School begins, kind of

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9/14/08
It’s time for a little update. All in all, the last week has been pretty boring. I’ve finished making home improvements on my house so I haven’t had anything to do except workout, read, and watch movies. On Friday I woke up to discovery that my fridge wasn’t working, just my luck. I can’t say that I’m surprised that the fridge already broke. I had a bad feeling that this was going to happen and I probably should have just forked over the extra $20 for the nicer Whirlpool fridge I originally wanted to buy. I was already planning on going into Obuasi, where I bought the fridge, on Friday to get some things. I guess it was good timing that my fridge broke before I went to Obuasi to save me an extra trip. The owner of the shop I bought the fridge from was really nice, and he had a repairman follow me home to take a look at the fridge. The repairman said that the compressor was too hot and that he would come back the following day to install a fan. It cost me $6 for the fan and I had to give the repairman money for transportation. It turns out that I didn’t save $10 by getting this fridge. The fridge now sits 6 inches off the wall to fit the fan and it looks a little odd sitting in the middle of the room. For now it looks like the fridge is working, but I’m not holding my breath.
Technically, tomorrow is the first day of school. Since I don’t know what classes I’m going to be teaching yet, there won’t actually be class tomorrow. The boarding students will start moving into the dorms, and we will have a staff meeting open the term. It may take a couple weeks for the form 1 students to get to school because they are just getting their results from their junior high exams. Who knows when I’ll actually start teaching classes, but I now have the Ghana Core Math Syllabus so I’ll know what to teach to whatever class I end up teaching. I’ll update after the first week to let you know how things are going. Wish me luck.

9/21/08
Well, the first week of school is done but there isn’t much to say about it. There weren’t any classes so I didn’t have much to do. The other math teachers and I decided that I will teach all the form 1, which means first years or freshmen, core math classes. I also found out that the form 1s won’t be arriving until October 15, so I have some time to kill. In the mean time I will be cover some of the other math classes until the form 1s show up so I’m not too bored. For the most part the first week consisted of boarding students showing up and the day students coming to help clean up the school. The leaves are starting to change color and fall off the trees so the students did a lot of raking. I’ll let you know how things are once I actually start teaching class.
On a frustrating note, my fridge situation has gotten worse. The compressor was running extremely loud and would not turn off unless I unplugged it. Something is obviously wrong with the compressor and if I am going to be here for two years then I want a fridge that is much more reliable. I called the dealer I bought it from to tell him I wanted to return the fridge and he told me to bring it in. Instead of paying for a taxi I decided to use the school car to transport the fridge back to Obuasi. The driver was busy for a couple days so in the meantime I decided to go to Obuasi to find a new fridge. I went back to see if the Whirlpool I originally wanted was still there but it wasn’t. I looked at some other older Whirlpools but I didn’t have a good feeling about them. Then I spotted a really nice fridge in near perfect condition at the neighboring shop. I went and checked the fridge out and everything looked great. I had them plug it in and it ran quietly and cooled the freezer quickly. The dealer asked for $160 and I got him down to $150 considering a reliable fridge is worth a little extra money. I put a deposit down and said I would pick the fridge up the next day. It turns out that the owner’s brother is a teacher at Asare Bediako too, so I felt confident this fridge is going to work out.
Here is where the trouble really starts. Since I bought my fridge second hand in Ghana and there are no guarantees I knew I wasn’t going to get all of my money back. I figured it was time to cut my losses and just get rid of the problem and take as much as I could get for the thing. When I brought the fridge to return it the owner insisted that the compressor be replaced and that I would keep it. I expected this and let him know that I didn’t want to put any more money into the fridge and that I would like to sell it back to him. Then he began arguing that the fridge worked when I bought it and that there is no guarantee. I illustrated that I knew this and would like to sell the broken fridge back to him at a reduced cost since the compressor needs to be replaced. I got him to agree to take the fridge for $90, and I didn’t really care because I just wanted it off my hands. He then said that he had no money to give me for the fridge. I found that hard to believe and said that I could come get it later in the week. He then said that he would have to resell the fridge first before he could give me the money. Who knows how long it will take to sell the fridge if it ever does. I have basically considered the entire thing a loss and if I ever get the $90 then I’ll see it as a bonus.
I have a stash of $140 in the Peace Corps safe that I was holding onto incase of something like this. It’ll take a while to get the money though. Until I get paid on the first of the month or get my money from the safe I don’t have enough to get the new fridge. So I have to go without a fridge for a while, but that’s alright. I don’t want anyone to worry; I have enough money; I just have to wait for it to get to me from Accra. I talked to the owner where I’m getting the new fridge and he said it would be fine to get the fridge at the beginning of October. So everyone can have a good laugh at my expense. This whole thing is my fault. I was trying to get a good deal when all I should have been worried about was getting a good fridge. Wish me luck and maybe I will see that $90 before I leave in 2 years.
Now it is time for some random observations about transportation in Ghana. As I mentioned earlier, the roads here are poorly paved with pot holes everywhere, if they are paved at all. As a result, cars get really dirty really fast. Plus, the condition of the roads beats up the cars pretty bad, and most of them barely run. These things aren’t just used, they are beat to hell. Usually none of the gauges work, and it isn’t surprising when you can see the road moving under your feet from inside the car. The thing the shocks me is how often the drivers wash their vehicles. They have a lot of pride in the appearance of their cars. They are not washing their cars with a hose either. Just like taking a bucket bath, they use a bucket and cup to rinse the soap off. Most people in America wouldn’t find it worth the time to wash a car that is so beat up in the first place.
If you are an animal lover I would suggest skipping this paragraph and moving onto the next. The other day I was walking to town and there were 3 goats standing in the middle of the road. A taxi was approaching me and the goats from the opposite direction. The driver tapped the horn like they do anytime there is something in the way or they are passing someone. The taxi was going around 30 mph and made no attempt to slow down or avoid the goats. The first goat saw the taxi and ran to the side of the road. The second goat got clipped by the bumper and was thrown to the side. The third goat was hit straight on and was run over by the two right tires across its midsection. The second goat hobbled away with what appeared to be a broken left hind leg. The third goat struggled for a few moments before it died. No one that saw the incident reacted in anyway. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. I was so angry. It was not like the goats ran out into the road at the last second and the driver had no time to react. There was ample time for the driver to slow down or swerve around the goats. I’m not a huge animal rights activist, but it was just cruel and completely unnecessary for the driver to hit the goats. This is just one example of the difference between the views of animals in Ghana and America. At least it wasn’t a person that got hit though.
Now here is the REAL bad news. They have posted the official game schedule for the times and places of all the games for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The first game takes place on June 11, 2010 and the final takes place on July 11, 2010. My official close of service date is August 20, 2010 but I am allowed to COS thirty days early if my projects are finished. This means that the earliest I can leave is July 20, 2010. Also, I am not allowed to take leave during the last 3 months of my service. As things stand right now, I see no possible way for me to make it to the World Cup. I’m not giving up yet though. My only hope is if I can somehow convince the Country Directory to let me take leave during the last 3 months of my service. It is still a long way off so I have a long time to do some brown nosing, and most of you know how good I am at sucking up. Keep your fingers crossed, but know that it is going to take a miracle for me to make it to the World Cup. Sorry to disappoint.

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