Tuesday morning at the kindergarten

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I know it is/has been a full moon, but the kids were really crazy today...

I got to school at 9am and they were singing rhymes, led by Lucy. So cute, with their little accents! They then copied sentences off of the board, did some roman numerals, and some basic addition. No worries. Alfred, as always, just doesn't do anything. He isn't able to read and write, and if in the UK, I think he'd have one-to-one help. I worked with him today, getting him to trace over the letters I had written in his book, and he focused for a whole 10 minutes, which was pretty good going.

At breaktime, Stevie, who I think is in the class above mine, came over and wanted to play our usual game where he hides a stone in one of his hands, behind his back and then brings both closed fists to the front and I have to guess which fist holds the stone. He's a cutie. I think he's from quite a poor family, as his shirt is missing buttons and his zip is broken on his trousers, and is tied together with cotton. He's a really sweet kid. Some of the girls (both from my class and others) wanted to play hand slapping games where they chant, like we used to do back in junior school.

After break, Lucy left the class for a bit to show me how she makes her cane. It isn't a real cane, she says, as she doesn't want to hurt the children. So it's made from the wood from a palm tree, which she gets from the back of the school yard. She was telling me about the palm tree, and how is make nuts, which you can get palm oil from, to cook with. I also asked about the broken bottles on the walls around the perimeter of the school, as they have been cemented in. They're to keep out burglars, which make sense. I was saying to Gorka on the walk home that if that had been in the UK, we probably wouldn't be allowed to do it in case a poor burglar got hurt.....

Coming up to lunchtime, the kids just seemed a little bit nuts. They were slapping, hitting, pushing each other off of chairs...it was hard work! As soon as you start trying to deal with one kid having pushed another off a chair, leaving him crying, another scrabbling fight breaks out in the back row. I was very glad when it got to 12pm to leave. These kids are only 4-6 years old, but they don't react to being told off at all. The only thing they do react to is the cane! (But I will still never cane them).

I am getting to know them more now. There is Alfred (who does no work and has trouble with reading and writing, prefering to annoy other kids in the class, and often gets punched in return), Sammy (the biggest kid in the class), Priscilla (who is a "little miss perfect" type, with her immaculate uniform and braided hair, always reminding the others to say "Yes Auntie" when I call their name), Faith (who is always erasing her work to make it better, even if it's fine), Wellmina, the twins Lois and Kwame, Dennis, Shadrack, Grace (who is sweet and super smart), Felicia...

So I've just had lunch back at the house - scrambled eggs and veg, with sugarbread (made into toast). We have a lot of eggs here....and sugarbread....

I'm feeling less ouchy and itchy from the evil mosquitoes, as I got some Ghanaian antihistamines yesterday evening from the pharmacy. The mosquitoes here have no mercy! It was a nice evening last night - the majority of us sat outside on the patio, smoking and chilling, with reggae music. Some of them had drinks, as it as James' birthday at midnight (though we didn't stay up that long, as we have to be up early). Me, Lauren, Sonja and Freya spent ages trying to get Steffi's braids and hair extensions out! It has made me change my mind about getting my hair braided - it took us hours!

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