OBRUNI!!

---

Hey guys!

So I’ve been here for just over a week now, and im kinda getting used to how things run around this school. Im learning. So first of all, I found out im not actually in the town of Fotobi, but a smaller village yet, called Obodan. Fotobi is where the other 2 Canadian girls are staying, and its about a 15 min walk away, which doesn’t seem far, until you do it at 2pm in 32 degree weather with a ton of humidity thrown in. oh well. Its good for me right? Haha

So yes, I am staying at the school. There are dormitories for the girls, and attached to those are 3 rooms for teachers. I have one of them to myself, which is nice. I have a bed, and a desk, and a tiny vanity with a mirror and a couple drawers. There are 2 bathrooms and 2 “showers” attached to where the teachers live, that are just for us; the girls have their own bathrooms. So I have showers in quotes because the showers work maybe every third time. I usually have a bucket bath. The toilets also don’t flush… so the bucket method comes in there again, but hey at least I have something! Haha Oh I have a fan in my room too, but it stopped working on Friday… and I didn’t have anything all weekend. Man when you are just lying in bed, literally not moving or doing anything, and you are still sweating, you know its hot. Thankfully they got me a new fan on Monday. I love it.

Ok so I’ve also started teaching. There are 3 grades of girls (they call them form 1, 2, and 3 which I think are equivalent to grades 9, 10, and 11. They are starting form 4 next year). There are 2 classes of form 1 girls, because there are about 50 of them, but only one class of form 2 and 3. There are also already 2 ICT teachers. TWO!! Why do they need me? Oh right… because the teachers often just don’t show up for class, so then I fill in… My first classes on Friday, I just went and followed the teachers around and listened to them teach. They both just lectured from their text books. Seriously? You can’t learn about how to use a computer like that. The one took a whole class on just how to OPEN MICROSOFT WORD. I’ve decided to bring my laptop to class, so I teach with it and show examples on it for half the class, and then I take the students to the lab for the other half. However, the lab is very sad. It has 2 working computers. 2 others could work… but don’t and I don’t know why. So I let them use mine… and they all crowd around 3 computers and take turns trying things. So far I’ve taught them how to save, open a file, copy paste, and undo. It takes a while though, when I want all 30 of them to have a turn… and there are only 3 computers to use. Oh well. We are getting there.

I had 3 classes all to myself on Monday because neither of the other teachers came, and im still trying to figure out what to do. I was actually given a syllabus for form 1 yesterday, and I will be surprised if I get through half of it with any of the forms. The girls really need hands on practice… which is hard to get with what they have.

The girls are really sweet though, I really like them. They all have tons of questions for me, and always like to ask me if I like Ghana, if I like the food, if I can handle the weather. Haha its cute. Oh food! I’m eating what the girls eat… they have a “caterer” come and cook for them 3 times a day so I get it too. Its been good mostly. They eat a LOT more rice than what I’m used to… and almost no vegetables, so im craving a salad like crazy, but I’ll get used to it. Its nice to be cooked for, because their cooking methods take forever apparently. I haven’t tried yet.

One last thing before I go. I will explain the title of this blog. Obruni essentially means “white person” and they use it to refer to me all the time. When I first got here and the girls didn’t know my name, they would just say “ hi obruni!”. But if I go for one of my walks to Fotobi I am met with choruses of OBRUNI! OBRUNI!! Any little kid that sees me has to say hi and waves and yells at me till I wave back. Its very cute, and I usually can’t stop smiling. Then lots of the adults like to come up to me and introduce themselves. They all want to know where I’m going and where I’m coming from. My 15 min walk therefore usually takes a bit longer, but I don’t mind.

So im writing this on my computer to take to an internet café later today. I hope it will be open… and working. I should go and see if I need to teach anything. There is a timetable, and according to that I don’t have to teach until 1020 (lessons start at 730. The girls are up at 430 though. Damn that’s early). It often changes without me understanding why though. So I’ll go see if I should do anything. I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all!

LOVE!!

laris

ps. The first time I wanted to go to the internet café... it was raining too hard and i didnt want to get soaked. so i stayed home. the second time... it wasn’t working… but it is today! Yay!

---

Comments

[Justin]

Teach it!
Hey Larissa, I love reading about your experiences! Please keep writing! Glad to hear you are getting the hang of teaching. =) Bucket baths definitely are more efficient, but I'm not the biggest fan of the bucket flush..... Muchas bendigas amiga!