer, working in the oil industry, or a missionary. It’s been very interesting to hear about what others are doing here. I’ve met quite a few nurses, doctors, and people running for, working for, or volunteering for NGO’s such as Free The Children. Honestly, volunteering is part of the culture here in Ghana. If you came here without an organization and wanted to lend a helping hand, you would not have to look far for someone looking for volunteers!

KIDS.

Kids are the same all over the world, no matter what their background is. And I’ve never met more enthusiastic kids anywhere. If I’m ever bored during a school day all I have to do is walk past the crèche, nursery, and kindergarten classes and I’ll either have kids wanting to be cuddled, played with, or someone to dance with! And whenever I leave the school, I can’t go anywhere without kids yelling Obruni and waving at me. One of the neatest experiences of my trip so far was in the evening at Busua Beach with Dad and Emma. We were walking along the main street after dark, and I can only describe it as African. Loud music playing from the spot (bar), people everywhere, women cooking outdoors, and a strong sense of community. What made it special here was that every woman cooking has a kerosene lamp see by, so it looked spectacular looking down the road. As we were walking along a group of about 5 young kids screamed in excitement when they saw us, and run up to us and hugged us. They were so little, so cute, and I’ve definitely never experienced that anywhere else in the world! 

Madam Emma and Sir David

-          “Good morning Madam Sarah, Madam Emma, and Sir David”

-          “Good morning class! How are you?”

-          “We are fine, thannnk you. Aaaand you?”

-          “We are also fine, you may all sit down.”

This was the introduction that Emma and Dad got as they walked into my Class 4 in the morning of their first full day with me. The experience of the whole class standing up to greet me when I walk into the room still amazes me, and it’s so fun to have my dad and sister see what my life here is like.

During the first few days they unintentionally turned into teachers. If you ask my dad about his trip I’ll bet you anything the first thing he’ll say is that he was volunteering as a French teacher…! It worked out well as when I was supposed to be teaching 3 classes at once I could get each of them to take over a class for me! By the way, not a single teacher or anyone else questioned why they were here, why they were teaching, or how long they would be here for! And all the kids LOVED having more obrunis visiting.

The classesthat the 3 of us were all in at once have varied from extremely productive to the craziest, most out-of-control-but-still-very-fun classes that I’ve ever seen. With math it’s helpful to have other people help the kids individually as needed and mark work. Plus, when it’s an actual lesson on the board the kids are actually well behaved.

Unlike, oh, I don’t know, Creative Arts. Our new theory is that the more obrunis in the class the more out of control they get. We decided to play “Drawing Clubs” which is a 4 team competitive pictionary game. Literally, it was kids screaming, standing on desks, etc. But all in a positive, enthusiastic manner!! Quite fun, despite every teacher in the school popping their head in the door to see what all the noise was about…

I loved watching Emma and Dad teach. Dad read the Machu Pichu book to all of my classes, and in a second I went from being a teacher to being my 5 year old self listening to my dads bedtime stories. Thanks to the setting of the book, all of my students now all know the Quetcha (Peruvian language) greeting of “Don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t be lazy”. They also know how to say it in Quetcha, it’s quite impressive! Another hit was the inflatable globe to have mini geography quizzes of finding countries. It’s amazing how many African countries, that most people in our society have never even heard of, they can place on the map!

Sir David hard at work

On Friday the 3 of us went to Busua Beach for the weekend. We took a tro-tro to get there and the journey proved that every tro-tro ride is eventful. A man asks Emma if his friend can sit next to her- perfectly normal- and then adds “With his TV?” Sure enough, the guy with his massive (not flatscreen I might add) TV on his lap were next to Emma for the whole ride. We all joked about which show was going to be on for the ride. J

We arrived at the Busua Inn, and had a lovely dinner overlooking the ocean. The next day was spent relaxing on the beach, wanderingthrough the small town, and drinking delicious homemade juice. We had lunch at Daniels Pancakes, which in the guidebook makesit seem like the most westernized place ever. Could not be farther from the truth. We head to where the sign says it is, and a kid points to a house and tells us it’s there. We wander over, and a young kid grabs plastic chairs and puts them on the veranda for us, followed by a table and table cloth. He brings us handwritten menus, and lets us know that Daniel is on his way. And we had the most delicious pancakes ever, in the most local setting I’ve ever had at a restaurant! (Well, “restaurant”J )

After lunch Em and I did a surf lesson with a german volunteering at a hospital in Kumasi, and 2 canadian volunteer coordinators for Free The Children. It further proved that pretty much every white person here is here volunteering! I still suck at surfing, but it was very fun!

