Freshers, Football, and Thanksgiving Feasts

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11/30/09

Hey everybody. I know I haven’t written in a while, so I’ll get right to it. As you can imagine, a lot has happened in the last month. Most importantly, I’ve finally started teaching the freshers. The term freshers, is the Ghanaian equivalent to freshman in that it refers to the form 1 students. On the down side, the term is basically over since this is revision week and end of term exams begin next week. Since the form 1s have been here for less than half the term they won’t have any end of term exams so I’ll be able to teach them through revision week and hopefully through the exam weeks as well. It looks like I’ll get 4 or 5 weeks of teaching in to the form 1s this term.

We still don’t have a headmaster and it looks doubtful that we’ll get one before the second term. The construction of the new classroom block is progressing quickly though. The foundation has been laid, the walls are up, and they are currently pouring the support beams and lintel to build the rafters for the roof. The school will probably be able to use the new classrooms some time next term. The only problem is the size of the classrooms. The contract for the building was issued from the district assembly and they used a standard blueprint that GES (Ghana Education Services) provided. The average class size at my school is over 60 students and these rooms look like they can barely fit 30 students. We know we should be thankful for getting a classroom block from the district assembly, but in reality they might be giving us more problems than solutions.

The past month has been filled with football or soccer as we know it. The first event was the boys’ football regional inter-school qualifying tournament. I travelled with the school team to Kumasi for the games at Prempeh College, which is an extremely nice SHS. Unfortunately, I wasn’t asked to help the team prepare for the competition and I didn’t want to walk on anyone’s toes, but I tried to put my two cents in wherever possible. With a little coaching, our boys should have been able to easily advance to the regional finals. Instead, they were knocked out in the first round in a shoot out.

A few weeks ago one of the teachers at my school retired and we had a football match in his honor. With all the marathon training I was doing recently I haven’t played any soccer in a while. It felt great to lace up my boots and get some touches on the ball. Our team was made up of teachers at my school and the opposing team was teachers from the local primary school. The primary school teachers were younger than most of the other teachers at my school, but we held our own. In the second half we were trailing by 1 and I had the opportunity to equalize, but I squandered the chance and paid for it. I went up for a corner and the ball was lofted to the back post where I rose to meet the ball. I had a clear header that deflected off the post across the face of the goal. My momentum carried me out of bounds where primary students lined the field. I came down on a book bag and rolled my ankle pretty bad. I could barely walk, and within minutes it was extremely swollen. Of all the ankle sprains I’ve had over the years with soccer, this was by far the worst I’ve ever had. The next day my ankle was black and blue, and my toes even turned purple. Luckily, sports injury is what I studied at college. I took care of it and was up and walking around in no time. That’s what I get for not scoring though.

A couple days after my ankle sprain, I attended the Ghana versus Mali World Cup Qualifier in Kumasi. For those of you that forgot or didn’t know, Ghana’s Men’s National Team is called the Black Stars. I went to the game with a few teachers from my school and some PCVs. We had great seat right on the half line. Since Ghana had already qualified for the World Cup and Mali had already qualified for the African Cup of Nations, the game really didn’t mean anything. It is probably the last time I’ll get to see the Black Stars play though, so I couldn’t miss the game. I was surprised to see some of the big players like Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari in the starting line-up. Although Ghana controlled the majority of the game they had to come from behind twice to tie the game 2-2. I really wish I could go watch Ghana and the USA in the World Cup next year.

As you all know, Thanksgiving was last week. I may be in Ghana, but that didn’t stop me from having an unbelievable and traditional Thanksgiving feast; two actually. This year I was once again invited to the Ambassador’s Residence for Thanksgiving. The difference this year is that all PCVs in Ghana were invited and we made up the vast majority of the guest list. The evening started off with drinks by pool before a feast including 12 turkeys. All the classics were there: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. All I can say is that the US Ambassador to Ghana is the coolest guy. At one point, he was behind the bar serving us drinks. I am extremely grateful for the hospitality he and his wife showed me and the other PCVs. Strangely enough, at the Ambassador’s I met a couple that used to live in Monroe. It’s a small world.

Two days after having Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s in Accra I went to Kumasi to have a second Thanksgiving with PCVs at the sub office. We substituted fried chicken for turkey, but we were able to make mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, baked beans, pumpkin pie, peanut butter cookies, and apple crisp. Needless to say, I’ve eaten more in the past couple days than I do in most weeks. I may have been away from my friends and family from home, but I still had a great Thanksgiving and celebrating it in Ghana has helped me realize how much I really have to be thankful for.

Since I last posted on the blog, I have caught 2 more mice in my veranda. I was able to utilize my mouse trap these times though. In case you didn’t know, mice like to run along walls everywhere they go. On both occasions, I saw the mouse scurrying around my veranda. I then set the mouse trap and placed it against the wall. Next I grabbed a Ghanaian broom and scared the mouse from one hiding spot towards another. During the trek from one hiding place to the other the mouse ran right into the mouse trap lost the battle of wits. They fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this: never go in against me when my veranda is on the line!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha… I’ve been watching the Prince Bride lately, can you tell?

I think those are all the highlights from the past month. It’s still not too late if someone wants to take me up on my invitation to come visit me in Ghana during the Christmas break. It’s the dry season and the perfect time to see some elephants at Mole National Park. Let me know if I have any takers. I hope everyone is doing well and I’ll write again soon.

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Comments

[Melissa]

Hey, Hey!
Sounds like you have been busy and had a great Thanksgiving! Man you missed some funny stories from Sarah's first homemade Thanksgiving. You will have to have her describe cooking a turkey and what comes out of the inside of a turkey prior to cooking...I am still laughing just thinking about it ;o) Don't know if I told you, but Dylan is getting ready for his 1st Sacraments. He has his Recconciliation in January and 1st Communion at Easter. It has been a ton of fun going to classes with him...great refresher on our faith! We miss you and hope you are doing well! The boys are very anxious for you to come home...they ask about you every day. Oh, I am starting back at the bank on Monday. I got offered a great part time job at Chase, so no more traveling to Lake Stevens for work. K, I could go on forever...love you and hope to talk to you soon!!! ~ Melissa