http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2410397&l=94d79&id=8603855
pics of:
football match
cocoa plantation
chief of Tafo
bead market
PUPPY!
I'll write more soon.
love,
Toby
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Ohum Festival and Ultimate Frisbee
In the community where I have been staying, Old Tafo, the festival of Ohum is going on. It has to do with the harvest of yams and cassava. After the festival, people here will begin harvesting new yams for the next season. The idea is that up until that time, they have been eating yams from last year. The opening of the festival was marked by a small ceremony where the elders of the town made a procession through the center of town, and presented some gifts to an alter. Then some men brought a large palm bough that had been pulled from a special tree, not cut. The elders all pulled some of the leaves off the bough, and they took them with them back to the chief's palace. One of the trainees stays in the chief's palace, and he got to take part in the ceremony, too.
Because of the ceremony, the last two weeks there has been a law that says that people can not make excessive noise at night. This does not mean that it has been quiet. People cannot pound fufu, play radios loud, wail, or bang drums after dark. They still sing, chant, slam doors, and watch tv, and babies still cry. Ghana is not a quiet place. The "quiet time" will end this week, and then everyone will celebrate by making lots of noise. There will be ceremonies and music and dancing, and a football match with teams from Accra. Exciting!
A group of the trainees and I have been getting together every sunday afternoon and playing ultimate frisbee in a field near my house. Some have played before, but some are learning the game. The Ghanaians had never played, and most of them seemed to not really know how a frisbee worked, when we first started. Now, there are some who play with us regularly, and are getting very good. My host brother Michael, who is about 6'6" and very athletic, is amazing. He can run, jump, and catch anything. He is learning to read the disk well and throw like a pro. Want to get him to a US college to play some sport. He would do great. The little kids also like to throw the frisbee. I have taught them to stand in a circle and throw to one another. Some are pretty good, a few can even do a forehand pass. I teach them to catch by acting like my arms are a crocodile.
I am well, and Ghana is amazing everyday. It seems like it takes me more effort just to get throught the day here, but it is definately worth it, and the people I am working with are good people. I have one more month of PST, then I will go to my site in Sirigu and the real adventure will begin.
love,
-Toby
Because of the ceremony, the last two weeks there has been a law that says that people can not make excessive noise at night. This does not mean that it has been quiet. People cannot pound fufu, play radios loud, wail, or bang drums after dark. They still sing, chant, slam doors, and watch tv, and babies still cry. Ghana is not a quiet place. The "quiet time" will end this week, and then everyone will celebrate by making lots of noise. There will be ceremonies and music and dancing, and a football match with teams from Accra. Exciting!
A group of the trainees and I have been getting together every sunday afternoon and playing ultimate frisbee in a field near my house. Some have played before, but some are learning the game. The Ghanaians had never played, and most of them seemed to not really know how a frisbee worked, when we first started. Now, there are some who play with us regularly, and are getting very good. My host brother Michael, who is about 6'6" and very athletic, is amazing. He can run, jump, and catch anything. He is learning to read the disk well and throw like a pro. Want to get him to a US college to play some sport. He would do great. The little kids also like to throw the frisbee. I have taught them to stand in a circle and throw to one another. Some are pretty good, a few can even do a forehand pass. I teach them to catch by acting like my arms are a crocodile.
I am well, and Ghana is amazing everyday. It seems like it takes me more effort just to get throught the day here, but it is definately worth it, and the people I am working with are good people. I have one more month of PST, then I will go to my site in Sirigu and the real adventure will begin.
love,
-Toby
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Photos
Here are some photos from PST so far.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2410397&l=94d79&id=8603855
Some interesting cultural differences that I've noticed:
Greetings. You greet everyone as you pass them, to be polite. You say "good afternoon, how are you? i am fine, and how are you? i am fine also." You do it all the time, and you always greet elders and peers. If you don't greet, or someone doesn't greet you, it could be taken as a sign of disrespect. Consequently, it takes a long time to get anywhere walking if you have to stop to talk to so many people.
Left hand. The left hand is asociated with uncleanliness and disrespect, so you never wave it at someone, or offer or accept something with your left hand. If you need to exchange something, you do it right hand only. This takes some practice when buying things or paying the mate of a tro. If you are eating with people, which you normally don't do, you should only reach into a communal bowl with your right hand, and you should only eat with your right hand. I practise this, I try to usually carry my stuff in my left hand, so it is unavailable to unintentionally insult someone. Most people wouldn't be insulted if you left-hand-waved at them, they would just think you were a foreigner and didn't know better.
Everyone asks me where I am going. Ghanaians are very friendly, and they all want to talk to me. They are very curious about me and have many misconceptions about the US. We are all rich, and are all there to give them money. They want to know where I'm going, partyly because they are curious, and also because they want to help me get there. There is a saying that if you can talk, you can never be lost. The people almost all speak some english, some speak well. Some want to teach me twi, the local language. If I say something in english, they correct me with the twi, and won't leave me alone until I repeat the phrase and act like I understand. Even though I am learning Gurune, they want to teach me twi.
There are children everywhere. I heard the statistic that half of the population is 15 and under, and I believe it. There are schools everywhere, and kids in uniforms are so common running up and down the streets, across the fields. I walk past two primary schools and a Junior secondary school (JSS) when I go places, and they almost always shout at me and call to me. I have trained many of them to calle me Bra Kwame (Bra=brother Kwame=Saturday-born) instead of Obruni, but sometimes they call me by the name of one of the other Americans in town. I have a group of kids that I hang out with often who live by my house. One little boy is named Doctor, he's about 6 years old. Another girl is named Kevin, she's about 7. The little girls love to dance, and we have dance parties sometimes. I played Hey Ya for them and showed them how to "shake it like a polaroid picture." They are good dancers, and sometimes their dances are very adult, almost inappropriate, but it's mostly just funny.
