I don't think this place has pumpkin spice lattes....

Does this sign remind you of anything in particular?

Anything Goes

In Ghana, it's extremely common to have performers come up to your table and creatively ask for money. This is the first I've seen of a ventriloquist, though. He gets a 10/10 for creativity.

Another very common sight are children coming up to your car window selling this-and-that for some pocket change. I always used to think these children were truly in poverty to be going car-to-car selling plantain chips for 50 cents. Of course, relatively most people are economically worse off than in the US.

My colleague made the comparison of how we used to sell lemonade, walk dogs, or mow lawns in the US to get extra spending money as kids and teenagers. In Ghana, the lemonade stand can be the same as selling chips through car windows. Many children pick up their bucket of items after school and head out to the highways. Interesting thoughts! Poverty is not black and white, and it's very easy to make assumptions about what we see everyday here.

Settling in takes a long time...

We finally got internet connected today! Unfortunately, ( I was not aware that some of the other teachers did this), a bribe was paid to the service provider to install a landline internet line for our house.  Usually, waiting for this type of connection could take at least a month. But when you throw some Ghanaian Cedis at somebody- their impetus to move faster is astounding.

Ethically, it's difficult for me to condone doing something like this. Bribery is very much a way of life in West Africa (and many other parts of the world.) Sometimes I ask myself "if everyone is expected to pay a bribe for things to get done... does that make bribery legitimate?" Something to ponder.

We have no teacher training tomorrow at AIS because Ghana is announcing the contested presidential election results. I fully expect nothing to happen, as do most people I know. To be on the safe side though we are staying home, as there is always the possibility of running into some political rallies that go too far tomorrow.

With AIS, I FINALLY have my teaching position defined. I will be teaching Kindergarden for two weeks until the real teacher shows up. (Because let's face it, I'm not good with stickers and smiley faces and saying criss-cross applesauce all day). After their teacher comes, I will be serving full time as an ESOL and learning Support Teacher. Learning support is essentially working with children that need extra help.

Make no mistake... not everything is organized or put-together here. AIS clearly is having areas where many of the teachers I live with are getting frustrated. We don't have our curriculum yet, and classes start next Wednesday. Neither do we have any supplies for our classrooms besides desks and a smartboard.

But hey, I'm here and I'm happy and I'm ready to be around kids.

My new life after-school.

Association International School

Hello everyone!

My apologies- our house has not been set up with internet yet so I'm writing this from an internet cafe. Everything in Ghana takes a little bit longer than one would expect, but we're hoping for wi-fi to be installed this week. There are currently 8 of us teachers living in the house, and 2 more will be coming soon.

Yesterday was our first day of teacher orientation. It was a morning of meeting other teachers, both Ghanaian and expatriate, and getting to know them a little better.

I finally met the head of the school, "Mrs. D". She let me know that as well as being the ESL teacher on campus, I will also have a classroom of 1st or 2nd grade. So....

I
will
be
busy.


Classes for students start on September 5th, so another week and a half of lesson planning and getting ready.


That's it from me!

My Room

The coolest ceiling ever. 

Bathroom: Complete with hot water!

Storage room/bathroom

My bed on the left. The other bed will be moving out.

I'm definitely going to lose weight, as I have to walk 20 minutes in the hot sun to get to the main road, and then continue to walk more. After that, I walk some more. Then I buy a bag of water. Then, I walk more. 

My New Home

I've moved into my new house! Rooming arrangements are still to be made. Right now I'm sharing a room, but probably not for too much longer. It's in the area "East Airport".... which is a pretty swanky suburbs. See pictures below!

All in all, about a 15 minute trip to Association International School. It's a huge house, but there will also be 10 expat teachers living there. I see different versions of Ghana everyday!

Step 5: Go to the Beach

A quick trip to Coco Beach. Complete with puppies being sold on the side of the road. Anyone want a puppy?