We had dinner by the beach and then walked through the small town for drinks at a spot. Very cool to watch all the kids playing, and the world go by. Also I should mention the one thing at our hotel that most places don’t have- a monkey! It used to be a pet at a different hotel, but now it’s free. We were able to pet it, until it slapped Emma and tried to get into Dad’s bag- we weren’t huge fans of it after that!!

Fam Jam in Ghana :)

Daniel's Pancakes

Right before the monkey slapped her. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent at school, and Emma and I’s project was Flat Stanley. We made Flat Stanley (Flat Kofi is his Ghanaian name) with my Class 4, and Flat Kojo with 3 of my host-parents grandchildren for Emma to bring back to Canada with her. She’ll then mail them back, and it will be a very neat way for my students to learn a bit more about Canada, through pictures and stories of Flat Stanley’s adventures J

Flat Stanley (Flat Kofi) with Class 4

Flat Stanley (Flat Kojo) with Grace and Elizabeth Dadzie

Wednesday was my birthday and after my breaky of chocolate milk and cookies (Mom, I’m doing an excellent way of staying healthy by the way! I even eat veggies once in a while…) I went up to Class 4. They all stood up and sang me Happy Birthday, it was the sweetest thing ever J I taught classes in the morning, my favorite was reading Robert Munch’s “Moira’s Birthday” to the Basic 2 class! At noon, after a lunch of Banku, I went up to tell my Basic 5’s that I was leaving for a few days, and they all sung me happy birthday too J While they were singing, one of the teachers Madam Portia came in and dumped her water bottleon me… goodthing it’s so hot here!! (Also, this is the teacher who literally only yesterday learned my name is Sarah, because she’s been calling me Obruni this whole time… I think she’s warming up to me?!? Hahah)

So drying off Dad Em and I took off for Elmina, and arrived at our hotel at about 4pm. The hotel is literally right downtown and infront of the fishing lagoon and slave castle. It’s a pretty spectacular location with colour, people, and noise everywhere! We had dinner of grilled cheese and plantains, and then I got my first legal beer. By the way, beer here only cost 3 cidis -$1.50 Canadian- and is about 3 times the size of beer back home ;)

The next day we did a walking tour of Elmina and the Elmina Castle. There is truly nothing more depressing than hearing about the slave trade, but it was very educational and interesting all the same. We then went to Oasis at Cape Coast to spend the night. Our day at Cape Coast included breaky at Baobabs, an excellent vegetarian restaurant in town (Mom- I ate veggies!!), touring the Cape Coast Slave Castle, and shopping in town with Emma. I bought the most colourful pants you’ve ever seen… :D

Elmina

Elmina lagoon

View from the Elmina Castle

We then took at taxi to Hans Cottage Botel (I’m telling you, it was a very busy mini-vacation!!) We arrived and had a very nice swim in the swimming pool, and then went to the restaurant for dinner. The cool thing about the restaurant is that it’s built over a lagoon, and there’s crocodiles in the lagoon! So we ate dinner with the crocs, glad that we ourselves were not dinner! J

Only 1 rule at this pool: No drowning!

Don't mistake the lagoon for the pool! This croc was about 5 metres from our  breaky table in the morning

The next day was Emma and Dad’s last day, so we headed to Kakum National Park. We did the Canopy Walk first, with a group of about 30 Ghanaians, all university aged I’d be guessing. I swear they were worse behaved than my students! But they were all hilarious. One of the best parts of the canopy walk waswatching them film each other going across the bridges, and screaming their commentary: “ This is so-and-so, the princess of all princess’s, and here comes SWAGGER BOYYY” was the best part hahahah. The canopy walk itself was pretty incredible, nice rickety suspension bridges!! I see why it’s an attraction that every volunteer does, it was absolutely worth doing. After we crossed all the bridges we did a guided nature walk (this is a Roberts family vacation, after all!) around the park. Saw a green mamba snake, some insects, and learned lots about trees and their uses.

