Written: 9/24/10


So it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post.  I apologize if this isn't frequent enough for some of you, I'm working on it!  The past two weeks have flown buy!  It is crazy how fast the days seem to pass by here.  Every week, it seems like we start school Monday and then the next day is Friday...  I guess I have been keeping busy here; although I can gratefully say, the work isn't overwhelming or stressful.  It's a nice balance, being kept busy but never having too much work on my plate.  This week, however, has probably been the most busy one yet.  On Monday, my colleague, Mrs. Nnurom, and I had to start moving our art classroom to another room.  They are splitting the 2 kindergarten classes into 3 so they drove us out of our class, being next to the other kindergarten classrooms.  We  are now located in the building where the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes are.  We are also right next to the computer lab, which is very nice.  But all day Monday we were packing boxes and I was actually carrying some of the tables and benches over to the new class.  The easiest way to carry the tables was on my head, like the Ghanaians do here, but all the kids and teaches that saw me thought it was pretty hilarious.  Moving the classroom has kept us busy all week, and we aren't completely finished.
     On top of all that, an American lady, Rosie, came to the school Wednesday to give an art presentation to Junior and Senior High students.  This activity took a TON of preparation and had me running around all day to get supplies in order for it.  It was a really cool presentation, in which the lady painted a picture with her hands, and the picture kind of told a story and had a cool message about Jesus' Love behind it.  Also, the students all got to paint as well and they really seemed to enjoy that.  It was a really neat activity for the kids, and a nice change from their normal routine, but it was also a very tiring day. Yesterday(Thursday) I taught all 4 of the art classes because my colleague had to take her baby daughter to get vacinations.  On Wednesday after school we discussed the lesson plans so I was pretty well prepared.  And teaching by myself for the whole day ended up going pretty well.  The first class, Year 6(5th grade) was very well behaved and they all listened and payed attention.  What a great way to start the day!  It made me feel pretty good and gave me confidence that the rest off the day would go smoothly as well.  However, the next class, Year 5 was very noisy and it was so difficult to get the kids to settle down and stay quiet.  It was crazy how different the 2 classes were, even though they are only a year apart.  In the afternoon, I had a Year 3(2nd grade) class that was pretty well behaved.  After them was a Year 2 class, who I expected to be very troublesome, which they were.   So the day had its highs and its lows, but all in all I thought it went pretty well and in all the classes we got the work done.  I had a lot of fun teaching yesterday and wouldn't mind being a teacher, but it is definitely nice to work with someone.
     Today was also busy, as we finished moving stuff from the old classroom.  We also had art club today, from about 1 to 2:30 pm.  We didn't prepare very well for this so we were rushing in the morning to get something planned.  It ended up going well and I am happy to say I have made it to the weekend.  I can't wait to get some rest this weekend.  I think we will go to church in Bomso, at the church we attended last summer, so we should get to see all our friends there.  We went there last Sunday, and after church we went over to our friend Lydia's house and spent some time there.  Last Saturday we also went into town and we visited our good friend Francis at his house.  So last weekend was very eventful, but it was nice to see our friends and spend time in their homes.  I think this weekend will be a little more relaxing.  At least I hope so.....  Anyways this is all for now.

I hope Life is going well for everyone everywhere.

Much Love!

Kwaku

Village of Hope!

This weekend we got to travel to the Village of Hope, finally!!  VOH is the orphanage that I spent 2 weeks at last summer and while there I met some of the coolest kids in the world.  We had school off on friday so we left in the morning and got there around 5 that evening.  Most of the kids, if not all, were not aware that I would be coming so they were very surprised.  It was incredible to get out of the taxi and have all these kids come running up to greet me, all so excited.  I was at least as excited to see them too.  It was incredible to see how they have grown the past year and some of them were twice as big as before! Being here in Ghana has been awesome, for the entire time that I've been here, but I gotta say the highlight was getting to see all the kids at the orphanage again.  The joy that I felt upon seeing them was enormous and they were so happy to see me too.  Needless to say, I had an awesome weekend.  Friday night was spent hanging out with the kids and going around greeting them.  I didn't see everyone Friday evening so I also got to greet more kids throughout Saturday.  In the morning I went over to where they prepare their food for lunch and hung out with all the kids while they were cooking.  All day, I was asked to beat box for them, probably 30 times within each hour.  I guess that really impressed them last time...  Throughout the day Saturday I got to spend time with amazing kids and I also was able to meet a few more kids.  In the afternoon I played basketball with a bunch of the younger guys and that was a lot of fun.  I also took some pictures while there so I will upload them to facebook.  Saturday evening I hung out with some of the girls and boys in a house called Prestoncrest, and I was there until they went to sleep.  Sunday morning I went to church there and it was an awesome service.  The songs they sing are so fun to sing and the kids all sing as loud as they can.  It is awesome how the kids there are raised, with incredible faith and devotion to God.  Throughout the weekend as I would be talking with different kids they were always saying things like, "I pray that God will bless you and give you a good job so you can come visit us every year!"  And this would be coming from a 9 or 10 year boy or girl.  It is mind blowing how much these kids believe in the Power of the Almighty.  Sunday we had to leave pretty soon after church so we would get back into Kumasi at a reasonable hour.  The visit was a little shorter than I would have liked(actually I could have stayed there until May...) but it was an incredible weekend and I had such a great time.  It looks like the next time we'll get to go back is mid-October, but that time it should be for about a week. 