My host family has 5 kids. Mavis is 23, but she attends the university in Accra, so I don't see her much (Accra is 2-2.5 hrs away). Michael is 18 and in his final year of SS. He is about 6'6" and very nice. He plays Ultimate frisbee with us and can catch anything. Lydia is 15, she's also in SS. Princilla is 9 and Nancy is 7. The girls often bring me my meals and play with me. They show me around and explain things to me when adults say things I don't understand. They all speak english well, but nancy is shy. I help them with their homework sometimes, and we even drew with colored pencils one time. My host father is the Headmaster of a small primary school in town where the younger girls go to school. My mother sells meats out of part of her family house. They are taking good care of me.
Mail is pretty reliable here. I can send a letter for pretty cheap too. If you want me to write you, let me know. Write me a letter at the PC address (below).
That's all for now. I've been in this internet cafe for way too long, and I'm getting hungry.
love,
Toby
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2410397&l=94d79&id=8603855
Some interesting cultural differences that I've noticed:
Greetings. You greet everyone as you pass them, to be polite. You say "good afternoon, how are you? i am fine, and how are you? i am fine also." You do it all the time, and you always greet elders and peers. If you don't greet, or someone doesn't greet you, it could be taken as a sign of disrespect. Consequently, it takes a long time to get anywhere walking if you have to stop to talk to so many people.
Left hand. The left hand is asociated with uncleanliness and disrespect, so you never wave it at someone, or offer or accept something with your left hand. If you need to exchange something, you do it right hand only. This takes some practice when buying things or paying the mate of a tro. If you are eating with people, which you normally don't do, you should only reach into a communal bowl with your right hand, and you should only eat with your right hand. I practise this, I try to usually carry my stuff in my left hand, so it is unavailable to unintentionally insult someone. Most people wouldn't be insulted if you left-hand-waved at them, they would just think you were a foreigner and didn't know better.
Everyone asks me where I am going. Ghanaians are very friendly, and they all want to talk to me. They are very curious about me and have many misconceptions about the US. We are all rich, and are all there to give them money. They want to know where I'm going, partyly because they are curious, and also because they want to help me get there. There is a saying that if you can talk, you can never be lost. The people almost all speak some english, some speak well. Some want to teach me twi, the local language. If I say something in english, they correct me with the twi, and won't leave me alone until I repeat the phrase and act like I understand. Even though I am learning Gurune, they want to teach me twi.
There are children everywhere. I heard the statistic that half of the population is 15 and under, and I believe it. There are schools everywhere, and kids in uniforms are so common running up and down the streets, across the fields. I walk past two primary schools and a Junior secondary school (JSS) when I go places, and they almost always shout at me and call to me. I have trained many of them to calle me Bra Kwame (Bra=brother Kwame=Saturday-born) instead of Obruni, but sometimes they call me by the name of one of the other Americans in town. I have a group of kids that I hang out with often who live by my house. One little boy is named Doctor, he's about 6 years old. Another girl is named Kevin, she's about 7. The little girls love to dance, and we have dance parties sometimes. I played Hey Ya for them and showed them how to "shake it like a polaroid picture." They are good dancers, and sometimes their dances are very adult, almost inappropriate, but it's mostly just funny.
My host family has 5 kids. Mavis is 23, but she attends the university in Accra, so I don't see her much (Accra is 2-2.5 hrs away). Michael is 18 and in his final year of SS. He is about 6'6" and very nice. He plays Ultimate frisbee with us and can catch anything. Lydia is 15, she's also in SS. Princilla is 9 and Nancy is 7. The girls often bring me my meals and play with me. They show me around and explain things to me when adults say things I don't understand. They all speak english well, but nancy is shy. I help them with their homework sometimes, and we even drew with colored pencils one time. My host father is the Headmaster of a small primary school in town where the younger girls go to school. My mother sells meats out of part of her family house. They are taking good care of me.
Mail is pretty reliable here. I can send a letter for pretty cheap too. If you want me to write you, let me know. Write me a letter at the PC address (below).
That's all for now. I've been in this internet cafe for way too long, and I'm getting hungry.
love,
Toby
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Practicum
They keep us pretty busy, and the last time i tried to post, it didn't work so well. I just finished two weeks of practicum teaching at a Senior Secondary School (SS) in Koforidua called GHANASS. The school happens to be one of the best in Ghana, and it is really nice. It is not really like a high school in the US, at all. It is a boarding school, there are three grades (form 1,2,and 3) the students wear uniforms and, for the most part, are very well behaved. If they aren't they can be caned. They are fed at the school, and there are dorms on the campus, but the dorms are locked during the day, so the students don't really have much freedom, they have to go to class. They certainly can't leave the closed campus without special permission. It took some getting used to, but I understand the Ghanaian school system better now because of my time there.
I will teach integrated sciences at my site, so i practiced teaching chemistry, physics and biology. My class was form 1s, so they were pretty young, but very smart. I'm told that most schools in Ghana are not as nice and the students are not as good. Even at such a good school, there was a significant lack of basic materials. there were few extra pens, paper etc. The students were nice, but they started acting up because they thought I was soft. I was not as authoritarian as the teachers they were used to. I still need more practice before I feel like I'm ready to lead my own class, but I'm getting there.
I will teach integrated sciences at my site, so i practiced teaching chemistry, physics and biology. My class was form 1s, so they were pretty young, but very smart. I'm told that most schools in Ghana are not as nice and the students are not as good. Even at such a good school, there was a significant lack of basic materials. there were few extra pens, paper etc. The students were nice, but they started acting up because they thought I was soft. I was not as authoritarian as the teachers they were used to. I still need more practice before I feel like I'm ready to lead my own class, but I'm getting there.
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