We then taxi’d and tro-tro’d back to Takoradi for one last night. They left this morning and it was sad to see them go, but I’m so glad they came. It was a crazy busy 2 weeks (sorry for the ridiculously long blog post, I’m very impressed if you’re still reading…) and so much fun. Dad and Em, I can already tell that the kids at the school will miss you! J

Love, Sarah

xoxox

Bye byee!

Mondays and the days that follow

I've always felt that Mondays set the tone for the week, and I have yet to have a "normal" Monday. 3 Mondays ago I walk up the stairs to teach a class, and one of the teachers inform me that it is Midterm Exam week. And asks if I have my Creative Arts midterm ready. I suppose it just dosn't occur to anyone to tell us stuff in advance! So I sat in the creche writing an exam for my kids, while the creche babies run all around me creating chaos. I'm sure this is how real teachers do it too!! But that was just the beginning of the toughest day yet I've had during this trip. Trying to make sure kids keep quiet when they're sharing pencil crayons to answer drawing questions.. not so fun. But better than Maddi's Class 1, with 45 kids, all cheating. I helped supervise that class which just drained all the energy out of me. But then, I had Class 6 for their exam. And it was the first time I've had a problem with the discipline here. They all had to write my exam kneeling on the cement floor as they had already got in trouble from another teacher. And because they know I would never cane them, they wouldn't stay silent. So, another teacher came in and caned every single kid. There are so many high and low moments with my life here, and thank goodness Iv'e had so many amazing moments to compensate for when things get tough.

The upside to exam week was that Wednesday/Thursday were holidays. Wednesday was Independence Day, and Maddi + I decided we should do something exciting. Our poor hair got the sacrifice. For 3 hours I sat on a tiny stool while about 5 women braided my hair. It was a neat experience though, as we were outside on a busy Takoradi street so I could people watch, with Ghanaian music and the women speaking Fante as background music. But really, I didn't look like me by the end. My mistake was adding extra blonde hair... my head has never been so hot, heavy, and itchy. If there's one thing I appreciate from my time here in Ghana so far, even more than running water and electricity, is my own hair. But it was actually a very cool experience getting it done. And an even cooler one getting it out. I lasted a week with braids before taking them out, and a few of my Class 5 students offered to help. There were about a dozen girls who were more than happy to spend an hour of their time helping me unbraid!

My weekend was spent at Timoskay School Complex, visiting Mason and Marisa, 2 of the other volunteers from Victoria. I can already tell that Timoskay will be home away from home (from home...). It's much more in the middle of nowhere, and their host family are just the friendliest, most welcoming people I've ever met. By the end of my few days there the 6 year old daughter Ellen was calling me Sister Sarah :) The highlight of my weekend was coaching the U13, U15, and U17 Timoskay boys soccer games. Despite not doing much more than cheering them on, we got a lot of credit for the 2 wins and a tie hahahha.

So now we come to 2 Mondays ago. I walk up the stairs to teach a class, and the headmaster calls Maddi and I to the office and tells us there is a problem. It turns out that the Basic 4 5 and 6 Math and Science teacher has left on a missionary trip to Nigeria. Typical. But it means that I get to be the new math teacher, so I'm thrilled! This whole time I've been saying that I wish I was teaching something academic, so this couldn't be more perfect. It will be a challenge I'm sure, but it's the kind of challenge I want.

Monday and Tuesday were the chaos that has become the new routine in my life. I'm constantly supposed to be in 2 places at once, and its been tough to figure out where the previous math teacher left off with the classes. Especially trying to teach something like algebra when they don't know basic integer adding and subtracting. It's definitely the type of challenge where it's incredibly rewarding to see the result. It's funny how adding a few classes to my schedule makes it seem like a new beginning. And just in time for a couple of my favorite obrunis to show up at my school!! Next blog post will be about my family visiting me, and I am sorry for being so behind on updating my blog... spazzy internet mixed with a crazy busy past few weeks is my excuse :)

Until later,
Love Sarah xoxox