So it has been quite awhile since my last post so I'll also give an update on how teaching is going.  Teaching has been going pretty well the past two weeks.  Because I am just the assistant, I haven't really had to make lesson plans, which is nice.  But I have been helping with other things.  This past week I made some powerpoint pressentations to show the kids with pictures of the different themes they're working on, for example I made one of still life, portraits, and also the artwork  of Keith Haring.  It's fun to have some pictures to show the whole class because they haven't had that past years.  The kindergarten and 1st grade classes are consistantly noisy and very difficult to control...  But it's still a lot of fun.  All the classes are very different and so it keeps the week interesting and it never really gets boring.  I'm still teaching a number of classes on my own, while the main art teacher helps.  Its been really cool, she will teach the first few classes of the week and then when we have that grade again I'll get to teach them.  Im really enjoying teaching and it is such a great experience.  I have learned a lot and I am still learning everyday. 

I hope everyone, everywhere is doing well!  I miss everyone back in the states and I'm praying for you all!  Thanks for showing interest in what I'm doing over here, I hope the updates on here have been at least somewhat interesting :)

Love you all!

Kwaku

So it has been over a week now since the last post. The past week has been very interesting… But it was also a great week and I learned a lot and have been having a great time. In my last post I explained what I’ll be doing here, which is helping out the elementary school art teacher. We have finished one full week and I have to say it was a bit more difficult than I had expected. The art teacher here, Mrs. Nnurom, has a 3 month old at home and so she has been going home early everyday to be with the kid. This means that I have had to teach a few classes on my own. It has been very interesting, as I said, but I’m also learning that teaching can sometimes be very stressful and difficult. So last week I had to teach a class of kindergarteners on my own, and it was nearly impossible to get any of them to listen. The kids were going crazy the whole time and they didn’t really pay attention to anything I would say. Then Thursday I had a class of 1st graders who were just as bad. All the kids were out of their seats and talking the whole class period. If only beating children wasn’t so frowned upon… Although here in Ghana caning kids (or wacking them with a stick) actually isn’t socially unacceptable… But don’t worry! I won’t be beating my students anytime soon! Today I had the same class of kindergarteners and I just tried taking a more strict approach. The kids still were very difficult to control but I was much sterner today, and sent at least a dozen kids out of the classroom for talking and running around in the classroom. I think I just need a few class periods to show the kids that they can’t come to my class and do whatever they want. I also taught a 4th grade class today and those kids were much better listeners, actually getting their work done without me having to yell at them!


It has been very interesting, teaching on my own, and I have certainly learned a lot in the past week. Luckily, the lady I’m working with is really fun to work with and she has been helping me a lot, while also treating me like a fellow teacher. She decided to teach one class of each grade, so I can see how she does it, and then I teach the same grade later in the week. It has been working out well so far and I am really enjoying it. This past weekend we went to church at Bomso Church of Christ, where a lot of our friends here go. It was great to see everyone again, and it was also nice to spend some time away from the school. Living here on campus has also been a very interesting experience. My little roommate Gandhi has settle down some and doesn’t come running into my room 10 times a day anymore. But it can be quite noisy, especially early in the morning when all the kids wake up and get ready for school. At 5:30 a.m.! But I have actually been getting plenty of sleep each night, which is great. Last Friday, I played tennis for awhile with my apartment-mate, Mr. Appiah. It had been quite a long time since I’d played and so I was pretty bad. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun, and it was nice to get some exercise. After I played tennis I played basketball with a couple kids for a little while. Then again on Sunday afternoon I played basketball with another kid who lives at the boarding house. It was nice to meet some kids who are closer to my age, because I’ve mostly been hanging out with a bunch of 7 and 9 year-olds. If your 7 or 9, no offense! There’s nothing wrong with young kids, but it can be hard to be with all younger kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ..

I feel like I’m probably forgetting a lot, but I’m just not feeling the blogging thing too much at the moment. If I think of anything interesting to add, seeing as most of this post isn’t all that exciting, I will be sure to update it.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for you prayers!  I hope all is well back in the U.S.
 
Love,
Jordan