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Published: October 27th 2008
10/26/08
I have a lot of stuff to write about from this week so I’ll get right to it. As far as classes went, I spent the majority of the week reviewing for the mid-term the following week. Last week I was informed that there were going to be inter-house soccer matches this week, probably on Thursday and Friday. As the house 1 master it is my responsibility to get the team organized. I tried to have a meeting with all the house 1 students last week but word didn’t get around. On Tuesday of this week one of the teachers asked me if I was ready for the games on Wednesday, and I said that no one had informed me that the games were going to start on Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday another teacher asked me if I was ready for the games on Thursday. I asked him if he meant later today. He told me that the games had been postponed until Thursday. Naturally, no one felt it necessary to inform me that the games were postponed. It would have been nice if there had been a meeting with all the house masters to discuss the schedule for the inter-house soccer matches.
One of the house 1 prefects came to me on Wednesday and told me that not all of the students had paid their house due and they were short about $10. They had budgeted $35 for the two days of soccer games, but had only collected $25. This was the first I had heard of house dues so I was caught a little off guard. I asked some of the other teachers what house dues were used for, and I was told they are used to rent jerseys, tents, and refreshments for the soccer games. With only one day until the soccer games there wasn’t much time to solve the problem. After talking with the house prefects I decided to raise the form 3 dues from $0.50 to $1 to try and make up the shortage. Not everyone ended up paying the dues on Thursday so we decided that the tent rental wasn’t a necessity and that refreshments we more important. Wednesday was my crash course in the house system. Again, it would have been nice if I had been informed about house dues earlier, but where’s the fun in that?
I was told that the soccer games were supposed to start after first break, and I had a couple classes in the morning. I think I was the only teacher having class because most of the students were out of their classrooms singing and dancing to support their respective houses. The first break ends at 10:55am so the first soccer game obviously didn’t start until 12:30pm. With 4 houses, it was decided that we would play a round-robin tournament and the team with the most points would be the champion. The games were only 30 minutes so there wasn’t a lot of scoring. In our first game we drew 0-0. The other first round game also drew 0-0, so it was decided that for the rest of the tournament, if the game was tied then there would be a shootout to award the winning team an extra point. In our second round game we again drew 0-0, and lost in the shootout 4-1. After the first day of the tournament my house sat in 3rd with 2 points from 2 scoreless draws.
The tournament continued on Friday with the final round of games. Since the games were so short I decided to change our formation up to hopefully give us a view more scoring opportunities. I went with a 3-5-2 with our best player sitting right behind our two forwards giving him a lot of freedom in the offensive-third. The new formation worked and we pulled out a 1-0 win to move us to the top of the table with 5 points from 2 draws and a win. After the last game of the tournament house 4 also had 5 points from 3 scoreless draws and 2 won shootouts. The first tie-breaker was goal differential and house 1 was declared champion with a GD of 1 while house 4 had a GD of 0. The house 1 players and supporters went crazy and started singing and dancing all over the field. At the trophy presentation a player from my team, nicknamed Essien, was named the tournament MVP. The first place trophy was carved out of wood, painted gold, and looked very similar to the World Cup trophy (I have pictures that I’ll upload later). I was then escorted off the field surrounded by house 1 players and supporters while they chanted, “Andrew, We love you so, And when you go, Remember us!” It felt great to win the first house competition, especially since it was soccer. The players and supporters went back to our locker room/classroom and continued celebrating by singing and dancing. It took back to the postgame celebrations I used to have at UPS. The look on all their faces clearly illustrated how happy they were. The house prefect and team captain then gave me the trophy to hold onto so it is now sitting on top of my fridge.
On Friday afternoon the teachers played a game against students from the Akrokerri Teacher Training College. The field was by far the worst field I have ever played on. I’d describe it as a mix between stocker fields, kash park before the field turf, a rock quarry, the rolling hills of Ireland, and the Grand Canyon. Let’s just put it this way, after only 7 short games we had punctured 2 soccer balls. One was brand new before they started playing with it and the other was one of the 2 balls that I brought to Ghana. I don’t think my remaining ball is going to last me the rest of my 2 years here. I’ve never seen a soccer ball get popped by playing with it in a game, until now that is. I had a few falls at the field’s expense, but I came away with only a few scrapes. The lines were drawn with sawdust, and the penalty boxes were not the regulation 18 yards. One penalty box was 14 yards while the opposing side’s was all of 15 yards. I played center mid, which apparently is also known at position 6. In 18 years of playing soccer I’ve never heard positions described with numbers, but it is the only way Ghanaians talk about positions. When they were announcing the lineup it sounded like they were talking about a baseball team. The teachers weren’t exactly in game shape so I found myself being the only midfielder that consistently tracked back on defense so I covered a lot of ground. We went into halftime tied 0-0, but the training college took the lead halfway through the second half. The game ended 1-1 after we scored a controversial goal. One of our players hit a nice shot that the keeper got a hand to and pushed into the underside of the bar. The ball came straight down and bounced out of the goal. I was in no position to see whether the ball crossed the line or not, but the ref called it a goal so I wasn’t going to argue. The training college strongly disagreed and a couple players walked off the field but I’m pretty sure we were well into stoppage time so that’s how the game ended. The festivities on Friday were concluded with a dance for the students in the dining hall complete with music that was WAY too loud. All in all, Friday was the best day I’ve had in Ghana so far.
Like I said last week, the weather is starting to get hotter. Since I’ve already had fridge problems once and it is only going to get hotter; I decided to get a stand and fan to keep the compressor in the fridge cool. I’d rather pay a little bit now than have to spend much more later to replace the compressor. Better safe than sorry I figure. It only cost me $9 for the stand and the fan and a worker came with me back to my bungalow to hookup the fan at no additional charge; I just had to pay his fare there and back ($0.85). It is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Now it’s time for some random tidbits. Right now is the middle of the papaya season and I am trying to take full advantage of it. A fresh and juicy papaya costs me all of $0.50. The only problem is that no one sells papaya in Akrokerri so I pick one up every time I go into Obuasi. In Ghana it’s customary for anyone you talk to, to ask you where you are going. It’s something that might seem too personal for a stranger to ask in America, but I’m use to it. On Sundays when I tell people I’m going to Church they almost always ask me to pray for them. It’s surprising how common it is here, yet it is something you would never hear from a stranger in the States.
10/27/08
I have another funny poop story for you. I usually do my laundry on the weekends so yesterday after Church I washed my clothes, nothing too exciting. After hand washing everything, I took it out and hung it on the clothes line to dry, and left it in the sun for most of the day. Just before dusk I grabbed everything off the line with my socks still a little damp. When I was folding my laundry I noticed that a bird had pooped on one of my freshly washed bandanas. I’m glad I noticed then instead of after wiping the sweat off my face. The story could have been a lot funnier if I hadn’t noticed the bird droppings, but I guess yesterday was my lucky day. I now know that bird poop is one of hazards of hanging your clothes on the line to dry. I wonder if I’ll have new animal poop story for you next week. I’m sure I can come up with something.
By the way, I have noticed a steep decrease in the number of messages and comments on the blog. I know all of you are busy back in the real world, but one line wouldn’t kill you and it really does make my day to hear from all of you.
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j-dawg
non-member comment
ok ok already
I haven't commented in a while...I'm really happy that you had a great day!! the men's soccer team lost on sun...and it was really rough/sad to watch...they went down two zero, scored one before half, then went down 3 1, then scored again with about 3 min left, then lost 3 2 it was sad, you would've been sad, and I hate whitworth...but good news the girls clinched their 7th straight conf. champ!! miss you, and I'll call you soon!!